Seraphina

Origin

Seraphina is one of two daughters born to a man named Gitano, part of a larger family belonging to the Cirque Du Romani - a gypsy circus troupe headed by Madame Divinite. After running away with her fellow aerial artist and lover Angelo, she was abducted and experimented on, resulting in her lower arms and hands being replaced with mechanical claws and white irised eyes set against black sclera. Seraphina managed to escape the facility she was being held in, surviving a fall off a high cliff onto railroad tracks while being pursued by Commander Winter (Lady Katherine de Winter, Countess of St. Germains, Bearer of the Seventh Key of the Inner Collective) and Blackpool Armaments. After making her way to Mechanika City, Seraphina collapsed upon entering the city and was declared dead as she had no discernible signs of life. She was brought to the Ministry of Health where Lady Mechanika went to retrieve her secretly after having been made aware of the mysterious mechanical girl. Promising retribution to those responsible for Seraphina's altered state and death, Lady Mechanika was prevented from taking Seraphina to her home by Cain, (the Engineer) who suddenly appeared and caused a blast that rendered Lady Mechanika unconscious, allowing him to return Seraphina back to Lord Blackpool.

Creation

Seraphina is an Aspen MLT character, created in 2010 by Joe Benitez and Peter Steigerwald. Mr. Benitez enjoyed seeing all the steampunk cosplayers he would see at various comic cons he attended and began to take interest in the genre itself, coming up with a steampunk environment for his Lady Mechanika series.

Character Evolution

Born into a gypsy family, Seraphina became an aerial artist. Wanting more fame, she convinced her lover and show partner to run away to a rival circus and was abducted. She was transformed into a partially mechanical female and escaped the facility holding her but was returned into the hands of Lord Blackwell who resumed his experimentation on her. Seraphina's fate has yet to be revealed.

Major Story Arcs

The discovery of Seraphina's existence and similar mechanical make-up to her own has been instrumental in Lady Mechanika gaining more information about a past she has no recollection of due to her amnesiac state. In her quest to rescue Seraphina, Lady Mechanika has met up with people who make up part of her past, and also, clues revealing who and what was responsible for her own mechanical/genetic composition. After retrieving a gold ear-ring with the initial "S" and recognizing it's design as belonging to the Roma people, Lady Mechanika made her way to Cirque Du Romani.

Two of the circus' performers, Chavaia and Bippo tricked and managed to subdue Lady Mechanika by their seemingly harmless appearance as clowns and brought her to Gitano. Intent on questioning them, she asked them about any knowledge of a mechanical girl, of which she received surly but honest answers that they did not. A fight inevitably broke out between her and Gitano when he took offence to an outsider - a "gaje" - having the audacity to involve herself with Roma affairs but Lady Mechanika quickly overcame them, insisting on the release of her companion, Mr. Lewis who had also been apprehended. Things cooled considerably with the arrival of Madame Divinite who instructed her troupe to cease their aggressiveness towards the two visitors.

She told Lady Mechanika no "Mechanical Girl" ever stayed with them, but when shown the ear-ring, those around her identified the piece of jewellery as belonging to Seraphina, the missing daughter of Gitano. One of those who spoke up was Arliquinn who revealed the truth behind her sister's disappearance, describing the woman who approached her sister to join the rival circus troupe. She expressed regret for not having spoken up sooner now that her sister's safety was in question.

Lady Mechanika realized the woman Arliquinn described was Commander Winter but when she expressed confusion as to why a circus performer would be chosen to abduct and experiment on, a sharp glance was shared between both Gitano and Madame Divinite which Lady Mechanika noted with suspicion.

Expressing condolences, Lady Mechanika informed them Seraphina was dead but was surprised when Madame Divinite insisted Seraphina was alive, explaining she would have become aware if someone of "her blood" had passed away.

Having received as much information as she could, Lady Mechanika left the circus grounds, intent on retrieving Seraphina and discovering more of her past in doing so.

Powers and Abilities

Outside of metallic forearms and large claws, Seraphina has demonstrated an ability to survive injuries that would otherwise kill an average human being. Other abilities and/or powers have yet to be revealed.