FLARE

Real Name: Teresa Katrina Feran
Identity: Publicly Known
Occupation: Adventurer/Fashion Model
Group Affiliation: League of Champions
Base of Operations: San Francisco CA
Place of Birth: Amazon Forest, Brazil
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: Olga Katrina Gottmann (sister), Tomas Gottmann (brother), Philip Gottmann (brother, deceased), Katrina "Kathy" Feran (mother, missing)

Height: 5'10"
Weight: 140 lbs
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blonde
First appearance: Champions v1 #1 (June 1986)

Background: Teresa (Terri) Feran is a world-famous fashion model. Maybe you've seen her in one of those glitzy commercials for Sergio Klein jeans. But she's much better known as the superheroine FLARE.

Beyond the fact that she's a member of the League of Champions, and has light-based powers, the public doesn't really know very much about her. This is by design. There are secrets to Flare's past that she very much wants to keep to herself.

To begin with, she's the daughter of a Norse demigoddess, a valkyrie incarnate in human flesh. Flare's mother, Katrina Feran, was active before and during World War II. To the Germans, she was known as the Kriegerin. The English called her the Death Maiden. And the Americans came to know her as the Golden Warrior.

For many years, Flare's mother fought on the German side. Although she was American born, her family was of German descent, and her father was a German patriot. At first, because she didn't understand the evils of Adolf Hitler and his brand of National Socialism, she championed German interests against the enemies of the Third Reich.

But upon seeing for herself the horrors the Nazi death camps, Katrina finally came to realize she'd made a huge mistake. She turned against the Nazis, joined the Vanguard of Freedom! She turned her every effort toward the destruction of those who were leading her ancestral homeland to ruin. Indeed, on the day Hitler died, Flare's mother was there. As a living valkyrie she denied that monster the rewards of Valhalla, and sent him straight to Hel.

After the War, the Golden Warrior came home to Chicago. She had hoped to put conflict behind her and lead a normal life, but that was never going to happen. During the years that followed, she had a second career as a superhero. Whenever it was necessary, the Golden Warrior would face down such enemies as the savage Tigress, and do whatever she could to help the police deal with crime.

She also had adventures beyond the mortal realms, adventures that took her to far-distant worlds and places. In her heart, Flare likes to believe that her mother is away on such an adventure right now. One day, perhaps, she will return to tell her daughter what wonders and glories she has seen.

The last time Flare saw her mother, she was only five years old. Katrina set Teresa on her lap and told her she would have to leave. Teresa given the responsibility of caring for and protecting her younger sister and two younger brothers. She was also giving her a golden amulet by which to remember her mother, and to this day often wears it as part of her costume.

Under normal circumstances, Flare is not as powerful as her mother was. She's strong and tough, and she has certain photokinetic abilities that lead people to refer to her as a "shining goddess of the light." But as to whether or not actually is a goddess (or at least a demigoddess), the truth of that is open to debate. There have been circumstances in which Flare's abilities for one reason or another got supercharged. Whenever she enters into this sort of "god mode," the GM should feel free to boost her powers by any amount he deems appropriate.

Flare has run into a few problems in the past with the obnoxious Olympian pantheon, who see her as Eos, their goddess of the dawn. Flare is in fact capable of assuming that identity, and can take on many of the attributes of an Olympian goddess.

There were three other children left behind by her mother her sister Olga and her brothers Tomas and Philip. The four of them were meant to be the precursors of an entire race of blonde supermen. Hitler had planned for them, along with Flare, to be his vengeance on the world that had destroyed him. Where she had the power of light, her sister had the power of lightning. Where massive Tomas was as strong and sturdy as a rock, the shape-shifting Philip was capable of assuming the form of anyone he came into physical contact with.

They'd had to kidnap her mother and steal from her the genetic material that was needed to create them. Her older "sister" Helga was the one who did this to her mother. But it was her "father," Hans Gottmann, whose theories were being applied. And it was her wicked "uncle," Eric Schadel, who had provided the driving force behind the plan. But Hans Gottmann was no more her father than Helga was her sister or Eric her uncle.

She didn't have a father, she was her mother, more or less, with only a few differences. And as she grew older Flare began to realize more and more that she would one day follow in her mother's footsteps. She did exactly that when she turned fourteen.

When she was fourteen, she was artificially aged and sent out into the world on a mission to destroy the League of Champions, but she turned on her masters. Despite the fact that her accelerated aging had not stopped, and that only her creators held out the promise of a cure, she joined the League of Champions. She turned against evil, as her mother had done before her, and she did her best to help put an end to evil wherever she found it, once and for all.

In the years following, Flare has fought many costumed villains and bizarre menaces. She has honed her special abilities, learning how to do several tricks with her photokinetic powers. She can fly, generate dazzle bursts and she can absorb light. She can also, if she properly prepares them, generate complex visual illusions, a trick she learned how to do from her friend Rose.

Early in her career, she maintained a civilian identity as a librarian at the local public library, to this day she tries as often as she can to stop by that library and read for the children.

Personality/Motivation:

Flare is an outgoing, friendly, and somewhat flirtatious young woman. But when she's on a mission, or has to enter into combat, she is very determined and serious. She can be a strong ally and a good friend to have, but she also has a terrible temper. She is not someone you want to get angry.

Quotable Quote: "Let's add some Flare to the situation"

Powers/Tactics:

In a fight, Flare is at her best when engaging in ranged combat. This doesn't mean she can't handle herself in a fist fight whenever she has to. She is strong and tough and has been trained in basic combat techniques by the Huntsman.

She is also an extraordinary tactician. As the Huntsman has declared on more than one occasion, if you give Flare enough information, she will almost always make the right tactical choice.

Flare uses her Solid Flare attack more than any of her other attacks. It's her "stand-by' attack and is very effective as well. Her Sharp Flare attack is very effective and very deadly. She will only use it against opponents that she knows will not be killed by it. She will also use it against vehicles and structures due to its ability to render more destructive powers against them than her other attack.

She has two different flare attacks at her disposal. The first, her Flare Burst, can blind everyone within 6" of the spot she has chosen to release the burst. The second attack, Strobe Flare, will create a bright flashing light over two phases. Both of these attacks are effective however, these attacks affect everyone in the radius. The attacks do not differentiate between friend and foe.

She has another specialized attack that she doesn't use very often, Dazed and Confused. This attack blinds and stuns much like a flash-bang grenade is known for. Anyone caught in the area of effect will suffer the effects of the attack. This attack, like her flash attacks, she has learned to be careful in its placement to ensure that her teammates aren't affected.

She does this to ensure that her teammates are not caught up in the attack. She will allow them to be affected if it is necessary to save them from an attacker. Of course, her teammates aren't always receptive to this excuse.

She can also see in anything but absolute darkness. If there's even a trace of light, Flare will be able to see. She's also virtually immune to any light-based attacks directed against her. And if she has enough time to do it, she can prepare light-based illusions.