Gaia

PHASE 2

Gaia
Portrayed by McKenna Grace
Codename:	Gaia
Affiliations:	Generation X
Birthdate:	Unknown
Journal:	xp_gaia
Player:	Roy

The corner of her mouth twitched up. “You asked for my name. You may call me Gaia.”

Fresh from another universe, Gaia is getting her footing in this new world, armed with telekinesis and the power to warp reality.

Details

Character Journal: xp_gaia

Real Name: Gaia

Codename: Gaia

Aliases: Gianna Stone (given)

First Appearance: September 7, 2024

Date of Birth: Unknown

Place of Birth: Unknown

Citizenship: Unknown, American (given)

Relatives: Unknown

Education: Unknown

Relationship Status: Single

Occupation: Unemployed, Former Key to the Citadel of the Universal Amalgamator at the End of Time

Team Affiliation: Generation X

Biography

Before

Gaia grew up in another universe. She had a loving family, parents and a younger sibling. Or, at least, she thinks they were loving. Gaia cannot remember much about what she calls “before”. She knows that she had a family, but can’t remember their names or faces. She knows she had a life, but can’t remember what it was.

The thing she remembers most vividly is the night she was kidnapped. A few days after she had manifested as a mutant, she went to sleep in her bed and awoke in another place she would learn was called the End of Time — a reality created and ruled by a force, something more than human or mutant, calling itself ‘The Amalgamator.’

She found herself chained to an altar and told that her purpose was to act as the key to a grand machine called the Universal Amalgamator. To underscore the point, her kidnapper killed her family in front of her to sever her tie to her home universe, and then claimed to have annihilated that as well. There was no returning home.

Gaia spent a very long time acting as the key, during which she was alone save for the occasional visitor seeking either knowledge from or access to the Universal Amalgamator. Most of her time was spent alone, bathed in the power of the nexus universe and communing with the Amalgamator.

This all changed when a creature calling itself M-Plate arrived to demand she activate the machine. As always, Gaia refused. M-Plate then attempted to use her marrow to activate it themselves, but failed. They left only to return towing a stranger with a rainbow aura, but this was interrupted by the sudden arrival of even more visitors who fought the original supplicant. The young team proceeded to free Gaia, but destroyed the citadel in the process.

As the citadel crumbled, many dimensional portals opened. Gaia leapt through the first she could find, keen on freedom despite the risk.

Arrival At The X-Mansion

During the events of Genesis, Gaia emerged from The Wormhole in The Chapel's basement, showcasing an impressive amount of power and control over her reality warping as she fled the eXcalibur members intent on containing her. This was short lived, as she promptly fell into a coma. During the weeks she was under, Gaia experienced telekinetic fits of distress that required a power dampener to be put on her. This was extremely distressing when she finally woke up after psychic probing by David Haller, with Namor and Meggan Szardos as witness.

For a month or so after resurfacing from her coma, Gaia remained in quarantine in the Chapel and uncooperative with any questioning from eXcalibur. Namor prodded vague answers from her, while Marius managed to get her name. Jay Guthrie created a tentative connection with her through music that would be carried on later. However, most conversation led to more questions then answers. Nobody quite knew what to make of their extradimensional guest. Gaia was not deemed a threat in the end though and was granted a place to stay at the mansion. She became roomates with Laura Kinney, another new arrival.

Gaia wasn't really one for socializing, preferring to explore the house and observe its residents in solitude while adjusting to her new reality. This included some impromptu excursions in the outside world that usually required retrival from either Marius, who she had formed an odd attachment to, Kyle, or Doug. Her bond with Laura grew stronger as the pair explored and got into various shenanagins, from challenging townie kids harassing the Mansion to sneaking Gaia into Laura's school for the day. The telekinetic also became friends with Liam, as well as some of the other Generation X kids.

But it wasn't all roses, as Gaia had a lot of learning to do. Basic tasks and sef care had to be taught to establish the baseline of normality that could be expected at the mansion. She also experienced frustrations with her powers. Her reality warping was no longer accessible and she struggled to get the hang of the TK she was left with. Sensory overload was common and fatigue from power usage (often exacerbated from forgetting to eat) caused infrequent fainting spells. Eventually, her struggles were discovered by Quentin Quire who offered his instruction on the TK front. Soon after, Haller offered his advice and suggested she take up sculpture as a way to channel her emotions and practice telekinesis with a malleable medium.

While things were quiet for a while, trouble followed like it does everyone who lives at the mansion. Gaia and Liam accompanied Laura to Prom Night at Bayville Charter High with Doug and Kyle as PTA-assigned chaperones. Halfway through the night, the Weapon X operative Kimura tried to abduct Laura from the school. Gaia helped her friend fight off the assailant. Afterwards, Laura revealed much of her creation and past to the two, drawing them closer together.

Kyle sought out Gaia some months after her arrival to discuss schooling options, as the adjustment period they were giving her had ended. While her previous situation was not known it was obvious she did not have any formal education and had much to learn. It was also clear that she would not do well being made to attend a regular high school, and that they had no idea of the benchmarks she was able to hit. They decided on a "unschooling" style of teaching - Kyle would take Gaia to the library to choose some books on topics that interested her, she would read them, and then her and Kyle would elaborate further. While a controversial method, it seemed the best option for someone in Gaia's situation.

Physical Characteristics

Gaia looks like your average 15 year old girl at first glance, but any closer inspection reveals she is not quite right. Something about the proportions, facial expressions, mannerisms, and way she is is a bit unsettling. Her biology is slightly different than humans from this universe, though whether it is because of her extended stay at the End of Time or being from another universe is unknown.

Height: 5’5”

General Build:

Eyes: Grey, they glow when she uses her powers

Hair: Pink

Other Features: A series of faint white symbols line her spine.

Powers

Reality Warping: Gaia can draw on an extra-dimensional source of matter and energy in order to influence matter according to her will. This does not affect the stability of the universe she resides in. Back at the End of Time, she was supercharged with energy from the Amalgamator, but in XP’s universe she is constantly running on empty from her own extra-dimensional reserves. Her reserve “tank” is used to a lot more energy than available to her now and it causes her to overextend herself.

• Matter transmutation and manipulation: This was the power that called the Amalgamator to her in the first place. Gaia can transmute matter according to her will, but without a power source, it is rendered essentially non-viable. Paper-clip sized objects are about the largest she can transmute and that can take her out for an extended amount of time. Unless attached to the Amalgamator or other large power source for plot purposes, it is not going to come up very often. Development for this power is locked because even with training, she will never be able to get enough power to sustain it on her own.

Telekinesis: Gaia possesses telekinesis outside of her reality warping.

• Object Manipulation: This includes levitating, throwing, nudging, pushing, pulling, binding, and doing more delicate maneuvers with objects, including herself. She has limited control over this and more fine tuned movements are more difficult. Initially, anything that an average person could pick up, around half her body weight, she can levitate with no issue. Anything above that requires her to touch it to focus and be able to move it. This appears to be a sort of super strength, but is actually tactile telekinesis. The initial weight limit for TTK is around 125 pounds without strain, and eventually expanding to 250. Non-tactile telekinesis has an initial weight limit of around 60 pounds and is eventually expanded to 120. Getting used to her earth limitations and gaining strength would be important in expanding both those ranges. While in theory moving objects above her weight limits would be possible, it would not be without physical toll.
• Shielding: Gaia can also utilize her telekinesis to create a personal shield that wraps around herself tightly and cannot be extended to others. She cannot do this while manipulating an object initially, just one or the other. Powerful or unexpected attacks do have the ability to crack and break the shield.

Rudimentary psionic perception: Gaia has some very basic telepathic abilities. She can sense people’s general intentions and emotions. It is tied to her seeing heavy and more than what the average person does, since she interacts with intangible states of reality. It could eventually evolve into being able to pick up full, coherent thoughts.

General Limitations: In the beginning, Gaia is limited to using one ability at a time until she is able to expand her concentration. She has to eat a lot and sleep a lot. She gets a lot of headaches, fatigue, and fainting, and in more severe cases spitting up blood, nose bleeds, and physical pain.

Specifics Limitations:

• Reality warping no-nos: Living things and essential laws like time and gravity are a not possible with her reality warping.
• Energy cost: There are varying degrees to which things drain her energy. Anything under the umbrella of reality warping takes a lot more energy than telekinesis or the psionics, and she has limited stamina with utilizing telekinetic energy in the beginning.
• Distance/Perception: Generally has to be within 20 feet of a person to pick up anything with psionics, though this range could be potentially expanded through training. Same thing for telekinesis, with a range of around 75 feet for non-tactile. For any transmutation she would theoretically have to be touching it when not connected to a power source.

Equipment

A palette of energy bars that taste like protein nothingness.

Trivia

N/A

External Links

xp_communication posts

[html link xp_journal posts]

xp_logs posts

Plots

2024

Genesis

2025

Prom Night

Meta

Player: Roy

Player Icon Base: McKenna Grace

Meta Trivia

Gaia's story in the original Generation X run always intrigued me, and I'm very excited to get to explore some of it through the game.