Origin
One of the smartest girls in her high school class and coming from a lower middle class family she didn’t put much into make up, clothes or other things of that nature. She was bullied constantly, by a group of popular girls and a few of the jocks and party boys, sometimes to the point of being intimidated and even hit. Hanover’s focus was education and trying to get out of the living check to check lifestyle her parents lead. While she did have friends, none of them would stand up to the bullies fearing if they did the school would punish them instead.
Hanover grew to despise her bullies. One day, Jen Mason, one of the popular girls, had a hunch about her, as Hanover had never shown any interest in any of the boys and seemed far more interested in girls. She befriended a confused Hanover and soon invited her to a sleepover. At said sleepover Hanover was taken to another room by Jen and invited to perform a sex act with her. Hanover was, both shocked and elated as she never told anyone her secret and Jen was indeed very attractive. What she didn’t know was she was being recorded. Soon Jen blackmailed her with the footage getting Hanover to do her homework and other menial and sometimes arduous task. Jen’s friends were all impressed by how she got Hanover to serve her. Hanover had a retail job she would save the money from to move out, but Jen soon started demanding money from her. When she couldn’t afford to keep giving her money, Jen released the video, leading to more bullying even though Jen was also engaged in the act she was the one tormented.
On Halloween Hanover’s “nerd” friends had a get together and one of them bought a Ouija board. Hanover was very interested as her grandmother, aunt and a few cousins had always claimed to be able to predict the future and other things she consider BS, but she herself had encounter apparitions and ghostly presences in the past, but believed such things to be just ways her family were using to scam people out of money. They decided to go to a graveyard and play with it. They began asking questions and being amused by the supposed answers, until they asked one spirit what who they were and the board simply spelled K I L L E R. They all laughed making snide remarks and Hanover said then, “Kill Jen Mason.” They all howled with jeers and laugher.
The next day Hanover came into class and the bullies weren’t bothering her. They seemed sad and lethargic. And Jen hadn’t been seen. Hanover didn’t even think about the board until later that evening when Jen’s friends, began to push and hit her calling her a witch. She didn’t know what happening until one girl said, “That bitch killed Jennifer!” Jen Mason, a healthy eighteen year old, had died in her sleep from what some form of cardiac arrest and someone had told them what Hanover said while playing with the Ouija board. Hanover was afraid, but suddenly turned and said, “And you’ll all die too.” The girls all backed away, some began to cry and beg. They told the principal who shrugged it off as teen drama.
Hanover loved this newfound power. She began to change, dressing more provocatively, while not overtly sexual, just enough to get gain attention and favors. She had no problem telling people off and would do small things to trigger or even threaten her former tormentors. Even the jocks wouldn’t deal with her after one of them blew out their knee during a game. The team lost. While totally unconnected, she took advantage of this by saying, “Great game,” to some of the guys who used to tease and mock her. This little psychological manipulation led to a losing streak attributed to her putting a spell on this team. She began to study various types of magic, her biggest interest being necromancy.
In college she fell in with various self proclaimed witches and covens that usually turned out to just be attention seekers who actually became afraid when her magic prowess showed itself. She had also developed a keen postcognition and comic awareness, dabbling in Chaos magic and energy movement. One day while at a gathering of “witches” from all over the country she met a Tarot reader named Blue and her ward, a guy around Hanover’s age named Damious. Blue instantly took to her and introduced her to Atraria Atenio, leader of The Sisterhood of Lilith. While she couldn’t care less about the cult itself, Atraria caught her eye. Hanover burned with desire for her and they began a torrid affair almost immediately.
After leaving college with a masters degree she began teaching as adjunct. But as she began her new career Atraria became more domineering, demanding more time with the group and her. She would have violent outburst when rejected, but who later seduce her with apologies and passionate sex. And while she was used to Atraria’s outburst it came to head during an argument when Hanover mocked the very idea of “Lilith” and “bringing her back to earth” when she found this wasn’t metaphorical, but an actual belief. Atraria smacked her and threw her across a room dislocating her shoulder. Atraria bared actual claws and fangs. Her eyes went black and her voice boomed as she grabbed Hanover and pinned her against the wall by her neck. Atraria’s sister, Akasha, and Blue managed to talk her down.
Atraria later apologized, but Hanover was done. She didn’t even want to be touched, but Atraria forcefully popped her shoulder back into place and then began to initiate sex. Hanover shoved her off with such force Atraria flew across the room. Both women were shocked. It wasn’t strength, it was power. Atraria, impressed, let her be. Hanover took her important stuff and left Nightevil’s mansion. She stayed in a hotel for a week, but Atraria visited her to ask her to come back. She hadn’t told anyone where she was. Was she being watched?
Hanover moved into her own apartment. She cast protection spells and barriers and stopped going to SOL meetings and events, but Atraria still found her. Because of having to spend so much money to get an apartment she was living on a quickly dwindling savings. Atraria would offer her money and rewards to come back. Hanover would always decline eventually taking a job at a local college where she taught humanities for several years, weaving in her brand of necromancy introducing various classes to the Ouija board as a discussion of history and lore.
One night after class some of her students got their own board over the weekend and used it outside of class. When various noises and event started happening, they believed they were being assailed by demons. One of students went to an ex-priest turned Baptist preacher, “Father” Michael Damien. He burned the board and said binding prayers. But it didn’t end there. The students told him everything and he went to the college board. Parents found out and Hanover was fired. She vowed vengeance and under cover of darkness she burned his storefront church and then his home. Pastor Damien was never found and believed to have perished in the fire, but Hanover claims she was sure no one was in the church or house, as her goals was taking from him the things he loved and worked for. A former member of the church, Victor Locke, and a vampire called Decoy, both suspect her of starting the fire, but they have no evidence of it.
After all that had happened, one of the students involved in the original incident was found dead with his own board nearby. He seemed to suffer what appeared to be a shotgun blast to the face, but no evidence of a gunshot was present. The board was being used and the case is being looked at by Detective Peter Graysen and FBI Agent Eric Tsang. This too was laid at her feet. Eventually visits from Nightevil ground to halt since Atraria married Damious.
Hanover is now an admin at Frank Stein Industries and a freelance tutor as a side gig. She is moving toward using her magic for full time income as others in her family have via fortune telling, helping with police investigations, etc. She is in an on again off again relationship with her “enforcer” Xinécta.
Powers and Abilities
Hanover comes from a family where various members claim to be able to read Tarot cards, perform exorcisms and other “psychic” feats. It’s not known how good they were at any of this of if they can actually do it at all, but apparently they did make livings from it, but Hanover does indeed have mystical abilities and is well versed in various rituals, invocations and binding spells.
Hanover has developed a powerful postcognative ability that activates by touch. She’s learned to dampen it so it works only when she choses, but it can still kick in if she touches something that has strong emotions connected to it, such as a wedding dress, murder weapon or vehicle that was in an accident. She also has precognition and comic awareness. While not as powerful as her post cognition, she can usually figure out what’s happening, specifically in regard to things that effect her.
Hanover has trained herself to do astral projection, which also aids in her comic awareness. In her astral form she can travel to various places in this and other dimensions at a thought and also see creatures and beings we can’t, and in some cases aren’t supposed, to see.
Hanover learned how to carve her own wand by watching Blue’s ward Damious, who taught her how to use it as a focus to project concussive bolts of magic. Once one gets good they can project various types of magic and make the mystical energy affect things in various ways. She can project bolts from it that can force a person back sometimes knocking them off their feet, singe them or catch their clothes on fire. In times of distress she has been known to project an actual concussive blast from her body able to knock people across rooms. This is usually activated by her pushing, punching or kicking something or someone.
Addiction
Hanover is addicted to a drug called Psychoblast that expands her mental capabilities for a few minutes of time. While she doesn’t always need it, her preference is to use it and she has become dependent on it though she’s perfectly capable without it.