Heroes

Marika Prochazka and her family came to America as refugees fleeing the violence that frequently erupted when you lived near Baron Blade's homeland. As a young American girl trying to learn the language of her country at school, she was drawn to the art of illusion. Marika learned to do tricks that amused her classmates, allowing her to make friends and tell stories without relying on her broken English.

At 16 Marika started working as a magician's assistant, but she grew tired of that role and at the age of 18, she set off on her own to be a magician. It did not go well. She could pull off big, amazing tricks, but none of that mattered, because she couldn't hold the audience. She flopped in Vegas, she flopped in Atlantic City, she flopped in Florida and even Cleveland.

At 21 the Magnificent Mara was performing on a cruise ship that stopped in China. While exploring the streets of old Shanghai looking for props, costumes or inspiration, Marika entered an old shop. In the window display was a beautiful magic wand. The young girl inside was helpful and a relentless seller, and when Mara left the shop she had the wand, as well as a weird (and rather ugly) hat, a crystal on a chain, and a bizarre pendant.

She soon found that these four items were not just interesting props, but items of immense magical power, and the Magnificent Mara gave up performing illusions, and started using real magic to help others.

Ministry of Strategic Science promo: Being a hero introduced Mara to the true evil in her world, and when she looked for allies to help her, she found the Ministry of Strategic Science. She felt instantly at home amongst their strange assortment of supernatural operatives. However, she couldn't shake the notion that the Ministry's interest lay, not in herself, but in the relics she possessed. Relics whose true power she was only beginning to comprehend.

1929 promo: When a group of heroes disappeared in a teleportation accident Mara volunteered to help search for them. She sought the help of Faye Diamond, an expert in occult objects. With Faye's help, Mara uncovered new secrets about about her relics, eventually opening a time portal in her kalpak. It disturbed her, knowing the old hat she'd casually worn in her last stage performance had such power. But what disturbed her more was Faye's proclamation that Mara had a special connection to such objects of power; not just her four, but other relics as well. A connection that might be useful to find her friends in the past. The tricky part would be finding a way back...