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Character Info
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Created By
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Pat Cadigan
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Real Name
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Jane Lillian Dow (pronounced "doe")
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Class
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Wild Card Traits
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Water Control, Sexual Healing
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Status
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Citizen of the United States
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Occupation
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Waitress
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New York City
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Base of Operations
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First Appearance
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Last Appearance
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Affiliations
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Water Lily is Jane Lillian Dow, a woman with the power to control water. She became a somewhat famous ace in New York City in 1986-1987. A young woman at the time, Jane's most famous trait was her innocence. She came from a small town in Massachussetts to try her luck in New York, and soon got very involved with the public aces of the city. Water Lily was also somewhat unlucky, since her career as an ace saw her kidnapped by the murderous Egyptian Masons, duped by the Mafia, and possessed by Ti Malice. She had a friendship with ace restauranteur Hiram Worchester, and briefly worked as maitre'd at Aces High.
History
Jane Dow was born in a small town in Massachussetts. Her powers first manifested when she was 16. Her best friend Debbie had killed herself on account of a faithless boyfriend that had left her pregnant and then abandoned her. The boy didn't cry when he heard of Debbie's suicide. Jane Dow got furious, and made him cry, drawing water from his eyes while he screamed. After Debbie's death, her best friend was Sal Carbonne, who would have been perfect for Jane, except for the fact he was gay. Sal helped Jane learn more about her powers, and nicknamed her Water Lily. Tragedy stroke again when Sal died pointlessly when he slipped on the bathroom and drowned on his bathtub. Jane Dow then decided to move to New York City, it was 1986, and she was 21.
The naive girl was soon found by the Egyptian Masons, a sinister cult that employed several aces and jokers. The Masons pratically kidnapped her, and tried to convert Jane to their cause. In May of 1986, Water Lily was rescued by several of New York City's crimefighting aces, acting in concert to destroy the Masons. Now free, Jane got a humble job as a waitress and a small apartment. In September of 1986, she was again dragged into the dangerous world of aces when the Astronomer, the insane leader of the Masons, returned to enact vengeance on the aces. Jane survived again, and in the process met Hiram Worchester, who became infatuated with her and offered Jane a job on the Aces High restaurant.
Jane was never able to return Hiram's feelings, but she advanced quickly on Aces High's hierarchy, eventually becoming maitre'd. In 1987, Hiram was taken by the parasitic monster Ti Malice, becoming one of Malice's secret "mounts." His personal life began to deteriorate, and so did his famous restaurant. Jane Dow was forced to exert more and more authority with Hiram acting strangely and absent most of the time. In the Summer of 1987, Jane ended up discovering Hiram Worchester's secret, when she made him an unexpected visit and found him with the monstrous Ti Malice attached on his back. Malice and his followers captured Jane two, and the twisted joker made her one of his mounts. Now addicted to Ti Malice's "kiss" (the monster stimulated the pleasure centers of his victims while he mounted them), Jane was forced to commit several atrocities, and then was discarded when Malice got bored with her.
Desperate, Jane pathetically looked for help everywhere to shake the addiction, raving and incoherent. She eventually came to Croyd Crenson, the Sleeper, a rogue ace that had formely flirted with Jane on Aces High. At the time, the Sleeper was the carrier of a new variety of wild card, a mutated strain that could even reinfect aces. Jane was reinfected, and in a incredible stroke of luck, she drew the ace once again, gaining the unusual ability of curing victims of the wild card virus by having sex with them. Jane's reinfection also cured her of addiction to Ti Malice's kiss. But she was now a hunted woman, as news of her powers of sexual healing spread through Jokertown, and every male joker wanted to get a shot at her. Jane changed her name, cut and painted her hair, and went to work as an unremarkable waitress once again, abandoning the life of a public ace. She has never resurfaced.
Wild Card Traits
Jane Dow can manipulate water with the power of her mind. She is able to move water telekinetically, and also can draw water from air molecules, in effect conjuring water from thin air. In this way, she is able to create sudden rainstorms and instant floods, enough to seriously disorient people. But Water Lily's most impressive ability is the power to remove all liquid from living things, in a deadly dehydration attack that can reduce a living person to dry ashes in seconds.
Her power also tends to manifest itself when she is nervous or stressed, in a form of enhanced sweating; she drenches herself whenever she is feeling seriously threatened.
In June of 1987, Water Lily was reinfected by a mutant strain of the wild card virus. She became the only person ever to draw an ace twice, and gained another superpower. Now she also can cure victims of the wild card virus by having sexual relations with them. She had sex with a joker, and the man's deformities gradually vanished during the sexual act, and he completely reverted to human form when it ended.