Genetrix

Genetrix
Biographical Information
Real Name	Niobe Winslow
Aliases	Genetrix
Gender	Female
Class	Joker-ace
Wild Card Traits	Tail-like ovipositor
Social Information
Citizenship	Citizen of the United States
Relatives	Rachel Winslow (mother), unnamed father, Noel (husband), Jasper (son)
Allies	Amazing Bubbles, Little Fat Boy, Living Gods
Origin

Genetrix is a fictional character from the Wild Cards series of books.

History

Niobe Winslow grew up in Boston, Massachusetts in a very wealthy household. Niobe's card turned when she was very young and as a result her mother, Rachel Winslow, mortified at the thought of having a joker for a daughter, tried to pass Niobe off as one of her cousin's children and referred to her as her niece.

When Niobe was in her teens she had sex with a boy from school and discovered that her thick tail was actually an ovipositor, an organ used to lay eggs. The eggs hatched and became her first clutch of children. Like all her children, these homonculi had a short life and died in a matter of weeks. Niobe was so crushed by the death of her children that she attempted to violently cut off her tail. Her parents found her unconscious in the bathroom, laying in a pool of her own blood, after which her parents sent her to the BICC to be experimented on.

Wild Card Traits

Niobe has a large, thick tail-like ovipositor. When she has sex the ovipositor is stimulated and lays a clutch of two to four eggs that quickly hatch into miniature and short-lived homonculi. These homonculi, Niobe's children, are always either an ace, a deuce, or a joker (with the great majority being either aces or deuces, in contrast to normal wild card odds). Any vaginal sex will cause Niobe to create new homonculi, regardless of the fertility of herself or her male partner.

Homonculi

Niobe's homonculi followed an alphabetical naming convention prescribed by the researchers at the BICC. During the two years she spent there, she laid 26 clutches of eggs (the children's names going from A to Z). After she escaped from the institution, the children from the two clutches of eggs she laid while on the run followed the same naming theme. The four children that hatched from the egg clutch fathered by Noel had names chosen by both parents, not following the same alphabetical order as their siblings.

The homonculi that appeared in the novels or were mentioned by name were, in (approximate) order of birth:

• Aaron (male; had superstrength)
• Cameron (male; had healing powers and was described as "piebald")
• Gabriella (female; mentioned as having blue hair and infectious laughter)
• Wynn (female; folding paper cranes allowed her to seal away people's memories)
• Xerxes (male; could change his features to match anyone else's; was the longest lived of all the homonculi, living for about a month)
• Xue-Ming (female; powers unknown)
• Xander (male; powers unknown)
• Yves (male; could run up walls)
• Yvette (female; possessed telepathy)
• Yectli (male; an albino, could produce small lightning bolts from his fingertips)
• Zoë (female; she could project her voice to echo everywhere, and it had the power to disrupt anyone's concentration)
• Zane (male; had tentacles like an octopus' and similar camouflage powers)
• Zenobia (female; could phase through solid objects and create clouds of mist)
• Avender (male; drew the Black Queen almost immediately after birth)
• Agatha (female; also drew the Black Queen shortly after birth)
• Benedict (male; had blue skin and white hair, described as "a one-man waste-disposal unit")
• Avender (male)
• Baxter (male; had control over anything electrical)
• Belit (female; was very agile, had superstrength and a muscular build)
• Gabriel (male; could make flowers blossom from existing plants)
• Delia (female; could summon nearby animals)
• Bethany (female; powers unknown)
• Iolante (female; had feathery antennae, wings and lavender hair, was capable of flight)

Appearance

Niobe is described as very homely and overweight, with acne scars on her face, short chestnut hair, green eyes and a long and thick mottled grey tail covered in bristles.

Selected Reading

• Wild Cards Volume XIX: Busted Flush
• Wild Cards Volume XX: Suicide Kings