Manuel de la Rocha

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Details

Character Journal: x_empath

Real Name: Manuel Alphonso Rodrigo de la Rocha

Codename: Empath

Aliases: Manuelito, Manny

First Appearance: Dec 11, 2003

Date of Birth: November 22, 1984

Place of Birth: Madrid, Spain

Citizenship: Spanish citizen with false American citizenship

Relatives: Father (deceased): Alphonso de la Rocha; mother (deceased): Carmelita de la Rocha; step-mother: Adoracion de la Rocha. Possibly has an infant sister, but this has never been confirmed.

Education: Graduate of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters with a GED.

Relationship Status: Single (previously involved with Amanda Sefton)

Occupation: Businessman, currently recuperating at Muir Island Research Facility.

Team Affiliation: None.

Biography

Childhood

Manuel was born and raised in Madrid, Spain. His father, Alphonso Rodrigo de la Rocha, dabbled in import-export as well as various nefarious activities. His family dates back in an unbroken line to the time of the Ceasears of ancient Rome. His mother was an exotic dancer named Carmelita and only sixteen years of age when Manuel was born. He spent his childhood learning the skills of nobility - how to dress, how to dance, how to play music, and how to fence. He also travelled extensively with his father on business trips all over Europe, specifically to Prague, Paris, Rome, and Berlin.

When he turned twelve his mutation began to manifest itself - he would see colors connecting people and surrounding them that would flux and writhe based on people's emotional states. This is how he learned that both his parents were carrying on affairs behind his back. He was indiscreet about using his knowledge - often, he did so without realizing it. Things came to a head thanks to this new friction in the de la Rocha household, and his father poisoned his mother in a fit of jealous rage. Alphonso managed to conceal Carmelita's death from Manuel, creating a fabricated story that she had gone to visit relatives in Basque country. Manuel's lack of control soon became completely obvious - and it didn't take Alphonso long to realize that his son had cracked and to kick him out of the house.

Living on the Streets

Manuel's power, then thoroughly out of control, ruled his life for two full years. He was at the emotional mercy of everyone and anyone within his steadily-increasing range. He managed to make a friend named Pablo, and with Pablo's help he discovered what he would later call The Mirror. By focusing in tightly on one person's emotional signatures, by losing himself in the colors and threads, he could block everyone else out. The problem with this technique is that he's powerless against the person he's using as the Mirror. His other form of empathic defense was music - as he grew more skilled he could use music as a form of the Mirror, putting himself at the mercy of the emotional feel of a piece of music to block out all other external influences. He became a minor celebrity in the Madrid club scene due to a combination of his empathic ability as well as his natural talent in music. Manuel made a living via empathic coercion - people would just give him whatever he wanted in order to survive. As he grew older, he began using his power as a bludgeon to dominate men and women both into becoming his lover, to taking care of him like he was the most important thing in their lives. It was Pablo in conjunction with the Spanish federal police who apprehended Manuel during one rather spectacular bender.

The Asylum

Manuel, condemned as insane by the Spanish legal system, languished in a very specially-chosen institution. His father pulled some strings in order to get Manuel committed to a facility that was a front for a group of renegade chemists and geneticists looking into doing their own independent research into human mutation. He was tortured, abused, chemically manipulated, and trained in empathic mindbreaking techniques. Various chemicals, such as lithium, were used to artificially dampen or heighten his empathic talent. Due to the sadistic nature of the orderlies, Manuel was also sexually abused for years. He was rescued when he cut a deal with Emma Frost help her escape the asylum - she was being held captive so that Manuel could use his power to break her mental shields and extract information from her formidable mind. The rescue effort was a success and Manuel was taken from Spain to America.

First Year At Xavier's

Manuel spent his first few weeks at the mansion in a coma, recovering from the large amount of drugs that had been pumped into him. Wasted and weakened from months of immobility in the asylum, upon awakening, he was confused and disoriented, a condition that only continued as he became acquainted with his new fellows. Proud and aristocratic, he alienated people from the start with his haughty attitude and propensity to use his empathic powers to get his way, although he made some friends initially: Marie-Ange Colbert, Doug Ramsey and Marie D'Ancato primary among them. Fellow Hellfire Club member and scion of another wealthy family, Shinobi Shaw was another student with whom Manuel made some rapport. But the most unexpected relationship was that with British punk witch, Amanda Sefton. Caught up in one of her power highs and inadvertantly establishing an empathic link, they began an on-again, off-again relationship that would prove to be the most constant thing in his life at Xavier's.

Used by Kwannon to help imprison Betsy Braddock inside her own mind, Manuel had his power blocked for his own safety and that of others for several months, made to wear an inhibitor bracelet. Between training with Nathan Dayspring and Charles Xavier, he was weaned back onto his power, but it was in Asgard that he was finally able to overcome it, thanks to the training he received from Loki.

Manuel's libido, never fully controlled, got him into considerable difficulty when he chose Jubilee as his 'bit on the side' as per his open relationship with the emotionally-skittish Amanda. His dislike for Amanda's best friend Angelo Espinosa came close to sabotaging the relationship entirely when he overheard her tell Angelo she loved him, something she had yet to actually say to her link-mate. Feeling betrayed, he took his pleasure with Jubilee, letting Amanda feel everything through the link and driving the witch into another bout with her addiction that was only ended when the dysfunctional pair talked and she finally told him the three magic words he'd been waiting for.

Things continued to be rocky for Manuel, despite the reconciliation. Unable to connect with his fellow students and having lost several friends due to departures or through his own actions, he became increasingly bitter and isolated, realising at last that he had to discard the trappings of his old life in order to establish his new one. Attending a Hellfire Club function for his 21st birthday, he intended to resign his position as White Knight to Emma Frost. His father, Alphonso de la Rocha had other plans - disapproving of his son's attempts to free himself of his family obligations and his choice of girlfriend, Alphonso had made an arrangement with Selene to make his son more pliable. Manuel and Amanda barely escaped with their lives, and Manuel's memory and power were shattered by Selene's mind control spells.

A Clean Slate

With no memory of anything emotionally resonant and disowned by his father, Manuel struggled to rebuild his life. He was able to establish several new friendships and resolve old conflicts, however flashes of the 'old' Manuel continued to dog his life. An exorcism by Amanda's guardian Romany Wisdom and the London Coven removed the bulk of Selene's influence, allowing him to remember more of his old life and a Valentine's 'gift' from his father, a DVD of the beating meted out to Amanda at the Hellfire Club incident reopened his access to his powers.

When Alphonso was murdered, apparently by Pete Wisdom, and Manuel discovered Amanda had known of the plan for months prior, he reverted to his old ways and threatened her with his powers. She left, leaving him angry and grieving, for his father and for Lusyana, one of the Askani empaths who had been teaching him via Nathan's subconscious mind. Reconciliation upon Amanda's return was very slow in coming, but eventually they began rebuilding their relationship, only for Amanda to turn to Selene. In her last 'gift' to him, she tore out the link, before teleporting herself to the Hellfire Club. Manuel went off the rails, nearly driving Tommy Jones to suicide and almost being expelled. Amanda's return, following Selene's defeat at the hands of Pete and the X-Men, drove him from the mansion entirely, and he accepted a position with Gideon Faraday's company, Eris. He began establishing a new life for himself, associating with the only two friends he had left, Marius Laverne and Jennie Stavros.

With Gideon's death, Eris fell apart and with it Manuel's job and prospects. He went to Spain, to attempt and reclaim some of his birthright and using old family connections to sustain himself. When Marius also left the school, it was Manuel and Jennie who accompanied him on his European travels, assisting him as best they could. Caught in an empathic loop generated by Marius' use of Manuel's powers through regular feeding, things ended in disaster when Manuel and Jennie were caught up in a lucksnap caused by her over-using her powers. Manuel saved Jennie from being struck by a runaway truck, but sustained serious injuries in the process.

Further Information

Transferred from a Monaco hospital to Muir Island Research Facility, Manuel slipped into a coma shortly after a final visit from Amanda. His condition remains serious and unchanged.

Physical Characteristics

Height: 5'10"

Weight: 158 lbs

Eyes: Brown (glow red when using his power)

Hair: Brown

Other Features: Scar tissue over his heart (from a tattoo being removed), currently suffering from multiple broken ribs and a fractured skull.

Powers

Manuel is an empath, a type of psi, able to both perceive and manipulate the emotions of others, extending to some higher-intelligence animals such as horses. His receptive range is approximately five kilometres, and he by necessity must use a portion of his power and his attention in shielding himself from the emotions of others.