Sister Shannon Masters

Sister Shannon Masters is a fictional Antarctic Press superheroine created by Ben Dunn, first appearing in Warrior Nun Areala volume one, in (December 1994).
Since has then appeared is several series of manga-style American comic books published by Antarctic Press that have endured on and off in various incarnations until the present day. The story revolves around Sister Shannon Masters of the Silver Cross, a fictional military order of Warrior Nuns and Magic Priests in service of the Catholic Church. The order was created in 1066 when a Valkyrie named Auria who renounced her pagan ways and turned to Jesus Christ for salvation; every since then, Auria, now Areala, has chosen an avatar ever generation to carry on the mission. In modern times, this has grown to a world spanning organization in the service of the Catholic Church with the current Areala, Sister Shannon Masters as the best and brightest. With her friends beside her, Sister Shannon has led the forces of good against those of evil, ever serving God with faith and humility.
Fictional character biography
Of all the Warrior Nuns, the most famous of them is their founder, the original Sister Areala who renamed herself after the angel Areala who chose her as her avatar. Since then, every few decades, a new Sister Areala comes along when a sister of the order has a vision of the original Sister Areala or the angel Areala during a near-death experience. Afterward, the angelic Areala will periodically meet with her avatar, giving her needed advice or information. The current Warrior Nun Areala is Sister Shannon Masters.
Sister Shannon Masters patrols the New York Archdiocese though she will freely go wherever she is needed. In addition to being the Warrior Nun Areala, she is acknowledged as one of the best and bravest of the order. The other sisters look up to her and she tries to be an effective role model. She in fact has so impressed others that glimpses of the future (at least two centuries into the future) show armies of Vatican made Sister Shannon androids having patrolled space, protecting the faithful across the galaxy.
When out of combat, Sister Shannon trains, instructs future Warrior Nuns, and (before he left) looked after her ward/"son" Jason, or pray.
Youth
An American, Shannon Masters was born after 1959 and was orphaned under mysterious circumstances. While she has tried to learn the identity of her real parents, she has had no success. The closest she ever came was a lead that took her to a haunted house; she learned that there had been a murder there years ago and on going in found a family picture which might have included her older sister, parents, and herself as a baby. While there she also killed a demon who had been holding the ghost of a priest prisoner for years. Before disappearing, the priest revealed that he did know her name and that she would learn the truth in time. In any case, she was an orphan at the age of four where on she was left at the steps of the Our Lady of the Virgin Mary convent by an unknown person. She remained there until she was adopted by the Yoma family of Japan. She lived in Japan with the Yomas until she was eleven years old but after showing exceptional academic and athletic abilities, she was chosen for the Silver Cross Program and was raised to be a Warrior Nun at upper New York State's Saint Thomas Academy. Thus her experience at the orphan school was more of a boarding school.
Growing up at the Saint Thomas Academy, she wrestled with feelings of self worth over how she had been orphaned. However, she over came those doubts and found a purpose for her life in her service to the Church as did her adopted sister, Sasuki Yoma of Japan. It was while she trained there under a young Mother Superion, then Sister Katherine, that she first met and befriended the future Sister Sarah, her best friend;, Shotgun Mary and her future love interest, the future Father David Crowe. They fell in love early on as teenagers and Shannon and David’s courtship was a happy one. Shannon was prepared to give it all up in order to marry Crowe and bear his children. However, Crowe’s love for God proved stronger than his love for her and he chose the priesthood. Shannon’s heart was broken at the loss of her love and with no other alternative became a nun. She took up her veil and received final training from Mother Superion her at Vatican City.
Early career
Though a rookie, Sister Shannon training was completed and she was sent home to New York City where she patrolled two sectors from her assigned parish, Saint Thomas Church in Manhattan where she first met Father Gomez and Jason. She was sent to patrol two sectors despite being a rookie on grounds that she was assigned to an area where there had not been demonic activity since the Purge of 1985. Replacing Sisters Sanguine and Hannah, she soon saw a sustained surge in New York City's demonic activity after her arrival. (A stock situation in comic books wherein the supervillains can appear only after a hero shows up.) She soon received her calling from the first Sister Areala after she was nearly killed in a battle with minions of Satanist and arms dealer Julius Salvius; his plan was to free Satan from his imprisonment and start doomsday early. On recognizing her as the Chosen One of that generation, the original Sister Areala gave Sister Shannon her name and awakened her latent power. Thus empowered, she managed to defeat Salvius.
Soon after, however, tragedy would strike. On hearing over the telephone that her adopted sister, Sasuki Yoma was dead, Sister Shannon promptly went to Japan to meet her family. However she learned from her Onmyoji grandfather, Ota Yoma, that Sasuki was likely still alive and kidnapped by oni. Sasuki had been kidnapped for learning how they and Neo-Nazis had struck an alliance for world domination. After escaping, Sasuki told Shannon of this. It was at this time that we are told of their family. Sisters Shannon and Sasuki then promptly called on the rest of the Catholic Corps and were aided by other Antarctic Press superheroes.
It was before or just after the former that she had smaller adventures such as taking Jason to a sailing ship at New York Harbor, which unfortunately turned out to be Flying Dutchman like ship of the damned. She was forced to work with the pirate ghost for Jason's sake though she managed to defeat him with the help of another pirate ghost. It was also about this time that she first met the Holy Man, an evil atheist who hates her as proof of what he refuses to believe in. He told her as much after murdering various clerics.
With that, Sister Shannon returned home though soon enough she began having prophetic nightmares concerning "gypsy witch" Scorpio Rose. Telling two stories at once, we are told of a centuries old cabal of devil worshipers within the Church who killed John Paul I. With his death, they tried to manipulate John Paul II with a zombie anti-pope in human form. Tracking them and the anti-pope to Vatican City, Sister Shannon and Scorpio Rose stormed the Apostolic Palace's Papal Apartments where they destroyed the antipope and exposed the cabal's plans. However, on seeing some of the Cardinals of the Church to which she had given body and soul thus corrupted, the Cardinals whom she had trusted to be models of sanctity turned to evil, Sister Shannon collapses in tears.
Her faith was dealt another blow when she met the Hammer. It was at this time that Sister Shannon received her first students and began a teaching career; one of them asked what would happen if a person's sense of right and wrong would conflict with church teachings. She replied that there can be no conflict. Scapegoating the Church for the Holocaust his father trained him to prevent, he vowed to uncover documents proving its evil for involvement in the ratlines and to murder any person, guilty or innocent, who opposed him. He did promise, however, to "mourn" those he killed. On learning of the ratlines, Sister Shannon was broken inside and when sent to protect Vatican City from the Hammer, was ultimately unable to do so and allowed him to pass. Her insubordination has not been uncovered.
She then clashed with the atheist Holy Man again and when he took hostages, Sister Shannon offered to be killed in their place. When that fell through due to the interference of one of her students—whom she chastised—they resorted to beating him into submission. It ended with their being seen a hidden camera in the rectory/convent. However, while faced with doubt, Sister Shannon's faith was as strong as ever as seen when she was interviewed on television about her past and the Warrior Nuns. She gave a ringing endorsement when she clashed with Nebelhexa's Golem, risking her life for the Church, the God, and the people she had sworn to serve.
A moment of joy (and humor for readers) came when she took her "son" Jason to Big Apple Convention. They went about buying comics books, getting autographs, and (to Sister Shannon's dismay) seeing the superheroine Glory who was displaying her to eager fanboys, albeit with the intent of using the profits from this for a worthy cause. However, fans in attendance were promptly menaced by a comic book writer who had literally sold his soul to the devil for fame. (With the Antarctic Press editorials prior to that comic book complaining about the state of the industry, it could also be commentary.) Fighting the comic book characters such as "Hellbud" and "Mistress Death Elf" that he, "Demon Spawn", had brought to life. Sister Shanon, Glory, and Magic Priest Father Goth were nearly defeated but with Jason discovered his own powers in time to free his surrogate mother.
Yet joy was tempered with sorrow when soon after Jason was taken to serve in Silver Cross. She was told that it would be for the best being that caring for him and training other Warrior Nuns was interfering in her own training. Even so, seeing the boy she had raised as a son leave her, Sister Shannon could not help but cry.
Confirmation as Areala
With Jason gone, Sister Shannon tried ignore the pain by throwing herself into her work in the thought that nothing, not even her love for him, should interfere. She was soon contacted and told that the God Armor was missing and that it should be found. The worldwide quest gave a story lasting several issues with the chief story being her first encounter with Nebelhexa. Sister Shannon won and with that her being the champion was made official when the Areala confirmed her as her avatar.
Personality and religiosity
Sister Shannon is portrayed is a kind and loving young woman, who cares very much for her friends and whose devotion is part of everyday life. For example, her interests include Marian apparitions and she has been seen reading books on the subject such as The Witness by Josyp Terelya. A paradox, she accepts traditional Christian views about women, that is to say Complementarianism, without question, and unlike some other Warrior Nuns—or former Warrior Nuns—takes for granted the lesser role of women in official Church Hierarchy even as she lives the role she has to the fullest. In that vein, she is seen to enjoy such domestic activities as baking muffins in her spare time. A virgin, she was also a mother to Jason and proved a gentle woman of nurturing love. She is also a good cook and enjoys cooking good meals for her surrogate family. Not in that vein and furthering the paradox, she enjoys things such as flying and, to her slight embarrassment, a life long fascination with all forms of violence..
She makes it a point to not use profanity partly due to good manners and—facing angels and demons, heaven and hell, on a daily basis—out of fear of the powers she knows she very well might invoke. Thus, she might occasionally think curse words—they appear in her thought balloons as jagged lines, never the actual words—but she never actually uses them outside of proper context saying "hell" in reference to the place and "damn" to literal damnation, something which as stated above she does not wish on anyone. For example, if someone says "What the hell" in shock and she notes that demonic activity is to blame, she says, Hell's right. When on rare occasion she does use a word such as "damn" in anger, she apologizes.
Sister Shannon is an exemplar of the seven virtues displaying all at once humility, temperance, charity, chastity, kindness, forgiveness, and diligence. (She also practices liberality, restraint, fortitude, and patience along with faith, hope, and love which are also sometimes included on the list of virtues.) As part of her religious beliefs and personality, she is also a great admirer of Mother Teresa and was deeply saddened at her death. Like the real life Fraternity of Notra Dame social worker—and martial artist—nuns on which she was partially based, Sister Shannon hopes that when she is old and no longer be able raise her sword, to emulate her heroine and devote the remainder of her life to Catholic charity as a "vocational" nun. (Term for non-Warrior Nuns.) and refuses to kill, even when authorized to use lethal force.
When dealing with non-human life, however, she is also capable of extreme violence. She will ally and even befriend non-humans such as werecat Brittany Diggers and aliens stranded on Earth because while not human, they are still children of God. Demons, on the other hand, she dismisses as "spawns" that betrayed her Lord and are thus sub-humans with no right to live whatsoever. While that for the most part is true she ignores the (admittedly rare) existence of "good" demons and instead sees demonic civilization is a monolithic group to which all demons unreservedly adhere and that they all deserve to die. Almost without exception, she sees their very existence as an affront to God and that they must be destroyed lest they assault the innocent. Intentionally inculcating herself with "the fever of faith," she, while not a sadist, can be a bloodlusting berserker towards demons.
As might be expected Sister Shannon is very devout and loves God. She takes her being a Bride of Christ, a man whom she dearly loves, very seriously. (To receive her Black Veil, she would have had to symbolically marry Jesus.) She says "Yes, I believe in God. And I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son and Heir" and "My greatest asset, really, is God. I don't mean that to sound pedantic or to proselytize. I really mean it. Swords and gadgets and armor are meaningless. Warrior Nuns have been defending God's works on Earth for centuries, often with nothing more than courage and faith as arms." and in trips experienced deepest ecstasy.
She wears a cross around her neck and regularly carries a rosary with her for prayer when off duty and uses it as a weapon when on duty. She almost always dresses in full religious habit when in public or private and on the few exceptions that she does not wear her habit, she will at least wear her veil.
Stemming from that she can be stern concerning people's moral choices, for her part not understanding why people choose evil when evidence of God's love is all around them in the natural beauty of the world God created and in the goodness that is indeed in every human heart. Yet with how humans so more often chose evil instead of good, committing acts of cruelty against each other, she sometimes wonders why God bothers protecting the human race at all, asking if humanity as a whole is so debased that human suffering is nothing but its just deserts . She has been seen remorsefully reflecting on her own sins and crying as she visualizes Christ crucified—her God and symbolic spouse—choosing to die to save her from those sins. Thus, she loves Him all the more seeing all that He does for humanity as further proof of His mercy and of the miracle of it; His mercy is a miracle because nobody deserves it. While she is adamant in seeing that people pay the consequences for what wrong they have done, in keeping with Christian charity, she believes in forgiveness, redemption, believing that "everybody -- no matter how bad they've been -- can be saved."
Her relationship with other religions varies. In line with post Vatican II Catholicism, she seeks to be ecumenical (even if she is far less ecumenical than the Catholic mainstream) while nevertheless seeing the Catholic Church as the one true church of the one true God. In her eyes, other Christian denominations and Abrahamic religions have degrees of truth and though she will concede the existence of the pagan gods, when the faith of others in their gods is put to the test, faith in the Almighty God always proves the stronger. An example of this is seen when on meeting Buddhist warrior nuns, Sister Shannon was asked to prove her worth by trail by combat because "only then will we know whose faith is greater." Though outnumbered five-to-one by martial artists with superhuman powers, she won quite handily. However, while she is leery of any non-Abrahamic religion, privately seeing pagan gods as shams and hers as the one true church, she is quick to apologize for any insensitive remarks she might make concerning beliefs differing from her own and seeks to respect peoples of other faiths. This perhaps partly due to her adopted grandfather being of another faith.
With how she is willing to resort to force of arms to protect the church, wears full habit to the point of the Black Veil, and sees Catholicism as the only true church, she may be a traditionalist Catholic like the Fraternity of Notre Dame nuns she was based on. Raised at the academy from childhood, she once remarked that her training there was very thorough. This can be seen with how at first she was portrayed as a zealot who saw the Church itself as a force that could do no wrong. When asked by one of her students if a Catholic were to be unsure of the morality of a Church decision, Sister Shannon responded that the only proper choice was one of utter allegiance to the Magisterium. As time passed this changed for Sister Shannon; she matured and now sees the Church as a human institution with human limitations, albeit one that is still the true Church and the instrument of God's will regardless of the ordinary—but mostly devoted and sincere—men that carry that will out.
Friendships and family
Kind, cheerful, and generous, Sister Shannon has since become an exemplary member of the Warrior Nuns, and has championed many assaults against the Forces of Hell on her own. She has faithfully served the church alongside her friends. Mentor Father Terrance Gomez proves a father figure offering guidance and aid. She was a fine foster mother to her charge Jason, though they have since parted ways with Jason going to the Academy himself. Though seemingly aloof and cold, her superior Mother Superion proved a guiding force in her life from early childhood and proves a patron in Vatican hierarchy. She gets along well enough with her childhood rival Shotgun Mary. She and her best friend Sister Sarah prove an invaluable team on and off the battlefield and are as close as sisters. Finally while she might not trust her, Sister Shannon has worked well enough with Lillith the Demon Princess.
She is also very close to Father David Crowe. Having loved each other since they were children at St. Thomas Academy, she and Father Crowe, whom she affectionately calls David, may never be able to consummate their relationship but they still care for one another.
Shannon is seen to love Father David Crowe. They fell in love early on as preteens and continue their relationship as adults. Indeed, although Sister Shannon does love her church and embraces her life as a nun, it was not her primary choice. Shannon and David’s courtship was a happy one and even though girls raised by the Silver Cross are expected to take up the black veil, Shannon was prepared instead to marry Crowe and bear his children. However, Crowe’s love for God proved stronger than his love for her and he chose the priesthood. Shannon’s heart was broken at the loss of her love and the family she would never have. Seeing no other alternative became a nun so that at least in some way she could remain close to him. She still loves him and even carnally desires him though she knows she will never be able to consummate their relationship. She at times wonders if he still desires her; although he is more muted in his feelings he does in fact still love her. Though she loves God as her Heavenly Father (as God the Father, Yahweh) and her Heavenly Husband (as God the Son, Jesus), she harbors lingering resentment towards Him for having stolen the man who could have been her earthly husband away from her.
She has also crossed over with and befriended Avengelyne, Steve Englehart heroine Scorpio Rose, Glory,and "Bad Girl" vigilante Razor. She is closest to Razor whom, after both were splattered with demon gore from head to toe after a battle, she cheerfully teased and ask if she "can't take it."
Also, unlike some, Sister Shannon Masters is seen to have an extended family. She was orphaned at the age of four and was abandoned at the Our Lady of the Virgin Mary Convent by an unknown person. She never knew her birth parents and has since worked to find out who they were. She has found various dead ends and false leads. She was adopted by a Japanese family headed by Ota Yoma, an old who in his youth served World War II's Imperial Japanese Army as a psychic soldier with the rank of captain. He claimed to have fallen in love with Sister Alicia (a.k.a. The Crimson Nun) thus begetting his daughter—and Sister Shannon's foster mother—Sakura. It has since been shown that Sister Alicia was not Yoma's lover. After Sakura grew up, whoever her mother was, she gave birth to Sasuki and apparently adopted Shannon. Despite likely being raised in Shinto, both Sasuki and Shannon converted to Catholicism early on ultimately becoming Warrior Nuns, much to their grandfather's dismay. Yet despite the fact that their grandfather belonged to another religion, they loved him regardless. Shannon and Sasuki are very close though they live worlds apart, one in Japan and the other in the United States. Despite being alone in her beliefs, Sister Sasuki is a devoted Kirishitan who sees Christianity as the only way of revitalizing Japan's spiritual soul.
Sasuki and Shannon both knew and loved the now dead Sister Alicia as their grandmother though they wondered at how their grandfather allowed her to keep her faith. Also, while Sister Alicia is dead, she has met her adopted granddaughter in heaven during Sister Shannon's first near-death experience. While it can be assumed that she does love Shannon, she urged the original Sister Areala to send her back to Earth on the grounds that she could still do much for the Lord. Her granddaughter has also researched her World War II exploits as the Crimson Nun, arch-foe of Nazi super-villains.
It is possible that she might have a biological sister. As stated earlier, the only hints of Shannon’s birth family revolve around her discovery of a haunted house whose owners were said to be killed—presumably by monsters connected to one girl’s demonic doll—and whose children disappeared. Also the first hints of the Warrior Nun Areala universe made their first appearances in Ninja High School #38, also written by Warrior Nun creator Ben Dunn. There we see a young witchling named Mimi Masters and her mother, Shanna, saved from an abusive stepfather, a mechanic named Stanley who was in fact a demon bonded to their family, by “Magic Priest” that is to say Father David Crowe in his first appearance. Shannon shares the same last name as the witch Mimi and the same red hair and Shannon has seen Mimi—and other Ninja High School witches such as Selina—in her dreams.
Abilities and weapons
Superpowers and skills
Trained since childhood, Sister Shannon, like other Warrior Nuns, is a master martial artist, Hand to hand combatant, and swordswoman, and an Olympic games level athlete. (She is sometimes drawn with the muscularity of a female bodybuilder.) She is also trained in other weapons such as the and hand lasers, and is a skilled scuba diver, paratrooper, and hovercar pilot. A very intelligent woman, she excelled in all her classes while training and she speaks fluent Japanese and some Chinese.
In keeping with her character, her attacks have Catholic inspired names such as Virgin Kick, Virgin Shield in which her cybernetic arm will create a force field to shield herself, or Holy Rosary Attack, at which her rosary's beads will separate and fire themselves at the enemy creating small explosions. She also wields other miraculous abilities such as being an exorcist and the ability to instantly heal others, an ability called "the healing hand." (However, she must keep physical contact with the person.) She can control her body temperature thus allowing her to withstand sub-zero weather with absolutely no protection due to how "the love and light of Christ burns within you." She can also endure desert heat without flinching, presumably using the same ability, though prolonged exposure to heat or cold can injure her. It is likely that all Warrior Nuns have these abilities as Shotgun Mary said that they would have the same abilities as the Magic Priests if they were only fully trained. (By extension, this means that if Sister Shannon were so trained, she would be able to fly, use mind control, or even fire energy bolts.) As the Warrior Nun Areala, she can also call on her patron's power thereby dramatically increasing her own. Like a magical girl she can utter a command when going into battle, in her case "Hail Mary! Mother of God!" at which her battle habit will appear. Since getting her cybernetic arm, she can also use a gem inset in her arm for that task.
Weapons
Sister Shannon's armor and sword are unique, both of which originally belonged to Areala the Angel of War who, as Auria, first possessed them as one of Odin's Valkyries. When she renounced her pagan ways, God accepted her conversion and stripped her and her weapons of their heathen energies and imbued them with His power. This was symbolized by how Odin's symbol, a sword of violence, was burned away from the armor and was replaced with the Christian cross of sacrifice. In times of great need, she might teleport them and use her strongest attacks, Shield of Vengeance and Wrath of God
The God Armor or Armor of God grants superhuman power on those who wear it and if damaged, it will repair itself; it also has a self defense mechanism. When seen by the Norse gods, they noticed that it had been imbued with power beyond any known in Asgard; wanting that power, Loki tried to take the armor for himself. For merely touching it, he was reduced to a smoking heap. Worried at what it could do to a pagan god, Odin had the Armor of God sealed away. However, by 1209 at the latest, it was in the possession of the Catholic Church for use mostly by the Warrior Nun Areala. In modern times, its chief user is Sister Shannon though with how its user risks madness and how it makes her sword lethal to anyone, human and demon alike, Sister Shanon will only use it in time of great need.
As for Sister Shannon's sword, it too belonged to Areala and was sealed away, to be later reclaimed by the Church. The Christianized blade is now called the Sword of Antioch, likely named after the city of Antioch due to its role in early Christianity. It, like most holy swords, slays demons and some non-humans but "phases" through humans, leaving most unharmed. If the person is evil, the person will feel pain and be traumatized by images of Hell. Unlike other holy blades, it, independent of touch, can also force visions of past crimes on human criminals and/or servants of evil. Even if that person was not aware of what he or she was doing, they will be forced to relive their crimes and see them for what they were; thus, said criminals will feel guilt and repent.
While those are her primary weapons, she also has a good deal of other tools. She pilots a speeder bike like two-seater hovercar is called "Angel Wings." She also has full access to the (fictionalized) Vatican's resources. She wears a utility belt which holds tools and weapons such as night vision telescopes, communications devices, and presumably others. Also, while the canonicity of might be disputed, promotional material for the failed Warrior Nun animated series shows her using black and white power armor based on her habit and wields a lightsaber-like weapon.
Cybernetic Arm
She also has an enhancement in her cybernetic arm. Sister Shannon lost her original lower left arm up to her elbow early in her career in a battle against demons; she survived and received two artificial limbs. The first is a common limb, indistinguishable for an ordinary arm. When she goes into battle however, she will use a battle limb. She will manually attach it if there is time or she will summon it, along with her battle habit and weapons when there is not time. (However, while she does have two cybernetic arms, the battle arm can seemingly cast a small hologram disguising itself as a real arm.) It grants her superhuman strength to the point that she can punch through steel walls—something she relishes—and, combined with that super strength, uses her metal fist like a giant set of brass knuckles. A gem inset in it, the Shard of Omens, serves to power it. It can also "reveal things unknown to man", absorb ethereal energy, erect a force field dubbed the Virgin Shield, and summon the God Armor, the rest of her weapons, and/or her battle habit. The Shard has also been shown to fire energy beams though Sister Shannon has no control of that. It may also be upgraded for other tasks such as the insertion of a tracking device. Her combat arm has a large Latin cross engraved on it.
She removes whichever cybernetic arm she happens to be using at the time when going to sleep and re-attaches one or the other in the morning.
Trivia
*While now as a grown woman Sister Shannon does not smoke, she may or may not have been a smoker in her teenage years at the academy.
*Ironically, considering that she herself has, in the real world, been accused of being exploitative of real nuns, she is very sensitive concerning the portrayal of the Church. A devoted servant of the Catholic Church, she, for example, does not like The Flying Nun or in joke-parody Battle Nun Areola.

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