Bio: Minerva and her female relatives ran Discount Candles, specializing in 7-Day candles, religious items said to help with everything from healing the body to winning the lottery, stamped with names such as “Law Stay Away,” “Spider Woman,” “Chango Macho,” “Fast Luck,” and about a hundred different varieties to help with any predicament one might find oneself in. Some candles came pre-anointed, some were prayed over by a holy person from the church, and some came plain. Pay a little extra for a plain candle and you could get it doused with special powders, glitters, and oils right on the spot. They’d even throw a little prayer in there, too, along with instructions, such as with the employment candle, “Upload your resume on indeed before midnight,” and for a money candle, “Put $1 in your savings account this week, $2 next week, $3 the following week, etc, for a year.”

Incense, essential oils, and even a line of “Money House Blessing” sprays that double as air fresheners were also part of the stock here. One could pick up bundles of sage, packets of herbs, or some Blessed Bath and Floor Wash to help wash away money problems and open you to the blessings you deserve.

Her family and their store in Detroit were destroyed by the meteor strike, while she was out of town at a friend’s wedding.

She returned home to find closure and help rebuild.

Skills: Herbalism, paramedics, and dream interpretation.

Powers: Sista Doc has the hoodoo to help people attain power or success (“luck”) in many areas of life including money, love, health and employment. This is done with their assistance and various items, especially candles.

She won the Michigan lotto for a large sum, has several suitors, has never been sick or unemployed. The first Discount Candles shop at Gratiot and Russel streets was well insured. Such has impressed her customers.

Several of her abilities are supernatural – she can heal herself and others within seconds, longer (minutes) for serious wounds. Her own injuries heal this rapidly even when she is unconscious. Grenadier has secretly come to her for healing.

She can also unleash the Ninth Plague of Darkness (חוֹשֶך)* instantly and selectively. This Darkness can last up to three days, as she sees fit. The limits of it’s size have not been tested. It has been subjected to various sensors; tachyon, neutrino, x-ray, magic, etc, all without piercing it’s veil. She can choose it’s shape and exact location, such as a ten meter globe that starts one meter off the ground, fifteen meters away from her to the north-by-northwest. Such a configuration could allow allies or such to “kneecap” their foes, hitting them low.

Her luck is legendary. She always picks the fastest cashier’s line, border patrol booth, etc. Those attempting to strike her trip, or choke for a moment on their own saliva, suffer a weapons misfire, etc, not every time, but unnaturally often.

Sista Doc does not remember when her powers first manifested. To her, that’s like asking when she spoke her first word.

Equipment: Sista Doc has a small black leather doctor’s bag with medical supplies, several special candles, and High John the Conqueror root.

*Exodus 10:21–23