Merge:Karma

Karma, real name Xi'an "Shan" Coy Mahn, is a mutant superhero from Marvel Comics, and is notable as one of their few lesbian characters.

Introduction
Xi'an ("Shee-ahn") Coy Manh had her powers, along with the identical powers of her twin brother Tran, develop while she was a prisoner in a Vietnamese concentration camp. While Tran was rescued by her crimelord uncle, General Coy, she escaped on a small, cramped, boat with hundreds of others, including her younger brother and sister, Leong and Nga - her parents both died in the crossing of the ocean. Arriving in New York City, a program to help Vietnamese immigrants helped her find work and an apartment before her uncle first asked her to "help" him, as her brother was already doing, then kidnapped her younger siblings when she refused in an effort to force them to. "Possessing" Spider-Man, she attempted to use him to reclaim the children from a party her uncle was holding, before the Fantastic Four intervened and Tran (without realising she was in control of Spider-Man) forced her out of Spider-Man's mind in possessing him long enough for the Thing to knock him out. With technical aid from Professor X, the F4 and Spider-Man tracked her down. After an initial misunderstanding, they agreed to help her reclaim the children, but Tran possessed the F4 and set them against Spider-Man. Finally, Shan lashed out, absorbing her brother completely and taking the name "Karma" (NB: No side-effects to this have ever been shown).

New Mutants
Later, Professor X offered and she accepted a role as one of the original New Mutants. She was the group's first leader, but was believed dead after a fight with Viper and the Silver Samurai. Instead, another mutant telepath, Amahl Farouk, whose physical body was killed in a battle with Professor X on the astral plane, took her as a host body. Eventually she was found and freed by the other New Mutants, but a side-effect of the possession had left her grossly obese, as Farouk was a large eater in life, and continued to do such when using Karma's body. However, a time-dilation effect due to a mishap in Magik's teleportation on a trip to Asgard immediately after meant that she spent several months surviving in the desert and would have committed suicide but for a child which, unknown to her, had been manifested by the Norns, which she was intent on keeping alive. By the time she met up with the other New Mutants again, she had lost all the additional weight.

Mekanix Series
Later, she spent some time reluctantly working for her uncle on Madripoor, officially in opposition to but often covertly helping Wolverine, in an attempt to get him to find her lost siblings. He strung her along for several months before she angrily left him over this inaction. She was later reunited with her siblings by other means, and later still came out as a lesbian. She moved to Chicago and took a job as librarian for the University of Chicago while attending classes there, where she ran into Shadowcat, and there were strong hints she was attracted to her.

Teacher at Xavier's
While Kitty was on a mission with the X-Treme X-Men, Dani Moonstar, another ex-New Mutant, dropped by while trying to recruit Prodigy to the renamed Xavier Institute. In the end, she decided to return to Xavier's, where she began to act as the librarian and mentor to the students less than fifteen years of age (thus too young to be assigned to squads).

When Rahne Sinclair left the Xavier Institute, her position as advisor of the Paragons squad was left to Xi'an. Upon the death of Northstar, Xi'an also became the advisor to his squad, the Alpha Squadron. Magma eventually took over duties as the advisor of the Paragons, yet that still left Xi'an as the librarian, French teacher, and advisor to the Lower School and Alpha Squadron.

M-Day
Karma retained her powers after M-Day. The school's population was drastically reduced and the squad system was abolished. Currently, Xi'an continues to reside at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, though she is not part of an X-Men team nor the 198.

Powers and abilities
Xi'an is a mutant with the ability to project a psionic energy surge that overwhelms the consciousness of another while placing her own mind in command, allowing her to alter their perceptions and memories, command entranced opponents to divulge information, or operate their bodies as if they were an extension of her own.

She also generates a psionic deflector shield that disrupts incoming psi-signatures, protecting her from all manner of psychic assault (as seen in New Mutants: Truth or Death #2).

Ultimate Karma
In the Ultimate Marvel continuity, Karma is seen as a much darker character, working as one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Psi-Ops agents. She was called in by Nick Fury to find out whether or not the President was being mind-controlled by Charles Xavier, based on his recent pro-mutant stand. Upon the request of the President, she was added as the final member of the government sponsored New Mutants to observe the group. She was later instrumental in gaining evidence against a high ranking government official who was the head of the anti-mutant conspiracy, arresting both high-ranking officials involved in attacks on the 'New Mutants' on the Capitol steps. Whenever she uses her powers, her eyes glow a dark pink color.

Age of Apocalypse
In the Age of Apocalypse, Karma was Angel's assistant, helping him manage his nightclub called Heaven's, and keeping a neutral stance in the civil war between Apocalypse's loyal followers, the mutants openly disagreeing with him, and the human population trying to survive. Part of Karma's job was to use her mental powers to gather information from their guests, and also to make sure none would remember anything suspicious they might have witnessed. However, eventually Karma was kidnapped by Apocalypse's troops to be interrogated on matters regarding the X-Men. Karma kept mum as long as she could but, when the Shadow King was released on her, she gave away the desired information, before dying of the torture. Learning of his assistant's fate, Angel finally took a stance and went on a suicide run against Apocalypse's fortress.

Days of Future Past
In the Days of Future Past continuity, Karma was part of Pete Wisdom's resistance force in Great Britain in the year 2013. She only answered to her codename, and had apparently suffered terrible losses. Trying to cope with her situation, Karma displayed a slight sense of sadistic humor and had refined her powers to the point where she could perceive things through a person's eyes without really possessing him.

Trivia

 * Xi'an was first introduced as a Spider-Man character, and was used as a minor villain. At the time, Marvel was setting the X-Men up as anti-heroes.
 * During the Mekanix limited-series, she wore her hair very short and colored purple.
 * As of Decimation, the whereabouts of her younger brother and sister, Leong and Nga, are unclear.