Peregrine (Wild Cards)

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

Character background

Peregrine might technically be considered a Joker, since the wild card virus left her with a visible "deformity" a pair of giant wings. However, the majestic nature of her wings, combined with her physical beauty and charisma, made her a darling of the ace set. Indeed, Peregrine is one of the most famous wild cards, and famous women, in the world. Although Peregrine occasionally engaged in super-heroics, often using a set of steel claws to enhance her combat effectiveness, she was primarily known for her celebrity activities. She is the host of the popular and long running talk show "Peregrines Perch" as well as an important television personality and sex symbol who appeared in Playboy magazine. As a famous media figure she was a fixture of New York society, although she was not above "slumming" such as with her relationship with the wild card pimp Fortunato.

In 1986, Peregrine was one of a number of American's chosen to take part in a World Health Organization fact finding tour. While in Japan Peregrine met Fortunato, who had been living as a monk. Needing to recharge his sex based powers, Fortunato and Peregrine made love. Unknown to Fortunato, who soon returned to his monastery, Peregrine became pregnant during this encounter and gave birth to a son who she named John Fortune. During a stop over in Egypt Peregrine was given a disturbing prophecy about her son's future. This prophecy made Peregrine a very protective mother. While she lived her life in the public eye, and indeed became even more of a celebrity, she jealously guarded her son's privacy and safety, routinely employing Popinjay and his detective agency to guard her son. In 2003, John Fortune's wild card "turned" and John became the object of contest between two groups of religious fanatics. What at first appeared to be an ace turned out to be a deadly "black queen" which would have resulted in John's death if not for the intervention of Fortunato. Apparently left powerless, John returned to an ordinary life, working as a production assistant on a new wild card themed show his mother was producing. In 2008, his role in prophecy was fulfilled as he became the host for the Egyptian ace Sekhmet and worked with other aces to defend Egypt's jokers from genocide.