PHOENIX PHOENIX
Real Name: Ohoyo Luak
Identity/Class: Human mutate
(cosmic energy-powered);
Native
American (unspecified nation, part of the Mississippian culture);
active circa 1050
A.D. (I believe it unrevealed when she gained her powers and when
she lost them and/or died)
Occupation: Leader, defender
Group Membership: Leader of an
unspecified group of people
Affiliations: Echo
(Maya Lopez, aka Phoenix), "River" Riverwalker;
formerly a trusted advisor who betrayed her
Enemies: Unidentified
former advisor;
indirectly the Adversary
Known Relatives: Unidentified Choctaw (descendant;
maternal ancestor of Maya; deceased), Mrs. Lopez (descendant; Maya's
mother), Maya Lopez (Echo,
aka Phoenix; descendant)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Cahokia (what is now southeast Illinois, east of the Mississippi from present day St. Louis, Missouri, USA)
First Appearance: Phoenix Song: Echo#3
(February, 2022)
Powers/Abilities: Ohoyo Luak possesses the vast
power of the Phoenix Force, which grants her numerous abilities,
including flight, levitation, telepathy and generation of a fiery-energy
she can project from her on manifest within her body.
History:
(Phoenix Song: Echo#3 (fb) - BTS) <Circa 1050 A.D.>- Under
unrevealed circumstances, Ohoyo Luak bonded with the powerful Phoenix
Force and became known as the Phoenix, based out of the city of Cahokia.
(Phoenix Song: Echo#3 (fb) - BTS) - As there a hundred different peoples
who came to the great city of Cahokia to trade, and all could not use the
same language, they learned how to communicate via sign language.
(Phoenix Song: Echo#3 (fb) - BTS) - One of Ohoyo's most trusted advisors
hurled a spear at her back.
(Phoenix Song: Echo#2 - BTS / Phoenix Song: Echo#3
- BTS) - Ohoyo's modern day descendant Maya Lopez, the vigilante
adventurer Echo who had bonded with the Phoenix Force, was targeted by the
demonic Adversary, who wished to harness the Phoenix Force by destroying
her ancestral line. To escape the Adversary, Maya and her ally River
traveled back to Cahokia circa 1050 A.D.
(Phoenix Song:
Echo#3) - As Maya and River materialized in this time, River was struck
with the spear. Ohoyo had two actually loyal allies grab the traitor,
after which she plunged a pair of burning fingers into his eyes, telling
him that he would not look upon her or anything else ever again.
As Ohoyo did so, River recognized her to be another
Phoenix.
Unable to understand Ohoyo's language (Maya was deaf but could not read her lips), Maya signed for help for her ally, and Ohoyo responded, stabilizing River's wounds. Ohoyo then had her people carry River to Cahokia while she explained to Maya how and why she also spoke in gestures despite not being deaf.
Upon arriving in Cahokia, Ohoyo related that it was the civic and religious heart of their continent, although treachery hid in its dark corners, as exemplified by her former advisor's betrayal. After Ohoyo confirmed herself to be the Phoenix, Maya asked to discuss things over coffee. Ohoyo provided her time's equivalent, yaupon, she shared how they could communicate telepathically.
After Maya explained that she was from the future,
that Ohoyo was likely her ancestor and that she was also a Phoenix, Ohoyo
laughed loudly, noting that she was so weak. She then advised Maya of her
full potential, noting that she could bring whole civilizations to their
knees, change the course of planets, absorb the life force of the living
and resurrect the dead.
When Ohoyo questioned Maya's lack of
understanding of her power, Maya related that she had received no
instruction, that she had found the Phoenix power to be dangerous and that
she had fought to keep it under control, with people dying every time she
let up even for a little. Ohoyo advised Maya that she should not fight
against who she was but instead accept it, and that the Phoenix Force
could reveal the wonders of the universe to her. After Maya related how
she had been fleeing from the Adversary, Ohoyo told her that the Phoenix
did not run for her enemies, as she was a god. Maya related her fears of
losing control and not wanting to hurt anyone, and Ohoyo advised that a
Phoenix could fight the Adversary in another reality.
(Phoenix Song: Echo#3 - BTS / Phoenix Song: Echo#4 (fb) - BTS) - Maya confronted the Adversary with the Phoenix power and transported him to the White Hot Room. However, having anticipated this, the Adversary somehow put Maya into a sleep/dream state while he siphoned her power.
(Phoenix Song: Echo#4) - As River revived, Ohoyo confirmed that she was
the Phoenix of her time and that she had helped heal his wound. After she
told him that Maya had gone to face the Adversary, he explained that the
Adversary had been waiting for her to siphon her power. Having presumably
sensed this from River's thoughts, Ohoyo stated that he had been plotting
to help the Adversary accomplish this. River admitted how the Adversary
had promised to bring his parents back to life, and Ohoyo told him that he
had been trapped in a past of his own making, as well as that if he had
let Echo into his life, he would not be alone right now.
River expressed his desire to fix things and help
Echo, and Ohoyo told him that they were in the White Hot Room -- the
center of the Phoenix's power and the gateway of the afterlife -- and that
the best way for a mortal like him to access the room was via death.
Telling River he must make a sacrifice to stop this horror that he had put
into motion, and she gave him the knife.
(Phoenix Song: Echo#4 - BTS / Phoenix Song: Echo#5 - BTS) - After River stabbed himself in the chest, his form was found in the present by Forge, who transported the two of them to the White Hot Room where they revived Maya. Echo apparently destroyed the Adversary and facilitated saving River's life.
Comments: Created by Rebecca Roanhorse, Luca Maresca and Kyle Charles.
Very interesting character. I'd
like to learn more about her history and fate.
According to the
National Parks Services website (nps.gov), the Choctaw people's
ancestral homeland spanned from most of central and southern Mississippi
into parts of eastern Louisiana and western Alabama.
When they arrived there in Phoenix Song: Echo#2,
Echo's ally River said "I think this is Oklahoma," and the intro text
for for Phoenix
Song: Echo#3 said that they arrived in Oklahoma. However, the in-story
text in Phoenix Song: Echo#3 says only that they were in Choctaw
Territory circa the 1850s. Whether it was actually Oklahoma or not was
not 100% confirmed.
Oklahoma is a bit Northwest of any of those states,
but it's not that much of a stretch (go look at a map!)
This profile was
completed 03/01/2026, but
its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25th
anniversary 's celebratory event.
Thanks to Loki for recommending Ohoyo Luak to
represent Echo for this event.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Phoenix (Ohoyo Luak) should be distinguished
from:
images: (without ads)First posted: 09/26/2026
Last updated: 03/01/2026
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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