Disa Philadelphia is a descendant of The Veil and one of the greatest ghost orphan hunters to be born from the seven bloodlines. In fact, it was her actions as a young woman that may have salvaged what was, at the time of her birth, on the verge of becoming a lost cause. For centuries the seven bloodlines had successfully hunted the orphans. The House of Philadelphia led the way, while the other Houses (Sardis, Smyrna, Thyatira, Laodicea, Pergamum and Ephesus) spread out all over the world, tracking and capturing millions of ghost orphans. The tide, however, had turned during the 21st century when a ghost orphan called Kallisto amassed an army of her fellow human wraiths and mobilized them against the hunters. Hundreds of hunters were slain and two of the bloodlines (Ephesus and Pergamum) were totally wiped out.

The remaining hunters were forced to go into hiding. But after a decade of living in the shadows, Disa Philadelphia came of age, and led the hunters back into the light through a 40-day rampage that resulted in the capture of more than ten thousand ghost orphans. No one had ever wielded a living-blade with as much skill and ferocity as Disa and she quickly earned a reputation amongst both her allies and her enemies. Her 40-day slash-and-grab came to be known as The Flood, and the hunters definitively regained control of the war.

Disa Philadelphia became the respected leader of the The Veil descendants and proceeded to put several plans and ideas into action that would help solidify stability for the hunters. She established a central base in Platinum City where members of the families could live or visit for a short time to rest, train or re-equip themselves for the next hunt. In a stroke of pure genius she cut a deal with the president of Platinum City University that would allow young hunters to enroll in classes free of charge and participate in student activities, while continuing to train with the advantage of university funded equipment and facilities. In return, each member of the Veil descendants would be required to serve a year as a campus security officer upon earning their degree. Needless to say, Platinum City University was one of the safest campuses in the world.

Only a few key administrators of the university knew The Veil’s presence and purpose. The other students of PCU had no idea hunters lived among them. And they also had no idea that a number of their instructors were descendants of the Veil as well. Disa Philadelphia herself was a tenured faculty member in the Hyper Human Studies department. Seasoned hunter Sheldon Sardis was an economics professor and served as a vice dean; Charles Smyrna taught Greek mythology in the English department, and Reagan Smyrna was a religious studies professor. And all of them spent time instructing young hunters in the Veil’s training facility. Thanks to Disa, the hunters were stronger than ever.

Things, however, were not perfect for her, for though she slayed a multitude of ghost orphans during The Flood, she had failed to capture the most dangerous one of them all, Kallisto. On the 40th and final day of the flood, Disa and a team of hunters had tracked Kallisto to her lair deep beneath a cemetery in the Midwest, east of Platinum City. The battle between the two women was ferocious, but before Disa could finish the job with her living-blade, Kallisto took her own life, ensuring herself the opportunity to reincarnate into another human body. For nearly 30 years. Disa searched for Kallisto’s spirit. She finally found her in a new and more powerful body, now calling herself Virginia Ice.

They clashed again, but this time the ghost orphan was just too much for the older and war-weary huntress. In fact, Disa would have surely met her demise, if not for the intervention of her son, Peter Philadelphia. The combined might of the duo forced Virginia to retreat. By this time, Peter had taken on the mantle of the greatest and most feared hunter; and though he lacked the ferocious determination of his mother, his skill and battle acumen were second to none.

Disa attempted to guide Peter as he pursued Virginia Ice, but many times the two of them disagreed with how to go about tracking the elusive orphan. Furthermore, Disa suspected that Peter and Virginia were secretly involved in a romantic relationship. Those fears were quelled a little when Peter married fellow hunter Reagan Smyrna. However, the huntress continued to suspect something was happening between the two of them, that was intensely taboo in every possible way.

Her private investigation into her son’s affairs would have to be put on hold, however, as she would end up receiving an ominous prophecy from one of her students. It was during her first lecture of the fall semester, when a student in her advanced hyper-studies class named Derek Loman stood up in the middle of class and proclaimed to her that in 7 weeks the walls of Platinum City University would fall and that the Veil would be torn once and for all. The other 50 or so students in the classroom were confused and a little frightened, but Disa new exactly what she was dealing with: Derek was indeed a ghost orphan.

Unable to simply slay him in front of the class, she was forced to listen to him. His prophecy detailed a course of events that would begin with thousands of ghost-orphan-possessed people marching silently around the central administration complex for seven weeks; then on the first day of the eighth week they would stand and shout at the building while a group of seven orphans would blow loud horns; and finally, once the noise had dissipated, several buildings in Platinum City would fall, effectively exposing The Veil.

Disa called security and Derek was removed, but the ominous prophecy sat very uneasy with her. Immediately she called a meeting with Charles Smyrna, Sheldon Sardis and her son Peter. An argument ensued; Disa thought they should take the prophecy seriously, while Charles and Sheldon felt it was a ploy to cause confusion and deception. Peter felt there was absolutely no veracity to Derek’s words whatsoever. It was at that moment they all looked out the window of the 19th story office they were meeting in, and saw a sea of people marching over the Lebanon-Memorial Bridge onto the Platinum City University campus.

Disa took a deep breath and readied herself for what was about to be the greatest challenge of her life…

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