Maria Kaina

Pathologic 2=

Maria Kaina is the eldest child of Nina and Victor Kain. After her mother's death, she is heir to the title of Scarlet Mistress.

Description
"A Mistress in the making. One of the keys to the mystery of the Polyhedron (she presides over the community of the “signs”, former adolescents who can no longer get inside). Still barely more than a child, very immature, she’s deeply stressed by the prospect of soon having to assume power for which she’s unprepared. She knows what the Focus is and how it works. Das Ewig-Weibliche comes to mind. Scary and despotic, she’s the daughter of Nina, who is used to issuing commands and making the wildest demands based on what her intuition tells her. She purports to speak for the town."

- From the game's design documents

Maria Kaina is a severe woman who has little time for those she does not respect, treating them rudely and perhaps even cruelly. She is self-assured, seeing herself as above most of The Town. She sees and feels things that many others cannot and it can cloud her judgement, blinding her to the mundane.

Background
Maria Kaina appears to have been a fairly normal child, as her dark attitude and language shocks the Haruspex, who knew her as a little girl. Following the death of her mother Nina Kaina she inherited her power of clairvoyance, as well as her role in the Town. She was also very attached to Simon Kain. Maria has taken his death hard, believing that it has placed even more new responsibilities upon her.

Maria sees powerful visions and claims that if she were to kiss someone following her waking from such a dream they could see the same thing she sees - though at a great cost. The first person she tried that on got insomnia and died a week later, unable to handle the enormity of the power she wields.

Haruspex Route
"My path was called '"The Return of Magic."' I wanted the power to create a place of miracles, and precious anarchy."

Maria Kaina is to be one of the new Mistresses following the death of her mother, and takes the role very seriously. She is a rival to Capella, though she does not know the White Mistresses daughter as well as she would like.

Following the outbreak of the Sand Plague Maria is harsh, marking healthy houses to be destroyed even when she knows it would leave the tenants homeless. Upon discovering this Haruspex can either choose to allow her to continue her work, citing that Mistresses have always ruled The Town, or he may choose to speak to Victor Kain to reign his daughter in.

Maria, though used to strange dreams, details a particular odd dream - one two other women, Eva Yan and Anna Angel, share. She dreamed of Earth, seeing human bones in the snowmelt, below her feet. This leads her to question the purpose of her life.

In the Diurnal Ending Maria can be found in the Cape, overlooking the statue of her mother, Nina Kaina.

In the Nocturnal Ending Maria flees the Town alongside many of the Utopians and Humbles.

Pathologic: The Marble Nest
"No one's seen Maria in the Upper Town in two days. We can't find her."

By the events of The Marble Nest Maria Kaina has been missing for two days.

Spoken Dialogue

 * → See Maria Kaina/Spoken Dialogue

Description
"Appearance: A very beautiful, demonic face. Huge eyes, sensual lips, spectacular artistic facial expressions. Thick copper hair. Long graceful neck, her back is like that of a ballerina. Expressive hands. Carries herself very imperiously, but without primness. Maria is very fluid in movement. She walks as though she's dancing. Her appearance is always sensual, even erotic. Pose: Walking while swaying her naked shoulders. The fingers of one hand rest on her stomach while the other hand rests on her narrow waist. Personality: Femme fatale. A beautiful, merciless woman. She inherited her father's authoritativeness and her mother's passion for mysticism and the black arts. She is intelligent, but not intellectual. Instead, she is insightful and sensitive to lies and deceptions. She can instantly see one’s true colors. Maria doesn't have a firm goal in mind. She is always in the state of some sort of trance; it is a psychological tuning to the Steppe. However, she is not "blessed" like Grace. Her reflexes are good and facial expressions are rich. Maria is not a medium, but it's as if she has a connection to some supernatural "channel" through which she receives peculiar and exciting sensations. At times she listens to that channel, but she does this delicately and stealthy. Just like when checking the time, some people put their wrist directly to their nose and clatter with the expensive watches bracelet. Others discreetly lower their gazes and slightly move their wrists in the pocket. Maria is the latter. She loves to play with people. As a child, she loved to torture animals. "

- From original Pathologic character concepts

The traits typical of her mother Nina are vividly seen in Maria: coldness, absolute self-control and total sobriety, with the ability to perform daring acts. A merciless and temperamental woman, character traits that she displays on occasions when her father grants her authority over the town, or when dealing with somebody she deems unworthy.

From her father she inherited authority, and from her mother a passion for mysticism and black magic. Maria holds a penetrating mind, a sensitivity towards falsehoods and lies, and is able to immediately grasp a person's true nature. She is not a psychic, but it's as if she has a parallel channel through which she receives interesting and exciting sensations. Periodically she tunes in to the channel, but she does this delicately and unnoticeably.

Maria's goals mirror that of her family's legacy: she sees her inheritance of the Scarlet Mistress as a stepping stone in preserving memory and soul, and believes her ascension is but her projected faith.

Many people in Town, such as Andrey and Peter Stamatin, deeply admire Maria, and believe in her natural ascension and power. She has a control over men that follow her, though it is unclear if she truly takes them as lovers or if she merely trails them along to do her bidding.

In spite of her nature, Maria does not speak ill of Capella—she actually admires her. She respects her position as future White Mistress, and acknowledges their destiny to oppose and balance each other’s duty.

Background
Maria is the eldest child of Victor and Nina, and grew up in the western part of the Town — the Haruspex notes that he remembers her from when he was a child, though they were not close. Though the circumstances of Nina's death are unclear, Maria was, at the very least, a young teenager when her mother passed. She has since dedicated her time to remembering and understanding her mother’s memory and power to prepare for her ascension to Scarlet Mistress.

She seems to have had history with her aunt, Aglaya Lilich, and holds a great hatred and fear of her.

Bachelor Route
On Day 1, after arriving in Town, the Bachelor goes to meet with Georgiy Kain. He will learn that Simon Kain died before he arrived, and is then sent to speak with Victor Kain and Maria. Maria informs him of his crucial role in the coming days, and gives him a list of individuals to protect the lives of, with her family included.

On Day 7, the Inquisitor asks the Bachelor to help her reconcile with her niece, who happens to be Maria. When the Bachelor talks to Maria about this, she becomes upset and afraid, refusing the meeting and leaves her home. She leaves to Peter Stamatin's Studio, where she comes face to face with Aglaya. Before the women can escalate their argument, Maria runs downstairs, where she happens to meet the Bachelor. She is furious with him, and says that she fears her aunt coming to ruin her future, claiming to see her at her window.

On Day 10, Katerina Saburova tells the Bachelor that she felt Simon Kain's presence at the Crucible. The Bachelor decides to thoroughly investigate the Kain family. When he meets with the young heiress, Maria speaks as though she has become a different person. According to her, her personality has begun to disappear and merge with that of Nina's, who is settling into her daughter's mind and returning to her role of the Scarlet Mistress.

On Day 11, the Kains request the Bachelor to assist with Maria's ascension into becoming a Mistress. Maria's Wing will be locked and inaccessible. Victor tells the Bachelor that new Mistresses need to be recognized and requests he bring tokens of acknowledgement from the other future Mistresses, Capella and the Changeling. After the Bachelor obtains the items, he will find a crowd of people in front of Maria's wing. They will tell him to take the items to Nina's tomb. There, Maria gives him a detailed and deeply metaphorical description of the new town she intends to build on the other side of the Gorkhon river. It is intentionally unclear if it is Maria speaking, or if her mother's possession has become permanent.

If Vlad the Younger lives, they will enter into a dynastic marriage together. His role will be to serve Maria as she leads the remaining people. Following the Utopian Ending, Maria is seen ruling over the new Town, with an entourage of servants as she stands before the Polyhedron.

Haruspex Route
On Day 6, the Haruspex receives a letter from Victor Kain, who invites him to speak with his daughter. After being directed to her, Maria will offer an insincere apology for the way he has been treated recently, and dismissed him with request he retrieve a diary from her mother's grave. This diary contains unfamiliar writings, which Maria snatched away from him.

On Day 12 as Maria is one of the Bachelor's Bound, there is a chance that they will be infected and an Executor will be stationed outside of her wing. If the player wishes for the Bachelor to join them in the Cathedral, they must cure Maria with a Shmowder or Panacea.

Changeling Route
On Day 3, after finding Stanislav Rubin, the Changeling has an option to betray him and tell the Kains where he is. If she attempts to talk to Maria about this, she will infuriate her, losing her reputation around Town.

On Day 4, Katerina Saburova asks the Changeling to convert Mark Immortell to the Humbles. She will find Mark at the Crucible with Maria Kaina, where they speak dismissively of the Changeling while she is in the room. Maria directly mocks her, saying that she is hardly impressive as a Mistress.

On the same day, the Changeling will also receive a letter from Capella who had a vision of something terrible happening at the Cathedral and requests the Changeling ask Maria if she also had a vision. Maria does not share her vision, and tells the Changeling that Capella is blurring her thoughts together.

On Day 7, Katerina teaches the Changeling about Mistresses and sends her to speak to Capella and Maria, as they are future Mistresses. Maria regards the Changeling with mild disdain, but speaks with her about the future, the purpose of Mistresses, and where the Changeling will fit into her plans.

Starting from Day 8 through Day 10, Maria Kaina will send the Changeling a letter every day asking her to look for the Bachelor and warn him that he is in danger. If the Changeling complies with her request, she can visit Maria in her wing at the Crucible for a monetary reward. Maria speaks about him with personal concern, though the Changeling suspects that she simply does not want one of her valuable players in her game to come to harm, and wonders if she even cares about the Bachelor as a person.

On Day 12 as Maria is one of the Bachelor's Bound, there is a chance that they will be infected and an Executor will be stationed outside of her wing. If the player wishes for the Bachelor to join them in the Cathedral, they must cure Maria with a Shmowder or Panacea.

Spoken Dialogue

 * → See Maria Kaina/Spoken Dialogue