Skask

The underground kingdom of King Mederex tries for a medieval aesthetic, but they do have access to modern technology, especially the higher ups. The lizard people in the kingdom are rarely higher ups, but Skask was an exception, because his of his technological skills. Using his computer prowess, he helped to guide the forces of Mederex during the conflict now known as the Secret Factions War. But that war was not won by Mederex’s kingdom. When the Secret Government finally fought their way into the tunnels and Mederex himself prepared to surrender, several members of the king’s court took their own lives. None of that for Skask, though. Instead, he uploaded his consciousness into the powerful computer system he had spent years developing. When they found his body, they assumed he was dead, but he lives on as a sort of electro-ghost. With the right technology, he can project himself into the world as a hologram, but often he will remain hidden in the form of information. No longer loyal to the king he sees as a coward, Skask is out for his own desires. What those are, remains to be seen.

Holographic Lizard Man Ghost Hacker. I dunno.

Clettox

The demon Clettox was left trapped on the Earth after some wizard summoned it her via a ritual, but was disappointed with the tiny demon he caught. Since then, Clettox has lived in the oceans, usually submerged, resting near the bottom, but when it gets hungry it will bob up to the surface and hunt down a meal, generally a human being. Moving quickly by skimming along the surface, Clettox can chase down a powerboat and devour those within in a matter of minutes.

I basically doodled this guy on the corner of a page to fill up space. I had no idea what to do with it, so it just sat there. Months later I had a dream in which someone had created 3-D computer models of some of my characters, including this guy, and he was depicted skimming across a water surface. Dreams are good enough for me.

The Devaluer of Souls

Most devils are into getting souls, everyone knows that. But a lot of humans don’t want to sell their souls. They consider them pretty valuable or whatever. That’s where the Devaluer of Souls comes in. It’s his job to drive down the value that people have for their souls. There’s a lot of ways that can be done. In the past, he’s tried to start philosophical movements that encourage people to think of human life as a worthless, meaningless affair, so why not sell your soul? He’s obfuscated the idea of eternity in people’s minds, so that they won’t understand or appreciate the commitment that selling ones soul really signifies. But suppose some enterprising devil wants the soul of some particular person. That’s when the Devaluer is sent in to do his best work. He will haunt his target, insulting and terrifying them until they think their lives are things from which to escape. When he does his work, people can’t sell their souls fast enough.

But if he’s not the one buying the souls, what does the Devaluer get out of the deal? Why would he do this for all the other devils? He may not get souls, but they pay him in the next best thing: Cash Money! The Devaluer likes to spend his free time lounging in vacation resorts on Earth, and he needs money to keep relaxing in style.

Second-Hand Simmons

Don’t point out that it’s actually a third hand. She’s heard it before and she is getting annoyed with it.

Corrine Simmons has a strange hand-like energy construct that she can control with the skill and dexterity as though it were her natural limb. This secondary right hand, which appeared for no reason known to Simmons (but which may involve certain Space Gods), can stretch to a length of dozens of feet and can lift a car with ease. Unfortunately, Simmons has decided to use this gift for crime. When you can pick up ATMs and carry them away, who is going to stop you? Well, Natalie Archibald‘s police task force, that’s who.

It wasn’t intentional when I started that the vast majority of human characters in the Valia/Space Gods portion of my character creation would be black, but I’m gonna roll with it. If a lot of white characters had accumulated together in a superhero story, barely anyone would notice. In an ideal world, that could happen with a black cast too.

Durgan the Spy

In the Cosmic King’s mystic realm, there are no enemy powers. There are no other nations, there are no rivals. There is only the King, his demonic servants, and the abducted human populace. Who then, does Durgan spy on? Everyone. He roams, in secret, all over the realm watching to make sure that everyone is doing what they should be. He lacks the strength or claws that some of the other demons have, but he can disguise himself, camouflaging to blend in to the background. He moves silently, but quickly. He could be right next to you and you’d never know. He’d be reporting your doings back to the King, sealing your fate, and you’d have no idea. While Krig the Harmer is the demon that the humans most fear, Durgan is the one they should most fear, but they don’t even know he’s there. When Justice-Man comes, he is pursued by Durgan almost non-stop. Only J-Man’s knowledge of techniques centuries more advanced helps him escape.

Grib the Guard

The demon Grib spends most of his time standing directly in front of the entrance to the Cosmic King’s castle. Unless he is specifically needed somewhere else, his presence at that gate is made visible enough to prove a point. You are not going to get past Grib. Like Snegg the Builder, Grib spends a lot of time simply standing. But unlike Snegg, Grib does not simply shut down his mind. Grib is constantly thinking, constantly aware of his surroundings. He is always trying to think of ways that someone might be trying to get past him. In a way, this makes him the most cunning of all the Cosmic King’s demons, though he does not get the chance to use these smarts very often. When Justice-Man begins his raids on the King’s castle, Grib finds himself with a sense of purpose he never had before. He longs for a chance to capture the hero raiding the castle, such an accomplishment would prove that he has lived up to the very purpose he for was created for.

Charity Dane

Eventually Justice-Man wins, of course. He overthrows the Cosmic King and frees the enslaved human population. All these people, kidnapped from Earth so long ago, are returned to the modern world and, though they’re free, it is confusing and frightening for them. Charity Dane, though, reacts pretty well. After helping Justice-Man’s rebellion against the tyrannical King, she got a taste for helping the oppressed. Brought back to Earth, she joined the super-agency BEST, the same group that helped Justice-Man adjust after his life as an assassin. With BEST, Charity was able to put her abilities to use opposing all the tyrants the world had to offer.

And her abilities are more than just her natural cunning and skill. All that time spent in the Cosmic King’s mystical realm being kept alive had an effect on the slaves. Back in the real world, they are now more than human. They don’t seem to age any more, and they can take more damage without dying than normal humans. Those are skills that will serve Charity well, but could also be problematic if any of the others decide they don’t want to play by the rules.

Krig the Harmer

The first thing that a tyrannical ruler needs is someone to hurt people. For the Cosmic King, that someone is the demon Krig, who exists solely to deal out harm. He is essentially the leader of the King’s secret police, except that he is also the entirety of the secret police force. But he’s all that is needed. The King does not allow his subjects to die (they have all been kept alive in his pocket dimension since he abducted them centuries ago, and no new ones have been born), so execution is not an option. But torture sure is. With immortal subjects to experiment upon, Krig has learned some very advanced pain-making techniques. In his service as the police force, Krig has a reputation among the human population almost like a boogeyman. “Be good or Krig will get you.” Considering there are no children in that human population, that’s a sign that he’s greatly feared. When Justice-Man arrived, it was Krig who first fought him, and who led the quest to find the hero when he hid in the great woods surrounding the King’s city.

Ndoig the Healer

A tyrant may consider his populace beneath him, but he still needs that populace to survive if they’re to serve him. As mentioned above, the Cosmic King is keeping his abducted people alive through mystical means, but they can still be hurt. They can even suffer injuries that would be fatal for people on Earth, such as being crushed by a stone. Ndoig is the demon who has to patch them up. With knowledge from Nork’s books, and claws on his fingers that are perfect for surgery, and centuries of experience, Ndoig has become quite efficient at his job. Ndoig is the demon that is most likely to interact with the humans. He’s the one they’re most likely to speak to and even know. As a part of his ‘programming’ he is made to somewhat care about their well-being as well. He has the most compassion for the populace and they, at least somewhat, like him for it. But when Justice-Man comes and the humans start to support him, Ndoig’s loyalty is still to the Cosmic King. This causes no small amount of inner turmoil in the Healer, who is forced to decide between his master and his patients.

Snegg the Builder

Naturally, if you’re building a world, you need a builder. Snegg is the Cosmic King’s architect, carpenter, stonemason, and more. He’s an all-purpose demon for creating castles and fortresses and even homes for the idiot slaves if we can get around to it. Snegg is the absolute dumbest of all the Cosmic King’s demons. Any thoughts that aren’t about building are too complex for him. When he’s not working, he will just stand, motionless, wherever he was when he finished working until he gets further orders. When Justice-Man arrives and begins fomenting rebellion, Snegg is put to work building new devices, war machines, and eventually eventually even automatonic soldiers. With claws that can cleave stone and strength to rip trees from the ground, one might think that Snegg could be useful in battle, but when actually faced with enemies on the battlefield, he is completely useless. War isn’t building, and that’s all Snegg knows.

The Cosmic King

Exposed to the same otherworldly energy that created the Cosmic Chief, the Cosmic King gained similar powers. But instead of remaining on Earth, this newly empowered individual withdrew to a pocket dimensional realm of his own creation. Kidnapping a number of innocents to serve him, the self-appointed Cosmic King ruled over a mentally-crafted realm, that resembled a medieval fantasty land, for centuries until the arrival of the superhero Justice-Man changed things.

Justice-Man, as I have mentioned before, is the most fleshed-out superhero I created as a kid. I used July to do Justice-Man-related heroes during Superhero Sunday year, and I used it to do Justice-Man-related villains, but I didn’t think I’d have enough material to do it in Supernatural year, since I created Justice-Man when I thought hard-sci-fi was the best way to go. While I would never stoop to limit what can happen in a superhero story now, as a kid, for a while, I didn’t want any magic or aliens in there making things “unrealistic”. So I was prepared to skip Justice-Man until I found a single note referring to this story, accompanied by the Cosmic King surrounded by a handful of demon servants. Well, why not take those demons and turn them into something, I thought. Ain’t nobody around to stop me.

Nork the Reader

When the Cosmic King created his mystical realm, the thing he spent the most of his cosmic power in the act of creating six demonic servants to help him. Foremost among them was Nork. Even with his vast power, the King knew he needed knowledge to create a whole pocket dimension. For that purpose he stole books written by the greatest thinkers of his day and had them stored in a library in his new castle. Nork’s job was to read and understand all the natural philosophy so that the King could create a functioning ecosystem. Basically, he was the King’s science advisor.

When Justice-Man arrived and began leading a rebellion against the tyrant King, he made a point to reach Nork and tell him about the world outside the King’s realm, and how things had changed. Being familiar with many works of philosophy, Nork had a yen for something else, and was swayed to Justice-Man’s side. He helped Justice-Man design a suit of armor that would function like in the conditions of the mystical realm, but eventually the King noticed that Nork was acting differently, less loyal, more independent. Being the animator of this demon, he was also able to take its life away. Nork died, his energy returning to the King making him more powerful, but he died for a cause he believed in.