April 11, 2016

101. ERIDANUS

Eridanus was born in a small but thriving colony that exists somewhere within the massive gas cloud known to us as the planet Jupiter. It all began with a secret mission launched by the US in the late 20th century, in which a small but highly specialized spacecraft, carrying four crew members, flew to the planet with the hopes of finding an extremely rare element called psytanium.

Bio

Birth Name

Eridanus (uh-RID-an-EYE)

Aliases

None

Species

Juptarian; male

Birth Details

Juptarian Colony (Core Reality); Late 20th Century

Powers, Abilities, Weapons & Tools

Eridanus possesses super strength and durability. He has four extremely powerful wings that give him the ability to fly and move at high speeds. He can also use his wings as weapons and to create massive gusts of wind. He can survive in oxygen-deprived atmospheres.

The Story

The mission was a failure. They never found the element, and when they attempted to leave, the craft was unable to reach escape velocity and became trapped. The astronauts eventually ran out of food and water, and passed away. However, a collection of petri dishes filled with bacteria were also on board, and not only did the microscopic organisms survive, they began to grow and evolve and morph, until they were walking, talking humanoid begins.

Within a decade the craft was filled with over a dozen lifeforms, all of them different variations on the human species. The contents of the petri-dishes had mixed with the remains of the four human astronauts to create this new multirace of Juptarians. Additionally, because their initial cultivation was facilitated by Jupiter’s harsh atmosphere, their anatomies adapted perfectly to the planet’s environment.

Eridanus was one of the initial Juptarians, and as his body matured, he developed four massive and powerful wings. His extra appendages and enhanced anatomy made him the perfect candidate for the task of flying throughout the galaxy to find suitable materials for expanding their habitat beyond that of the spacecraft, and building a Juptarian city. Within a couple of years, the colony had grown to the size of Texas and the population had ballooned to fill it.

Despite Eridanus’s important role in the establishment of the Juptarian multirace, he was generally regarded as a lower class citizen of the community – someone who was good for doing a lot of heavy lifting, and not much else. He wasn’t invited to any of the political meetings, and his suggestions and ideas were summarily ignored. Eridanus grew spiteful and angry, and eventually left Jupiter.

He traveled throughout the galaxy for many years, and found work as an intergalactic mercenary. He was beginning to make a name for himself, when one day he was approached by an ominous being who claimed to represent a collective of elite warriors called the Denizen Supreme. They wanted Eridanus to join them, but first he’d have to survive a brutal, and potentially deadly, series of trials and test. He was told that only one in a hundred makes it through alive. The statistics, however, did not dissuade him.

He took on the challenges, and eventually endured through to the end. He became a full-fledged member of the Denizen Supreme, and it wasn’t long before he was given his first assignment: members of the planet Mederia had trespassed on a world controlled by the Denizen Supreme, and as a result the ominous one who’d recruited Eridanus had traveled to Mederia and destroyed it. Eridanus was directed to hunt down any and all survivors of that world, and snuff them out of existence. This included the former ruler of the planet (and member of the Diamond Alliance), King Ka’Desh.

The winged warrior embarked on his mission with skilled and deadly precision, easily tracking down Mederians all over the galaxy. Finally, after several years he located his most prized target. King Ka’Desh and two other members of the Diamond Alliance, Magnifica and Utopia, had just finished taking care of a hostage situation on a moon in the far reaches of the Andromeda system, when suddenly Eridanus attacked!

The heroes quickly realized they were dealing with the most powerful adversary they had ever faced, as Eridanus proceeded to overwhelm the trio. He soon turned his focus solely toward King Ka’Desh, who attempted to gain the advantage by using his mystic spear to create a series of teleportation vortexes. The idea was to keep the predator guessing and off balance. However, Eridanus’s wings were able to create gusts of wind strong enough to blow the portals away!

It seemed that Eridanus was moments away from vanquishing King Ka’Desh, and in turn wiping out the very last of the Mederian race. But then, the other three members of the Diamond Alliance – Thundersnow, Mr. Amazing and Twinstar – showed up. Eridanus’s victory would have to wait.