Archive for November 7th, 2011

G. Brett Williams #6 – Caliginous

Caliginous is the shadowy leader of the rebellion forces that rise up in opposition of Cyclone and his regime in the years after the Faceless War. While very little is known about Caliginous, even among his own followers, the truth is he is was a masked hero operating in the years before the Faceless War. Choosing to conceal himself and to work from the shadows, Caliginous, as he prefers to be called, was referred to by many different names; The Eclipse, The Twilight King, Springheel Jack, Tenebrous, and others.

Caliginous operated in the five boroughs of New York City. He rarely made his presence known and was never one for the “team-ups” popularized by many Evo heroes in the years before the Faceless War. Caliginous was concerned with helping the helpless, defending the underprivileged, and he didn’t care for the notoriety that accompanied that for most Evos.

When the United States began registering known Evos and pressured the UN security council to institute the practice in every major country, Caliginous went completely off the radar. Despite pleas for his return from many of the poorer neighborhoods of New York, Caliginous never operated in the city again. He was gone, completely off the grid.

Caliginous saw the forced registration of all Evos as the first step toward a civil rights crisis that couldn’t possibly be controlled, a crisis he expected to spill over and annihilate the fabric of government throughout the world. At that time, he went into hiding and set himself up as a rebel leader of sorts, organizing various Evos who wanted to escape registration and helping them to avoid discovery by international forces. What he didn’t plan for was the Faceless invasion.

Recognizing the Faceless as a dominant threat to all life on Earth, Caliginous organized his Evos throughout the world and did his best to fight the invasion. Seeing that he and his people were genuinely outmatched, he counseled those who followed him to join forces with Cyclone and his resistance where they could and to go back into hiding if they couldn’t. Then he fell silent again, falling out of radio contact with his whole network. But he didn’t completely disappear. In fact, quite the opposite.

Caliginous is the most powerful Evo on the whole planet, and the only Evo who developed the abilities which he possessed. Caliginous was able to shapeshift into any humanoid with whom he came into contact. His ability, essentially, copied the DNA code of the person he was impersonating and laid it over his own. Therefore, when Caliginous copied another Evo, he copied that Evo’s power as well. He spent the Faceless War operating under various codenames of his own design, moving in and out of various pockets of the resistance and doing what he could to aid Cyclone’s forces without ever revealing his identity or coming into direct contact with Cyclone.

After the war, Caliginous reached out again to his network of allies, wanting to let them know that he was alive and that he would aid in the rebuilding process as best he could. Over the years, as Cyclone’s reach and power grew out of control, Caliginous amped up his recruitment of Evos. He saw Cyclone as particularly dangerous and was very uncomfortable with his continued use of the Dragon Soldiers in militaristic roles. When Cyclone re-implemented the policy of Evo registration, Caliginous saw it for what it really was; a way to find and weed out psychics, the Evos Cyclone perceived as such a great threat. As registration increased and the disappearance of pyshcically gifted Evos increased, Calignious began rallying many Evos to his banner.

In the current timeline, Caliginous has a vast network of Evos working for him, though he only appears in person to a very select few of them. He even has people inside of some of Cyclone’s closest circles, which allows him to rescue many of the psychics Cyclone has targeted for elimination. While he has no way of locating Calignious, the whispers that he is the one behind this organized opposition reach Cyclone’s ears and his inability to capture Caliginous dogs the ruler.

While he is content for the time being to rescue the Evos Cyclone has targeted and give them safe haven in some of his many holdings, he nevertheless recognizes Cyclone as a threat that must be eliminated and slowly develops a plan with which to remove him from power.

Caliginous travels constantly, though his main base of power is located in Siberia, where he operates under the silent protection of Mars and the Red Hand.