Created by Barry Mulvihil & Matt Parmenter
Alter Ego: Captain James Blud/Captain Blood
Occupation: Super Villain
Known Relatives: None
Group Affiliation: The Anachronist Society
Background/History:
Captain James Blud started out like most other British naval officers. He began
his career in 1638 on the HMS Maelstrom, an Ensign serving under the cruel and
despotic Captain Maurice Richards. Fed up with Richards’s abuses, Blud lead a
successful mutiny, killed Richards, and rechristened the ship the Hellstorm.
Initially, Blud took a pirate stand, acting as a privateer on behalf of France.
He sacked British ships while flying a skull and crossbones and a Fleur de Lis.
He was successful beyond his wildest dreams. Eventually he set up a base camp in
the Caribbean on a small atoll. Here he began to sock away his ill-gotten gains.
It was also here that he decided he didn’t need the French anymore and elected
to keep their share as well as his. He was now a full-fledged pirate beholden to
no one.
Also during this time, Blud became Captain Blood with a reputation for cruelty
worse than that of the man he replaced. His pirating career was highly
successful until the fateful day he attacked a Dutch ship bound for the West
Indies. In the battle that ensued, it seemed as though something was awakened.
Only one mile from the coast of Bermuda, the sea seemed to open up before him
swallowing both the Dutch ship and the Hellstorm.
Later that year, a passing Spanish galleon swore they saw the Hellstorm, but
when they came abroadsides, they passed right through the warship, now ship
in spirit only. For centuries, legends of the ghost ship of Captain Blood
persisted. Some even said that Blood himself could be seen at the wheel, his
face now gone except for two blank white eyes staring out from a shadow black
visage.
In the early part of the 20th century, a mystical entity rose from the Nexus to
fight one of the first of a new breed of costumed hero. The mystical energy that
had been released when Crykill first fought and was defeated by All American was
enough to allow Blood to take corporeal form. Years later, when Crykill rose
once again, he was stranded on the same island that Blood, now calling himself
the Dark One, had been stranded on for decades. Helping Crykill gather his
strength and feeding off of the residual mystic energy of the Nexus, both beings
left the island, to begin their reign of terror as the Anachronist Society.
Personality/Motivation:
Before the incident on the HMS Maelstrom, Blud was a perfect officer. Once he
was pushed to the brink, forced to mutiny, he became a twisted parody of his
former self. The hatred he felt for his captain became internalized due to his
own dishonorable, although necessary, act. He then turned that rage and hatred
out toward the rest of the world. The Dark One is aptly named for his soul is
indeed blackened with evil. No depraved act seems to be beyond him, yet he
strongly prescribes to a code of honor and his word truly is his bond.
Quote: "The best swordsman of France fears the worst swordsman in
France, but I fear no one."