Characters: Legacy
Real Name: Unknown
Occupation: Former-child king and tyrant, Servant of Kao, Geneticist, courtesan
Identity: Unknown
Legal Status: None
Place of Birth: Africa
Known Relatives: M'Elene (sister, deceased), Kao (brother-in-law), Anisa Okoro (a.k.a. Glitch, daughter)
Group Affiliation: The Factory
Powers and abilities: Through advanced medical and technological means Legacy can siphon the abilities of biologically enhanced super-humans and "gods" and transfer those abilities to himself. This is a lengthy process which can take hours. However when the process is complete he can access a siphoned power for a period as long as a month. Additionally, Legacy can be in active possession of up to 10 powers at any given time (10 being the maximum limit his cells can adapt to). Thus far Legacy has exhibited superhuman strength, near invulnerability, the ability to create active clones, energy projection, flight and pyrokinesis.
Legacy possesses an extended life span and is much more durable than normal human beings. He is also an expert in the fields of biology, cloning, and genetic engineering on levels beyond present science. As a result Legacy has bestowed superhuman abilities on non-powered humans and enhanced the abilities of those already powered through advanced technological/genetic manipulation.
Brief personal history: An albino boy child was born to an African tribe approximately 7000 years ago. The tribesmen saw the child's birth as a favorable omen and the child's name was hidden for his own protection. The tribe then bestowed upon him a name that meant "Cloud Skinned" and made him their ruler. Believing themselves blessed by the boy's very existence, the tribe began a campaign of raids and attacks on their neighbors, quickly absorbing the vanquished into their growing nation and army; while the child who sat on the throne grew spoiled and vicious, his every wish fulfilled by his blindly loyal people. His favor meant life and his displeasure brought the cruelest of deaths. He heeded the words of only one person in the whole world, his beautiful older sister M'Elene.
As years went on the strength of his nation grew and by his 10th year, kingdoms and nations seeking to avoid conflict sent their princesses to him in hopes of an alliance by marriage. Those he approved of were kept for his personal amusement while the others were sent away. No alliances were forged. Enraged, the other nations banded together and waged war on the albino boy king and his nation. They were joined by a rebellion among the citizenry; those who no longer could live with the young king's butchery, and soon M'Elene and her brother were forced to flee as the capital city burned around them - the streets filled with those crying out for the blood of the Cloud Skinned King.
The fleeing siblings made it to the edge of the kingdom where they stumbled across Kao's compound (Kao is the [REDACTED] who was responsible for giving the "gods" their [REDACTED] and bringing them to this dimension). Seeing two people hounded by hundreds of warriors Kao saved the two, using his advanced technology. Struck by M'Elene's beauty, he offered refuge and eventually fell in love with and married her, taking the fallen boy monarch as his adopted brother. Kao gave the boy the name L'Gasi and enhanced his new family's human bodies so that they too would live as long as he. He began to teach his brother-in-law some of his advanced science and found L'Gasi possessed a great hunger for knowledge. For a time L'Gasi resisted his baser urges but eventually started using his newfound talent to torture and experiment on captured animals.
Years pass and one day when Kao was out consulting with the "gods" at the request of [REDACTED] the compound was attacked by warriors of L'Gasi's former kingdom and their allies. L'Gasi was critically injured and Kao returned in time to witness M'Elene's death. Consumed by grief and madness, Kao declared war on [REDACTED] and all the life that [REDACTED] held dear – especially mankind. Thus began the Kao War, where the "gods" fought against each other for mankind's very right to exist. A healed L'Gasi was Kao's chief lieutenant and became infamous for the atrocities his forces committed per his command. Opponents feared him even more than they did the "gods." When Kao was finally defeated, [REDACTED] and his forces routed, L'Gasi swore to his leader to never cease in his efforts to free him and made his escape. He took with him some of Kao's findings on [REDACTED] and human genetics and went into hiding, renaming himself Legacy.
Legacy spent the rest of human history switching his focus between his promise to Kao and his compulsive need to inflict pain while corrupting living creatures. He slowly deciphered some of Kao's complex genetic theories and created a vast fortune providing ancient civilizations with grotesque soldiers (e.g. Persia, Rome, Mongolia and China). Many of these soldiers we're human/animal hybrids or men with crudely grafted extra appendages. His discovery of a [REDACTED] in Ancient Rome led to the accidental destruction of Pompeii. He was a friend and ally to Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia and spent many years as a patron of many European royal houses. The French monarchy constructed a laboratory under the Bastille where experimented on prisoners. He lived a hedonistic lifestyle and sired thousands of children, many of whom became fodder for his experiments.
Approximately 300 years ago Legacy unlocked some of Kao's greatest genetic secrets but discovered that if he gave himself superhuman abilities in the same manner that Kao had given them to [REDACTED]; he would be stuck with that single ability forever. He instead decided to develop a way to siphon off abilities and spent a century in a vegetative state as his cells transformed into the most receptive state possible in order to adapt to the drastic changes such a process would wreak on his body. He then began kidnapping unsuspecting "gods" and using them. He found that he could manifest and control up to 10 superhuman abilities at a time but his operation was discovered by the "gods" and after a pitched battle he once again went into hiding. It was during this period that he met and experimented upon Ginger.
In the latter half of the 20th Century, Legacy supplied certain governments with scientific information which led to the creation of covert programs and superhuman champions (in response to the appearance of John Henry and the creation of T.A.S.K.). The reason for these actions is still unknown. In 1980 Legacy managed to communicate with Kao for the first time in 600 years. They communicated for less than a minute and the resulting energy backlash from the [REDACTED] caused the eruption of Mt. St. Helens.
Newly dedicated to the cause of freeing Kao, Legacy created The Factory and started the work of creating Kao's new army.
Written by Damion Gonzales
Character design by Sean Isaakse