CAMARILLA of the N'GARAI
MEMBERSHIP:
Brian Abelard, Jimmy Cruz, Alejandro Fuerrga, Roberta Lancer, Sharon McCay,
Dennis St.Croix, Dominic (not pictured);
Walter Dean (aspired to membership)
AFFILIATIONS: agents of the N'Garai;
ENEMIES: enemies of Satana and Basilisk
BASE of OPERATIONS: The Church of Dis, San Francisco, California
FIRST APPEARANCE: (Cruz) Haunt of
Horror#4/3;
(Camarilla) Marvel Preview#7 (Summer, 1976)
HISTORY: The Camarilla of the N'Garai are a group of humans dedicated to the N'Garai. These demons, at least in this story, were defeated by the forces of Heaven led by the not-yet-fallen angel, Lucifer, and imprisoned in an other dimensional reality millions of years ago. The N'Garai sought vengeance on that fallen angel, and saw the means to gain it by slaying Satana, the daughter of a demon that some believe to be that same fallen angel.
Jimmy
Cruz was a monsignor in the Catholic Church. He became
obsessed with destroying the forces of Satan, by whatever means
necessary. To this end, he turned to the N'Garai for power and
support. He sent a group of men to ambush a brutally beat Satana,
leaving her for dead. Satana was rescued by a former priest
turned surgeon named Mickey Heron, who was an old friend of Cruz.
Cruz sent his men to kidnap Heron to gain an advantage over
Satana. Cruz summoned the N'Garai to slay Satana's familiar, a
magic cat named Exiter. However, Satana herself caught up with
Cruz before he could summon demonic assistance, and drained his
soul, killing him.
Realizing that the murder of Satana, would
unleash the powerful demon known as the Basilisk from within her, Brian Abelard and the other four leaders of the Camarilla set into
work an advanced plot. Catching Satana off guard, they bound her
into human form, giving her a false family and false memories as
Judith Camber. The Basilisk fought this spell and succeeded in
slaying Camber's family in an effort to free her from her false
memories. Abelard arrived at the scene of the murders but pretended to be the law partner of Gene Camber to get close to Judith.
He kept pretending friendship to Camber, to keep her calm, and prevent
Satana from breaking free. The Camarilla then succeeded in
extracting the spirit of Satana from Camber, and planned to
sacrifice it to the N'Garai. However, Camber, realizing that
doing so would end her own false existence, tracked the Camarilla
to the Church of Dis, and unleashed the Basilisk. The arch-demon
destroyed the entire church and slew the Camarilla. Satana
regained her true form and memory, and destroyed the soul of
Abelard before it could pass on to any final resting place.
COMMENTS: Created by Chris Claremont and Vincente Alcazar.
Camarilla is a Spanish word, essentially the equivalent of a Cabal: a group of unofficial often secret and scheming advisors.
Marduk Kurios is the true name
of Satana's father, though he was more commonly named "Satan." What, if any,
connection he has to the fallen angel, Lucifer, is unknown.
Lucifer would more likely be a completely different demon,
another of the arch-lords of Hell, though such a being has not
yet been seen in the Marvel Universe. Perhaps as both Lucifer and
Marduk Kurios were known as Satan, the N'Garai and/or their human
agents confused the two? Or maybe it was not the fallen angel
Lucifer that imprisoned the N'Garai extra-dimensionally.
And the fallen angel Lucifer should not be confused with Lucifer,
of the Quists, @ X-Men I#9
Anyway, the above explanation of motivations was provided by
Claremont in a text piece in Marvel Preview#7.
Thanks to Slawomir Kwaśny for pointing out that Abelard wasn't actually a police officer.
CLARIFICATIONS:
see comments.
despite the discussion as such by Claremont, the N'Garai are not the Elder Gods.
Walter "Wally" Dean
He had aspired to membership in the Camarilla of the N'Garai, but, unfortunately for him, this was the time when Satana had begun stalking the Camarilla for their assaults against her. After killing several of his allies, she confronted him in his own home. He pulled a gun on her, but she slapped him to the ground and forced him to see his own soul before she consumed it. One of his allies returned at that time, initially thinking Dean was getting lucky and asked him to share the wealth. He received his share, as well, as Satana consumed him soul.
--Haunt of Horror#5/4
images:
Marvel Preview#7, p5, bottom panel (main image)
Haunt of Horror#4/3, p8, bottom right (Jimmy Cruz)
Marvel Preview#7, p15, pan2 (Brian Abelard)
Haunt of Horror#5/4, p2, bottom right (Walter "Wally" Dean)
Appearances:
Haunt of Horror#4 (November, 1974) - Chris Claremont (writer), Pat Broderick & Crusty Bunkers (art), Tony Isabella (editor)
Haunt of Horror#5 (January, 1975) - Chris Claremont (writer), George Evans (artist), Don McGregor (editor)
Marvel Preview#7 (Summer, 1976) - Chris Claremont (writer), Vicente Alcazar (artist), John Warner (editor)
Last updated: 08/30/16
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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