CICATRICE

Real Name: General Cicatrice

Identity/Class: Extra-temporal (Lionheart 3442) Alien possibly a mutant or mutate

Occupation: General of the Ludite rebellion.

Group Membership: Ludites

Affiliations: Major Oak

Enemies: All cyborgs and other artificial beings such as robots; in particular the inhabitants of Catspur, Death's Head, Heron, Tuck, Noon, though presumably the Temploids as well

Known Relatives: unknown

Aliases: Cycatrice

Base of Operations: Mobile, utilizing Ludite Battle Cruisers

First Appearance: Death's Head III#14/2 // Death's Head Gold#0 (January, 1994)

Powers/Abilities: Cicatrice has clawed fingers and two toed feet that appear to have hooves. He has superhuman agility, strength (Class 50-75) and durability. He had multiple bodies, enough to stretch out across a galaxy, all linked by one mind, and could grow his bodies back, apparently even from the dead, as long as some of his bodies remained. It's possible he may have been able to alter the sex and/or appearance of these bodies see comments. Also it's likely that with his mind being linked to multiple bodies that he had a resistance to psionic attacks. He had access to certain Lionheart magic's that could shield his ship, but it is more likely that he had others wield the magic for him as opposed to him being a mage himself.

History: (Death's Head Gold#1 (fb) - BTS) - For some unknown reason Cicatrice hated artificial life forms such as cyborgs and became General of the Ludite rebellion. He became part of an age old war in which both sides had committed many war crimes. General Cicatrice supplied Major Oak with technology which allowed his men to infiltrate Death's Head's army of cyborgs. Weakened from within, Death's Head's men were decimated. He sent his ship through a vortex, shielded by Lionheart magic, so no technology could trace him.

(Death's Head III#14/2 // Death's Head Gold#0 - BTS / Death's Head Gold#1 - BTS) - When Death's Head and Tuck traveled to Catspur, Cicatrice unleashed an energy blast at their ship in an effort to cover up his involvement on Lionheart. This blast slew everyone on Catspur expect Heron and Noon. Tuck disappeared through the machinations of Cicatrice see comments and Death's Head was taken in by Heron and Noon.

(Death's Head Gold#1) - Cicatrice placed his Ludite battle cruiser in orbit around Catspur. One of his men pinpointed ion traces likely to have been generated by Death's Head, and the General ordered him to follow the signature and deal with Death's Head discreetly. Later Cicatrices men reported back to him that they had gotten Heron and Tuck cornered, and that both Noon and Death's Head had been killed (However they were incorrect about Death's Head). Later still Cicatrice received a radio message from one of his men (actually Heron in one of the Temploid disguises the men had been using) declaring they were returning, having successfully eliminated the last Catspurian. Cicatrice used a tractor beam to pull the fake Temploid ship through an asteroid belt towards the main battle cruiser. Suddenly the Temploids ship came crashing in through the battle cruisers plasma shields and Cicatrice realised it was Death's Head. While the ship ploughed through the shield and tore a trench through the bridge, Cicatrice had the life pods containing his spare bodies ejected to safety.  Death's Head realised the truth about Cicatrice's multiple bodies when both he and Tuck saw him in seperate locations at roughly the same time. Death's Head was taken by surprise by one of Cictrice's bodies but he slew that one easily. With most of his other bodies safe, Cictrice told Death's Head he would regrow it and that they would meet again.

Comments: Created by Liam Sharp

In Death's Head Gold#2, Nechromachiad Part 2, The Bewilderness, we would've learnt exactly how Cicatrices machinations brought about Tuck's disappearance. Presumably we would have also learnt more about Cicatrice. Unfortunately that trilogy was never completed but here's an insight from Liam Sharp:

• Re. Death's head Gold, it's so long ago I can't remember much of what we had planned! Dan Abnett was going to script issue 2 and I was going to do 3. Tuck was seduced by a female Cycatrice, as I recall (quite risqué at the time!) but this happened in the past...
• Death's Head ultimately becomes a god. He meets his future self in the third part. This was also shown in the prologue which was four pages in the regular series. It had a fancy blue metallic cover, I recall, and was a flip book.
• Sadly I don't have anything written down. Dan and I worked the story up over a few drunken evenings, but we never got to the scripting stage.
• Hope this helps a little! --- Liam Sharp

It's from those comments that I made the assumption Cicatrice/Cycatrice could alter the sex and/or appearance of his/her multiple bodies. It is not stated whether his abilities were normal for members of his race or if he was a mutant or mutate of some kind.

Cicatrice actually respected Death's Head as an honorable foe. He obviously believed he was right in fighting against artificial lifeforms, but regretted much of the killing he had done. He prayed to the Lords of the Vortices (his battle cruiser used Vortices to travel, presumably these Lords were deities of some sort) to forgive him for his decimation of the Catspurians. He measured time in "Magasets".

The Luddites were a group of early-19th century English radicals who opposed the use and growth of machines over man. Because many of them took to destroying the machines of the time, many members were rounded up and executed.
    Because many of Earth 2099s heroes were anti-corporation, and the universe in itself was vaguely cyberpunk, the executions of the heroes in 2099 Apocalypse were somewhat similar to the executions of the Luddites in 1812. The confusion over whether many of the heroes were the ones who died (Punisher 2099 and Hulk 2099 in particular) may have been a commentary on the executed Luddites and the fervour of the government who organized it.
    Another character that may have been inspired by the Luddites is Metalscream's assistant, Litany Kirkpatrick, may have been named in tribute to Kirkpatrick Sale, a modern Luddite writer (Most famous for the book RebelsAgainst The Future: The Luddites and Their War on the Industrial Revolution: Lessons For The Modern Age)

The Ludite battle cruisers and their probability vortices remind me of the Heart of Gold, Zaphod Beeblebrox's ship from the classic British sci-fi comedy The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Whilst in the book it is described as "shaped like a sleek running shoe" in the TV series it appeared more like your generic space ship, but it's not so much the appearance but the method of transportation: the Infinite Improbability Drive which enabled the Heart of Gold to teleport across vast interstellar distances in the blink of an eye. Coincidence? Or is Liam Sharp a fan of the works of the late Douglas Adams too?

Profile by Changeling

CLARIFICATIONS:

Cicatrice has no known connection to:

• Cicada 2099, @Doom 2099#3
• any other Cic something characters
• the word Cicatrix, an alternative form of Cicatrice, meaning "Scar"

His Luddites have no known connection to

• Ned Ludd, an opponent of technology in all its forms, mentioned in Marvel Super-Heroes III#14
• The Luddites, a group of modern day anti-technologists, who followed the teachings of Ned Ludd,
      @ Marvel Super-Heroes III#14
• Lud, a Celtic God, discussed under that profile, as well as under Ludi; status uncertain
      invoked in Druid#1
• Ludi, a demon who may have been Lud,  @ Chamber of Chills#4
• Anthony Ludgate, aka Dr. Druid, aka the Last Druid @Druid#1 (named as such) -- Another toy of Warren's
• Ludgate, a place where men and animals were sacrificed, where London's St. Paul Cathedral now stands, named for the Celtic God, Lud.
• SHIELD 2099's ludgate rods, used to negate Metalscream 2099's magic, @2099 Apocalypse
• The Ludberdites, a race of extraterrestrial aquatic beings who inspired Nebulon to begin his Celestial Mind Control, @ Giant-Size Defenders#4, Defenders#33

Temploid Impostors

A group of Cicatrices men disguised themselves as Temploids, sentient androids programmed to nurse wounded planets and ease dying races into new planes of existence, as they would be expected on Catspur and arouse no suspicion. They traced Death's Head to Garrick 6. Noon let them enter thinking they would rescue him, but they killed him instead and impaled Death's Head upon a huge spike. They attached ropes to his arms and legs and pulled tightly in order to secure him. They then shot at him till they believed he was beyond help and left him to die. They returned to their ship to find Heron had sabotaged it. Heron and Tuck fought most of them off, and when Death's Head recovered they finished off the rest and stole the ship. While Cicatrices men were patterned after Temploids they had none of the androids magical abilities. However they used advanced energy weaponry and likely had some measure of superhuman strength.

-- Death's Head Gold#1

Ludite Battle Cruisers

The Ludite battle cruisers, as used by General Cicatrice, use probability vortices of galaxies to transport themselves through space. They also have artificial gravity, Harlequin cloaking, plasma shields, and tractor beams. The cruisers are four miles in length and have crews composed of Ludite's from many different races.

-- Death's Head Gold#1

Ludites

The Ludites were part of an age old war against synthetic lifeforms in which both sides had committed many war crimes. They were made up of many different races and used assorted advanced weaponry, and in some cases armoured battle suits. They are affiliated to the mutant Major Oak and his Huscarls.

-- Death's Head Gold#1

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Other appearances:
Death's Head III#14/Death's Head Gold#0 (January, 1994) - Liam Roger McCormack-Sharp (writer/pencils), Rodney Ramos & Robin Riggs (inks)
Death's Head Gold#1 (January, 1994) - - Liam Roger McCormack-Sharp (writer/pencils), Rodney Ramos & Andy Lanning (inks)

Last updated: 09/21/03

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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