PRIAPUS
PRIAPUS
Real Name: Priapus
Identity/Class: Olympian God
Occupation: God of bees, gardens, and male regenerative power
Group Membership: Possibly the Olympian Gods
Affiliations: Carnal Serpent, Libido, Brother Randi;
birds, bees;
Enemies: Cage (Luke Cage/Power Man), Silver Sable, Terror INC
Known Relatives: Aphrodite/Venus (mother), Dionysus (father), Zeus and Hera (paternal grandparents), Ouranos (maternal grand"parent", as well as paternal great-great grandfather), and the respective relationships to the other Olympian Gods
Aliases: Master Priapus
Place of Birth: Lampsacus, Phrygia (part of modern day Turkey)
Base of Operations: Currently unknown;
formerly an unnamed island in the Mediterranean Sea;
First Appearance: Terror INC#10 (April, 1993)
(fully seen) Terror INC#11
(May, 1993)
Powers: As an Olympian Gods, Priapus likely possesses some degree of superhuman strength (Class 10-25) and durability, as well as being virtually immortal--immune to the effects of aging and conventional disease, etc.
He has a virtually insatiable libido and possessed virtually limitless stamina. He also was characterized by extremely deviant interests. Priapus possesses the ability to make others feel like they are living out their darkest fantasies. He does this by releasing "succubi and incubi of the mind", which appear as little spirits that enter the form of his target.
While in possession of Vatsayana's Tryst, his powers were significantly amplified. He could make the hidden fantasies of others take solid form, and act under his control. His physical abilities were presumably enhanced as well.
The power of the Carnal Serpent enhanced his physical and carnal powers to an even greater degree, such that he could mentally enslave others at will. He could also form warriors out of dust.
Priapus is experienced with modern technology.
His abilities give him a loyal following who obey his every command, either through desire to please, or through fear.
Height: 6' 1" (variable)
Weight: 410 lbs. (variable)
Eyes: Yellow (variable; no visible sclera)
Hair: Red-brown (variable)
History: Born in Lampsacus in Phrygia,
he was an ugly satyr-like god who was extraordinarily well
endowed. Most of the gods wanted little to do with him. Dionysus
gave a donkey the power of speech to be his friend and traveling
companion, but the two actually got into an argument over who had
the most sexual virility. Losing the argument, Priapus killed the
donkey.
Priapus' activities over the following millennia are unknown, but his abilities and strength waned some over time. To maximize his search for unlawful carnal knowledge, he sought the power of the Carnal Serpent.
(Terror INC#10 (fb) - BTS) - Priapus commissioned the monk Brother Randi to hire the mercenary Terror to locate the parts of Vatsayana's Tryst, to guide him to the Carnal Serpent.
(Terror INC#11 (fb) - BTS) - To assure successful acquisition, Priapus also manipulated a Chicago Museum of Natural History professor to entice the Chicago Spectator to send Luke Cage to find the Tryst. He similarly manipulated a Paris museum's curator to hire Silver Sable to obtain the Tryst.
(Terror INC#11 (fb) - BTS) - Brother Randi counseled Mikal Dragonmekas (Hellfire), instructing him to recruit Terror to help him obtain the Carnal Serpent.
(Terror INC#10) - Randi -- while licking Priapus' glove - -told his master that Terror was coming. As his reward, Priapus granted him him "the pleasures of the flesh" via his succubi of the mind.
(Terror INC#11) - Randi told Terror of the Carnal Serpent,
leading him to believe that he wished to possess it to protect others from being
corrupted by it. Terror accepted the mission to obtain it, though he declined
payment of one million dollars, instead asking for a prayer to "whatever it is
that's in the top office," on the off chance that he might one day have a
reunion with the woman he once loved.
Priapus later met with Randi rewarding him with more sensual
pleasure than he could handle, causing him to die in ecstasy and pain.
Terror's agent, Rekrab, directed him to the last reported
sighting of the Tryst, seven years ago in the hands of a man named Bo Ting, at
an outpost village just south of the Arctic Circle. Terror's guides attempted to
kill him to gain the Tryst themselves, but he instead slew them, using their
body parts to complete the trek on his own.
Silver Sable obtained part of the Tryst 28 miles south of of
Cairo, where it had been held for twelve years by Al Alami, who had been driven
insane as a result. Al Alami committed suicide after realizing he had lost the
chance to get any closer to the Carnal Serpent.
Cage obtained the third part of the Tryst in New Mexico,
forcefully taking it from Jed Paradi, who had found it in the bank vault of a
crumbling ghost town. Paradi had hoarded his tantric prize for 15 years,
enjoying its promise of sexual magic. After Cage took the Tryst, Paradi blew up
the vault, trying to assure that if he couldn't have the Tryst, then no one
could.
From the corpse of Bo Ting -- who had taken the Tryst with
him as he perished in the frozen wastes after realizing he would never gain its
other sections and thus would never find the Carnal Serpent -- Terror learned
that he had only found one third of the Tryst. Terror's agent Alexis Primo
informed him of the other mercenaries looking for the portions of the Tryst, and
he ambushed Cage aboard a train and took his portion of the Tryst. He similarly
confronted Sable on an ocean-liner and demanded her portion as well.
(Cage I#15) - Sable fought off Terror long enough for Cage,
via information from Dakota North, to find them. In the ensuing scuffle, Terror
escaped into depths of the ship with two of the fragments, while Cage knocked
out Sable when she tried to stop him. Cage and Sable later teamed up, while
Terror ambushed them, taking a hostage to force them to surrender the final
portion. Leaping overboard to a waiting small craft, he united the Tryst, but
found himself exempt from whatever gifts it offered. Cage leapt overboard and
caught up to him, taking the Tryst and holding Terror's wrist to prevent his
escape, and Terror decided to recoup his losses, releasing his own arm and then
swimming to shore. Cage paddled to shore.
Priapus monitored their progress and approach via the
internet.
(Silver Sable#13) - Thinking Cage had stolen her portion of the Tryst, she attacked him, but they came to an agreement, and he surrendered the entire Tryst, not wanting anything to do with its dark power. Terror ambushed them again, but was driven away, and they traveled to the rendezvous on Priapus' island. Sable delivered the entire Tryst to Priapus, who was initially impressed. However, when she insisted on full payment plus bonus for her difficulties, he took offense, pulling her close both to kiss her (sending her into a state of pure bliss) and snatch the Tryst. Cage moved to stop him, but Priapus overloaded his pleasure centers, then cut open his own palm. Touching the Tryst to his bleeding palm, Priapus was transformed into a more powerful form able to track the Serpent. Cage and Sable rallied to stop him, but he easily swatted them away and his minions caught them both into a net and dumped them into a shark-filled tank. Terror recovered and continued toward the island.
(Terror Inc#12) - Learning of Priapus' betrayal of Cage and
Sable, Terror helped them escape the trap, and the three joined forces to stop
Priapus.
Priapus arrived in his Spanish base, where his servant Libido
prepared his brothels. The Tryst, which he had pierced through the skin in his
chest, gave their desires substance, which fueled the
swingers' sexuality, and the power of their lust was fed back into Priapus, an
amorous cycle charging him for the final journey.
However, Cage, Sable, and Terror emptied the brothels,
cutting off their power, and they then ambushed Priapus, but after they'd each
struck a blow Priapus fought back, sending solid-form versions of their desires
to attack them.
(Cage I#16) - While the heroes overcame their attackers, Priapus escaped, tracking the Carnal Serpent to the jungle of Venezuela, near Cerro Duida. There he found its temple, which he unlocked with the Tryst. The Serpent sensed his approach, and Priapus allowed it to consume him. The heroes followed Priapus to the temple of the Serpent, and battled and slew the Serpent. However, this was the step necessary for Priapus to complete the final portion of the ritual to attain the full power of the Carnal Serpent, and he tore free from its corpse, reborn yet again, now a god. Using his vastly amplified power, he enslaved the wills of the three heroes, forcing them to become his acolytes.
(Silver Sable#14) - Priapus forced his acolytes to assault a monastery in Italy's Appennini mountains near the Tiber river, ending their silence and abstinence as part of his plot to bring about a new religion, with the monks to serve as his new messengers. None of the heroes could resist Priapus' will in any way, until Terror swapped one of his own limbs, which enabled him to shake Priapus' control by changing his own nature. Terror then attacked Priapus, distracting him sufficiently to allow the others to shake his control as well. They briefly stunned him and fled, after which he ensorceled the monks and created new warriors from the very dust and and sent them all to attack the heroes. Cage, Sable, & Terror fought off their attackers, and when Priapus confronted them anew, Sable pretended to be enthralled with Priapus and began kissing him, allowing him to slip a rope around his neck while he was thus distracted. Terror pulled on the rope, choking Priapus, while Cage rushed forward and tore the Vatsayana Tryst (which was fixed to his chest) from his body. The disruption in energy flow caused the Carnal Serpent to be reborn inside of Priapus, and it tore free from his body, consuming his form as it did. The Serpent claimed to bear no grudges against the heroes, reclaimed the Tryst, and vanished.
Comments: Adapted by D. G. Chichester, Marc McLaurin and Scott Benefiel, and Gregory Wright and Steven Butler.
The entire story arc was titled, "For Love, no Money."
Brilliant write up! What a hoot.
Reminded me of the disbelief we all experienced that we got that thing out in
the first place.
Priapus was just supposed to be a super freak with a
salacious, historical reference in his name. He was definitely ancient-old
and would probably have been the *inspiration* for the god/legend, but at no
time did we ever conceive of him as a deity per se. So I'd spin it that way:
that he was some mutant deviant whose misadventures through time had devolved
into the god-story, or had intersected to confuse the two. But if we're going to
be honest, he wasn't supposed to *be* _the_ god. <D.G. further commented
that if Priapus were to receive an official entry, he would prefer everything
nebulous: neither confirm nor deny him to be an Olympian God>
As an FYI, Greg, Marcus and I all worked up the story line
together and affixed our "pass the baton" points in an overarching
outline. We were then responsible individually for how each of us got things to
that pass off point by the end of a particular issue. (How we did it was up to
each of us within our own titles.)
--D.G. Chichester
There is no exact description which confirms the fact that Priapus in these stories is the mythological figure, but his appearance and behavior is so similar that I can't think of any reason to suspect that he is not. If he is not, than he is an individual who has taken great pains to duplicate the form and nature of the original Priapus, and no origins or facts about his previous life have been given.
Dionysus put the image of the donkey slain by Priapus in the stars as one of the constellations.
Priapus was never worshipped much in Greece until the time of Alexander the Great, but several phallic statues of Priapus have been found in Western Turkey where Phrygia once existed.
You may think this profile is a joke, but I assure you it's all true. Go read the issues--you can probably get all 7 issues for a buck or two, if you can find them.
Priapus is the origin of the medical term
"priapism", which means a persistent abnormal erection
of the penis, accompanied by pain and tenderness.
--Back in vet school, when we were first taught this word, we
were told it meant a persistent erection lasting hours to days.
One of my classmates, a good ole' boy from Tennessee responded,
"Is that abnormal?"
Just be happy this story came out before the MAX comics, or that it wasn't done by Garth Ennis!
Thanks to William Uchtman for a mythological background for Priapus.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Carnal Serpent has no known connection to:
A snake of immense power. It was originally described thus: "an artifact of great erotic power--an ancient totem of splendiferous power! It's been blamed for everything from the obscenity that forced God the Creator to destroy Sodom and Gomorra to the ecstasy that inspired the emergence of Europe from the Dark Ages! Sadly, one cannot afford to hope for the divine qualities of an object with the potential for such corruption!"
The Carnal Serpent's legend is woven through Egyptian, Greek, Chinese, and Hebrew mythology, with a wake of death and destruction common to all.
When they actually found the Carnal Serpent, it was in fact a living entity. Thus, what, if any, connection it has to its original description is unknown. It was located in the Venezuelan Jungle. It consumed Priapus, but was then slain by Cage, Silver Sable, and Terror. Priapus used its body to amplify his own abilities, but when Vatsayana's Tryst was torn from him, it caused the Serpent to be reborn anew. The Serpent consumed Priapus in the act of reforming itself, reclaimed the Tryst, and vanished to parts unknown.
--Terror#11-BTS, Cage#16 (Silver Sable#14
Vatsayana's Tryst
A composite item which is somehow connected to the Carnal Serpent. In and of itself, it can magnify erotic abilities, but its primary use is to track the energies of and locate the Carnal Serpent. In addition, it serves as the key to open the temple of the Serpent.
Realizing the danger posed by the power of the Serpent, the Tryst was broken into three parts and scattered across the Earth, to prevent it from being used to locate the Serpent. Cage, Silver Sable, and Terror were duped into locating the three parts for Priapus, who took the assembled Tryst for himself.
--Terror#12 (Cage#15, Sable#13, Terror#12, Cage#16, Sable#14
Brother Randi was a monk living in Greece. However, he is secretly a servant/worshipper of Priapus. Randi gave Terror false information about the Carnal Serpent in order to send him to attain it for Priapus. Randi, however, was ultimately slain by Priapus.
--Terror#10 (11
Libido is one of Priapus' deviant (not the race!) servants/worshippers, and is based at Priapus' Mediterranean Island. He is all about pleasure, and isn't much use in any sort of violent situation.
--Terror#12 (Cage#16
images:
Silver Sable#13, p11, panel 4 (original form, full body)
p12, panel 3 (original form, face and
torso close-up)
p13 (Tryst empowered form - newly
empowered)
Terror Inc#12, p1 (Tryst empowered form)
Cage I#16, p21 (Serpent empowered form - newly empowered)
Silver Sable#14, p3 (Serpent empowered form)
Appearances:
Terror Inc#10 (April, 1993) - by D.G. Chichester (writer),
Richard Pace (penciler), Temujin (inker), and Marc McLaurin (inker)
Terror Inc#11 (May, 1993) "Mercenary Tendencies" - by D.G. Chichester (writer),
Richard Pace (penciler), Temujin (inker), and Marc McLaurin (editor)
Cage I#15 (June, 1993) "The Good, the bad, and the deadly" - by Marc McLaurin
(writer), Scott Benefiel (pencils), Frank Turner (inker), Chris Cooper (editor)
Silver Sable#13 (June 19993) "Precarious Alliance" - by Gregory Wright (writer),
Steven Butler (penciler), Jimmy Palmiotti (inker), Craig Anderson (editor)
Terror Inc#12 (June, 1993) "Corporate Intimacy" - by D.G. Chichester (writer),
Kirk van Wormer (penciler), Temujin/Bud LaRosa/Steve George (inker), and Marc McLaurin (editor) - the
original title was "Corporate Fornication"
Cage I#16 (July 1993) "Love...like a Weapon" - by Marc McLaurin
(writer), Scott Benefiel (pencils), Frank Turner (inker), Chris Cooper (editor)
Silver Sable#14 (July 1993) "Unholy Righteousness" - by Gregory Wright (writer),
Steven Butler (penciler), Jimmy Palmiotti (inker), Craig Anderson (editor)
First Posted: 03/29/2002
Last updated: 04/15/2006
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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