SOMNAMBULIST
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Human, degenerated into demon
Occupation: Agent of Satan; former magician/sorcerer
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Satan (master); December, January (companions); Ervil Allred (pawn); Stephen Loss (unwitting ally)
Enemies: Hellstorm, the people of
Jericho, Nevada; the priests of the Jericho Monastery;
the Ancient One (see comments).
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Currently unknown; formerly Jericho, Nevada; a branch of Hell
First Appearance: Hellstorm#17 (August, 1994)
Powers: The Somnambulist possesses certain magical powers, enabling him to grant power to others. He is limited to his own realm of Hell and can only appear on Earth as an image when summoned, or if able to form a portal via some other means. He can use any dark aspect of a person as a means with which to kill them...but he requires that another request and utilize his power to act on Earth. The extent of his power is undefined, but he is likely immune to conventional disease and the effects of aging.
History:
(Hellstorm#17(fb)) - Approximately 200 years ago, the
Somnambulist raised Satan in Jericho, Nevada. Satan slew 400 of
the 500 residents and wrote a book with the bodies: one sentence
inside the skull of each victim.
Eventually, the Sorcerer Supreme Yao arrived, banished
Satan back to Hell, and slew the Somnambulist. The Somnambulist
was sent to Hell as well. Eventually, he sought to recover
Satan's literary effort, but found that a monastery had been
built on that site in Jericho, preventing his access.
BTS - Stephen Loss visited the Jericho Monastery, and (apparently) unwittingly left behind a page from one of his arcane texts.
(Hellstorm#17(fb)) - Ervil Allred, a serial
killer hiding out as one of the monks of Jericho, found the page
left behind by Loss. Allred accessed the power in the page to
slay several other monks and eventually to summon the
Somnambulist. The demon promised Allred great power and the
ability to kill anyone he wanted if he would help him regain
access to Jericho and Satan's "book." The Somnambulist
granted Allred power by having him consume a host, the flesh of
the devil (actually the Somnambulist's own heart--an obscure, but
potent piece of magic). Allred slew the rest of the monks,
deconsecrated the church and then read the Somnambulist's spell,
raising the corpses buried in the catacombs below the monastery.
Having recovered the "book", the Somnambulist was now
freed from Satan's slavery, and planned to take his first step
towards promotion, claiming his first soul when Allred died (and
regaining his heart in the process). However, Hellstorm showed up
rammed his trident into Allred's abdomen, causing him to disgorge
the ingested heart, which Hellstorm then incinerated--destroying
the Somnambulist and depriving him of his intended soul.
Per Hellstorm, "...a destroyed slave of the Devil never
completely dies. They spend millennia in a corroded husk,
cleaning out the mass toilets of Hell, waiting to be
reconstituted."
Comments: Created by Warren Ellis and Derek Yaniger.
This issue was especially twisted, and I'm leaving out a lot of gory details--it was code approved, by the way.
The Ancient One was not specifically named as the one who slew the Somnambulist, but rather he was described as "some tedious Sorcerer Supreme." As far as I know, the sorcerer supreme 200 years ago would be the Ancient One, but he could have been temporarily replaced in some as yet unknown tale.
It was indeed the Ancient One as per his entry in OHotMU: Book of the Dead 2004.
I don't think it's significant, but this story was a flashback to BEFORE Hellstorm apparently slew Marduk Kurios and took over as lord of his realm of Hell.
Somnambulist means a sleepwalker.
It may still be a few months off, but Stephen Loss will get a profile here.
CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connections to:
Sleepwalker, the native of the mindscape who
used Rick Sheridan as a host, @ Sleepwalker#1
December has no known connection to:
December 2099, a cold-powered member of
X-Nation, @ Marvel Vision#1, 2099 Genesis#1, X-Nation#1
Satan. This is definitely intended to refer to Marduk Kurios.
December ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ January
December and January
were also demons, either sidekicks, assistants, or perhaps close
personal friends of the Somnambulist. What, if any, abilities
they had are undefined. They showed up when he did, and were
presumably sent back to Hell when he was destroyed. (see also
top image)
--Hellstorm#17 (fb)
Ervil Allred is a sick,
twisted, killer, who had killed sixteen people in three states.
After killing a pregnant woman, there was a large public outcry,
so he hid out as a monk in the Jericho Monastery. He found a page
from an occult text left behind by Stephen Loss and used its
power to kill a few monks, just by wishing it. He sensed the
power in the page calling to him, and he used it to summon the
Somnambulist. He accepted power from the Somnambulist in return
for serving him, and he used that power to kill the rest of the
monks. He then desecrated the church and read the spell to
unearth the corpses the Somnambulist sought. Only then did he
realize the extent of the forces with which he had been playing,
and he prayed to god for help. Hellstorm skewered Allred in the
abdomen with his trident, killing him.
--Hellstorm#17 (fb)
Appearances:
Hellstorm#17 (August, 1994) - Warren Ellis (writer), Derek Yaniger (artist), Marie Javins (editor)
Last updated: 08/01/02
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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