ARCADIA DEVILLE

Real Name: Arcadia Deville

Identity/Class: Human, mutant

Occupation: Runaway

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Ulysses Dragonblood, Risque, Sledge, X-Force (Jesse Bedlam, Cannonball, Domino, Meltdown, Moonstar, Siryn, Sunspot, Warpath)

Enemies: Black Queen (Selene), Damocles Foundation, Gatherers, Queen of Star Swords

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Queen of Star Swords (manifested itself using her as host)

Base of Operations: Mobile, including Sledge's junkyard, Detroit, Michigan

First Appearance: X-Force I#83 (November, 1998)

Powers/Abilities: Arcadia Deville possesses the ability to distort reality using quantum energy. This has included teleportation and transforming people into other substances or creatures. Her power draws upon images she plucks from her mind. The effects of Arcadia's powers fade when she is unconscious. After activating quantum powers in Moonstar, the two of them shared a psychic bond.

History: (X-Force I#99 (fb)) - As a child, Arcadia was experimented on by the Damocles Foundation, who sought to control her reality-warping abilities. To escape from the torture of reality, she created a fantasy world called Meridian, in which she had adventures with the dragon Fenwick and the cloth doll Mary Weather, battling the evil Queen of Star Swords in her cathedral.

(X-Force I#84 (fb) - BTS) - Two years ago, Arcadia was released from the Damocles Foundation by Ulysses Dragonblood, brother of the organization's leader, and the two went on the run.

(X-Force I#83) - Ulysses and Arcadia's flight eventually brought them to Kentucky, where they stopped at a coal mine. They ran into the mutant hero Cannonball, and mistook him for a foe. Arcadia goaded Ulysses on, encouraging Ulysses to kill Cannonball. Arcadia tried to participate in the battle, but Ulysses refused to let her use her power because she was still untrained. Their fight drew the attention of Argos the Hunter, one of the Damocles Foundation's members of Sword sent to track them. Cannonball helped them defeat Argos, but the rest of Sword soon arrived to continue the battle.

(X-Force I#84) - As they prepared for battle inside of the coal mine, Arcadia noticed a photograph that Cannonball had of his friends in X-Force that depicted Siryn, Moonstar, Warpath, Meltdown and Sunspot. She used her power to teleport them to the mine, but they were confused and easily beaten by the Sword. Cannonball and Meltdown finally managed to defeat the Sword, and Arcadia tried to have her revenge on them by transforming Zona and Pyre into crystal with the intent of smashing them, and Moonstar tried to stop her. When Moonstar touched Arcadia, some of Arcadia's power entered her and gave her the same reality warping powers. Ulysses sedated Arcadia, and the transformed Zona and Pyre returned to normal. Ulysses and Arcadia thanked X-Force and continued on their trek aboard the Sword's own ship, holding them as prisoners onboard.

(X-Force I#97 (fb) - BTS) - As Arcadia and Ulysses continued their flight, Arcadia began to be haunted by dreams of the Demon Bear, a creature which Moonstar had once fought. She and Ulysses ultimately journeyed to the junkyard home of Sledge with evidence that the Foundation was seeking to revive one of the Celestials' Gatherers.

(X-Force I#97) - Just as Ulysses, Arcadia and Sledge were trying to solve the Gatherers problem, X-Force arrived at the junkyard. Arcadia and Moonstar compared the dreams that they had had recently, then they all set out to the Damocles Foundation's base in Brazil, where they released Selene and Sunspot from the Foundation's custody. They stood together against Odysseus Indigo to halt the awakening of the Gatherer, but Selene took the Gatherer for herself. Moonstar and Arcadia joined their powers together to destroy the Gatherer.

(X-Force I#99 (fb)) - Arcadia returned to the junkyard with Ulysses and Sledge, but her powers went wild, creating the Demon Bear which had once fought Moonstar, and the bear attacked Sledge and Ulysses. She fled to seek out Moonstar so that Sledge and Ulysses would be out of range of her powers.

(X-Force I#99) - Arcadia was pursued by the Demon Bear to San Francisco, where she finally met up with X-Force. Her proximity to Moonstar once again sent their powers out of control, and they were both absorbed inside of the Demon Bear. Inside, they discovered they had intimate knowledge of each other's lives, and they reminisced about Arcadia's Meridian fantasies. Mary Weather appeared to them and explained that Arcadia had accidentally made the bear real with her powers, and that the longer they remained in the bear, the harder it would be to end it. Mary Weather helped instruct them as they absorbed the bear's energies back into themselves.

(X-Force I#100 (fb)) - The sudden rush of energy overwhelmed Arcadia and she turned on Moonstar, taking all of the cosmic power for herself. Arcadia was replaced by the Queen of Star Swords, which had come to life and created the cathedral.

(X-Force I#100) - Arcadia was released from the Queen of Star Swords by X-Force, Risque and Ulysses, and Moonstar destroyed the Queen of Star Swords' cathedral.

Comments: Created by John Francis Moore, Jim Cheung, Mark Morales and Rob Stull.

by Prime Eternal

CLARIFICATIONS:
Arcadia DeVille should not be confused with:

• Hellyn DeVill, witch, pirate captain, fought Dracula, @ Dracula Lives#7