TRINITY-THAT-IS-ONE race
Classification: Extradimensional (Reality-791) extraterrestrial non-humanoid lifeform
Location/Base of Operations: The planet Ferrol, located in an unspecified solar system within an unspecified galaxy in Reality-791
Habitat: Extremely arid, desert over the entire planet, no
free-standing water
Gravity: Unrevealed
Atmosphere: Breathable by humans
Known Members: The Trinity-That-Is-One
Estimated population: One (at any given time)
Affiliations: "Dune Devils" (symbiotic parents/offspring), Star-Lord, Ship
Enemies: Members of the Lorq race
First Appearance: Marvel Preview#14 (Spring, 1978)
Powers/Abilities: The singular being known as the Trinity-That-Is-One is said to be "powerful beyond imagining" but only a few of the ways in which it can use its power have yet been revealed.
Even in an unborn state, a Trinity can generate a psychic call that can reach another sentient being as far as ten parsecs (about 32.6 light-years) away. Presumably a Trinity's telepathic abilities would be even more powerful once it had been born but no data is available on this subject. It is unclear why Star-Lord was able to hear such a call when his companion Ship did not but it may simply be that the call was meant only for him. Alternatively, it's possible that Ship's nature as an inorganic sentient made it too difficult for the Trinity to make psychic contact with her at that distance.
Unborn Trinity are able to absorb the life-forces of thousands of "Dune Devils" in order to be born. It is not clear if the Trinity is able to do this because the "Dune Devils" are willing to sacrifice their life-forces for it or if Trinities could absorb life-force from any living being at will but simply choose to only take it from those who donate it willingly.
Trinities can also give some of their energies to other beings, as when one of them healed Star-Lord and Ship.
At some point before their own deaths, each Trinity gives birth to an entire new generation of "Dune Devils" but details of this process have not been revealed. It is also unknown if Trinities wait until they are near death before they spawn or if they do so earlier in their life-cycle.
Although it has not been specifically revealed where unborn Trinities come from, it seems likely that they originate from eggs/seeds generated by those members of their race who existed immediately prior to them.
Once born, Trinities can move their physical bodies. They can apparently also teleport themselves but the range of this ability is unrevealed.
Limitations: Each and every Trinity is apparently born within a certain geological formation on the surface of the planet Ferrol, a mesa that is located on or near the planet's equator. It has not been revealed if the Lorq's destruction of "Trinity Mesa" will interfere with the birthing of future generations of Trinities.
The Trinities and the insectoid "Dune Devils" have a symbiotic relationship. Neither race can live and evolve without the other and if one race were to die, then that death would cause the other race to die as well.
Unborn Trinities remain locked in birth-stasis until/unless they are able to absorb/consume a vast quantity of water.
Cultural Traits: Benevolent, compassionate, incapable of hatred
Type: Non-humanoid (apparently non-organic; possibly crystalline (or other mineral) and/or energy beings)
Eyes: Inapplicable
Fingers: Inapplicable
Toes: Inapplicable
Skin color: Uncertain
Hair: None
Average height: Variable?
Type of government: Inapplicable (since only one Trinity is alive at any given time)
Level of technology: None known
History: The evolutionary origins of the Trinity-That-Is-One and the "Dune Devils" have not been revealed but it is presumed that both species are native to the planet Ferrol.
(Marvel Preview#14 (fb) - BTS) - For an unspecified time, the life-cycles of the Trinity and the "Dune Devils" repeated themselves on the planet they shared, with each generation of "Dune Devils" giving up their life-forces to be absorbed so that a new Trinity could be born and each Trinity, prior to their own deaths, giving birth to new generations of "Dune Devils."
(Conjecture) - Each dying Trinity also produced a single egg/seed that was buried within a mound in the floor of the vast crystal cavern inside a certain mesa located on or near Ferrol's equator.
(Marvel Preview#14 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, members of the aggressive Lorq race learned of the Trinity and decided that capturing one would somehow benefit them. The Lorq (including the small task force commanded by D'reel) spent a lot of time and money and lives in their pursuit of a Trinity, and learned some important information about the Trinity's life-cycle, including when the next Trinity was to be born and that their "nesting place" was located on the desert planet Ferrol (which the Lorq considered to be a "dustball hellworld"). In their investigation of the planet, the Lorq encountered members of a native insectoid race which they called "Dune Devils."
(Marvel Preview#14 (fb) - BTS) - As they prepared to search the planet Ferrol for their prize, the Lorq kept watch for any aliens who might interfere with their attempt to capture a Trinity and were prepared to deal with any such interference in a deadly manner.
(Marvel Preview#14 (fb) - BTS) - The life-cycle of the most recent (unborn) Trinity was somehow disrupted, apparently because of a lack of the water that was needed to support its birth. Locked in birth-stasis, the unborn Trinity felt fear, an emotion that it had never known, and in desperation it (telepathically) called out into space seeking someone to help it.
(Marvel Preview#14 (fb) - BTS) - Ten parsecs away from Ferrol's system, the cosmic adventurer Star-Lord (Peter Quill) "heard" the call as one voice that was many, "ancient but youthful, powerful beyond imagining, yet in desperate need of help." Despite the fact that Star-Lord's companion, the sentient starship known as Ship, did not hear the call, the duo followed it to Ferrol where they were almost immediately ambushed by a Lorq starfighter squadron and soon shot down by energy beams fired by three Lorq dreadnoughts.
(Marvel Preview#14) - As the Lorq dreadnoughts began firing their laser cannons at Ferrol's surface as part of their search for the Trinity's nesting place, the unborn Trinity continued to call for help. Following that call led Star-Lord and his new companion Caryth Halyan (actually Ship's consciousness in an artificially-created humanoid form) to the unique mesa. Forced by a deadly dust storm to seek shelter within a fissure, the duo discovered that the heart of the mesa was hollow and found themselves within a vast crystal cavern. Soon, when a horde of "Dune Devils" attacked them, Star-Lord and Caryth were forced to fight for their lives. Despite fighting their way to a mound which they felt might be more defensible, the two barely managed to stay alive. Having used his Element Gun's earth, air and fire modes without any effect, Star-Lord decided to try its water mode to create a flash flood but as he fired one of the "Dune Devils" snagged his arm and his water blast hit the mound.
Within the mound, the unborn Trinity absorbed all of the water in the Element Gun's blast and it was enough to enable it to briefly overcome its stasis and react by generating a psychic energy field that enveloped Star-Lord, Caryth and the "Dune Devils." Every being within the cavern experienced the essence of sound (pure, singular, unique -- and encompassing every harmonic shade and variation in existence), the essence of light (every conceivable color of the spectrum washing through mind and body and soul, twisting them inside-out but causing no harm), and every emotion possible for a living being to feel (all jumble-banged together and then lit from within by a joy so pure and sentimental it hurt). These sensations were how the Trinity was experiencing its own creation/birth.
Star-Lord and Caryth were both shaken by their experience, with Caryth stating that in all her awareness she had never known anything to compare with it. The two aliens then noticed that the "Dune Devils" had moved away from them and Star-Lord realized that their chittering noises were actually a language and that the "bug-things" were a sentient race. After concentrating, Star-Lord was able to interpret their babble as a series of images that were being repeated like a prayer - "savior, core, heart, soul, death, birth, life" - and that these images were associated with the mound. After inspecting the mound and finding it to be bone dry, Star-Lord theorized that there was something different about the mound.
When the cavern was rocked by a large tremor (caused by the Lorq starships firing on the mesa), Star-Lord experimented by giving the mound another shot of water and the Trinity reacted again, this time with a "psychic symphony" so intense that it almost overwhelmed both visitors. In the aftermath, the duo discovered that the nearby "Dune Devils" were dying but that thousands more were crawling towards the now-glowing mound, all singing a song of joy, and that the glow from the mound was reacting to their song.
Suspecting that the bugs and whatever was in the mound did not mean them harm, Star-Lord laid his hands on the mound in order to communicate with its occupant. For its part, the unborn Trinity reached out to Star-Lord and allowed him access to its mind, calling itself the "Trinity-That-Is-One" and revealing how it was both a child of the bug-race and its parent by explaining the symbiotic relationship through which it and the bugs, two different lifeforms, shared the planet. After the Trinity communicated that it would need an immense amount of water to support its birth, Star-Lord began using his Element Gun to provide as much as he could. As the cavern began to crumble due to the Lorq attack, Star-Lord continued to supply water until a rockfall from the roof finally buried the mound.
(Marvel Preview#14) - Once he was unable to supply any more water, Star-Lord left the ruins of the cavern. Ship/Caryth dealt with one of the three Lorq dreadnoughts but both were fatally injured by the other two starships, provoking an enraged Star-Lord to quickly disable both of them. Star-Lord then confronted D'reel, chastising him for his attempt to exterminate a sentient life-form that was no threat to him.
Later, Star-Lord held a dying Caryth in his arms and comforted her, not noticing that his metal belt briefly glowed when Caryth died while she was touching it. Star-Lord remained there, holding Caryth's inert body and grieving, until a glow and sounds from the hole that the Lorq weapons had bored into the mesa attracted his attention. Star-Lord was then amazed to find himself facing a large glowing form which had emerged from the hole, an entity which he immediately recognized as the Trinity.
The Trinity then touched Star-Lord's mind in a gentle, healing caress that conveyed its thanks for his aid and its sorrow at the sacrifices that had been made by both Ship and Caryth. During this wordless communion, Star-Lord sensed no violence in the Trinity and saw that it felt only pity, and not hatred, for the Lorq who had scarred its world and butchered so many of its children.
When its communion with Star-Lord finally ended, the Trinity just vanished, leaving Star-Lord to bury Caryth's body. As he stood over the grave, Star-Lord was shocked when his belt began glowing, and then the glow exploded away from him, took on the form of Ship and solidified into reality. A delighted Star-Lord asked how Ship could be alive since the Lorq had destroyed her and Ship revealed that, although the fact that her primal state of being was energy meant that she could never be destroyed, her consciousness could have been so disrupted that she might as well have died. When the Lorq beams had almost done that to her, Ship had shifted her self into Caryth's form and then into Star-Lord's belt. In her weakened state, Ship would have remained in the belt except that the Trinity had healed her at the same time it had healed Star-Lord, enabling her to reform herself in a duplicate of her starship form.
The Trinity-That-Is-One has not been seen since.
Comments: Created by Chris Claremont, Carmine Infantino and Bob Wiacek.
Okay, I'll admit it -- I have absolutely NO IDEA of how to properly classify the Trinity-That-Is-One. This entity only appears in a single black-and-white image and, to me, it looks like a tree with multiple branches and bright lights shining from various points along its body, especially the ends of the branches. The only thing I know for sure about this species is that it is TOTALLY non-humanoid. If anybody reading this can come up with a better description, please let me know.
I'm also unsure why its name for itself involves the word "Trinity." Sure, Star-Lord described the call he heard as being "one voice, but many" but everything else, including the Omniscient Narrative, refers to the Trinity as being a single entity. So what is the reason for the "trinity" part of its name?
I suspect that the reason why the "Dune Devils" encountered within the mesa's crystal cavern look so different from the one that nearly killed Star-Lord has more to do with the artist realizing how difficult it would be to draw a horde of hundreds of the original design than with the writer's original draft of the story. However, I could be wrong.
One problem that I have with the story is that it doesn't
provide many details about the lives of the Trinities and the "Dune Devils" and how their
alternating life-cycles function. Here are some questions that I would have liked to have
seen answered:
1. The story seemed to imply that only one Trinity existed at a time. Was this true? Or could
multiple Trinities exist simultaneously, each born from the sacrifice of different "Dune Devil"
groups?
2. Assuming that aliens don't often visit Ferrol, what do the "Dune Devils" usually eat?
3. For that matter, what do the Trinities eat?
4. How long does each generation live?
5. What causes the change between the two types of life-forms? Is it triggered by some
environmental factor? Or is it something that occurs at set intervals?
6. We're shown how the bugs surrender their life-forces to enable new Trinities to be born
but how do dying Trinities produce new generations of bugs? Do the Trinities actually give
birth to multiple baby "Dune Devils" or do the bodies of the dying Trinities somehow divide
themselves into pieces which then reform into young bugs?
7. While Trinities clearly reproduce in only one way, is it possible that several generations
of "Dune Devils" could be born, live out their lives and die while a single unborn Trinity
waits for its time to live?
8. While the "Dune Devils" seem to spend their time searching for the water they need to live,
what do the vastly more powerful Trinities do during their lifetimes?
9. If Ferrol has been so arid for so long that the "Dune Devils" have evolved into a form that
barely needs any water to live, then how could each new Trinity ever have obtained the vast
amounts of water that they needed in order to be born?
10. Do unborn Trinities just appear out of nothingness, physical manifestations of the
life-force which the "Dune Devils" have sacrificed in order to bring them into being? Or
do dying Trinities, while "giving birth" to new generations of bugs, also produce a single
egg/seed from which the next Trinity will eventually be born?
11. Given that the "Dune Devils" are sentient, do any of their memories survive within the
Trinity to whom they donated their life-forces? Or do "new" Trinities inherit the memories
and knowledge of the Trinity who came before them? Or do newborn Trinities start their lives
with a blank slate and no awareness of their racial past?
"Tricardian steel" is a (fictional) alloy used by the Shi'ar in the hulls of their starships. It was first mentioned in Uncanny X-Men I#97, a story also written by Chris Claremont.
The concept of two different life-forms sharing a planet
in alternating generations reminds me of a similar situation in Hal Clement's 1957 novel
"Cycle of Fire." In that novel, the two species were a humanoid "cold" race and a non-humanoid
"hot" race, and the death of one race and the birth of the other was caused when their planet's
temperature rose or fell past a certain point, triggering a massive change in the composition
of the planet's atmosphere that was enough to kill off whichever species was alive when the
change began.
The life cycles with one becoming the other upon death also reminds me
a bit of Devil and Fireflyte from the planet Tropica in the Microverse.
Profile by Donald Campbell.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Trinity-That-Is-One has no known connections to
One of the two sentient species that were native to the desert planet of Ferrol, these insectoid beings existed in a symbiotic relationship with the other sentient life-form, the Trinity. Despite the fact that they possess a language, this race's name for themselves has not been revealed. The Lorq (and the Omniscient Narrative) called them "Dune Devils" but Star-Lord called them "bugs" or "bug-race" (or "bug-thingies" or "bug-uglies" or "bug-things"). No personal names for any of the "Dune Devils" have been revealed and it's not known if they even had personal identities.
The "Dune Devils" were aware of their symbiotic connection with the Trinities and they seemed to view the process through which they died so that a new Trinity could be born as a joyful event, and were eager to present themselves so that the unborn Trinity could absorb their life-forces. They regarded the crystal cavern that was the nesting place of the Trinities as being holy, and had fashioned the great cavern into a place of beauty.
Like all life on Ferrol, the "Dune Devils" have evolved physiologies that can almost survive without water. A single drop can be enough to last one devil for over a month and the moisture contained within two human-sized aliens would provide enough to sustain one devil for an entire lifetime.
Although the "Dune Devils" were apparently all members of a single species, there was a considerable variation in their body-types. The one that attacked Star-Lord was the most insectoid, with a head, a three-segmented body, three pairs of legs and a tail; it was roughly 2-3' long. Two antennae sprouted from the foremost part of the top of its head, and the front surface of its head featured two forward-facing non-compound eyes set above two small holes (possibly nostrils) that were set above a pair of mandibles. A long and flexible tongue protruded from between the mandibles and was used to absorb moisture from the bodies of its prey. The first body segment behind the head was the largest and the one to which all six legs were attached. The first and third pairs of legs had two segments each but the middle pair had three segments. Each leg ended in a pincer (chela) which could be used for stabbing prey or cracking bones. The tail was made up of multiple tubular articulated segments and ended in a sharp point. The one that killed the Lorq commander did so by piercing his body with its chelae and absorbing all moisture from him so effectively that in only seconds his flesh had been so completely desiccated that it crumbled away into dust, leaving only bones which the devil then cracked open with its chelae so that it could suck every bit of moisture from the marrow.
Within the mesa, Star-Lord and Caryth encountered two types
of "Dune Devils" whose appearances differed from each other and the more insectoid one which
had attacked Star-Lord. The crawling type had thinner bodies that were made up of multiple
narrow segments and had several (one, two, three or four) pairs of legs that were not all
attached to a single body-segment but to different segments that were spaced out along the
lengths of their bodies. Their heads were simpler, with just two eyes and a pair of razor-sharp
mandibles that could rip through material that was stronger than steel.
The flying type were
described as "winged, snake-like monstrosities" (but were not clearly depicted).
When the Lorq arrived on Ferrol, some members of their race had lethal encounters with the insectoid type which led to the Lorq calling them "Dune Devils." During their time on Ferrol, Star-Lord and Ship only encountered one of this type, the one who killed the Lorq commander and almost killed Star-Lord before Ship killed it by blasting it to pieces with an energy beam.
Over a day later, Star-Lord and Caryth entered the mesa and found their way to the subterranean crystal cavern which they were able to explore for some time before thousands of "Dune Devils" suddenly appeared and attacked. While the two aliens defended themselves, Caryth began to suspect that the horde was attacking them with purpose and direction, suggesting that they were not a primitive life-form. As Star-Lord and Caryth retreated towards the mound, believing that it might be a more defensible position, the attackers became increasingly frantic, presumably out of their concern for the unborn Trinity. Eventually, with both the crawling and flying "Dune Devils" on the point of overwhelming them, Star-Lord decided to try a using his Element Gun to create a flash flood, reasoning that beings who were acclimated to a desert world might be more vulnerable to water than they had been to earth, air or fire. However, as Star-Lord fired, one of the "Dune Devils" snagged his arm and (probably inadvertently) caused the shot of water he fired to go into the mound.
Within the mound, the burst of water briefly shocked the
unborn Trinity out of its birth-stasis, causing it to generate a psychic energy field that
every being in the cavern experienced. Realizing what had happened, the horde of "Dune Devils"
stopped attacking the two aliens and withdrew from them, then began to collectively make noises
that Star-Lord finally realized were a language. After listening and concentrating, Star-Lord
interpreted the repetitive nature of the sounds as being like a prayer and the sounds themselves
as representing the concepts of savior, core, heart, soul, death, birth and life, all of which
were about the mound. After taking a closer look at the mound, Star-Lord experimented by giving
the mound another shot of water. This resulted in a MUCH larger psychic explosion that knocked
the two aliens off their feet and left them dazed.
Now even more awakened, the unborn Trinity
began to absorb the life-forces of those "Dune Devils" that were nearest to the mound, causing
Caryth to point out that the "bug-things" were dying. Star-Lord initially reacted negatively,
blaming himself for their deaths, but then noticed that thousands of the "bugs" were crawling
towards them over the bodies of their dead and he interpreted the noise that they had all begun
making as a song of joy. The aliens then noticed that the mound had begun glowing and that the
glow was pulsing to the bugs' song, shifting in intensity with each shift in tone or volume.
Star-Lord then decided that neither the bugs nor whatever was in the mound actually meant them
any harm.
Realizing that what was in the mound was who had called to him in space in desperate
need of his help, Star-Lord laid his hands on the mound and was able to establish a mental link
through which he learned of the Trinity-That-Is-One, how it was both child of the bug-race and
parent to it, and how the two different life-forms had a symbiotic relationship in which the
Trinities had to absorb the life-forces of the bugs in order to be born and would later give
birth to whole new generations of bugs before dying themselves.
Now aware of the fact that the Trinity's cycle had been somehow disrupted, locking it in stasis until the mound had been blasted by water, and that the Trinity and its world would die if it did not receive enough water to support its birth, Star-Lord began using his Element Gun to supply as much water as he could. Star-Lord continued to provide water even as the cavern began to collapse due to the attack by the Lorq starships on the mesa. While Star-Lord was providing the needed water, the "Dune Devils" presumably continued to surrender their life-forces to the Trinity.
Although not depicted, every "Dune Devil" in the cavern presumably died, sacrificing themselves in order to ensure the Trinity's birth.
Notes: It is unclear how many "Dune Devils" died so that this latest Trinity could be born. The story seemed to imply that there was a complete switching between the two life-forms, with a Trinity absorbing the life-forces of all of the bugs in order to be born and then later giving birth to a whole new generation of bugs before dying. However, this idea was not explicitly stated. While it's possible that the Trinity, once out of its birth-stasis, was able to absorb the life-forces of all of the "Dune Devils" who were then alive on Ferrol, it's equally possible that its absorption was much more limited. Maybe the Trinity only absorbed the life-forces from the bugs that were in the cavern during its birth? Or maybe only those bugs that were relatively close to the mesa were affected?
Another thing that was unclear was how widespread this species was on Ferrol. Do all "Dune Devils" live in relatively close proximity to the mesa where the Trinities are born? Or do they normally live throughout the desert that is their world and only congregate at the mesa when the birth of a Trinity is imminent, returning (like salmon) to the place where they were spawned?
--Marvel Preview#14
The homeworld of the Trinity-That-Is-One and the "Dune Devils," Ferrol is located in the same galaxy that the Lorq race occupy, presumably the Milky Way galaxy. Nothing is known about the location of Ferrol's solar system within "the galaxy" or Ferrol's distance from its sun or even who exactly gave the planet its name.
Ferrol is a desert world whose surface is almost completely covered by sand. The only parts of the planet that are not desert are outcroppings of rock like "Trinity Mesa" and some mountains.
Ferrol's climate is an intensely arid one, with no bodies of water or vegetation visible on its surface. What water does exist on the planet is not free-standing but trapped in subsurface layers. As a result, the life that has evolved there is able to survive on tiny amounts of water that are far, FAR less than that required by human beings.
Despite the dryness of its air and the all-enveloping heat, Ferrol's harsh environment is not immediately lethal to alien life forms. The fact that Star-Lord and some members of the Lorq race were able to survive on the surface without any breathing apparatus indicates that the atmosphere contains sufficient levels of oxygen to support their life processes. However, the environment was hostile enough that Star-Lord thought of it as a "hell" in which "an average man wouldn't last a half-hour" and the Lorq considered Ferrol to be a "hellworld."
Although the planet usually appears to be peaceful, Ferrol does experience deadly forms of weather, including cyclonic duststorms "so powerful (they) can shatter Tricardian steel into dust." Some of these dust storms are massive, with so much sand being propelled by winds faster than the strongest of hurricanes on Earth that the sky looks black from horizon to horizon and as high as the eye can see. Sand pushed by such winds tears at anything in its path like knives with enough force to shred a human apart.
The only life forms known to exist on Ferrol are those which Star-Lord and Caryth encountered: the Trinity, the various forms of "Dune Devils" and the iridescent lichen which existed in the crystal cavern. However, given that the bugs must have some food source in order to survive, it's reasonable to assume that Ferrol has a more extensive ecosystem, one which includes other plants and animals.
What little data is known about Ferrol's two sentient life-forms presents a confusing picture of the planet's environmental history. On the one hand, the fact that the life that had evolved there had learned how to pretty much do without water implies that Ferrol had been an arid, desert world for a long time. On the other hand, the fact that unborn Trinities required a massive amount of water in order to support their births implies that Ferrol's current extreme aridity was something that could only have developed after the birth of the previous Trinity. No explanation has been provided for this contradictory data.
After communicating with the Trinity-That-Is-One, Star-Lord came to believe that the Trinity's existence was vital and that if it died "the world" would die with it. It's possible that Star-Lord simply meant that neither of Ferrol's two sentient races would survive if the Trinity died but it could also mean that the Trinity was somehow connected to the environment and that Ferrol would become even more inhospitable without the Trinity. This also was not clarified.
Habitat: Extremely arid, desert over the entire planet, no
free-standing water
Gravity: Unrevealed
Atmosphere: Breathable by humans
--Marvel Preview#14
Trinity Mesa and crystal cavern
The most important location on the surface of the planet Ferrol, Trinity Mesa was an elevated outcropping of rock with a flat top and sides that were steep cliffs. This geological formation was located on or near Ferrol's equator, there were no (significant) rocks within six thousand kilometers from it in any direction, and the nearest mountains were halfway around the planet. The mesa was originally rose to a height of more than three kilometers above the desert.
At least one fissure in the side of the cliffs opened into a cave that was part of the hollow heart of the mesa. This hollowness formed a deep shaft that led down to a vast crystal cavern which was actually somewhat below the level of the surrounding ground. There was a ledge that spiralled down the wall but it was shaken apart by a big tremor caused by the Lorq.
The cavern beneath the mesa was vast and "cathedral-like" with an earthen floor that had been pounded to an unnatural flatness except for a gently-sloped mound located right beside one of the walls. There were no openings at ground level and the roof and walls were made of crystals, many of which had been reshaped by the non-human hands of the bugs, and reflected any light that fell upon them. The only natural light came from patches of iridescent lichen that grew on the walls.
While within the cavern, Star-Lord felt like he was in the heart of a living diamond and he experienced a feeling of peace and serenity that caused him to instinctively know that he was standing in a "holy place." He and "Caryth" both sensed life there that reminded him of the call that had brought them to the planet.
The crystal cavern was apparently where the transitions between the two different life-forms took place. In each generation, a single unborn Trinity existed within a mound in the floor and remained there, locked in its birth-stasis, until a vast amount of water became available. Absorbing enough water enabled the unborn Trinities to begin absorbing the life-forces of the thousands of "Dune Devils" who had by then gathered in the cavern to carry out their part in the symbiotic life-cycle. It's possible that the crystal cavern was also where Trinities gave birth to whole new generations of bugs before dying themselves.
When the most recent unborn Trinity found that its cycle had somehow been disrupted and it was locked in stasis, it sent a desperate call for help out into space. Star-Lord heard that call and followed it to Ferrol and then to the mesa and the cavern within it. Unfortunately, by then the searching Lorq task force had managed to locate the Trinity's nesting place and, once their bio-scanners confirmed that the Trinity was still locked in birth-stasis, the Lorq ships began firing their energy beams at the mesa, seeking to level it and burn a hole down to the Trinity so that they could capture it. However, Star-Lord soon realized that something within the mound was alive and, after communicating with the Trinity, he began to using his Element Gun to provide it with the water that it so desperately needed, even as the Lorq continued their attack.
Although the Lorq energy beams completely destroyed the mesa, caused the roof of the cavern to collapse and burned a "hellpit" down to their target, Ship and Star-Lord were able to delay and ultimately disable all three Lorq starships before they could reach their target, and the Trinity was successfully born. After a brief communion with Star-Lord, the Trinity-That-Is-One healed both he and Ship before vanishing.
Notes: Since the flat area at its top appeared to be much narrower than its height, this "mesa" should more properly have been called a "butte."
Also, this geological formation is described as being "more than three kilometers high" but when Star-Lord and Caryth are in the crystal cavern, the top of the "mesa" that had just been vaporized by the Lorq is "three miles above their heads." Since 1 mile equals about 1.6 kilometers, that would mean the cavern was up to 1.8 kilometers below ground level. Of course, it's possible that writer Chris Claremont just made a mistake when he used two different units of length in his story.
--Marvel Preview#14
images: (without ads)
Star-Lord: Worlds On the Brink#1, page 38, panel 1 (Trinity-That-Is-One)
page 10, panel 1 (Dune Devil)
page 29, panel 5 (more Dune Devils)
page 3, panel 1 (Ferrol)
page 17, panel 1 (mesa)
page 21 (crystal cavern)
Appearances:
Marvel Preview#14 (Spring, 1978) - Chris Claremont (writer), Carmine Infantino (penciler),
Bob Wiacek (inker), Rick Marschall (editor)
Reprinted in Star-Lord: Worlds On the Brink#1 (February, 2014)
Last updated: 2/6/2018
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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