PROGENY
Classification: Alternate reality (Earth-95431/Earth-93060) extraterrestrial
Location/Base of Operations: Deep space (star system unrevealed)
Known Members: None
Affiliations: Entity (Amber Hunt) (all
Earth-95431)
Enemies: Catapult,
Exiles (Siena Blaze, Amber Hunt,
Juggernaut/Cain Marko, Reaper, Shuriken, 'Strike),
UltraForce
(Ghoul,
Hellblade, Lament, Prime,
Prototype/Bob Campbell,
Topaz,
Wreckage) (all Earth-93060/Ultraverse);
Earthforce (Black Knight (cyborg), Choice, Detonator,
Dragoons, Ferret,
Foxfire, Ghoul, Captain Hawke, Glorianna Mundi, Night
Man, Ony, Prime, Prototype, Siren twins, Technomantra, Tochsyn)
(all Earth-95431);
countless other worlds and sentient species whose
planets were stripped bare of resources by the Progeny
First Appearance: All New Exiles#4 (January, 1996)
Powers/Abilities: The Progeny are a
hierarchical hive species. Each caste has different functions and
slight variations in their powers and access to weapons. Of note is
that the Progeny language is
indecipherable to humans, even 50 years in the future. Progeny ships
are living beings and symbiotically linked to the Progeny pilot (for a
small ship) or many (for larger ships); the largest of these is a
massive planetoid-size living swarm ship that can
live for millions of
years. The Progeny have incredibly powerful armored suits for each of
the warrior classes.
The Progeny hierarchy is divided into several primary
castes:
Traits: The Progeny are a hierarchical hive
species. Progeny are divided into several
classes and accept
their roles without question. Their failure in a task and subsequent
judgment is accepted by the individual without emotion. They likewise
follow orders without question and lack empathy with the species whose
planets they devastate for resources.
Type: Humanoid
Eyes: Two (on head)
Fingers: Three (including opposable thumb)
Toes: Unrevealed
Skin color: Green
Average height: 6' (without armor/cyborg modification)
History:
(The Phoenix Resurrection: Aftermath (fb) - BTS) -
The Progeny existed for seventy million years in multiple swarms; each
swarm was contained within a massive planetoid-size living mothership.
The Progeny asset-stripped worlds they encountered
without spending excess resources on further destruction. The Progeny
first dispatched scouts to take samples to determine the worth of
planets for
exploitation. Any waste or dead Progeny onboard the swarm ships were
recycled.
(UltraForce II#9 (fb) - BTS) - The Progeny are a
hierarchical hive species. The inner echelon Command caste evolved in a
private microcosm of the swarm ships over millions of years and had
never been in direct contact with another species. This caste carried a
viral neurotoxin benign to its species, but lethal to certain humans.
(All New Exiles#4) - Arriving on Earth (Earth-93060/Ultraverse), a Progeny scout collected animal, plant and mineral specimens. Finding the Theta Virus (that spawned superhumans or "ultras") and identifying it as lethal to its race, the Progeny scout tracked it and arrived at a New York hospital. The scout slaughtered everyone who was in the way to get to the comatose body of Catapult, who was amongst the first to be infected by the Theta Virus; it harvested his organs and skeleton. Because an ultra had been killed, UltraForce was called in to investigate.
Meanwhile, the Progeny scout also took apart the remains of the deceased members of Catapult's team, the original Exiles (Mustang, Tinsel, Trax, probably also Heather Faraday) and took the parts back to its spacecraft for analysis. Soon after, Amber Hunt found the broken tomb and traced the faint energy signature to a derelict refinery, where she found UltraForce's Ghoul. Despite their differences, they investigated only to be captured by the Progeny scout and analyzed alive in its spacecraft's stasis tubes, where they became aware of its activities. Their teams, the Exiles and UltraForce, arrived soon after and fought. during which time Shuriken and Lament found the stasis tubes and released the victims.
With its
spacecraft breached, the Progeny scout attacked the heroes, and the
teams united to take down their new foe. After a heated battle, they
tore apart the armor, and the Progeny scout died, although it had
already been weakened by lethal exposure to Theta particles. With its
symbiotic
link to its pilot severed, the Progeny spacecraft lifted off before
exploding. Hidden, Captain Hawke (from Earth-95431, a divergent
timeline some 50 years
in the future) watched on.
(The Phoenix Resurrection: Aftermath (fb) - BTS) - On Earth-95431 (a divergent future of Earth-93060), after having been informed by their scout that Earth held the lethal Theta Virus, the powerful alien Progeny dispatched the oldest of its swarms to raze and destroy the Earth because of its threat. It arrived almost five decades later, killing billions of humans, including most superhumans with only a handful surviving.
(The Phoenix Resurrection: Aftermath) - The alien-human hybrid Foxfire, considered one of Earth-95431's last hopes, was brought back through time after being raised to teenage-hood decades earlier. However, the Entity/Amber Hunt, posing as adviser to President Glorianna Mundi, no longer supported humankind and secretly gave the Progeny locations of where best to target Foxfire, but the young woman's formidable powers were more than a much for even the Progeny high warrior caste hunters. After the traitor Entity was exposed but escaped, Foxfire was introduced to the remaining Earth forces under Mundi's command.
Meanwhile, the Bonekiller general who was unsuccessful in the attacks against Foxfire was judged for recycling by the Command caste, and it took its judgment impassively and immediately. The general was quickly replaced.
The humans quickly mounted an assault against Progeny forces in near orbit around the Earth led by Night Man using a conduit sliced through space-time. Most of the humans, Dragoons and ultras surged forward with incredibly high losses while a smaller assault team targeted the Progeny mothership. Foxfire made it to the command vault and encountered the Command caste. Foxfire paused, beginning to feel empathy for the (genocidal) species, but Hawke arrived and pushed her to release the synthesized Theta Virus. The Theta particles obliterated the living Progeny ship and Progeny beings. However, Foxfire was in turn unwittingly infected by the Command caste's neurotoxin.
(UltraForce II#8-9/Ultraverse: Future Shock) -
Foxfire's return to the present
day (Earth-93060/Ultraverse)
released the neurotoxin and threatened to infect all ultras with an
insanity virus. A future new Earthforce team traveled back through time
and
cured the UltraForce members
already infected. Informed of the danger she posed, Foxfire willingly
went back again to the future with Earthforce.
Comments: Created by Ian Edginton, Chris Alexander, Jeff Whiting.
I wonder if exposed Progeny
emitted empathy
pheromones or somesuch, as Foxfire paused within the progeny spacecraft
when she had the chance to end the Progeny threat over Earth, knowing
full well their genocidal nature and history (even though there was no
malice behind the Progeny's planet-scale slaughter). Likewise, 'Strike
berated those who stopped the Progeny scout by ripping its armor,
despite the mass
carnage it had committed in the NY hospital.
This profile covers both
Earth-93060 and Earth-95431
versions of the Progeny because they are tied in to each other due to
time travel.
Foxfire#1 shows one flashback panel of the Progeny fighting the human resistance on Earth-95431.
There's another Ultraverse-derived future (Earth-21222) that only mentions the Progeny, but that reality is a profile for another day.
Profile by Grendel Prime.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Progeny has no known connections to:
The Bonekiller caste is crab-like with spiked hard armor that can operate in the vacuum of space. It is armed with various spikes and a particle beam cannon jutting beneath like a stinger. It appears to have just the one configuration, unlike the High Warrior caste armor.
--The Phoenix Resurrection: Aftermath
The Progeny Command caste is bipedal and the most humanoid in appearance, but it has evolved separately from the other castes. There appears to be only three (or only three active at any given point) and they each carry staff hold a large orb holding glowing energy (possibly collective knowledge). They dwell in a separate microcosm in the swarm ship and engage only with senior Progeny of the other castes; the Command caste never engages with extraterrestrials. The Command caste determine all strategy, which the other Progeny castes then have to follow. They carry a neurotoxin that is benign to them, but proved dangerous to superhumans ("ultras") and led to an incredibly infectious "insanity virus" amongst Earth's ultras.
In an effort to stop the Progeny from
exterminating
humankind, the Earth hero Foxfire managed to penetrate the command
chamber and was about to release synthetic Theta particles, lethal to
the Progeny, but she was confronted by the Progeny command, who alluded
to knowledge of her origins. This gave Foxfire pause to consider them
as abundant lifeforms without malice, but her commander arrived and
the virus was released.
--The Phoenix Resurrection: Aftermath
The High Warrior caste has the most powerful armor for close combat. It has a polymorphic shell of near superhuman durability and is bonded to the Progeny warrior. At the wearer's will, the armor can generate a particle beam cannon that blasts foot-wide beams through human flesh and base metal; this cannon curls underneath like a stinger and complements a shoulder gun already fixed to armor. The armor can morph a razor-sharp blade from virtually any part of its body. While the head is exposed, the Progeny warrior is beyond bulletproof. It has hovering self-propelled capability and quick maneuverability.
High Warriors were often the usual
Progeny choice for
attacks on Earth forces and sites. The Earth hero Foxfire encountered
many and her formidable power gave her the ability to rip them apart.
They were also referred to as Death-Bladers at one point.
--The Phoenix Resurrection: Aftermath
Progeny scouts are sent out to probe new worlds for potential resources that the Progeny can harvest. The Scout class has a superhumanly durable sealed armor but minimal armaments (looking almost like a spiked, horned kangaroo). The Scout carries a lance that can fire a lethal particle beam to blast through flesh. Progeny guards appear to have similar armor to Scouts.
On Earth-93060/Ultraverse, the Exiles
and UltraForce
encountered a Progeny scout, which had left a bloody swathe of human
bodies hunting for the Theta Virus that proved lethal to the Progeny.
Although well hidden, the Progeny scout was tracked down by the two
teams, and it engaged them in fierce battle when discovered. The scout
was
already weakened from exposure to Theta particles, and its armor's more
vulnerable underside was ripped open by its foes. Its symbiotic link to
the pilot severed, the scout's spacecraft launched but soon exploded.
However, the scout had already transmitted information to the rest of
the Progeny.
--All New Exiles#4 (The Phoenix Resurrection: Aftermath
The Progeny exist in multiple swarms with each swarm
contained in a massive planetoid-sized living swarm ship that live for
millions of years. This carries the various Progeny castes and
spacecraft (such as the troop-hives), and recycles any waste and dead
Progeny. It contains a
separate microcosm for the Command caste that keeps them separate from
interaction with any other species. They are fiercely defended by
heavily armed and armored defense Progeny warriors.
Perhaps because of the lethal threat of
the Theta
Virus on Earth, the Progeny dispatched the oldest swarm ship that took
almost 50 years to reach Earth. The forces onboard killed billions of
human
lives. The last super-powered warriors of Earth launched an assault on
the Progeny swarm ship and took heavy losses. The hero Foxfire released
Theta particles in the command chamber and it quickly obliterated the
swarm ship and the Progeny.
--The Phoenix Resurrection: Aftermath
images: (without ads)
The Phoenix Resurrection: Aftermath, p48, pan4 (main image, Command
caste)
The Phoenix Resurrection: Aftermath, p26, pan3 (exposed Warrior caste)
The Phoenix Resurrection: Aftermath, p39, pan1 (Bonekiller in space)
The Phoenix Resurrection: Aftermath, p29, pan1 (Bonekiller schematic)
The Phoenix Resurrection: Aftermath, p28, pan5 (Command caste headshot)
The Phoenix Resurrection: Aftermath, p50, pan1 (Command caste full body)
The Phoenix Resurrection: Aftermath, p24, pan4 (High Warrior, rear view)
The Phoenix Resurrection: Aftermath, p7, pan2-5 (High Warrior attack,
brraaapp!)
All New Exiles#4, p17, pan7 (Progeny scout)
The Phoenix Resurrection: Aftermath, p48, pan2 (Swarm ship command
chamber)
The Phoenix Resurrection: Aftermath, p40, pan1 (Swarm ship)
Appearances:
All New Exiles#4 (January, 1996) - Ian Edginton (writer), Chris
Alexander (pencils), Jeff Whiting (inks), Roland Mann (editor)
The Phoenix Resurrection: Aftermath (January, 1996) - Ian Edginton
& Dan Abnett (writers), Pino Rinaldi, Jeff Lafferty, John Cleary,
John Royle (pencils), Phil Moy, Jeff Whiting, Dennis Jensen, Leonard
Kirk, Steve Moncuse, Bob Almond, Tom Wegryzn (inks), Hank Kanalz
(editor)
Foxfire#1 (February, 1996) - Ian Edginton & Dan Abnett
(writers), Kevin West (pencils), Philip Moy & Bob Almond
(inks), Scott Bernstein & Hank Kanalz (editors)
Ultraverse: Future Shock (February, 1997) - Mark Paniccia (writer),
Fabio Laguna, Kevin West, Manny Clark (pencils), Edde Wagner, Phil Moy,
Wellington Diaz (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
First posted: 03/03/2023
Last updated: 03/03/2023
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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