serayn-race-cable-groupSERAYN race

Classification: Insectoid extraterrestrial race 

Location/Base of Operations: Unrevealed planet on "the edge of" the Milky Way galaxy
    allegedly extinct;
    Distant Past

Known Members: None identified

Affiliations: Formerly Azazel, the Undying

Enemies: The Undying

First Appearance: Cable II#84 (October, 2000)

Powers/Abilities: The Serayn had no known superhuman powers. Their systems were in some way fragile enough that they could not leave their world.

    They had tremendous intellects and were considered "super-scientists," and they had advanced technology, allowing them to create Azazel, a massive and virtually indestructible starship with artificial intelligence and designed to last millions of years.

    Additionally, they were able to create at least five artificial energy beings of pure intellect: The Undying.

    They possessed some forms of weaponry, such as energy rifles and swords.

    They had unjoined hemimandibles (lower jaws) that more vertically oriented, opening toward the bottom.

    Some of the images make it appear that they had an aperture between their inferior (lowest) eyes that may have been the opening to their nasal passage. This may or may not have been something that opened and closed as desired.

    They apparently had some degree of chitinous exoskeleton.

Traits: The Serayn were scientifically-oriented and burning with curiosity about all things, especially the secrets of creation. 

    They used their science to create beings to explore other worlds for them. However, they did not place any sense of morality, right or wrong, or respect for life to their creations. 

serayn-race-cable-imageblock

Type: Bilaterally symmetric insectoid bipeds
Eyes: Six (on head; three pairs, with the inferior (lowest) pair surrounded by thick ridges; light blue to purple color seen)
Fingers: Two or three (plus opposing thumb) - their hands were not shown clearly in the few images with which we have to work
Toes: Apparently two - their feet were not shown clearly in the few images with which we have to work
Skin color: Red-brown
Average height: Unrevealed (they were not shown in relationship to any other races)
Note: The circles on some of their foreheads were not part of their bodies but rather indicated possession by the Undying

History:
(Cable II#84 (fb)) - Several million years ago, the Serayn -- who were driven by scientific curiosity and sought the secrets of creation but whose bodies could not survive leaving their world -- built a virtually indestructible spaceship to explore the universe for them. Desiring a crew that would be immortal (for all practical purposes), the Serayn created five articial energy beings of pure intellect that they dubbed the Undying.

    Wishing to learn everything about other races, the Serayn gave the Undying the power to meld their energ field with the mind of any creature and thus observe alien life directly. Once an Undying gained control of a host body, it could only be released by the host's death.

    However, the Undying fed on the energy released during death. Lacking any sense of right or wrong, the Undying turned on their creators to feed their unquenchable thirst for death.

    After a thousand years, the Serayn were no more.

(Cable II#84 (fb) - BTS) - The Undying spent the next several million years traveling from world to world aboard the Serayn ship, which became known as Azazel. 

Comments: Created by Robert Wein, Michael Ryan, Nathan Massengil and Andrew Pepoy.

    I included the block of images as one because they were all weird trapezoid shapes and would have had triangles of the images above and below them when cropped to rectangular form.

    There's something about the Undying storyline that has always bothered me. The Serayn were supposed to be these brilliant super-scientists who created the artificial energy beings later known as the Undying, and their starship with its artificial intelligence later known as Azazel. The Serayn were killed off by the Undying because, once the energy beings melded with their hosts, they  were trapped in those forms until their hosts died. And yet, Azazel somehow had the ability to transfer the Undying from their hosts without the hosts having to die.
    I know that the story said that the Undying gave Azazel that ability but, given how brilliant the Serayn were supposed to be and the fact that they survived for a thousand years before being finally killed off, it always seemed unlikely that none of them were able to discover how to transfer the Undying energy fields for themselves, and then use that ability to transfer the Undying into a succession of lower animals, as Cable arranged to have happen a few million years later. Surely that would have given them enough time to find a way to destroy the Undying forever.
--Don Campbell

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Serayn should be distinguished from:

images: (without ads)
Cable II#84, pg. 15, panel 2 (group, upper bodies);
        panel 4 (group, close-up of upper face with Undying circle);
        panel 5 (fighting each other);
        panel 6 (close-up of head, with Undying circle)

Appearances:
Cable II#84 (October, 2000) - Robert Weinberg (writer), Michael Ryan (penciler), Nathan Massengil & Andrew Pepoy (inkers), Mark Powers (editor)

First posted: 03/02/2023
Last updated: 11/24/2023

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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