Manta
| Biological | |
| Full name: | Unknown |
|---|---|
| Born: | Unknown |
| Birthplace: | Unknown |
| Sex: | Male |
| Race: | Priman |
| Hair: | Black scales |
| Eyes: | White |
| Height: | 5'11" |
| Weight: | |
| Personal | |
| Marital Status: | |
| Family/Relationships: | {{{family}}} |
| Religion: | |
| Title: | El Presidente for Life of Tunlan |
| Nicknames: | |
| Hobbies: | |
| Known skills: | Expert in martial arts, knife fighting and marksmanship; possesses degrees in chemistry and physics; is uncannily expert at disguising himself to appear as non-Priman humanoid races |
| Favorite color: | |
| Inspiration: | |
| Motto: | I put the "laughter" back in "manslaughter," baby. |
The premier Celpo agent in the history of forever, no single person in the employ of the Grand Army has ever had as high a career personal kill-count as the nefarious omnicidal Manta.
Contents
Appearance
Manta is unusually tall for a Priman, and does not bear the stocky build that most associate with the Priman race. His scales are midnight black, and his body is lithely-muscled and toned. Like all Primans, his head resembles a fish.
Bases of Operations
Manta maintains two primary bases. The first is in Tunlan, where he spends as little time as possible dealing with the actual work of being a head of state. He leaves most tasks of government to either his ghostly butler, or his elite cadre of Celpo bodyguards. Manta also maintains a base in Esper, which he styles "The Manta Cave," located in the volcanic mountains north of Tzen. Manta lairs here for convenience when he travels to Albrook to meet with other Grand Army officials. In all other places, Manta makes do with his mobile base of operations: his personal spaceship, Slavefish I.
History
Manta is the premier Celpo operative. He first arrived on the scene during the KMT War, and quickly rose to prominence for his exceptional infiltration skills, as well as his brutality. The KMT War gave Manta the assignment of which he is proudest, and for which he earned international notoreity: the massacre in the Kuvallan port city of Kupo Flow, where Manta single-handedly demolished a singularly important Kuvallan military installation and killed one-third of the city's civilian population in making his escape. Neither he nor his Celpo bosses seem overly concerned for collateral damage in the aftermath of Manta's missions, and in fact it was Manta's reputation for yielding obscenely high body counts that made his prices skyrocket on the mercenary circuit.
For the Kupo Flow incident, as well as for his insinuation of the M-Doom virus into a significant sector of Kuvalla's core water supply, Manta was singled out by the Kuvallan King Kusader, who first coined the term "Omnicidal" in describing the Priman covert. At first Manta was incensed that Kusader had blown his cover by revealing his status as a Celpo operative, but he has since come to relish his fame and fearsome reputation and even wears the term "Omnicidal" as a badge of honor. He currently holds the patent on the word Omnicide and all of its derivations, and this forms a tertiary income source for Manta as part of his general merchandising license.
Manta has always maintained a residence on the island nation of Tunlan, preferring it over most other locales because of proximity to the beach and a profusion of scantily clad human females. At one point Manta became so wealthy from his mercenary work and Celpo contract jobs that he was able to simply buy the nation of Tunlan, paying down its staggering debt and assuming the title of "El Presidente for Life." While many on Tunlan have railed against Manta's lack of support for music and the arts (both of which are historically central to Tunlanese culture), as well as Manta's numerous abuses of the Tunlanese population at large, it has been said by more than one observer that Manta is actually the lesser of two possible evils that could have befallen the island of Tunlan: Manta's acquisition of the island ostensibly made it untouchable by the Scandian League, which (at the time) was branching out and annexing most of the Dimension that was not already under its sway. Today, Tunlan (along with Prima and Winlan) is one of the few pieces of the Dragon Dimension that does not belong to Scande.
Manta died a few years back, after being contracted to kill the Shield, but was resurrected by voodoo. Per the terms of his resurrection, Manta is now basically invincible and regenerates most damage near instantaneously. He also possesses unholy strength and agility through the condition of his supernatural second-life, but otherwise evidences no especially bothersome traits of undead creatures.
Manta has been recently contracted by the Guardians to hunt down and "deal with" pirates on the spacelanes of the Fringe Dimensions. He has also taken a contract from Alkar the Black as a mercenary, to help defend the conquered Kingdom of Bal against Guardian reprisal. He does not appear to have any problem taking contracts from any and all sides in a conflict.
Armament
Manta has a number of signature weapons, mostly of his own devising, which he has employed on his various exploits over the years.
- Little Fish™: Manta's knife, his weapon of choice. The entire weapon shines like silver, though clearly it is made of something much tougher. Its hilt vaguely resembles a long fish, with the blade emerging from its mouth and its tail flukes coming to sharp, triangular points. Little Fish™ can be employed both in melee and as a throwing weapon, and Manta always seems to retrieve it after it's thrown. While it does not appear to be magical, the knife does have at least one unusual property: its blade can extend so that the weapon becomes about the length of a rapier, which has allowed Manta to take on "prissy sword-users" when the need arises.
- Manfryer™: Manta's Wondershot pistol, which he has always insisted is "illegally-modified" -- though, it's unclear which laws in which nation the weapon's modifications violate (the usual assumption is that the gun's mods violate Guardian law, though this is not clear). Manfryer utilizes a varying beam projector to effect a number of different "settings"; when Manta needs to, he can set Manfryer to "stun" for a non-lethal takedown. He almost never uses this setting, however. Most commonly, he tunes Manfryer all the way up to setting eleven, which produces a powerful and very deadly disruption beam (for which the weapon is most likely named). Manfryer is also booby-trapped: practically nobody but Manta can safely use the pistol, unless they were to somehow decipher how to disarm the weapon's anti-theft countermeasures.
- Starfishes: Manta's clever name for his five-pointed throwing stars. They are sometimes coated with venoms of Manta's on concoction.
- SuperNovae: Specially modified Starfishes which explode on impact. The explosives and payloads attached to Supernovae range from flashbangs to various gas-release payloads, to simple frag grenades intended to do direct explosive damage.
- Fishhooks: Manta sometimes uses a modified hookshot to swing around. The bladed catches on Manta's Fishhooks are barbed, like the hooks used in fishing -- such that these really hurt when Manta uses them against fleeing targets.
- Shieldbreaker: Manta's varying-wave sound cannon; the weapon he designed and build to rob the Shield of his powers. It's about the size and shape of a sniper rifle, and can emit sonic frequencies on a number of different wavelengths; he hasn't really used it since his fight with the Shield, but it has the potential to be a very fun toy to play with.
Supporting Cast
- Albert Dimesdale - Manta's British butler. Albert was killed by OmniSent agents in retribution for Manta's part in the OmniSent Conflict. Manta later found him on an undead pirate ship as a ghost, and so now he's a ghost butler.
- Scud - A Priman Dogfish, Scud is a dog-sized shark. Dogfish are amphibious, able to move on land by hovering about a foot off the ground, and can breathe both water and air. Scud is fierce and utterly loyal to Manta.
- Otho the Composer - Former leader of Tunlan, Otho served as Manta's Major Domo after he first assumed control of Tunlan. When Manta died on his contract to kill the Shield, Otho resumed his control and restored many of the civil liberties that Manta had revoked from the Tunlanese people. When Manta returned to Tunlan after being resurrected, he was incredibly pissed off and so brutally murdered Otho and his confederates.
- Cort - Formerly one of Emperor Zog's minions, Cort now works for Manta as his personal genetic-vivisectionist researcher. Cort was responsible for creating the Army of Tunlan. Cort can shapechange into a giant horned toad, and this is his preferred form for boss fights.
- Agents Mu and Sigma - Two Celpo agents who were part of Manta's personal bodyguard detachment in Tunlan. Both Mu and Sigma are elite special agents, who Manta was grooming to be assassins on par with himself. Mu was formerly a sharpshooter from the Republic of West, and Sigma was a martial artist from Fabul who was enrolled in the Celpo Minder program as a psionicist. Both agents were used by Cort to create the Army of Tunlan -- slightly against their will.
Allies
- Praxer Riose - Manta's longtime employer, the Director of the Celpo. Perhaps the only figure in the Web who inspires more fear and dread other than Manta himself.
- Vice Admiral Thomasin Knightwatch - Admiral in the GSF who has employed Manta as a bounty hunter to bring down pirates in the Fringe.
- Alkar the Black - Leader of the Merge League, who has hired Manta as a mercenary to fight against the Guardians in Merge.
- Dain Kordridge - These two had an understanding.
- Mister Bones - One of three people in the Web who has Manta's respect.
- Norstein Bekkler - Even though Manta doesn't like poopies.
- Derik Pendouris - For his aid at the close of the Cleansing Wars, Derik feels obliged to Manta. (but that could change once word spreads of Manta's part in helping the Merge League fight for control of Bal)
Enemies
- Brer Rabbey - Manta brutally murdered Mama Moolay, a slight that Rabbey can't forgive (even if he didn't particularly like his Mama).
- Bane - Manta and Bane clashed several times during the OmniSent Conflict, always with neither managing to come out on top. Manta is one of the few Celpo agents to have taken on a powerful Baneling like Bane single-handedly and not be instantaneously killed.
- Sliver - Manta's repeated (and unwanted) advances do eventually add up.
- Vashkoff - Manta found and captured him and kept him locked up in a dungeon underneath Tunlan for a couple years.
- Jasmina DuCire - Was responsible for Jasmina being killed and turned by Vashkoff.
- The Priman Merchant's Guild - Their interests on the Fringe have been threatened by Manta's pirate hunting.
- Santa Claus - Don't ask, but it's true.
- Praxer Riose - Come on. Let's be realistic.
| Figgy Hall of Fame | Manta's omnicidal rage (don't forget his rugged good looks) was nominated to join the Figgy Hall of Fame in 2007. |
