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. |
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, 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."
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.
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.
