Maximillion Lazuli

The Azure Nemesis

### Abilities

Extraordinary Psionic Powers granted by the Avalon Gene, enough to be aware of his own Dreamscape and manipulate numerous STATIC operatives to his will. Ability to spread "influence" of himself through others, using it for numerous effects.

## Political Information

### Enemies

Iris FargonPandoraZenolea AnswerSTATIC as a whole

### Alignment

Neutral Evil

> *"All of this could have been avoided if you'd just accept the power you'd been given. There are thousands who would kill for a fraction of what The Avalon can offer. Yet you continue to deny it, to deny ME. You say that you'll never forgive me? Don't make me laugh. After the complete mockery you've made of our potential, **you should be begging for MY forgiveness.**" - Lazuli to Iris during their final battle.*
>
>

**Maximillion Lazuli** was a target of The Interparty and major antagonist of Crisis of Static Thoughts. A former member of Statics, he was born with The Avalon Gene, the same gene that granted Khamsin and Iris Fargon their psychic abilities, and like Iris, the power he had obtained from it was immense, and was much stronger in controlling its power than most born with it. Unlike her however, he took no issue in using it for his own personal benefit, without a care for if he harms others or not. From a young age, Maximillion and Iris were arranged into marriage after the Lazuli family discovered Khamsin Fargon had birthed a daughter with the same potential as their recently born son. This set Maximillion up into a mindset of possession over Iris and that the two would be the next step in evolution by combining their genes together into further offspring. As Maximillian came of age, he was quickly integrated into STATIC via both his family's resources and the Avalon Gene's power.

However, Iris was hesitant to awaken to her abilities, reluctant to use them out of fear of affecting others. This lead to Maximillion to grow impatient at a family gathering, leading him to emotionally tormenting Iris by starting an argument with her and using his power to unshackle her emotions. This lead to Iris' powers erupting furiously, leading to everyone else present losing consciousness, and the two families deciding to call of the marriage. Set back by his own family's reluctance, Maximillion left STATIC to form his own company from his family's assets. With power both personally and financially, Lazuli quickly became a very influential man supplying weapons to numerous conflicts, often to many opposing sides. It was during this period that Lazuli met Hotches Strings, a man so memorably unlikable that he employed and imbued some of his power into him, spreading his influence like a virus to those who'd encounter him.

In the months Lazuli was making his cooperate empire, Iris was isolated from the world, with those around her as well as herself afraid of the power Lazuli awoke in her. Khamsin, seemingly the only one who could understand Iris' plight, had finally been able to talk to her and introduce her to STATIC. Learning of this, Lazuli's mind dove into an abyss of schemes, hoping to both gain influence over one of the most influential organizations in the world, and forcefully make Iris his bride whether by control or force. Learning that STATIC's chairman Zenolea Answer was concerned of his growing influence and intended to subdue him, Lazuli used his information of the Dreamscape and power of the Avalon Gene to set a trap on his own Mind Island. When the time came, numerous squads of STATICS infiltrated his island, including Iris and the team that she'd become a part of. With his Mind Island purposefully designed into a colosseum, he sprung his trap, overwhelming a large portion of the operatives at once. Many fell under his influence, ordered to fight to the death with those who resisted. And with his island sealed, Lazuli had closely succeeded. However, a moment of disruptive force suddenly shook the arena, breaking the seal. Answer forcefully recalled many of the operatives at once, with a select few, including Iris, surrounded by the flames of Pandora, seemingly protecting them from both Lazuli's and eventually Answer's own control.

Lazuli was encountered again by the Interparty during the events of Crisis of Static Thoughts, when the party rediscovered what he had planned to do and how he intended to get both STATIC and Iris as his possessions. He attempted the same trick, trying to get The Interparty to fight The A Team in one on one combat. However, protective magic from Cinnamon plus Austere's resilience and provoking speech put Lazuli into an angered position, bringing Austere to the brink of death in an attempt to subdue him. When he continued to defy him however, Lazuli grew angered with his constant setbacks, deciding he'd finish everyone right there and force Iris into being his. The battle was tough, but even Lazuli's overwhelming power couldn't take on two squads of operatives. Iris, enraged by his words, unleashed a powerful beam at Lazuli, with Lazuli attempting to counter with his own. However, Iris' overwhelmed Lazuli, and he was blasted back, arm gone, and the rest of him starting to disintegrate.

Lazuli stalled this disintegration with his own power, answering the Interparty's questions as they interrogated him. During this, Judgement entered the arena and attempted to determine Spudley's own resolve, to which Lazuli compliantly allowed to take place. After the battle was settled, Lazuli revealed everything that'd happened up to that point, and attempted to give a hint to them, firing a final disintegrating beam at Gavin. When the flash cleared however, Gavin emerged completely unharmed. Lazuli finally mentioned the name of "Storyteller", before ceasing his resistance on Iris' power, and dissolving away.

As the party later found out however, the events of their Crisis was one of several simulations ran by Answer after the initial encounter with Lazuli drove him to strive into making perfect operatives. When the party went to challenge Answer face to face and went through flashes in their own mind to get to him, Iris saw another Lazuli, taunting her as if dissolving was ineffective, and this time had an obedient cognition of Iris as a wife fighting alongside him. Iris however managed to overcome her reflected self and Lazuli once again, Lazuli this time panicking when he saw Iris be unaffected his his own influence. Lazuli begged Iris not to leave him, growing uncharacteristically desperate. But with a final goodbye from Iris, Lazuli was left behind.

After The Interparty had defeated Answer and awoken into a world now undergoing the apocalypse, they had been brought back into the Dreamscape by Pandora, now completely displaying their true self. Pandora would go to show the events of the first encounter with Lazuli and what lead to everyone being consumed within Answer's own dream, revealing Lazuli to also be affected by this after both Answer's and Pandora's power overwhelmed him, being used as a part of the simulations to test The Interparty. Shortly afterwards, Lazuli would burst from the clouds and clash directly with Pandora in a frenzied rage, claiming that everything was his fault. Even with Pandora's own physiology, the Avalon's unhinged power managed to completely blast him apart, scattering pieces of him across the area. Unfortunately, this was all in vain, as Pandora reassembled from his destruction and remorselessly slammed Lazuli into the ground head first, knocking him unconscious. Pandora threw his body at the feet of Iris, taunting that she could do whatever she liked with him at this point now that he has nothing left to fight for. Eventually the underlying hostilities between Pandora and the rest of the Interparty escalated to the surface, resulting in Pandora seeing everyone out of the Dreamscape so he could continue his own machinations. Notably, one of the pieces Lazuli blasted from Pandora failed to reassemble with him, who would turn out to be Us.

Sometime after these events, Iris would be looking over her now ruined family home when an old servant of both hers and Lazuli's families would find her. He'd expressed relief of both Iris and Lazuli being safe, seemingly having encountered him beforehand, but saddened to see Lazuli in the state he was, stating he'd never seen him anywhere close to as dejected as he was. Where Lazuli is now remains unclear, but with him now returned to the world 20 years later in a state of continuous twilight, his family and resources seemingly vanished, and Iris now completely free from any power he once had over her, the threat he once posed is now no longer a concern. Yet, along with Iris' and his own time in the Dreamscape, the Avalon Gene's power seems to have grown even further in the advent of The Psion's Night...