Atlantean

The Atlantean is an inactive superhero hailing from an alternate Earth. He is the husband of Hazel Clay.

## Biography

The Atlantean was born in Atlantis, an alternate Earth that never evolved humans and was colonized when his people left the prime timeline thousands of years ago. As dimensional travel among his advanced race became more reliable, he and dozens of others made the pilgrimage to their ancestral homeworld, to see what was left behind.

He didn't like what he saw. Earth was a planet desperately lacking the order, stability, and unity of Atlantis, and the people were all but helpless to improve their world. While the other pilgrims simply took this as a stark lesson in appreciating their own paradise planet, the Atlantean found he couldn't turn his back on Earth. Returning with futuristic military technology from Atlantis, he made a home for himself in Chicago and began to fight crime wherever he could find it.

The Atlantean's exploits were myriad, and his team (consisting of the Alchemist, Visage, and Mentat) became world-renowned despite their humble beginnings. In addition to regularly foiling minor villains like the Midnight Crew, he and his team faced down deadly encounters with such terrible threats as Mechanon and the Time Wizard. During a trip to the Blazing World in which his team became trapped in the hellish Dead Lands, he secured everyone's freedom by agreeing to an arranged marriage with Hazel Clay, the ne'er-do-well daughter and heir to the Lead Lord. Although this was purely a matter of convenience for all involved, Hazel and the Atlantean eventually grew to share a genuine bond and she became an ardent supporter of the team.

After years of fighting crime, the Atlantean took another deal that ended more poorly. In a bid for much-needed power, he petitioned Olympus for aid and was seen by Hades, god of wealth and the dead. The sinister god gave the Atlantean the power he sought in the form of the Stone of the Underworld, an artifact that imparted overwhelming mystical powers, but only in return for the Atlantean's vow to be his avatar and serve Hades' will. Taking on this mantle effectively ended the team, as the Atlantean now owed his allegiance to a higher power and had little freedom to pursue his old crime-fighting agenda.

The Atlantean still aided the cause of good, but his time was mostly spent amassing wealth in accordance with Hades' command. He and Hazel became incredibly rich and spent much of their time travelling in anonymous seclusion. Eventually, he agreed to come back to Chicago to assist the Champions with Sapphire, who had become entangled with the ghostly form of the Spectre and needed the aid of Hades' avatar to free herself of the spirit. The Atlantean's stint as the avatar finally ended when Cú Chulainn managed to steal and destroy the Stone of the Underworld, inadvertently freeing the Atlantean from his oath.

The Atlantean's career came to an end when he helped the Contenders confront the Time Wizard. He was struck by the villain's aging attack, and although his incredibly resilient physique barely allowed him to survive, he was aged into a decrepit old man. Now too weak to wear his armor, he returned to his own world and hasn't been seen since.

## Personality

The Atlantean is a natural leader, albeit a reluctant one. He strove to stick to a heroic ideal during his crime-fighting career, but he was often forced to contend with unusual and compromising situations that tested his morals. He occasionally made questionable decisions but always strove to protect mankind through any means necessary.

## Powers

The Atlantean is an archetypical power armor user who focused many of his abilities through the use of a powerful trident. This weapon was extremely formidable in melee, able to pierce even dense armor, was also capable of firing versatile laser blasts at long range.

The Atlantean's armor also granted him flight and modestly increased his strength, but he had impressive physical capabilities even without his armor thanks to his Olympian physique. This was thanks to the combination of hard training and superior genetics, and made him a formidable presence even when unarmed.

As the Herald of Hades, the Atlantean vast powers over the realms of death and wealth. He could command the dead with more skill than almost any necromancer, and he could conjure wealth both literally and figuratively: granting prosperity to anyone he desired and also controlling precious metals and gemstones with a magical telekinesis.

## Weaknesses

The Atlantean had no real weaknesses beyond that shared by all power armor users: without his suit and armaments, his abilities were dramatically reduced or eliminated entirely. He had the further complication that he did not develop his own technology, and if he needed replacements he had to return to his own dimension to procure them through unofficial channels.