BELASCO

 

BELASCO

Real Name: Belasco (full name unrevealed)

First Appearance: Ka-Zar The Savage (Vol. 1) #11, February 1982

Powers: A powerful Florentine alchemist and sorcerer, Belasco has various demonic features including red horns upon his forehead, a long, pointer tall, reddish skin, fangs, claws, and pointed ears. Belasco lost his right arm when it was servered, under circumstances yet to be revealed, by his own sword, which was forged by the Elder Gods.

Belasco was granted most of his power by the Elder God he serves. Among other feats, he can hurl bolts of mystical force, mesmerize victims, transform people into animals, and raise the dead under certain circumstances. His long studies of the black arts have given him an encyclopedic knowledge of spells that he can use. The Elder Gods also granted Belasco immortality and apparently invulnerability as well. Possibly the only means of killing him is his own sword, which was forged by the Elder Gods and was used to sever his right arm.

Belasco's powers are somehow linked to those of Magik (Illyana Rasputin). When they fought their climactic battle in Limbo, Magik took on a demonic form while simultaneously Belasco reverted to human form, losing most of his power and his invulnerability in the process. It is not known whether Belasco would lose his demonic form and powers whenever Magik takes on her demonic form. Belasco carries a sword forged by the Elder Gods which is capable of harming Belasco himself.

Belasco has considerable knowledge of much of the technology that the pre-cataclysmic Atlanteans found in Pangea.

Belasco was formerly master of the demonic dimension called Limbo. Time does not pass in a physical sense in Belasco's Limbo, and Magik aged seven years while she was there. However, one might spend years in Belasco's Limbo while no more than moments pass on Earth, due to the unknown temporal laws of the former place. The matter within Belasco's Limbo can be shaped and transformed by the thoughts and emotions of the sorcerer who is its master. Belasco's Limbo is populated by demons who serve its master.

N'ASTIRH

 

N'ASTIRH

Real Name: N'astirh

First Appearance: X-Factor (Vol. 1) #32, September 1988

Powers: N'astirh is a demon spawned in the pits of Limbo, an eternal dimension where stepping disks connect different points in space and time. It is distinct and separate from Immortus' Limbo.

He possesses extensive knowledge of black magic gained through his study of Belasco's principal book of sorcery. As such, he can skillfully manipulate mystical energy for a variety of effects. He could cast scrying pools to view distant events, animate and rearrange molecules structures, fire bolts of eldritch energy and cast containment fields, override the willpower of sentient beings, increase his size and strength, regenerate his injuries, summon forth evil within humans to transmogrify living beings into demonic or unnatural states, and fly with his own wings.

After being infected with the Transmode Virus, he became a being composed of malleable living circuitry. However, his magical prowess allowed him to harness it for his own purposes, changing into a powerful techno-organic being with bio-mechanical regenerative powers and the ability to infect others with the Transmode virus. He could shape-shift into any form he could imagine: He could disguise himself, grow to immense size, or mimic the function of any machine.

SOULSWORD

 

SOULSWORD

First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #171, July 1983

Description: The Soulsword is a magical weapon created by Illyana Rasputin with her own life force while she was trapped in the dimension of Limbo. Though its appearance is that of an old-fashioned sword, the Soulsword is not really a weapon in the physical sense and the extent of its powers seem to depend on the user. When Illyana (and occasionally Shadowcat) wielded the sword, its chief ability was to disrupt magical spells and beings, quite often permanently. In the case of Illyana it was usually accompanied by an Eldritch armor of unknown origin covering Magik's left shoulder, chest, arm and eventually it would grow to cover more and more of her body with each use. The Soulsword can also release a non-supernatural being from a magical spell that it is under, though not necessarily every spell. Moreover, it is capable of physically injuring and even killing a supernatural being such as a demon or a magic-user.

Under normal circumstance the Soulsword doesn’t injure non-magical beings. Although shortly before and during Inferno Illyana – and in turn the sword – had grown so corrupted, that this changed. The one non-magical being the Soulsword could physically injure was Shadowcat, even when she was using her phasing power to become intangible. This is most likely connected to the fact that Kitty and Illyana shared an undefined bond that seemed to make Kitty the receptacle of her best friend’s magical powers whenever she was incapacitated or had renounced her magic. While Illyana feared accessing the sword’s full power, knowing that the use of even more magic would further corrupt her, the Soulsword remained so potent that to wield it seems to more or less guaranteed mastery over Limbo.

When Amanda Sefton took control of the blade as Magik II, she also used it to store souls, conjure teleportation discs - something Illyana never had to do, since teleportation was her mutant power - and conjure and channel spells. It is unknown, if the capabilities of the sword actually change with the user or whether Illyana also had access to these sides of the sword but didn’t want them or didn’t know how to access them. Since Illyana's resurrection, she's reclaimed the Soulsword and thus her title as Sorceress Supreme of Limbo. Since her possession by the Phoenix, Illyana's Soulsword took the appearance of the Blade of the Phoenix and additionally now has the ability to be used as a powerful weapon that can harm and kill as well as deflect attacks.

S'YM

 

S'YM

Real Name: S'ym

First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #160, August 1982

Powers: Spawned in the pits of Limbo (an eternal dimension where stepping disks connect different points in space and time. It is distinct and separate from Immortus' Limbo), the demon known as S'ym was one of its most feared inhabitants and chief enforcer for Limbo's ruler, Belasco.

S'ym is an immensely powerful physical demon, possessing great strength (lifting up to 90 tons), endurance, and durability (He can resist molten magma and penetration from even Adamantium blades). His strength, combined with the nature of magic to defy science, allowing him to snap off Wolverine's Adamanium claws with ease. He is also resistant to psionic attacks and has sharp claws and fangs.

S'ym was infected with the Transmode virus by the Magus, developing into malleable living circuitry. He managed to exert a dominant influence over it in his system. This allowed him to become an independent techno-organic being similar to the Phalanx, immune to many kinds of magic due to his mixed nature of science and magic.

He was hyper-regenerative, able to restore himself to full size even after being reduced to atoms. S'ym could also infect other beings with the Transmode virus via physical contact to drain their life energy or take control of them as his slaves. He could drain the life energy from other Transmode infectees so long as his will was stronger than theirs. His Transmode infection allowed him to shape-shift into any form he could imagine: He could disguise himself, grow to immense size, or mimic the function of any machine. Some magic could prevent him from spreading the Transmode virus and Colossus' armored form proved immune. He was vulnerable to those able to psionically manipulate metal or machinery, as well as to Cable's unique touch.