Context
This the second half of this profile. The first half is there, and we suggest reading our primers about the Inhumans even before that.
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History (part 3)
Amazingly, the fallen King survived. Furthermore, loyal Alpha Primitives deserted to help him.
He and the Alphas established a clandestine settlement. Local Tibetans knew it as the Hermit’s Cave, and sensibly stayed away.
My kingdom and place of exile
Over the decades, the shaken Unspoken came to repudiateReject something that previously was legit his decisions.
He used the Slave Engine to grow large quantities of Xerogen crystals. These were meant as an offering for he and his Alphas to be allowed back into Attilan.
A few years later, Attilan did move close to his cave complex. But they apparently never detected him.
In 1982, Attilan left Earth for the Blue Area of the Moon. This shocked the Unspoken. Both because he was now more cut off than ever, and because he thought that the Inhumans having to leave Earth was his fault.
In 2009, the Unspoken heard of a silent war between Attilan and the US government, over the theft of Terrigen crystals. He considered that it was the beginning of a global race war, and made his move.
Omega-level
The Unspoken emerged from his Tibetan cave. This triggered a major response by the People’s Defense Force. But they were flatfooted by his sheer power, and taken out.
Two Avengers were covertly observing – U.S.Agent (John Walker) and Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff). Maximoff knew about Unspoken. Presumably via his ex-wife Crystalia Amaquelin, who was a tween when Black Bolt was crowned.
Unlike the Chinese supers, Quicksilver thus had a good sense of what they were facing. He summoned every possible Avengers team to ally with the PDF if possible, and face the Unspoken.
A question of time
The Unspoken was busy digging out the Slave Engine. During the process, he had it release a first cloud of Xerogen gas.
This turned hundreds of nearby Humans into Alpha Primitives serving him. When additional superhuman responders came in, the Unspoken knocked them into banks of Xerogen gas, turning most of them.
However, young genius Amadeus Cho invaded the Slave Engine. While a team of Avengers battled security within, he deduced that Xerogen crystals were grown via a time-accelerating ray.
The Slave Engine was commandeered long enough to shine the time-acceleration ray on the Unspoken. This flash-aged even the former King into senescenceMade much weaker by old age.
Aftermath
The PRC considered that executing the Unspoken might lead to a war with the Inhumans. They therefore let him retire to a cave with his Alpha Primitive retinueAn entourage, a group of aides, as he now posed little threat.
Quicksilver then essentially stole the Unspoken’s plan. He bartered returning the Xerogenesis crystals for regaining his Inhuman nationality.
History (part 4)
In 2013, massive clouds of diluted, impure Terrigen Mist were released across Earth. Exposure to those seemingly allowed the Unspoken to recover. However, the explosion also destroyed the stores of Terrigen crystals.
Though his dementia had been lifted, the former King remained aged – and far frailer than he had been. He thus left China on the sly, moving to Mongolia.
The Unspoken took under his wing at least three Mongols mutated by the Terrigen Cloud.
(How Unspoken was cured of senility isn’t actually mentioned. That it was Terrigen cloud exposure is one simple No-Prize HypothesisA made-up explanation to plug a plot hole, but it’s wobbly.)
(In particular, we know that the Terrigen cloud wasn’t pure enough to power the Unspoken. So the idea that he intuitively used it to slightly de-age himself is iffy. Perhaps the original pressure front was pure enough, but soon became too diluted.)
Deflagration
Attilan had been destroyed when the Terrigen Cloud was released, killing thousands. King Black Bolt had gone missing in the blast, and was succeeded by Queen Medusa.
Medusa was welcoming all Inhumans to her New Attilan realm, hoping to replace the losses with “NuHumans”. NuHumans are Humans with trace Inhuman ancestry who underwent Terrigenesis when exposed to the cloud.
During this poorly controlled Terrigenesis, NuHumans reflexively generated cocoons around themselves. Most then entered a long coma as their body mutated, often in non-viable ways.
Let the right one in
Unspoken came to New Attilan with his three most powerful followers. Medusa only let the Mongols in.
The Unspoken might have been the only Inhuman refused hospitality in New Attilan. But he lied, stating that he knew about Black Bolt’s fate. And would only speak if he were allowed to stay for a night.
In the immortal words of the Ackbard, it was of course a trap.
If you leave me / I’m applauded / Then forgotten
Medusa had correctly deduced that Unspoken was trying to recover a hidden stash of Terrigen. She thus kept him under lax security but tight surveillance.
However, she underestimated his three Mongol allies. Once the Unspoken reached his stash, these intervened. Their efforts bought him the few seconds he needed to repower himself.
Unspoken took down Medusa and her cousins, then teleported in Human mercenaries (and perhaps more NuHuman followers).
They took over New Attilan, which was put on lockdown. Medusa was kept a captive in the throne room.
The Unspoken was planning to kidnap every last NuHuman he could find, press-ganging them into an Inhuman army. In his estimation, that was might enough to take over the world. And thus finally make Inhumans safe from Humans.
Depowered, aged-but-not-senile 2014 appearance.
No time for guillotines
With three followers (not looking like the Mongol trio), the Unspoken raided an unspecified Asian dictatorship.
Two NuHumans there had already been forced to join their military, and NuHumans still in their Terrigenesis cocoons were rounded up as weapons. Unspoken and his henchmen killed the leader, and absconded with the cocoons.
However, this raid takes place in a story published about 6 months *before* we see the Unspoken return to Attilan.
Three No-Prize Hypotheses :
- Exposure to Terrigen Mist fully restored the Unspoken for a few months. He eventually aged back, albeit not all the way back. During this time, he assembled the NuHumans who would take over Attilan.
This hypothesis seems unlikely. The Terrigen cloud can’t power him, and his troops in the New Attilan takeover seemed to chiefly be Human paramilitaries. - Unspoken had a sliver of Terrigen crystal, which he consumed to lead this strike.
- This sequence actually takes place *after* the Attilan takeover. Since it was disconnected from the rest of the story, this can work. It’d be my choice.
(These events are roughly contemporary with a clash pitting Crystal and NuHuman allies against the Siancong dictatorship. Maybe there’s a tie ?)
The kids are alright
The Unspoken’s reign lasted for about two days.
Head physician Vinatos helped organise three young NuHumans. At the cost of his life, he then sneaked them into the throne room. With his power over stone, Flint (Jason) destroyed the Terrigen crystals the Unspoken was tapping to build his power back up.
An attack by Inferno (Dante Pertuz) then forced the King to expend what energy he had left.
Repowered by a Terrigen sliver.
Between the lines of age
This returned the King to his aged, but not senile, state. From there, he was thrown into a cell.
Later on, New Attilan was badly damaged. The prison cells ended up underwater. However, the sector wasn’t flooded, and the prisoners were not moved.
Which allowed Maximus to raid the jails, freeing both the Unspoken and fellow inmate Lineage (Gordon Nobili).
Maximised
However, the unstable Maximus didn’t have any defined project. The three villains thus just hanged around in Miami, doing little.
And with Flint having destroyed the Unspoken’s hidden stash, there were no Terrigen crystals left anywhere for Unspoken to restore himself.
In 2017, Maximus did come up with a plan. He gave the Unspoken a small sliver of Terrigen crystal, provenance unknown. The Unspoken ingested it, to have his full power back for a few minutes. Thus, he easily stormed a large S.H.I.E.L.D. base to free Triton.
Maximus said that, with Triton’s help, he would create new Terrigen crystals. This would make him a hero to the Inhumans.
Bringing Terrigen crystals back would also allow for ending a war with homo superior mutants. These were trying to destroy the Terrigen cloud, which was toxic to them. Meanwhile, the Inhumans were trying to protect the cloud – the only remaining source of Terrigen agent.
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Curse your sudden and inevitable betrayal
Though the Unspoken felt humiliated, he had little choice but to play along. Without Maximus, there never would be Terrigen crystals he could use to restore himself.
Yet he also knew that Maximus would be unlikely to let him regain his full power. Since Unspoken would then simply take the throne.
The betrayal came earlier than expected. During his quest to collect ingredients, Maximus traded the Unspoken away to the Maw Queen. She was the monstrous ruler of a small culture of sapientCapable of intelligent reasoning deep sea humanoids, who lived within a gigantic undersea animal.
You shock me to the core
The Unspoken soon convinced his unlikely bride to help. Aboard an enormous crustacean monster, they located and attacked Maximus and his allies.
But Maximus had never intended to recreate Terrigen crystals. He had created a much more limited Terrigen power source. Around this, he had built a giant war mechaSome form of cool sci-fi super-vehicle or super-robot.
This mecha was narrowly able to kill the attacking sea monster, using a sort of Terrigen-powered lightsabre.
Unspoken survived, and touched the energy blade. Absorbing it entirely, he powered himself back again. The Unspoken started by growing to colossal size, easily destroying Maximus’ mecha.
But with great effort, Maximus managed to take control of the fallen King’s mind. He thus forced the Unspoken to discharge all his Terrigen energy into space, leaving him depowered again.
In Maximus’ view, Terrigenesis had been a curse for the Inhumans. He thus was glad to eliminate every source of it.
So keep it comin’, keep it comin’
Still out of options, the Unspoken stuck with Maximus and Lineage. But the Royal Family located them and came in.
Maximus then revealed that he had *another* sliver of Terrigen crystal, which he gave to Unspoken. There was enough for perhaps three minutes at full power.
Ample Inhuman reinforcements came in to face the fallen King, including Black Bolt and a bunch of young NuHumans. They didn’t fare well. Even Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan) at her most embiggened was easily thrashed.
The Unspoken was focusing on using what little time he had to kill Black Bolt. But one of the Inhumans, Reader, reused the Cho trick. He accelerated time around Unspoken to turn his three minutes at full power into three seconds.
The Unspoken is presumably again in an Inhuman prison.
2017 four-armed taurine form.
Personality
Originally, the King seemed to be a wise, subtle, humane ruler. But he kept his cards close to his chest, being wary about the politics surrounding the throne.
His mental health seemed to degrade after his exile. This likely was a product of decades of doubt about his weighty decision regarding the Slave Engine.
(It is also faintly possible that exposure to Black Bolt’s voice damaged his brain. There are complicated precedents with that.)
Diminished
From 1982 to 2009, Unspoken descended into pathological paranoia and resentment about Humans. It was just sad and awful, with a strong hint of self-hatred.
Once aged but no longer senile he was bitter, tricky, power-hungry. He also none-too-effectually demanded to be treated with the respect he once deserved.
The Unspoken was also visibly jonesing for Terrigen exposure, craving the hit of power and youth it would bring.
DC Universe Adaptation
(This section proposes ways of using this character in DC Universe stories).
With his aesthetics — especially when drawn by Phil Noto — the Unspoken could be a survivor of the Third World, once cast into exile.
As a variant, he could have been cast out of Wonderworld before the coming of Mageddon.
In both cases, the Terrigen crystals thing would be replaced with something having to do with the Godwave .
If we remove both the Kirbyesque elements that Priest and Noto’s Once And Future Kings added to Unspoken, and the Terrigenesis aspect that doesn’t exist in the DCU, there ain’t much left.
Still, he could be tied to any of those alien or Hidden Civilization guys that clashed once with the Justice League during the Silver or Bronze ages and never showed up again. Say, the Mu guys in Justice League of America Vol. 1 #88. Nobody cares about the Mu guys in Justice League of America Vol. 1 #88.
DC Heroes RPG
Tell me more about the game stats
Unspoken
| Dex: 09 | Str: 12 | Bod: 10 |
| Int: 07 | Wil: 08 | Min: 07 |
| Inf: 09 | Aur: 09 | Spi: 08 |
| Init: 027 | HP: 150 |
Powers:
Growth: 02, Invulnerability: 12, Omni-Power: 20, Regeneration: 01
Bonuses and Limitations:
- Growth is Always On and Already Factored In, but *not* Form Function.
- Invulnerability might take 15 minutes or so between rolls.
- Omni-Power is limited to Powers that can be acquired via Terrigenesis.
- Omni-Power has no Hero Points cost when used short term.
- Using a Power intensely for a long while will cost increasing amounts of Hero Points, then start Burning Out APs of Omni-Power. But there’s no data about these functions.
- If Omni-Power is used as a Power Reserve to enhance Attributes, it can increase STR by 12 APs, and BODY by 8 APs.
- If Omni-Power is used to Neutralize a Terrigenesis-created Power, the effects last much longer than per normal rules. They might even be permanent. But this function too is undocumented.
Skills:
Charisma (Persuasion): 04, Weaponry: 04
Advantages:
Area Knowledge (Attilan), Credentials (Inhumans of Attilan, High (later Low)), Familiarity (Kree technology), Languages (Standard Tibetan, English, at least one Chinese, at least one Mongolic, and presumably others), Lightning Reflexes, Near-Immortal, Rank (Attilan military, later on his cadre of Alphas), Scholar (Inhuman history and politics), Stabilisation.
Connections:
Loyal Alpha Primitives (considered Low due to their poor initiative level).
Drawbacks:
Creepy Appearance (only when he has his full size), Power Loss (Lack of access to Terrigen crystals).
Motivation:
Responsibility then Power.
Occupation:
Noble.
Wealth:
012
Diminished states
When aged and depowered, the Unspoken’s Physical and Mystical Attributes are all reduced to 02, and his Mental Attributes halved (round down). Plus Age (Old). But he still seemed to have his Skills.
In *most* cases, he also still has his Hero Points. But with stats that low, they’re not too useful. Still having his Hero Points is important if he suddenly regains his crushing powers. This was the case twice with the slivers, but clearly not during his brief takeover of New Attilan.
In this aged state, Unspoken looks like an ordinary White old man. His great size, musculature, minor mutations, etc. are all gone.
During his 2009 appearance, regret over his decisions and exile was significantly diminishing him. Halve his Mental and Mystical Attributes, rounding up.
OP states
When he consumes a Terrigen sliver, he gets even more Powers – but short-lived ones. We have but two examples of this, which lasted for minutes.
In two cases, my impression is that :
- His normal Power Reserve raises his STR and BODY to the previously documented levels.
- The Terrigenesis endows him with an additional Power at 18 APs, plus another at 12 APs, but both have Ammo: 04. These are rough numbers, obvs.
It seems that RAPs inflicted against him will lower how long the Terrigenesis lasts, but not in a massive way. One less Phase per 2 cumulative RAPs, maybe.
Indesign notes
The bulk of the characters we write up don’t have massive Mental and Mystical Attributes. So for those who do, I prefer to have a glance at my 3rd Edition book to make sure it’s aligned with the Mayfair scale.
Note that the only material which has Unspoken with big-time Mentals and Mysticals is Inhumans: Once and Future Kings. If this series wasn’t part of the research set, these scores would be much lower.
“Limited to Powers that can be acquired via Terrigenesis” isn’t much of a Limitation, all told. But purely magical Powers are presumably out. Unless there exists a Terrigenesis-enhanced magician I don’t know about.
Yes, the Skills are chiefly there for when he’s depowered.
Source of Character: Marvel incomics.
Helper(s): Darci.
Writeup completed on the 27th of November, 2020.