Primates of Power (Hero/Villain)
Full Name: Not Applicable
Faction: Ape Revolution Committee
Hokey religion too strongly influenced by humankind, religious mumbo-jumbo, and something little better than witchcraft or hoodoo was how Dr. Red responded when Red Bella first described the power of the Ape Spirit. For a scientific mind such as his, it was simple nonsense.
When Bella eventually joined those primates who had been aboard the first Soviet spacecraft launched under Prof. Yuri Andryshnikov’s radical program, she brought her unflinching belief in the primal might of the Ape Spirit. She told them of all that she had learned of the Cult of the Great Primate. She related legends of the titanic Ging Gong and that gargantuan gorilla’s connection to the godhead of the almighty Ape Spirit. More significantly however, she recited the parables that she had learned in a mountain monastery, of the mercurial avatars of the Ape Spirits, Primates of Power able to transform true believers into something more potent.
Dr. Red likened Bella to some kind of religious convert, zealously adhering to the promise of some higher power. Secretly he was wary of yet another rival to his own position of influence and mastery of the A.R.C.
In time Guerilla embraced the primal force of the avatar of Ape Spirit in its aspect of Nature; his comrades marveled as he led a mission while infused with the energizing strength of the Spirit, tearing into Supreme foes with unmatched vigor. As they carried out their objectives he struck mightily and with the full fury of his very being. On return the power abated and yet he was certain then of true value of the ‘gift’ that Red Bella had brought with her. Soon, she too led missions transformed into a peerless warrior of mysterious and arcane power by her connection with the higher power.
In time others began to wonder if they might harness that power on behalf of the revolution. Silverager, ever supportive of Bella and her ideals, welcomed the touch of the Ape Spirit and he too was to become something more than he had been when his allies most needed him.
Only Dr. Red had resisted the claims of Bella. He protested. He ranted and shouted and proclaimed that for a rational, scientific mind such things were simply ridiculous. He mocked the usually rational Silverager for falling for such hocus pocus.
Yet in time Dr. Red he too relented. Desperate following a disastrous run-in with an Ulthar raiding force, in a quiet moment of the soul he gave himself to the touch of the Ape Spirit, and he too became empowered as a result. He led willing followers to a great victory, reclaiming much needed supplies and munitions, and understood then with a sudden clarity of thought the scientific and military truths he could unlock with that power that he tasted.
Those who experience the gift of the Ape Spirit do so for a limited time. The Ape Spirit has its own grand design which it follows, but it has gained adherents within the ranks of the A.R.C., and in turn it has granted them its boon. What plans the Ape Spirit has for Pulp City through its Primates of Power remains to unfold, but they have made their mark, and their call beyond Earth has been heard.