KESTORANS
Classification: Extradimensional (Negative Zone)
Location/Base of Operations: The starship Kestor's Hope, mobile throughout the Negative Zone;
formerly the planet Kestor, Negative Zone
Known Members: Captain, Number One, 498 others (see comments);
formerly the High Priestess
Affiliations: Fantastic Four (Human Torch/Johnny Storm, Invisible Girl/Susan Richards, Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards, Thing/Ben Grimm)
Enemies: None
First Appearance: Fantastic Four I#253 (April, 1983)
Powers/Abilities: The Kestorans possess a stocky frame, presumably granting them superhuman (enhanced human) strength and possibly increased durability. Despite their great bulk, they can move with surprising grace and speed.
They have access to advanced technology, including their starship, Kestor's Hope, and they wield "electro-lances" (as called by the Human Torch), which deliver stunning electrical shocks.
Traits: The Kestorans are mostly peaceful, but are somewhat xenophobic, agoraphobic, and pretty much uncomfortable around anything not inherent to their spaceship, Kestor's Hope. Though they have access to advanced technology, they do not truly understand it, as the original knowledge of their ancestors was lost and/or forgotten by the descendants after 500 generations -- they proved unable to come up with the means to repair a damaged navigational system for over 10,000 years.
Their religion is unrevealed, but they do worship an "Almighty Spirit," whom they believe to have created all Kestorans complete and unchanging. The idea of evolution is foreign to them, even when confronted by its truth. When startled, the Captain exclaimed "Trantor's Bones!" -- presumably, this meant that Trantor was either a famous Kestoran, or a deity worshiped by the Kestorans. Upon landing on a world they thought might serve as their new home, the Captain and Number One donned ceremonial robes that were an ancient religious symbol of renewal and rebirth, the creation of new life out of the traditions of the old.
Due to the terrible secret passed down from generation to generation to a single Kestoran, they are almost certain to continue wandering the stars of the Negative Zone, seeming to search for a home, but never finding one.
Type: Bilaterally
symmetric semi-humanoid bipeds
Eyes: Two (on head)
Fingers: Three (including opposable thumb)
Toes: Three
Skin color: Pale green
Average height: 8' (by approximation)
History:
(Fantastic Four I#253 (fb)) - For a million generations,
the Kestorans thrived upon the planet Kestor in the Negative Zone. They
had developed an advanced technology and a great culture of art and
faith.
The Kestorans lived in total harmony with their world, until the day 10,000 years ago when their planet revolted against them with a series of tremors and earthquakes. After their scientists learned that Kestor was doomed, the High Priestess decided that 20,000 of them could leave Kestor to seek another world to colonize. Their faith allowed the Kestorans to calmly draw lots--selected by the infallible computers of the priest-scientists--which chose the survivors. Within a week, they boarded their great ark Kestor's Hope and left their world to find another planet. However, as the entire group entered cryogenic suspension and traveled away from Kestor, the world's sun went nova. The ship was distant enough that it was not destroyed, but it was severely damaged -- the navigational core of their computer system was severely hit, and the programmed data on their intended destination was lost to them forever.
However, the very heart of the ship had been most badly damaged by the super-nova explosion. Only 500 of the passengers survived -- the other 19,500 had perished. Of the survivors, a single member was deemed emotionally strong enough to know the truth, and it was that female crew member who devised the Great Lie to save the others from madness:
The Great Lie: "Acting on emergency programs, the main computers sought a solution to their dilemma of the destruction of their navigational computers. Scanning their personality files, the computer dipped into the cryogenic capsules in which all 20,000 Kestorans waited in stasis. Five hundred of them were selected to now act as the crew of Kestor's Hope, guiding her through the void"
But the five hundred would never see the face of their promised world. The crew proved unable to find a new planet, and as they searched the stars, generations passed, handing down their quest to their successors. Meanwhile, the creator of the Great Lie passed down the truth about the Kestorans to her descendants.
(Fantastic Four I#253) - The Kestorans encountered the Fantastic Four, who were exploring the Negative Zone. After a few crew members unwittingly attacked the quartet, the Captain stopped them and explained their quest to their guests over dinner. Reed Richard's knowledge and powers enabled him to access and repair the navigational computers, and soon after, Kestor's Hope landed on a planet that perfectly matched the qualities of Kestor. The Captain and Number One donned their ceremonial religious robes and stepped out on the surface of the world; however, after 10,000 years of living aboard Kestor's Hope, the Kestorans were mortified by the natural environment of their new home. Believing the computers and Reed to have failed them, the Captain ordered the departure from "New Kestor".
Reed realized that after 500 generations, the Kestorans had evolved to life aboard the highly-controlled environment of their spaceship, so that those conditions now represented their natural state; but the Captain refused to believe such heresy ("The Almighty Spirit created all Kestorans complete and unchanging. We do not 'evolve'."). Thinking the Four to be demons, the Captain prepared to have them all blasted out of an airlock, despite the presence of several other Kestorans with them. Believing the life of any Kestoran to be too precious to waste, the crew's Number One revealed the secret of the Great Lie to the Captain -- unable to cope with the truth revealed to him, the Captain died.
Understanding and accepting the truth of their evolution, Number One also realized that the others would be similarly unable to stand the truth, so the crew was told that the planet had proved to be unsuitable. The Captain's memory was to be forever honored in the legends of the last Kestorans, and the quest--the unending quest--would go on...
Comments: Created by John Byrne.
In regards to the Known Members: Although there were several other unidentified Kestorans, it was never specified what was the current population of their spaceship -- one would think that after 10,000 years, the descendants of the original 500 could number in the hundreds of thousands; but I guess it's also possible that the Kestorans controlled their birth-rate to replacement levels, so as to conserve the spaceship's resources.
Since Byrne is known to be interested in the original Star
Trek TV series, I wonder if this story was inspired by the
third-season episode "For
the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky", which also had
some similar story-elements (huge generational spaceship, with a
faulty navigational computer).
--Ron Fredricks
New and additional images by Ron Fredricks.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Kestorans have no known connection to:
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The multi-great grandson of the original Captain of the Kestor's Hope, he was unable to stand the thought of living on their target planet, and nearly slew several crew members in his desire to kill the Fantastic Four, whom he saw as demons. When his lover, Number One, revealed the Great Lie to him, his heart and mind could not stand it, and he died. --Fantastic Four I#253 |
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Ten thousand years ago on the Negative Zone's planet of Kestor, she designed the plan for 20,000 Kestorans to survive the destruction of their home-world by fleeing aboard the space ark Kestor's Hope. --Fantastic Four I#253 (253(fb) |
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A verdant world that once existed in the Negative Zone, it was orbited by a multitude of moons (at least 25); it had been the home to the Kestorans for a million generations. Ten thousand years ago, however, the hurtling moons began to shift in their orbits, causing a devastating tidal effect that began to destroy the planet. While a contingent of natives escaped the planet, the cause of the moons' wandering became apparent as the world's sun exploded into a super-nova. --Fantastic Four I#253 (253(fb) |
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Ten thousand years ago in the Negative Zone, the planet Kestor was faced with imminent destruction, so 20,000 of their race were chosen to leave the planet aboard a huge space ark and seek a new world. Spanning nearly a mile in length, the spaceship housed the 20,000 Kestorans within an immense cryogenic chamber large enough to hold them all in stasis. |
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But the spaceship was damaged when the planet's sun went nova, and all but 500 Kestorans were killed; those 500 were revived from suspended animation and became the ship's crew. Due to the damage caused by the nova, the ship's navigational computers were rendered inoperative, leading the crew and their generational descendants to fruitlessly search for a new world for 10,000 years. However, after Reed Richards repaired the navigational computers, and a new world nearly identical to their home-world was found, the Kestorans proved unconsciously unable to cope with the idea of life off the Kestor's Hope, and so they returned to their unending quest. --Fantastic Four I#253 |
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A planet located somewhere in the Negative Zone, sensors aboard the spaceship Kestor's Hope determined that this lush planet was nearly identical to the Kestorans' destroyed home-world -- the atmosphere, the gravity, the pressure, even the native flora and fauna were within a fraction of a percentage point of the conditions on Kestor. But still it proved to be absolutely abominable to the Kestoran crew, as their race had evolved to life aboard the highly-controlled environment of the Kestor's Hope after 10,000 years aboard the spaceship. The planet was consequently judged unsuitable by the Kestorans and left behind. --Fantastic Four I#253 |
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The descendant of the Kestoran who created the Great Lie, she was the lover of the Captain, and preserved the Great Lie amongst the crew. She hoped that finding their promised world would set the Captain and the crew free, but she was forced to admit that after 500 generations, the surviving members of her race had evolved to survive in the highly-controlled environment aboard their spaceship, and they could no longer stomach the natural environment of a planet similar to their original home. She continued the Great Lie and the pointless quest after the Captain died from learning the truth. --Fantastic Four I#253 |
images: (without ads)
Fantastic Four I#253, p5, pan1 (Captain of Kestor's Hope, holding electro-lance; unidentified Kestoran [background])
Fantastic Four I#253, p3, pan3 (unidentified Kestoran uses "electro-lance" on Thing)
Fantastic Four I#253, p18, pan1-2 (Captain [dressed in ceremonial robe] struggling with Mr. Fantastic; remaining Fantastic Four struggling with other Kestorans)
Fantastic Four I#253, p2, pan2 (Captain)
Fantastic Four I#253, p5, pan2 (Captain, speaking with Mr. Fantastic)
Fantastic Four I#253, p7, pan4 (in flashback, High Priestess addresses Kestorans on view-screen)
Fantastic Four I#253, p6, pan4 (in flashback, the planet Kestor, orbited by its many moons)
Fantastic Four I#253, p7, pan1 (in flashback, surface of the planet Kestor)
Fantastic Four I#253, p1, pan1 (Kestor's Hope [front view])
Fantastic Four I#253, p8, pan4 (in flashback, Kestor's Hope gets hit by super-nova)
Fantastic Four I#253, p11, pan1 (Kestor's Hope [rear view])
Fantastic Four I#253, p13, pan1 (on bridge of Kestor's Hope, Kestorans and Fantastic Four look upon "New Kestor")
Fantastic Four I#253, p15, pan4 (Captain and Number One on surface of "New Kestor")
Fantastic Four I#253, p22, pan1 (Number One)
Appearances:
Fantastic Four I#253 (April, 1983) - John Byrne (writer/pencils/inks), Glynis Wein (colors), Jim Novak (letters), Al Milgrom (editor)
First Posted: 01/26/2004
Last updated: 07/18/2026
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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