NEPENTHE
<This is from Marvel Frontier Comics, a mature label, and so images are not appropriate for all ages...don't read this if you'll be offended>

Real Name: Presumably Nepenthe

Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial artificially-created and/or genetically-engineered humanoid

Occupation: Unrevealed (lives solitary existence)

Group Membership: Part of a race of Bloodseed, possibly one of, or some variant of, the Genespawn

Affiliations: Lysander Bloodseed, the ape-men who dwelled with her

Enemies: Formerly others of her own race of Bloodseeds

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "Little One" (from Lysander)

Base of Operations: A subterranean realm, presumably within the planet Themax-2, unidentified star system, unidentified galaxy

First Appearance: Marvel Frontier Comics Unlimited#1/4 (January, 1994)

Powers/Abilities: Nepenthe has mental abilities, enabling her to read minds, glimpse the future and manipulate the minds of others, for example sending them into inert bliss via combined memories of the past and dreams of the future.

    She may also have been able to project illusions (or at least, make others see forms/images of her choosing; see comments)

    Nepenthe has four fully functional arms, with one set positioned like human arms and a second pair originating from a more posterior articulation (perhaps with a second joint on each scapula).

    She otherwise appears to be grossly human.

History:

(Bloodseed#2 (fb)) - Contracted by Lord Juro (one member of a race of sentient dinosaurs who had left Earth before the rise of mankind), a race of ape-like aliens called Gene-Corps started an experiment on the planet Themax-2, in which it would create a race of humanoid warriors, implanting them with false memories of ruling a kingdom called Elysium, and also the instinctive need to attack and kill any other member of their race they encountered.  This was so they could determine the one, most powerful of these Genespawn, and that final victor would be the true Bloodseed.

(Marvel Frontier Comics Unlimited#1/4 (fb) - BTS) - Presumably dwelling on the planet Themax-2, Nepenthe was part of a race of people created to be the ultimate healers.

    However, her people could never gaze upon each other without a death rage coming upon them. The victorious Bloodseed would be resilient, brave, and able to endure the hardships of the battlefront.

    Nepenthe possessed precognitive abilities, "eyes that probe the future," and she saw her death and ran from it, making a subterranean base.

    Nepenthe was the last of her race, presumably avoiding and outlasting those who dwelled on the surface and slew each other. 

(Marvel Frontier Comics Unlimited#1/4) - As Lysander awakened, Nepenthe greeted him and introduced herself. As she was shadowed and partially cloaked in a robe, he noted that she was a woman, human like himself. She then dropped her robe, revealing her four-armed nature as she replied, "almost," and she hoped that this man who had captured her heart would not reject her.

    As Lysander reached out and they touched, Nepenthe trembled, and he assured her that he would not hurt her. She explained how she was the last of her race, who suffered a death rage upon encountering others and that she had never touched someone so similar to herself. Lysander asked her further of her people, but she noted that he was weak and offered him broth and sleep instead.

(Marvel Frontier Comics Unlimited#1/4) - Lysander considered Nepenthe to be a creature of charm and wisdom, but he was confused by her belief -- presumably correct -- that the world they were upon was a vast mechanical device, a sphere plunging through the halls of the gods.

    Nepenthe told Lysander how she had fled to her subterranean base to escape the battle fury and her death, and she told him that she must do the same. Lysander told her his pre-programmed memories of being a king and having a kingdom and a queen to which to return; telepathically aware of the truth, she wished her wouldn't leave her to die for a dream.

    Nepenthe later transported Lysander deep down into the bowels of the planetary machine, and she told him how, as it had every cycle, this powered planet moved back into the silent icy void, and that the systems from which it stole sunlight and the stars that warmed its surface were surrogate parents for each new generation of Bloodseed. Lysander listened silently while she showed him the monstrous machines and raged at the captors/masters who made them and held them in bondage.

    She urged him that in a few short days the world would be iced over, that the very air would freeze on its deathly surface and that, once more, the planet would sleep. She begged him to to wait with her, where it was warm, as phosphorescent rocks and warm springs made this place a haven. She asked him to wait and to see if it was true, and that if she had lied, that he should leave and forget her.

    As they embraced, Lysander asked if she could see his future, and when she told him that she could try, he told her to show him.

    Hoping to show him that his world had been a lie, she first saw the blank slate of his memory and then his false memories of his kingdom and his queen -- memories she considered to be like her own -- before seeing his future, which caused her to cry out in pain.

(Marvel Frontier Comics Unlimited#1/4) - Having seen that destiny had a greater need for Lysander than she did, Nepenthe realized that she had to let him go, and she fled into the woods. When Lysander located her soon after, he assured her that he had decided to stay with her, perhaps even taking her as his lady and making this land their kingdom.

    Knowing she could not allow this, Nepenthe reached into Lysander's mind and gently slowed its working. She dropped his mind in a pool of memories amongst a dream of futures, and she she caught him as he sagged to the ground. Cradling him in her arms one last time, Nepenthe wept as she told one of the beings who dwelt with her that it broke her heart to let him go. She had two of the beings help transport Lysander back up to the surface, and she stated that he carried in his noble soul the key to greatness, hope for all of those who have hidden from fate.

    Having erased his memories of encountering her, Nepenthe bade her love farewell, considering that while she may slip into his dreams, he would forever stride through hers.

Comments: Created by Paul Neary and Liam Sharpe under the Marvel Frontier Comics sub-section of Marvel UK.

    This series is particularly hard to follow, partially because it was never finished (see the Bloodseed profile's comments). The scenes shift from Nepenthe being fully clothed and then nude from panel to panel, with her talking with Lysander in some, and then locked in some sort of embrace in the next, and then back to talking again, etc. It's difficult to tell what actually happened. Perhaps she remains nude but sometimes cloaks her body via illusion.

    Nepenthe specifically reference her race as being Bloodseed, and they also suffered the need to kill each other on site, so they are almost certainly creations of the same masters (Gene-Corps) as Lysander's Bloodseed, but just a different race/generation of Genespawn, sparing them from the urge to kill each other.

    Nepenthe previously had a sub-profile under Bloodseed/Lysander, originally published 06/08/2005.

    This profile was completed 12/09/2025, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25^th anniversary 's celebratory event.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Nepenthe should be distinguished from:

• other "Nepenthe" characters, groups, items, events, races or places...

First posted: 09/29/2026
Last updated: 12/09/2025

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
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