SISTER PERPETUA

Real Name: Idris

Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Brilliant City) (formerly) cosmic-powered humanoid

Occupation: Unrevealed

Group Membership: People of the Brilliant City

Affiliations: Nate Grey (X-Man);
    formerly Melchior, Qabiri, and the people of the Brilliant City

Enemies: Qabiri

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Hassan, Nicola Zeitgeist, countless others

Base of Operations: Unidentified church on Earth-616;
    formerly Earth-253, various other alternate Earths;
    formerly the Brilliant City

First Appearance: (Sister Perpetua) X-Man#71 (January, 2001)

Powers/Abilities: Sister Perpetua currently appears to have no superhuman powers, and she is blind. She previously had visions: visions of mankind crushed by demon shadows, by merciless creatures, by its own humanity, etc. All of her visions were of the triumph of cruelty and death, and then end of beauty and peace. These were allegedly visions of "Broken Worlds," alternate realities lower on the spiral.

Idris had vast energy powers. She can withstand powerful physical or energy assaults, and she can fly at great speeds, survive in space, and travel interdimensionally

Height: Unrevealed
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Green?
Hair: Blonde

History:
(X-Man#74 (fb) - BTS) - Idris was a resident of the Brilliant City, a higher plane of existence where the residents believed themselves to be the top of the spiral of realities, the most elevated forms of life. One day, Idris happened to glance upward, and she saw that there were spectrums of existence far beyond her own, beings so great that the people of the Brilliant City were less to them than the lowliest creature in the spiral was to the people of the Brilliant City. She realized that the Brilliant City was no less of a broken world than any other. Unable to bear this knowledge, Idris splintered herself into numerous forms, including Nicola Zeitgeist of Earth-253, Sister Perpetua of Earth-616, and Hassan.

(X-Man#71) - Nate Grey encountered Sister Perpetua on Earth-616, offering to heal her from visions of worlds in pain and dying. After earning her trust, Nate accessed her vision of Earth-253, after which they traveled there.

(X-Man#72 (fb)) - On Earth-253, Professor X (Nate Xavier), Thor, and Nicola Zeitgeist then returned from a mission to a parallel Earth, and Zeitgeist demanded that Qabiri leave their world alone. Several of the Protectorate fell before Qabiri.

(X-Man#71) - On Earth-253, Nicola Zeitgeist and her allies in the Protectorate fought a losing battle against Qabiri, another resident of the Brilliant City who sought to purge the lower worlds to prevent them from contaminating the Brilliant City. Zeitgeist blasted Qabiri, who weathered her attack and blasted her in return.

(X-Man#71) - The newly arrived Sister Perpetua met the Citydweller, who mistook her for his world's Nicola Zeitgeist. Meanwhile, Nicola, her power broken by Qabiri, fell to the ground, but Nate rescued her (she initially mistook him for Nate Xavier, her teammate, Professor X of the Protectorate). Nate teleported Nicola away, and they joined Sister Perpetua, Citydweller, and the crippled Technocrat (Nate Xavier having died) in preparation to try to stop Qabiri.

(X-Man#72) - Qabiri continued to devastate Earth-253. Nate battled Qabiri but  was defeated, and he fell to the Earth. Figuring it was Qabiri, Zeitgeist had Technocrat transport them to the projected site of impact  in South Central Nebraska to make sure he was dead, after which Technocrat's badly damaged form exploded. Zeitgeist rushed down the crater to slay Qabiri but was shocked to find that it was Nate. Meanwhile, Qabiri unleashed his power on the Earth, destroying Nightfighter and White Bird as he blew the planet into rubble.

(X-Man#73) - Zeitgeist and Sister Perpetua's powers interfaced, enabling them to escape Earth-253 with Nate Grey, arriving in a downspiral world, a "broken," improperly formed world with an acid sea and exploding acid air. Nate's power protected them from the planet long enough for Sister Perpetua to detect Hassan (champion and explorer from the Emirate) who was also an apparent counterpart to Zeitgeist and Perpetua.
    Nate and the three women joined them in traveling to the Himalayas of Earth-616, where Nate convinced them that they were all fragments of the same woman, rather then interdimensional counterparts of each other. They denied this, but as Qabiri had detected their presence and was approaching, Nate merged them all, restoring Idris (or a fragment of her to existence). When Qabiri attacked Nate, Idris blasted him, but here were still too many voids in Idris' mind to oppose Qabiri effectively. Nate took Idris and left Earth-616, telling Qabiri that if he stayed to destroy Earth, he would waste time that would allow Nate to act on Qabiri's greatest fear, the corruption of the Brilliant City.

(X-Man#74) - Nate brought Idris to the Brilliant City where he tried to help her regain her memory of what trauma had caused her to flee the Brilliant City so long ago. The other members of the Brilliant City then appeared, commanding Nate to leave or be extinguished. Nate departed, telling them to ask Idris why he had brought her there.
    Nate led Qabiri back to the Brilliant City, arriving in time to save Idris as Melchior and the others judged her as corrupted and moved to exterminate her. Qabiri arrived soon after, but Melchior and the others struck at Qabiri. Nate used the time and distraction to heal Idris' mind, which was still spread out across countless fragments on countless worlds. Idris was apparently reunited with all of her fragments.
    Qabiri overpowered Melchior and the others, shattering the Brilliant City in the process, then confronted Nate and Idris anew. Nate, having viewed Idris' restored memories, told Qabiri and the others to do what Idris had done: look up. Looking up, they saw that there was a spectrum of beings far beyond them.
    Nate took Idris away as per her request. She no longer wished to be Idris anymore, and Nate gave her the choice of who she would be. He enabled her to return to existence as Sister Perpetua, no longer plagued by visions and having no memory of her other existences.

Comments: Created by Steven Grant & Ariel Olivetti.

    In the large image to the right, Idris is the character in the foreground

    The story is told as if the Brilliant City is an alternate Earth, though it seems more of a higher plane of reality. A big part of the final (and best) arcs of X-Man involved the idea of a spiral pathway to the omniverse (or cosmos?) with some realities being  higher and more evolved (upspiral) and others being lower and more primitive (downspiral).

    Qabiri named Earth-616 as Earth-612 after he had destroyed four Earths below it, and then after he destroyed Earth-253, he called Earth-616 "Earth-611." Regardless of whether the other Earths are destroyed, however, realities' designations aren't changed. The rest of the universe still exists after all.

    Regardless of the downspiral descriptions, I don't think the Core Continuum Designations refer to each world's advancement status. We've seen harsher worlds with higher numbers and more advanced worlds with lower numbers. I think the downspiral world in X-Man#73 could be identified as Earth-16137. I'm not going to designate the Brilliant City, b/c it didn't see anything like an Earth dimension, just a higher plane of existence in the cosmos.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
No KNOWN connections to:

Nicola Zeitgeist of Earth-253 (far right)

(X-Man#73 / 72 ) - She had memories of materializing as an Earth spirit. She believed herself to be the Spirit of the Age (hence the name Zeitgeist), and also believed that if she died her world would die, too.

    She was powerless to stop Qabiri and was saved from him by Nate Grey. As Qabiri destroyed Earth-253, Nicola's powers interfaced with Sister Perpetua's to transport them both and Nate Grey to another world. They arrived in a broken world, and Nate's powers protected them long enough to be joined by Hassan, after which they all traveled to Earth-616. Nate convinced them that they were all fragments of the same woman, rather then interdimensional counterparts of each other. They denied this, but as Qabiri had detected their presence and was approaching, Nate merged them all, restoring Idris (or a fragment of her to existence)

--X-Man#71 (72-73

Sister Perpetua of Earth-616 (center)

(X-Man#71) - She had false memories of falling asleep in church as a little girl and having her eyelids cut off by her father to prevent this from ever happening again. She further believed that she had taken out her eyes when she began having visions, but that even this had failed to stop the visions, resulting in shame for having mutilated herself for nothing. In her memories, she became a nun, constantly praying for her visions to end.
    Sister Perpetua had visions of mankind crushed by demon shadows, by merciless creatures, by its own humanity, etc. All of her visions were of the triumph of cruelty and death, and then end of beauty and peace. These were allegedly visions of "Broken Worlds," alternate realities lower on the spiral.

    She traveled with Nate Grey to Earth-253 and was a passive observer as Qabiri overpowered Nate Grey. Upon meeting Nicola Zeitgeist, she regained the power of sight, though it was so subtle she didn't even notice. As Qabiri destroyed Earth-253, her powers interfaced with Nicola Zeitgeist's to transport them both and Nate Grey to another world. They arrived in a broken world, and Nate's powers protected them long enough to be joined by Hassan, after which they all traveled to Earth-616. Nate convinced them that they were all fragments of the same woman, rather then interdimensional counterparts of each other. They denied this, but as Qabiri had detected their presence and was approaching, Nate merged them all, restoring Idris (or a fragment of her to existence). Later, when Idris no longer wished to be Idris anymore, Nate gave her the choice of who she would be. He enabled her to return to existence as Sister Perpetua, no longer plagued by visions and having no memory of her other existences.

--X-Man#71 (72-74

Hassan (far left)

(X-Man#73) - Champion and explorer from the Emirate, she had memories of being selected by her caliph to control an unknown energy from the stars.

(X-Man#73) - She was drawn to a broken world where she encountered Zeitgeist, Perpetua, and Nate Grey. She joined them in traveling to the Himalayas of Earth-616, where Nate convinced them that they were all fragments of the same woman, rather then interdimensional counterparts of each other. They denied this, but as Qabiri had detected their presence and was approaching, Nate merged them all, restoring Idris (or a fragment of her to existence)

--X-Man#73

images: (without ads)
X-Man#71, p8, panel 2 (Sister Perpetua's face)
    #73 cover (Hassan, Sister Perpetua, Nicola Zeitgeist)
    #74, p17, whole page (Idris and her counterparts)
        last page (Sister Perpetua's full body)

Appearances:
X-Man#71-73 (January-March, 2001) - Steven Grant (writer), Ariel Olivetti (artist), Lysa Hawkins (assistant editor), Jason Liebig (editor)
X-Man#74 (April, 2001) - Steven Grant (writer), Quique Alcatena (artist), Lysa Hawkins (assistant editor), Jason Liebig (editor)

Last updated: 04/09/08

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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