GRAD NAN HOLT

Classification: Insectoid extraterrestrial race 

Location/Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
    some dwelled on the Gul Damar Space Station, which was last seen in Earth's orbit, prior to which it was located 40,000 light years from Earth (see comments);
       Friendless' Clan/Sept was based out of a former cargo bay in the "Ochre radial, in freight-platform Ni'Thurr";
    at least one other group dwelled elsewhere (one or more home-nests), sending needed beings to various locations

Known Members: Friendless of Ten-Red-Seed nest; Iratha Tzo, Janissaries (ruling tribunal on Gul Damar space station; names unrevealed); enforcer/punisher (one of many), teacher/assessor (one of many), unseen reader/sender (one of many), Spindle nests, Ten-Red-Seed nest, others unidentified

Affiliations: None known;
    they formerly served the Shi'ar;
    formerly Starjammers (Havok/Alex Summers, Polaris/Lorna Dane, Korvus Rookshir) under Friendless' control

Enemies: Frenzy (Joanna Cargill), Friendless, Gambit (Remy LeBeau), Magneto (Max Eisenhart), Sovel Redhand and his crew (Glitter, Horse, Jat-Vor-Thrul), Rogue (Anna Marie), Shi'ar (notably Commander Gemet, Lt. H'ral, and technician B'ket Imstari), Starjammers (Rachel Grey-Summers, Havok, Polaris, Korvus Rookshir) - as most of the conflict was driven by Friendless, it may be that little of the previous animosity remained once he had been dispatched....or not...

First Appearance: (Unidentified) X-Men Legacy#250 (August, 2011);
    X-Men Legacy#254 (October, 2011)

Powers/Abilities: The Grad Nan Holt are insectoid beings with four arms and two-legs, although many of them seem to have other projections from their backs, some of which can be extended and act as additional limbs. 
    Their fingers ended in sharp points, presumably allow them to scratch, slash, shred objects or beings.

    One of their most noteworthy/unique features is their mouths. They have a maxilla (upper jaw) and complete mandible (lower jaw), the fronts of which are filled with sharp incisor-like teeth; they don't have canine teeth or the equivalent of molars or premolars. They don't have much in the way of cheeks, so their mouth is open between their jaws.
    Most significantly, they have two pairs of additional hemimandible-like structures, which are also covered with sharp teeth. They can keep these hemimandibles adducted close to their faces or they can abduct them to be nearly perpendicular to their faces.
    It is not clear exactly how these additional hemimandible-like structures articulate/occlude with each other. Perhaps when the full/lower mandible is opened wide, the paired/upper and/or middle hemimandibles can adduct to grab or chew.

    They do not appear to have visible external nasal (nose) or auditory (ear) structures, but they certainly have a sense of hearing and they can presumably smell scents as well. 

    They may or may not possess some form of chitinous exoskeleton.

    Most of them do not appear to have any hair on their heads, but one of the Janissaries, as well as Friendless' mother, Iratha Tzo, did seem to.

    Many of them wear some form of helmet, some of which include a mask portion that covers the upper face above the mouth. 

    The Grad Nan Holt are oviparous, laying a number (perhaps seven or more) eggs containing young embryos. These eggs presumably hatch into young Grad Nan Holt, although the durations between fertilization, egg-laying, and hatching are unrevealed.

    A small percentage of Grad Nan Holt have telepathic powers. They can read and project thoughts, and some (or perhaps only Friendless) can mentally control others. They can also scan embryos within eggs for psi-potential.
    These are presumably some sub-species of the Grad Nan Holt, possibly mutants.

    Friendless was far more powerful than any other Grad Nan Holt telepath, and their psi-meters were not even calibrated highly enough to measure his abilities. He could not only read and transmit thoughts, but also mentally command numerous beings at the same time. 

    Friendless can also survive in the vacuum and near absolute zero cold of space, at least for brief periods of time. 

    They had access to space travel and various forms of weaponry (although they may have liberated some of these from the Shi'ar), including ion grenades. They also had equipment to evaluate the psychic powers of their telepaths. 

    They had "bile pots," but whether that refers to literal bile (secreted from the liver and stored in the gall bladder to facilitate absorption of fat and fat soluble vitamins) or was just referring to something digusting is unrevealed.

Traits: The Grad Nan Holt are divided into various clans and septs as well as apparently various castes. Breeding between members of different nests, etc. was considered abhorrent, and the eggs from such unions were typically destroyed, unless the embryo appeared to be psi-capable. In such an occurence, the psi-powered offspring was utilized as needed, but was treated with disdain and abused by both the young and old.
    Beings without a clan were also treated with disgust.
    Friendless considered Rachel Grey to be like an animal, implying the Grad Nan Holt considered themselves more highly evolved than humanity, at least.

    Janissaries serve as a ruling tribunal, acting in executive (including leading the military), (presumablyl) legislative, and judicial capacity, sentencing criminals and prisoners.

    Enforcer/punishers, as the name implies, enforce the laws and punish those who break them.

    Teacher/assessors, also as the name implies, educate the young and assess their abilities and potential.

    Natives with telepathic abilities are often employed as readers/senders, being used by such beings as law tribunals to read and transmit thoughts to an from those under trial.

    They spoke an alien language, perhaps Shi'ar.

Type: Bilaterally symmetric insectoid bipeds
Eyes: Two (on head; vary from small and at least seemingly solid black to larger and solid red)
Fingers: Three or four (plus opposing thumb)
Toes: Most wore boots, but Friendless, at least appeared to have five toes
Skin color: "Pink" (comparable to Caucasian humanity), at least
Average height: Approximately 6'

History:
(X-Men Legacy#254 (fb) - BTS) - According to Jat Vor-Thrul, the Grad Nan Holt were vat-grown (see comments). Many served as servants to the Shi'ar on the Gul Damar space station, doing their scut-work

(X-Men Legacy#256 (fb)) - When Iratha Tzo was impregnated by a worker of the Spindle nests, an unspecified enforcer/punisher called her "foulness" and told her that her eggs would be smashed, except for one, which the reader/sender believed to contain a psi-capable embryo. 

(X-Men Legacy#256 (fb)) - The enforcer/punisher later delivered Iratha Tzo's child to a teacher/assessor, announcing to the teacher and the students the hatchling born outside of clan and sept, instructing that he be called "Friendless" and to heap scorn upon him wherever possible. 

(X-Men Legacy#256 (fb)) - Friendless' peers bullied him, forcing him to wear his old molted skin (as they said it could not make him smell any worse) and annointing him drippings from the bile pot. 

(X-Men Legacy#256 (fb)) - Although studies of Friendless revealed an astounding strength and range, with psi-meters not calibrating highly enough to measure him, the enforcer/punisher still considered him to be an abomination and ordered him to be sent to one of the deep stations, such as Gul Damar, where they needed a reader/sender. 

    As he departed, Friendless was mocked, noting that he would never see his home-nest again and asking if "an abortion like you" even care about its home-nest?

(X-Men Legacy#256 (fb)) - When the ruling tribunal of the Grad Nan Holt on Gul Damar met with Friendless, they refused to accept a thing without a clan and attempted to send him to the message vaults. 

    Friendless finally lashed out, noting that his people had spit on him, used him, destroyed his family, cast him into servitude, fed him poison and expected him to thank them. 

    Using his psychic powers, Friendless forced the tribunal to grant him full access to the mainframes and command space and to advise them when they sat in judgment. 

Comments: Created by Mike Cary, Scot Eaton, and Andrew Hennessy.

    Friendless refers to "the death's god's single eye," which presumably indicates that at least some of the Grad Nan Holt were polytheistic...but, beyond the death god having one eye, we don't know anything else. 

    Locations within Gul Damar were described as "Vector, Spinward 30/715, Distance 3.2 Standard Units" - I don't know what that means or to what the units are in reference.
    Spinward means moving in the same direction of the space station's rotation...

A few things were confusing to me:

1) Jat Vor-Thrul of Sovel Redhand's scavengers refers them as vat-grown (meaning to me that they were likely genetic creations) in #254, but a flashback #256 shows them as being hatched from eggs.
I suppose the mother could lay eggs and then the eggs and/or embryos were further matured in some sort of vat/incubator.
...or maybe Jat was just misinformed.

2) The Grad Nan Holt were supposed to have been poorly treated servants of the Shi'ar, but the flashback in #256 shows the Grad Nan Holt as a whole society with teachers, trainers, etc., and this pathological hatred of inter-clan breeding, etc. They made the choice to send Friendless to the Gul Damar space station, as they needed a telepath there.

    I had gotten the impression that the Grad Nan Holt were a servant race created by the Shi'ar on Gul Damar, but Friendless' flashback makes that seem a lot less likely. There are not strict contradictions, and it certainly could be that Friendless fomented misinformation, either to the others on the Space Station, or even to Rachel Grey when she read his mind.

As I review these stories repeatedly, I feel like Friendless was lying about the Grad Nan Holt's having been mistreated slaves under the Shi'ar, just one of the lies he told to help others accept his manipulations...

    There is a scene in X-Men Legacy#250 that apparently shows Redhand's group (there is a trio in shadows, but it fits with Glitter, Jat, and Redhand) finding Rachel, but she's not unconscious in that scene. Perhaps she had fought to regain her mind in order to communicate with Rogue and the X-Men, but then she lapsed back into a semi-comatose state. 

    Tellus is an older name for the goddess/personification of the Earth.

   At least some of the variation in the appearance of the Grad Nan Holt is due to the changing artist teams.

     Friendless will get his own profile...eventually...

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Grad Nan Holt should be distinguished from:

• ANT-PEOPLE - insectivorid inhabitants of Ant Tica on Microverse’s Homeworld, enslaved by Baron Zebek--Alpha Flight II#10
• ANTRONS - Microverse. four armed scavenger drones, some served Psycho-Man and Baron Karza; others were artificially created in the Body Banks--Micronauts I#15
• BASTON-KARIANS - ill-mannered extraterrestrial race from Reality-20051, planet threatened by Galactus--Marvel Adventures: The Avengers#26
• BEM race (Bakka, Tromka) - space parasites and raiders from Reality-5391, opposed in 2075 AD by Speed Carter and the Space Sentinels--Spaceman #3/5
• BLACK SWARM - colony of nearly microscopic insects, captured by Ambrose Carpathian around the turn of the twentieth century, kept in his mansion, release engineered by Calculus to prevent Kingpin from getting them, recontained and sent into space by Avengers, Outlaws, and Spider-Man - aka Black Swarm--Spectacular Spider-Man II#170
• BLATTARIANS (Blurry, Brainy, Greasy, Spikey, Stinky, Warpy, Windy) - extraterrestrial cockroaches, seven mutated by Bianca LeNiege into humanoid dwarves and empowered to serve her--Generation X#40
• BOH-TAN-EE insects - local fauna--X-Factor I#110
• BROOD race - extraterrestrial insectoids, unrevealed galaxy, Broodworld, winged, razor sharp teeth, tentacles, poison stingers, chitinous armor, queen injects eggs into living beings, hatched embryos metamorphoses its hosts’ body into young brood--Uncanny X-Men#155
• CANNIBAK - insectoid Mindscape demons, one attacked N'ogskak and T'opali--Sleepwalker#25
• CHITINAUT race - Negative Zone insectoid race, served Catastrophus, fought Darkhawk and Brotherhood of Raptors--War of Kings: Ascension#1
• CHNITT race - extraterrestrial, large, savage insectoid/arthropod-like creatures, razed the home planet of Karel, battled by Bishop and Deathbird on a port planet--Uncanny X-Men#358
• CH"RP - planet, home of insectoids including queen mother insect--X-Men: Spotlight on Starjammers#1
• CHR'YLITES race (Sikorsky) - extraterrestrial, Shi'ar galaxy, planet Ch’yllalisa. Insectoid, helicopter-like form, empathic abilities enabling them to scan interior of organic bodies--Uncanny X-Men#156
• COLONY - intelligent insect swarm which acted as one sentient being, Shi'ar Death Commando--Uncanny X-Men#467
• DANCE race - nearly extinct alien species with inscrutable motives--Solo Avengers#18/2
• DARVINIAN race - extradimensional metal-coated insectoids, invaded Earth intending to use it as a breeding ground, defeated by Avengers--[Avengers: The Man who Stole Tomorrow]
• DUNE DEVILs of Reality-791 - natives of Ferrol--Marvel Preview#14
• EARTH-6095 alien insect race - swarm invaded Earth and devoured all life on the planet within minutes, witnessed by Warren Traveler and Ms. Marvel--Ms. Marvel II#5
• EPHEX race - giant flying insects from the Cloudsea dimension, radiate an aura that dulls the reactions of their prey--Marvel Graphic Novel#22: Spider-Man: Hooky
• GEOMETER’s race - long-extinct extraterrestrial scientists, large + green biped semi-insectoid, composed of numerous geometric shapes--Quasar I#51
• "GIGER race" - extradimensional insectoid mechanoids, transformed earth creatures on an island (possibly Koma Koi or a nearby island) to serve them as "Blue Gorilla, "Prince" Samson, "Princess," and warriors, defeated by Wolverine. Control and transform others even across a dimensional portal--[Marvel Comics Presents#137], (arm) 140, (fully seen) 141 
• GYREA - scientifically advanced extragalactic species, teleportational technology stolen by Mephisto in an alternate reality--Infinity Entity#4
• HORDE - "locusts of the universe," sent to Earth upon the awakening of the Dreaming Celestial, used Joey Eliot as a host to gather information on the Eternals, destroyed his mind upon being discovered--[Eternals III#5], 6
• HORNETROIDs of the Microverse - massive insectoids; an apparent cyborg creation of Baron Karza was used in his Arena of Death--Micronauts Annual#1/3
• HREYTION race - presumably extinct, one native sought to utilize the Omegex to avenge its race--Hulk#29/2
• INSECT-MEN - Moon-dwelling race of Reality-5106, delegation attends annual interplanetary conference in the year 2000--Space Squadron#3
• INSECTOIDS - extradimensional bio-mechanical lifeforms, organized by Moot into invasion force to attack Reality-1298’s Earth, opposed by the Six and the Fantastic Four--Mutant X#2
• INSECTIVORIDS - Arthrosians(?); hivemind insectoid drones who serve Annihilus--Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man#5
• INSECTIVORIDs (Bug, Centivor, Jasmine(d), Wartstaff, Esmera, Treefern, queen Lyca, old one ) - Microverse, natives of Kaliklak--Micronauts I#1
• KKALLAKKI (Kkallakku) - aka Fear Eaters, extraterrestrial insectoid demons, generate and feed off of fears of others--Marvel Comics Presents#1/4
• KLKLK race (BA'T'LL) - extraterrestrial insectoids, Milky Way galaxy, planet La’kll, agricultural society, attempted to give advanced farming techniques to earth, fought off by Hulk who misunderstood their intentions--Incredible Hulk II#273
• KOSMOSIANs - native to the dimension of Kosmos--(Creature caste) Tales to Astonish I#44; (insectoids) Thunderbolts I#13
• KRYIHD race - ancient race, warred with and eventually vanquished by the Dargalans; created the Red Hole, which in turn created the Omegex to destroy the Dargallans--Hulk#29/2
• KRONOS race - Microverse, war-like sub-species of Insectivorids, former agents of Baron Karza--Micronauts Annual#2
• KT'KN race (Faceless One) - extraterrestrial, Milky Way galaxy, planet Kn’kn, Intergalactic Council. Insectoid, smooth round bodies with six short legs, secrete paralyzing nerve toxins from claws, communicate telepathically, advanced technology--Astonishing Tales#2
• LEVIOTES - population of Leviaverse, semi-insectoid creatures, attacked Reed Richards' Datavore until repelled by him--Fantastic Four III#60
• MALTESIANs (Hemlock Shoals, Prey-Ying Mantis) - extradimensional human-sized and vertically standing intelligent insectoids--Howard the Duck II (Magazine)#4
• NORRAK (Kon (d)) - unsuccessfully sought to avenge Omegex’s destruction of their role, now extinct--Hulk II#33
• PARAXIS INSECTS - parasitic winged species which inhabit the isolated, mostly-deserted planet of Paraxis--Silver Surfer III Annual#6
• PHOBOS race - Microverse, Spiral Path, Kaliklak, sub-species of Insectivorids, former allies of Baron Karza--Micronauts I#26/2
• PROGENY - insectoid alien conquerors from alternate future(?) of Reality-93060, susceptible to the Theta Virus, stole corpses of Deming’s Exiles, sent insanity virus back to modern era--All-New Exiles#4
• PSYKLOP's race - semi-humanoid/insectoid that allegedly once dominated the Earth, reportedly extinct except for Psyklop. Single compound eye, hypnotic powers, flexible joint--Avengers I#88
• SAKAARIAN NATIVES (Miek, Mung) - Sakaar, insectoids--Incredible Hulk III#92
• SCATTER race - formerly used Century to track worlds previously attacked by Lore--Force Works I#1
• SECTAURS (Dargon, Devora, others) - insect-evolved humanoid inhabitants of the alternate-reality planet Symbion--Sectaurs#1
• SERAYN race - extraterrestrial, Milky Way Galaxy, tremendous intellect, burned with curiosity about all things, extremely fragile and unable to leave world, created indestructible spaceship Azazel and created the Undying to be its pilots, but the Undying turned against them and exterminated the entire race over the course of 1000 years--Cable II#84
• SIDRI race – extraterrestrial, Shi'ar galaxy, evolved in free-floating asteroid cluster, used by Shi'ar as hunters. Crab-like form, live in deep space, able to merge into massive composite being, fly, resistant to cold, weakness to heat, project energy blasts--Uncanny X-Men I#154
• SLAVEWORLD INSECTS - extradimensional spine-covered fauna of Dehnock (aka “Slaveworld”), helped Ant-Man defeat warlord Kulla--Tales to Astonish#41
• SLIG race (Grogarr, Krogg + 5 others) - extraterrestrial, Milky Way galaxy, planet Ankara. Insectoid, tentacle-like limbs, telepathy, levitate, shrivel upon death--Fantastic Four I#209
• SLIG race (Supreme One) - extraterrestrial, sent Examiner to determine earth’s potential for conquer and the power of its defenders, scout team blew up due to attempts to give the Examiner sufficient power to defeat the West Coast Avengers, partial transmission sent that led them to believe there was a warrior race, each with the composite power of the entire team. Insectoid bipeds--West Coast Avengers II#30
• SM'GGANI race - Insectoid bipeds; Harvester from Beyond obtained soil samples in hopes of saving his starving, war-ravaged world via encounter with the Hulk--Incredible Hulk II#230
• SPACE-LUBBERS - grasshopper-like aliens from a destroyed world who have an affinity for music--Shuri#2
• TIDING-FLIES - Ninth-Cosmos species bred for communication across great distances of space and time--Immortal Hulk#25
• TIMEBREAKERS (Sovereign and Worker Caste Drones) - discovered the Panoptichron and inadvertently damaged a number of reality, began recruiting Exiles to repair the realities, departed Panoptichron after seeming destruction of Earth-1720 and deaths of their Exiles team--[Exiles I#1], 62
• TORZIANS (Captain Blade, Sergeant Quinto (d)) - pink-skinnned semi-insectoid aliens from planet Torz, abducted human lovers Howard and Laura in hopes of learning of Earth's nuclear capabilities--Journey into Unknown Worlds#26/6
• TRIAX - giant flying insectoids used as weapons/warriors by the H'Mojen, battled Fantastic Four and Spider-Man--Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four#2
• TRILEXIA - green insectoid extraterrestrials of Reality-691 circa 31st century, attacked crew of Sol III--Cyberpace 3000#1
• TYRMEAN BRAIN-STEM PARASITES - insectoids used by Broker to control servants, bond to back of hosts' necks, stimulated by ultrasound to cause great pain or even death--Force Works#15
• U'SR'PRIANS (U’Sr’Pr) - semi-insectoid bipeds, formerly enslaved to maintain technology by U’Sr’Pr until overthrown by Her, attempted to worship her as J’Ridia Starduster--Marvel Comics Presents#35/4
• VALLEY OF LIFE bugs - lived in lush region created by Gardener on otherwise desolate world of K’ai, commanded by Gardener to attack Hulk when he came there to bury Jarella--Incredible Hulk#247
• VISITORS - insectoid aliens with large claws and slender bodies who claimed victims in New Jersey for some time until driven off by the Fantastic Four--Marvel Knights 4#5
• VRELLNEXIAN race ( ) – extraterrestrial, Milky Way, planet Vrellnex, formerly partnered with Sssith in extraterrestrial slave trading ring. Six-limbed semi-humanoid/insectoid, some are winged--Thor I#212
• ZZIAZZIS (Izzifizz(d)) – insectoid race from planet Zziazz, associated with Blackbody, traded ability to fly in exchange for a portion of the Silver Surfer, consumed by great flood--Silver Surfer III#115
• Unidentified extraterrestrial race - large cockroaches who planned to conquer Earth, entered sci-fi writer Harry Slade’s body and mind so as to better understand humans, unintentionally provided Slade with inspiration for a story--Uncanny Tales#17/5
• Unidentified extraterrestrial race - giant green insectoids, attempted takeover of Earth in 1615, fought off by Adam Destine--ClanDestine I#8
• Unidentified extraterrestrial race (K'kkt) - insectoid--Century: Distant Sons
• Unidentified extraterrestrial race (Offset) - subterranean all-female mantis-like insectoids--Uncanny X-Men#467
• Unidentified extraterrestrial race of Reality-8116 - giant green insectoids, encountered twice by Vanth Dreadstar and his crew--Dreadstar I#44
• other insectoid races...
• other extraterrestrial races or "Grad," "Nan," or "Holt" characters, groups, items, events, races, or places

(X-Men Legacy#256 (fb) - BTS) - When Iratha Tzo was impregnated by a worker of the Spindle nests, an unspecified enforcer/punisher called her "foulness" and told her that her eggs would be smashed, except for one, which the reader/sender believed to contain a psi-capable embryo.       The surviving embryo eventually grew up to become the powerful being Friendless . --X-Men Legacy#256 Note: It is unrevealed whether Iratha Tzo was slain or whether she lived out her life after her eggs were destroyed  and/or taken. If she lived, there is not evidence to support that she ever saw her son again.

The Janissaries served as the ruling tribunal of the Grad Nan Holt on the Gul Damar space station, acting in executive (including leading the military), (presumably) legislative, and judicial capacity, sentencing criminals and prisoners.       (X-Men Legacy#256 (fb) - BTS) - When the ruling tribunal of the Grad Nan Holt on Gul Damar met with Friendless, they refused to accept a thing without a clan and attempted to send him to the message vaults.      Friendless finally lashed out, noting that his people had spit on him, used him, destroyed his family, cast him into servitude, fed him poison and expected him to thank them.      Using his psychic powers, Friendless forced the tribunal to grant him full access to the mainframes and command space and to advise them when they sat in judgment.   (X-Men Legacy#256 (fb)  / X-Men Legacy#257 (fb) - BTS) - On the Gul Damar, Friendless took control of the Grad Nan Holt, leading them to rise up and war against their former Shi'ar masters. (X-Men Legacy#255) - Still posing as a slave to the Janissaries, a tribunal of the Grad Nan Holt, Friendless acted as reader/sender to them as the captured Shi'ar were brought before them. The top-seated janissary "ordered" Friendless (they referred to him as "filth," as he referred to them as Noble Lords) to read the minds of their captives and tell them their ranks and offenses.     Friendless noted that all but one of the captives were soldiers of the Shi'ar who had killed their brethren in great numbers but that the other one, Imstari, had run Gul Damar's power grid and was of high rank and esteem and commanded many.     The tribunal conferred -- but they were all under the control of Friendless, who sought the space station's destruction and who knew that Imstari could potentially repair the damaged gravitic flux array, which was pulling the space station into the sun -- and then they ordered a quick and honorable death for the soldiers, and a slow and shameful death for the scientist.     Despite the Shi'ar soldiers crying out about their rights under a treaty, the Friendless-controlled Korvus Rookshir slaughtered the captive soldiers with his blade.     The tribunal then ordered the delivery of the torture instruments, explained that Imstari himself would wield the equipment, and instructed Friendless to be about his work, lest he be punished himself. As Imstari struggled against Friendless' control, the mind-controlled Polaris noted that this seemed cruel, but Havok advised her to recall how the Grad Nan Holt had been treated, and he further noted that the torture of an enemy wasn't just a right but a sacrament.     When Magneto, Frenzy, and Gambit arrived, the tribunal questioned who they were, and Friendless noted them to be super-normal natives of the planet Tellus (an older name for the goddess/personification of the Earth) who were in league with the Shi'ar. Magneto advised the telepath to read a little deeper to see that a Shi'ar battalion stood ready to destroy their base but had allowed them to approach first to broker a truce. When the tribunal replied that they desired no truce, Magneto warned them that if they sent himself and his allies back empty-handed that the battalion would "pour enough firepower into your bay to melt it to slag." (X-Men Legacy#255) - When the Grad Nan Holt noted that they had learned the Shi'ar could not be trusted, Gambit explained that they were only advising them to move their people out of the targeted base and leave the prisoners until the last moment as a safety guarantee. The tribunal argued that there was only prisoner alive and that his sins were too high to release him...and then Friendless had Imstari kill himself.     The Shi'ar commander then ordered his men to fire all weapons on maximum aperture, and after the blast struck, when Magneto prepared to fight back, the Friendless-controlled Polaris blasted him from behind and told him that he had hurt the Grad Nan Holt and therefore had to die. (X-Men Legacy#256) - As the Grad Nan Holt tribunal noted that the Shi'ar guns were decimating their forces, the leader started to order a retreat, but Friendless telepathically commanded him to instead order them to advance on the enemy and to send him to inspect the damage to the outer wall. (X-Men Legacy#257) - Friendless manipulated the Grad Nan Holt janissaries and Commander Gemet to declare peace and to unite against the terrans, enemies who allegedly worked against them both. To that end, Gemet showed the Grad Nan Holt to the Anathema Vault, where they stored the weapons banned from use in normal conflicts but still available in times of direst emergency.     When a Shi'ar soldier questioned their decaying orbit, Friendless spoke through Gemet, telling him that killing the Terrans would save the station and that no loyal Shi'ar would question that: Gemet then had a pair of soldiers take that soldier into custody and instructed them to kill him if he spoke again. (X-Men Legacy#257 - BTS) - As Magneto, the Starjammers, and Redhand's group worked to build a working ship from the remains of the ships in the dockyard, Rachel sensed Friendless and sent her astral self to investigate him. (X-Men Legacy#257) - Manipulated by Friendless, Commander Gemet and the Janissaries located their enemies in the dockyard, and Gemet had the Null Cascade, a factory for anti-matter, set up and instructed that no one was to pass spinward of the machine. Gemet noted that the weapon was effective at any range, including interplanetary.     As Friendless sensed Rachel's astral self and sent his own to confront her, Commander Gemet activated the Null Cascade; at its power, one of the Janissaries exclaimed, "By the home-nest!" --X-Men Legacy#255 Note: The original janissaries were members of the Turkish infantry forming the Sultan's royal guard between the 14th-19th centuries. The term janissary also means "devoted follower or supporter."      So...how are these guys janissaries?       I suppose that while they were a ruling tribunal, they made a point of ultimately being in the service of the Grad Nan Holt. Still it seems more like a descriptor than a title... I like the term tribunal a lot better. TRIbunal also seems nice since there were three of them.

(X-Men Legacy#256 (fb) - BTS) - When Iratha Tzo was impregnated by a worker of the Spindle nests, an unspecified enforcer/punisher called her "foulness" and told her that her eggs would be smashed, except for one, which the reader/sender believed to contain a psi-capable embryo.  . (X-Men Legacy#256 (fb) - BTS) - The enforcer/punisher later delivered Iratha Tzo's child to a teacher/assessor, announcing to the teacher and the students the hatchling born outside of clan and sept, instructing that he be called "Friendless" and to heap scorn upon him wherever possible. . --X-Men Legacy#256

. (X-Men Legacy#256 (fb) - BTS) - The enforcer/punisher later delivered Iratha Tzo's child to a teacher/assessor, announcing to the teacher and the students the hatchling born outside of clan and sept, instructing that he be called "Friendless" and to heap scorn upon him wherever possible.      The teacher/assessor assured the enforcer/punisher that he would do so. . --X-Men Legacy#256 Note: The teacher/assessor apparently not only treated Friendless harshly but encouraged and permitted the other students to torment him harshly.

images: (without ads)
X-Men Legacy#250, pg. 29 (Starjammers vs. Grad Nan Holt);
    #254, pg. 13, panel 4 (face with multiple separated hemimandibles);
    #255, pg. 3, panel 2 (Grad Nan Holt base on Gul Damar as seen through Shi'ar scanning equipment);
        pg. 11, panel 2 (Janissaries; full, seated);
            panel 3 (Friendless; face, close, partial);
        pg. 12, panel 1 (Janissaries; faces, various obliques);
            panel 2 (Janissaries; faces, profiles);
        pg. 13, panel 4 (Janissaries, seated, closer);
            panel 5 (Friendless, upper);
        pg. 18, panel 4 (Friendless, face, eyes-glowing);
    #256, pg. 2, panel 3 (swarming, and close-up of one full-body);
        pg. 8, panel 2 (Friendless manipulating Janissaries into conflict);
            panel 3-5 (Friendless extruding extra limbs from back and leaping to confront Rachel Grey);
        pg. 10, panel 1 (Iratha Tzo, eggs, and enforcer/punisher);
            panel 2 (young Friendless brought to class);
            panel 3 (peers bullying Friendless);
            panel 5 (Friendless' skills);
        pg. 11, panel 1 (Friendless rejected by Janissaries);
            panel 2 (Friendless face, profile, extended hemimandibles);
            panel 3 (Friendless releasing power against Janissaries);
            panel 4 (Janissaries under Friendless' control);
        pg. 12, panel 1 (full, distant, low detail);
            panel 2 (face);
        pg. 20, panel 4 (Friendless, main);
    #257, pg. 5, panel 4 (Friendless manipulating Janissaries and Gemet);
        pg. 14, panel 2 (Friendless' astral self confronting Rachel's);
    #258, pg. 1, panel 2-3 (psychic hand through Rachel's head);
        pg. 12, panel 6 (Friendless riding Null Cascade and challenging others);
        pg. 14, panel 4 (Friendless assaulted by Rachel and Rogue)

Appearances:
X-Men Legacy#250 (August, 2011) - Mike Cary (writer), Steve Kurth (penciler), Tom Palmer & Craig Yeung (inkers), Sebastian Girner (assistant editor), Daniel Ketchum (editor)
X-Men Legacy#253 (October, 2011) - Mike Cary (writer), Khoi Pham (penciler), Jay Leisten (inker), Sebastian Girner (assistant editor), Daniel Ketchum (editor)
X-Men Legacy#254 (October, 2011) - Mike Cary (writer), Steve Kurth (penciler), Jay Leisten (inker), Sebastian Girner (assistant editor), Daniel Ketchum (editor)
X-Men Legacy#255 (November, 2011) - Mike Cary (writer), Steve Kurth (penciler), Craig Yeung & Jay Leisten (inker), Sebastian Girner (assistant editor), Daniel Ketchum (editor)
X-Men Legacy#256 (November, 2011) - Mike Cary (writer), Steve Kurth (penciler), Craig Yeung with Jeff Huet and Ed Tadeo (inkers), Sebastian Girner (assistant editor), Daniel Ketchum (editor)
X-Men Legacy#257 (December, 2011) - Mike Cary (writer), Khoi Pham (penciler), Tom Palmer (inker), Sebastian Girner (assistant editor), Daniel Ketchum (editor)
X-Men Legacy#258 (January, 2012) - Mike Cary (writer), Steve Kurth (penciler), Ed Tadeo (inker), Sebastian Girner (assistant editor), Daniel Ketchum (editor)

First posted: 03/02/2023
Last updated: 04/01/2023

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™  and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!

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