Cyttorak
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Cyttorak is a fictional character appearing in the Marvel Comics universe. A mystical entity, he is the deity that powers Juggernaut through the artifact known as Crimson Gem of Cyttorak. He was created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Alex Toth. He was first mentioned in Strange Tales I #124 (September 1964), a temple molded in his image was seen in X-Men I #12 (July 1965), and actually appeared in Dr. Strange III #44 (August 1992).
[edit] History
Cyttorak existed as a deity (or demon) who received worship on Earth until under unknown circumstances he was banished from the Earth. He took up residence in the Crimson Cosmos, where time did not pass.
Approximately one thousand years ago, a gathering of eight great magical beings took place. These beings -- Balthakk, Farallah, Ikonn, Krakkan, Raggadorr, Valtorr, Watoomb, and Cyttorak -- disagreed as to who had the greatest power. Hence, they settled on the Wager of the Octessence. Each being created an artifact with a fraction of their respective power, which would transform the first human who made physical contact with it into an Exemplar, a living personification of the power. Using outside agents, to construct temples to house the artifacts, the magical beings planned that the first mortal to find the artifact would trigger a spell that would quickly draw others to the remaining artifacts, creating eight Exemplars. Then would come the Ceremony of the Octessence, where a gathering of the Exemplars would attend the construction of a great magical engine, which would overwhelm the wills of all human beings. After the enslavement of humanity, each Exemplar would rule an eighth of humanity, with subsequently a war between all Exemplars in which only one would be left standing. Cyttorak managed to build a temple in a Southeast Asian country. He had a thrall demon named Xorak protect this temple for him.
At some point in the past, the great adept, the Ancient One, encountered and engaged in battle with Xorak near Cyttorak's temple.
"Centuries ago" (possibly before or after the aforementioned battle between the Ancient One and Xorak), a group of renegade monks tried to summon Cyttorak but instead brought his "most destructive aspect" to Southeast Asia. An adept named Gomurr, who served as the apprentice to "one of the most disreputable conjurers on the continent" opposed this avatar of Cyttorak. Gomurr received the aid of Tar, his friendly rival, as well as an "Initiate of the Ebon Vein." Gomurr and Tar, collaborating, succeeded in forcing this aspect of Cyttorak within the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak. Tar later attained the title of the "Proctor of the Crimson Dawn", but Gomurr would later hold this office.
During an American police action in a Southeast Asian country, an American soldier named Cain Marko hid in a cave to avoid an attack by the Communists. A fellow soldier, his step-brother Charles Xavier, followed him in to convince him to rejoin the battle and avoid a court-martial (the inevitable result if his actions were to reach the attention of the commanding officers). The learned Xavier recognized that the cave contained the Temple of Cyttorak. Marko saw a ruby, remarking that it appeared to be living. He picked it up, despite Xavier's warning, to read the now famous inscription: "Whosoever touches this gem shall possess the power of the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak! Henceforth, you who read these words, shall become forevermore a human juggernaut!" Cain's transformation began as the Communists' constant shelling of the cave caused it to collapse. Xavier escaped, but Marko survived due to his new-found powers.
Probably the destruction of the Temple of Cyttorak and the subsequent incapacitation of the Juggernaut served to throw a monkey wrench in the Wager. No other Exemplars would appear until years later, after the Juggernaut had clawed his way through the rubble, made his way to America, and battled the X-Men led by Xavier several times. Also, Marko, unlike the other Exemplars when they were created, did not initially lose his will to his power source, but retained his full individuality.
After feeling an odd buzzing in his head, Juggernaut returned home to put on the Juggernaut armor. An odd insect-looking thing entered his room, and turned into a large pool of light that drew him into the Crimson Cosmos. Inside the Cosmos, Juggernaut met up with Doctor Strange freeing him from a crystal, and related how he had come to be there. Strange informed Marko that he summoned Juggernaut to aid his escape, due to Juggernaut’s tie to the Crimson Cosmos. Cain stated that he lost his mystic ability (other than his superhuman strength) at some point earlier (probably due to his having hurled the ruby of Cyttorak into orbit) but that he would try to persuade Cyttorak to allow them all to leave. The two found Cyttorak, who had imprisoned Strange's comrade Nova, forcing her to give him adulation. He intended that Nova would serve as his priestess, as Cytorrak had created ebullient elves to serve as his worshippers. He also intended to press Strange into service as a priest. Strange confronted Cyttorak, informing him of the mission that he and Nova had before they were drawn into the Crimson Cosmos, as well as the crucial nature of that mission. The Juggernaut hid in a corner, recognizing the ruby affixed to Cyttorak’s head. Strange informed Cyttorak as to how he had, by invoking Cyttorak’s name, enhanced Cyttorak’s renown. Cyttorak decided to let Strange leave as long as he continues to invoke him. However, the Juggernaut took Cyttorak by surprise and ripped the Ruby off of his head, and started attacking him, intending that no one could stop him again with Cyttorak neutralized. He continued his attack on Cyttorak until Doctor Strange attempted to stop him, and then attacked Dr. Strange. Although he started to feel a slight vertigo, Marko continued with his plan, but Nova managed to free herself and blast the ruby from Marko’s hand. Strange levitated the ruby away from Marko and onto Cyttorak’s forehead. Cyttorak revived, and revealed that Marko’s plan amounted to pure tom-foolery, as Cyttorak himself served as the ultimate source for the ruby’s power, and thus, Marko’s power. Despite his brief apparent victory over Cyttorak, Marko simply cut off his own power source. Cyttorak went on to say that, despite the Juggernaut’s presumptuous antics, he would allow Marko to continue to wield his power, ostensibly to continue to spread Cyttorak’s fame. Cyttorrak returned all the human beings back to their original locations.
The Juggernaut, having been attacked by Onslaught earlier, was placed in the Crimson Cosmos. Doctor Strange discovered this. Within the gem, a demoness called Spite showed Marko an illusion where Cain was crippled before he gained the Juggernaut powers, but Gomurr the Ancient freed Marko from this false scenario. Gomurr had Cain relive the latter’s past, as a delinquent child and his causing the accident that killed his father, Dr. Kurt Marko. Spite, however, again projected to the Juggernaut illusions to persuade him to stay in the Crimson Cosmos. Spite, however, had simply manipulated Marko. Cyttorak desired to inhabit Cain's body and leave his dimension. Cyttorak and Cain battled each other. Cyttorak brutalized Cain severely, but Cain chose not to surrender. Gomurr and his friend Tar arranged things so that Juggernaut could now utilize Cyttorak's power against him. Cain defeated Cyttorak and exited the Crimson Cosmos with more vitality than before.
When certain charlatans had attempted to steal the Juggernaut’s power by using a false second gem of Cyttorak, the Juggernaut attempted to reabsorb his power from this second gem. However, he somehow was possessed by Cyttorak in the process. A being named Ejulp, dispatched by Juggernaut's confederate Black Tom, teleported the X-Men to aid the Juggernaut. Juggernaut's power was so heightened that he began shearing through dimensional boundaries. In this dimension, when Professor X and Wolverine made physical contact with each other, Xavier merged into Logan’s body. Nightcrawler and Kitty Pryde returned to find a larger Juggernaut tearing through a dimensional wall. When Wolverine leaped into the mouthpiece of Juggernaut's headpiece, Logan and Xavier separated from one another. They found an entity pretending to be Cain Marko, but discovered the real Cain Marko hiding under the staircase. Xavier attempted to restore Cain's self-respect. The false Juggernaut happened upon them, but, upon this duplicate making contact with the true Cain Marko, Marko had his Juggernaut power returned to him and vanquished the entity controlling his mind. The Juggernaut started to feel his powers mysteriously increasing, and felt an irresistible urge to go somewhere. He easily shrugged off an attack by Thor, but Thor persisted with the struggle.
Observing this elsewhere, Loki enquired of the Flame of Truth about the Juggernaut. The flame recalled to Loki how Cyttorak empowered Marko, to which Loki responded that he had not heard the name of Cyttorak mentioned for quite some time. The Flame further informed Loki that not only did Cyttorak and his confederates have human followers, but that across the Earth humans had recently begun to receive psychic calls drawing them to artifacts of these entities to become Exemplars. Two of these exemplars, Bedlam and Conquest, arrived to aid the Juggernaut in his battle against Thor. They teleported the Juggernaut away.
Spider-Man discovered the Exemplar Stonecutter creating a large machine underneath the Daily Bugle building. He encountered all the Exemplars, including the Cytorrak-controlled Juggernaut. Parker escaped, and recruits Iron Man, Thor, and Professor X (in astral form) to aid him against the Exemplars. The adventurers managed to destroy the Exemplars’ device, but the Exemplars went to the North Pole to construct a new one.
The entities behind the Wager of the Octessence having decided to implement the creation of the seven other Exemplars, the Juggernaut once again was caught in Cyttorak’s machinations, as Cyttorak tormented him in his mind. At the North Pole, Thor, Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Xavier were trapped, but Xavier managed to delve into Marko’s mind to aid him in opposing Cyttorak. This helped to break the mental dominance that Cyttorak had managed to reassert on Marko. Marko then decided of his own will not to serve the Octessence entities and to oppose the other Exemplars. He made sure to neutralize one called Bedlam fast so she could not overwhelm him with her psychic attacks. Cain then broke the Exemplars’ engine, the God Machine, freeing the heroes. Cain and the others battled the Exemplars. Bedlam, now revived, took care of Marko, while Stonecutter activated the engine. Cain and Stonecutter locked in a bearhug so tight no external force could affect them, and Cain forced Stonecutter into the God Machine, which hurled the eight Exemplars off to different sections of the Earth, finishing the struggle. As vengeance for opposing his will, Cyttorak caused the Juggernaut's powers to slowly fade.
Cyttorak granted the power and form of the Juggernaut to an unnamed youth. Marko had previously encountered this young boy, who had attracted the attention of the X-Men by torturing animals. This new Juggernaut attacked Cain while he and the She-Hulk were enjoying the afterglow of sexual intercourse. Marko, who had only half of his original power, fought back savagely against his attacker, who had twice his power. When their battle caused massive property destruction, She-Hulk convinced him to use his head instead. Cain ripped off the new Juggernaut's helmet, causing him to revert to his normal form, whom Cain recognized. The message was not lost on Cain, as he saw the Juggernaut for what he was: "an angry kid in a muscle suit."
[edit] Powers and abilities
Cytorrak exists as a deity with spectacular magical power. He has provided power to the titanic Juggernaut through an enchanted ruby, as well as provide indestructible bands (the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak) to Doctor Strange to use as a shield or to restrain enemies. In regards to the ruby, it has withstood being thrown into orbit by the Juggernaut, as well as re-entry when it was bumped out of orbit by Nova.
Stevie, a spoiled little boy from the Midwest, managed to use the Cyttorak Ruby to spectacular effects unimagined by Cain Marko, starting with using it to blast Marko. He used it to monitor events far away with his computer (presumably he utilized the ruby to enable him to access the feed of security cameras) as well as using the ruby to relay a message to the East Coast using a non-operational computer on the West Coast. Furthermore, he could alter mirrors so that the original Human Torch's flame was reflected and enhanced back against him. Even stranger, Stevie could animate inanimate objects, which could also turn intangible. These objects included wax statues, some which resembled monsters, others that resembled Spider-Man, Doctor Doom, Cable, etc. However, the animated statues tended only to have diluted copies of the original’s abilities, and tended to move slowly.
As well, Cyttorak has demonstrated the ability to create life (Dr. Strange (vol.3) #44), when he created an entire race of elves out of magical energy simply so he could have somebody to worship and adore him.
