Purgatori
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Purgatori is a fictional comic book character, a voluptuous, crimson-skinned, winged vampire goddess. She was created by writer Brian Pulido and artist Steven Hughes, and first appeared in Lady Death #3 (March 1994), published by Chaos! Comics, which is now owned by "Tales of Wonder" and recently published via Devil's Due Publishing.
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[edit] History
[edit] In Egypt: as Sakkara
Purgatori was born in Egypt, and raised in the city of Alexandria. Her parentage is unknown, save that she has the blood of the Fallen Angels in her veins. It is estimated that she was born in roughly 1390 BC, and there are rumours of her later (after her transfomation) having been in contact with the Aztecs, teaching them the finer arts of heart-extraction.
Her human name is Sakkara, and the first solid facts about her life originate from when she was a slavegirl in Alexandria. She was part of the vast team that worked non-stop on the building of the burial tomb for Queen Ostraca, a tomb that was to be the most lavish and opulent ever built, in order to guarantee Ostraca's entrance into the afterlife when she died. Ostraca enslaved almost half of the population in the construction of the tomb, and the people were nearing rebellion.
Sakkara's life was harsh and brutal. Her job was to grind corn all day under the savage desert sun, and she was constantly whipped by the brutish male guards.
Amongst the slaves was a foreigner, an old man of Celtic origin who told Sakkara that he knew a way to escape the slavery and achieve immortality. Before she could decide whether or not to try his plan, fate stepped in and changed the direction of Sakkara's life forever. She was grinding corn one day when the Queen came to inspect the progress of her tomb. Sakkara was in the way of her chariot and narrowly escaped being run over. Ostraca wanted to punish Sakkara for not moving quick enough, but as soon as she saw her she was mesmerised by her beauty and her blue eyes. The Queen was well known for her love of women, and Sakkara became the newest acquisition to her harem. She was taken from the slave camps, and became the most beloved of the Queen's girls. They even got married, and for a year Sakkara lived a life of utter bliss in a luxury she had not even dreamed of.
In Egypt, however, the situation with the citizens of Alexandria had grown steadily worse. More and more people were dying in the building of the tomb, and the Queen began to realise that if they rebelled, she would never get her tomb finished and would not enter the afterlife. The general of her army, Ramses, made her an offer: if she married him and made him pharaoh, he would guarantee to keep the population in check and would ensure the completion of the tomb. It was an offer Ostraca couldn't refuse, despite the overriding condition: Ramses must be her only lover, and all her harem must die. In the middle of a raging storm, Sakkara returned to the palace one night to find all the other girls dead. She learned the brutal truth here — that their love had been a lie, she had not meant enough to the Queen after all. She escaped the guards and threw herself out the window, meaning to take her own life, but again fate stepped in and she landed unhurt on a wagon loaded with carpets. She fled into the night, deciding now that she wanted immortality instead, immortality to savour revenge for the rejection and betrayal.
[edit] Transformation
She found the old man as he was being attacked by guards who had grown tired of his rantings. She killed them and he lived long enough to direct her across the desert to a cave set into a mountain peak. It was a journey she almost didn't survive. The desert sun and the mountain climb nearly killed her, but at last she stood before Rath, an ancient Celtic vampire. She wanted to gain immortality for her revenge; he wanted a weapon to help him turn man from the civilised path, a weapon that could destroy civilisations and turn men back to the wild ways that Rath still advocated. He saw in her rage that perfect weapon, and he bit her, draining her blood and feeding her some of his own, rich in power. She gained immortality by becoming a vampire.
As Rath's power-laden blood mixed with her own, it combined with the strange blood of the Fallen Angels within her, and transformed her into a creature that was unique in the cosmos; a creature with blood red skin, horns, glowing white eyes, and wings. Learning what Rath was willing to tell her, she became versed in the ways of vampirism, and returned to the Queen's temple on her wedding night. She crashed the ceremony and attacked the married couple and their guests, important visiting dignitaries from other countries. Amongst the guests were a lone samurai, Jade and her father from Shanghai, and Kabala and her husband from Africa. In a rage, Sakkara attacked them, biting Jade, Kabala, and the samurai and turning them into vampires. She incited the citizens of Alexandria to rebellion, and they rioted, virtually demolishing the city. She had a special fate lined up for Ramses and Ostraca: biting them, she entombed them in the Queen's burial sarcophagus. They were rescued five days later, but by then they had turned vampiric - starved of blood, they were wizened and insane, and would stay that way forever.
[edit] In Necropolis: as Purgatori
Sakkara left the city, and Rath, and set about a new task: having learned that the blood of gods, and especially a god in torment, holds extreme power, she began work to attract the attention of Lucifer. He eventually came to her, entranced by her dark and savage nature, and took her to Hell. He intended to marry her, and had clothes prepared for her, but she had other ideas: as soon as he joined her in his bedchamber, she bit him and drank from him. Infuriated, but impressed by her spirit, he cast her through the Nexus of All Things, exiling her to the city of Necropolis. As he exiled her, Lucifer gave her a new, and sadly apt, name...Purgatori.
Purgatori stayed in Necropolis for millennia, feasting on its occupants and turning the city into her own image, acquiring herself a pet chimera on the way. She was unable to pass through the Nexus, but one day she saw the soul of Marion, Lady Death's mother, passing on its way to Heaven. She intercepted it with the help of her chimera, and kept her in Necropolis for over 400 years, studying her and the Nexus to see if there was a way she could return to Hell. Her hand was forced by events instigated by Lady Death: with the disappearance of Lucifer, the Fallen Angels were moving on Hell in a bid to rule it — they attacked Necropolis first and Purgatori was forced to flee. Risking all, she used Marion's soul to travel through the Nexus and ended up in Hell. This was the home of Lady Death now, and Purgatori knew all about her from studying Marion. She knew her blood would be delicious and rich in power, and she wanted both her blood and the soul of Lucifer, now trapped inside Lady Death.
[edit] In Hell: Against Lady Death and Lucifer
Camping by the River Styx with her new jackal pets, she located Cremator, long lost after the battle for Hell, and entranced him, turning him against Lady Death and setting him to forge a magical sword for her to reclaim Lucifer's soul. Casting a spell to sever the psychic link between Lady Death and Evil Ernie and dealing harshly with Mary Young who had turned up in Hell to kill Lady Death, she set about tormenting Lady Death, twisting her memories and plaguing her with illusions in order to make her blood all the richer and sweeter.
After getting Cremator to attack Lady Death, Purgatori attacked her herself, and in a long battle she lost her jackals to the Nameless Wolves but easily beat Lady Death, who was still wearing Purgatori's wedding dress. When she impaled her with Cremator's sword however, her magick backfired, hurting her and allowing Lady Death to escape. Lady Death plunged Purgatori into Styx, impelling her to tell her the truth, and Purgatori revealed that Lucifer's soul had never actually been inside Lady Death! He reappeared at that moment to confirm the point: he had been playing her for a fool as one of his games. Annoyed at having his hand shown, he took Purgatori to Dis and tortured her while taking Lady Death and turning her into a creature of evil — Lady Demon.
The next day, she was forced to fight Lady Demon in Hell's Arena. Still weak after being tortured, Purgatori lost the fight, but still refused to submit to Lady Demon and reveal to her where Marion's soul was. Lady Demon drained her of her powers and cast her through the Nexus, sending her to the one place she loathed more than any other: Earth. With her power gone, the Separation spell began to erode.
[edit] On Earth: Against Jade, Kabala, and Rath
Purgatori arrived in San Francisco on 13 October 1995, and immediately became a victim to the ravenous thirst that is a vampire's own form of slavery. She secured a victim at a local lesbian S&M bar and was attacked by a tormented creature who called himself The Faithless One. She killed him in short order, at the very instant of the Pandora Effect.
Her arrival back on Earth had been noticed: Jade and Kabala contacted her psychically, telling her of their intention to kill her, and Rath too began to track her. Realising she was underpowered and weak, she stowed away on a freighter and made her way back to Alexandria, hoping to confront her enemies on home turf. In customary fashion, her arrival caused havoc: the ship crashed and the resulting explosion almost wiped the port off of the map.
She was ambushed by Jade, who mindprobed her to find out what both she and Kabala wanted to know - why they had been made into vampires. Purgatori managed to force an image of Lucifer onto her, a vision that horrified Jade and knocked her off-guard. Purgatori drank her blood but lost it almost immediately when Rath chose that very moment to attack and kidnap her, draining her of her newly-acquired power and taking her to be interrogated.
Rath offered to save her from her enemies if she would bow to him and accept him as her master. Weak and helpless she still refused, and he left her to be captured by Jade and Kabala. Taken to Africa, they probed her mind and were enraged to find that they had been created as a mistake, in a moment of passion. They tortured Purgatori, trying to make her beg for her life, but she denied them too. Rath showed up and told her he had just been testing her limits. When he was attacked by the samurai, Purgatori was drenched with his blood and absorbed tremendous amounts of power. She killed Kabala and Jade escaped. Rath offered to teach her again but she spat in his face, unwilling to side with someone who had used her in such a way.
[edit] Prelude to Vampire Wars
Returning to the USA, she began to come across more and more traces of Dracula. She set off to find him, and finally tracked him down in his castle. They made a connection, and they made love, Dracula swearing his loyalty to her.
Purgatori returned to the USA again, and set about trapping Evil Ernie, the lover of her hated enemy Lady Death. In the middle of a battle, she appeared through the blood of Mary Young, with whom she still had a link, and effortlessly knocked out and kidnapped Chastity, taking her to Los Angeles where she had already recruited The Faithless One — now calling himself The Saviour — to do her work. While The Saviour was setting up Ernie, Purgatori played around with Chastity, scanning her mind to find out about her history and taking her to a lesbian bar for purposes of pleasure. The night out was wrecked when she sensed the Saviour had failed in his plan, and she took Chastity with her, attacking Ernie herself. She got inside his mind and discovered his ability to shape reality, but before she could take action, his Cyber Dead attacked the house and destroyed it, forcing her to flee. Her probing would have disastrous consequences for Ernie. She was in fact, the direct cause of his death.
She then travelled to the ruins of New York, seeking the blood of the Fallen Angels he had sensed there. Here she encountered Metatron (named after the angel), and met Blattidae (named after the cockroach), who informed her of an ancient Prophecy that detailed her life history and told of her return to Goddesshood. In her battle with Metatron, she began to have doubts about whether or not she would ever be more than just a common vampire, but after beating him she realised that part of the problem was that she had been wasting her time with lesser creatures like him and should have been aiming higher. She left New York to Blattidae, most of her army having been crucified by Metatron, and began plotting her Ascension.
Travelling to Necropolis, she found the place in ruins and was attacked by Rubicante, Rath's brother. Knowing of her abilities he decided to test her, and teleported her to the nightmarish world of Trandaemonium. Beating off an attack by the freaks that inhabited the world, she scented Lady Death here, and tracked her down, wanting to fight to gain revenge for past battles. Lady Death pretended she didn't want to fight, then used her sword to fight for her — Nightmare swallowed Purgatori but Purgatori was well versed in magick and Blood Alchemy and made the sword submit to her will, allowing her to escaped. She was ready to fight Lady Death again, but realised that if she didn't leave Transdaemoniium immediately, she never would. Taking the blood energy from Nightmare she left, returning to Earth where a war between the vampire clans was beginning to get under way.
[edit] Vampire Clan Wars
Having set herself up as the CEO of Isis International, she began scouring the planet for artifacts of power. Her first task was to take a team of mercenaries to New York to recover her Prophecy hieroglyphs. The team was attacked by the remains of Metatron's army, but she dealt with them easily. Back in Cairo, her work at Isis International was being interrupted by annoying illusions that turned out to be the work of Satrina. An ex-lover of Purgatori's, she returned to seduce her again, and showed her visions of various struggles around the world. The message was to teach Purgatori that strength was not enough - she had to have belief in herself, as did any army she raised; that they must be willing to fight for her even if they knew the battle was lost. Satrina left her, secretly hiring a vampire hunter called Karmilla to assassinate Purgatori.
Purgatori was watching the vampire war escalate, deciding that Dracula was becoming too powerful for her liking. She was attacked by Karmilla, who had been given various powers by Satrina, but defeated her easily, trapping her in her dungeon to torture. Karmilla managed to escape but Purgatori deflected her teleportation spell and left her to die in the cold tundra of North America while she traveled to the Invisible Village to find out whether or not it was Rath who had given Karmilla her charmed weapons.
Karmilla followed her, freshly armed with the Spine of Eden, and attacked Rath instead, tricked by Purgatori into thinking he had kidnapped her children. In the ensuing struggle, Purgatori learned that it was Satrina who had betrayed her and was trapped and almost killed by the Spine of Eden, but escaped by turning herself into liquid blood, a sign of her rapidly growing powers. She splattered Karmilla over most of the landscape.
Her next stop was Shanghai, to take down Jade's empire and recover the Chalice of Regeneration. Intercepted in the Sun nightclub, she dispatched her attackers and met up with Dracula who was secretly after the same thing.
Together, they assaulted Jade at her fortress home and Purgatori almost killed her by shoving her onto a stake. Dracula left her to fight and traveled to get the Chalice himself, enraging Purgatori at having been used. She followed him and was almost killed by Blood Sect vampires who were armed with a new type of bullet lethal to vampires. She bested them and Dracula, recovering the Chalice for her own use. Dracula fled, happy that she had inadvertently helped him - by taking apart Jade's empire, she had strengthened Dracula's position immeasurably in the war.
[edit] Ordeals with Dracula
By now, she had become fed up with Dracula. The final insult came from his name being raised in conversation with a "bimbo" at the Usher club. She teleported to his castle only to find everyone dead. Lured by the only survivor, she was trapped in a furnace and almost incinerated, but managed to escape by taking the blood of the bait and teleporting out.
Weak and without blood to feed on, she found herself in the catacombs under the Vatican City, attacked by revenants. She beat them but Dracula moved in, trying to dominate her will. He offered her the use of his army if she would join him but she refused - she would not side with someone who had used her.
They fought, and ended up on the roof of the Vatican, both ensnared by the Octarine chains she had found in the Vatican treasure rooms. Dawn was coming up fast, and she was rescued at the last moment by Pope Stephen, who realised that Purgatori was the stronger vampire and stood the best chance of winning the war. She was freed, and tore out Dracula's fangs, escaping just before the rising sun fried Dracula forever.
[edit] Satrina and Her Legacy
Purgatori took Satrina back as her lover, finding her treacherous nature arousing, and together they put down a potential uprising by Pope Stephen, who intended to take Purgatori's power. Still she was unsatisfied - she felt she was no nearer to her goal of goddesshood that she was when she started.
She left for Cairo, to study the Prophecy hieroglyphs at Isis International, and while she was gone Satrina began an invocation ceremony, meaning to summon a demon and steal Purgatori's power, killing her to rise as the goddess herself. The spell was corrupted and she raised Gorge instead, who had been watching Purgatori's progress from his home in the Unknown.
Purgatori returned from Cairo, having discovered the betrayal herself, and killed Satrina, ripping her heart out. Gorge revealed that she was his blood-mother, that he was here to help her Ascension. Feeling she had to leave the weaknesses of her humanity behind she partially destroyed the Isis International buildings. Gorge showed her things he knew she had to learn; that the power of all she had killed was at her disposal. She also saw Rath's creation at the hands of Satrina and suspected that they were still in league. Tracking him to the Serengeti, she killed Rubicante by ripping his spine out, but Rath revealed that he was actually here to help her.
[edit] Final Battles
Gorge transported them to the Unknown and she raised an army of countless dead warriors who were willing to pledge their allegiance to her in return for the chance to fight again. She used her rapidly growing powers to clothe them in blood armour and set off for Asgard on a "training exercise", unaware that Odin was one of the warriors in her army. Her army ravaged Asgard, killing some and converting the rest to her warriors. She defeated Odin and stole his awesome powers. Vandala and Vulnavia fled the carnage, trying to take Frigga to safety, but Purgatori followed them to Transdemoniium, killing Frigga. Vulnavia cut off Purgatori's hand but she regenerated herself immediately and bit Vulnavia, turning her into a faithful convert. She fought with Matthias, who had been banished here by Lady Death, and took possession of Nightmare. Vandala managed to escape with the help of Brock and Grimmir, leaving to find Lady Death. Purgatori burned Transdemoniium and left for Earth, determined to find and kill Lady Death.
She assaulted Lady Death's fortress in Oblivion and after a long battle she was stabbed through the heart with the Scythe, degenerating into a pool of blood. Armageddon resurrected her with his power and took her as a servant, ordering her to kill Lady Death. She attacked Lady Death's forces and then sneaked off to attack Armageddon, her plan all along to steal his blood and power. The raw energy and chaotic power in his blood poisoned her, and she collapsed unconscious. Nightmare was taken from her and used to attack Armageddon. He died, but in a final act of defiance unleashed an Uncreation Wave, meaning to destroy everything in the cosmos. The effect of the Wave was altered by Mitchell Wardlow, who managed to use it to create eight different parallel universes. Purgatori recovered just in time to be swallowed by the Uncreation Wave...
[edit] Purgatori Comic Series
- Purgatori: Vampire's Myth
- Purgatori (Monthly Series)
- Purgatori: Dracula Gambit
- Purgatori: Goddess Rising
- Lady Death vs Purgatori (One Shot)
- Purgatori: Darkest Hour (2001)
- Purgatori: The Hunted (2001)
- Purgatori: Mischief Night (2001)
- Purgatori vs Chastity
- Purgatori: Heartbreaker (2002)
- Purgatori: God Hunter (2002)
- Purgatori: God Killer (2002 - Final Series from Chaos Comics)
[edit] Character Trivia
- Purgatori stands 5 ' 10 " (178 cm) to her head — not including her horns — and weighs in at 120 pounds (9 stone 8 pounds, or 54 kilograms).
- The costume that Lady Death originally wore was one of several made for Purgatori, having magical properties created by Lucifer himself for her. He recovered them when he cast Lady Death out of Hell and according to Demonica and Diabolica he presented them with the chest of clothes. After tiring of the clothes, the girls traded the chest of clothes with Cremator in return for a service he performed for them. They will not divulge what that service was.
- Her favourite blood type is O negative.
- One rumour about Purgatori's parentage states that her father was a Fallen Angel who was cast out of Hell after his own bid to seize Lucifer's power. He made his way to Earth and settled near Egypt to build an army using humans and his own sorcerous power. Purgatori was said to be his greatest creation.
- When Purgatori put down the insurrection of Pope Stephen, she recovered several priceless treasures from the Vatican vaults. One of the pictures she destroyed was that of Salome holding John the Baptist's head on a platter. The symbology here is pretty self-evident.
- The endings for Purgatori vs Chastity were determined by the covers as ALPHA and OMEGA. In Alpha, Chastity wins. In Omega, Purgatori wins.
- Purgatori is the Chaos! cosmos' true loner, though it isn't really out of choice. Everything she has achieved she has done by herself, apart from the odd occasion when people have helped her for their own purposes (e.g. Gorge). She has no real allies, and no real lover — everyone seems to hang around her for the express purpose of betraying her later on.
- Despite her and Chaos! Comics' other best-selling character, Lady Death's storylines being heavily intertwined, she was not featured at all in the Lady Death film. This was due mainly because Chaos filed bankruptcy & Lady Death's right were sold to Crossgen Comics while Purgatori was sold with the other Chaos Comics characters.
[edit] Related links
- Chaos! Comics
- Chastity
- Jade
- Lady Death (Her former nemesis)
