Vorpax
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Vorpax is a character featured in the television show Mortal Kombat: Conquest. She is an original creation for the series, and was played by actress Tracy Douglas.
[edit] Seductress
Vorpax is a beautiful, sly woman acquainted with many secrets of the realms, having been imprisoned within the cobalt mines of Shao Kahn years ago for an unknown reason. She commands formidable acrobatic martial arts abilities, but no supernatural powers of her own. The cobalt mines, which deaden latent powers, supposedly drained her upon entry. However, she did not demonstrate any knowledge of powers while outside them until her full purpose was revealed. Nevertheless, Vorpax' main weapon is her demeanour. Her grace and beauty underlie her ability to seduce nearly anyone she wishes to expose their secrets.
Vorpax greeted Shang Tsung upon his arrival in the cobalt mines, and a reluctant partnership flourished for some time. Since all of Outworld had learned of Shang Tsung's defeat at the hands of Kung Lao, the sorcerer was keen to eliminate the young monk, regain the favour of Emperor Kahn, and be freed from the mines. Vorpax also sought freedom, and offered her experience to Shang Tsung if he agreed to take her out of the mines with him following the death of Kung Lao.
Vorpax proved herself to be quite useful. She had intimate knowledge of hidden recesses within the mines which held forgotten secrets. Since she was not under deadly scrutiny by Shao Kahn as Shang Tsung was, Vorpax could also briefly travel outside the mines to other realms. She was always forced to return, however, lest the Emperor discover the risks they were taking. Shang Tsung also used Vorpax for his physical pleasure, and she exposed the bitterness of her situation to Kung Lao and his friends during their brief visit to the mines. Trapped by her dependence on Shang Tsung and her inability to leave the mines permanently, Vorpax used everyone she could to what little advantage she had.
Vorpax' talents set many events of the series in motion, whether for Shang Tsung or her own gain. She had guided Shang Tsung to the mystical Scorpio, which trapped the soul of the warrior Scorpion within to be released through sorcery. She murdered an Edenian comrade of Kung Lao and Princess Kitana in an attempt to turn them against each other. She also persuaded the assassin Mileena to abandon her mission to kill Kung Lao for the Emperor, in order for Shang Tsung to regain the opportunity. Several times she appeared before Shao Kahn himself and volunteered her services to him. Kung Lao and his companions had little faith in her, believing her to be a permanent ally of Outworld.
[edit] Princess
Vorpax' ability to use many sides to her own advantage was only part of her greater mission. In reality, her allegiance was to Queen Kreeya, sovereign of a race of Amazonian warriors, and of whom Vorpax was firstborn. She had been sent to Outworld in order to discover weaknesses to exploit for its takeover, only to be sent to the cobalt mines following an error (she briefly mentioned deception and self-deception, but no more). Kreeya's forces eventually invaded Outworld and liberated Vorpax, capturing Shang Tsung in the process. Safely back in her people's care, the young seductress immediately turned on the sorcerer with unbridled hostility. Vorpax promised Shang Tsung excruciating payback for her abuse at his hands. Meanwhile, Kreeya instructed her daughter to act as an ambassador of her people to the humans, in order to earn their trust enough to welcome her openly into Earthrealm.
Vorpax extended an offer of peace to Kung Lao and his friends on behalf of Queen Kreeya. Putting aside their differences, she invited the three to visit Kreeya and witness the glory that her race could bring to Earthrealm. Taja and Siro were more easily convinced than Kung Lao, who harboured his own suspicions that Kreeya's promised paradise was too good to be true. His feelings were correct.
The many Kreeyans, as Kung Lao called them, were all the offspring of Queen Kreeya, who produced thousands of them in a hive-like structure born from her own body after mating with a male of any realm. Not only did the fetuses grow to full adulthood in a matter of days, but Kreeya could create dozens of hives in a very short time, leading to the exponential extinction of a realm's native population in months. The Queen had already succeeded in establishing thousands of hives across Outworld's borders and had now begun on Earthrealm soil. Kung Lao exposed Kreeya's facade to his friends, who joined his side. Vorpax could only watch as the three were dragged away. After they eventually escaped, Vorpax remained at Kreeya's side in a war between their race and Outworld and Earthrealm, both of whom had targeted the Kreeyans for elimination. Shao Kahn appointed hundreds of his warriors to track down and destroy the Outworld hives while his remaning armies attacked the Kreeyans on the border. Simultaneously, Kung Lao and his friends set about destroying new hives discovered in Earthrealm. In an attempt to eliminate Shang Tsung, who was now a renegade in Earthrealm, Vorpax released the sorcerer's old mentor and rival, Master Cho, from his centuries-long imprisonment. This event failed without her involvement.
The attrition warfare with their enemies led to Vorpax lamenting the losses of thousands of her adult sisters on the battlefield and unborn ones in destroyed hives. She found Kreeya to be indifferent to the staggering defeat she was facing despite her recent alliance with Reptile of Zaterra as her new mate. Vorpax had no patience for the Zaterrans, particularly Kiri and Ankha, and struggled to keep them in line while defending her people against Earthrealm. Vorpax openly challenged her mother's actions and was infuriated when her plea for a less sacrificial course of action was spurned by Kreeya. She covertly approached Kung Lao and his friends with an offer to leave Earthrealm with her people and never return, if they could defeat the Queen. They acquiesced to her wish, and together devised a plot to bring Kreeya to them. With her defeat, Vorpax drove a blade through her back, ending her life. She left with her soldiers, declaring that they would not return to Earthrealm.
[edit] Queen
It was soon discovered that Vorpax had deceived the humans. In slaying Kreeya she had inherited all the powers of the Queen, including the ability to mate and make more hives. Vorpax chose Shang Tsung as her new mate despite their checkered history, out of desire to create a new race of Kreeyans imbued with powers of sorcery. She spurned Reptile and the Zaterrans, thereby renewing the war with the Kreeyans to a further degree, under her command. Despite this, the Queen loathed herself for consummating with Shang Tsung. She secretly agreed to mate with his rival, the Netherealm sorcerer Quan Chi, out of vengeance. But this would not came to pass.
Vorpax was killed by Shao Kahn's rampaging Shadow Priests in the series' cliffhanger finale, before she could create a hive. As the show was never renewed, the ultimate fate of the Kreeyans is unknown. Assumption concludes that since no warrior was seen adopting the Queen's spawning powers, the remaining women either slowly died out over time or were slaughtered by Kahn's forces.
