The Astronomer (Wild Cards)

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The Astronomer
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Publication information
Publisher	George R. R. Martin
First appearance	Aces High (1987)
Created by	Lewis Shiner
In story information
Alter ego	Unknown
Team affiliations	The Egyptian Freemasons: Demise, Roulette, Imp, Insulin, Kafka, Jube the Walrus
Notable aliases	Osiris, Lord Amun, Sutekh the Destroyer
Abilities	Telekinesis, telepathy, astral projection

The Astronomer is a character from the Wild Cards series of books. He first appeared in the short story "Pennies from Hell" by Lewis Shiner in Wild Cards II: Aces High, though his presence was earlier implied in "The Long, Dark Night of Fortunato" in the first volume of the series. Leader of a cult comprised mainly of superhuman aces and deformed jokers known as the Egyptian Freemasons, the Astronomer planned to conquer the world in the aftermath of an invasion by fungoid aliens called the Swarm. Once these plans were foiled, the Astronomer lived only for revenge.

[edit] Character background

The Astronomer is an old man (born in 1925), who has thinning white hair, wears glasses and is best described as "mole-like"; he is also noted as having a disproportionately large head, the upper part of which enlarges further when he is fully empowered. He is usually confined to a wheelchair, although the proper use of his Ace powers can allow him to bypass that problem. The Astronomer practices a horrific form of death magic, gaining immense energy through the ritualistic slaying of his victims (usually young women). Once the ritual is completed, The Astronomer is blessed with a huge energy reserve allowing him to utilize the following powers: astral projection, clairsentience, minor precognition, mind control, the ability to selectively erase memories, flight, invisibility to visual and mental senses, ego attacks, hand killing attacks, walking through walls, suppression versus any wildcard power, force fields and minor force walls, telepathy and an assortment of energy blasts; however, he can use just one power at any given time. The Astronomer was a very dangerous opponent. He was killed by Demise, and left embedded in a wall.