| The Sigil-Bearers | |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | CrossGen |
| First appearance | CrossGenesis #1 |
| Created by | Mark Alessi Gina Villa |
| In-story information | |
| Member(s) | Ethan Sephie Ilahn Giselle Sam Rey Obo-san Javi Westin Brath Mac Garen Mercer Drake Lindy Karsten Mordath |
The Sigil-Bearers are characters in CrossGen Comics' fictional universe, the Sigilverse. The metaplot strung across all of CrossGen's titles centered on the Sigil-Bearers, and many of the titles' main characters were Sigil-Bearers, especially in the company's early days.
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The Sigil is a red-and-yellow mark which serves as both the CrossGen company logo, and as the source of supernatural power for many of its characters. The main characters of most titles possess a Sigil, granting them a range of powers chosen by their personalities, desires, and fates.
The red and yellow symbolizes Houses Dexter and Sinister of the First, the gods of the Sigilverse. Accordingly, the colors represent Creation and Destruction, Selflessness vs Selfishness, love vs hate, and a number of other conflicts.
The creation and distribution of the Sigils is the work of two Atlanteans, Danik and Solusandra, who have ascended and become near-omniscient and near-omnipotent. Though they pretend to different motives early in the comic series, it is revealed in the end that they created the Sigil-Bearers to serve as an elite force against the Negation, an evil empire invading from another universe. To that end, they bestow Sigils, through various sorts of agents. These agents take many forms, from a bird in Meridian, to a member of the Lesser Races in Scion, to a pair of hooded figures in Sojourn. Danik watches over each Sigil-Bearer in disguise, as one of the orange-eyed Mentors, and trains them for the coming war by involving them in smaller conflicts and forcing them to learn how to use their powers in new and different ways.
The Sigil-Bearers are, for the most part, unique to their respective worlds. Each is given a Sigil by an orange-eyed agent or aspect of Danik. The specific abilities of the Sigil vary greatly, according to the personalities and desires of its Bearer. However, with the proper training and practice, presumably, any of the Bearers could use any aspect of the Sigil's power.
When a Bearer dies, the Sigil seems to always pass on to someone who mourns their passing. However, as only Turos (from the title Meridian) and Todosi (from the title The Path) stand as examples, it may simply be an anomaly or coincidence. Beyond these events, Sigil-Bearers only very rarely met, up until the events of the Negation War, in which the Sigil-Bearers finally came to battle against the Negation. Unfortunately, CrossGen Comics declared bankruptcy in the middle of publishing this title, and so the ending of the plot for the Sigil-Bearers remains unknown.
It was never revealed how many Sigil-Bearers existed. The appearance of an unknown Sigil-Bearer in Negation War #1 and his subsequent death hinted at the existence of other Sigil-Bearers whom have never appeared in any of the Cross-Gen titles. A final count shows that at least 27 Sigil-Bearers were created in the various CrossGen comics. Given that each sigil-in-a-bubble seen on Solusandra's private world (see Solus #1) is a link to a different sigil-bearer there are at least forty Sigil-Bearers and likely many more.
Charon, God Emperor of the Negation Universe created the Ligis-Bearers, his version of the Sigil-Bearers. They bear his mark, an inverted Sigil of sorts. Charon also created vastly powerful creatures called Lawbringers. These creatures were at least as powerful as the strongest of the Sigil-Bearers.