Machiste
47 years ago - 4-year-old Machiste first begins receiving battle & strategy training as the future ruler of Kiro.
41 years ago - 10-year-old Machiste achieves mastery of his battle training. He ventures forth from Kiro to adventure across Skartaris.
35 years ago - 16-year-old Machiste becomes a sailor in a mercenary fleet.
35 years ago - 20-year-old Machiste helps defeat the pirate lords of Kaambuku.
26 years ago - 25-year-old Machiste fights the slavers of Thera, recovering the lost treasure of the Kiro throne.
22 years ago - 29-yeat-old Machiste's ship is taken by slavers. He is sold as a galley slave.
21 years ago - 30-year-old Machiste meets a new galley slave, Travis Morgan, who claims to be from the surface world.
20 years ago - 31-year-old Machiste & Travis Morgan are sold to the Shebal Gladiator School, becoming two of the most infamous gladiators in Skartaris. When Deimos attends one of their tournaments, Morgan sees Tara in attendance, and Machiste is able to identify her as the princess of Shamballah.
19 years ago - 32-year-old Machiste & Travis Morgan lead a rebellion against their slavers, building a Gladiator army. They take the city of Thera, freeing Tara and the other slaves, and killing Demios. Machiste returns to Kiro.
18 years ago - 33-year-old Machiste finds and claims a magical ax, and is corrupted by the demon possessing the artifact, becoming unwilling to let go of the ax. He begins to build up the military of Kiro, intending to begin a campaign of conquest.
17 years ago - 34-year-old Machiste allows Travis Morgan & Tara to enter Kiro as guests, but soon the corruption of his ax pushes him to imprison them Recognizing the evil influence of the artifact, Morgan cuts off his hand, freeing him from his curse. Repentant of his corruption and needing to reclaim his sense of self, he fits a spiked mace prosthetic over his lost hand and joins their quest.
16 years ago - 35-year-old Machiste, Travis Morgan, & Tara find Deimos's hidden lair. Morgan is forced to fight and kill his infant son Joshua Morgan, magically grown to adulthood. Morgan cuts Deimos in half and knocks his body off a cliff. Heartbroken, Morgan departs to wander the land alone. Machiste returns to Kiro.
12 years ago - 39-year-old Machiste enters an arranged political engagement with the princess of Drakmeer.
9 years ago - 42-year-old Machiste aggrees to join Travis Morgan on his quest to find his lost daughter, Jennifer Morgan. He first meets Mariah Romanova, his attraction to her conflicting with his commitment to his fiancé.
8 years ago - 43-year-old Machiste, Travis Morgan, Mariah Romanova, & Shakira assist Aram al Ashir in retaking a Kaambuku outpost held by the Snake People. They are joined by the herald Aton. Machiste & Mariah become lovers.
7 years ago - 44-year-old Machiste, Travis Morgan, Mariah Romanova, Shakira & Aton find the restored castle Deimos. Aton is killed in the assault, but they breach the castle, where they confront the resurrected Deimos, whose follower Faaldren turns on him, allowing Morgan to finally, truly kill him, & free Jennifer Morgan. Machiste returns to Kiro and his fiancé as Mariah begins to travel Skartaris as an adventurer.
Machiste's role in the world, and in Skartaris, and in the story of Travis Morgan should be such a simple and epic one. He should have his own adventurous narrative, running alongside Travis but also forging his own path. He is ALMOST all of those things, but I think it's fair to say that, since his story was started in 1975, Machiste never quite escaped the label of being a black sidekick to a white hero, in a time where that put certain limitations on what could be done. Machiste might have been relegated to being just part of the background of Travis's story, but the building blocks of what he could have been are exceptionally obvious, and I think we can all imagine exactly what sort of shape his story could have taken.
Machiste's Comic HistoryMachiste is actually one of the very earliest traveling companions Morgan meets in his adventures. When he's separated from Tara all the way back in issue # 2, and becomes a galley slave, Machiste is the man chained right next to him. They lead their slave rebellion together, and in the very earliest issues of Warlord, he is right alongside Morgan as they lead their army together to rescue Tara. When their mission is successful they part ways, but it's only a brief matter of time before they are reconnected... this time with the discovery that Machiste is the king of the city of Kiro, and that he has been corrupted by a magic axe... leading to a duel in which Morgan cuts off Machiste's hand to free him from the curse, and to Machiste's new main identifying feature, his mace hand.
Machiste joins Travis and Mariah from this point forward, but at this point he feels far less of an equal to Morgan. He's more of a sidekick. Later, when Mariah runs away, Machiste goes with her... and his story from that point forward is pretty much entirely centered around being partnered with Mariah. |
Our Machiste StoryThe way I've described Machiste's story here sounds like I don't like anything about his depiction after his original arc, and that's not exactly true. His characterization continues to be fun, and I do very much enjoy the visual of his prosthetic hand... but it does seem very obvious that after that original story, it didn't occur to anyone to give Machiste his own goals and quests. He simply followed Mariah. When they went through a temporal portal and were sent into the ancient past of Skartaris, they simply chose to stay there, not even attempting to return home.
There are some great story beats for Machiste we can draw from to build him his own story, including his time leading a slave rebellion with Morgan, as well as being cursed and losing his hand. There's also plenty IMPLIED by his status as the prince and later king of Kiro, letting us build a very cool timeline for him as an adventuring royal much like Tara. Beyond that, however, I think the thing we can really do with Machiste is just keep him PRESENT. Make it clear that he is just as much a warrior as Morgan himself, and that the two men consider themselves the deepest of allies, joining each other in their personal quests like brothers bonded in battle. We also wanted to find a way to instill his relationship with Mariah with some intrigue and melodrama, so we gave him an arranged engagement of political convenience so that his developing affair with Mariah can have all sorts of scandalous repercussions. |