Imperial Guard

PHASE 1

Imperial Guard
Portrayed by None
Known Aliases:	Gladiator, Oracle, Smasher (deceased), Hussar (deceased), Fang (deceased), Starbolt, Manta, Nightside, etc.
Affiliations:	Shiar
Socked By:	Dex, Doqz
Introduction:	Red X Mission: Shake Hands With The Devil

The Imperial Guard is a group of mutants who have been assembled as part of a counter mutant terrorism unit for the Indian military. Their unit is called the Khusrawi Agoriya, loosely translated into Imperial Guard.

First Appearance

July 2008

Roster

Dacoit	Also known as Gladiator. The nephew of an INS Commander, Dacoit grew up in Madripoor. His father lost everything to gambling debts, and Kalidas fought for months in the fighting pits of the capital's illegal gambling circuit, before being rescued and returned to India. He joined the military as soon as he was of age, and is considered both an impeccable officer and patriot. Dacoit has superhuman strength, near invulnerability, and can fly at high speeds, drawing his power from his confidence in what he believes is right. If that confidence is shaken, his powers falter. PB: Arjun Rampal
Kalāmu-l-lāh	Translates roughly to Oracle. A blue-skinned and white haired mutant who possesses strong psionic powers, including telepathy, empathy, and telekinetically assisted flight. PB: Chitrangada Singh
Dubāw - deceased	Translates roughly to Smasher. A quiet Southern Indian native who possessed superhuman strength and the ability to fly. Assassinated by Jubilation Lee and Wanda Maximoff. PB: None.
Chābuk-Mārnā - deceased	Translates roughly to Hussar. A red-skinned woman from Srinigar, Hussar possessed the ability to channel bio-eletrical energy, either via blasts from her hands, or through a weapon, like a horsewhip she regularly wielded. Assassinated by Amanda Sefton and Marie-Ange Colbert. PB: None.
Dārkā - deceased	Translates roughly to Fang. A Dalit 'Untouchable' caste man from Southwest India, he had been a popular fighter in illegal fights before being recruited by the military. A traditional feral, Fang possessed elongated canines and claws, as well as a healing factor and superhuman agility. Assassinated by Sarah Morlocke and Remy LeBeau PB: None.
Dhūm-ketu	Translates roughly to Starbolt. Starbolt is a career IDF pilot. He is immune to all forms of heat energy, including radiation and plasma. He can fly and generate blasts of superheated plasma from his hands that are capable of heavy damage. PB: unknown
Chandrikā	Translates roughly to Manta. Manta’s body is softly luminescent at all times, and she can emit a powerful burst of light either in a beam or in a wider burst that can range from temporarily blinding opponents to actually disorienting and even knocking them out from sensory overload. Manta can see the entire upper spectrum, from infrared to ultra-violet range. Manta cannot fly, but can glide great distances. PB: unknown
Āftāb-dhamak	Translates roughly to Pulsar. Pulsar is a Sikh energy being, whose body needs a containment suit to help him maintain his form. A visor has been built into the suit to allow him to emit powerful beams of energy, not unlike Cyclops’ optic blasts. During Lakshmibai Raj his suit was disintegrated by Kevin Ford and Pulsar's fate remains unknown. PB: unknown
Tamisrā	Translates roughly to Nightside. Nightside is a half-Indian, half-English former actress that can manipulate darkness in numerous ways, cloaking herself in it to become nearly invisible, blacking out an area with complete darkness, or using it to create complex shadows to disorient or confuse opponents. PB: unknown
Daitya	Translates roughly to Titan. Titan can increase his size, adding corresponding strength and endurance at the same time. His upper range is sixteen feet, and at this height, he can bend steel and easily lift twenty tons. PB: unknown
Ifrīt	Translates roughly to Hobgoblin. Hobgoblin is a shapeshifter, who has a protean ‘battleform’ in which he can manipulate to fight enemies. The battleform is a twisted, red-skinned demon like shape, that can grow claws, gills, wings, tails, feral structure, and other elements to optimize his advantage against opponents. The basic nature of the form cannot be altered. PB: unknown
Pathak - deceased	Translates roughly to Mentor. Impervious to all psionic attacks, master tactician and two second physical precognitive. Killed by Emma Frost in Lakshmibai Raj. PB: None.
Garra	Translates roughly to Neutron. A very large man, he possesses superhuman strength and is able to lift twenty tons. He also possesses a high level of durability through his a burnished copper metallic skin. PB: Allu Arjun
Khaincha	Translates roughly to Electron. Electron has the ability to project electromagnetic energy and move metallic objects. He wears a metallic uniform to increase his abilities. PB: to be determined
Sihr	Translates roughly to Magique. A small, almost elven-looking woman, Magique can create extremely realistic visual illusions. She can generate and maintain multiple animate illusions at once with no apparent strain, and can also use her power to render herself invisible at the same time. The illusions cannot harm someone, but operate across multisensory input - i.e fire looks, smells, projects heat and appears to burn like fire, but does no actual damage. PB: Aishwarya Rai
Zalzala	Translates roughly to Quake. He has grey, rock-like skin and the ability to manipulate silicate matter. PB: to be determined
Sangram-sitara	Translates roughly to Warstar. Warstar is actually two mutants, a small one (around four feet in height) who can generate electricity and a large one (approximately 8 feet tall)who is immensely strong and durable. Both men wear special suits of a black plastic-like material that allow the smaller man to travel on the other's back and transmit electricity through him. The smaller man was severely injured during Lakshmibai Raj by Kevin Ford and his status is unknown. PB: to be determined
Simtu-r-Ras	Translates roughly to Zenith. He can siphon the potential energy of living beings by drawing blood and convert it into blasts of concussive energy. He wears a black mask and his hands are extremely long fingered and tipped with black claws. He is thin and ghoulishly white skinned. PB: to be determined
Kal-dipta	Translates roughly to Black Light. He can project bolts of Darkforce energy from his eyes and hands. He is also capable of flight. PB: to be determined
Shrvet-Kharosh	Translates roughly to White Noise. She uses high-pitched frequencies produced by her vocal cords to shatter objects, disorient her opponents, and allow herself to fly. White-haired young woman. PB: to be determined
Musafir	Translates roughly to Voyager. He possesses teleportation abilities. PB: to be determined
Kulanch-Gol	Translates roughly to Hardball. He possesses a rubbery body that allows him to leap great distances and rebound off any object he strikes. PB: to be determined
Bhat	Translates roughly to Commando. Educated at Sandhurst, he possesses enhanced strength, endurance, and intellect. PB: to be determined

Details

The Imperial Guard was an idea originated by M. Cornelius Neramani before his death, to gather small units of highly trained mutants as the next major force in the Indian military. His son, D. Ken Neramani, started a secret and only semi-official test program along his father's concept. His people searched both the existing military ranks and civilian populations for mutants who fit the profile they needed.

Following the destruction of Sriniger and D. Ken's election to Prime Minister, he officially created the unit as a counter mutant terrorism force. Due to the death toll and the fact that the attack was the fault of a mutant, Neramani was able to overcome public resistance to a mutant force, assuring other nations that the force was only for counter terrorism, and not part of the conventional Indian force.

However, during the quasi-invasion and annexing of Sri Lanka, the force was used to round up Tamils in the north and crush any resistance violently. There has been little information about the genocide in Northern Sri Lanka, and no proof that a mutant force was employed at any point available publicly. As a result, three members of the Imperial Guard were targeted and assassinated by X-Force as a message against using mutants in this way.

More recently, part of the Guard has been deployed as Lilandra Neranami's security team during her conference in Germany, and another team fought the X-men as part of India's anti-piracy efforts in the Indian Ocean. They were sent to Madripoor to recover a defecting member of government, running across a mixed group of X-Men and X-Force, and also to execute a rival politician in a staged hostage situation in India. It was during that mission that the first signs of disagreement with D. Ken Neramani's orders surfaced.

The Imperial Guard was a key part of the invasion of Pakistan, with one group of the Guard tasked to destroy a refugee camp on the north eastern border, and another attacking a refugee train. Both groups were beaten back by X-Men and members of the mansion. The final group was badly beaten by X-Force in the capital, as X-Force assassinated D. Ken.

Since Lilandra's election, the Imperial Guard has been officially separated from the IDF, and re-organized as a law enforcement department under Daciot's leadership and reporting directly to the Prime Minister's office. Their duties largely involve counter-terrorism, mutant threat response and the protection of the Prime Minister.

The specific names and numbers of Imperial Guard are unknown to the public, although both Daciot and Oracle have been officially presented under their code names on Indian television. The remaining members are largely kept as secret as possible.

Plots

Red X Mission: Shake Hands With The Devil

Operation: Retribution

Congress of Behram

X-Men Mission: Eric The Red

Old Man of the Mountain

X-Men Mission: Hotel Saragarhi

Lakshmibai Raj

Meta

Socked by: Doqz and Dex

Formerly socked by Catherine

PB images for Smasher, Hassar, Fang, Starbolt, Manta, Pulsar, Nightshade, Titan and Hobgoblin were created by Nute.

The page image, plus PB images for Gladiator and Oracle, were comissioned from Amy of Marvel Icons on IJ.

The Imperial Guard are based off of the original comic versions, although obviously no longer a collection of aliens, and adapted to an Indian origin.

The English translations of the Indian codenames are very generalized towards the concept of the name, and are in no way considered or presented as direct or literal translations.