MAJOR DEEJ UNIVERSE

Alemayehu "Alem" Azikiwi was born the son of an Uranium miner in Mokobaesi, Botswana, When Alem was born, the doctors swore that he was much tinier (less than several inches in length) at birth, but when they saw him hours later, he was the size of a normal baby.  His mother, Akea, died during childbirth, leaving him and his father, Omboso, to fend for themselves.

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It was a hard life living in a mining town, however, Alem was always mesmerized playing with the ants and termites out near his home.  Over time, Alem started "Ant Farms" in his room and later, much to his father's chagrin, in large ant farms created between two nailed-together window frames.

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When he started school, Alem was the same size as many of the other children, however, one tall bully of a boy prompted a fight with Alem days into his start of school, beating him senseless.  The next day, Alem showed up at school to fight the bully again, however, with the look of fury in Alem's eyes, the bully backed down. Some said Alem must possess some form of 'dark magic' to make that bully back off; as such, no one in school bothered with him...until a few years later.

 

One day, a new bully showed up as school, and again the taunting and beat-downs got bad. Sadly, after Alem lost a fight, the rest of his classsmates decided to tease him about it in the classroom.  Sporting a black eye, bruised ribs and the loss of a couple of teeth from the bully's beat-down on him, Alem couldn't handle the taunting of his fellow classmates that day.

 

Alem got mad.

 

Alem told himself that his fellow students should be covered in bugs and see if they like being picked on.  Within minutes, tens of thousands of ants and other insects invaded the classroom, crawling up onto his fellow students, flying up their noses, all the while biting and stinging his classmates.  Alem, shocked over what he witnessing, wished the insects away, and away they went.

 

Alem realized it truly WAS himself who was controlling the insects.

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After being 'removed' from school, Alem had to be home schooled by his father, who had grown sicker each week.  At age 14, Alem's father died of tuberculosis, leaving Alem to fend for himself.

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Over the years, Alem learned how to control the insects.  By age 16, living off the street, he'd mastered how to control the insects to help him get anything he wanted...but mostlly it was for food for himself and others who were not so fortunate. He only used the insects to protect himself and others less fortunate, but never for personal gain in money or power. While living on the street, Alem also learned to fight.  Thieves, street beggars, hooligans, gangs...they all tried to get at Alem and steal what he had.  As such, most of the town ruffians learned to leave Alem alone or face the wrath of his insects.

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Word eventually got out about the 'boy who could control bugs'. GUARD, interested in how he communicated with them, invited him to their facilities in Johannesburg. South Africa.  There, Alem was overwhelmed at the technology and futuristic world that GUARD had.  At one point during their 'testing' of Alem, a super-powered criminal, known as Vuvuzela, broke away from his captors and started creating havoc on the GUARD base.  Alem used his power to control insects to attack Vuvuzela to stop him.  Alem succeeded and GUARD placed Vuvuzela back safely into custody.  After that, GUARD offered Alem a spot on GUARD's super-group, the "Terraguardians".  Alem agreed.

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After a couple years with the Terraguardians, Colony realized it wasn't for him after all. Instead, he like the idea of something more 'familiar' to him, which was the new Commonwealth super-group, made of heroes from all over the world. He liked the way they were and instead quit the Terraguardians and has since joined the Commonwealth.

 

Today, Alem continues as a hero with the Commonwealth group.  He has also gone back to school and is currently at a 10th grade reading and writing level.  He is extremely happy to be with the Commonwealth and considers his compatriots his new 'family'...as well as his insects.  

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