MAJOR DEEJ UNIVERSE

Malcolm Mercedes was raised on an island nation ruled by an autocratic tyrant who had an obsession with spiders. 

 

This 'militant organization', prior to the years 2000, had created havoc and chaos across the world, attempting to 'take over the world'.  Malcolm's father, Samuel Sampson, also known by his revered title as Arbiter Sampson, was a well known leader in the order and as such was held in high esteem by his troops and peers.  Arbiter Sampson was also someone not to be trifled with, as Malcolm quickly learned as he grew up under his father's tutelage.  His mother had 'left' and never returned, but rumors abounded that she had turned traitor to the order and provided the United Nations with intel about the order's manifesto and its spider-themed global-domination schemes.  Nonetheless, Malcolm learned through the school of hard knocks all that his father wanted him to be - a leader of soldiers, a strong man, and an intelligent strategist. Arbiter Sampson believed that one day, his son would surpass him in all these areas.

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Arbiter Sampson died during a superhero raid on the island when Malcolm was only 15.

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Malcolm was instead taken in but the militant spider-themed organization's lord and leader and taught to be even more ruthless than his father had initially taught him. As such, by age 25, Malcolm became the youngest Arbiter ever, then titled as Arbiter Mercedes.

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Young Arbiter Mercedes was put in charge of a special forces unit of soldiers trained in the use of hand-held metal and energy swords so as to offset their reliance on blasters and rifles.  They were called 'The Knights of Arachnos'.  In 1999, when they were able to be used in the field against regular military troops, the knights decimated said troops.  The Knights soon became one of the most celebrated units ever, much the chagrin of the lord and leader of the order, since HE wanted the accolades and honor for allowing Arbiter Mercedes to succeed.  The knights loved Arbiter Mercedes, and most of the order would start chanting his name when he came into public view.

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The lord of the order knew his claim to leadership was now fleeting and that he had to take down Mercedes before he became more popular.  The problem was, it had to be from someone 'other' than the lord and leader himself.  As such, he recruited a beautiful and loyal Arbiter, Karen Olsen AKA Arbiter Ariel, to seduce Arbiter Mercedes and find a way to make Mercedes meet an 'untimely death'.

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Much to the lord and leader's aggravation, Arbiter Ariel truly fell madly in love with Arbiter Mercedes. Karen warned Malcolm of the lord and leader's duplicity and together, they'd formulated a plan that would eventually place them as Lord and Lady of the order. As such, Arbiter Mercedes continued with his knights' combat success, even when with the lord and leader pitted the knights against escalating impossible odds. Instead, the victories were more glorious, and Arbiter Mercedes was hailed the hero of the order.  Arbiters Ariel and Malcolm finally set their plan into motion to take-over the order; a plan that was expected to culminate by early to mid-2000.

 

In January 2000, the Soltan Star Empire invaded Earth.

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Every one of the order's bases, fortresses and secret alcoves were decimated.  The aliens knew the order had the resources to hurt them and as such the aliens instead focused on taking out those that could mount any form of counter-attack or offensive.  In less than four days, the spider-themed militant order was no more.  It's lord and leader was said to have been vaporized in the initial assault. Soldiers ran from the battlefield...all except several units, one of which was the Knights of Arachnos.  They lasted the longest amongst the order's troops.  Sadly, in a massive final assault, the Knights of Aracnos, with Arbiter Mercedes and Ariel leading them, were defeated.  Arbiter Ariel was last seen the victim of a direct bomb blast, while Arbiter Mercedes was nearly shot and stabbed several times by the Soltans.

 

The rest of the Knights of Arachnos fell immediately thereafter, but fought valiantly until the very end.

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A day after the defeat, Malcolm was found barely alive by a handful of remaining knights.  He was found buried under several dead Soltan warriors he'd taken out as he was being stabbed and shot. They made their way to a nearby railroad tunnel and found a few more survivors, all of which were in critical to near fatal condition.  Luckily, a local doctor came to their aid and helped save dozens of them from death.  For them, the war was over...but not for Malcolm.

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Over the next few months, Malcolm worked with international military units, militias and even superheroes to use his skills to help defeat the Soltans.  As such, Malcolm was an integral leader in the strategic planning to take down key and critical Soltan strongholds and destroy the magic-sapping towers that were tearing Earth apart.  By August 2000, the "Terran Resistance" fought back and defeated the invaders, causing the Soltans to retreat from Earth, thus ending the invasion.

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Over the next decade, Earth had to rebuild from the utter destruction of the Soltan Invasion.  Rather than align with his new allies, Malcolm instead used his newly gained knowledge and resources to find any knights left alive.  He wanted to reform the knights, but not exactly to the degree that the old 'order' did, which he believed to be too much "Lord of the Flies" and not enough "Global Domination". Malcolm didn't trust the rest of the world's nations to prevent and prepare for another alien invasion, or for that matter, the creation of another Hitler, so he decided to start making the world the way it wanted it - one island at a time.

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His old (and newly recruited) knights quickly titled Malcolm as "Lord Arachnid", even against Malcolm's own desire to be named otherwise.  Regardless, he took the title, and through the next few years, healed, rebuilt and refit his new army of "Arachnoknights" using salvaged equipment found around the globe from the previous spider-themed order they'd been part of prior to the invasion.  They also found hundreds of millions of dollars in gold, precious metals and currencies hidden away in the bases...hidden assets that no one up until now had ever known about, thus creating the realization that the old order had been lying about their 'poor' funds available in the order.  Lord Arachnid took the gold and sold it and an exorbitant profit to the Gold Syndicate, while also creating new manufacturing businesses in remote global locations to build their armor, weapons, flyers and vehicles.  

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Lord Arachnid created "The Code of Arachnoknights", a manual on how to train, live, eat and breath as a member of the Arachnoknights.  This manual was given to each member of the organization, for which they were mandated to memorize and uphold at any cost.  Some of the rules in the manual even followed the tenants of the England's order of knights, invoking respect and honor above all.  What was unique was that cowards would be punished, but not killed; bravery and honor would garner accolades, titles and authority. 

 

As such, the pecking order in the group may not have followed the patterns of the old order, but instead, seemed to be following the same thing under a more 'noble' sentiment.  Regardless, each Arachnoknight upheld the code as if it were the word of God Himself.

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In 2010, the Arachnoknights set up a massive base on a forgotten island off the coast of Chile.  There, the local populace flooded the Arachnoknights with more more soldiers, technicians and workers ready to serve the Arachnoknights that thought possible.  So long as they got paid good wages (which they all did receive), they sword to the Code of the Arachnoknights and did whatever was asked of them.

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In 2015, Lord Arachnid led the next conquest in the Swann Islands off of Honduras.  Again, a bloodless takeover of the island and a working relationship with the locals and gangs of Honduras swelled the Arachnoknights to all new levels. Shortly after that, they took over an abandoned military island off of California and made that place a fortress and a training zone for the new Arachno Widows.  After that, an island of of Maine was invaded and expected to be easily taken over, but instead was met with some resistance in the form of the near-centennial aged World War II hero, Major Invader.  Luckily for Lord Arachnid and the Arachnoknights, Major Invader was easily defeated and believed killed in the Major's attempt to kick the Arachnoknights off the island by himself.

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Thereafter, the Arachnoknights began to become infamous.  International watch-list and arrest warrants were constantly being circulated for any and all Arachnoknights to be brought before the World Court.  When any Arachnoknight was caught, however, the judges for the World Court would be found meeting 'unfortunate deadly accidents' within days of the assigned trials of the Arachnoknights.  All Arachnoknights, in time, were released and all warrants were dismissed.  Lord Arachnid was able to control the world's courts through fear and power.  As such, Malcolm decided it was time for another land grab - the Bahamas, but not before exciting news was received: they'd found Lord Arachnid's lover, Karen Olsen AKA Arbiter Ariel, in a hospital in Los Angeles - alive.

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Lord Arachnid, against his own knightly tenants, went to retrieve Karen by attacking and destroying a civilian hospital in the process.  He had his troops obliterate the hospital wards, grounds and every last innocent left all so that he could go save Karen and taker her back to the Chilean base with him.  Sadly, upon arriving at Karen's bedside, he saw that Karen had been in a coma since she was found in 2000, barely alive.  Her arms or legs had been amputated and there were skin grafts over her severely disfigured torso...but regardless of her injuries, Malcolm knew it was her in a second.  He took her comatose body to an Arachnoknight Flyer and flew her to their Chilean base, and, as stated, nothing was left alive at the hospital...except one nurse who survived and told the tale to the authorities what happened that day.

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Delaying the Bahamas invasion, Lord Arachnid put his best doctors and scientists to work to save Karen.  After days of tests, only one conclusion could be reached - she had to have her brain implanted into a cyborg body or she'd die in days.  Without ado, the doctors saved Karen, but when Karen awoke in her new body, she was appalled and spiteful, killing one of the technicians present.  After Malcolm calmed her down, it became apparent that she'd need time to 'come back' from the vegetative state she'd been in for over 15 years.  Thus for the next several months, the Bahamas invasion was put on hold until Karen, now code-named "Lady Arachnida", recovered.

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When Karen did recover as Lady Arachnida, she was cold...colder that ever before.  Killing was nothing to her now, and as such, cared little for those that annoyed her or questioned her.  Even Malcolm seemed to garner her ire at times, with her making swipes at him with her sword, with her stating the Malcolm had grown 'soft' in the last decade and a half.  That, unto itself, prompted the re-activation of the invasion of the Bahamas, now nearly a year after its intended invasion date.

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When the Arachnoknights invaded the Bahamas with a force of over 500 troopers, knights and widows, they were met by Major Invader (once again), a contingent of G.U.A.R.D. defenders (including GUARD's new mega-hero team, the Guardians, and another superhero team called the Challengers, led by Major Deej.  The Arachnoknights were beaten and retreated within five minutes of the start of the Bahama Invasion.  The heroes saved the day, at the cost of 35 GUARD defenders, while the Arachnoknights lost over 200 troops, with another 115 deserting the Arachnoknights within a day of the failed invasion.

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Although Lord Arachnid did an incredible job, he was outgunned 20 to 1 and as such, it was a miracle they were able to escape at all.  Lady Arachnida remained irritated at the failed invasion, but still knew that Lord Arachnid was the best man to lead the Arachnoknights strategically, ergo, Lady Arachnida took up the sword and became the field leader for the knights, training them to be even more ruthless than ever before.  As a result, more and more recruits came to them and joined, hearing that even though the invasion failed, they beat the odds and got away, taking care of their own in the process.  By 2018, the Arachnoknighs ranks were filled once more to pre-Bahama Invasion levels.

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Today, Malcolm still leads the Arachnoknights as Lord Arachnid, and has since taken Karen, Lady Arachnida, as his bride.  Together, they have trained their knights to be more deadly that ever before.  Whatever plans Lord Arachnid has next are sure to be Earth shaking!

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