Mentus

Profile

Real Name: None
Former Aliases: Prime Director of Galador
Identity: Existence unknown to most Galadorians
Occupation: Secret ruler of Galador
Known Relatives: Prime Director of Galador (see below)
Legal Status: None
Group Affiliation: None
Base of Operations: Galador

Height: At least 7'
Weight: Unknown
Hair: None
Eyes: Yellow
Distinguishing Features: Mentus was a sentient suit of Spaceknight armor with no organics grafted to it.

History: The Prime Director of Galador during the time of the Dire Wraith invasion felt guilty for retaining his humanity while he asked Galador's youth to give up theirs to become Spaceknights and defend the planet. He attempted to animate a suit of Spaceknight armor solely by force of will. If he succeeded, it would mean no Galadorians would have to sacrifice their humanity again. Unfortunately, it turned out to be predominantly his evil thoughts that animated the suit, begatting Mentus (Rom #25).

Mentus escaped and plotted from hiding to take over Galador. He rescued Terminator from execution and controlled him for his own ends (Rom #20, 2nd story). His first assignment for Terminator was to destroy the humanity of all the Spaceknights cryogenically preserved in the Hall of Science. However, his control of Terminator turned out not to be complete, and instead Terminator merely stole Rom's humanity (Rom #21-22, 2nd stories).

Mentus quickly came up with a new plan and grafted Rom's stolen humanity into Terminator's armor and changed its appearance to look like Rom's. He also provided Terminator with copies of Rom's equipment. He poisoned the Prime Director to make it appear he was dead. Mentus then had Terminator impersonate Rom and "return" to Galador, telling the Galadorians that the Wraiths had been exterminated. The Galadorians gladly made the ersatz Rom the Prime Director. Mentus, of course, was the true power. The Prime Director Mentus had been split from was put in stasis.

Mentus realized the real Rom would eventually return to Galador and decided to have him do it on Mentus' terms. He made a pact with the Dire Wraiths and had them lure Rom back to Galador, where Rom encountered Terminator, now his duplicate, and was captured. Rom was able to free himself and the true Prime Director shortly thereafter. The Prime Director managed to find Mentus and reintegrate Mentus into his psyche, but at the cost of his corporal existence (Rom #25). The disembodied Prime Director then attempted to communicate with Galactus when he arrived to consume Galador, but ended up being absorbed by him instead (Rom #26).

Powers: Mentus is assumed to have had the following powers that all first generation Spaceknights had, although he was not shown using most of them:

Mentus also appeared to have additional mental powers, some of which were likely unknown. It is known he was able to control Terminator apparently through sheer force of will. It's uncertain, but appears he may have mentally reshaped Terminator's armor into a mirror-image of Rom's. He also created a lock that would only open in response to his thoughts. It's possible he even teleported Terminator away from his execution mentally, but this might have also been done technologically.

Goals and Motivations: Mentus' goal seemed to simply be the acquisition of power over others. First, he became the true power on Galador. He then worked for almost 200 years on technology that would allow him to send Galadorian system toward the Dark Nebula, home of the Dire Wraiths. Once he delivered Galador to the Wraiths, they were to make him their leader. From there, assuming the Wraiths did not betray him, one can only guess how many more races Mentus would have conquered had his plans not been foiled.

Chronology