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HISTORY/DESCRIPTION: The Holy Lance, also known as the Spear of Loginus, the Dolorous Stroke or the Bleeding Lance; was the very spear which pierced Jesus by the Roman centurion Loginus, while Jesus was being crucified. Certainly one of the most powerful weapons to exist, it has been used and searched for by powerful soldiers and kings alike. Constantine, St. Maurice, Charlemagne, and Frederick of Barbarossa have all been said to have owned it. Legends also tell of when it was wielded by the warrior Balin who used it to help King Arthur consolidate his power over England, which caused a curse on Balin for using the Holy artifact for a destructive purpose, which is something that almost all who wish to possess it fail to understand.THE SPEAR'S POWERS: The exact nature and extent of the Spear’s powers remain ambiguous. However, even those with no formal magical training have been able to use it to produce world-altering effects. Aside from the Sphere of Influence, Adolf Hitler used the Spear’s power to summon a flight of real, tangible valkyries and, in April 1945, nearly succeeded in unleashing the devastation of Gotterdamerung onto the Earth and bringing about the end of the world. Others with no mystical inclination have nearly succeeded in destroying the Spectre, one of the DC Universe’s most powerful magical entities, by simply using the Spear as a melee weapon. The Sphere of Influence itself was an extremely formidable spell, capable of automatically controlling the minds and wills of the most powerful metahumans and sorcerers at tremendous distances without even requiring the conscious volition of the Spear’s wielder. It should be noted, however, that the Sphere was created by Hitler in partnership with a Japanese occultist called the Dragon King and bolstered with the power of the Holy Grail. A feat of such magnitude may not be possible without the assistance of a more competent magic-user.
Evidence strongly suggests that the Spear cannot be destroyed, at least not by any conventional means. The Spear has three times survived being accelerated to the escape velocity of the Earth (each time it was thrown into space), and its recent disposal by the Sentinels of Magic indicated that even being thrown into the sun did not actually destroy it (although it does obviously make it more difficult to retrieve).
Defending - provides the wielder of the spear with RM protection from all forms of physical attack
Ghost Touch - inflicts damage on incorporeal targets as if they were corporeal
Holy - yields double damage from heroic wielders and inflicts -1CS on all attributes and powers of villainous wielders as long as they hold the spear. It is up to the Judge to determine if the wielder fits into either of these categories or not.
Combat Range - gives +2CS to Strength for determining how far the spear can be thrown
Yellow or Red attack results cause +3CS damage
A special wounding attack that if successful causes 1 point of damage directly to an opponent's Endurance per Round. This type of attack must be declared as the wielder's intention to do so. The Endurance loss can only be stopped by magical means
An additional +2CS damage to all Undead
An additional +4CS damage against all villainous Outsiders (i.e. demons, fiends and extra-planar nasties)
If mounted (used while on horseback or attached to some other form of vehicle) the spear inflicts double damage.
Resist: Magic UN
Light Emission: Normal Light, functions to "light" an area, not to inflict damage, CL. 1000
Healing Others (Realms bk1 p. 22) CL. 1000, special range 1 mile radius with multiple targets affected three times per day
Revival (Realms bk1 p. 26) CL 1000, special range 1 mile radius with multiple targets affected twice a day
True Resurrection: this ability restores a dead target to its body with all its abilities restored so long as some portion of its physical body remains, once per week
Force Field vs. Chaos and Evil CL. 1000: acts like Exorcism towards the effects of Chaos and Evil (i.e. Mind and Emotion Control from villainous characters, etc.) on all targets within rage at will
Slay Living: the wielder may kill a target that the spear is touching at will. The target may make an Endurance Feat roll as with a normal Kill result. If successful the target does not die but takes RM damage.
All Feat rolls suffer a -3CS penalty
Talents such as Martial Arts that yield combat bonuses are useless
A continuous Confusion effect (see Realms of Magic book 1 pp. 16-17).
Only a successful Revival spell (Realms bk1 p. 26) cast by a heroic mage can remove the curse. The exact requirements of the magic needed to remove the curse are up to the Judge.
DC UNIVERSE HISTORY: The Spear of Destiny is a mystical artifact of enormous but undefined power. It was the spear that a Roman centurion used to pierce the side of Christ as he hung on the cross. In the centuries following the crucifixion, it passed from hand to hand, bringing glory to some and disaster to others. By 1940, it fell into the hands of Adolf Hitler (see WEIRD WAR TALES #50), who attempted to use it in November of 1940 to slay two captured American mystery men--Green Lantern (Alan Scott) and the Flash (Jay Garrick), sent by British intelligence to thwart a rumored invasion of Great Britain. The heroes were rescued by the timely intervention of Dr. Fate and Hourman, but Fate was unable to attack Hitler directly while he had the Spear.Raising the Spear to the heavens, Hitler called down its mystic power to destroy his enemies, conjuring a flight of valkyries like something straight out of Wagner. With the valkyries battling the heroes, Hitler launched his invasion fleet.
The heroes eventually defeated the valkyries, and Hitler's navy was decimated in the English Channel by the Spectre, who was then forced to journey to the Realm of the Just-Dead to rescue the soul of President Roosevelt, slain by the last of the valkyries. When he returned successful, the assembled heroes formed themselves into the Justice Society of America, which had its first official meeting November 22, 1940 (see DC SPECIAL #29 and the revised post Crisis version described here in SECRET ORIGINS #31).
In the subsequent year, Hitler made an arrangement with a Japanese operative known only as the Dragon King, who possessed an artifact alleged to be the Holy Grail. Together, using the Dragon King's occult knowledge, the leaders of the Axis powers formed a mystic barrier around their territories and occupied zones. As the heroes of the newly-formed All-Star Squadron discovered to their horror on December 8, 1941, any hero whose power had a basis in or a weakness to magic would be immediately controlled by the power of the Spear and the Grail and made to serve the Axis, against their former comrades. This included the most powerful of the Allied heroes--Dr. Fate, the Spectre, and Green Lantern (and in the pre-Crisis universe where this originally took place, the Golden Age Superman and Wonder Woman). As a result, the Allied commanders ordered _all_ metahuman operatives to stay out of Axis controlled territory, rightly terrified of the prospect of a being like the Spectre controlled by Hitler's Spear. (see ALL-STAR SQUADRON #4) As a result, only a few non-powered heroes, like the Americommando and the Unknown Soldier, ever ventured directly into the occupation zones. The rest were left in Allied or neutral territory, generally combatting saboteurs and fifth columnists.
At the end of the war, with Russian and American tanks converging on Berlin, Hitler made a final effort to use the Spear to secure a pyrrhic victory from the ashes of defeat, by bringing on Gotterdamerung, the Twilight of the Norse gods and with it, the end of the world. He was thwarted by the sacrifice of the Justice Society of America, who departed from the future (immediately following the Crisis) and intervened in the Ragnarok cycle to prevent it from coming to a close. The consequence was that the JSA was trapped in an endless cycle, repeating the final battle apparently for eternity. His final strategem a failure, Hitler retired to his bunker and committed suicide (see LAST DAYS OF THE JSA special).
Following the fall of Berlin, the Spear was retrieved by the Russian army, and eventually into the private collection of a Soviet official. From there it fell into the hands of Kobra the Conqueror, who attempted to use the Spear on the Spectre, inadvertently restarting Hitler's Ragnarok spell. In the resulting battle, the JSA was released from their endless struggle, and the Spear was confiscated by the U.S. government (see ARMAGEDDON: INFERNO). It was recently retrieved and turned over to Superman so that he could stop or destroy the Spectre, a plan which failed dramatically, narrowly avoiding the dreadful consequence of Superman being controlled by Hitler's curse. The Spectre bound the Spear into the ashes of Vlatava (destroyed in SPECTRE #13) and threw it into space, where it remains (see SPECTRE #19-#22).
The Spear of Destiny writeup was done by Curt Meyer and Ty States. For more information on the Spear of Destiny go to The DC Magic Resource Page and http://ourworld.cs.com/argentprime/spear.htm
F- RM (30)
Talents: Leadership, Chemistry, Engineering, Occult, Guns, Martial Arts A, E.
Contacts: Adolf Hitler, Imperial Japan.
Equipment: Taisho Pistol TY (6) damage
Characters with powers or abilities that come from scientific gadgets are not affected by the barrier, although use of a mystic gadget or occult object is automatically affected by both the barrier and the anti-magic shell.
RM material strength
Mind Control SH-Z (1,000 mile range; Anti-Magic Shell only affects characters with the mega gene)
THE HOLY GRAIL
CL. 1000 material strength
Mind Control SH-Z (1,000 mile range; only affects characters with magical powers or a vulnerability to magic)
Real Name: Unknown
Class: Human villain
Occupation: Axis agent of the Imperial Japanese High Command
Group Affiliation: Formerly Black Dragon Society
Known Relatives: Shiv (daughter)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Blue Valley, Nebraska, formerly South Pacific
First Appearance: All-Star Squadron #4 (December, 1981)
Powers: Dragon King is a superior athlete and fighter, but his biggest asset is his vast knowledge of both science and magic.
History: (All-Star Squadron #4) Dragon King was a former member of the Black Serpent Society who began having great political aspirations at the start of WWII. Dragon King hoped to become third in command of Imperial Japan after the Premier and the Emperor. To this end he constructed a supernatural energy field around all of Axis-held Europe using the Spear of Destiny and the Holy Grail. This energy-field brought any superhuman passing through it under the control of the Axis. When the All-Star Squadron attempted to invade Japan after the bombing of Pearl Harbor their superhuman members fell under the Dragon King’s influence. The All-Star Squadron subdued their brainwashed friends and fled Japan, realizing that there was no feasible way to avoid Dragon King’s spell. Dragon King’s energy-field would eventually dissipate after the war ended.
(Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. #11) After the war Dragon King set up a criminal organization in Blue Valley, Nebraska. He was pursued by Shining Knight and his lover Firebrand II who wanted to gain possession of the Holy Grail. Dragon King defeated Shining Knight and murdered Firebrand. He maintained an iron-grip on Blue Valley until years later when he was opposed by Star-Spangled Kid II and S.T.R.I.P.E. Shining Knight would also return to confront Dragon King and kill the villain in battle.
In the pre-Crisis DC Universe Dragon King lived on Earth-2.
List of appearances: All-Star Squadron #4
Crisis on Infinite Earths #9
Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. #11
