SAGBATA
Real Name:
Sagbata
Occupation:
God of death, disease and pestilence
Legal Status: Exiled citizen of Ala
Identity: The general populace of Earth is unaware of the existence of Sagbata
except as a figure in African religion.
Other Aliases:
Soponna, Sagpata, Shagpona, Shakpona, Baron Samedi, Baron Cimiere, Baron
Cemetery,
Place of Birth:
Unknown
Marital Status:
Married
Known Relatives: Lusa
(father), Mahu (mother), Damballah,
Eschu, Legba, Loco, Zaca, Gou, Maou, Ogun, Shango,
(brothers); Ayaba, Faa, Erzulie, Avlekete (sisters); Akonadi (wife); Arom,
Mukasa, Anaya, Kibuka, Tilu, Orinmila (brothers-in-law), Anansi
(father-in-law),
Nyambe (uncle); Asase-Ya (aunt), Obatala (grandfather), Odudua (grandmother),
Group Affiliations: The Loa (Gods of Africa)
Base of Operations: Iku, formerly Ala
First Appearance: Doctor Strange III #17
History: Sagbata is one of the twelve divine twins of Lusa and Mawu, members of
an extra-dimensional race of beings known as the Orishas, who were worshipped as
gods by the ancient tribes of Africa. Sagbata was worshipped as the god of death
alongside his brother Damballah as god of the dead, possibly two of the darkest
figures in the African pantheon of gods. Sagbata was constantly antagonized by
and in personal competition with Shango, the African god of rain and thunder,
who fought with Sagbata who frequently represented the personification of
drought.
In the Thirteenth to Fifteenth Centuries,
Europeans began invading Africa and transporting members of the African tribes,
particularly from the Yoruba, Fon, Ewe, Dahomey and Ibo tribes, to North America
and abroad to use as slaves. Many Africans went willingly expecting life easier
with their European masters providing them with food and shelter, but they
quickly realized they were being treated solely as servants confined to a life
of servitude and poverty. A few Africans were treated as free men with respect
and courtesy from their masters, but several slaves were not treated that well.
For solace, they turned to their ancient gods for guidance and combined elements
from Roman Catholicism with their own pagan rituals to create the religion now
known as Voodoo. Sagbata found more prominence in the religion of Voodoo than he
had before in Africa. His worshippers carried tenets of his power through the
Caribbean Islands, particularly Haiti, the southern rim of the United States and
into much of Central and South America. As the Loa, or gods of voodoo, invaded
parts of Eastern Mexico, the Coati, the Gods of Mexico, watched them with
apprehension.
In 1642, an African free man named Alexandre who belonged to a young pirate named
Captain Tyger was waylaid by Boute-Fe, an enemy of Captain Tyger. Boute-Fe took
Alexandre’s body to an aged witch doctor named Schango (not to be confused with the
African god Shango). Boute-Fe ordered him to create an army of invincible soldiers
who would serve him only and follow his orders, and yet never rebel against him.
Schango sacrificed Alexandre to Sagbata using spells that allowed the dead to walk
but left them their own wills. Acting for Schango, Sagbata made a pact with the
powerful Elder God named Chthon, who honored the pact for his own dark reasons, and
gave Sagbata a spell to create a new race of slaves without free will. Sagbata then
appeared on earth and added to Schango’s spells. Alexandre then rose from the altar
as the first known zombie created from Voodoo.
From Sagbata’s spells, more zombies were created to serve Boute-Fe and
he led his army of animated dead against Captain Tyger in Port-Margot in Haiti.
The Loa lead by the god Legba tried to undo Sagbata’s spells, but were unable
to because of the power of Chthon’s dark energies. Legba instead reached down
to earth and gave Alexandre’s brother, Laurent, power from the Loa to confront
Schango. Even endowed by power from the Loa, Laurent was not much of an
adversary for Schango wielding Chthon’s power. Calling upon the spirit of his
brother Alexandre, Laurent was infused with his brother’s spirit and with his
added power and slew Schango. Schango’s death resulted in the destruction of
all his zombies, and Boute-Fe soon fell to Captain Tyger’s sword.
Afterward, Legba petitioned with Nyambe, Chief of the Orishas, that Sagbata should
be exiled to Iku, the African Underworld, for his complicity and pact with Chthon.
Regardless of his exile, Sagbata’s spell still remained available to mortal hounguns
(Voodoo witch doctors) and continued to endure on earth to be used by others. Modern
hounguns and Voodoo priests call upon Sagbata under the name of Baron Samedi in order
to conceal his presence from the other gods of Voodoo.
Height: 5’ 10”
Weight: 450 lbs.
Eyes: Black
Hair: (Normal) Black, (Illusory) White
Unusual Physical Features: When he appears on Earth or in other
dimensions, Sagbata usually appears as a thin, gaunt figure with
sullen facial features, but he has also been known to appear with a head stripped of flesh
and no eyes with long deteriorating white hair.
Strength Level: Sagbata possesses the normal human strength of an African god of his
size, height and build who engages in extensive regular exercises under optimal conditions;
he can possibly lift (press) around 25 tons under optimal conditions.
Known Superhuman Powers:
Sagbata possesses the conventional physical attributes of the Loa or
African Gods. Like all the Loa, he is extremely long-lived, but he is not
immortal like the Olympian Gods. He has aged at a very slow rate since reaching
adulthood and cannot die by any known conventional means. If he were somehow
wounded, his godly life force would enable him to recover with superhuman speed.
It would take an injury of such magnitude that it dispersed a major portion of
his godly molecules to cause him a physical death. Even then, it might be
possible for a god such as Nyambe, Ndriananadhary or Damballah or for a number
of gods working together to revive him. Sagbata does have some form of
superhuman strength and his own Loa metabolism gives him far greater than human
endurance in all physical activities. (Loa flesh and blood is about three times
as dense as similar human tissue, contributing to the Loa’s superhuman
strength and weight.)
Sagbata also has limited mystical powers to
cast spells and alter his form. He has the ability to induce a physical death in
anyone he touches and to take and imprison mortal energies (souls), and to
animate the physical forms of his victims by verbal command, even if they are in
a long dead or deteriorated state. If the soul of the person can return to his
body within twenty-four hours, he can restore to life with little to no debilitating
after effects. Sagbata can also create mystical dark energies that cause a
condition identical to pestilence or a disease identical to small pox but far
more virulent for normal mortal medicines. These effects can be cured by
mystical means, such as from objects charged with positive mystical energies, or
by calling upon deities with power over Sagbata, such as Nyambe, Shango or
Legba. Sagbata can also create
conditions in others similar to starvation and by repeating this spell push that
victim closer and closer to their eventual death. If Sagbata is somehow
incapacitated or rendered unconscious, his spells can be cancelled out or at
least countered by spells of prosperity by gods such as Nyambe or even from
other pantheons, such as Zeus or Odin.
Limitations:
Sagbata is much more powerful in his own realm of Iku than he is on Earth or in
other dimensions, such as Xibalba of the Meso-American Gods. In
his own realm, he appears as a powerful young god, but on Earth and elsewhere,
he appears as a frail old man with the desiccation of a deteriorating corpse.
CLARIFICATIONS: Sagbata is not to be
confused with:
·
Baron Samedi,
AIM agent who created pseudo-vampires, @ Strange Tales I #171
UPDATED: 12/10/06