| AURAKLES II | BIOGRAPHY |
| Created by Len Wein and Dick Dillin |
PERSONAL DATA
Aliases: Oracle I
Occupation: Superhero
Place of Birth: Unknown
Citizenship: Not applicable
Marital Status: Not Applicable
Known Relatives: Alix Harrower (distant descendant)
Base of Operation: The Four Cities (Falias, Findias, Murias and Gorias)
Gender: Male
Eyes: Green
Hair: Red
First Appearance: Justice League of America #100 (August 1972)
Creators: Len Wein and Dick Dillin
OVERVIEW
Though long forgotten, Aurakles was the world's very first superhero.
HISTORY
In the year 40,000 BC, the New Gods Orion, Metron and Lightray first arrived on Earth. Finding only primitive cavemen, they decided to improve upon Earth by giving the people the gifts of fire, inspiration, and magic. They built four cities, called Falias, Findias, Murias, and Gorias, in which they lived and worked. Eventually they left, but not before creating a human-New God hybrid to protect the Earth. And thus was born Aurakles, the first superhero.
Little is known about Aurakles' career, except that he spent most of it battling the 666 Monsters of Chaos. He had 7 imperishable treasures at his disposal: The Excalibur, The Cauldron of Rebirth, the all-knowing Fatherbox, the Hammer, the Merlin (a sprite made of living language), the flying steed Pegazeus, and a "spear which can carry death across time." During his lifetime, he had children, as his genetic line has survived to this day.
Centuries later, the Neanderthals had become so advanced that they had created a vehicle that could traverse time and traveled over one billion years to the future. There, they saw a dying Earth, inhabited by the vicious Sheeda.
Horrified, they returned to their own time, but unbeknownst to them, the king of the Sheeda, Melmoth, observed them and built his own time ship. Melmoth brought an army back in time to the year 10,000 BC and slaughtered and looted that period during an event called the Harrowing. Aurakles was captured and tortured, and was interned for "seven score seven years" in the Sheeda's prisons.
Thousands of years later, Aurakles must have escaped briefly, for he was once summoned by Doctor Fate, Zatanna and the Thunderbolt to help them against Nebula Man, an earlier incarnation of Neh-Buh-Loh, an ally of the Sheeda. However, although he must have wished to help deal with this threat, the answers he gave (under the name Oracle) were cryptic, forcing the heroes of the Justice League and Justice Society to solve their problems themselves.
Later, Darkseid, the mortal enemy of the New Gods, made a deal with the Sheeda whereby he would aid them in their most recent Harrowing in exchange for Aurakles, who he kept as a hostage and a slave, forcing the forgotten demi-god to fight for his amusement. This was merely a ruse, however, designed to draw out the hero Mister Miracle (Shilo Norman). This plan worked, and Norman appeared before Darkseid, offering to take Aurakles' place in order to prove that he was the world's greatest escape artist. Aurakles was thus freed, though Norman was then apparently killed by Darkseid.
Aurakles' present whereabouts are unknown, though it is known that he has a distant descendant in the modern day, Alix Harrower (Bulleteer).
POWERS AND WEAPONS
A human-New God hybrid, Aurakles had abilities far above those of mortal men. His Cauldron of Rebirth made him nearly immortal, while his Fatherbox granted him almost infinite wisdom. Whether his abilities are the same in the present day is as yet unknown.
CHRONOLOGY
For a definitive list of appearances of Aurakles in chronological order click here