Earth-311

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Earth-311 is a universe in which heroes comparable to several major figures in Earth-616 emerged in 1602 Europe. Documented events occurred primarily in England during the final year of Queen Elizabeth's reign, as subjects prepared for the likely ascension of King James VI of Scotland amid Elizabeth's worsening health. The Spanish Inquisition led by Enrique also proved prominent in its hunting down of witchbreed and its burgeoning alliance with the similarly bigoted James. Their efforts were met with resistance from Carlos Javier and his band of witchbreed rebels.

History

The Templar treasure

In London, March 1602, Queen Elizabeth, ill and near death, observed a number of anomalous and apparently apocalyptic weather events across the kingdom, as told by her intelligencer Sir Nicholas Fury. She met with Fury and court magician and physician Stephen Strange to discuss these events. Strange was unwilling to attribute the events to armageddon, but admitted that the weather was unnatural. Strange vaguely informed Fury that he had learned through magical sources of an object in Jerusalem of great power. He wasn't sure of the exact nature of the object, but knew that England should acquire and protect it. Fury, through this expansive spy network, in fact already knew of the artifact and that it was a lost Templar treasure.

Fury traveled to a tavern in Westminster to meet with his spy, the blind bard Matthew Murdoch, known as the Devil. Fury's new assistant, a boy named Peter Parquagh, was also present. Fury tasked Murdoch with connecting with a contact known as the Old Man in Trieste, Italy in ten days to protect the Templar artifact on its way to London. The Devil accepted a diamond as payment, with another to come upon the assignment's completion. Fury took Parquagh to a Templar temple in London, where he was attacked by an assassin—precisely as he had planned. The would-be killer's knife was stopped by Fury's underarmor, and Fury knocked him out and took him back to the Tower of London for interrogation.

Strange returned home to Greenwich, where his partner Clea assisted him in divination seeking the cause of the weather phenomena. Strange saw a ship, the Virginia Maid, on which stood a Native American man and white girl. He saw a mountain, "a place built to hold Earth, Air, Water, and Fire." He saw a man with large, angelic wings held prisoner in a tower in Spain, while others were burned at the stake outside. He saw a priest speaking with a nun in a red habit: somehow, the nun noticed Strange's magical observation and banished him. Clea took Stephen to bed, and the two worried of a potential ascension to the throne by Scotland's King James VI in light of Elizabeth's looming death: James had a noted, virulent hatred for magical folk.[1]

The witchbreed conspiracy

Enrique, Grand Inquisitor of Spain, oversaw the inquisition's killing of witchbreed: mutants with remarkable traits which the Catholic Church saw as an affront to God. He met with Sister Wanda, a nun in a red habit, in Castle Domdaniel along with her brother Petros. As they spoke, Doctor Strange magically interfered, but Wanda detected his presence. Enrique believed that it was Carlos Javier, leader of the witchbreed resistance and potent telepath. Petros had just returned from a visit with King James: though James was Protestant, in contrast to the Catholic inquisition, they developed an alliance against witchbreed and magicians. However, English memory of the many burnings during the reign of Queen Mary dictated that persecution of the witchbreed would need to be more subtle. To garner public support for their cause, Enrique would fabricate a witchbreed plot to bomb Parliament when James was king. The inquisition kept one witchbreed, a young man with angelic wings named Werner, prisoner in Domdaniel. They attempted to burn him at the stake, but he was rescued by two other witchbreed: one with ice-manipulating powers named Robert Trefusis, and the other able to manifest powerful lasers from his eyes, Scotius Sumerisle. They along with telepath John Grey took Werner to England, en route to their schoolhouse hideout known as Sanctuary.[1]

The American girl

Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the American colonies, was sent by her father to Greenwich to garner more colonists and investors for their home colony of Roanoke. He sent a large, powerful Native American named Rojhaz along to accompany and protect her.[1]

Earth-616 analogs

Most central figures in the events of Earth-311 have clear analogs to Earth-616. Some, such as Queen Elizabeth, King James, and Virginia Dare, are relatively unchanged in terms of basic identity.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Marvel 1602 #1: "In Which We Are Introduced to Some of Our Featured Players." (November 2003) Gaiman, Neil (w), Kubert, Andy (p), Isanove, Richard (col), Klein, Todd (let), Lowe, Nick and Joe Quesada (ed).
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