Sea-Czar

The Emperor of Earth's oceans

“Your surface world lives or dies at my pleasure.”

Earth’s surface is 70% water. The depths of the oceans harbor life unseen and unguessed by those on the surface. The mysterious “Emperor of Earth’s Oceans”, Sea-Czar, claims all of this as his dominion.

His origins are a mystery. Many believe he was a marine biologist named Decio Gennari, whose experiments with controlling fish behavior and the possibility of grafting marine organs onto human bodies were too extreme even for the secretive Onyx Corporation that funded him. The good doctor was lost when an oil rig, converted into a secret bioweapons laboratory, sunk beneath the waves in a suspicious “accident”.

Sea-Czar has either allied with some underwater civilization, or discovered the secrets of one. He controls devices that can manipulate the shape of water across vast areas. He uses this to deploy his armies of sharks, squid, kraken, and darker entities of the Abyss onto land. Aside from his mastery of water and aquatic life, Sea-Czar has engineered himself (and a few loyal lieutenants) with the best the sea has to offer. Superior squid eyes and camouflage, dolphin echolocation, the incredible regeneration of the axolotl, and other abilities make him physically formidable even without his other resources.

Sea-Czar seems to prefer intimidation to conquest. He wants the surface to avoid dumping chemicals into the oceans, and wants to harshly regulate fishing, shipping, and other human pursuits on and in the ocean. He rules his preferred empire, and sees his actions as punishing interlopers in his domain.

Don’t underestimate what such a person is capable of. Nuclear submarines lost at sea may have given him access to nuclear weapons, and it remains to be seen how far he’ll go to enforce his will on the surface. He can tap into underwater cables, giving him access to vast amounts of Internet traffic, including financial data. Blowing up a dam or causing a tsunami can instantly flip control over some area from surface-dwellers to him and his fishy minions.

Playing Sea-Czar

Sea-Czar is a big invasion- or conquest-type villain, the enemy general of an army. He comes from a place where it’s hard to launch a counterattack, and his forces and tactics are hard to deal with when he does choose to appear. His motivation is to terrorize the surface world into submission.

Sea-Czar is inspired by DC’s Aquaman: the physically powerful ruler of an undersea world.

Plots

Respond to Sea-Czar’s invasion of a major city
Rescue a ship or submarine from Sea-Czar’s clutches
Thwart Sea-Czar’s attempted theft of an important chemical or device

Dialogue

“Whole classes - whole phyla - of life exist underwater, that none of you have dared glimpse! And they harken to my command!”
“Nothing is really lost in the depths of the sea. It all comes, inevitably, to me.”
“Curious, how narrow the gap between dehydration and drowning.”

Comic Book Panels

Spheres of water over just over the city. Inside them are all manner of sea creatures, all multicolored, sporting fins, tentacles, and far too many eyes. They’re emerging to terrorize the citizens of the city, or drag them into the water spheres. On the crest of a tidal wave that’s poised to drown the city but is held back by mysterious forces, Sea-Czar is standing with arms folded. He has the poise of an army general overseeing his forces.

Sea-Czar, or his minions and lieutenants, wield mysterious technological artifacts which create walls and weapons out of liquid water.

A hero tries to engage Sea-Czar in hand-to-hand. The villain can use a squid’s camouflage and ink, a deep-sea fish’s toxins, an electric eel’s shocks, and a dolphin’s echolocation to outmaneuver the hapless hero.

Variations

Origin

Is Sea-Czar a disgruntled biochemist who’s reinvented himself as the dark king of the seas? If so, he might want something other than simple terror - he might want revenge against someone who wronged him
Sea-Czar could also be a native of some mysterious underwater civilization such as Atlantis or Mu

Dominion

Sea-Czar might be the undisputed master of the undersea realm, or he could be in competition with existing underwater societies
Alternatively, he could be working for some such civilization, whether he’s a native or a modified human being

Power

Sea-Czar’s control over sea life is assumed to be scientific in nature: biochemistry, genetic engineering, or something else. Likewise, his mysterious mastery over water is assumed to come from some kind of device
On the other hand, it’s easy to imagine him as a dark sorcerer, using eldritch magics or making bargains with Lovecraftian entities to manipulate the horrors of the deep