BOOK OF STONE: Duath

For April, Stone Soldiers.info is celebrating the A to Z Blog Challenge with daily letter-themed entries. A separate page with a list of all these entries, plus Character Profiles and Book Synopses will appear on the right hand side of the page in coming weeks, detailing the people, places and things of the Stone Soldiers universe.

DUATH

First Appearance:   Dark Invaders

Description:   Human-Fell Hybrid

Last Known Status:   Executed, 1954

Summary:

In 1954, the United States was visited by two saucer-shaped aircraft, carrying emissaries on separate diplomatic missions. Each group proclaimed themselves extraterrestrials and attempted to convince the U.S. Military to enter into a treaty to fight the other emissaries in exchange for advanced technology.

One group of visitors consisted of  tall, pale-skinned human-appearing beings with long white hair. These three beings, classified Nordics, or Species Five, fitting the descriptions given by many alien abductee victims, were named Nuada, Galath and Duath.

Captain Mark Kenslir of Detachment 1039 managed to successfully interrogate the third emissary, Duath, learning of the Nordic's true place of origin--the Moon--and their intent to one day invade and conquer the Earth in service of their master, a supernatural entity.

Like most Nordics of his species, Duath stood about 7 feet tall. He was of slender build, with long white hair and physical strength greater than that of even the strongest man. Duath was attached to Nuada, the emissary to the United States from a Lunar Colony ruled by the First Born Fell Hubal. The last of his mission to be interrogated, Duath succumbed to a regimen of torture and eventually revealed the plan of the Nordics--to trick the United States into disarmament so that Hubal's armies could invade and conquer the Earth.

After his execution immediately following interrogation, Duath's head was removed and shipped separately from his body to a secret government laboratory for testing.

Behind the Scenes:
The 1954 landing at Edwards AFB is actually based on an event UFOers swear is real--the meeting of President Eisenhower with extraterrestrials. For Stone Soldiers I decided i might be fun to make aliens actually turn out to be demonic, netherworldly creatures trying to trick mankind. After perusing all the possible events I could use, I though the '54 incident was the best suited to a story of super soldiers and false aliens.


Author's Notes:
Dark Invaders started as a flashback section of One Dark Step, the 11th Stone Soldiers novel, which takes Detachment 1039 to the Moon to fight the false god Hubal and his legion of Nordics and Huldufolk. But when I got done with 1DS, I decided that there was a touch more of the 1954 encounter I needed to tell.

And yes, the Nordics are he elves of the Stone Soldiers universe. I just wish coming up with names was easier...