Akua

Akua
Name	Akua
Aliases	Atua (in Maori), Kahunas, Oceanic gods
Affiliation and Identity
Identity	Public
Physical Characteristics
Body Type	Humanoid
Number of Limbs	4
Origin and Status
Origin	Pantheons
Galaxy	Milky Way
Star System	Sol
Home	Earth
Base of Operations	Celestial Hawaiki
Place of Birth	Celestial Hawaiki
Creators and Appearances
Creators	John Francis Moore, Adam Pollina
First	X-Force #81 (July, 1998)
First	X-Force #81 (July, 1998)

History

The Akua (also known as the "Oceanic gods" or "Atua") are a race of superhumanly powerful humanoid beings who have been worshipped by the Polynesian people of the central and southern Pacific Ocean as early as 1600 BC to modern times. Most of the Akua dwell in Celestial Hawaiki, a small "pocket" dimension adjacent to Earth; an interdimensional nexus between Hawaiki and Earth exists somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, and the 12 floating, celestial islands that comprise Hawaiki are sometimes seen on the distant horizon at sunrise and sunset from the earthly plane. Celestial Hawaiki is also inhabited by other beings below the Akua, such as wairua (spirits), tipua (goblins), taniwha (aquatic monsters) and patupaiarehe (forest-dwelling, faerie-like creatures). The Akua are called different names by their human worshipers; for example, the sea god Kanaloa is known as "Tagaloa" by the Samoans, "Tangaloa" by the Tongans, "Ta'aroa" by the Tahitians, and "Tangaroa" by the Maori of New Zealand. The Akua are invoked by their worshipers on Earth in oral literature and genealogical recital even in modern times.

The precise origin of the Akua, like that of all Earth's pantheons, is shrouded in legend. According to ancient myths, the primordian Earth Mother Gaea (Papahanaumoku or "Papa" in Hawaii, "Papatuanuku" in Maori) and the primordiak Sky Father Rangi ("Ranginu," aka "Wakea" in Hawaii) coupled and gave birth to the first Akua; Light god Kane Milohai, sea agod Kanaloa, war god Ku, and peace and agriculture god Lono. Due to the constant tight embrace of Papa and Rangi, their offspring lived in eternal darkness. The fierce war god Ku proposed that he and his brothers kill their parents in order to end the darkness; but Kane disagreed and instead used his might to physically push his parents apart, thus separating the sky from the earth and bringing light to the world. Kane became his brothers' leader and, with the childbirth goddess Haumea, sired many divine children who joined the Akua pantheon.

Although a daughter of Kane and Haumea, the volcano goddess Pele was born a mortal while her divine parents lived on Earth in ancient times. As Pele and her older sister Namaka, goddess of the sea, matured, they competed for the right to ascent to godhood like their other relatives, slowly accumulating the levels of mana needed to achieve superhuman feats. This caused much resentment between the two sisters, intensifying when the fiery Pele seduced Namaka's lover, Aukelenuiaiku. As Pele fled her sister's wrath, many fights between the fledgling goddesses erupted over the years, battles that created the Hawaiian isles by Pele's mastery of molten lava clashing with Namaka's control of the cooling water. Pele eventually died during these battles, but her father Kane resurrected and apotheosized her as a full-fledged goddess. Namaka spitefully prevented Pele from retrieving her mortal heart hidden within the Kilauea volcano on the island Hawai'i via enchantments that required noble-hearted warriors to retrieve it. In recent years, the subterranean-dwelling Lava Men stole Pele's heart to power the mighty Firebringer to destroy the surface world. Posing as the mutant Risque, Pele guided the mutant team X-Force to recover her heart and destroy the Firebringer. With her mortal heart finally retrieved, Pele returned to Hawaiki.

B'ngudja was one of several shark gods sired by Kane and Haumea. In ancient times, he lived off the coast of Woodah Island (in modern-day Northern Territory, Australia) where he hunted dolphins in the Gulf of Carpentaria. In modern times, B'ngudja was impersonated by the sinister Bane agent Brent McCinley, who assumed a shark-like form and attacked swimmers in order to turn public opinion against Australia's shark population. This facilitated the Bane's illegal shark-poaching operations, but McCinley was ultimately killed by a school of sharks. It is unrevealed whether the real B'ngudja was involved in McCinley's death. More recently, the shape-shifting god of evil Whiro posed as the Earth Mother Gaea/Papa and joined forces with the Mesopotamian god Marduk and demigod Aqhat in an attempt to set off a violent international war, but they were defeated by Citizen V and the V-Battalion.

Miscellaneous

Cultural Traits

The Akua all possess certain superhuman physical attributes. They are true immortals who cease to age upon reaching adulthood, and they cannot die by conventional means. The Akua are immune to all terrestrial diseases and are resistant to conventional injury. If an Akua is wounded, his or her godly life force will enable him or her to recover at a superhuman rate. It would take an injury of such magnitude that it incinerates an Akua or disperses a major portion of his or her bodily moledules to cause him or her to die. Even then, it may be possible for a god of greater or equal power, or several gods acting together, to revive the deceased god before the god's life essence is beyond resurrections. Akua flesh and bone are about twice as dense as similar human tissue, contributing to the gods' superhuman strength and weight. An average male god can lift about 20 tons; an average goddess can lift about 10 tons. Though generally weaker than Asgardian and Olympian deities, the Akua have proportionately faster reflexes. The gods' metabolism gives them superhuman endurance in all physical actifities. Many Akua also possess additional superhuman powers, and many can achieve greater superhuman feats upon accumulating high levels of internal mana - the life force that resides within all living things. For instance, the volcano goddess Pele can control fire and magma and project intense heat. Many Akua are also skilled shape-shifters.

Representatives

• B'ngudja
• Papa
• Haumea
• Kanaloa
• Kāne
• Ku
• Laka
• Lono
• Namaka
• Pele
• Poliahu
• Whiro

Notes

Akua refers to the ancestral gods of Polynesia; Kahunas was the name of the later Hawaiian gods.

See Also

• 2 appearance(s) of Akua
• 3 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Akua
• 1 minor appearance(s) of Akua
• 3 mention(s) of Akua
• 2 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Akua
• 1 image(s) of Akua
• 13 representative(s) of Akua