History
The Somnotherm was a device that was secretly buried deep in the ground under the Palace Royal of the Inhumans by the Kree millennia ago. It was the power source and activator of the four robotic Kaptroids that had been planted at the same time. The devices were to remain dormant until such time as they were needed. Once the Somnotherm rose, a final component would have to be added in order to activate it. As part of his deal with the Kree, Maximus agreed to activate it at a prearranged time.[1]
However, when that time approached, Maximus was imprisoned and unable to fulfill his part of the bargain so the Kree instead freed Blastaar from imprisonment and recruited him for the task. As Blastaar approached Attilan, the Somnotherm erupted upwards through the floor of the throne room, shocking the five members of the Inhuman Royal Family who were present at the time. Soon after Black Bolt and Triton had departed to investigate the device, Blastaar arrived and began attacking Attilan. Medusa, Gorgon and Karnak tried to stop him but were defeated.[2] Upon reaching the throne room, Blastaar retrieved the final component, the golden disc known as the Gong of Sovereigns, and placed where it was meant to be, then used a power blast on it that activated the Somnotherm, causing it to send energy downwards that activated the Kaptroids who then began to climb up to the surface.[1]
Upon reaching the surface, the three surviving Kaptroids began carrying out their programmed mission to capture Inhumans. Working together, Medusa, Gorgon and Karnak managed to destroy one before Black Bolt realized that the robots were getting their energy from the Somnotherm. Karnak then used his skills to shatter the Gong of Sovereigns, deactivating the Somnotherm and cutting off the flow of power to the Kaptroids which then became inert.[1]Notes
- Although the idea of the Inhumans being threatened by Kree weapons that had been buried beneath their Himalayan home millennia ago was interesting, it was also a continuity error because it had previously been established that the Inhumans had lived on the island of Attilan in the North Atlantic Ocean since prehistoric times and had only moved to the Great Refuge in the Himalayas relatively recently, during the reign of Black Bolt. This discontinuity was resolved in Marvel Two-In-One #72 when it was revealed that the Inhumans had relocated by transporting their city and the entire island upon which it rested. The entry for Attilan in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #1 confirmed that the entire island complex had been moved and a side view showed that a great deal of the ground beneath the city had been transplanted as well, including the deeply-buried "Tombs of the Captroids."