History
Overview[]
Temple of the Dragon's Breath is a temple in Cambodia in southeast Asia. It was built to house the Well of All Things, a pin-prick-sized portal that intersects multiple dimensions that on Earth manifests in Cambodia. The hole released various forms of interdimensional energy.[1]
Ancient Times[]
Centuries ago a group of natives built a temple around the well in the hopes the tribe could one day harness the power of the well. These people became known as the Cult of the Dragon's Breath. Over the centuries the cult began practicing selective breeding in the hopes of breeding a generation that could harness the power of the well.[1]
20th Century[]
After World War II this generation came about and included Tai. Tai began killing her rivals in the cult to ensure she alone would tap into its power.[2] Her people believed in a prophecy that Westerners would one day marry into the cult and that from these unions would come powerful children who could be sacrificed to the well in order to grant someone the power of the well.[1]
During the Vietnam War the prophecy seemingly came to pass when a unit of American soldiers called the Half-Fulls stumbled upon the temple in the jungle. Tai promised the 6 men (Daryl Taylor, Andrew Chord, Diego Casseas, Mark Conroy, Collier Mack and Go Vin Ng) undreamt of power if they agreed to marry and father children with "The Daughters of the Dragon": the six maiden brides of the cult. Almost all other members of the cult had been killed off by Tai by this point. 5 of the 6 soldiers agreed but Night Thrasher's future father Daryl refused on the grounds he was already happily married (ironically he would later go on to father an illegitimate child anyway). This agreement was known as "The Pact" and the product of these unions were known as the "Children of the Pact".[3]
Daughters of the Dragon
One of the soldiers Andrew Chord had married Miyami, the only one of the six brides who was Tai's biological daughter. Miyami had two children Midnight's Fire and Silhouette. Not wanting to lose her children to her mother's sick schemes, Miyami plotted to fake her death and the deaths of her children in a car accident. She arranged for her children to be given new names and be raised in Chinatown. Andrew and his mother-in-law Tai assumed the children were dead. For years Andrew wandered the world as a mercenary until he came upon the temple again and renewed his acquaintance with his mother-in-law. Tai fearing the Pact was unravelling chose to leave her temple and return to the United States with Chord.[4]
Modern Era[]
Tai forced Andrew Chord to renew his friendship with fellow soldier Daryl Taylor who eventually had a son with his wife Melody named Dwayne and Andrew was made his godfather. Chord also became an integral part of Daryl's company the Taylor Foundation. When Dwayne was six years old Tai returned to Chord and demanded Andrew kill Daryl and Melody. Out of a combination of fear and mental coercion, Chord acquiesced and shot the couple to death in a restaurant. It was at this point Tai was introduced to Dwayne and she used her powers to cloud his memory of what had happened.[4]
Tai chose to use Dwayne as part of her plan to salvage the pact. Tai and Chord seized control of the Taylor Foundation, raised Dwayne as his legal guardian and trained Dwayne to avenge his parents' murder. They did not approve of his first choice of vigilante allies, the now-grown Midnight's Fire and Silhouette, but at the time did not know they were Chord's children. Later they convinced Dwayne to recruit a team of super-heroes. This group banded together after a battle with Terrax and became known as the New Warriors. Chord and Tai served as their mentors for many months.[5]
Sometime later Dwayne discovered Chord had involved his family's company in many illicit enterprises and confronted him. Chord first tried to turn the New Warriors against Dwayne but eventually tried to commit suicide by shooting himself in the temple. He was saved by Marvel Boy and taken to the hospital. While in the hospital and still comatose Chord was visited by his wife Miyami who Chord thought was dead. This mistake led Tai to unravel Miyami's lies and realize Silhouette and Midnight's Fire were her children. A short time later Tai confronts her daughter in a restaurant and becomes so furious she slices her daughter in half. When Silhouette came to visit Chord in the hospital Tai reveals Silhouette's relationship to Chord and herself and blasts Silhouette out a window. Tai heals Chord to the best of her abilities and tells him to tell the New Warriors where to find her.[6]
By this time, Diego Casseas had been gathering the Children of the Pact to confront Tai. Diego's wife was killed in a falling elevator that left their daughter comatose. Diego spent years learning the dark arts and used his spells to drain his comatose daughter of her mutant [4] darkforce energy. Diego became known as the Left Hand and gathered the children of his fellow soldiers: Midnight's Fire, Bloodstrike, Smiling Tiger and Silk Fever. Night Thrasher also reluctantly joined the Circle to learn the truth about his past. The 6 of them became known as the Folding Circle and went to the cult's temple in Cambodia to confront Tai and the New Warriors arrived soon after.[7]
Folding Circle
Tai later explained the origins of the cult to both groups. Left Hand told the groups that the original end of the prophecy was that the children of the pact would enter the Well and gain omnipotence but this went against Tai's plan who wanted the power for herself. Tai's original plan was to sacrifice the Folding Circle to the Well of All Things but at some point had decided to sacrifice the Warriors instead and keep the Folding Circle as her avatars of world domination. Night Thrasher killed Tai to prevent her from dropping his friends into the well and Nova left Left Hand to drop to his death and he too fell into the well and seemingly perished. As a result of this the Well of All Things imploded and took the temple with it.[8]
Later Silhouette was sent into the past by the villain the Sphinx. There Silhouette met her grandmother as a young girl in the temple in Cambodia. Even as a young girl Tai was plotting to seize power and demanded Silhouette help her eliminate Tai's young rival Chei-Lin. Silhouette dumped her young grandmother in the well and reasoned that this would not affect her own future but just create an alternate timeline.[9]
Many years later the Well of All Things was revealed to be tied to a concept called the Wellspring of Power. Apparently, there were several other pinpoints all over the globe that access multiple dimensions and that supposedly this was the source of various super beings' powers on earth.[10] Through a series of machinations Baron Zemo ended up in control of this energy and used it to defeat the Grandmaster. Songbird, not trusting the Baron, betrayed him and sent him hurtling back in time.[11]Points of Interest
Residents
Notes
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Trivia
- Only 5 of the 6 daughters of the Dragon's Breath are accounted for. It's unknown if the sixth bride ever mated and gave birth to a child of the pact.
- Daryl Taylor's brief exposure to the well (a few weeks' worth) may have led him to pass down mutant genes to his sons even though he did not mate with one of the brides. His son Dwayne with his wife Melody has a gene for psionic protection[13] and his illegitimate son Donyell from a one night stand has bio-electric powers.[14]
- Scorch may be another Child of the Pact. Silk Fever was orphaned as a child and did not know who her parents were. Tommy and Theary/Min Li both share the same surname and both have flame powers.
See Also
- 15 appearance(s) of Temple of the Dragon's Breath
- 3 minor appearance(s) of Temple of the Dragon's Breath
- 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Temple of the Dragon's Breath
- 3 image(s) of Temple of the Dragon's Breath
Links and References
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 New Warriors #24
- ↑ Night Thrasher #11–12
- ↑ New Warriors #23–24
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 New Warriors #25
- ↑ New Warriors #1
- ↑ New Warriors #18–21
- ↑ New Warriors #22–23
- ↑ New Warriors #22–25
- ↑ Night Thrasher #11
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Thunderbolts #106
- ↑ Thunderbolts #108
- ↑ Thunderbolts #102
- ↑ New Warriors #64
- ↑ Night Thrasher #8