Areala(s) The Warrior Nuns Areala go back to the year 1066 when an Auria, a Valkyrie, renounced Odin and proclaimed her loyalty to God. God accepted her conversion, giving her a new name Areala and the mission to battle evil and to defend the innocent. Since then, the line has continued to the modern day. ====Areala,
Angel of War==== The ultimate founder of the Warrior Nuns. Mostly, she works with her avatars and fights evil through them, chiefly her original avatar and friend, Saint Areala who confirms or rejects her patron's current choice of vessel. She does so by guiding, empowering, and advising them. She highly approves of her current vessel, Sister Shannon. Though not specifically stated, it can be assumed that when not working through her avatar, Areala relaxes in Heaven with her parents and perhaps the original Sister Areala and the Warrior Nuns.
Fictional character biography She was born in what is now
Scandinavia during its
Christianization in the mid-11th century. Her father, Jalmir, was part of the Lost Hand of
Tyr, a band of monster slayers dedicated to fighting the
werewolf worshippers of
Fenris. It was during one such battle that Jalmir met his future wife Dahlia. Though he was a
Norse pagan and she was a
Christian, they married and had a daughter, Auria, whom Jalmir taught swordcraft and whom Dahlia taught Christianity. Growing up between two faiths, she asked her father what would happen to the gods after Ragnarök; quoting one of the last lines of the
Völuspá, he replied that "some say a new God will come. One so great that He cannot be named." Auria asked then asked him if this was the God her mother worshipped but he replied that he did not know. (Dahlia was confident of it.) Later, the grown Auria fought alongside her father against one of Fenris's werewolves wherein she was injured. Impressed by her fighting prowess, Valkyries took her to
Asgard to serve in their ranks. Auria accepted and trained there though, as per her mother's teachings, she evangelized by example Christ's teachings of compassion to the pagan gods. Not even Tyr, her lover and her father's chief god would listen, convinced that nothing should distract him from preparing for Ragnarök. She rose through the ranks and was made a Valkyrie, though she gained an enemy, and rival for Tyr's affections, in her trainer and captain, Helga. As time passed, Auria grew disillusioned with her role as a soul reaver, especially with how only those who died by violence and had "lived only for battle" could enter
Valhalla as Odin's
Einheriar, even if they were wicked, while all those who died peaceful deaths, even if they were good, would go to
Hel. After she was sent to acquire the soul of her own father (and mother) who had been murdered due to Loki's machinations, she renounced Odin ultimately saying that she would "not stay and serve a god of death! A god who would allow those with
no honor to be his most prized warriors!" Auria then renounced her father's gods and completely converted to Christianity. At that, Yahweh, God Almighty—in her words "the only true God"—accepted her conversion and gave the former Valkyrie the Christian name Areala. Just before his and his wife's death, Jalmir renounced his pagan ways and also converted to Christianity; he died soon after but he and his wife were taken up to Heaven by flights of angels, bidding their daughter goodbye. Thereafter, Areala waged a one-woman war on Asgard, routing Helga and her Valkyries right and left to keep any more souls from falling into Odin's grasp. Tyr was sent to stop her and, with her newfound power, was only able to kill her through treachery. Reunited with her family, her mother urged her to continue her battle through others; that was when she found her avatar. Seeing
Catholicism as being the true church of Christ, the avatar was a Roman Catholic nun whom she would name Sister Areala. Soon after, with the defection of their worshippers to another god heralding their doom, the Norse gods faced Ragnarök. Odin then called Areala whose body he had kept preserved; admitting that even the most evil warriors were among his Einheriar, he explained that he had not done so to reward bad behavior. Rather, it was because he wanted every warrior he could to stem the greater evil of Ragnarök. Seeing that she was needed, Areala the Angel of War fought alongside the Norse gods at the battle of Ragnarok in order to contain it. During this time she bid Tyr goodbye and singlehandedly slew
Surtr the fire giant. With the Norse gods having destroyed themselves and their entire cosmos having ceased to exist, Areala formally began her service to the God prophesied to come after Ragnarok, "the God so great that He cannot be named." She gave her name and power to her avatar, Sister Areala, thus beginning a line that endures to this day.
Abilities Empowered by God, Areala the Angel of War is shown to have vast superhuman strength, stamina, and resistance to injury. She was also trained in martial arts and swordplay by her warrior father, a Valkyrie captain, and a war god, and has defeated all the aforesaid in battle. As part of her Valkyrie power she is also a rider of winged horses, can render herself invisible to living mortals, and see what kind of lives mortals lived. However, it is unknown if she can still collect souls. Regardless it is known that she can fly and can go back and forth from Heaven to Earth at will. Since she is pure spirit she cannot be killed. Having drunk
Mímir's water, she, while not omniscient, has far reaching knowledge of past, present, and future events. She can also summon weapons when she does direct battle. ====
Saint Areala==== Sister Areala, or more accurately the original Sister Areala, was the first Warrior Nun, founder of the Warrior Nuns, a saint, Areala's first Avatar, and, though dead, is still a major player in the battle between good and evil. Saint Areala and Areala Angel of War are seen as almost one person and are used interchangeably. She—birth name unknown—was first seen in Norway in the year 1066 fleeing a convent under attack by Viking raiders. While trying to hide from the attackers who would kill and/or rape her they both beheld what she thought was an angel and what they thought was a Valkyrie. This was Areala, once Valkyrie and now Angel, who declared this nun to be her avatar and "the instrument of our Lord's vengeance." She touched the nun who was suddenly filled with superhuman power and great ferocity; she then turned and struck down the Vikings. The confused nun then later spoke with the angelic Areala who told her life story and formally chose her to carry her name and power saying "You are to be the first to carry on my work. Through you and with you, we shall battle the forces of evil and protect the innocent." Now filled with understanding, the nun accepted her new name, Sister Areala, and formally accepted her responsibility. Her first task was burying those killed in the attack and bringing the Vikings to justice. She came to suspect that the previously tolerant men had been tipped off concerning the monastery's wealth and sought out the traveling
monk who betrayed them. Seven years—or more—later, she went on to officially found the Order of the Cruciform Sword, or Warrior Nuns, under Pope Gregory VII with their vows of vigilance, chastity, and faith (though the exact words of the vow differs in some comic books). With sword in hand and wearing
chainmail beneath her habit, she saved many lives and fought many monsters, such as a
golem created by Helga the Valkyrie and one of the surviving Vikings who tried to kill her,
Frost Giants, the possibly the goddess
Hel. Later after her death she came to venerated as a saint and is the object of
veneration. Thus, though long since dead, Sister Areala is still active, serving her Warrior Nuns, the Roman Catholic Church to this day, and above all God Almighty. (She has a paternal (maternal?) view of women in her order as "her" Warrior Nuns.) She welcomes dead Warrior Nuns into Heaven and presumably makes them comfortable as reward for a job well done. Not only that but when Areala, the Angel of War, chooses a new avatar, Sister Areala will wait for the person to have a
near death experience. She will then consult with her fellow Sisters Areala (see below) who are already in Heaven before deciding whether or not to confirm the angelic Areala's choice. If the choice is right, she will awaken the sister's latent power and send her back to Earth to serve as her patron's new avatar through whom both Areala the Saint and Areala the Angel may serve the Lord. (Though not specifically mentioned, it can be assumed that if the person is not a worthy avatar for her patron, Sister Areala will not send her back to Earth but allow her to remain in Heaven for having tried her best regardless.) In her voyages to Heaven, Sister Areala has met her patron's current avatar, Sister Shannon, several times and has given her advice as the situation dictates. Since her death, she has been
canonized by the fictionalized church with the God Armor as her chief
relic. She is also the
patron saint of the Warrior Nuns and from time to time, she or her
ghost/
soul will appear in the living world. The most recent case being when she appeared to
Pope John Paul I who, in the context of the fictional universe,
died by conspiracy. Though unable to save her pontiff's life, she promised that her Warrior Nuns would avenge him.
Sisters Areala through the ages Over the centuries, Areala the Angel of War and Saint Areala have chosen many avatars to carry on their mission and they all took the title of Sister Areala. Saint Areala was the Angel's first avatar and is known only by that name. Yet while she was the first to serve their angelic patron, there have been many other over the centuries. Their ranks have included-- • Sister Vannehild of
Norway in 1124. • Sister Mary of Aquilonious in 1209. She claims to be a
Crusader and to have fought Muslims; while that broad outlines of this are true the date and the exact circumstances are disputed. • Sister Dora of
Germany in 1536. She is seen to be well educated woman, familiar with the authors and literary works of her times such as
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola's
Oration on the Dignity of Man. • A swordswoman in what seems to be
the Three Musketeers'
France, circa 1620s. • Sister Hildegard in 1696. Perhaps German, she was regarded as finest Warrior Nun in all Christian Europe until a corrupt bishop accused of her of a crime that she did not commit. She has since been exonerated. She was also a
closet lesbian who saw her romantic attraction to a fellow warrior nun as the nails in the cross that she had to bear. • Sister Trinity, a
cowgirl in the
Wild West, circa 1872. The daughter of an
American Cavalry officer who served in the
American Civil War, she was a supporter of
Indian tribes. • Sister Alicia of the United States from about 1936 to 1945. See article below. Being the Areala is not easy. That the ghost of the original Sister Areala, let alone Areala Valkyrie turned angel, chooses avatars to empower is doubted by some and has never been officially acknowledged by the church. With how "Areala" serves as both a name and a title, a woman chosen by Angel/Saint Areala may herself be called Areala, retaining the title in heaven.
Razor While
Razor is not an
Areala character per se—she is a London Night, Avatar Press creation--, she has crossed-over several times and Sister Shannon takes Razor's existence for granted. Even fiercer than Shotgun Mary who limits herself to only killing monsters, Razor is a
Punisher-like
badgirl vigilante who freely kills humans, from the chief villain of the group to the lowest paper-pusher. (She has even excused her actions on the account that "I'm just a badgirl.") She specializes in terror tactics and will remorselessly eviscerate or decapitate her foes. Razor is a known killer and is seemingly frowned on by the rest of society though she has on her side certain police officers. She is armed with
Katar (कटार) or
pata like weapons and is a good fighter, even proving a match for Sister Shannon—though Sister Shannon may have been holding back for fear of killing her. Ironically despite her methods, she is good friends with Sister Shannon, whom she calls "penguin." Feeling somewhat guilty when she is around Shannon, she respects her for her skills and more importantly because she never lost her principles.
Tomorrow Man A Superman pastiche, Tomorrow Man is the
patriotic all-American, world's greatest hero archetype. Invulnerable, super-strong, and able to fly, Tomorrow Man received his powers to serve the American cause in the
Vietnam War. It was there that he met young Father Gomez who at the time was a chaplain. Tomorrow Man became quite famous, licensing his name and image to a line of comic books. However, he grew disillusioned and suffered
post-traumatic stress disorder after learning he was indirectly responsible for the destruction of a village he thought had been evacuated of its civilian population. Consumed by guilt for the deaths he accidentally caused, he lost his powers and became a stereotypical homeless, bitter
Vietnam veteran. Reduced to
begging, he eventually wandered to Father Gomez' church. Father Gomez ultimately helped to restore his old friend's dignity and gave him back his powers once again. Now back on his feet thanks to Gomez, Tomorrow Man is now a New York super-hero and leads the Redeemers, a band of monster hunter superheroes funded by the fictional Deltacorp's fictional CEO Max Delta. Outside of his appearances in
Areala, Tomorrow Man has appeared in his own Antarctic Press comic books such as
Last Rites and is also the father of Tomorrow Girl, a young superheroine from
Ninja High School Samantha Elliot Samantha Eliot was originally a human secretary working for "Mr. Kailanx," a demon mad scientist, he worked in the vein of
Dr. Mengele engaging in human (and demon) experimentation under the aegeis of Deltacorp' subsidiary Deltronix. This included recovering the regrown wings villain Julius Salvius (see below) had severed from Lillith the Demon Princess. When Samantha Elliot realized who he was, she stole the wings and attached them to herself and tried to escape (the laboratory having teleported to Hell) she turned into a demon-human hybrid. She met with and befriended Tomorrow Man and others who had gone to Hell by accident. She and her allies managed to escape and Samantha Elliot now serves with them as one of the Redeemers. Fused with Lillith's first wings, Elliot takes on many of Lillith's characteristics, including clothes and weapons. She, however, keeps the same personality and can revert to human form.
Gabriel(s) Gabriel is the name of two beings in the
Areala universe. The first Gabriel is the
actual angel who has made a few appearances, mostly in his traditional form as a messenger. The second is the fictional Vatican's sentient supercomputer named for him. The second Gabriel is extremely powerful and is capable of tracking demonic movements anywhere on Earth immediately alerting the Vatican--"he" is also capable of tracking demonic movement in Hell itself.
Serina Alexandria Hollander First born of her father, Serina Alexandria Hollander was sixteen when she witnessed a botched
bank robbery that claimed the lives of her brother and father—like in the movies she says. During her senior year of college, she was approached by "Jack" who told her that her father death had been a
contracted hit with the bank robbery serving as a mere ruse. She was also told that the Order of the Sehkmet had been watching her from birth and that if she came with him she would learn the truth behind what happened. She joined and was reprogrammed to be a killer. A smart alec and a berserker, she is considered a loose cannon but is generally reliable. She has a younger
fraternal twin sister named Antari who works for Sobek, the Sekhmet's chief enemy.
Ota Yoma While Sister Shannon's birth parents are not mentioned, she is part of a Japanese family that was headed by an old Shinto priest or
Onmyōji named Ota Yoma. (A possible pun with how youma is the Japanese equivalent of monster and how he fought oni, Japanese demons.) He was seen to live at and oversee the
Ise Shrine, one of
Shinto's most important places. In his youth he served as a captain in World War II's
Imperial Japanese Army as a
psychic soldier. Early in
Warrior Nun Areala, Yoma tells Shannon that during the war he met and fell in love with a Warrior Nun, Sister Alicia (a.k.a. The Crimson Nun). He confessed to Shannon that he and Sister Alicia stayed together at his house, disregarding their duties, and Sister Alicia her vow of chastity, until the
atomic bombing of Hiroshima wherein Captain Yoma left to battle the oni that had been awakened by the first blast. Ota also related that Sister Alicia then left as well, never to see him again until 1948 when she left their young daughter, Sakura, in his care. However, it was later revealed that at least part of Ota's story is untrue. It is not revealed why Yoma told Shannon this fabricated story or who the real mother of Yoma's daughter was. He has since died in battle against the oni, Lord Akuma.
Sister Sasuki Yoma Sasuki Yoma is Sister Shannon's adopted sister and a Warrior Nun in her own right. She is jokingly called "Ninja Nun." She is Sakura Yoma's daughter and Ota Yoma's granddaughter—though it is unknown who her true biological grandmother was. She grew up in Japan at
Hokkaidō's
Ise Grand Shrine alongside her sister where both were likely raised in Shinto before both converted to Catholicism early on ultimately becoming Warrior Nuns, much to their grandfather's dismay. It was at age eleven that Shannon left Japan to train at the Academy. It is assumed that she began her own training at the same time. Shannon and Sasuki are very close though they live worlds apart, one in Japan and the other in the United States. Despite being alone in her beliefs, Sister Sasuki is a devoted
Kirishitan who sees Christianity as the only way of revitalizing Japan's spiritual soul. At the moment it is known that Sister Sasuki patrols the city of
Sapporo. Despite a few false starts, she, with a bumbling but well-meaning priest at her side named Father Marlowe, has since forged a working relationship with the
Japanese police and has worked with indigenous Japanese
kami against mutual enemies, such as
Oni, even going on rescue missions to save kidnapped—and modernized
sailor fuku clad--
kitsune girls. Like her sister, Sasuki is a skilled martial artist and athlete but her style incorporates
ninjitsu—for example, her veil comes with mask to hide most of her face and she wears the
Taijitu or Ying Yang symbol. Also her crucifix may hold a Buddha. Armed with
katana and
Neko-te, she is very adept at
espionage and at
pseudocide. She works primarily in Japan but goes where needed. She once fought demons in Europe.
Sister Alicia/Crimson Nun A native of
California, she was the Warrior Nun Areala active during World War II. There she was known as the Crimson Nun, famous to this day as the arch-foe of Nazi super-villains. Her career began prior to her birth when her father, a
World War I American soldier or
Doughboy, was reportedly killed in the
Battle of Belleau Wood. This led to Sister Alicia with a sincere hatred of all things German and negatively impacted her family life with her mother being unable to cope. Alicia then raised herself and proved to be a stubborn, unyielding girl who went around picking fights with boys. She was also a fan of the
Lone Ranger radio series hearing it throughout the
Great Depression; she would eagerly play out the roles with toys and shout "Hiyo Silver, away!" After her mother's death, she grew up at various Catholic orphanages where her martial prowess came to be noted by the nuns who raised her. She was soon inducted into the Warrior Nun order and ultimately brought before
Pope Pius XI who, rightly so, saw the world filled with
Fascists and
Communists that would
plunge the world into war. Knowing that he would have to take the fight to a new level, he commissioned her as the Crimson Nun, a woman with a
license to kill. Restricted to killing monsters, most Warrior Nuns and other members of the Corps are forbidden from killing human beings
even in defense of their own lives; thus due to the controversial nature of her missions, they were mostly conducted in secret. However, while she was indeed willing and able to use
lethal force against
Nazis, agents of
Imperial Japan,
Chinese warlords living up to the
Fu Manchu stereotype, and the
Catholic killing Spanish Republicans during the
Spanish Civil War, she took no pleasure in it and would remorsefully ask God's forgiveness, going to
confession for
penance after each mission. However, her true mission was revealed in 1936 by the original Sister Areala. Sister Areala told her that Satan's influence on Earth would soon be greater than it ever was before and that she, Alicia, was the one to turn the tide. When she met the original Sister Areala and other Arealas in that near-death experience, the original Sister Areala offered her superhuman powers. She declined though she nevertheless had Sister Mary of Aquilonius as a guide. Thus charged, she and her partner, Odysseus Clifton, fought Nazi mystics and Nazi supervillains primarily to prevent their releasing or reviving demons though they also safeguarded relics from them. Throughout the war her chief weapons were twin
1911 Colt semi-automatic pistols named Pax Christi, or peace of Christ. Her chief foe through the war was Catholic priest turned renegade apostate, Mordecai Black. She was long thought to be Ota Yoma's lover and mother of his children; for that, she was seen as a disgrace to the order. While her surviving partner Clifton vehemently denies Yoma's story, she was still embraced by his family. Sasuki and Shannon both knew and loved the now dead Sister Alicia as their grandmother though they wondered at how their grandfather allowed her to keep her faith. Also, while Sister Alicia is dead, she has met her adopted granddaughter in heaven during Sister Shannon's first near-death experience. While it can be safely assumed that she does love Shannon, she urged the original Sister Areala to send her back to Earth on the grounds that she could still do much for the Lord. Her granddaughter has also researched her World War II exploits. Sinead MacInnes portrays the Crimson Nun in the
Netflix series adaptation.
Sister Sarah A fellow Warrior Nun, Sister Sarah is Sister Shannon's "girlfriend" and have known each other since childhood at the academy. They grew up together and received final training together in Vatican City under Mother Superion. However, while Shannon took the path of a foot soldier, Sarah took to the air and became a part of the Silver Cross's air force, the Black Angels Corps. She, however, will also serve as a ground fighter, often alongside her best friend. She, like Sister Shannon, is an admirer of
Mother Teresa. Sister Sarah is also one of the few
African Americans in the series.
Eleanore Angelli Possibly of Italian descent, Eleanore Angelli took over Sister Areala's New York
protectorate while she was
missing in action. She was much younger and inexperienced than Sister Shannon who by then had become the heroine of the order. Angelli was also more impulsive and emotional than Shannon ever was. Regardless she was very brave and an excellent fighter, proving her mettle against foes such as Julius Salvius and the Seven Deadly Sins. Angelli was very close to Father Gomez who alone knew the true origin took a paternal interest in her. Her mother died giving childbirth and the pain of it drove her father, "John Doe," mad. She was placed in church custody and raised up to her true calling. She was ultimately killed; her father, still possessing some connection to her despite having been separated from her since her birth, escaped from the
psychiatric hospital in which he had been interned for decades and died in a failed attempt to save his daughter. Both Eleanore and her father—now made whole—were last seen united in Heaven.
Cardinal Stark Cardinal Shoc's superior, he leads the Catholic Corps with him and Mother Superion in a triumvirate. While unselfish, he is seen to be stubborn and self-righteous, not to mention biased against the Warrior Nuns whom he refers to as girls. He is derided by Shoc as a "
bureaucrat" that has not faced the Lord's enemies as he has and as "Cardinal Stingy" by Sister Shannon for constantly lowering Warrior Nun budgets. A hyper conservative, he is very defensive about the Church's role during that time period. Even so, he shows another rarely seen side of his personality when dealing with the Magic Priests. Having been one himself he is sympathetic to them and cares for them.
Mother Superion She, like all Mother Superions before her, is the supreme Abbess/Mother Superior of the Order of the Cruciform Sword and handles the day-to-day work. She, along with her partner Cardinal Shoc and her superior, Cardinal Stark, leads the Catholic Corps in a triumvirate. Originally Sister Katherine, she was just another Warrior Nun and worked primarily as the girl's teacher/drill instructor at the Saint Thomas Academy. It was there that she first met a teenage Sister Shannon and saw great promise in her. That changed when she angered the then-Mother Superion and found herself reassigned to the border of
Israel with a squad of
United States Marines in 1991's
First Gulf War. There, Sister Katherine confronted a monster in a cave at the
Israel/
Syrian border. She won with the aid of the ghosts of
Templar Knights who, due to their ignominious
dissolution and excommunication at the hands of
King Philip IV of France and
Pope Clement V, had been languishing in
Purgatory for hundreds of years. Touched by the ghosts, she could "see as spirits see;" she was left physically
blind but was able to see the
auras of all things as well as people's souls and how much time they have to live. Her physical eyes are solid, featureless blue and so she always wears goggles to cover them. (Before she wore sunglasses.) She was almost driven mad by her experience—and allegedly drove others to insanity with what she said—and had to have her
memories repressed just to function. Upon her recovery, she declared her previous identity dead and she was given the title of Mother Superion and now as the current Mother Superion now leads a new generation of Warrior Nuns in combat with the forces of Hell, including Shannon Masters. She is very stoic and quiet; despite difficulty in showing emotion, she sincerely does care for her pupils. She has known Sister Shannon since Shannon was a child and trained herself. She in fact was responsible for her assignment to New York City despite the reservations of Catholic Corps members over her relative inexperience. Mother Superion stated that that was because she saw in Sister Shannon tremendous potential even to the point of being the next Areala. She has proven a good administrator though from time to time she will lead assaults on evil forces herself with blazing
flamethrowers in each hand. She also personally designed the current Warrior Nun uniforms, based on her own, to replace the older, less modest uniforms that had been in use since the 1970s. Sylvia De Fanti portrays Mother Superion in the
Netflix series adaptation.
Father Goth Perhaps the Vatican's most powerful Magic Priest, Father Goth is a force to be reckoned with. In his younger days, he was a children's teacher at the Saint Thomas Academy where he taught the boys campus, just as young Mother Superion (then Sister Katherine) taught the girls. He would wear a
cassock and a
slouch hat. Among his students was the future Father David Crowe. He ultimately left teaching to become an active duty Magic Priest but never lost his touch. When Jason was shown to have superhuman powers, he sheltered the boy and recommended him for Silver Cross. Grim and taciturn, he grew grimmer (and got scars and cybernetic eye) when he returned after being thought dead when, in the "
Masada Incident" of 1989, he disappeared fighting a "type 7 demon in the vortex." He returned to Earth to battle the same demon, Gorath. He and his fellow warrior won and he showed that, despite his grim attitude, he will smile now and again after having "saved the day." In addition to flight, mind control, and other standard powers, he can cross dimensions, and wields a
crozier called the Staff of
Enoch. He uses it as a
Quarterstaff or a
Bō and can also use it to fire energy bolts. It is capable of various other effects and is dangerous to those not fit to touch it. Idolized by his fellow clerics and other
religious, he is never seen without his jet black
Greatcoat mixing metal studs and leather straps with his
clerical clothing, and his trademark slouch hat.
The Twelve Magic Priests Founded one-hundred forty six years after the Warrior Nuns in about 1212, the Magic Priests are the second most famous of the Defensive Units and are the Catholic Corps preferred Unit. There are thirty six Magic Priests in the world with twelve of them on active duty, doubtless in imitation of the
Twelve Apostles. These Twelve are-- • Father Goth—As noted as above, perhaps the Vatican's most powerful Magic Priest, Father Goth is a force to be reckoned with. In his younger days, he was a children's teacher at the Saint Thomas Academy where he taught the boys campus, just as young Mother Superion (then Sister Katherine) taught the girls. Among his students was the future Father Crowe. He would wear a
cassock and a
slouch hat. Grim and taciturn, he ultimately left teaching to become an active duty Magic Priest; he is regarded as one of the best. Nationality unknown. • Father David Crowe—As noted above, Crowe is the Magic Priest most often seen. He is one of the best and is seen to have romantic feelings for Sister Shannon. He is American. • Father Erasmus Stone—The man most often paired with Father Crowe, the two are friends. He is a large man with a
mohawk and a cybernetic eye. He often hides his emotions behind a gruff exterior. Nationality unknown. • Father Fang—He has worked with Father Crowe. He is also an eccentric in that for unknown reasons, Father Fang's speech seems limited to phrases from the
King James Bible, whether in casual conversation or the middle of a blazing combat situation. Nationality unknown but presumably
English-speaking world. • Father Mark McKane—An American and one of Crowe's friends. He frequently wears a
stole. • Father Lopez—He is an older man with gray hair, presumably Hispanic. • Father MacLeod—A Scotsman? • Father Webb—Nationality unknown. • Father Paine—A large hulking man with a cybernetic eye and various implants. He is seen to wear a black body suit, or
unitard in contrast to the uniforms of fellow clerics. • Father Kubiczek—A Pole? • Father Duvalier—A Frenchman?
Sister Frenzy She is a European nun—seemingly non combat or "vocational"—who was nearly killed when a demon exploded her church. She was rescued by the famous Kotnick, a demon hunter and "nun collector." (He has a catchphrase, "Pax Vobiscum,"
Latin for "peace be with you.") However, her face was ruined and she has since worn a mask beneath her veil. He then became a surrogate father to her and trained her to be a Warrior Nun dubbed Frenzy. She is strong
weightlifter, a skilled
knife fighter, and a
sniper, though in combatting demons she uses bullets made of frozen
holy water.
Sister Helen Wearing glasses, she is one of Sister Shannon's students. Like her teacher, she is assigned to St. Thomas Church but is somewhat overeager, going after enemies she could not expect to defeat. She is also not quite serious, playing with Sister Shannon's Sword of Antoich—and injuring herself in the process. For that she is disciplined.
Sister Christine Sister Christine was assigned to St. Thomas Church on Mother Superion's orders while Sister Shannon's went to Japan. She stayed on afterwards for a short time before leaving. She is older and very skilled but she is can be quite unorthodox, dressing in
chic fashion when off duty, disdaining her veil, and approaching combat with a sense of cheerful informality. She gave Jason his action figures. She is critical of Magic Priest's preferential treatment. She is also a good fighter, but impulsive and somewhat hidebound. (She does not believe in the legend of the original Sister Areala.)
Sister Madeline Active since at least 1971, Sister Madeline is an older Warrior Nun who has seen better days. Either due to injuries or to compensate for her age, she has both an eyepatch and cybernetic arms that can turn into
miniguns. She is nicknamed "Mad Lynn" for her fierce fighting style. At the moment she cares for the Silver Cross orphans and trains them for their future duties as soldiers of Christ. She is quite stern—more so that Sister Shannon ever was in raising Jason, or Mother Superion was in raising Sister Shannon—but does so thinking to discipline her charges. It seemingly proved useful when they and their
drill sergeant proved a team to be reckoned with when they fought Madeline's old foe Dr. Frederick Ottoman. However, while she suffers the children come to her and as much as she might care for children in the abstract, she has a hard time conveying actual affection.
Children of Silver Cross Tracing its origins back to 1212 when participants of the failed Children's Crusade were rescued from slavery, one of them being given a silver cross, Silver Cross trains future Magic Priests and Warrior Nuns. The Silver Cross program has survived into modern times with the current crop of future Magic Priests and Warrior Nuns cared for by Sister Madeline. They are mostly
preadolescents. While some children are from
Catholic countries such as France and Brazil, other come from traditionally anti-Catholic countries such as England, or even from Egypt which would imply belonging
Eastern Catholicism such as the
Coptic Catholic Church. They include - • David "Mark" Montoya - Very brash, the young
Brazilian has the power to control the velocity of moving objects. • David Young - The youngest student, ten years old, and hailing from
England, he specializes in electrical manipulation. • Allison Powers - She is a skilled staff expert and hails from
France. • John Blessing - A stereotypical "
ugly American", he has the power of controlling
inertia. He mostly manifests this as a form of super-strength • Diana Saladin - Hailing from
Egypt, Diana is a skilled swordswoman and hopes to become a Warrior Nun. She is also a great admirer of Sister Shannon and will pray the rosary, for her success in battle. For her part, Sister Shannon has taken the girl under her wing. • Jessica Keller - Though
blind, Jessica Keller wielded a vast assortment of
telepathic, and
telekinetic powers and was ironically the most powerful of the Silver Cross children. Silent, passive, and
pious, she was the most mature of her fellow students and was their unofficial leader. Sister Madeline saw her abilities and thought to break with tradition by recommending her for the Magic Priest program; this request was denied. Though she has since died in combat, she was last seen in Heaven with blindness replaced by sight and being shown about by Stephen of Burgess. • Jason - An amnesiac with no memory of his past, he was raised by Sister Shannon until he found himself with extraordinary power upon which he joined Silver Cross. He enjoys his position but tries to stay in touch with Sister Shannon. He was not one of the original Silver Cross children. For more information please see his article above.
The Papacy As might be expected, the
papacy plays a role in the
Warrior Nun Areala. With how the
papacy goes back for centuries, flashbacks often mention popes of past times and places. Often mentioned and sometimes seen, occupants of the fictional papacy are often fictionalized versions of the real ones. Three popes thus far have starred as major characters.
Pope John Paul I John Paul I was a minor character, principally appearing in flashbacks to the time of his pontificate; there, he was quite differently from how he was in real life. While the real John Paul I has been called "an intellectual lightweight" he is portrayed in the comic book as a strong, decisive man dedicated to rooting out a conspiracy of
Freemasons within the Vatican. They kill him by
conspiracy though the killers are ultimately apprehended and his death avenged.
Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II was a minor character in the series before his death. He would be referenced periodically by various people as "the Pope" and documents displaying his
personal coat of arms—see
here—do show that Sister Shannon's early adventures indeed happened during his pontificate. She even met him once at the climax of
Warrior Nun Areala/Scorpio Rose #4, though with his death she presumably proceeded to serve under
Pope Benedict XVI and then
Pope Francis.
Pope Ignatus In one story-arc,
Warrior Nun Areala Vol 3. #11-12, we see a single immortal pontiff, "Pope Ignatus." A vain and somewhat self-centered individual, Ignatus is literally a child and has remained physically a child through all the millennia he has reigned as the Church's immortal pope since the beginning of the institution. He is, in fact, thought by the world at large to in fact be the history's only Pope. Ignatus encourages this thought though at one point he tells Cardinal Stark the story of how "
a man from
Galilee", founded the Church on a wandering Holy Man whom He dubbed Pius. The Galilean charged Pius with going away to build a palace to house God's Earthly representative. Pius, the first Pope, did so and after finding Ignatus raised the boy as his son and raised him to the task. Ignatus has led the Church to this day. Though later stories confirm that at least some aspects of the storyarc are true such as the Vatican suffering a great attack, Ignatus existence directly contradicts many earlier stories which feature or mention many real world Popes to the point that those stories are rendered untenable. Also, Ignatus' very existence was implicitly retconned since then. ==Villains==