Cosmic beings as ancient as space and time, the enigmatic Celestials possess godlike abilities and foster creation on many words across the cosmos by experimenting on lifeforms. It is believed that they influence major events over the course of Earth's human history, though their intensions remain unknown. They also trigger key evolutionary events, producing genetic-offshoot races such as the Eternals and the Deviants.
Bonded to Eternity
The origins and true purposes of the Celestials can only be guessed at. Though, they are known to have a special bond to Eternity, the embodiment of time, and perform actions based upon Eternity’s will, but the scope of this relationship is unrevealed.
At least one Celestial is born from the dying galaxy known as the “Black Galaxy,” but it is not known if this is typical of Celestial reproduction. Although the Celestials appear physically to be mere armor-clad giants, they exist beyond conventional understanding of space and time, permitting them to exist in more than one place at a time. They also participate in many of the gatherings held by the abstract beings of the cosmos, often to receive rulings from the Living Tribunal. At one time they create the race known as the Brethren from mere bacteria, sending them out to destroy races deemed unworthy, but they are eventually driven from the Celestials’ service.
Cosmic Giants
The Celestials are an enigmatic assembly of extraterrestrial giants who manifest their energies inside of physical shells, appearing as immense suits of armor, most standing 2,000 feet high. In these forms, they also access various tools and vessels to assist them in their duties. Each Celestial possesses vast cosmic powers of unknown limits. Celestials can destroy entire planets, and possibly stars as well. The Celestials are each defined by their function, and are outfitted with powers to aid them in their roles, such as Exitar the Executioner’s ability to destroy or re-create, and Arishem the Judge’s ability to judge races worthy or unworthy of existence.
A Host of Celestials
Celestials seldom communicate verbally, instead preferring avatars, sometimes creating Replicoids of mortals they have encountered and employing these Replicoids to speak on their behalf. Their power is such that few beings can engage them in combat, but they have created warriors of their own such as the Godstalker to deal with their enemies.
The Celestials take a keen interest in the evolutionary forces of other races, and experiment on countless species, usually visiting worlds in a series of four visits, forming an exploratory body called “the Host.” The Host are the best known of the Celestials, guided from their mothership by the One Above All, and their purpose is determined by the one who leads the Host on the planet: when Gammenon leads a Host, the Celestials’ interest is in exploration. Should Arishem the Judge lead a Host, their mission is to judge the entire planet in question.
The Judged
Sometimes, when some Earth’s dwellers appeal to the Celestials or go against them, the Space Gods take swift, righteous action and destroy what they deem unworthy of existence. The Elder God Set‘s Serpent Men face their wrath, while the Celestial’s own creations such as the Deviants led by their warlord Kro, and the Exterminators, turn against them.
Deemed Worthy
The Celestials other creations, such as the race of the Eternals, are given super powers while humans are given the capacity to evolve over time. When they visit Earth, they face opposition from the Earth’s godheads such as Odin Borson, AKA Odin, and Olympian God of ancient Greece Zeus, and Hindu deity Vishnu, however, despite this opposition and with the help of goddess and Earth mother Gaea, decide that Earth may continue. Often, the Olympian Eternals act as liaisons to the Celestials and they offer them protection from those that would use their cosmic powers and technology.
Across the Ages
The young Celestials Devron the Experimenter and Gamiel the Manipulator were once responsible for monitoring the Dinosaur World, Earth-78411, but a petty argument between them escalated into pitting Bruce Banner, AKA the Hulk, and Devil Dinosaur against each other. The two Celestials were reassigned to monitor the Kree and Skrull races, and may have been involved with turning those races into mortal enemies.
The First Host
The Celestials are most notorious for the Host’s four visits to Earth. The first Host arrived one million years ago, releasing a swarm of Gatherer robots to collect DNA samples. The demonic Elder God Set sensed the purpose of the Celestials, knowing they would experiment upon primitive hominids. Set sent some of his semi-humanoid offspring, the Serpent Men, to curry favor with the hominids in the hopes that they would convince the Celestials to include them in their experiments, but the hominids saw through the Serpent Men and drove them off. When the Serpent Men attempted to appeal to the Host themselves, the Host destroyed them. Taking the hominids into their vessel, the Host altered their evolutionary process so that three species sprang from the hominids rather than one. One species became known as the Eternals, endowed with cells charged with cosmic energy, which they learned to tap into over the ensuing centuries; another species was the Deviants, cursed with an unstable genetic code which caused them to mutate unpredictably with each generation; the final species was humanity itself, gifted with the potential for genetic mutation, a gift which would not become fully apparent until modern times.
The Celestials are known to have made similar experiments upon the Skrulls, Kree, Eyungs, and Gigantians, and likely many more. The Skrulls’ Deviant race ultimately overwhelmed the other two races, inspired by a Deviant from Armechadon named Tantalus, who caused Deviant uprisings on several worlds. The Deviant Skrulls are now the only Skrulls in the cosmos, save for one normal Skrull who escaped to Earth. The Kree Eternals are now extinct save for the warrior Ultimus. The Eyungs and Gigantians destroyed each other in a war, but the Eyung Eternal Grom, AKA Over-Mind, still survives.
The Second Host
When the second Host returned to Earth around 18,000 BC, the Deviants had become the dominant race on Earth, subjugating most of humanity, and ruling from the land of Lemuria. The last outpost of human resistance in Atlantis had just been sunk in a volcanic eruption while attempting to drive out Lemurian invaders, and the area surrounding Atlantis was now in danger of further volcanic activity. When the Deviants beheld the Celestials’ mothership in their skies, they arrogantly opened fire on them. The Celestials responded by firing upon Lemuria, and, coupled with the preexisting instability, the entire continent of Mu sank, slaying millions of humans and Deviants. This event was known as the Great Cataclysm.
While on Earth, the Celestials were forced to turn on one of their own, a golden Celestial named Tiamut the Communicator. Unable to slay Tiamut, they used a cosmic weapon that drove the energy from its form, turning its armor black. The Celestials struck all records of Tiamut’s name from history, so that it is now known only as either “the Black Celestial” or “the Dreaming Celestial.” The Eternal Valkin witnessed this event, and the Celestials placed their weapon into his hands for safekeeping, along with the contained energy taken from the Celestial. The Dreaming Celestial’s crime remains unrevealed, although the Deviants came to believe that it was their creator, and had been punished for making them. An entire priesthood that worshipped the Dreaming Celestial came into existence over the millennia that followed.