Sphinx's Entourage

Sphinx's Entourage is a group of people led by Hardin "Sphinx" Lancaster working to usurp the Four Legendary Kingdoms' authority over the world and undertake the final tasks left by the Super-Ancient Beings.

History[]

Early History[]

Following the death of the previous King of Land, Carnivore, in 2008, the next in the Kingdom of Land's line of succession was to be Hardin "Sphinx" Lancaster's father. However, despite having prepared Sphinx to succeed him one day, his timid father was convinced to abdicate the title of King to his younger brother. Doing this pushed Sphinx out of the line of succession. After his uncle's death a month later, Orlando Compton-Jones became the next King of Land, and had Sphinx assigned the otherwise undesirable role of a Trismagi, being sent to be the watchman for the secret city of Atlas.

Despite his frustration at being "exiled", Sphinx decided to take the opportunity to further study the Three Cities and the Omega Event, acquiring artifacts and documents related to them, the Super-Ancient Beings and their final trials. As Sphinx studied, he came to the realisation that he could use his accumulated knowledge to usurp control of the world of the Four Kingdoms should an opportunity arise. As he began desiring to be the one to sit on one of the two thrones within the Supreme Labyrinth at the conclusion of the trials and thus become the world's ruler, Sphinx came to the conclusion that the world had become infected by mediocrity and overpopulation, and that he needed to cull the masses in order to create his ideal world. He eventually determined that the most effective method to achieve this would be to use the Siren bells to put most of the population into a coma-like state, and then only awaken those he deemed intelligent enough to advance the human race.

In the years leading up to 2016, Sphinx began secretly conspiring with Cardinal Ricardo Mendoza, who believed Sphinx was the type of man who could lead the way through the Omega Event, who would continue to act as Orlando's chief adviser, with the promise that Mendoza would become the Pope in Sphinx's new world order. Having also become something of a mentor figure to the eldest son of the King of Underworld, Dion DeSaxe, Sphinx encouraged him to kill his father and likely brought into his plans to usurp the Four Kingdoms, as well as the Governor of the Royal Prison of Erebus, Yago DeSaxe. Sphinx also recruited into his employ Chloe Carnarvon, the assistant to the Keeper of Royal Records (his cousin Iolanthe) and whom had been having an affair with Orlando but felt scorned by his refusal to marry her.

The Three Secret Cities[]

Shortly after the completion of the Great Games of the Hydra in the Underworld for the third task, a badly injured Dion reached out to Sphinx for aid, who helped him receive medical attention for his injuries. Dion further requested that Sphinx help him hire the Knights of the Golden Eight to exact revenge on Jack West Jr, Lily West and Alby Calvin for upsetting his plans to usurp his father, which the Trismagi agreed to do. Additionally, with Jack's actions in denying Orlando the Mysteries and the title of King of Kings during the Great Games having caused significant chaos among the Four Kingdoms, Sphinx knew that it was the prime opportunity for a power grab.

After meeting with the Knights at Aragon Castle, Sphinx allowed Dion to offer them the down-payment of a Greek island he owned to bring down the targets of Dion's anger, and offered the Knights an alliance that would secure them through his coup, in which they would become his military commanders. Jaeger Eins agreed to this plan, and Sphinx requested that the Knights capture Lily alive for the sacrificial ceremony at the end of the Trial of the Cities, as well as to secure an additional "package" he requested.

As Mendoza and Chloe began working with Orlando's team to find and empower the Immortal Weapons at the secret cities, Sphinx and Dion learned that Yago had been issued an arrest warrant by the Four Kingdoms to capture Jack. Rather than have his subordinates competing with one another right before his move to overthrow the Four Kingdoms, Sphinx amended his deal with the Golden Knights to permit Yago to imprison Jack at Erebus instead of having him killed. Soon, the Knights successfully captured Lily in London while Jack was apprehended by Yago, and Sphinx briefly visited Erebus to see and confirm capture of the Fifth Warrior for himself before departing to meet with the Knights for Lily.

Sphinx arrived at Aragon Castle shortly before the Knights did with his prize, standing alongside Dion as Lily and Alby saw who had ordered their capture. Once Sphinx received word that Orlando had sent some of his people into Thule to begin the trial, he departed to return to Atlas before his cousin turned up, taking Lily away after confirming his other package was on his boat, while Dion and the Knights remained to fulfill the former's official coronation to become the new King of Underworld. When Jack and his team assaulted the Knights' base soon afterward, Dion and the Knights were forced to escape.

On the final day of the Fourth Trial, Mendoza and Chloe were encountering difficulties from armies of bronzemen due to Orlando's premature activation of the Cities' defences and the other information that they had overlooked. Meanwhile, Sphinx told Lily about his removal from the line of succession and implied his plans for a coup. Once Sphinx was informed that Jack was on his way with the Trident of the Sealord, he had Lily imprisoned in a nearby tidal cell before meeting Jack and Aloysius Knight on his helipad. Annoyed by the Trismagi's attitude, Jack stated that Orlando had preemptively activated the defences of all three Cities and that he and his team intended to see the empowering of the Immortal Weapons through. The unsurprised Sphinx revealed Lily's predicament, and claimed that he would release her if Jack and Knight empowered the Mace and returned it to him. Sphinx then led the two to the flooded entryway into Atlas, providing them with diving equipment before leaving them to their work.

Once Jack and his team had empowered the Weapons, Sphinx, Mendoza and Chloe forced them to hand over the Weapons, and soon began making their way to the Altar of the Cosmos, with Sphinx first had Jack and Knight's scuba tanks stop providing oxygen to the pair, retrieved Lily from the tidal cell and called Orlando to announce that he had the empowered Mace and Lily in hand, feigning loyalty. Once he and the Golden Knights were ready, Sphinx's group began heading over to the Rock of Gibraltar, with Mendoza and Chloe also en-route.

Orlando and the other Kings, including Dion, soon arrived at the Altar to witness the final ritual, with the King of Land again thanking Sphinx as he handed him the Mace. Once Mendoza and Chloe arrived with the Sword and Helmet, they gave the Weapons to Sphinx, who approached his cousin as he gloated about restoring order to the Four Kingdoms. However, Sphinx stabbed Orlando in the chest with the Sword of the Rock, while Mendoza killed Caldwell and Xi and the Knights took down their guards. Sphinx cruelly told the dying Orlando that he was the one who had seen the trial fulfilled while Orlando had nearly doomed them all with his many mistakes.

With that, Sphinx proceeded to have Lily enclosed inside the sacrificial pool with the empowered Mace and Helmet, commending her bravery and promising that her quick death was for the sake of the world. As Chloe filmed the ceremony, Sphinx proceeded to complete the Trial as the Sagittarius A-star's radio waves hit the Earth and stabbed Lily in the heart with the Sword. With the Oracle's death, the Trial of the Cities was successfully completed, and soon after Sphinx and his entourage left the Altar to prepare for the final trial.

The Two Lost Mountains[]

As Sphinx was about to deliver the fatal blow to Lily, her twin brother Alexander, whom had previously been captured by the Knights as Sphinx's additional package, appeared and shot Sphinx in the shoulder, only to be gunned down himself. Furious, Sphinx decided to have the mortally wounded Alexander take Lily's place in the sacrificial pool. Once the dying Oracle was in place, Sphinx successfully performed the ritual, killing Alexander with the Sword of the Rock and fulfilling the Trial of the Cities.

As the ceremony concluded, a crimson light revealed writing in the Word of Thoth on one of the chamber's walls related to the Trial of the Mountains, and a hidden panel opened and revealed the five Rings of Command as a reward for the Trial's completion, which Sphinx empowered with the Mace of Poseidon's gem, giving him complete control over the armies of bronzemen. Though Mendoza confirmed that the first iron mountain was ready for Sphinx's arrival, Sphinx expressed his desire to collect the Siren bells, despite Mendoza and Chloe's concerns, since they were necessary for his ruling plan. After ordering Dion and Eins to begin gathering up the bronzemen from the secret cities and Underworld, Sphinx and his entourage left the Altar of the Cosmos with Lily in tow.

Sphinx's first stop immediately after leaving the Altar was Erebus, in order to free Yago from the Wall of Misery after Jack's team had entombed him during Jack's liberation from the prison, and to release the Vandals also imprisoned there. Over the next few weeks, as Eins requisitioned Super Galaxy cargo planes to transport the bronze and silver automatons, Sphinx and his people continued consolidating his forces and forcefully-acquired resources from the Four Kingdoms, while also preparing for the Trial of the Mountains. During this time, Sphinx learned from the security cameras back at his mansion that Jack had survived at Atlas, and began creating a plan to destroy the other known iron mountains once he had performed his Fall in order to prevent anyone else from pursuing him through the Labyrinth.

Once they were ready, Sphinx and his forces went to Moscow and invaded the Novodevichy Convent, where he knew the Order of the Serene Maidens kept the Siren bells. After deploying the bronzemen to contain the Maidens and prevent any escape, Sphinx and his inner circle - along with the captive Lily and the Vandals, the latter's presence frightening the Sisters - went inside, where Sphinx exchanged words with Beatrice and announced his reason for coming. Beatrice claimed that the bells were not in the Convent, and Sphinx toyed with her by offering a wager in which he would give the Maidens a quick death if the bells were not in fact there, but would leave them to the cannibalistic Vandals if they were. Once Eins blasted opened the crypt to reveal the bells' presence, Sphinx decided to let the Maidens have a quick death while Beatrice alone would pay the price and gave to the Vandals. As the cannibals were set on her and the Sisters executed, Sphinx had his people begin gathering up the bells for transport.

Sphinx decided to first test one of the bells, and his people had one suspended from a Chinook over Moscow and rung, causing a melodious tone that made everyone within a 30 mile radius collapse into a coma-like state. Sphinx then set out his plan to lure in Jack and his team by using Lily as bait, and left some of the Knights of the Golden Eight and bronzemen behind to ambush the Australian. Jaegers Zwei and Acht waited from a watchtower while their squires waited with trucks carrying bronzemen waiting around the Red Square on the Kremlin. When they spotted a figure in gull wings land before Lily, they assumed that it was Jack and reported in to Eins, who gave Zwei the go-ahead to put him to sleep. Using a Chinook drone carrying a Siren bell, Zwei remotely raised the chopper and had it rock the bell, sending Lily and her would-be-rescuer into the siren sleep while the Knights were protected by their protective earphones.

Acht went ahead to secure the bodies so that they could bring them to Sphinx and Eins, only for the Golden Knight to get knocked out by Jack and Knight. Realising he'd misidentified the earlier figure, Zwei started up the Chinook drone to ring the Siren bell again (though Knight gave Jack his protective helmet to keep the Australian conscious) and ordered his squires to move in on the Square with the trucks carrying bronzemen. The squires and bronzemen pursued Jack and Alby as they tried to get their unconscious friends to safety, but ultimately Rufus in the Black Raven was able to bring down most of them, collapsing a bridge on top of one truck that caused another to crash into the debris, and destroyed the last one with missiles. As they took off after the Sky Warrior, Sphinx people used a Russian satellite to fire an orbit-to-air missile on the Tupolev, destroying it but missing the Raven.

Meanwhile, as Dion was sent as part of an advance force to the first iron mountain at Mont Saint-Michel to oversee Father Felix Rasmussen's final preparations, Sphinx and Mendoza headed to Rome with the intention of collecting the Vatican globe to prevent any rivals from viewing it to discover the locations of the other known iron mountains. Upon landing in St Peter's Square, the Pope granted Sphinx the globe and the Church's documents on the Orphean bell's location, since Sphinx would need it to awaken those he choose from the siren sleep. Though the Pope tried to suck up to Sphinx, he and Mendoza donned protective earphones before having a Siren bell rung in the middle of the city. As everyone began falling into the siren sleep, Sphinx executed the Pope and gave his papal ring to Mendoza, fulfilling his promise to Mendoza to make him the Pope for his new world order.

Mendoza was then sent ahead to the first mountain to assist the advance team in their final preparations before Sphinx's arrival, who did so with most of his forces shortly before the alignment with the moon's pedestal. Sphinx declined Mendoza's suggestion of having Dion perform the Fall with him, declaring that this historic event would have him do the Fall without aid. Taking his place atop the Falling Temple, once the lunar alignment began, the Trismagi initiated the drop into the shaft. As he completed his race from the upper altar to the lowest level, Sphinx received the burning key to allow him entrance into the Supreme Labyrinth, and reveled in his moment of accomplishment before having the Falling Temple raised back to the surface.

Meanwhile, Hades snuck onto the Mont and sent his son a text message asking to meet with him in the nave. Receiving the message just as Sphinx and the Falling Temple were being hauled back up to the surface, Dion slipped away, but warned Eins and a few of his Knights. After meeting with his father and refusing his attempt at reconciliation, Dion had the Golden Knights to apprehend him. As Sphinx returned to the top of the shaft, Mendoza suggested that they let Dion do a Fall as well in case any of their adversaries also managed to gain entry into the Labyrinth so that the young king could back him up. Agreeing, Sphinx prepared to head to the ancient maze, but first ordered that Rasmussen and his subordinates killed to keep them from sharing what they had witnessed. At this point, Dion returned with a captive Hades in tow, and Sphinx mocked the former king before allowing Dion and Yago to decide his fate. When they declared death, Sphinx had one of his silvermen brutally decapitate Hades.

Deducing from his presence, Sphinx proceeded to call out to Jack, who stood up with Iolanthe. Taunting Jack, Sphinx laid out his ideas for world rule and questioned what Jack really fought for, and proceeded to depart for the Labyrinth after ordering Dion to oversee the bronzemen killing Jack, Iolanthe and his own priests. As the bronze and silver automatons begin tearing into Rasmussen and the priests, Jack rescued Bertie and then destroyed the collar holding up the Falling Temple, sending it crashing into the shaft and preventing Dion from getting the chance to perform the Fall.

Undeterred, Sphinx sent Dion with Eins and the Golden Knights to the second iron mountain beneath Aiguille du Midi so that Dion could do the Fall there instead. At the same time, Sphinx sent Yago and a few Knights to assault Hades's estate in Alsace-Lorraine, where the team were based. Sphinx soon utilised the Golden Knights' emergency broadcast hack to address the people of the world, taking responsibility for Moscow and Rome before having Tibet's Potala Palace destroyed by a nuke as a warning to any who resisted him (though this was also to destroy the third mountain to keep his foes from using it). Sphinx then offered a reward to any who killed Jack for him, and revealed he knew where the team was based, just as Yago and the Knights arrived at the estate.

Soon after, Yago contacted Sphinx to report that all that had come of the assault was the escape of Jack's people and the capture of a minotaur. Sphinx decided not to bother keeping Easton as a hostage and ordered Yago to thrown Easton out of the plane, noting that he was about to arrive at the Labyrinth. Yago toyed with Easton by demonstrating the loyalty of the bronzemen thanks to the ring he wore, and ordered two of the automatons to walk out of the plane with the minotaur in their grip. However, the Super Galaxy was remotely taken over and then infiltrated by Jack in a seaplane to rescue Easton. While confident that they couldn't take on the bronzemen, Yago was astonished as Jack and Nobody's bullets actually managed to penetrate their armour, and then struggled with Easton, who took the Ring of Command from Yago's finger and ordered the bronzemen to stand down. Yago was then seized by the automatons, and Jack sent him falling out of the plane to his death, while the plane's crew were sent out with parachutes.

While waiting for a clearing pod to drill through the blockages in the moon shaft, Dion and Eins's forces came under attack from a group of Order of the Omega monks and Romanian soldiers, and rallied their forces to defend them while waiting on top of the Falling Temple. Just as the Omega/Romanian group managed to shoot down one of Dion's Super Stallions, the clearing pod cleared the moon shaft in time for the mountain to come into alignment with the moon pedestal, and Dion released the Temple into the shaft. Accompanied by Eins, Dion raced down to the lower altar, where the young royal successfully completed the trial and received the burning key.

Not wanting one of their enemies to do a Fall after him, Dion and Eins had their remaining Super Stallion pick them up from the shaft and then fired a missile at the Temple to destroy it and had Jaeger Vier in the observatory cover the moon pedestal in thermal foil and the rover's uplink destroyed to prevent anyone from performing a Fall. As they prepared to head off to join Sphinx at the Labyrinth, General Garthon Rastor arrived, having also come to perform a Fall, and who refused Dion's offer to join Sphinx's entourage as their General. Dion and Eins were forced to leave via a priest's entrance, and when they arrived at Chamonix, the young King contacted the observatory on Aiguille du Midi, where he had learned Jack and his team were located. Taunting Jack on arriving late once again, Dion sent a missile to destroy the observatory in the hope of ending him once and for all before heading to the Labyrinth.

At that time, Sphinx and his entire force arrived at the Labyrinth's gates in the Sinai Desert, with the Trismagi taking a moment to observe the gate to the Emperor's Route. Soon Sphinx, Mendoza (whose head was shaven to reveal the tattooed clues he had for the Labyrinth), the Vandals and a few of the Knights of the Golden Eight were ready to enter the Labyrinth, and Sphinx used the burning key to open the Emperor's Gate, which also initiated the slow closing of the other gates. As Jaeger Eins reported in that he was en-route with Dion and that the Siren bells had arrived in the major cities Sphinx had ordered them sent to, Sphinx had Fünf begin arranging the bronze and silver guardians into defensive positions around the gates, and tasked Chloe with retrieving the Orphean bell. With that, Sphinx and his team proceeded into the Supreme Labyrinth.

Only minutes after entering the Labyrinth, however, as Sphinx's forces began moving into position to keep any competitors from entering the Labyrinth, High Brother Ezekiel (who had performed the Fall at the third mountain before its destruction) and his group crash-landed their plane outside the second gate. The Omega monks proceeded inside the Labyrinth - which presumably also closed off the Emperor's Route to Sphinx's Labyrinth team - and though his outside defences tried to radio Sphinx to warn him, they could not establish contact. Meanwhile, following Sphinx's order, Eins had nine of the Siren bells rung over major cities around the world - London, New York, Cairo, Beijing, Washington, D.C., Jerusalem, Shanghai, Mecca and Los Angeles - causing millions to fall into the siren sleep.

When Dion and Eins arrived, the former was quickly provided with a team and hurried into the Labyrinth in order to help support Sphinx's progress against the Omega monks.

While in Jerusalem, Zwei observed Rastor and his forces arrive to do the Fall at the fourth mountain, but could not do anything to stop them. Presumably learning of how Rastor managed to expose the pedestal, Sphinx's forces soon sent a squad of bronzemen to the Zapadny Cosmodrome to destroy any means of establishing an uplink, while also having the Lucifer telescope at the Church's observatory in Arizona struck by a nuclear missile to thwart the Omega monks efforts. However, despite the bronzemen's efforts as the Cosmodrome, Alby and Rufus were able to establish an uplink that allowed them to expose the pedestal while Jack, Lily and Zoe did the Fall at the final mountain.

Rastor and his men were the first to engage Sphinx's defensive force at the Labyrinth's gates, their V-88 Condor wreaking havoc before final getting by the automatons and soldiers. Moments later, Jack's team arrived, and used a Hercules and a Super Galaxy to barrel through most of the bronzemen in front of the final gate, and despite their efforts, the Wests and Easton managed to slip through and into the gate seconds before it sealed.

The One Impossible Labyrinth[]

As Sphinx, Mendoza and the rest of their team neared the end of the First Cavern, they heard the Order of the Omega enter the Cavern, and Sphinx ordered Jaeger Sechs to destroy the bridge behind them to slow their rivals' progress. With the Emperor's Route now closed off, Sphinx aimed to reach the Throne of Life and sit upon it first, and as his team spent the next several hours navigating the Endless Tunnel. Several of the Vandals were left along the way at various points within the Labyrinth to help slow their enemies further.

Outside the Labyrinth, Jaeger Eins rallied the defensive forces to relocate to the coast of the Red Sea near the Labyrinth's surface point so that they could provide support if Sphinx needed it. Soon they and a Russian naval fleet loyal to Sphinx were stationed on the coast near the Red Horizon Star-4 oil rig, and Jaeger Zwei had the captured Alby and Knight kept at the temporary airfield until Eins was ready to deal with them. At the same time, Chloe dispatched a Knight of the Golden Eight to the Lake Albano Vault to search for leads to the Orphean bell's location.

Meanwhile, Sir John Marren, having assisted Sphinx as his friend began his preparations to reform the world order, began organising the families of the Four Kingdoms of Sphinx's choosing to take shelter under the Storm Cellar Protocol to wait out the period following the Omega Event, and making preparations for the "transition" for Sphinx's regime once he had emerged from the Labyrinth. Furthermore, Sphinx's forces around the world continued to subject major cities to the power of the Siren bells, putting millions to sleep.

Within the ancient maze, Dion - having foolishly chosen the wrong path at the Six Choices - was forced to turn back after coming across a goldman, and came into a fatal confrontation with Lily.

Upon reaching the entrance to the City-Maze, Sphinx triggered a mechanism that caused the section of the Labyrinth to rise out of the ocean in the Red Sea, to the surprise of his nearby forces. Leaving Jaegers Seiben and Acht to delay their rivals further, Sphinx began heading for the Castle of the Tree of Life with Mendoza and Sechs, quickly progressing through the maze-like streets and bridges using Mendoza's notes. Despite a brief setback caused by the Omega monks, Sphinx's team reached the Castle and began navigating their way to the top, and Sphinx's forces on the nearby Red Horizon Star-4 and Russian vessels cheered as the Trismagi reached the summit.

However, unable to fire on Sphinx, General Rastor started launching RPGs at the seawall around the City-Maze, causing it to flood and drag the Red Horizon Star-4 and some of the Russian ships into the Labyrinth. On the oil rig, Jaeger Eins - having had Alby and Knight brought to him there for torture - was caught off-guard by the Star-4's collapse and, after being disfigured by Alby was thrown into the rushing waters to his death. As the chaos continued, Rastor threw a block of greystone into the water, turning it to stone and trapping the survivors who had fallen into the water from the aircraft carrier and destroyer in the newly-formed stone. Sphinx's attempt to reach the Life Throne was finally thwarted by Jack, who used the destroyer's cannon to blow it apart. With only Mendoza by his side, Sphinx hurried into the second half of the Supreme Labyrinth in a race to reach the Throne of Death first.

Now without Eins to command them, the forces around the Red Sea's coast were unable to mount a resistance as Knight, Rufus and Sky Monster led an assault on their airfield, forcing them to retreat from the area. At around this time, Marren, having been kidnapped by some members of Jack's team, was forced to divulge some of the nature of Sphinx's plan to reinvent the world order. Additionally, Chloe, having believed she had correctly deduced the Orphean bell's hiding place to be in London's Heliopolis Needle, eventually discovered her error and began heading to New York.

With very little manpower, Sphinx and Mendoza's progress through the rotating Four-Sided Maze was slow, and though Jack's team managed to overtake them, the pair managed to regain their place ahead of them before they reached the Tower of Judgement. Knowing the nature of the next challenge, Sphinx had Mendoza remain behind to wait while he alone entered the cage that ascended out of the cavern and up into the Chamber of Judgement, where the Trismagi came across a colossal gold statue, and had his mind probed by the consciousness of the Super-Ancients, which judged him worthy to pass. When the unconscious Mendoza was brought into the chamber with Jack soon after, the Cardinal was deemed unworthy and killed.

At the same time Sphinx was being pinned down by Rastor's suppression fire, Marren's kidnappers were forced to land at Raven Rock, but turned the table on Sphinx's forces, killing them and Marren before moving to invade the shelter. Also, Chloe and her forces arrived at Central Park moments after Iolanthe and Nobody found the blue bell, and began pursuing them through the streets of New York. However, Chloe ended up losing her life as Nobody tricked her helicopters into crashing into the Brooklyn Bridge.

As Jack engaged Rastor in hand-to-hand combat, Sphinx made his move on the Castle of the Death Throne, leading the chase up the pinnacle, but slowly lost ground to Jack. After a failed attempt to talk Jack out of going for the Throne, with Sphinx also offering the Australian the chance to instead join his forces and wealth if he did, the rivals ran for the Throne of Death, with Jack beating Sphinx to it and preventing the Omega Event. As Sphinx gaped at his loss, Jack used his newly-acquired power of absolute command to keep the would-be-emperor immobile until his friends arrived to pick them up.

In the aftermath, with Sphinx's forces defeated and his plans exposed to the world, Sphinx was charged for his crimes and sentenced to life in prison, as were any of his remaining loyalists. At Jack's suggestion, Sphinx was taken to and imprisoned at Erebus since its location was among the world's greatest secrets, and the remaining bronze and silver guardians were stationed at the Royal Prison with the single order to never allow Sphinx to escape.

Members of Sphinx's Entourage[]

Inner Circle[]

Lord Hardin "Sphinx" Lancaster (Leader)
Cardinal Ricardo Mendoza †
Chloe Carnarvon †
King Dion DeSaxe †
Yago DeSaxe †

Knights of the Golden Eight[]

Other Allies[]

Vandals †
Father Felix Rasmussen (formerly) †
Unnamed Pope (formerly) †
Sir John Marren †

Goals[]

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Assets[]

Weapons[]

To Be Added

Vehicles[]

C-5M Super Galaxies: A gigantic military transport aircraft, ten of which Eins requisitioned for transporting the bronze and silver guardians away from their home bases to serve in Sphinx's army.
CH-47 Chinooks: To Be Added.
Mi-4000 Quadcopter: A heavy-lift troop carrier/gunship, which is a Russian-made design of bolting two Chinooks together. Sphinx used this as his primary transport while undertaking the Trial of the Mountains.
CH-53 Super Stallions: A large troop-transport chopper, two of which Dion and Eins had with them at the second iron mountain to help raise the Falling Temple to the surface.

Other Equipment[]

Immortal Weapons: The three Immortal Weapons which are required to be empowered at the Secret Cities for the ceremony at the Altar of the Cosmos, which Sphinx and his people within Orlando's team took from Jack's team after they had been been empowered. After Sphinx pretended to offer them to Orlando and used the Sword to kill his cousin, he used them in the ceremony to sacrifice Alexander to complete the Trial of the Cities, but Sphinx's entourage abandoned them once they had served their purpose.
- Sword of the Rock: One of the Three Immortal Weapons, which Mendoza took from Pooh Bear and gave to Sphinx, who appeared to be ready to present it to Orlando, only to then mortally stab as he began his coup. Sphinx soon used to stab Alexander at the Altar, completing the final ritual of the Fourth Trial.
- Trident of the Sealord: One of the Three Immortal Weapons, which Sphinx took from Jack after the Australian had it empowered at Atlas, and brought to the Altar, apparently ready to present to Orlando at the Altar of the Cosmos, only to enact a coup and instead use it in the trial's final ritual. After being presented with the Rings of Command, Sphinx held the Mace close to the rings, which transferred its "power" to control the bronze and silver guardians to give them control over the legion of automatons.
- Helmet of Hades: The helmet of the Three Immortal Weapons, which Chloe took from Iolanthe and gave to Sphinx, who appeared to be ready to present it to Orlando, only to enact a coup and use it in the trial's final ritual himself.
Rings of Command: Five rings which control the bronze and silver guardians created by the Super-Ancient Beings. Sphinx took the primary ring, the Emperor's Ring, for himself, which allowed him to control all of the automatons. The four lesser rings, meanwhile, were shared between his subordinates so that they could command a contingent of the automatons from one of their respective bases themselves.
- Bronze Guardians: The ancient bronze-coloured automatons which guarded the important locales of the Super-Ancients' trials, which Sphinx and his entourage gained control of after acquiring the Rings of Command. Sphinx used them as assault troops on the Novodevichy Convent, and left some with the Knights of the Golden Eight for an ambush on Jack and his team. Sphinx set many of the bronzemen as guards at the first iron mountain to keep anyone from reaching Mont Saint-Michel. Yago led a battalion of them during an assault on his brother's estate, but when Easton took his Ring of Command, the battalion was taken under the command of Jack's team. Dion and Eins used them to hold off the Omega monks at the second mountain while the former performed his Fall. Once at the Supreme Labyrinth, Sphinx left thousands of the bronze guardians at the gates to the ancient maze as the bulk of his defensive force to keep adversaries from following him. A troop of bronzemen were later send to the Zapadny Cosmodrome to try to prevent Alby and Rufus from creating an uplink to expose the moon pedestal.
- Silver Guardians: The ancient silver-coloured automatons which guarded the viaduct bridges before each of the Secret Cities' vaults, which Sphinx and his entourage gained control of after acquiring the Rings of Command. Sphinx used them as personal guards at the first iron mountain. He later left the silver guardians at the gates to the Supreme Labyrinth as part of his defensive force.
ADS Containers: Known as the Advanced Delivery System for Impact Resistant Material, these were used to carry multiple bronzemen and which allowed large aircraft to deploy the automatons from high altitude and maintain distance from the ADS's touchdown point. Sphinx forces used these to drop the bronzemen into the middle of the Novodevichy Convent, and later deliver some to the Zapadny Cosmodrome.
Siren Bells: The 14 gold-and-silver bells which, when rung, can send anyone who hears its tone into a semi-comatose sleep. Sphinx planned to use them on the world's population so that he could easily cull the masses as part of his plan to remake the world upon his ascension to Emperor, though the reputation of the bells initially unnerved some of his people. After he and his entourage took the bells from the Order of the Serene Maidens, they tested them by having one rung over Moscow, and later Sphinx had another rung in Rome. As Sphinx headed into the Supreme Labyrinth, his forces transported the Siren bells around the world and rang over several major cities, sending the people in the Siren sleep.
Vatican Globe: A bronze globe supposedly made by the Super-Ancients which contains the locations of the Secret Cities and three of the Iron Mountains. The Pope presented it to Sphinx and Mendoza before they killed him.

Trivia[]

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