Kwai
Encyclopedia
The Kwai are an insectoid
humanoid
fictional species in the DC Comics
universe
, created by Dan Abnett
, Andy Lanning
and Oliver Coipel. Allies of the Legion of Super-Heroes
, they were a nomad
ic, matriarchical people who mostly displayed a pacifistic approach to life. The few exceptions to the last of these, such as Shikari, were dubbed "Lonestars".
was ultimately responsible for the creation of after he became stranded a billion years in the past of the "Second Galaxy," in his indefinitely prolonged lifespan. They were an insect-like humanoid race, whose distinguishing features included slate-grey skin with black tattoo-like markings, dragonfly-like wings, retractable armoured exoskeletons and the ability to find any path if such existed, even without obvious tracks to follow.
Their travels usually led them to follow "feral stars" - newly appearing stars in their path - which they considered good luck. When, in the 31st century, Element Lad's home time period, they followed a "star" which was in reality the Legionnaire Wildfire, it led them to encounter the Progeny, a xenophobic beetle
-like race who began to hunt them down. While fleeing from a Progeny attack which killed two of her friends, Shikari would encounter the other Legionnaires, held in stasis, who had been flung through a rift to the Second Galaxy - though displaced only in space rather than time and space. Revived, they aided her in driving off the Progeny, then followed her to their "brief-home," where they helped the Kwai to gather resources for moving on, and the Kwai helped in turn to make their heavily damaged ship functional, and created a new containment suit for Wildfire from their plastic-like "Use-weave". They and the Legion then went their separate ways, although Shikari would remain with the team.
After Element Lad - now called the Progenitor - was defeated by his former teammates at the cost of Live Wire's life, the Kwai matriarch declared an amnesty toward the now-directionless Progeny. This led many of the younger Kwai to become "Lonestars" themselves, and several to join Singularity's "Credo", a group dedicated to hunting down and exterminating all surviving Progeny.
The Kwai were then contacted by the Legion again - this time, with a view to use their tracking powers to become guides for the experimental "Threshold" teleportation system, which lacked a functioning navigation system. After consideration, the matriarch accepted, due to the possibilities the system offered for finding "new paths."
Insectoid
Insectoid denotes any creature or object that shares a similar body or traits with common earth insects and arachnids. The term is a combination of "insect" and "-oid" . Compare "humanoid"....
humanoid
Humanoid
A humanoid is something that has an appearance resembling a human being. The term first appeared in 1912 to refer to fossils which were morphologically similar to, but not identical with, those of the human skeleton. Although this usage was common in the sciences for much of the 20th century, it...
fictional species in the DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
universe
DC Universe
The DC Universe is the shared universe where most of the comic stories published by DC Comics take place. The fictional characters Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are well-known superheroes from this universe. Note that in context, "DC Universe" is usually used to refer to the main DC continuity...
, created by Dan Abnett
Dan Abnett
Dan Abnett is a British comic book writer and novelist. He is a frequent collaborator with fellow writer Andy Lanning, and is known for his work on books for both Marvel Comics, and their UK imprint, Marvel UK, since the 1990s, including 2000 AD...
, Andy Lanning
Andy Lanning
Andy Lanning is a British comic book writer and inker, known for his work for Marvel Comics and DC Comics, and for his collaboration with Dan Abnett.-Career:Lanning works primarily at Marvel Comics and DC Comics as an inker...
and Oliver Coipel. Allies of the Legion of Super-Heroes
Legion of Super-Heroes
The Legion of Super-Heroes is a fictional superhero team in the 30th and 31st centuries of the . The team first appears in Adventure Comics #247 , and was created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino....
, they were a nomad
Nomad
Nomadic people , commonly known as itinerants in modern-day contexts, are communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location. There are an estimated 30-40 million nomads in the world. Many cultures have traditionally been nomadic, but...
ic, matriarchical people who mostly displayed a pacifistic approach to life. The few exceptions to the last of these, such as Shikari, were dubbed "Lonestars".
History
The Kwai are one of the thousands of species Element LadElement Lad
Element Lad is a fictional character in the 30th and 31st centuries of the , a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. A native of the planet Trom, he has the power to transmute chemical elements.-Pre-Zero Hour:...
was ultimately responsible for the creation of after he became stranded a billion years in the past of the "Second Galaxy," in his indefinitely prolonged lifespan. They were an insect-like humanoid race, whose distinguishing features included slate-grey skin with black tattoo-like markings, dragonfly-like wings, retractable armoured exoskeletons and the ability to find any path if such existed, even without obvious tracks to follow.
Their travels usually led them to follow "feral stars" - newly appearing stars in their path - which they considered good luck. When, in the 31st century, Element Lad's home time period, they followed a "star" which was in reality the Legionnaire Wildfire, it led them to encounter the Progeny, a xenophobic beetle
Beetle
Coleoptera is an order of insects commonly called beetles. The word "coleoptera" is from the Greek , koleos, "sheath"; and , pteron, "wing", thus "sheathed wing". Coleoptera contains more species than any other order, constituting almost 25% of all known life-forms...
-like race who began to hunt them down. While fleeing from a Progeny attack which killed two of her friends, Shikari would encounter the other Legionnaires, held in stasis, who had been flung through a rift to the Second Galaxy - though displaced only in space rather than time and space. Revived, they aided her in driving off the Progeny, then followed her to their "brief-home," where they helped the Kwai to gather resources for moving on, and the Kwai helped in turn to make their heavily damaged ship functional, and created a new containment suit for Wildfire from their plastic-like "Use-weave". They and the Legion then went their separate ways, although Shikari would remain with the team.
After Element Lad - now called the Progenitor - was defeated by his former teammates at the cost of Live Wire's life, the Kwai matriarch declared an amnesty toward the now-directionless Progeny. This led many of the younger Kwai to become "Lonestars" themselves, and several to join Singularity's "Credo", a group dedicated to hunting down and exterminating all surviving Progeny.
The Kwai were then contacted by the Legion again - this time, with a view to use their tracking powers to become guides for the experimental "Threshold" teleportation system, which lacked a functioning navigation system. After consideration, the matriarch accepted, due to the possibilities the system offered for finding "new paths."