Post by Silverback on Nov 30, 2004 11:53:14 GMT
Real Name: Carson Napier (perhaps)
Identity/Class: Normal human
Occupation: Explorer, pilot, scientist, adventurer
Affiliations: Tarzan, Chand Kabi
Enemies: Unknown
Known Relatives: Unnamed father (deceased), unnamed mother (deceased), John Carson (grandfather, a judge, deceased)
Aliases: Unknown - he admitted to changing his name around the time he worked in Hollywood, which means either Carson Napier isn't his real name, or else he has an unspecified alias he used for a time.
Base of Operations: Amtor (a.k.a. Venus)
First Appearance: Pirates of Venus (1932)
Powers/Abilities: Highly intelligent and skilled scientist - he built a spaceship capable of travelling to other planets in the solar system back in the 1930s! Good fighter, skilled at wrestling, boxing, fencing and other sports. Strong swimmer. Able to fly a plane. Trained by a Hollywood cowboy to use the lasso.
He appears to have developed powerful psychic abilities after being on Venus for a while, since the novels' author alleges that Carson dictated his adventures to him telepathically from Venus. In "Wizard of Venus" Napier also used his psychic abilities to project an image of himself into the minds of soldiers pursuing him, leading them in the wrong direction.
History: Born in India just a couple of years into the 20th century, Carson Napier was never destined to lead a normal life. Raised in India, Carson was tutored by a Hindu mystic, Chand Kabi, who saw that he learned more than just the standard school curriculum. After his father died when Carson was ten, the boy and his mother moved her family home in Virginia, to live with his great-grandfather John Carson. When he died a few years later, leaving a substantial amount of money, the two moved to California, where Carson attended college. He graduated with honours, having excelled in both sports and the sciences, shortly before his mother passed away.
Carson became a pilot, working in Hollywood as a stunt flier, before quitting that to travel the world. Gradually he became interested in rocket cars, which in turn inspired the idea of creating a rocket ship for an expedition to Mars. In mid-1931, after a year of working on this project, he blasted off from the Mexican island of Guadalupe. However the course calculations he was using were off, and as a result Carson ended up on Venus instead. He discovered a world of adventure beneath the thick clouds which cloaked the planet, full of strange beast men and warring kingdoms, with alien princesses in need of rescue.
Comments: Created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Venus books are:
Pirates of Venus
Lost on Venus
Carson of Venus (in which he meets up with Tarzan)
Escape on Venus
The Wizard of Venus (published posthumously)
Source: Hero International website
