Editing Crucible:Phobos & Deimos

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= Phobos and Deimos =
{| class="codex-infobox codex-infobox--villain"
|-
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | [[File:PhobosAndDeimos.jpg|center]]
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! Real Names
| Reese Charteris and Richard Charteris
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! Identity
| Public
|-
! Affiliation
| Ancient Martian entity
|-
! Base of Operations
| Mars; various hidden locations on Earth
|-
! Status
| Active
|-
! Known Relatives
| Each other
|-
! First Appearance
| ''WATCHSTAR #20''
|-
! Creator
| Ed Messina
|}

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“Mars died screaming. Earth will do the same.”
<br>— '''Phobos'''
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'''Phobos and Deimos''' are the corrupted identities of astronaut twins '''Reese''' and '''Richard Charteris''', the first humans chosen for a manned expedition to Mars. During their historic mission, the brothers uncovered ancient Martian ruins containing a malevolent intelligence responsible for the destruction of Mars’ original civilization.

The entity infected both men, transforming them into living vessels for its will.

Since then, Phobos and Deimos have served as heralds of a dead world’s hatred.

== The Charteris Brothers ==

Before their corruption, Reese and Richard Charteris were celebrated as pioneers of the space age. Brilliant, disciplined, and intensely loyal to one another, the identical twins became international heroes after being selected for humanity’s first manned mission to Mars.

The brothers represented the best qualities of the early space program:

* intelligence  
* courage  
* technical skill  
* optimism about humanity’s future among the stars  

The world watched their expedition with enormous excitement.

No one imagined it would unleash something ancient and catastrophic.

== The Martian Ruins ==

During exploration of a remote windswept Martian valley, the Charteris brothers discovered evidence that Mars had once supported an advanced civilization long before humanity existed.

Buried beneath the ruins lay strange crystalline structures, impossible machinery, and signs of catastrophic destruction on a planetary scale.

The ruins were not abandoned.

Something remained alive there.

The brothers unknowingly awakened an ancient psychic force tied to the downfall of Mars itself — a malignant intelligence that had once ravaged the planet and reduced it to lifeless desert ages before human civilization arose on Earth.

The entity immediately seized control of the astronauts’ minds.

== Transformation ==

Following contact with the Martian intelligence, Reese and Richard Charteris returned physically altered and psychologically corrupted. Though fragments of the original brothers survived, their personalities became increasingly submerged beneath the will of the alien force controlling them.

They adopted the names '''Phobos''' and '''Deimos''', after the Martian moons associated in ancient mythology with fear and dread.

Under the entity’s influence, the pair became obsessed with spreading Mars’ fate to Earth.

If Mars had died, they reasoned, Earth deserved no better.

== Powers ==

The brothers possess tremendous superhuman abilities enhanced through alien influence and ancient Martian technology.

=== Phobos ===

'''Phobos''' possesses vast psychic abilities including:

* Mental domination  
* Telepathic influence  
* Illusion generation  
* Fear projection  
* Psychological manipulation  

His illusions can become so convincing that victims often struggle to distinguish fantasy from reality.

=== Deimos ===

'''Deimos''' wields devastating gravitational powers including:

* Planetary-scale gravity manipulation  
* Crushing gravitational force attacks  
* Flight and atmospheric movement  
* Terrain disruption and seismic effects  

Deimos’ abilities make him physically one of the most dangerous beings on Earth when fully unleashed.

=== Shared Abilities ===

Both brothers also possess:

* Enhanced strength and durability  
* Extraordinary resistance to injury  
* Enhanced intelligence and reflexes  
* Partial connection to alien psychic networks  

== Martian Technology ==

Phobos and Deimos wield ancient crystalline Martian technology whose principles remain poorly understood by human science.

Their devices are capable of:

* Energy projection  
* Psychic amplification  
* Gravity manipulation  
* Data storage within crystalline matrices  
* Planetary engineering functions  

The technology appears partially biological and partially psionic in nature.

Modern scientists find it deeply unsettling.

== Personality ==

The original personalities of Reese and Richard Charteris survive only in fragments beneath the influence of the Martian entity. At times brief flashes of humanity emerge, particularly when the brothers are separated or emotionally destabilized.

Most of the time, however, they behave as extensions of a vast alien consciousness filled with bitterness, grief, and apocalyptic hatred.

Phobos tends to be colder, more manipulative, and psychologically sadistic.

Deimos is more direct and wrathful, embodying the destructive physical force of the dying Martian civilization.

Together they function almost like two halves of a single mind.

== Enemies Of Watchstar ==

Phobos and Deimos became major recurring enemies of [[Crucible:Watchstar|Watchstar]] and other Earth heroes involved in cosmic or extraterrestrial threats. Their schemes frequently involved attempts to:

* awaken buried Martian technologies  
* terraform Earth destructively  
* spread psychic corruption  
* collapse planetary systems through gravity manipulation  
* prepare Earth for conquest or annihilation  

Several crises involving the pair nearly resulted in planetary catastrophe.

== Legacy ==

Phobos and Deimos became two of the defining cosmic villains of the modern era and among the earliest major extraterrestrial threats faced by [[Crucible:Watchstar|Watchstar]]. Their stories blended planetary horror, ancient alien civilizations, psychic corruption, and Silver Age space-opera tragedy into some of the most memorable cosmic adventures in Crucible history.

Because humanity reached Mars dreaming of the future.

And found the corpse of a dead world waiting to drag Earth into the grave beside it.

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[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Villains]]
[[Category:Modern Age]]
[[Category:Ed Messina]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Psionics]]