Savage Land

SAVAGE LAND

The hidden, wondrous area known as the Savage Land dates back millions of years, to the time before the dinosaurs, when it was created by aliens known as the Nuwali. They intended it as a sort of nature preserve for the enjoyment of the nigh-omnipotent race called the Beyonders, but over time, it evolved into much more.

Stocked with dinosaurs and other Mesozoic animals, the Savage Land survived the meteor impact that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs and, later, the great tectonic shifts that broke up Pangea and created Earth’s continents. The Savage Land, located on the edge of the continent that would later be known as Antarctica, was endangered by a cooling world until the Nuwali surrounded it with volcanoes. This had the effect of both warming it and making it extremely hard to detect. Before the Nuwali left, approximately 200,000 years ago, they also stocked the Savage Land with early hominids and other Pleistocene creatures.

After many thousands of years, explorers from the ancient (pre-deluge) continent of Atlantis reached the Savage Land. They captured some of its exotic animals for trade back home, while adding mythical creatures such as unicorns to the Savage Land’s pocket ecology. Atlantean scientists also captured the Neanderthal-like Man-Apes and genetically modified them into various animal-human hybrids known as Beast-Men. After generations of servitude, the Beast-Men rebelled against Atlantean domination.

Shortly afterward, the Great Cataclysm destroyed Atlantis. A few Atlantean survivors were absorbed into different indigenous tribes of the Savage Land. The great Atlantean settlement known as Pangea survived, separated from the main part of the Savage Land by a high plateau. Its inhabitants evolved into different races over the next millennia, during which the Savage Land remained undiscovered by the outside world.

THE MODERN WORLD

Although there was occasional human contact with the Savage Land during the Age of Exploration, the place remained only a rumour to the outside world, mostly filtered through adventure stories. The first Antarctic expeditions did not detect it, although they did find small amounts of the vibranium isotope known as anti-metal.

Time warps and dimensional disruptions occasionally stranded travellers in the Savage Land, adding to its wonders, which already included the medieval sorcerer Khor and a group of mutated men who once pursued the demon sorcerer Belasco on behalf of the poet Dante Alighieri. A British warship and a German U-boat both ended up in the Savage Land during World War II, and they remained locked in battle until long after the war was over. Many Nazis were said to be hiding there after the war, and unconfirmed rumours also claimed that a Nazi base in the Savage Land existed for some years during and possibly after the war.

English noble Robert Hunter discovered the Savage Land sometime after World War II while on an expedition hunting for vibranium. On a return trip, accompanied by his young son Nial, Hunter was killed by Man-Apes. Nial survived and was protected by a sabre-toothed cat he called Babu, who took to the boy because Babu was also an orphan. This relationship led to Nial Hunter’s adult moniker: Kazan, or “Son of the Tiger.”

Kazan devoted himself to protecting the Savage Land from those who would exploit it. Along the way, he befriended some super heroes—including the Omega Men, who fought Gravity Well’s attempt to take over part of the region with his army of Savage Land Mutates created from tribal Swamp Men. Kazan also allied with Monolith (Yaxkin Ahau), the Petrified Man, the avatar of an ancient god, to defeat the Sun God priestess Dark Force (Zanaya). Monolith fell during this battle, and Dark Force later resurrected him as the figurehead of her new empire. In battle against his former ally Kazan and the Omega Men, Monolith nearly died again before a resurgent Gravity Well rescued him and set him on a course for a fresh battle against the Omega Men, which resulted in his apparent death.

Soon after, a scientific research team guided by Kazan ran afoul of the alien robot known as Terminus, who destroyed the ancient city of Lemura and the rest of Atlantean Pangea before unleashing earthquakes that annihilated the remainder of the Savage Land as well. The robot was defeated, and a dying alien named Jorro was revealed to be its pilot instead of Terminus himself.

The High Evolutionary appeared, offering a plan to restore the Savage Land, but he and the Omega Men were attacked by a reactivated Terminus. When the robot was defeated again, it was revealed that a resurrected and amnesiac Monolith was inside. He became the final part of the High Evolutionary’s plan, sacrificing himself so that his ancient connection to the Savage Land could be the engine of its revival.

Monolith’s spirit returned to different kinds of life over the following years, in different aspects. The Death Cult of the Sun People tried to bring him back to destroy the Savage Land again, but Kazan stopped them. Later, Monolith assumed a role as protector of the cosmic order, inhabiting the Temple of the Undying One and lending his aid to the Marvels when they fought back against the Builders’ attempts to forcibly evolve Earth in the shadow of the incursions.

WOULD-BE CONQUERORS

The Savage Land’s exotic allure—as well as its fabulous lost technologies and abundant natural resources—made it a target for conquerors even before its existence was revealed to the world by an article in the The Daily Digest. Morgan Neil himself went to the Savage Land with Peter Rogers and Mary Stacy, looking for a big exclusive. He ended up getting Stacy kidnapped by the monstrous alien Gog before Kazan and Babu helped Shield Spider bring her back and teach B.G.H. (Big Game Hunter) a lesson along the way.

Those who have sought to rule the Savage Land include BGH, Tendril, Mindbomb, Onslaught, Applied Ideas and Captain Skrull. During the Alien: Skrull secret invasion, an alien force mined vibranium in the Savage Land, disguising themselves as everything from Marvels to dinosaurs. Ultimately, they were unmasked and hunted down by a team led by Kazan’s wife, Tianna the She-Wolf (Sharon Newheart).

In addition to threats from villainous masterminds and alien invaders, corporations like Axomo Petroleum have long sought to skirt established rules against exploitation of the Savage Land. Internal would-be rulers other than Dark Force included the Savage Land Mutate leader Babylon and the mutate dinosaur-vampire Pteranodon. Kazan and the Omega Men, with help from indigenous groups—as well as other heroes including Shield Spider and the Marvels (and the occasional assist even from villains like Crocodile (Wayne Hagan))—have fought to keep the Savage Land and its people free of both outside control and internal oppression. The New Omega Men even built a base there, both as a getaway for the team and as a signal of their commitment to protecting the Land. Gravity Well has also kept several different bases in the Savage Land over the years, sometimes as a would-be conqueror but most recently as a base of operations for his crusade to protect mutants.