Diva

The Diva is a supervillain who rules much of Europe in Gallerra. She calls her domain Nuova Roma, and styles herself its Empress. With her power to entrance men's minds with her voice, the Diva can make almost anyone do her bidding, and even has a number of other supers under her control.

Home

The Diva lives in an ornate palace in Sardinia she calls L'Inezia. The palace is filled with nude statues of handsome men—actually real people petrified, at the Diva's request, by her associate L'Uccella. She has other homes (similarly, although somewhat more sparsely, furnished) scattered all over Europe, as well as on a few islands she enjoys visiting from time to time. Next to L'Inezia, the Diva's favorite palace is Il Ghiacciolo, a spiry castle in Norway kept well heated when the Diva is present despite the icy temperatures outdoors.

Powers

The Diva's powers revolve around her voice, though with more concentration she can perform them in silence if she wishes to. She can use sonic waves to deal damage and shatter objects, but this she does only in emergencies; by far her most frequently used power is that of thelxis, by which she brings other people under her control, and can make them do almost anything she wants to. The Diva invariably uses her powers through singing, though this seems to be a stylistic choice rather than a necessity. In fact, there is evidence suggesting that her thelctic power doesn't actually require any vocalization at all.

Though the Diva may be personally less powerful than many other cressarchs, that doesn't mean she'd be easy to defeat, since over the years she has used her thelctic powers to bring many other supers under her control, including a number of heroes who were fighting against her. At any given moment, the Diva will have a number of other supers near her to keep her safe from harm, all under her power and completely devoted to her.

History

The Diva was born Adelina Gueglu in Oristano, Italy. From her early childhood, the Diva had two interests: music, and men. Or rather, music, and impressing men; she never had much emotional attachment to anyone, and didn't even care too much for the physical pleasures of intimacy, but loved the feeling of power she could have over men who were infatuated with her and would do anything to please her. She pursued a theatrical career, and with her talent, beauty, and charisma she quickly rose to become a popular opera singer.

Popular enough, in fact, that an admiring young composer wrote an opera especially for her. Reluctantly accepting his opus, entitled Le Bestie del Mare, she glanced over it and was surprised at its quality. Between her growing fame and influence and the merit of the work itself, she managed to arrange for the opera to be produced, with herself in the leading role. However, as it turned out, the opera was never performed to the public, because on the day of the first full rehearsal with complete orchestral accompaniment, when Gueglu sung her big aria of Act 2, something happened, and that something apparently resulted in her being infused with thelctic superpowers. It's still unclear exactly what happened; the opera's librettist later admitted he had copied the lyrics to the aria from a mysterious book, and that he didn't understand them himself, but apparently they had still had no effect when recited until combined with the full orchestral score. It may be that the words formed some sort of spell, the music perhaps being necessary to give them some sort of necessary emotional content, but given that several witnesses independently reported feeling some sort of presence, some think that it was a formula to summon some sort of invisible being that granted Gueglu her powers.

Whatever the exact cause of her powers, however, the new super was quick to take advantage of them, rapidly learning just how much she could accomplish by placing the right people under her control. She quickly suppressed the opera and seized all copies to prevent her adventure from happening again to someone else. (The opera was later performed again, but with the Divine Aria—as the aria came to be known that gave her her powers—rewritten.) She had already subtly taken control of a number of important people and made a hidden power base for herself when the Deconstruction began, and she realized there was little further purpose to be served by continued clandestinity. Openly proclaiming her power, she dubbed herself the Diva and laid claim to a sizeable chunk of Europe, stopping in her conquests only when her borders ran up against those of other cressarchies.

Relations

Though the Diva takes many lovers, they rarely last long before she tires of them. Those she still feels some fondness for she allows to go back to their lives; those with whom she is bored or irritated join her statuary. Despite all her lovers, thus far the Diva isn't thought to have had any children, not wanting to spoil her figure by pregnancy and childbirth.

The Diva does have a few living relatives, however: her parents, one brother, and two sisters, plus the children of one of the sisters. She keeps them well protected by supers under her control to make sure they won't fall victim to superheroes or other cressarchs trying to use them as levers against her. She has considered having her younger sister, Daniela, perform the Divine Aria, in the hopes that she'll gain superpowers of her own and the Diva will gain a valuable ally, but has so far remained indecisive as to whether this is worth the risk.

Among the other cressarchs, Schadenfreude and the King of Swords are particular enemies of the Diva's, and come into frequent conflict with her, mostly over border disputes. On the other hand, the Diva has formed an alliance with the Blue Bear, though one strained by the occasional condescension she can't help from entering into their discussions, and with Python, for whom she seems almost to have a grudging respect. Of course, the Diva is opposed by superheroes, but if she has a particular nemesis it's Rapunzel, who has thwarted many of the Diva's schemes and rescued several of her thralls.

To assist her in governing, the Diva has formed an advisory cabinet, made up some of her closest personal friends, most of whom have superpowers of their own. Prominent members of the cabinet include L'Uccella, Baldur, and Green Thumb. The Diva's main field agent, sent out to do her dirty work within her domain and beyond, is Fumarole, who is not particularly fond of the Diva but is willing to work in her employment. Although she is aware of his feelings toward her, the Diva allows Fumarole to work without any mental influence because she feels he will be more flexible and useful to her that way; as added insurance against his betrayal, however, she does have his lover under her thelctic control and employed as her personal servant.