Aplorak

A depiction of a new incarnation for the character I created some twelve years ago. One of the oldest creations of mine, the primeval version of the main archetype which survives until now as the Triton in the APKALLU Mythos. Coming from a simple re-imagining of the Rahkshi Guurahk (my favorite toy of all-time!) to something else, this is "Aplôrak" (pronounce with a long "O"). This new version features some details akin to his 2003 form (known as Apôlôrak Taduo) and to his 2005 form (simply Aplôrak - given Apôlôrak was until then the name of the species, and "Aplô" of the protagonist, this adaptation of the name was introduced into the re-imagining of the character).

In both versions, he's an ancient warrior who fought by the side of the major gods Tintaeus (a fire-based humanoid entity carrying two swords, sometimes is winged) and Critikas (a sea entity which look like a winged shark with hands holding a labrys), who led spiritually the Tinteno-Criticazoikan peoples (loosely based on the Minoan culture), who used to be warring between them as split in two factions, one controlling fire and the other water. On the original version, he used the power of the "dragomas", coin-like talismans with powers over agility, speed, and other physical enhacements, such as water-breathing. The talismans were lost when the city of the unified Tinteno-Criticazoikans fell by the action of Zon, a god of the Juventist people, who were kind of related to the Tinteno-Criticazoikan, coming from the continent while the latter were islanders. This event was similar to the "Fall of Atlantis" stories we're so common with. Zon was regarded in contemporary days as a just God who punished the warring peoples with a flood.

The dragomas were then rescued some 4000 years later, by a young punk (Aplô) who was descendeant to the Tinteno-Criticazoicans which survived the flood. He used it to fight and defeat Zon, who was still living in an Island from the very archipelago which hasn't sank, and now was a paradisiacal city governed by Aplô's rival, Ann Good Waters (a descendant of the Juventists). The revealing of the ancient angry god living under the guise of a military-oriented businessman was a big concern against the promoted pacific island that Ann had inherited from her father and from generations before her. That only revealed a new series of enemies, and dug deep on the story around the ancient hero himself:
His major powers came from the Taduo Dragoma (the coin on his forehead) which gathered powers of both Tintaeus' flare (depicted as a "T" for Tintaeus plus a lambda depicting the tip of a flame, mistranslated as a "Ta" prefix) and Critikas' waves (depicted as an inverse "C" translated as a "D" plus an upsilon depicting the curves of a wave, mistranslating a "Du" prefix). The prefixes were joined by the serpentine conch-like drawing, acting as an "O" and forming his name, "Taduo". That drawing meant the power to become an Apôlôrak was possible only for the chosen one, who has acquired all the Dragomas, and then rightfully could use the power of his sacred spine, stored in a jar around the lost city of Tonyehéaw (don't ask me how to pronounce it, I created it as a 9-year-old, probably twisting the name "Tony Hawks" or something like that, it was meant to sound imposing for underwater-talkers).

In the final battle against Zón, the young punk Aplô not only wielded the spear of the legendary warrior, he acquired his own Apôlôrak form, the "Apôlôrak Gus".

That inflicted the treaty that regarded the earth to yet another powerful spirit, the metallic Onyx. So, he sent his messenger Zon to create a large civilization (much like Ancent Rome) destined to rival Lapolo's own (much like Ancient Egypt). The followers of Zon came from the Aquaten people as the Juventists (much like Ancient Athens), the followers of Lapolo were both its ancestors, the Berlins, and their neighbours, the Pepitans, both of which worshipped fire. The Aquatens which came to know the Aplorak formed the Tinteno-Criticazoikan civilization (much like the Ancient Minoan) on an archipelago, and wanted to take down the evil joint of Zon and Lapolo. But then, who were rivals came on agreement and Zon acted as an agent of Lapolo. What happened wasn't only a flood (which might have been even a defense of them Tintaeus and Critikas to preserve a secret chamber from the invading armies), but a massive earthquake and an eruption, caused by Onyx and Spiricto No faia to end such civilization. Those who survived became sea-raiders, pirates or traders across all mediterranean (as to why a punk Aplô descends from such empoverished people). Aplôrak was to settle the battle against Lapolo, and then he travelled in time, granting his powers through his spine to Aplô, as it was stored in a jar in a chamber which was intact after the flood, at some deep sea.

Eventually, Onyx would merge his bio-mechanical dimension to a possible future in the main timeline, giving Zon power over the human (now cyborg) populace (thus finally safe-keeping the cosmic treaty), that until a Juventist Cyborg (Ann's father) found out the secret ancient tomb containing the primeval cyborg, no other than Lapolo himself. Only the Tinteno-Criticazoikans could defeat such a threat, then they transformed the heir of the dragomas into a cyborg himself. There have been many plot twists after that. This time was featured under an "Apôlôrak X" (with quite Capcom-esque looking details) title. Then, in 2005:

But during a time which Lapolo returned to work with Spiricto No Faia, it was understood he was from an even more powerful and ancient class of elemental spirits, even preceding both Timaeus and Critikas. "Aplôrak" was made in acordance to a species of the same name by the water spirit of that class, Aporak.
Tintaeus and Critikas joined his cause since they departed from their obligations as descendants of the Darkness Elemental, wishing no corruption or evil for the upcoming human race. The young Aplô, which was destined to save the future when it came by, was a descendant of such dark spirit as well. Knowing this, his faith on Tintaeus and Critikas was left unchallenged, so he joined Aporak to fight the Sprit of Fire, gaining powerful allies such as Huo the Spirit of Earth, Polaris Spirit of Ice and Huitzopoca the spirit of Wind.

This time, Aplôrak was already both the ancient hero and chosen one, as well as a species. The protagonist was honorifically an "Aplôrak", having many armors, powers and suits. He was allied to other warriors of the elementals, such as "Guate". Inherently, the series took another tone and Aplôrak became an entire species, they even appeared on the planet and would eventually form a Kingdom, to which 2006's protagonist would preside over.
Even though neither the history of a primordial champion of the Aplôraks, nor the Tinteno-Criticazoikan identity would be heard or spoken at large, he'd sport an Apôlôrak-looking (Guurahk-inspired) armor on special occasions (that means a lot, since he ordinarily used medieval-fantasy armors or spider-man-esque symbiote-suits almost all the time), keeping alive the traditional sea-man with a conch spirit.