Governor-105
Governor-105 was a Clockwork Cherub and the listlessly tyrannical governor of their Morningstar 1 base. His abortive plot to use Wellsians resurrected in Mandragora's Great Experiment to take over the Multiverse came to an ignoble end when Mandragora-257 had Mizrax ag-Ustis murder him using a Heat Ray.
Description
Physical appearance
A Mark II Clockwork Cherub, Governor was small. He seemed to keep his body well-polished, gleaming a handsome golden colour, and brushed his copper-coloured hair in such a way as for a curled lock to coil up on his forehead. His chest was covered with self-granted medals. (COMIC: All That Sparkles Is Not Concrete)
Personality
Governor-105 had the demeanour of a bored, hedonistic, pampered aristocrat. However, though somewhat naive, he was not as stupid or harmless as he appeared; he harboured ambitions of multiversal domination, and was actually capable of some strategising and deception. His dreams of conquest did not seem to be in pursuit of a particular ideal or goal, but rather a simple testament to his enormous ego. He displayed a complete disregard for others and lack of respect for their work, destroying Paintbrush-122's artwork without a thought when he found it lacking. He seemed to have complete self-awareness, and an utter lack of shame, about his noxious personality, once remarking sanguinely: “I don’t like to be bored, and people don’t like me when I'm bored”. Dactylopius-177 described him as “mad with power”. (PROSE: The Resurrection of the Wellsians)
Powers & abilities
Governor-105 possessed a large sword. Although he mostly used it as a prop to hold in portraits of himself as a great military conqueror, with most of his power over the Morningstar 1 resting with his more heavily-armed guards, Dactylopius-177 seemed to believe that he was very much capable of using the sword to deadly effect if need be. (PROSE: The Resurrection of the Wellsians)
Biography
Governor of Morningstar 1
Eventually, Governor became the governor of Morningstar 1, the Cupids' lonely base on Venus in the 97th Cosmos, with Dactylopius-177 as his Deputy. (PROSE: The Resurrection of the Wellsians) He enjoyed his position as a leader, receiving visitors while reclining on a huge cushion and awarding himself various medals, but still seemed to view his task with a degree of listlessness due to the tedium of administering a small base in the middle of nowhere. (COMIC: All That Sparkles Is Not Concrete)
Increasing tyranny
Ruling tyrannically over most of the other Cupids in the base thanks to the support of six heavily-armed guards, he gradually began to think himself beyond the authority of the Cupids back in the Cupid Homeworld. He ordered missions to Earth, and began to dream of multiversal domination, egged on by the alchemist Mandragora-257, who had been exiled to Morningstar 1 after his reckless experiments caused the death of several Cupids in the Homeworld. At some point, he stopped communicating with the Homeworld altogether, having emptied out the communications room of all equipment; however, he had it guarded at all times by Goliath-329, and “manned” by another guard, so that this would not become known. He also locked all three of the Fog Ships in the base so that they could only be used with his permission. (PROSE: The Resurrection of the Wellsians)
After Mandragora completed the alchemical “great work”, creating the Pure Elixir which could allow him to turn any metal into gold, he went to Governor and showed the first vial to him. Unimpressed, the Governor quickly pointed out that this was of limited use to a Clockwork Cherub, particularly one stationed on a barren planet. A very dismayed Mandragora found the wherewithal to suggest that they use the “unlimited gold” as building material for some new walls, (COMIC: All That Sparkles Is Not Concrete) an idea which was indeed carried out. (PROSE: The Resurrection of the Wellsians)
The Wellsian gambit
Eventually, the digging of a new pool for Governor-105 in the lower levels of Morningstar 1 led to the accidental discovery of a buried Wellsian Tripod. Inside it, Mandragora-257 and Digger-291 discovered multiple hibernating, dessicated, but still technically living Wellsians. Both realised their potential as weapons, especially as the aliens would know how to repair and operate the Heat Ray weapons also scattered in the ruined ship. Mandragora told Governor about his discovery and got the Governor to authorise the “Great Experiment” to bring the Wellsians back to life. Before a count had been performed, Digger, secretly part of a covert rebellion formed by the other Morningstar Cupids, spirited one Wellsian away to carry out his own version of the ritual based on observation of Mandragora's progress.
The Wellsians themselves couldn't wait to break free of the Cupids' hold; even before they were physically resurrected, their telepathic minds were active, scheming their escape. Having realised that the Fog Ships were locked and the Governor would never let the Wellsians use them unsupervised, they sent a psychic distress signal to the Cupid Homeworld, leading the Department of Problem-Solving to come to Morningstar in their Department Fog Ship, which they parked a little ways outside the base and left unlocked. When Pythagoras-858, Juliet-178, Carter-1277 and Edwin-750 were taken to Governor's throne room by the Deputy Governor, he feigned to be even more foppish and careless than he really was, and vaguely told them to go talk to Mandragora.
Later, when, despite Mandragora's best efforts, the Problem-Solvers had found out about the Great Experiment, they returned to the throne room to find Governor in the midst of having yet another portrait of himself painted by Paintbrush-122. Dismissing the artist, Governor casually revealed to them that Mandragora was acting on his authority and shooed them out of the throne room, having told them that the Experiment was too far in for them to do anything about it now. Indeed, a short while later, Mandragora successfully resurrected the six Wellsians under his care. Taking one, armed with a Heat Ray, with him, Mandragora joined the Governor, and the three confronted the Problem-Solvers in the communications room, which they had finally realised was empty. As Mandragora and Governor launched into shared gloating about their world-conquering plans, they were beset by Dactylopius, flanked by the rebellion's own Wellsian. A standoff ensued, broken when Mandragora ordered his Wellsian to shoot the Governor instead of Dactylopius or his Wellsian. Gleefully obeying, since this fit in with the Wellsians' plans as much as Mandragora's, the Wellsian used its Heat Ray to shoot a hole clean through Governor-105, disintegrating his Gemstone Heart and thus killing him instantly. (PROSE: The Resurrection of the Wellsians)
Post-mortem
Governor received a posthumous entry in the Cupids' Book of Evil. (PROSE: The Book of Evil) Paintbrush-122's prior position as his portraitist was also mentioned in Incident Report C248B, which described Paintbrush's activities after returning to the Cupid Homeworld; having been recruited by the Department of Entertainment to paint monster designs for The Rainbow Adventures, Paintbrush reportedly relished the chance to “draw actual monsters he was allowed to make look monstrous” after “years never being asked to paint anything more than stuffy vanity projects for the Governor of Morningstar 1”. (PROSE: Plagiarism of the SavageMen)
Meanwhile, Governor-105's soul became a ghost. Winding up in the Spirit Realm, he was one of the souls upon whom judgment was passed by the “mysterious invaders”, who forced him to wear Marleyesque “chains he'd forged in life”, made up of “medals and awards, and statues and paintings of himself”. Like the twenty-odd other Cupid ghosts in existence, he materialised in the Cupid Homeworld in the night of December 24th to December 25th, 2019, and attempted to make himself known to Pythagoras-858, but Pythe did not perceive his presence. Philatel-426 briefly glimpsed this out the door of his house immediately after his encounter with the ghost of Mailbag-431. The ex-Governor may have been trying to warn Pythe about (PROSE: A Copper-Colored Christmas Carol) Mandragora-257's resurrection. (PROSE: The Dark Cabaret)
