Penultimate Sorcerer

The title of Penultimate Sorcerer has been held since the mythic dawn of metahumanity by the current envoy of the Cosminesis on mainline Earth. Literally hundreds have taken on the title, though only a few have achieved any sort of note in the modern ages of heroism.

Originally designed as a plot by the Astral Masters to gain the Power Penultimate for themselves, the tradition resulted in some of the most powerful metahumans to ever exist, and resulted in the torpor of Atrophus being extended for another millenium.

J. Q. Boehm, the 998th Penultimate Sorcerer
As student of the 997th Penultimate Sorcerer, Francis Mancini was set to inherit the legacy of the most powerful magicians in the world. Magic had never truly died during the Dark Age of metahumanity, but it had weakened greatly since the mythic age. Francis himself was nothing more than a showman who used his illusions to entertain, and had no pretensions to power. He was chosen as a student because his illusions were so magnificent that they even fooled a true magician, his mentor.

He discovered that the tradition of the Power Penultimate had fallen greatly, and that though he inherited his master's power and the mentorship of the Astral Masters that had guided him, the only true ability that it gave him was the ability to separate his astral form from his body. Against the cautious advice of the Masters, Francis became obsessed with discovering the true potential of the Power Penultimate, and took on the pseudonym Julian Quintilian Boehm as he traveled to London.

By pushing the limits of the Astral Plane, J. Q. became the first mortal man to escape the mainline dimension, managing to enter the realm of Elysium. Nearly trapped by that realm's power, he escaped both it and the cosmic entity Janus that had been awoken by his arrogance, and vowed to destroy the Walker Between Worlds. This event acted as a catalyst that awoke the Cosminesis's power in the Penultimate Sorcerer for the first time in centuries.

Joining the Modern Marvels after he met and befriended German aristocrat and sky privateer Albel Konrad von Wodensburg, J. Q. was one of the key founding members of the team and their conduit towards the mystic and arcane. However, he earned the enmity of many powerful magicians who found their power exacted through less than moral means threatened, who joined together in a cabal of terrible means, supported by the undying and malevolent Prince Sin.

Later in life, Boehm founded the Society for Practical Magic, as though he focused on the mysteries of the Power Penultimate he also devoted his time to what he called "practical magic" and the using of cosmic principles to effect change on the world. He became a celebrity in London, and was its Provost until his death. Through the Society, magic became an accepted part of life through the Silver Age, though it was outlawed by Control and persecuted by the Church's Order of the Mandrake briefly during the Iron Age.

Boehm was also the first Penultimate Sorcerer to lose his power against his will. His student was the headstrong Nathan Pendergast, grandson of one of his greatest enemies, the indomitable Lord Belisarius Pendergast. In the early 80's, their conflict over the nature of magic and its use came to head and Boehm challenged his student to an astral duel to resolve it, his arrogance blinding him. He lost the battle of magic, and the Cosminesis left his body and instead choice Nathan as its vessel.

This would have killed Boehm, but Nathan had no ill-will towards his master, and used the Power Penultimate to keep the previous sorcerer alive long enough for him to recover. They became friends, and Boehm focused the rest of his life on the Society, a distant ally to Pendergast during the tumultous times for metahumanity that followed. He died in his sleep, dreaming of the return of Atrophus, and in his dying act used his astral projection to warn his student of the coming apocalypse.

Nathan Pendergast, the Last Sorcerer
Nathan Pendergast would be J. Q. Boehm's greatest student and the inheritor of the Power Penultimate, though he would also be the first breach of the sacred tradition through his usurpation. Born to the sorcerous lineage of the Pendergast, his great uncle Lord Belisarius was Boehm's greatest enemy, but Nathan was determined to make himself a black sheep. In his youth during the 70's he joined the Society for Practical Magic, and proved himself with the highest potential.

Julian was eager to find a student that actually had all the traits necessary for a magician, and blinded to Nathan's failings took him on as personal apprentice. Nathan became known as Julian's sidekick during the Sorcerer's twilight years, and quickly gained a mastery over this "practical magic" that far outweighed any other beyond the Sorcerer himself.

However, as time went on the two began to disagree vehemently on the nature of magic and its use. Boehm believed that magic should be protected and locked away, and that its practical uses should only be allowed for the worthy. For this reason, very few magicians trained by the Society had any real power at all, and dimensional magic and travel was strictly forbidden along with conjuration and other dangerous arts.

Pendergast believed that all magic should be studied and not simply sequestered away, and believed that metahumanity was ready for the travails and challenges it would bring. He was brimming with optimism when he disobeyed his master and traveled into the realm of Faerie, and there learned how to master dimensional travel. He did not realize that the entity Janus also awaited him there.

Nearly destroyed by the Guardian of the Threshold, he was saved by his master before his demise and returned to the mainline. Julian was beside himself, and demanded that Nathan recant his position or be expelled from the Society. Nathan refused, as the wonders he had seen in Faerie were enough to convince him of the righteousness of his position. Not wanting to lose his student, Boehm convinced Pendergast to agree to a astral duel to determine the fate of the Society.

Nathan won, which resulted in him inherited the Cosminesis. Not wanting to see his master die, he restored Boehm to health before taking his place amongst the Modern Marvels and as the Power Penultimate, and the two reconciled. However, Nathan's optimism would not last, as the Iron Age soon began with the advent of Xanadu in the east.

Now seen as a threat by the public, Nathan soon became more and more cynical about the world, and more willing to stretch the morality of magic in his pursuit of justice. This came to a head when his sometimes-lover often-enemy Beatrix Faust planned to summon the Archduke of Hell Abraxas to the mortal realm. Knowing that the legions of Abraxas would decimate Earth, he traveled to the Inferno himself, with the assistance of a demon called Bel (later revealed to be Lord Belisarius), and there bound Abraxas to a Solomonic oath that made Nathan into the Archduke of the infernal domain.

Now an Archduke of Hell, the Order of the Mandrake on earth proclaimed Nathan as anathema. His powers expanded through the magical, cosmic, and infernal, Nathan became the most powerful being on the planet, though he had to carefully limit this power. This aptitude allowed him to unlock the powers of the Cosminesis to its greatest extent that any mortal before had, and it seemed that there was nothing that could oppose him.

However, as the new millenium dawned, Nathan learned through his master of the return of Atrophus and the end of the world. He informed the other Marvels and they spent the year trying to convince the rest of the world of the threat, to no avail. Standing with the gathered forces of metahumanity against the threat, Nathan Pendergast sacrificed himself to bind Atrophus for another millenium, and passed the Cosminesis to Queen Atlanta in the hopes that it would always be ready to do so when the next cycle began.

Since his granting the power to Atlanta meant that the cycle of magicians possessing the Power Penultimate was broken, he is known posthumously as the Last Sorcerer.

Astral Teacher
A reflection of Nathan Pendergast still exists, along with other envoys of the Cosminesis, in the Astral Plane. These Teachers are the sum of all the knowledge collected up until this point, and were used by the Astral Masters as a method of manipulation and control. However, they have since gained sentience and free will, and with the defeat of the Infinite Empire their independence.

Nathan Pendergast's astral spirit now guides Asif Musharaff, the newly christened Penultimate. The return of the Cosminesis to the mainline remains and unsolved mystery made only more enigmatic by the fact that Queen Atlanta has no astral reflection of her own among the Teachers.

Pendergast, through this astral form, refuses to fall into the mists of Lethe and seeks to guide the young Penultimate to the heights of heroism, though his morally gray perspective sometimes contrasts with his younger counterpart's righteousness.