Characteristic
Cost
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Cost
8
2
3
3
3
5
3
3
3
0
3
2
3
3
3
2
3
3
9
3
3
10
5
15
20
10
15
10
10
15
15
15
10
15
10
10
15
In April 1961, the United States and Cuban exiles attempted to invade Cuba and incite a counter-revolution against the popular leader Fidel Castro. The CIA recruited the forces and inserted two known American ubers, Bow and Arrow. Bow, who would later become Silver Bow, a noted anti-war protester of the 1970s, was the senior advisor to the forces. While the Americans believed their invasion would succeed in bringing out popular support in the smaller towns and villages, the Cubans and their Soviet supporters had managed to eradicate a lot of popular support through tough and decisive scourges resulting in many deaths and disappearances of rebel leaders. The Soviets had also sent one of their ubers, the God Perun, to Cuba where he was at the forefront of Cuba's defences.
The invasion was a bloody affair and there were many deaths, the end result being a resounding victory for Cuba and the Soviets. Perun decimated the ground forces, flanked by Soviet tanks; and the invasion was called off after only two days.
Perun remained in Cuba for reprisal attacks against
Guatemala, where the rebel forces had rallied, as well as against Cuban-based rebel supporters. After six months he returned to the Soviet Union. Perun was seemingly killed in Afghanistan in 1982 although since he was a god, it is assumed he returned to his home dimension to recuperate.
During his short stay in Cuba, scientists acquired genetic samples without permission in a bid to graft the god's powers onto Cuban test subjects. The project had the covert support of the Soviet Union, although Perun had never been consulted. When Russia began having its own internal troubles in the 1980s, they pulled out support from Cuba and the project was forgotten. In 1990 the project had its first breakthrough with two successful clones being produced. These were labelled PERUN106a-01 and PERUN106a-02.
Castro kept these two 'boys' secret, even from his own government - having eradicated the scientists involved via a well-executed explosion at the research facility. Castro had the boys raised separately by two loyal families, the Coto and the
Aquila families. His plan was to raise two secret weapons to counter any future American threat. Cuba had, in the past, had relatively few ubers and none of them had been of any significance.
The boys excelled. Esteban Coto was adopted by Castro's physician, Dr Coto, and showed a keen interest in forensics and science. Raul
Aquila, on the other hand, was adopted by a senior military advisor and
pursued strategy and war. Their powers were kept secret through conditioning and uberhuman restraints provided by Russia. However, in 2006 the boys met for the first time in the Viñales Valley in the north-west region of Cuba famous for tobacco crops. There meeting resulted in a massive explosion equivalent in power to 13 kilotons of TNT which devastated the region, killing 32 people including their adoptive families. The boys were unscathed and Castro used the opportunity to convince the boys to use their powers for the public good of Cuba.
Esteban hated his powers and has been resistant to using them in public, preferring to assist with medical issues. Raul, on the other hand, had been trained by his tactician father to take on the mantle of Cuba's superhero. Raul took on the mantle of Perun, on the insistence of Castro, and had been prolific in promoting Castro's regime until Castro became ill.
The Riders of the Storm seized the opportunity to try and topple Castro's powerbase. The horsemen devastated a large section of Havana and when they were opposed by Perun they focused their powers on him. It was a battle of godlike powers. Perun severely wounded Battleaxe and Victory in the battle but was himself mortally wounded by Stormbringer.
Raul later died in hospital, leaving the reluctant Esteban to take on the role of Perun. Since Raul's death, Esteban's powers have seemed to increase to very concerning levels. Even Castro has become worried that Perun will become too dangerous in the future, and plans have been set up to eliminate Perun if such a time comes that Perun threatens Castro or Cuba. Throughout this, Esteban remains unaware of his true origins and believes he is an uberhuman.
He wants to be a doctor, like his father, and in his spare time he works in the hospitals providing assistance to Cuba's surgeons as a medical student. Esteban has the knowledge of a skilled surgeon but not the life experiences, although Castro has fabricated certain university qualifications for Esteban so that he can operate in the hospitals. While he has no way of doing so, Esteban would like to attend university and acquire a medical degree in his own right, but with his growing responsibilities as Perun and his genius-level intellect he has been convinced by Castro that such an undertaking would be a waste of his talents. Esteban wants what is best for Cuba, and he understands that his powers are, by rights, the property of the people.
Esteban Coto, or PERUN106a-01, is a genetic clone of the Slavic god Perun who operated in Russia between 1958 and 1982. While Perun showed incredible abilities during this time it is believed that he could only tap into a small amount of his godlike power. Recent appearances of other gods, such as Ganesh in India, have shown that power levels fluctuate for these other-dimensional beings. The two clones of Perun began with peak human abilities in physical and mental areas. The boys were supreme athletes and had genius-level IQs. However, when they met for the first time they unleashed an incredible amount of otherdimensional energy which created a stronger link between Earth and the dimension which serves as home to the Slavic gods. Both boys began to manifest uberhuman level abilities.
These abilities included uberhuman strength enabling the boys to lift in excess of 50 tons, as well as significant resistance to injury, the ability to fly and uberhuman reaction times. Since the death of Raul, Esteban's powers have been augmented. He now possesses the strength to lift in excess of 400 tons, immunity to disease and poison, supersonic flight, regenerative
capabilities and he can also generate intense amounts of electricity in the form of lightning bolts which can strike almost anywhere.
It is suggested by Castro's advisors that Perun's powers will continue to increase and that the links between Earth and the original Perun's dimension will grow stronger. It is not known how the Slavic gods feel about Perun being cloned, or if Perun is still in existence after seemingly being killed in Afghanistan. It is possible that Esteban Coto will become Perun, achieving true godlike abilities and eventually going on to live in the other dimension.
Perun is a tall and attractive teenager, with a chiselled body and graceful movements. He is a golden boy, often paraded in front of the Cuban people as an example of the benefits of Communism. He has dark blonde hair and blue eyes and is still growing in height. In public Perun wears a red, white and blue costume reflecting the Cuban flag. Out of uniform he wears glasses to help disguise himself and appears as a handsome, well-dressed university student, often wearing a doctor's coat while working in hospitals.