Dirge

Dirge
Species	Cybertronian
Gender	Male
Age	>50,000
Homeworld	Cybertron
Family	Thrust (brother, deceased)
Weapons	Lasers, missiles, Platinum Lantern ring
Allies	The Users, other Platinum Lanterns
Enemies	Enemies of the Users, Ynot
Factions	The Platinum Lantern Corps
Status	Alive
Home Reality	Original Universe

Dirge was originally a soldier, built by the Cybertronian warlord Megatron to fight for him. Though he left Megatron's service, his personality was shaped by those experiences, and he joined Zeta to have someone to serve. After Zeta disappeared, and Dirge was left a disembodied head, he had a long time to think about his life.

He is usually quiet and formal, in keeping with his upbringing as a warrior. Originally, in battle, he would turn vicious and impulsive, regarding his opponents as unworthy scum. After his long isolation, he became resentful of his former masters, and found himself regretting his past as a warrior. The Platinum Lantern Corp's operations have given him an outlet for his anger, mostly in the form of punching out uppity warlords.

History

Early life

Dirge was originally built as part of Megatron's Decepticon army, and served him for many years. At some point, Megatron was defeated, and Dirge left the Decepticons. Along with his brother Thrust, he was drawn into Zeta's service, and they guarded Axiom Nexus for him.

When Blackout and Ynot somehow teleported to the city, Dirge was sent to stop them, but he was blown up when Ynot teleported inside him. His head found this very anticlimatic.

Dirge remained in Axiom Nexus for the next 50 millennia, unable to move and with only his thoughts for company in the empty metropolis, until he was found and given a new body by The Architect and MakutaYnot. They offered him membership in the Platinum Lantern Corp, and Dirge, lacking a purpose in life, accepted.

Mission to Cybertron

MY then gave the Lanterns their first mission; to capture Figlio di Armechio, and told them that if they failed, the corps would be disbanded, and if they succeeded, the Users would organise a parade in their honour. Dirge was very happy about the possibility of actually being recognised by someone, and thanked MY. He then took a brief trip to see what had happened to the universe while he was a head, and returned in time for the other Lanterns' training/life-story-sharing session. He had some trouble using his ring, but finally figured it out and used it to punch Kratos in the face. The Lanterns then finally set off for Cybertron, and upon arrival, decided on a three-pronged approach; Perseus would enter the camp and ask Figlio to come quietly, Dirge and Kratos would attack up-front, and Komerak and Videlle would outflank Figlio's troops.

Figlio, surprisingly, didn't come quietly, and Dirge was called into combat. He wasn't terribly happy about having to fight his kind yet again, but forgot all that when Turel attacked him. He defeated him easily, as well as many other Cybertronians. After that demonstration of force, Figlio agreed to come with the Lanterns. Dirge took his anger out on Figlio's face. He then gave a speech to Figlio's army to try and turn them, but only a few listened. The Lanterns then retreated.

After Figlio was interrogated, the Users planned to put him in prison. Dirge and his new friends were happy to take him away, but the job fell to Perseus instead.

Battle against Blackout

Dirge and the other Lanterns made their way to the edge of the known universe, to rendezvous with Kratos, who had ended up there after a brief stint in Hades. MY followed along, and told them that they had to abandon their previous lives completely to be true Lanterns. Since Dirge's life had been, in his own words, "nothing but pain" prior to joining the Lanterns, he didn't have much of a problem with that.

Xavalis then appeared, hoping to join the team. Dirge greeted him enthusiastically upon noticing he was a cyborg.

MY then showed Kratos, Videlle, and Dirge to a series of interdimensional tunnels, which would take them to their next assignment. That assignment, as it turned out, was Blackout himself. Dirge recognised the name as one of the people who almost killed him back at Axiom Nexus. Unfortunately, the tunnel ended directly beneath Blackout, so that when it opened, the Makuta fell in. Dirge realised he was the target, and blasted him. Kratos berated him for his lack of stealth, and led them into battle, telling Blackout that they were mercenaries looking to kill him. They managed to knock Blackout around a bit, until Serrator and Octoroo arrived and knocked out Videlle. Kratos ordered Dirge to pick her up and retreat, but Blackout shot him in the back.

Kratos teleported his wounded comrades back into the tunnels, where they rested. While they were asleep, a strange cleric healed them, and left. Dirge didn't understand why they had recovered so quickly, but chose not to question it too much. They returned to User HQ, where they were debriefed.

The Parade

The Users finally organised the parade they had promised the Lanterns. It made its way through several star systems, until finally reaching the Malchior system, where it was interrupted by Ynot, who was annoyed at not being invited to join the team. Dirge joined in the battle, and then berated Videlle for trying to get everyone to get along, telling her she'd been of little use throughout their missions. Ynot was quite amused, and largely unharmed. Kratos ordered Dirge to distract the Makuta, which he did by firing lots of ineffectual lasers.

At this point, the battle was interrupted by the arrival of Larfleeze's Orange Lanterns, who were planning to claim the Plats' rings. Dirge found himself facing an arachnoid construct, which despite his best efforts only disappeared when Larfleeze himself was destroyed. The Lanterns went back to fighting Ynot, who had now deployed clones of himself to counteract the Lanterns' numbers. Dirge took on the Earth clone, but was slammed into an asteroid. Electric Ynot then joined in, using his fear powers on Dirge, who ran away. Ynot finally left, taking his clones with him, and Dirge finally left his hiding place, and retreated with the other Lanterns.

Neo-Uterian Hunt

A few days later, Dirge was asked by the Architect to hunt down the members of a Neo-Uterian group, which had somehow gotten its hands on a copy of Destruction by Advancement of Technology.