Walter Naugus

Ixis Naugus is one of the last surviving members of the Order of Ixis and a powerful magician, born from the fusion of three other members of that group. After his creation, he was appointed Royal Wizard by Frederick Acorn. During his time in this role, Ixis helped Kodos produce a scenario in which Nate Morgan was removed from the scene in Mobotropolis. Later, Ixis created the Zone of Silence as a safe haven and a zone where he had complete control of the elements. After being locked in the Zone of Silence, Naugus remained there for years until he managed to escape along with Maximillian Acorn. Ixis became an immediate enemy of Sonic the Hedgehog and was chased around the globe for some time until he once again was trapped in the zone. He was eventually released again by the Arachne, but after being a prisoner of one of Dr. Eggman's Egg Grape Chambers, he lost his sanity. After this he blindly served Mammoth Mogul, who had revealed himself as the founder of the Order of Ixis until his mind was restored by a Chaos Emerald given to him by his apprentice. Following this, he began making plans to retake the throne from the Acorn family. This time, Naugus succeeded through manipulating the emotions and fears of New Mobotropolis' populace while aided by an attack from Robotnik's Death Egg Mark 2 and was crowned king, though with the suprising side effect of the Ixis spirits within him being reawakened.

Origin
Agunus the rhino, Nusgau the bat and Suguna the lobster were the last three members of the Order of Ixis (aside from Mammoth Mogul) to survive the Forgotten War. Their goal was to find out just what the Days of Fury, the cataclysmic events that began Mobius' history, were and what preceded them, but were unable to determine it. The three, desperate for this knowledge, and for mastery of the one elemental power that eluded them all (fire - the trio having already mastered earth, air, and water), used their abilities to race to the sun, only to find themselves evenly matched. (StH: #66, #163, #231)

Despite treachery on the parts of each, they reached the sun at the same time, falling into it together and then back to Mobius. This resulted in the birth of Ixis Naugus, a being with the merged body and talents of all three and mastery of fire to boot with no memory of his origins, who then offered his services to the Kingdom of Acorn. The three wizards did not perish though; instead, Naugus became an entirely seperate personality and their spirits were locked in the back of his mind as silent observers of all he did. (StH: #66, #231)

Service to Kingdom of Acorn
Ixis Naugus career as the royal wizard started while Frederick Acorn was king. He was content with his position of power until Nate Morgan was rescued and became an ally to the king. Nate Morgan's scientific creations were proving to make Naugus' magicks obsolete. In order to counter this, he enlisted Warlord Kodos to frame Nate for treason. The plot worked and soon the conspirators started the Great War. Kodos wanted to make sure no blame could rest on him, so he tried to kill the twisted wizard, only to find out his target was an illusion, as the real Naugus was creating his Zone of Silence so he could wait out the war and rule over the ruins. Unfortunately for him, Kodos sealed the Zone, stranding him there. (StH: #65, #66, #73)

Imprisonment and Escape
While imprisoned in the zone he found all of its workings and soon brought it under his control. Not long after he was soon joined by the huge Mobian, Feist who pledged to serve the sorcerer. Soon Kodos was banished by Julian Kintobor (aka Robotnik) to The Zone of Silence and he too pledged himself to the wizard. Uma Arachnis was also sent and soon became a servant to Ixis Naugus. While trapped in the zone, Ixis Naugus found himself able to communicate with Geoffrey St. John through an Ixis artifact. Naugus predicated that Julian Kintobor would soon take over the kingdom, and instructed Geoffrey in how to protect himself and help the kingdom. Eventually King Maximillian Acorn was sent into the Zone of Silence by Julian Kintobor (now Robotnik) and found himself at the mercy of Ixis Naugus. Out of fear of going insane by the properties that made up the Zone of Silence, Max surrendered his title of king to Naugus, in exchange for becoming crystal to surviving in the Zone of Silence. Ixis Naugus would later communicate this transfer of power to Geoffrey, leading Geoffrey to pledge his allegience to only Naugus, whom Geoffrey now saw as the one and only true king. (StH: #41, #53, #233)

Not too long afterwards, Robotnik came into the Zone of Silence out of curiousity. Driven by both hatred and a need to have fun, Ixis Naugus found and began to torture Robotnik with his magic. Realizing he could never control the domain of the Zone of Silence or match Naugus' power while in the zone, Robotnik fled back to Mobius with the intention to never go back. Many years later, the king was rescued by the Freedom Fighters from the Zone of Silence. Soon after a probe was sent into the zone by Rotor to provide data on it. The probe however was sabotoged by Geoffrey St. John, which allowed Naugus and his vanguard to escape. (StH: #53, #233, #234)

Attempted Takeover
When Naugus escaped from the Zone of Silence, he claimed himself to be the ruler in place of King Max. When Sonic and the Freedom Fighters refused, Naugus had his minions Kodos and Uma Arachnis attack. While Kodos and Arachnis proved no match in their organic state, Naugus used his scepter to turn Uma and Kodos into invincible crystal warriors. But the tide was turned when Sonic discovered Ixis could only crystallize inanimate objects or those who swore loyalty to him and destroyed the scepter, making his vanguard immobile. Ixis took this as his cue and fled. After this failure, Naugus then planned to rule the Kingdom of Acorn and Mobius by possessing King Max with his magics and inciting a civil war between the Mobian and Robian populations. While originally no one realized Naugus was controlling King Max, when the recently recovered Sword of Acorns began reverting people back to their normal states of mind, Princess Sally realized magic had to be the cause and concluded only Naugus could be behind Max's actions. Upon this discovery and a near-death confrontation with Sonic weilding the Sword to nullify his abilities, Naugus once again fled the scene. (StH: #53, SSS: #4)

On the Run
Following Naugus' retreat, it was decided that until he was returned to the Zone of Silence, Naugus would continue to pose a threat to the Kingdom of Acorn. Thus, Sonic and Tails were dispatched to track Naugus down using a scanner designed by Uncle Chuck to register the unique ion pattern that Naugus left wherever he went. At one point, the two did catch up to Naugus without realizing it as they flew through a storm front that he had assumed the form of. While Naugus managed to force their plane the Tornado to crash land outside of Sand Blast City and delay their search, they finally tracked Naugus down to the Southern Tundra. At first Naugus had an edge in the fight, but the arrival of Eddy the Yeti and an avalanche caused by a mysterious satellite in orbit above them lead to a temporary reprieve. Using his magick, Naugus hid himself inside the flamethrower built into Eddy's cybernetic arm and waited until they passed into the castle of Nate Morgan to reveal himself. The advantage was short lived however, as Morgan exploited his greed and thirst for power to trick Naugus into returning outside the castle walls by going after a holographic Power Ring, forcing him to confront the stronghold's magical wards. (StH: #61, #64, #65)

After a prolonged period, Naugus finally managed to get in again by using the elemental form of earth to pass through the walls. This allowed him to appear right in Morgan's immense Power Ring storehouse, and Naugus absorbed a massive amount of the Magic Rings there to transform into Ultra Naugus. Sonic and Tails were there at that exact moment and also used an untold number of rings to confront Naugus as Ultra Sonic and Hyper Tails while he attempted to merge the Void with the Zone of Silence in order to grant him unlimited power. The three fought, but the energy Ultra Sonic and Hyper Tails used burned up too fast, forcing them back to their normal states, and it seemed as though Naugus had won. Not wanting to leave any loose ends, Naugus then tried to kill Nate so that he could not interfere, but was blasted back into the Zone of Silence when Morgan used the energy of a Power Ring housed inside his eyepiece, putting an end to the crazed wizard's ambitions for the time being. (StH: #65, #66)

Naugus once again managed to briefly escape from the Zone of Silence. Sonic, who was visiting the grave site of Eddy the Yeti who had saved them during their previous battle with Naugus in the Southern Tundra, found Naugus trying to use the power of the Magic Rings remaining at the battle scene. Sonic was able to defeat Naugus once again using these same rings and trap him in the Zone of Silence. (SSS: #15)

Joining Mogul
As part of Anonymous's (who later turned out to be A.D.A.M.) scheme, Ixis Naugus was freed when the Arachne used the Sword of Acorns to open a portal to the Zone of Silence in Dr. Eggman's Egg Grape Chamber, allowing the evil wizard to escape. The Arachne, who were now Naugus' servants, gave him the Sword of Acorns and he promised to Eggman that he would have retribution before freezing Mecha and escaping with his new henchmen. Naugus, now seeking the Crown of Acorns, encountered the being who had it: Mammoth Mogul. Mogul was also after the Sword of Acorns, and so the two started dueling each other while the Freedom Fighters battled the Arachne and Mogul's Destructix. But when Mammoth Mogul revealed to Ixis Naugus that he was once the founder of the Order of Ixis, Ixis Mogul, the wizard was shocked and pledged allegiance to Mogul, giving him the Sword of Acorns and causing the Arachne to also join Mogul. Naugus and his new master started battling the Freedom Fighters as well, only for the Source of All to be destroyed by Sir Connery, Paladin of the Ancient Walkers. The two villains remained intent on continuing the battle, but Eggman's Egg Fleet showed up and teleported the group to the Egg Grape Chamber. (StH: #163, #164)

While in captivity, Mammoth Mogul somehow used Ixis Naugus to protect himself from the Egg Grapes' effects, also resulting in Ixis Naugus completely losing his mind and becoming an idiotic beast. A.D.A.M. eventually freed the two (in exchange for Mogul's Chaos Emerald) and they escaped New Megaopolis, serving as a distraction to lure Shadow the Hedgehog away until A.D.A.M. could use him in his own plans. Later, Mogul got wind of Rouge the Bat having the Master Emerald and decided to go after it with his new mindless minion, not knowing it was just a ploy. But the two ran into the Freedom Fighters and although Ixis Naugus tried to use his new ability to Shadowmeld to defeat them, he was easily defeated by Bunnie Rabbot. He was then sent to Knothole Prison along with Mogul, Nack the Weasel, Bean the Dynamite, and Bark the Polar Bear. (StH: #168, #173)

Not long after, Naugus and his fellow prisoners were captured by the Egg Fleet when it attacked Knothole, resulting in Naugus being sent back to the Egg Grapes. But Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, and Amy Rose broke out all of Eggman's prisoners, including Naugus and the others. When everyone was sent to New Mobotropolis, Nack, Bean, and Bark joined Mogul and Naugus and they attempted to take over the city, but were simply teleported to it's prison by NICOLE. Naugus later watched Sonic's fight with Tails. (StH: #175, #176, #177, #178, #179)

Shortly after the campaign of the second Enerjak, Mammoth Mogul concocted a plan to free himself and his minions. Revealing that he had over the years placed post hypnotic suggestions in several heroes-Tails, Mina Mongoose, and Mighty the Armadillo-Mogul took control of them and had them attack Sonic. When he proved too strong for them, Mogul sent them all into danger and threatened to force them to die unless Sonic brought him a Chaos Emerald he had acquired from Feist. Reluctantly obeying, Sonic brought Mogul the Emerald, and Naugus was freed along with his fellow prisoners. The group then disappeared, Mogul having decided that he would not attempt global domination again until Sonic was dead or too old to oppose him. (StH: #185, #186)

Claim to the Crown
After Mogul established himself as a casino owner, Naugus was kept out of sight so that he would not upset the clientele, spending his days hissing and drooling in a completely unaware state of being. He was present and chained in Mogul's office when his secret aprentice: Geoffrey St. John arrived, carrying a chaos emerland which he intended to use to restore Naugus' sanity, which, in a roundabout way, could potentially benefit Mogul's business and -- most importantly -- make Sonic miserable. (StH: #219, #220)

With Mogul's permission, Geoffrey gave the Chaos Emerald to Naugus, and the resulting surge of power restored his sanity. After crafting himself a staff topped with his new Emerald, he violently reprimanded St. John, enraged that his secret apprentice had failed to eliminate the Acorn family or preserve the kingdom. Geoffery replied that the Acorns were needed to maintain the new kingdom, and insisted that his skills would help the evil wizard claim the throne. Naugus reluctantly followed the skunk, promising to take care of some unfinished business with Mogul, but immediately praised his apprentice after hearing how he back-stabbed Sonic and left him stranded in the Special Zone. Amidst pouring rain, Naugus arrived on the outskirts of New Mobotropolis, and while his apprentice updated him on current events, he once more plotted to take the crown. (StH: #220)

Within New Mobotropolis, he and his apprentice traveled to the Coliseum via Naugus' shadowmelding powers (an experience Geoffery greatly disliked), where they watched Mina's concert from afar. Sensing a "poison fog" of fear, Naugus used his magic to amplify the citizens' emotions, causing them to react strongly to Mina's musical message of suspicion against NICOLE. Referring to similar trickery that ignited the Great War, Naugus told his apprentice that Mobotropolis' citizens would soon be "baying for blood", and when the time came, they would call out for him to "save them". (StH: #221)

For a time, Naugus and Geoffrey continued to lay low, allowing the citizen's paranoia and fear to escalate. Finally, when they felt the time right, they made a grand public entrance, with Geoffrey announcing Naugus as the rightful king. Naugus boasted to the people that with him as their ruler, they would not need to fear NICOLE; when the AI attempted to capture him in a nanite construct, the wizard used his magic to turn the nanites to crystal and shatter them. He then told the amazed crowd that NICOLE had no sway over him, and that he simply planned to go meet with the Council of Acorn (Geoffrey, meanwhile, was to keep the Freedom Fighters from interfering). Sonic, of course, protested and attempted to stop Naugus from approaching Castle Acorn, but he was thwarted by the wizard's elemental skills and kept out of the castle by a wall of crystal. Striding into a meeting, Naugus boldly announced his intentions to the council, only for Sonic to suddenly strike him (having gotten in through an uncovered window). Despite some hesitation, Elias handed his sword to Sonic at the latter's request, saying that the crown would defer to him when it came to dealing with Naugus. Naugus, angered, told Sonic that his claim had nothing to do with him, but the hedgehog refused to back down. (StH: #222, #223, #224)

During the fight, Naugus used his magic to raise the emotions of the council as they argued between helping the hedgehog as former freedom fighters and relying on political matters as a government. In order to end the fight peacefully, Elias was willing to surrender the crown as long as Naugus honored the council. However, Sonic was insistent on ending it before it could happen, once more risking treason by disobeying the group's authority. Their scuffle was soon put on hold as they felt a shockwave from outside, only to discover the return of Eggman and, to a more catastrophic extent, the Death Egg Mark 2. (StH: #224)

The Death Egg Threat
With Julian on the offensive and his kingdom threatened Naugus agreed to a truce with his enemies to combat the airborne fortress, reaching the Death Egg first the dreaded wizard unleashed his crystalline magic upon the vessel secure in its vulnerability to it. Stunned, Naugus found the structure to be resisting his magic somehow, as the fortress unleashed its weaponry on the attackers they fought back, Sonic and Sally even managed to penetrate the Death Egg's defenses and get inside, but soon afterwards the sorcerer, along with everyone else, was washed away as the world turned white...... (StH: #225).



After the events of Operation: Clean Sweep, Naugus awakened to find the aftermath had a nasty side effect, the spirits of whom he used to be (Nusgau, Agunus, and Suguna, the last wizards of the Order of Ixis) had awoken with him. After a brief battle with himself, Naugus kept control of his body in time to notice that New Mobotropolis was being attacked by one of Julian's contraptions. He joined Bunnie and they attempted to take down the robot, but their attacks were useless. In a fit of rage, both at the robot and his split personalities, Naugus shot a powerful blast of crystal magic at Titan Metal Sonic, engulfing both it and Bunnie in crystals. He then manipulated the robot as a Crystal Golem to block a blast from the Death Egg's Egg Annihilator Beam directed at the city. This was enough for the citizens of New Mobotropolis to choose him as the new king, and he basked in their cheers and admiration. (StH: #231).

King Naugus
While his enemies watched on in horror, Naugus approached Elias and requested the boy to relinquish the crown to him, but was interrupted by the quickster who desperatly tried to tell the people that the wizard was a villain. After learning of the princess' transmutation into a minion of Julian's minions and that the white light from before was the doctor's doing, the spirits of Nusgau and Agunus assailed the sorcerer's mind with the intent of taking his body. However Suguna silenced the others, and advised Naugus to further prove himself as a better suited leader to New Mobotropolis by making Elias look even weaker. Boasting of his "selfless" servitude to not only one, but two of their previous kings and blatantly pointing out Elias' emotional turmoil, he deftly convinced what few citizens who were still uncertain. As his apprentice snatched the crown from Elias' head, Naugus allowed Geoffrey to crown him and was accepted by the people as their new king. (StH: #232)

Unwilling to accept it, his enemies tried again by revealing a hospitalized and half-crystalized Bunnie who was getting weaker by the minute. Spinning this to his advantage as well, the villainous wizard led the masses to the hospital where he intended to rectify his mistake made during the battle. Though Naugus had meant to undo the crystalization he was stunned to see that his sorcery had also restored the rabbit's organic limbs. The wizard-king swiftly dismissed it, claiming he had done so on purpose to reward the valiant heroine for her efforts in protecting his kingdom, and was once more met with cheers from the citizens. Later that day, Geoffrey was arrested for treason. (StH: #232)

Naugus' first true test as king came much sooner than expected, as the city was besieged again less than a day later, this time by the Battle Bird Armada. With the army's Battle Fortress on an attack course and scores of assault pods doing battle with the Freedom Fighters, King Naugus sprang into action to keep up a good appearance for his subjects. Naugus flew into the fight as his inner spirits bickered over his course of action and went directly for the Armada's flagship, attempting to crystallize it in order to spread his reign across Mobius, only to be stopped upon the arrival of the Battle Lord. After a brief exchange of introductions, Naugus was taken by surprise as the Battle Kukku just walked up and punched him in the gut, and then relentlessly pummeled by him before the wizard could counter-react. As he tried to recover, Naugus had Tails thrown on top of him by Speedy, and the Battle Lord knocked them both over the side of the Fortress. Naugus fell the whole way into the city, and still reeling from the beating, could do nothing as the Armada fired onto Castle Acorn with the Fortress' main canon and destroyed New Mobotropolis. Naugus did little to protect his new kingdom, leaving it to the Freedom Fighters to defeat the Armada. (SU: #35 #36)

Naugus attended Geoffrey St. John's trial, but was bored the entire time. After Geoffrey told of how he came to be Naugus servant and declared guilty of treason, Naugus used his new position to grant his servant a pardon, the only one he gets a year. When Naugus found out that ex-king Elias was planning on leaving the city for Feral Forest, his old home, he contacted Eggman through his chaos emerald and told the doctor when the movement was going to happen, resulting in a battle that left Antoine wounded but Elias alive. (StH: #233 #234)

Powers & Abilities
Ixis Naugus's most powerful ability is his knowledge of the Ixian Magicks, giving him power over fire, water, earth, and wind. This gave him a variety of abilities, including manipulating those elements around him and transforming his body or parts of it into them. He was also capable of invading and controlling the minds of others, as evidenced by his brief possession of Maximilian Acorn. He has displayed the ability to manipulate and amplify negative emotions, turning unease into panic, irritation into rage, and wariness into hatred. One of his signature techniques was turning the bodies of his minions into crystal, giving them enhanced strength and the ability to endure the Zone of Silence.

After Naugus lost his mind, he also lost these powers, but gained the power to Shadowmeld, a technique that allows him to travel through shadows. He can also take others with him in the process, although Geoffery St. John claims it is an intensely unpleasant experience. When his mind was restored, Naugus also created a staff to hold his new Chaos Emerald, implying that he may have conjuration abilities now, also regaining his elemental powers.

Naugus could also manipulate the Zone of Silence into whatever he wanted when inside of it, including fusing it together with the Void. He came to rely rather heavily on this ability, to the point where Mogul accosted him for it during their battle. But seeing as how it is now the Special Zone and ruled by Feist, it is likely that Naugus can no longer do this.

Personality
Greedy beyond belief, Ixis Naugus is willing to go to any lengths to increase his own power. Incredibly vengeful, he never forgets being offended, and does his best to pay those who have done so back. Naugus is also partly if not completely insane, making him a dangerous and unpredictable opponent. His mental state has also made him relatively fearless, allowing him to insult his lessers or betters without qualm. The displays of immense ego and treachery are doubtless remnants of his three component personalities, whose own infighting nature led to Naugus' "birth."

As with many villains, he sees his minions only as pawns to use in his various schemes. In contrast and unlike most villains his level he shows little if any actual dignity, other than a few moments of grandiosity he is mostly a blunt person. He did show a great deal of respect for Mogul during their battle with the Freedom Fighters and Chaotix, though this was only after being trumped in every area and learning of Mogul's identity as his original instructor in the arts of magic. Following his escape from the Egg Grape Chamber, he has seemingly been robbed of his intelligence, leaving only blind loyalty to Mogul. After his mind was rejuvenated by the purple Chaos Emerald, Naugus reverted to his old, boisterous self.

Background information

 * Ixis Naugus is (as is the case with most of the original cast) based on a character from the Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon often referred to as SatAM by fans. In the series, this character went only by "Naugus", and is an evil wizard trapped in the Void while exploring it because he was betrayed by Robotnik. Naugus was Voiced by veteran voice-actor Michael Bell.

Appearance
Ixis Naugus appears as a tall, gruesome Mobian with bat ears, a rhinoceros horn emerging from his forehead, a long white beard, and a gloved lobster claw in place of a left hand. Though his SatAM incarnation possessed a long tail, Naugus has never been depicted with this appendage in the comics. In later issues, he possessed a muscular build. Occasionally, he is drawn with the wrong amount of fingers in his right hand.

He wears a suit that has been colored either purple or blue at various times, always with a long black cape, glove on his right hand, belt, and boots. After regaining his sanity via the purple Chaos Emerald, he has also been seen with a silver staff, with the powerful gemstone attached to one end by a bird-like claw.