History[]
Compelling Male Musk Odour is a character from the 2000 AD strip Grey Area, and a member of the telepathic pacifist species known as the Harmonious Free. He worked as a border patrol officer on Homeworld, the Harmonious Free's native planet.
At day-rise on the tenth of the eleventh of the fifth calendar cycle of the period Djuke, Musk and his colleague Resting Bitch Face were patrolling the exo-immigration zone, subduing unruly aliens and complaining about their boss. In other words, it was a totally normal day... until the arrival of the aliens known as 'humans', who identified themselves as Adam Bulliet, Birdy, Manners, Kymn, Feo and Neats, from a distant planet they called 'Earth' (a rather literal and dull name for a planet, but some aliens are just weird).
The humans claimed to have fought off a huge alien threat known as a God-Star, which had been menacing their planet, by flying into the wormhole at its centre and detonating a nuclear bomb. They went on to say that the God-Star had sucked them into its sub-dimensional digestive tract and that they had been spat out by another God-Star which would shortly recover from the shock of its sibling's death and consume Homeworld.
Naturally, neither Musk nor his superiors believed in the God-Star's existence. The Harmonious Free lived up to their name so well, joined in psychic union by a benevolent caste of rulers known as the Elite, that they had never developed technology like spaceships or long-range scanners — things aliens such as the humans took for granted. Homeworld contained all they wanted, so looking beyond it was an absurdity. Musk and Bitch were detailed to keep the humans confined in a holding pen and provided with nourishment, so they could cause no harm to themselves or others. However, Manners managed to make his way to the roof of the holding pen, dozens of metres above the ground, and threatened to jump in order to, as the Harmonious Free put it, "self-terminate." Musk, who had failed to talk him out of it, watched in astonishment as Bulliet punched Manners of the roof. (Bulliet hadn't wanted to say in front of Manners that there were several strong aliens waiting on the ground below holding an improvised safety net.)
In return for saving Manners' life, Bulliet was granted an interview with one of the Elite, and finally managed to convince the Harmonious Free that the God-Star existed. Shortly afterwards, Manners gave his life to destroy an 'angel', one of the astral parasites accompanying the God-Star. (It had come to Homeworld with a 'ministar', one of the drone units that landed on a world before the God-Star came so they could break it down and make it easier to consume. The ministar had landed near the Grey Area.) Musk was saddened and ashamed that his previously insouciant species had been defended by a man who loathed both them and their planet. This made him respect the humans much more and changed his previous uninterested attitude.
The human called Kymn, who could speak all alien languages, told the Harmonious Free to sing the God-Star's 'dirge' back to it. This made the God-Star think that Homeworld was another God-Star, and back off. Shortly afterwards it was destroyed by the Congruence, a federation of advanced alien species who had come to Homeworld because humans Birdy and Neats had built a transmitter from scrap metal and sent out a distress call. The humans were all given a lift home by the Congruence. Musk and Bitch came too, as part of a cultural exchange programme intended to teach the Harmonious Free about the strange ways of other species. Musk became a border patrol officer in Earth's Grey Area, located in the region known as 'New Mexico'. (New Mexico was next to a place called 'Mexico', which would probably have been named 'Old Mexico' if the humans were as logical as the Harmonious Free. Still, it doesn't do to criticise the topographical identification customs of one's hosts.)
Musk was assigned to squad seven, led by Captain Grell, a deeply unpleasant and xenophobic human who gave Musk the nickname 'Stinky'. He later entered a relationship with his human colleague Emilea Roscoe.
Powers and abilities[]
Powers
Musk, like all members of the Harmonious Free, has telepathic and empathic abilities. However, he finds it uncomfortable to telecommune with other species.
Abilities
Law enforcement; armed combat.
Strength level
Male Harmonious Free who gets regular exercise.
Weaknesses
Without the psychic harmony of the Elite to unite them, Musk's telepathic link to Bitch's mind slowly fades away.
Paraphernalia[]
Equipment
Body armour; bio-heuristic visor which gives him the ability to see in obscure conditions (e.g. sandstorms).
Transportation
Flyer powered by a telekinetic Elite of the Harmonious Free; Congruence spaceship.
Weapons
Big gun.
Trivia[]
Musk has two hands, with three fingers and a thumb on each. He also has no nose, and is two heads taller than an adult human male.
Links[]
- Appearances of Compelling Male Musk Odour
- Character Gallery: Compelling Male Musk Odour
- Images that feature Compelling Male Musk Odour
- Fan-Art Gallery: Compelling Male Musk Odour
- Compelling Male Musk Odour quotations
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