Mythlands: THE HEIST

Character Profiles: The Heist Part One (66-70)

Prime Minister Cornelius - Cornelius is an anthropomorphic clothed elephant, a trusted adviser to King Babar and the Prime Minister of Elephantland, as well as also being a close friend to fellow adviser Pompadour.

Cornelius is larger than most in Elephantland, elderly but spry, he wears spectacles and usually dresses in a formal military outfit (denoting his time in the army, where he served as a medical officer) of royal blue dress coast over red dress trousers that have a yellow stripe down the sides, and dark boots.

Cornelius appeared in the Babar the Elephant series written by Jean De Brunhoff.

When Elephantland manifested in the Mythlands, Cornelius admirably stepped up to new challenges, securing the borders and building trade and friendly relations with many other lands. Cornelius, like his king, Babar, has a seat on the board at MCI and maintains solid friendships with The Tortoise and other residents of the Domain, as well as elsewhere.

During the celebrations for Queen Celeste's birthday, a series of terrorist bombing attacks, followed by invasions from Oz and Rhinoland, have sent the once peaceful realm of Elephantland into crisis mode - Cornelius has reacted promptly and efficiently, like the true statesman he is.

King Rataxes - The traditional rivals of Elephantland, Rhinoland bordered it's neighbour in their original continuity and continues to do so in the Mythlands.

The belligerent Rataxes and his more intelligent wife Queen Rhiola Rataxes, rule the mostly jungle kingdom of Rhinoland, from Rhino City (A mostly stone city made up of block like and pyramid buildings), facing concerns such as 'global coldening' - since 1946, when Rhinoland manifested in the Mythlands, they have faced a drop in temperature that has affected agriculture and the daily Rhino society - Rataxes irrationally blames this on Babar, though the reality is they now reside in a more northern climate.

Whereas Rataxes and Babar always had a rivalry, but could sometimes work together, in the seven decades plus that they have been in the Mythlands, Elephant-Rhino relations have been gradually souring, with a lot of the blame being placed on the economic success that the elephants enjoy, while the colder jungle and plains of Rhinoland has seen a weather related crop failure, and a recession that has made Rhinoland one of the poorest nations in the West Mythlands.

Despite this, Rataxes has spent much of his GDP on building his army and weaponry, taxing his people to the hilt and blaming their woes on 'the rich elephants across the border.' Economic aid from the Domain flowed for quite some time, but after Rataxes angrily resigned his seat on the board at MCI over perceived Elephant favouritism, his flouting of many of the treaties abided by across the West Mythlands, have led to a cessation of aid.

In recent decades Raxtaxes has sought out alliances with other regimes that hold resentments towards MCI or have grudges against neighbours. They now have strong diplomatic ties with the Greater Ozian Sphere, and following a series of terrorist bombings of Celesetville that were blamed on Ozian agents, when Queen Ozma declared war on Elephantland and invaded from the south, Rataxes saw an opportunity and sent troops into Northern Elephantand.

The Bulgy Bear - Appearing in 'The Last Battle' (1956) the seventh and final book of the Narnian series by C.S. Lewis, there were actually three bulgy bears - described as large and bulgy brown bears, the three were possibly family.

Living together in an old hollow oak tree in the Shuddering Wood, they were in hiding from the Telmarine regime that was actively exterminating talking creatures; the bears were calm, likable creatures who were strong, friendly and intelligent, though they were prone to sleeping a lot and could be easily frightened.

When Prince Caspian emerged to lead his rebellion, the bulgys were among the first to accept him as king, offering him honey and wet and snuffly kisses. As it was tradition that a bear should be named Marshal of the Lists, one of them was appointed to the position for High King Peter during his duel with Miraz.

This bear, is the one known as The Bulgy Bear - what became of the other two in the Mythlands is not known.

At the time of the Great Battle, the Bulgy Bear was an innocent, slightly comedic, and given to nervously sucking on his paws.

Since Narnia's arrival in the Mythlands and it's closure of it's borders and the dominance of the religious class, Bulgy has changed - after seven decades as a soldier and warrior of the royal court, today's Bulgy Bear is a seasoned veteran, fierce, capable and intimidating when he wants to be.

Residing mostly at the court in Cair Paravel, The Bulgy Bear has been appointed Captain of the security team that looks after Professor Andrew Ketterley, and often spends time overseeing the mountain compound that the Professor stays at. He was there when Goldie Lochs precipitated an infiltration designed to kidnap Ketterley.

Despite this highly capable warrior's suspicions leading him to alert his forces, the compound was overrun and Bulgy was wounded by Goldie when she threw her knife into his shoulder. He was on the verge of being atomised by the super-powered cats Atom and Cosmo, when The Hare intervened, knocking the wounded Bulgy out in order to save his life.

Bulgy was captured and held hostage by the threat to the lives of his remaining 23 men - the Glass Cat intended to use him to pass security on their journey to Cair Paravel. At first the highly religious Narnian loyalist refused to cooperate, but when he overheard his captors talking, he experienced a crisis of faith.

This was due to the deep dark secret that he held - Faith and love were at odds within him. The Bulgy Bear had spent decades denying his homosexuality, going as far as self flagellation and purging to rid himself of what he considered to be filthy abhorrent unnatural thoughts and urges. His faith taught him that what he was feeling was a sin, and in Narnia homosexuality was punished by the death penalty.

However, in recent months he had met a small bear who was part of the delegation to the Cair Paravel Economic Summit, from the Domain. Boo, a free bear who had come out ages ago, first to his best friend, a larger brown bear with a green hat and fondness for picnic baskets, had told him about the love and acceptance possible in the outside world.

Bulgy was still suffering from inner turmoil when he was assigned to the compound. After his captivity, he broke through the faith barrier and agreed to help The Glass Cat, if he was reunited with Boo and they helped him change his land or defect to the Domain. Playing an instrumental part in the Heist from that point onwards, the Bulgy Bear plays a major role, eventually learning of the true intentions of Loki and aligning himself with The Hare, Jessica and others to stop the coming apocalypse.