The Black Moon Clan

"Why do you want to take everything that we have?"

The Black Moon Clan were the descendants of a group of evil magicians who fled the Earth (c.2051 AD) rather than accept the benevolent rule of Crystal Tokyo. Calling themselves 'Black Moon' (all members of the clan bear the black moon mark on their foreheads) in rejection of the Silver Moon of Neo-Queen Serenity, they settled on the unknown tenth planet, an evil rock called Nemesis. The society they created there was based on a moral inversion: love, friendship, loyalty, truth, decency were openly reviled. Only success and power were respected. In practice, their application of these rules was erratic and uneven.

Over the centuries of exile, the clan's magic powers increased, but their legacy of bitterness and hatred remained as strong as ever. Then around 2990, a mysterious wizard called Wiseman appeared and showed them how to utilize the power of the Black Poison Crystal. All the clan adopted earrings of black crystal, while machinery was built to draw on the power on a larger scale. Unknown to them, the earrings poisoned their souls as well as their enemies.

 Black Moon technology was a mix of dark magics and futuristic technolgy: the black crystal and its control machinery, the UFOs, the droids.

While still a child, Diamond sworn to conquer the Earth for his people, destroy the 'unnatural' utopia of Crystal Tokyo, and avenge the sufferings of the clan's ancestors. Shortly after he became ruling prince, this was made possible by Wiseman and his Black Crystal. A vast fleet of UFOs and droids was prepared for the assault. The population of Crystal Tokyo perished, but the Black Moon was unable to reduce the royal palace. Then Wiseman opened the Time Corridor, allowing Diamond to extend his invasion into the past.

As prince of the Black Moon, Diamond has armies and resources available to him. He also has considerable personal power. He was capable of emitting blasts of destructive energy, but his trademark attack was "Third Eye Hypnosis" a form of mind control. All of his powers were more or less tainted by Wiseman's corruption.

Prince Diamond's minimum goals were the conquest of Earth, the destruction of the Silver Moon, and the capture of Neo-Queen Serenity. To accomplish this, he was willing to go to any lengths, waging war in 2993 and 1993 and even in 10,025 BC should it become necessary.

 For a villain, Diamond was a not unattractive character. He was a mild and forbearing ruler among his own people, regarding himself less as an autocratic monarch than as the head of an extended family. He reposed great trust in his underlings, even if, as was often the case, they did not deserve it. On the other hand, he was ruthless toward those he considered enemies, indolent and self-indulgent, and blind to the faults of his associates, particularly Wiseman. His fatal flaw was his infatuation with Neo-Queen Serenity.

Sapphire was the younger brother of Diamond, and also the chief technician of the Black Moon. Aside from teleportation and telekinesis, his powers are unknown, but doubtlessly included an energy blast. He operated the Black Crystal machinery and made the 'dark hinges' used by Emerald. He showed superhuman resilience when attacked by Wiseman.

Sapphire was an idealist, selflessly dedicated to his brother and the Black Moon. His hostility toward the senshi was untainted by greed or ambition. He rightly distrusted Wiseman from the first. Back on Nemesis, Sapphire had been romantically involved with Petz, but she had been unable to accept being in second place to his brother in his devotion.

Emerald was the 'chief executive officer' of the forces of the Black Moon, thus second-in-command to Diamond and superior to Rubeus. Although she had energy attack powers, she preferred to avoid personal combat in favor of using specialized droids. She had other powers, including flight and teleportation; at least some of these were focused through her black earrings. Emerald probably used a UFO as a base for her operations in 1993.

Emerald was cunning and clever, and a better planner than Rubeus, but she was also boastful and overconfident. She tended to assume success without sufficient effort to assure it. She was loudmouthed and often rude; also she had an annoying laugh. She was suspicious, distrustful, and contemptuous, particularly of her subordinate and rival Rubeus. Her fatal flaw was her unrequited love for Prince Diamond.

Rubeus was senior UFO commander in the Black Moon armada; although junior to Emerald, he worked more directly under Wiseman. His powers include flight and energy blast. In addition, his UFO, which was powered by a large chunk of the Black Crystal, conveyed other powers such as teleportation, time travel, capture beam, gravity control, and stealth cloak. It carried a crew of five and an arsenal of seven special attack droids.

Rubeus was a sociopathic type, with absolutely no regard for goodness, justice, or decency---the ultimate product of the twisted society of the Black Moon. Unlike his compatriots, he exercised the same contemptuous attitude toward his fellow clan members as toward the enemy. The only individuals he respected were Wiseman and Prince Diamond. He was ruthless, manipulative, overconfident, and ambitious; he appears to have hoped to displace Emerald from the chief command. Cunning rather than intelligent, he manipulated his subordinates, the Ayakashi Sisters with a combination of insincere promises and brutal threats; he encouraged them to waste their efforts in petty quarrels so as to cement his own authority. In the end, his very ruthlessness was his downfall.

The sisters acted as the crew for Rubeus's UFO, until they were betrayed by Rubeus and chose to abandon the Black Moon cause. When Sailor Moon purged them of evil, their earrings were destroyed and their forehead brands disappeared. Their powers of flight, teleportation, and dark energy seemed to have derived from the UFO via their earrings. Although the sisters constantly quarreled 'like scorpions,' they were in fact quite close.

Oldest of the four sisters, Petz was also the most ambitious and the last to abandon the Black Moon. Her energy attack was "Dark Lightening"; her opposite was Sailor Jupiter. Petz was stubborn, ill-tempered, bitter, and conceited both over her beauty and her ability. She treated all her sisters as underlings, bickering especially with Karaberas. Petz was the only sister not romantically interested in Rubeus. She pretended to hate men, but was secretly in love with Sapphire.

Karaberas, the second sister, was Venus's opposite. Her weapon, a dark whip, was capable of hand to hand attack, tangle, or being used as a rope (it corresponded to the Venus chain). She was vain, boastful, impatient, and treacherous. She was usually paired with Petz, in a 'bickering sisters' relationship. Although she acted as her elder sister's rival and was always the first to reject her authority, Karaberas was in fact usually content to follow her lead or that of Rubeus.

Beruche was the introvert and intellectual of the group, corresponding to Sailor Mercury. Her attack was "Dark Water." Beruche was less assertive and quarrelsome than her sisters and less blatantly malevolent; she was also less under Rubeus's influence than Karaberas and Cooan. Beruche had a need to win, and never hesitated to cheat; she was overconfident when things were going well, but quick to cut and run when they turned sour. Emotionally isolated, she needed the reassurance of her sisters' approval.

Youngest of the four sisters, Cooan tried to compensate with aggression and effort. Her opposite was Sailor Mars. Her attack was "Dark Fire," but she was also versed in martial arts and capable of slashing with her cat-like claws. She was quick-tempered and lashes out in her anger; she was also the vainest of the sisters, although less quarrelsome then Petz or Karaberas. Of all the four, she was the most infatuated with Rubeus and most under his control.

 Twin brothers Chiral and Achiral were the artisans of the Black Moon; they served directly under Emerald. They devised such weapons as the 'Mirror Image Palace' crystal and 'chemical explosion.' Chiral's attack was "Magnetic Field," and Achiral's was "Electron Chains." They also had a certain amount of earth control and could pass through the ground.

These semisentient beings were artificial androids created by futuristic science married with dark sorcery. Servants on Nemesis, they made up the rank and file of the Black Moon invasion force. In their normal form they were also vaguely humanoid, but the invasion models were equipped to select victims and replace them, mimicking their appearance and behavior. There were also more powerful droids, equipped with special attack powers of various kinds.

The mysterious sorceror known as Wiseman became Prince Diamond's chief adviser after giving him the power of the Black Poison Crystal. Unknown to the Black Moon, he was actually the inhuman Death Phantom, senshi of Nemesis and keeper of the Black Crystal.

The Black Crystal was a mutant star seed with powers equivalent to those of the Silver Crystal, including energy attacks, time travel, and the creation of 'dark energy.' The Black Crystal had the additional ability to break off more or less powerful fragments to serve as power earrings or UFO crystals. In appearance, it was a massive crystalline boulder, apparently constantly growing in size and power.