Soldiers of the Hebdomad

The Hebdomad
A Hebdomad is an arcane principle pattern with gnostic roots that date back into antiquity. A week has seven days. Earth has seven continents. There was said to be seven seas. The rainbow has seven colors. The Lotus flower on Buddha's pedestal has seven petals. There were seven Kings of Rome and there were seven hills. There are seven deadly sins and seven heavenly virtues. There are only seven ancient sages. There were seven Archangels and seven Endless concepts. There are seven founders of the League and there are seven wonders of the world.

A group built to represent this concept always consists of seven members, each member is known as an Archon and has sworn to uphold the group's sacred purpose and while they are true to this cause, the Hebdomad is protected to survive, even when it should not. Though its Archons may fall, the Hebdomad blessing promises that at least one Archon will survive, so long as they remain true... and if they always remain true, they will be victorious.

There have been many of these societies of seven. While always formed by seven sworn to the cause, the number of their ranks may vary between one to six, as Archons fall in battle or lose sight of their calling. Sometimes, there's an eigth disconnected figure, which while not part of the Hebdomad, acts as a guide, mentor or leader known as the Demiurge.

As a construct tied to balance, whenever a Hebdomad is formed, whether by forces of order or forces of chaos, the universe will always cause another Hebdomad to be created in opposition to it eventually.

Throughout many mythologies, the Hebdomad has always been aligned with the seven classical planets: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury, the Sun and the Moon

Early On
As creation emerged, seven Archangels were initially born. The first, Samael, created the Sun. The second, Michael, created Light and Dark. The third, Uriel, created Water. The fourth, Raphael, created Land. The fifth, Saraquael, added life to the cosmos. The sixth, Gabriel, added life to the sky and the seas of Earth. The seventh, Raguel, created life on the land of Earth. This was considered the first true Hebdomad.

Another Hebdomad may be those we now call the Endless: Dream, Despair, Death, Destiny, Delerium, Desire and Destruction. The Seven Endless Concepts of Life.

Knights of the Round Table
Founded in the dimension of Albion, in the nation of Camelot, the Victorious Hebdomad was originally formed around the Round Table with King Arthur and his first six knights as archons and Merlin acting as the demiurge and architect of the Hebdomad's creation. While the Knights of the Round Table may have grown in ranks exceeding seven, there always remains an inner circle of seven archons. When one archon fell in battle, another would take their place.

When Camelot fell to the Sheeda invasion, Arthur Pendragon himself charged into the Sheeda onslaught to buy his Hebdomad time to take a number of sacred relics out of the Sheeda's grasp. Among the surviving archons was Ystina who came to Earth, using the alias "Indigo" to quickly found a new group of seven sovereign individuals, including 'Rhian, Taryn, Pahe, Jaffar Al Raschid, Thorsson and Nicholas Helicon. Though Thorsson, Pahe and 'Rhian would become a constant triad of the dark septet for decades, Jaffar would be killed and Taryn would seen leave an be replaced by others.

Demon Knights
In the sixth century, the Hebdomad was said to represent the Seven Deadly Sins by British Monarchy as Etrigan was known to travel in their ranks, and thus the Hebdomad became known as the Demon Knights. Despite their moniker, the seven was called upon by many desperate royal courts to undertake missions of great importance. On a mission to hunt down a rogue knight Templar, driven mad by the Suit of Sorrows, the ranks of the Demon Knights consisted of Ystina, Jason Blood, Nimue, Exoristos, Vandal Savage, Al Jabr, and the mysterious Horsewoman. Though they stopped the knight, the Demon Knights were betrayed by one of their own.

Still, the Hebdomad survived, filling their roster with new persons of importance. Soon, however, Jason Blood and Nimue left, leaving Ystina to keep the seven-strong-society intact, but even she grew tired of this burden and longed for a chance to find an archon worthy of relieving her from this burden. Ystina finally found someone she thought might be up to the task during the sixteenth century. After having fought at his side for many bloody battles, Ystina trusted Orlando to carry on the tradition during the reign of the Eighty Years War, as she left to pursue a life in Roanoke with her lover, Brian Kent before her untimely death as a result of Klarion.

Prospero's Men, Tomahawks and The Union of Sovereign Buccaneers
Orlando led a Hebdomad along with demiurge Prospero in the early 1600s along with Don Quixote, Robert Owemuch, Amber St. Claire, Christian, Ariel and Caliban. This group would visit the Blazing World in 1682 with Prospero taking everyone besides Orlando back there in 1696, a trip from which they would never return.

After encountering Lemuel Gulliver in the 1750s, Orlando decided to give the right of leadership to a man called Fero, otherwise known as Captain Fear. Captain Fear would create the next great Hebdomad in 1770 with Captain Clegg, Captain Hook, Long John Silver, Captain Pugwash, Black Corsair and Black Roger. The Union of Soverign Buccaneers would be active on the seas, while in the lands of the newly free America, Tomahawk and his rangers: Hawk, Big Anvil, Dan Hunter, Long Rifle, Stovepipe, Suicide Simms and Kaintuck Jones. Tomahawk's Hebdomad would go down as part of American "mythology" while the Union of Buccaneers would largely be lost to poor records and faulty memory, the only real traces of their existence being anecdotal evidence from Orlando, who took some notes from Captain Clegg whilst working with Gulliver's Fellowship.

Desperados
In 1837, Hawk, son of Tomahawk reached out to a young man named Gregory Saunders. Saunders was an American lawman who had become a minor hero due to his actions during the Alamo a year prior. Saunders would create a group with Ahwehota, Don Caballero, Rick Wilson, Roger Parsons, Frontier Marshal and El Castigo. This group of Desperados as they called themselves was active prior to the Civil War and would have many adventures fighting dangerous enemies, once of which resulted in Saunders becoming immortal. Saunders would disband the group in the 1860s but would not let the tradition die.

Seven Soldiers of Victory
In the early days of World War II, Saunders would meet a man called Lee Walter Travis. Saunders and Travis would soon create a new Hebdomad called the Seven Soldiers of Victory. Members of this group would include Sylvester Pemberton, Pat Dugan, Wing How, Daniel Leong and Sir Justin, the mystically preserved Shining Knight. This team would battle Qwewq, or Nebula Man in 1944 and be dispersed throughout time as a result. This Hebdomad would later be rescued and returned to their proper time periods with the exception of Crimson Avenger by the Justice League and Justice Society at the cost of Wing How's life to defeat Nebula Man.

International Operations
Greg carried on the tradition after the war. He tried to mutate it, creating a band of seven archons, each one who also acted as a demiurge to their own Hebdomad. This was how the United Nations' International Operations Covert Action Teams 1-7 came to be, but when one archon fell, Greg lost faith and disappeared to ride solo for over two decades. A near-death experience and a chance encounter with Kendra Munoz resulted in her scolding him harshly for being so reckless. Reminded he nearly broke his promise to Captain Fear (and technically Orlando and Ystina, who also happens to be Hawkgirl), Greg formed a new group, this time under the auspice of being a covert military unit known as Project Victory.

Project Victory was short-lived in the grand scheme of things, but during its brief existence, Greg found not only a bevy of trusted companions that would become long-time allies and stalwart archons, but he also found an enemy in the Sheeda, the enemy that the Seven Soldiers had been originally built to defend against was now threatening Earth, just as it had Albion. This gave Greg's team of seven that which it had been missing before: a sacred purpose.

Seven Soldiers
When Greg's military contract was terminated, he was allowed to restructure the team among the DEO and continue his battle against the Sheeda. Naturally, he knew this meant he had to bring an expert Sheeda fighter onto his team. Hawkgirl was his first recruit. This recent incarnation is now known as the Seven Soldiers. Originally founded in Star City, which had its veil between our plane and the Void weakened by occult architecture, Greg's first Seven Soldiers consisted of Greg, Shiera, Green Arrow, Arsenal, Skyman, S.T.R.I.P.E and Old Walter Travis but when the Sheeda threat to Star City had been neutralized, Oliver and Roy weren't willing to pack up and move, so Greg and Ystina went looking for two other archons.

Eventually they recruited descendants of Greg and Ystina's old comrades, filling out the leftover ranks with willing DEO agents of some exceptional skills. But this led to what Greg and Ystina called the seven bloody years. The Sheeda threat was ramping up and they were taking a heavy toll on the Seven Soldiers. Those that weren't killed would quit when the danger the Sheeda posed proved to be too much for them to willingly stand against, or the unnatural strangeness of the invaders simply caused them to slip into madness. Among the many casualties to the Seven Soldiers, the Sheeda claimed the life of Rod Gaynor, kidnapped Jackie Pemberton, and made an attempt to assassinate Kendra Saunders, Greg's great-granddaughter. Still, despite the Sheeda's best efforts, Greg and Shiera stood strong against them.

With a group consisting of Greg, Shiera, Green Arrow, S.T.R.I.P.E.S, Skyman, Starman, and Shelly Gaynor (and a tag-along Star-Spangled Kid) leading a charge into the bowels of the Sheeda stronghold, the team managed to strike a powerful blow.. The Seven Soldiers were able to rescue Jackie Pemberton, but the remnants of the Sheeda escaped and would return years later.

Crisis on Infinite Earths
The Seven Soldiers worked with the Challengers of the Unknown, aiding the Anti-Monitor in battling the Cadre of the Immortal. The first event of the Crisis was the Battle for Opal City, during which Skyman and Starman sacrificed their lives.

The title of Starman was passed onto Jack Knight, while Sylvester Pemberton's cosmic converter belt and weaponry was given to Courtney Whitmore.

Jack and Courtney joined the remainder of the Seven Soldiers during the Battle for Star City later in the Crisis, during which, Shelly Gaynor was sucked into a dimensional rift.

Countdown to Crisis - Sheeda Invasion II
In the leadup to the second Crisis, Greg recruited a mostly new group including a rescued Shelly Gaynor, Spyder, Gimmix (the woman they rescued five years ago), Dyno-Mite Dan, Boy Blue and Bulleteer, who abandoned them before their first mission. The team then set out to battle Buffalo Spider, and with the exception of Saunders, were all killed.

In truth, the Seven Soldiers that were fated to defeat the Sheeda once and for all were Zatanna, the Manhattan Guardian, Bulleteer, Frankenstein, Shining Knight, Klarion and Mr. Miracle. All though these seven were part of the same struggle, they had never met.

During the time before the battle, a man named Ed Starsgard (Baby Brain) told Guardian that the Sheeda have been attacking humanity in periodic waves, taking everything of value (physical and mental) and leaving behind just enough for the survivors to rebuild for next time. It is prophesied that the Sheeda will eventually be stopped by seven soldiers, so they target teams of seven, including the Ultramarine Corps and the Justice League of America.. However, because the Seven Soldiers have never met, they stand a chance of doing the job.

After undergoing various trials and tribulations in their own miniseries, the soldiers eventually take part in the climactic battle against the Queen of the Sheeda in New York, each affecting different parts of the battle without having any idea of the larger picture.

The climactic sequence is initiated by Zatanna casting a spell: "Seven Soldiers Strike!" This is the final push the universe required to move the soldiers into position.

After travelling into the future kingdom where the Sheeda live, Frankenstein takes Castle Revolving, the Queen's time-travelling floating kingdom, to present-day New York so that the Queen can be brought to justice by the paranormal special ops group S.H.A.D.E.. Once Castle Revolving arrives, the Shining Knight—who had chased the queen to the future—successfully attacks the Queen, severely injuring her and leaving her open to an attack by Spyder, who shoots an arrow into her and knocks her down to the New York streets below.

There, the Manhattan Guardian has rounded up thousands of New Yorkers into a militia that is successfully fighting off the Sheeda invasion. At approximately the same time, Bulleteer comes tearing down the street in her car, hoping to take her critically ill nemesis, Sally Sonic, to a hospital. Sally, utterly insane, attacks Bulleteer, who loses control of her vehicle and crashes into the Queen. Guardian arrives on the scene, but Bulleteer is the only survivor.

Prior to all of this, Klarion, who had drilled up into New York from hidden caves beneath the city, had stolen a magic die from Misty, Zatanna's sidekick. Together with his own die, the two dice comprise Fatherbox, one of the lost treasures of the ancient superhero Aurakles. Klarion had then traveled up to Castle Revolving. With the Sheeda Queen dead, Klarion uses a binding spell on Frankenstein, forcing him to pilot the ship back into the future. Thus, Klarion becomes the "traitor" that was prophesied. However, by doing so, he also stopped Misty, the Sheeda princess, from becoming the new Queen and being obligated to continue the cycle of destruction to save her people.

Finally, Mister Miracle confronts Dark Side in his club. There, Dark Side explains that he gave Earth to the Sheeda in return for them giving him Aurakles, the primordial superhero. Mister Miracle offers himself in exchange for Aurakles' freedom and Dark Side accepts. However, once Aurakles is freed and Mister Miracle is shackled, Dark Side shoots him through the head, thus making him the soldier that was prophesied to die. Mister Miracle is later seen emerging alive from his own grave, "escaping death."

Trivia

 * A couple of documents from the 1940s make reference to the "Justice League of America" as an alternative name for the Seven Soldiers of Victory.
 * Greg considers the JLA to be a Hebdomad.