Argent Adept's History
As long as human cultures have existed, there has always been a Virtuoso of the Void. A master musician who holds back the tide of chaos and destruction through their connection to the primal forces of the natural world. There is only ever one Virtuoso of the Void at a time, and each of these druidic songsmiths faced down the avatar of annihilation known as Akash'Bhuta as she rose time and time again to break all order in the world.
The Virtuosos of the Void always passed on their chosen instruments. The new Virtuoso would learn their fate when handed the instrument, the artifact itself imparting the title and the knowledge that order must be preserved. When a young bartender named Anthony Drake happened across an ancient Chinese bell in a cultural arts museum, he learned more about the ways of the world, as well as his own destiny, than he ever could have imagined. He was the newest Virtuoso of the Void and should have already been training in the ways of the Void, but Akash'Bhuta had disrupted the cycle early. She, over time, learned to destroy the instruments of the Virtuosos, and she had broken the fiddle of the previous Virtuoso of the Void before it could be passed on to his successor.
Anthony Drake set out, leaving his mundane life behind him. He sought the remaining instruments of past Virtuosos in order to learn to channel his new-found power. Calling himself The Argent Adept, he fights as an agent of order and restoration against the discord sewn by all manner of vile beings.
However, Akash'Bhuta was already aware of this newest Virtuoso, and she knew that the sooner she destroyed him, the sooner she would be able to break the cycle of the Virtuosos entirely, leaving the world her domain to do with as she pleased.
After a terrible loss to Akash'Bhuta - nemesis of all Virtuosos of the Void - Anthony Drake knew that he was not prepared to take on the force of Nature's Chaos. Without allies, Akash'Bhuta would end the line of Virtuosos with the death of Drake, and the world would be in great peril.
Calling out to those heroes he'd fought alongside, the Argent Adept assembled a team to face Akash'Bhuta. Each who joined him in the fight brought their own skills, abilities, and considerable powers to bear, but without the entire team, they would not have defeated the Avatar of Creation and Destruction. The Argent Adept, Captain Cosmic, Tempest, Haka, and Fanatic joined in battle, though even they would have lost if not for the momentary appearance of an unknown figure with a broad-brimmed hat and a six-shooter.
Now, that team still stands firm against threats from this world and others. Known as the Prime Wardens, the five heroes protect our world from otherworldly opponents and beings from beyond the known cosmos. However, their greatest challenge was still yet to come: Oblivaeon.
Some time after the defeat of Akash'Bhuta, the villain known as Biomancer had crafted a twisted flesh golem in the guise of the Argent Adept. This fleshchild wielded a true instrument of the Void, a dark baton that belonged to former Virtuoso of the Void, named Franz Vogel. Upon the defeat of Biomancer, the baton was taken up by the current Virtuoso of the Void.
With the recovery of the instrument, Anthony Drake set ot learning what he could from the baton's connection to the Void. What Drake didn't know until too late was how Vogel had used his instrument - in pursuit of blood magics. It was little wonder that Biomancer had been the one to locate Vogel's baton, as it was strongly attuned to powers of blood and flesh, and amplified those powers through the Void.
As Anthony Drake mediated on the power of the baton, his connection to the Void became perverted by the residual blood magic energy of his predecessor. So, while the Argent Adept continued fighting against the forces of evil, he also began to take on some of the darkness exhibited by the Crimson Conductor.
