Pillar Men
A Shueisha team.
Pillar Men's History
The Pillar Men come from an ancient race of humanoids that possess extraordinary strength, intelligence and lifespan. This race once ruled the Earth, living at the top of the food chain and consuming humans who regarded them as either gods to be worshiped or demons to be feared. However, because of their great abilities and physique, the race followed the "rule of evolution" regarding the trophic level: the "higher" it "evolved", the fewer its population became. They remained unable to overcome their adversity to sunlight, yet were content with their lives regardless.Kars using the first Stone Mask
One among this tribe named Kars did not accept his kind's way of life and sought perfection. This led to Kars creating the Stone Mask to bring out his race's full potential through acupunctureW. He found that the mask worked effectively on humans (though turning them into vampires), but the thickness of his species' skull only enabled the mask to partially unlock its full potential. The result was enhanced body manipulation, presumably unlocking the use of Elemental Battle Modes, with a increased hunger. Fearing the threat posed by Kars' genius, the tribe sought to execute him in order to maintain natural order. Kars retaliated by massacring most of his race, including his parents. Only Kars, his co-conspirator Esidisi, and two infant children (Wamuu and Santana), were the sole survivors of their race.
A mural depicting the 4 Pillar Men; from the top: Kars, Esidisi, Wamuu, Santana
The four remaining pillar men first appeared in human history 5000 years before Battle Tendency, capturing hundreds of thousands of humans for experimentation with the stone mask.[3] Kars found through his research that a flawless Red Stone of Aja called the Super Aja would be essential to perfect the Stone Mask and complete their transition into ultimate beings. To this end, Kars took Esidisi and Wamuu to the old world while leaving Santana behind in Mexico.
The three reached as far as imperial Rome where a emperor was rumored to possess a Super Aja, nearly wiping out the entire Ripple Clan in the process.[4] Unable to find the stone, the Pillar Men were forced to hibernate, fusing themselves into a stone wall hidden within a cave under the Colosseum near the 1st Century A.D. The wall itself was rigged by the Pillar Men as a trap to feed themselves on any greedy humans while sleeping, as seen with Mario Zeppeli. The Aztec correctly predicted that the Pillar Men would reawaken in the year 2852 of the Aztec calendar, the equivalent of the year 1938.