Rulers of Krakoa[]

The Quiet Council of Krakoa was designed by Professor Xavier and Magneto to be a twelve-person governing body of the mutant-exclusive nation of Krakoa. In order to achieve their goal of a united mutant nation, Xavier and Magneto made deals with several powerful and influential mutants, offering them a seat at the Quiet Council in exchange for their loyalty and cooperation.^[3] Distributed across four different tables, the Council was formed by the traditional leader figures of mutantkind Professor Xavier, Magneto and Apocalypse, the monarchs of the Hellfire Trading Company Emma Frost, Sebastian Shaw, and Kate Pryde, who were in charge of the economical transactions concerning the Krakoan drugs, the tenderhearted and faithful former members of the X-Men Storm, Nightcrawler, and Jean Grey, and the faces of usually extremist and terrorist initiatives Mystique, Exodus, and the vile Mister Sinister. Complementing the Council's configuration, Krakoa itself supervised their discussions, being represented by the linguist Cypher.^[2][4]

The Council's inaugural meeting at the Grove was aimed at drafting and implementing a set of initial laws for Krakoa. After a discussion revolving around the complication of violent mutants such as Sabretooth, the Council decided upon three basic laws for the fledgling nation: 1) Make more mutants, in order to increase the mutant population; 2) Murder no man, since humans could not be resurrected through the mutant Resurrection Protocols; and 3) Respect the sacred land of Krakoa, as a way to preserve their home environment. Having broken the second rule, and due to his violent nature, repeated and long-time disregard for life, and resistance to following orders, Sabretooth was the first sentenced by the Council to the Pit of Exile, where mutants would no longer fall under the jurisdiction of humanity.^[2]

However, Krakoa and the Quiet Council were built over secrets. Unbeknownst to most, Dr. Moira MacTaggert lived in a hidden chamber in Krakoa, the No-Place. Being a mutant with the power of resurrection, she was in her tenth life and had schemed for the creation of Krakoa alongside Professor Xavier and Magneto, with the rest of the world believing her to be dead. Afraid of being discovered, Moira was against the resurrection of the mutant seer Destiny, whose powers would be able to foresee a possible failure of Krakoa and Moira's existence. Still, Professor Xavier and Magnet decided to follow their own agenda despite Moira's recommendations.^[5] They blackmailed Destiny's wife and councilwoman Mystique, promising Destiny's resurrection in exchange for her being a spy in the anti-mutant organization Orchis.^[6]

The Quiet Council became involved in several different state affairs. In coalition with the Great Captains of Krakoa, who were essentially the Krakoan defense force, they worked to protect the Krakoan interests.^[7] They also approved the creation of different organizations, such as the intelligence agency complemented by a special ops team granted with sanction to kill X-Force,^[8] the investigative office tasked with inspecting mutant murders X-Factor,^[9] and the group of erratic mutants tutored by Sinister, the Hellions.^[10]

Amenthi War[]

Apocalypse had parallel plans of his own. He wished to reunite Krakoa with its missing half, Arakko. Millenia ago, the two islands split apart to fight an invincible army of daemons, with Arakko and Apocalypse's family departing to resist them in the hell-dimension of Amenth.^[11] Apocalypse stayed to strengthen mutantkind and destroy the Amenthi. His machinations with the group Excalibur involved accessing Amenth through the magic realm of Otherworld through an External Gate he had secretly constructed in Krakoa.^[12] After revealing his plans to the Quiet Council, Apocalypse marched to Otherworld with a group of Krakoan mutants, only to be betrayed by his children, the first Horsemen. They had been corrupted by the Amenthi deity Annihilation. As a result, Krakoa went to war against Arakko with Otherworld as a battleground. Its ruler, the Omniversal Majestrix Saturnyne, arranged a tournament to settle the conflict^[13] as a competition between Swordbearers of Krakoa and of Arakko, the latter being led by Apocalypse's wife, the perverted Genesis.^[14]

With Krakoa on the verge of losing the conflict, Cable contacted his parents Jean Grey and Great Captain Cyclops for an intervention.^[15] Jean Grey and Cyclops chose to lead a team of X-Men into Otherworld to end the conflict. The Council decided not to lose any of its members to the war. As a consequence, Jean Grey chose to resign from her position, and the X-Men were reformed as an independent super-hero team that did not answer to the Quiet Council.^[16] With help from the reformed Captain Britain Corps and the X-Men, Krakoa won the final war against Amenth, with the deamonic corruption being contained. Apocalypse chose to move to Amenth with his family in exchange for the freedom of Arakko, which was moved to Earth. As such, the Council was left with another empty seat.^[17] King Namor of Atlantis was offered a position in the Quiet Council to fill the empty seat, but refused, believing that Krakoa had nothing to offer him.^[18]

Another consequence of the war was the revival S.W.O.R.D. as a mutant space program run by Abigail Brand. Magneto served as a Quiet Council's liaison to Brand.^[19] In an effort to address various complications caused by the presence of Arakkii on Earth, the Council and the Arakkii government body of the Great Ring approved to move of the island and its inhabitants to Mars, which was terraformed by Omega Level Mutants of both islands under Magneto's coordination.^[20] Planet Arakko was declared the capital of the Sol system, giving mutantkind an upper hand in negotiations with alien civilizations through Brand's intervention. Storm battled for a position in the Great Ring of Arakko, becoming the Regent of Arakko in addition to being a member of the Quiet Council of Krakoa.^[21]

Moira's Inferno[]

Mystique's mission of destroying Orchis from within failed with the supersentinel Nimrod becoming online and identifying her presence in the Orchis Forge space station. With her failure, Destiny was not to be resurrected.^[22] Professor Xavier and Magneto consulted Moira, easing their ideological break-up since they had failed in preventing the creation of Nimrod by their own. She urged to eliminate any chances of Destiny being resurrected and to remove Mystique from her position of power. A meeting was arranged to discuss changes in the Council. Before Mystique's expulsion could be discussed, she proposed a candidate for one the vacant seats: Destiny, who she had resurrected by herself in secrecy.^[23] Unpredictably, Destiny was accepted by the members of the Council to replace Apocalypse, since Mystique had procured votes, including Frost's. Destiny in the Council quickly put a damper on any plans to remove Mystique, who strengthened her influence and would not be voted out.^[24] In order to counter Mystique and Destiny, Professor Xavier, Magneto and Moira decided to reveal the truth about the creation of Krakoa to Emma Frost in order to gain her support. Their plan backfired because Frost felt betrayed for having been kept in the dark for so long. As an alternative plan, Professor Xavier nominated Colossus, for he believed him to be a loyal ally in the Council he could trust. Colossus took Jean Grey's seat after being voted to join.^[24]

A resentful Frost revealed the information about Moira's existence and importance to Mystique and Destiny. The terrorist couple kidnapped Moira from an Orchis Node in Terra Verde, misleading Professor Xavier and Magneto into believing Moira was kept captive by Orchis^[25] and into being ambushed and killed in battle against the deadly machines Nimrod and Omega Sentinel. Seeing Moira as a liability, since her death would trigger a resurrection and reboot history, Frost presented Mystique and Destiny with a mutant-negating pistol. Mystique depowered Moira, turning her into a human and planning to execute her. Unexpectedly, Cypher interfered, for he had been aware of the games within the Council all along by communing with Krakoa using Warlock's Transmode Virus. Destiny suggested that the best future would be to let Moira go; so it happened, Moira was no longer an ally to Krakoa or a secret influence in the Quiet Council. Emma Frost shared the secret of Xavier's and Magneto's collaboration with Moira as well as her true condition with the rest of the Quiet Council before having them resurrected. The Quiet Council was to remain silent about their true origins for the rest of the Krakoan society.^[26]

Following the events surrounding Moira's disappearance and eventual betrayal of mutantkind, Magneto chose to step down from the Council and retire to Arakko. The Council searched for candidates to replace him, with the dark priestess Selene and the mutant messiah in charge of the Resurrection Protocols Hope being the favorite candidates. Selene argued that her immense powers, experience with immortality, and intimate knowledge of magic would be vital for Krakoa as a fit replacement for Apocalypse. Hope, on the other hand, all but demanded a seat on the grounds that, since the Five were central to mutant resurrection, they needed a voice on the Council. The council voted in six to five on accepting Hope's candidacy immediately, granting her the seat that belonged to Magneto.^[27] In retaliation, Selene disrupted the External Gate, turning it into a monster and prompting the Council members to fight off the beast.^[27] A solution was found as Hope, acting on a vision by Destiny, assassinated Selene with a Mysterium bullet. Selene was then resurrected and telepathically overwhelmed by Exodus, who had her undo the spell that cast the monster before snapping her neck.^[28]

Judgment Day[]

Secrets kept tearing the Quiet Council apart from the X-Men. Cyclops learned that one of Orchis' high-ranking scientists Doctor Stasis was in fact a version of Mister Sinister. Moreover, he revealed the existence of the mutant Resurrection Protocols to humanity through journalist Ben Urich,^[29] which erupted in a human-mutant crisis close to the Hellfire Gala. Frost confronted Cyclops about it during the Gala, but, as he revealed Sinister's potential involvement, she chose to break the Quiet Council's secret and shared the truth about Moira to him and Jean Grey.^[30] In turn, Frost informed the Council about Doctor Stasis' true identity, causing the Quiet Council to turn against Mister Sinister. However, before they could apprehend him, he was mysteriously abducted.^[31]

Simultaneously, the revelation about mutant's immortality sparked the ire of prime Eternal Druig, who wished to destroy their Resurrection Protocols^[32] being backed by Moira. Destiny predicted the attack and alerted the Quiet Council. Having formed a Uni-Mind, the Eternals telepathically attacked Krakoa to cloak Jack of Knives in an attempt to murder Hope at the Council Chambers. Wolverine prevented the assassination. Exodus coordinated a psychic counterattack with Frost and Hope. Next, Exodus joined with the X-Men to fight the powerful Hex.^[33][34]

In fact, Sinister had been abducted by the Eternals for his past transgressions against the Celestials. He helped the Eternals and the Avengers spark life into the Celestial Progenitor in the Avengers Mountain to stop Druig.^[35] The Progenitor decided to judge the sentient inhabitants of Earth, individually challenging everyone about their worthiness. Mister Sinister took opportunity of the crisis to contact Destiny and claim he had not been aware of Doctor Stasis and that a plan to stop the Progenitor was imperative. Back to the Quiet Council, he influenced Krakoa to approve a plan to destroy the Progenitor, that had no success.^[36][37] Krakoa set machinations to elect Starfox as the new prime Eternal, ceasing combats against the Eternals. However, they could not prevent the Progenitor from destroying Earth. Destiny had Nightcrawler contact Moira to get help in Orchis to save the world.^[38][39] While Orchis dealt with the damage the Progenitor caused, Krakoans, Eternals and the Avengers communed with it, being able to revert the harm it had caused.^[40]

Sins of Sinister[]

Mister Sinister had taken advantage of the revelation about Moira to manufacture clones of her, building a Moira Engine that could trigger reincarnations and create safe-points to reset the timeline in order to ensure positive outcomes for himself.^[27] Destiny became aware of his activities and sought to minimize the damage he might do.^[41] She and Mystique were also aware that there were at least two other versions of Mister Sinister besides himself and Doctor Stasis, which secretly performed manipulative actions involving mutantkind to stop the machine ascendancy.^[42] Despite the problems Destiny's powers posed for his schemes, Mister Sinister managed to use the Moira Engine to ensure his success in assassinating several key members of the Quiet Council; Xavier, Frost, Exodus and in particular Hope,^[43] which allowed him to infect the Resurrection Protocols with his genome. This led Mister Sinister to corrupt the revived^[44] and bring about a world where he and his Council of Sinisters reigned supreme.^[45]

This timeline continued thousand years into the future, but Mister Sinister lost control of the experiment along the way when his proxies on the council rebelled against him and his Moira Engine was stolen. His final attempt to ascend to dominionhood failed due to the intervention of the original Moira of the perverted reality. Moira triggered the Engine to reset reality, but not before who ensuring Mister Sinister's fall by using the Reliquary Perilous, an artifact created by Mother Righteous to send knowledge back to the past, by destroying the Moira Engine and clone Rasputin IV, one of Sinister's creations who he had betrayed. Re-emerging in the past, Rasputin IV ensured Mister Sinister was captured and brought before the Quiet Council, who sentenced him to exile in the Pit, crediting Mother Righteous with Krakoa's salvation.^[46] However, the Quiet Council took action after realizing that the resurrected Xavier, Frost, Exodus and Hope might be compromised. After temporary confinement in the Pit, the four members were treated by Forge, although no guarantee of a full cure was provided. As a further precautionary measure, the four were temporarily impeded of participating in the Council's votings, until it could be made absolutely certain that they were freed from Mister Sinister's influence.^[47]

The Quiet Council was further weakened as Nightcrawler abandoned Krakoa after being used by Orchis to execute assassinations^[48] and Storm trusted her position to Colossus.^[47] In secrecy, Shaw had been dealing with Mother Righteous for his best interests.^[37] Taking advantage of the situation, Shaw proposed a magically resurrected Selene to fill Mister Sinister's former seat. Counting with all votes of the Summer table, Colossus approved the recommendation due to his will being secretly influenced by Chronicler. Mother Righteous then performed a ritual to get Destiny assassinated by Mystique. As Destiny underwent the possibly corrupted Resurrection Protocolos, she was also robbed of her right to vote. For their next meeting, the Council considered whether they should reveal Mister Sinister's machinations to the rest of the world or not. The final result approved the revelation.^[49] As a result, there was severe backlash to the actions of Krakoa against the world since their resurrection method could endanger the world. Another consequence of the decision made by the dysfunctional Quiet Council was the collapse of the Krakoan society. Cypher communicated with the island and learned it was suffering with the psychic turmoil of its population. As such, he recommended the dissolution of the Quiet Council to pave way to a new form of government.^[50]

Council Structure[]

The Council itself is divided up into four sections of three seats:

• Autumn represented the three greatest traditional and historical heads of mutant society,^[2] and consisted of:
  • Destiny (Irene Addler)
    • Destiny replaced Apocalypse on the council after he left Krakoa to join his family in Amenth.^[17][51]
  • Professor X (Charles Xavier)
  • Hope Summers (representing the Five)
    • After Magneto chose to retire to Arakko, Hope earned his Autumn seat over Black Priestess.^[27]
  • Magneto (Erik Lehnsherr)
  • Apocalypse (En Sabah Nur)
• Winter represented the more zealous, radical, and morally ambiguous elements of mutant society,^[2] and consisted of:
  • Exodus (Bennet du Paris)
  • Black Priestess (Selene Gallio)
    • Black Priestess replaced Mister Sinister on the council after he was sent into the pit for killing other members.^[49]
  • Mystique (Raven Darkhölme)
  • Mister Sinister (Nathaniel Essex)
• Spring represented Krakoa's economic interests through the Hellfire Trading Company,^[2] and consisted of:
  • Black King (Sebastian Shaw)
  • White Queen (Emma Frost)
  • Red Queen (Kate Pryde)
    • Kate Pryde joined the council after accepting the position of Red Queen in Hellfire Trading Company.^[4]
• Summer represented the more empathetic, level-headed, and just members of mutantkind,^[2] and consisted of:
  • Colossus (Piotr Rasputin)
    • Colossus replaced Marvel Girl after she left the council to reform the X-Men.^[52][24]
  • Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner)^[48]
  • Storm (Ororo Munroe)
  • Marvel Girl (Jean Grey)
• Lastly, an adjunct to the council consisted of:
  • Krakoa
  • Cypher (Doug Ramsey)
    • Cypher represented the interests and needs of the entity itself as the voice of Krakoa.^[53]

• Potential candidate(s) for the Quiet Council:
  • Abigail Brand^[54]
  • Angel (Warren Worthington)^[27]
  • Beast (Henry McCoy)^[27]
  • Black Bishop (Shinobi Shaw)^[55]
  • Cyclops (Scott Summers)^[56]
  • Gorgon (Tomi Shishido)^[27]
  • Legion (David Haller)^[27]
  • Lodus Logos^[27]
  • Namor^[18]
  • Peepers (Peter Quinn)^[54]
  • Penance (Monet St. Croix)^[27]
  • Sobunar of the Depths^[27]
  • Vulcan (Gabriel Summers)^[27]
  • Xilo the First Defender^[27]
• Members of the Quiet Council receive priority in the resurrection queue.^[57]
• The Quiet Council of Krakoa mirrors the Great Ring of Arakko, including similar laws, seats and table placement.
  • Storm has a seat on both the Quiet Council and the Great Ring, as well as one on the Galactic Council, simultaneously.
• Sebastian Shaw ran a book among other council members taking bets on how long it would take for Sinister to betray the council.^[43]