Dawnstar/Preboot

Dawnstar [[Legion of Super-Heroes/Pre-Crisis Post-Crisis Glorithverse|Legion of Super-Heroes]] member Pre-Crisis Post-Crisis Glorithverse Dawnstar, art by Greg LaRocque and Larry Mahlstedt (LSH v3 #17) Real name Dawnstar of Starhaven First appearance Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #226 Initially joined Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #226 Left / rejoined When possessed by Bounty, and at Zero Hour Stats Status Erased from known existence at Zero Hour Home planet / Species Starhaven / genetically modified human Other teams joined Legion Academy Aliases Bounty, from entity possessing her (Glorithverse) Relatives Moonwalker (mother), Mistrider (father), Greybird, Greatfire (brothers) Powers Flight (faster than light), survival in vacuum, long-range tracking of lifeforms Other versions Preboot versions Dawnstar Dawnstar Dawnstar

Biography

Origin

Dawnstar embodies the result of a spiritual and technological journey of many centuries. American Indians chose to emigrate from Earth in the 23rd Century in search of a spiritually pure and physically unspoiled new home. Their spacecraft arrived, after a journey of decades, on an uninhabited planet they called Starhaven, near the core of the Milky Way galaxy.

The emigrants wanted to live among their new home's woodlands, plains, and deserts without overly disturbing the land. Genetic engineering research was conducted to this end during and after their space journey. It resulted in the Starhavenites being given working feathered wings that moved both air and energy, and which allowed them to fly freely around the skies of their planet.

Genetic research later enabled them to travel in the vacuum of space without the need for protective suits or spacecraft. Later generations could travel beyond the speed of light, creating or using space warps. Dawnstar was the result of even more refined effort, giving her a resistance to space hazards, and intense tracking abilities that enabled her to find lifeforms across even light-years of open space.

Academy

The Starhavenites chose to avoid galactic entanglements, and declined to join the United Planets, but their peaceful isolation still required a minimal defense ability. Money for this had to be earned by those who worked off-planet.

Young Dawnstar spent her late-childhood and early-teen years working as a guide for spaceships through hazardous areas of space. At fifteen, her talents brought her to the attention of R.J. Brande, who had founded the Legion of Super-Heroes. She resisted his invitation to join the Legion Academy, since it meant giving up her other income, but she acquiesced when Brande promised her a stipend that would be sent to her home planet.

Upon joining the Academy, Dawnstar remained dubious about the Legion and its aims, and resisted undergoing the training that shaped the students into working as a team. Yet she had the constant encouragement of Wildfire, who oversaw the Academy. After a rescue from severe danger by several of her fellow students, including her roommate Laurel Kent, she saw more value in the Legion idea, was less concerned with the aspect of money, and excelled at further training.

Wildfire brought Dawnstar to the attention of the full Legion when the murderous Resource Raiders eluded all attempts at tracking and capture. She led a Legion team across the solar system and back to Earth in successfully finding and removing the threat. For her valorous assistance and skill when under fire, she was offered Legion membership "on the battlefield," a rare honor.

Powers

Dawnstar's unique powers include the ability to track lifeforms and objects across light-years of distance and through interstellar space. She can survive in deep space without a spacesuit, spacecraft, or oxygen.

Dawnstar and other Starhavenites have pairs of large, white-feathered wings that grow out of their upper backs, and which manipulate energy when outside an atmosphere. In deep space, she can travel at faster-than-light speeds, up to 32 light years per hour (280,000c), and can resist physical space hazards and radiation. In an Earth-normal atmosphere or in a sizable gravity well, her speed is diminished, though still formidable, and she is more vulnerable to injury.

Dawnstar wears a Legion flight ring to signal for help, for monitoring of her location, and for other non-flight uses. She uses a Legion telepathic earplug for communications.

Her name alludes to the planet Venus, Earth's "morning star," and this is why she wears an eight-pointed star ornament on her forehead.