Acanti

The Acanti are a species of sapient whale-like beings who naturally can float through space at a speed exceeding light. Many of them were enslaved by the Brood Empire.

Physical Characteristics
The Acanti roughly resemble whales of Earth. They are of a reddish-brown color, and possess dorsal, ventral, lateral, and caudal fins. Two green eyes adorn their head, widely spaced apart. They communicate with one another through vocalized sounds which they refer to as songs.

Background History
According to myth and legend, the Acanti are an ancient race, who peacefully wander through space, and whom are benevolent and compassionate by nature. They are led by a single individual who they know as the Prophet-Singer. This Prophet-Singer is the repository of the entire species' racial Soul, a collective semi-mystical force that links and motivates the species as a whole. Far from immortal, when death does finally approach, their culture affords them to ritualistically hurl themselves into stars to do so. Even Prophet-Singers are expected to do this, and the Prophet-Singer of each generation will do so to release the Soul from itself, thereby granting it to join with the body of the next in line.

Upon migrating to the Milky Way galaxy, the Brood first discovered and then proceeded to enslave the Acanti in order to take advantage of their natural ability to travel faster than light. To do so, the Brood would infect individuals with a disease known as the Slaver Virus, which would then destroy the higher cognitive functions of their minds, thus making them ripe for simple control. With the Acanti now little more than a zombie, the Brood would convert its mindless husk into a living starship. At one point, the Brood even succeeded in enslaving the then-current Acanti Prophet-Singer; but since even as a starship they will eventually die, this Prophet-Singer did just that, and crashed into a planet. The Brood however were far from done with its pitiful corpse, and reconstructed and transmogrified it into their "throne city", while the planet became known as Broodworld or Sleazeworld, now the center of their empire. With this, the Soul remained trapped within the skull of the long-dead Prophet-Singer even though another had been born to replace it. With the Soul trapped, the Acanti suffered.

When the X-Men first came into conflict with the Brood, they were implanted with Brood eggs. Storm, mistress of the elements, was encountered by the young Prophet-Singer as the egg began to hatch and transforming her into Brood herself. However, the young Acanti succeeded in saving her life. Having destroyed her egg as well as having also critically wounded herself, she was in no worse for wear and had to be merged with the Prophet-Singer's consciousness by other Acanti, to allow her body time to heal while she lay dormant inside a cocoon within the Prophet-Singer itself.

Soon after, the X-Men agreed to release the Soul from Broodworld. Doing battle with the hive-empire, the Soul was released from its crystalline room in which it had become trapped. Grateful, it purged the X-Men of their Brood embryos and proceeded to transform the Queen itself into inanimate crystal. With that, the Soul united with the young Prophet-Singer, and it assumed the leadership of the Acanti species.

Comics

 * Uncanny X-Men

Television
An Acanti appears in the X-Men Animated Series episode "Love in Vain". Enslaved by the Brood to be their vessel, it is freed when Professor X uses his psychic powers to break the Brood's control. Ironically, the Brood cannot stand the Acanti's song, while the X-Man Rogue finds it beautiful.

Trivia

 * The Acanti were created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Dave Cockrum.
 * They first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #156.