Spencer Balmer

Spencer Balmer, better known as "Antaeus", is a British ecologist and powerful nova most famous for his environmental work with Project Utopia, including Project Eden and Operation Genesis.

Balmer was born in Manchester, and studied ecology at university. He was always passionate about the environment and did what he could to prevent its destruction by governments, corporations and an ignorant public. Unsurprisingly he joined many environmental and ecological groups in his youth, some of which took a radical political stance.

After his eruption, Balmer developed superhuman intelligence and his love for the earth manifested as empathy for and control over the natural world. Seizing the chance to do something more direct about the destruction of the environment, he was among the first novas to join Project Utopia, taking the name of the Greek giant Antaeus, whose strength was granted him by the earth. He was directly responsible for most of Utopia's environmental efforts, including Operation Clean Sweep, the restoration of the ozone layer; Project Eden, the terraforming of Addis Ababa; and Operation Genesis, the terraforming of parts of the Sahara.

Antaeus grew dissatisfied with Utopia in 2009, when, still desperate for some positive publicity following Slider's death, the Project requested he accelerate the project's timeline from five years to two. When he refused to do so, another nova was brought in, Harmattan, and the project continued with less involvement from Antaeus. After Harmattan succumbed to Taint, Antaeus disappeared, quitting Project Utopia and eventually appearing in Djado, Niger, where he created an oasis and a lush fertile garden which stretched ten kilometres in every direction. There he granted audience to certain representatives of various nova factions, including the Count Raoul Orzaiz of the Teragen, Aberrants and the Directive. He ultimately decided to remain neutral, distrusting all factions and devoting himself to watching over his personal Eden. Utopia, ever optimistic, described his departure as a "leave of absence".

Powers and abilities
Considered one of the most powerful novas in the world by the time of his departure from Utopia, Antaeus has greater power over the living Earth than any other nova alive. Soil, plants and the biosphere as a whole respond to him, though it is less a case of control than that he grants these things power to defend and propagate themselves. He is able to animate earth, plants and trees, and make radical changes in ecological conditions, though as his vast knowledge is rooted in scientific understanding, he is loathe to do so quickly, as he understands the impact such jarring changes would have. He is able to travel vast distances between natural environments by melding with the root systems that link trees and plants across continents, and is also possessed of one of the keenest intelligences on Earth.

It is uncertain if Balmer has accumulated much Taint, but he certainly does not appear human: instead his usually naked form seems to be made out of earth and planet matter, with green skin and a beard resembling moss. His eyes are black with green pupils.