The following contains spoilers for Marauders #1, now on sale from Marvel Comics.
When the X-Men first created their mutant nation on the living island of Krakoa, they decided that they needed to establish some rules that would govern the citizens of Krakoa. Since Krakoa was to be a safe haven for all mutants, even those who had been villains and murderers in the past, it was important that the Quiet Council lay down some laws to ensure that the mutants would all get along and behave themselves. The Quiet Council devised three laws of Krakoa: “kill no man,” “make more mutants,” and “respect this sacred land.” Anyone who disobeyed one of these laws would be exiled to the Pit of Krakoa, where they would suffer in solitude.
In Marauders #1 (by Steve Orlando, Eleonora Carlini, Matt Milla, and VC’s Ariana Maher), the former villain Cassandra Nova meets secretly with Kate Pryde and informed Kate that she will be needing Cassandra on her Marauders team, as Cassandra has some crucial information that she and the other Marauders will need to act on. During this meeting, Cassandra was digging deep into the soil of Krakoa and extracting some of its organs in what appears to be a painful and gruesome process for Krakoa. This would appear to be a violation of the third law of Krakoa, “respect this sacred land.” However, this violation is never addressed in the comic.
It is possible that the writer of the comic simply forgot about this law when writing this scene. After all, it is usually the first law, “kill no man,” that gets mutants into trouble. That was the law Sabretooth violated, making him the first mutant to be exiled to the Pit. “Respect this sacred land” is vague and rarely relevant to the story, so it would be easy for a writer to overlook it by mistake.
Another possibility is that the reason Cassandra is not punished for abusing Krakoa is that she resides in a hidden section of Krakoa that even the island itself forgot. Since Krakoa has no knowledge of this section of itself, perhaps Cassandra can get away with hurting it and escape the consequences. However, this does not explain why Kate does not bring this violation of Krakoan law to the attention of the Quiet Council.
Kate is usually very adamant about punishing wrongdoers for their misdeeds; it is part of the reason she created the Marauders in the first place. However, she does have a motive for wanting Cassandra Nova on her team rather than in the Pit serving time for her crimes. Cassandra is seemingly the only person who has any knowledge regarding the old, mysterious map Kate has recently acquired. It seems that the secrets of this map may have consequences that will change all of mutantkind. This is why Kate recruited Cassandra for her team, despite loathing her for her past crimes against mutantkind. She needed the knowledge and guidance that only Cassandra can provide. Thus, she may have been willing to let it slide when she saw Cassandra breaking Krakoan law.
Cassandra Nova’s violation of Krakoan law may or may not be addressed in future issues of Marauders, depending on whether it was intentional on the part of the writing. Regardless of whether it was meant to be a violation of Krakoan law or simply a cruel act, this behavior shows that Cassandra remains evil and sadistic and that Kate will have to keep a close eye on her as part of the Marauders.
