Deep Dweller is Kana, one of the Octopus Tribe of Earth’s humanoid animal races. The Octopus Tribes were not mentioned in Kamandi because their society was hidden on the abyssal plain, in the midnight zone of the ocean, the aphotic region where light doesn’t reach. Until becoming an Electric Warrior, Kana had never seen the sun. Her armor filters out stimulus so she isn’t overwhelmed by the surface. Like the surface tribes, the Octopus Tribes did subjugate Atlanteans after the Great Disaster, but voluntarily gave it up decades before the surface, inspired by stories of the enlightened Age of Heroes, including Superman, an alien that could have subjugated the Earth, but chose to live among humans as an equal. Kana is a believer, inspired by superheroes from before the Great Disaster. She is jealous that War Cry has Superman’s cape, but doesn’t seem to respect what it stands for.
Kana, like many an Octopus, lives a solitary life. She has a haughty air about her, thinking she’s figured everything out. And she has little patience for humans that act like Beasts, still stoking the fires of species bigotry that she just wants to move away from. Humans, she thinks, deserved freedom. But once they got it they’ve done nothing but squander it.
Kana’s nanotech armor is of her own creation, changing with her shapeshifting body and allowing her to walk on the surface without being beaten down by its sensory input. Her Electric Seed gives her superhuman elaborations of an Octopus’s natural abilities. She can manipulate darkness, tapping the same Shadowlands as The Shade and Obsidian did before the Great Disaster. She has healing gifts, which she can share with others as long as she experiences their pain. Having almost no bones, she can shapeshift and fit through small holes, as long as her beak fits through. She’s humanoid, but there’s question as to if her brain is even 100% in her head, since an Octopus spreads its neurons through its arms, which are semi-independent.
The Animal Seal of Earth means “Liberty.” While its meaning is essentially the same as Earth’s human’ badge meaning “Freedom,” the two peoples have argued over semantic differences for decades.