Rio (also known as Patriarch Rio or Father Rio) is a member of an ancient race called the Gardeners, one of 3 such races which crossed over from the end of the previous universe to the beginning of this one.
After his mother Mother Ri was executed for dubious reasons by the other Gardeners, Rio went berserk. He transformed himself and the rest of his family into “Fell Gardeners” after which they hunted down and murdered all the other Gardeners. Rio and his family formed the Dynasty of the Stars, and proceeded to conquer and rule most of the galaxy for several million years. During this time, they committed mass genocide wiping out all life on many planets. Then suddenly they disappeared into quasi-space without a trace.
When they eventually reappeared, the family was defeated on the Kryn planet Aebra and forced to retreat. Rio was again defeated on the Amaran planet Ayzenthlay and captured.
Rio is a trained warrior, martial artist, and strategist. He is adept at Gardener magic, and is a grandmaster with Universal Foci able to use any type. Like all members of his House, his body contains artificially sentient nanomachines called Symbiots. Even when cut off from his Symbiots, Rio still possesses great power from the ages spent absorbing the energies of the Universal Foci.