![[Zafiro]](zafiro.jpg)
Gender: Male
First Appearance: "The Green"
Other Appearances: None
Zafiro is the leader of a gargoyle clan based in a rain forest in Guatemala. He protected the trees of the forest from any threat, from forest fires to loggers and farmers. To fulfill this duty, he, and his fellow clan members Obsidiana, Jade, and Turquesa, were given magical crystals linked to a Mayan sun amulet that allowed them to remain flesh both day and night. Zafiro pursued this mission with much zeal, protecting every single tree in the jungle.
One day, while the four were on patrol, robbers invaded the Mayan temple that the Guatemalan clan called home, stole the sun amulet, and smashed the sleeping members of Zafiro's clan, reducing the clan to only the four crystal-wearing gargoyles. From that point on, two of the four would guard the temple while the other two patrolled the forest.
In 1996, the corporation Cyberbiotics made plans to construct a facility in the rain forest of Zafiro's clan. To prevent this, the clan began committing acts of sabotage intended to discourage construction. However, the acting head of Cyberbiotics, Preston Vogel, hired mercenaries Jackal and Hyena, formerly of the Pack, to stop their destructive actions.
Soon after, Goliath, Angela, Elisa Maza, and Bronx, who were on their Avalon journey, came upon Zafiro and Obsidiana as they were under attack from Jackal, Hyena, and a group of armed Cyberbiotics construction workers. The Avalon travelers rescued Zafiro and Obsidiana, and the two took the travelers to their Mayan temple home, and explained their mission and history.
The next morning, Elisa accompanied Zafiro on patrol, and saw that he wouldn't even permit farmers to cut down trees for farmland to support their families. That night, she tried to convince Goliath and Angela not to go with Zafiro and Obsidiana on their sabotage run on Cyberbiotics, but they were not swayed. During the resulting battle, Jackal began to burn down the rain forest in a path to the Guatemalan clan's Mayan temple, and Zafiro's clan and the Avalon travelers stopped fighting Jackal to put out the fire.
The sun rose, and Jackal swooped down, hoping to disfigure Goliath and destroy the other gargoyles, including Zafiro's clan, whom he thought now slept during the day because Hyena had gone to New York City and, he assumed, destroyed the Mayan sun amulet that powered their crystals. The proof to him that this was so was that Obsidiana had turned to stone. Unknown to him, however, she had lost her crystal during the attempt to put out the fire. Zafiro, Jade, Turquesa, and Bronx, who had picked up Obsidiana's pendant, took down Jackal.
As a result of these events, Preston Vogel had Cyberbiotics give up its rain forest operation, and the 'Green' was safe once more. The next night, the Avalon travelers returned to Avalon, with Jade and Turquesa in tow. Jade and Turquesa were to transplant samples of rain forest plants to Avalon to preserve those plant species, while Zafiro and Obsidiana remained to protect the jungle. Presumably, Jade and Turquesa returned soon afterwards. At present, the Guatemalan clan is probabaly still protecting their rain forest from any threat.
In Greg Weisman's Master Plan, Zafiro would have made a journey to Manhattan to retrieve the Mayan sun amulet from the Manhattan Clan. A descendent of Zafiro would be good friends with Samson and join his Resistance.
Zafiro has all the abilities and traits normally possessed by gargoyles, including claws, wings that enable him to glide, eyes that glow when he is enraged, a prehensile tail, and strength significantly greater than that of the average human. Unlike most gargoyles, Zafiro's lower body is like that of a snake. He also can turn into an organic stone-like substance during the day, and he regenerates at a faster rate while in this "stone sleep." Thanks to a magical crystal pendant he wears, however, Zafiro does not turn to stone by day, and suffers no detrimental effects from his lack of stone sleep. His only notable weakness is that he is highly overprotective of the rain forest he protects, and will drop everything else to protect it from a threat.