Marcus Ripley

The sometimes enemy, more often ally to the crew of the Allura, Marcus Ripley's story is long and complex with a series of twists and few turns of the heal. His current stance in Askaria is as a protector of whom would and has sacrificed his own life in order to protect those who cannot protect themselves from the horrors that may besiege the continent and the world upon the rise of Dukath the Kraken King.

He is know most known in the world of scientists, scholars, and arcane specialists for his advancements in the technology grown from the advancement of Lampstone, a crystal-like material found no where outside of Askaria, using it to both enhance, and forge the technological age birthed by the Pitt family, and the dwarves of the city of Lampstone. Every person in all major cities across the continents surrounding Askaria utilize devices created by Marcus Ripley, and ever more so know of the weapons used many in those same states. Even the smaller settlements not well off enough to have this technology have heard rumors of its existence and the power they embody.

Dr Ripley, though not a household name to most, will have heard of the crimes of which he was eventually convicted of. The Plague of Moonstone, which killed thousands including several members of the Royal Vicern family of Moonstone, was thought to be spread by the refugees after the Aaracocra War, when in fact it was a pathogen created and dispersed throughout the city by one of Ripley's flight machines. His reasons for this were unclear until his capture years after the event. The disease, though created by Ripley, was blackmail. The Arkens had captured and turned his son Levi into a vampire, keeping him in a Lampstone stasis to stave the effects of his transformation. It is believed that Ripley agreed to poison the Royal family and their people in exchange for the safe return of his boy, knowing that he may eventually be able to cure those afflicted. The Arkens kept his son from him for several years until he joined forces with the Crew of the Allura, cured those who had survived the initial plague, and aided in the killing of the Vampires in Moonstone.

In the years between his creation of the Plague of Moonstone and the his eventual capture, Marcus Ripley had a number of interactions with heroes and villains across Askaria, most of which ended poorly for those that opposed him. It is not a mystery as to how those who fight evil would see him as such, underlined by the lies he would weave around those that considered him an ally or employer. He once hired a small group of adventures to investigate one of his old labs that had been collapsed by another group of heroes weeks earlier. their task was to obtain an item which was later revealed to be a Pearl.

Marcus Ripley was captured by the crew of the Allura after the Battle of Moonstone atop the moon spire constructed by Lord and Lady Arken at the heart of Moonstone in their attempt to become elevated humans. The Doctor, after confronting the crew several times previous surrendered himself at the end of the battle with no hesitation, ensuring that he gift them several single use curatives to the disease of vampirism, pleading that they "cure him" referring to Levi, his son.

Ripley was held in the Darkwood cells of Blackpool for several weeks after his arrest while the counsel of Blackpool headed by Geralt Wudom, governor of Blackpool, and advised upon by Allister Pitt and Lumus the Eye, came to the conclusion that he must executed based on the weight of his crimes, not matter the good that may have come in the wake of their deployment. He was executed only a few hours after the counsel had come to their decision, of way by hanging. His final words were "Arm yourselves, for no one else here will saves you"

After months of silence Ripley emerged once more, not as a man, but as a machine. He had taken precautions over his own death by way of his son Levi. Using a complex series of spells as well as the fact he shared all biologic information as Levi (Clone) he was able to displace his consciousness into his son upon his death, having it awaken once the young man and the crew of the Allura returned him to one of his many Ripley labs throughout the world. He moved his mind from Levi to a robotic form found within the lab before activating hundreds more of the robots spread from Scholantis to Morgulas, to all corners of Askaria, each one able to connect with him mentally, creating a hive mind.

The tenuos relationship with Ripley and the Crew of the Allura continued on as they one by one began to investigate his labs with aid from the many robots he embodies being placed upon them in times of need. His past near forgotten the crew now seemed to only consider him alley. Even others a world a way seemed to find relief in the aid of his robots in places like the City of Nine and beyond.