The Site as Section

First pass at visualizing the site with enough detail to convey some of the elements underneath the island. The Cenotaph "void" is a gateway to the Uberwelt. I've also included cave details with markers as a means of denoting pathways in the site. This is still an ongoing matte painting, and I have yet to make some considerable changes. Note depth.

Dr. Erasmus So

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Character Profile:

A renowned existential psychologist, theorist, and lead scientist of Project Eidolon, Dr. So was instrumental in the fundamental understanding of the Reification hypothesis. He was born in Stockholm, Sweden by his parents, Alexander and Olivia So, both of which later disappear under inextricable circumstances. His uncle, Jacob So, lived the United States and adopted the orphaned Erasmus, where he later attended Stanford University at the age of 16. As a student, he studied under Irvin D. Yalom, who took the young Erasmus under his personal tutelage due to the youngster’s particular interest and understanding of existential psychology. Both individuals became close friends and respected each other greatly at their time in Stanford. Erasmus would later move on to study in Germany, where he met Dr. Earl Von Steinberg, who was during the time, a lead participant in a highly classified research project headed by the German government and the United States. Dr. Steinberg saw great potential in the young Dr. Erasmus, and eventually invited him as a possible candidate for an official research position on the joint research project. The new project involved a revolutionary theory called “Reification,” an induced psychological state of being that allowed the person to undergo an out-of-body experience.

Unfortunately, the partnership between So and Steinberg was short-lived. Agents under the guise of German internal government security were made aware of the project and a security task force was dispatched in hopes of taking both under custody. The Puppeteers, the organization responsible for the kidnap attempt that resulted in the unfortunate death of Dr. Steinberg, were able to obtain highly classified research information regarding Reification theory. In spite of the loss of Steinberg, Dr. So was more than willing to further the project in hopes of completing the work of his peer and negotiated an agreement with the agents of the Pupeteers: he will make no attempt to divulge the project so long as he was in charge of the research and given “unlimited” amounts of resources, including financial funding and equipment. Erasmus was no fool; his work under the Puppeteers allowed him to proceed with the work that he and Steinberg had started, but also buy him time to understand the ethical implications of the research itself and to plan an escape. Dr. So was later listed as “missing” in official government reports by both the CIA and German intelligence.

In 2030, the Cenotaph was found on Hashima Island by the Puppeteers. The project was renamed, Project Eidolon, led by Dr. So himself, and Hashima Island was made the base of operations for his experiments that eventually culminated into the design and construction of the first ECT-Types.

ECT-Type Candidacy

Preferred children for the Project include young adults from ages 15 to 25 and tested with a low to moderate introverted personality rating. Aspergers syndrome, a psychological disorder characterized by a high obsession with objects and repetitive behavior, is a dominant and preferred trait in candidates. Dr. Erasmus So, lead scientist of the Project observed that such candidates are “…focused, easier to control, and maintain while undergoing Reification. Candidate’s lack of understanding and disinterest in their environment, role in life, and identity, is key to preserving the Project’s integrity.” Dr. So would later regret his position as chief creator of the Project itself, saying, “I had very little choice in the matter…my work is a testimony to our fallibility as human beings.”

Next post: Dr. So's character bio.

Desert Places

Snow falling and night falling fast, oh, fast
In a field I looked into going past,
And the ground almost covered smooth in snow,
But a few weeds and stubble showing last.

The woods around it have it--it is theirs.
All animals are smothered in their lairs.
I am too absent-spirited to count;
The loneliness includes me unawares.

And lonely as it is that loneliness
Will be more lonely ere it will be less--
A blanker whiteness of benighted snow
With no expression, nothing to express.

They cannot scare me with their empty spaces
Between stars--on stars where no human race is.
I have it in me so much nearer home
To scare myself with my own desert places.

- Robert Frost