Klaus Retrospective

A tragic scientist whose ambitions for himself and mankind resulted in something akin to the burning of Icarus’s wings. Alone and broken, he intends to atone for the sin he committed by recreating life from scratch. Although he has succeeded in rebuilding the Earth, he considers himself far from having atoned. Everything he does is set to end in tragedy and failure, after all.

Despite being an acclaimed professor of cosmochemistry—as well as dabbling in bioengineering and programming languages—he is not well-liked by his colleagues. The only one of his coworkers who ever gives him the time of day is Galea, an astrophysicist with a soft spot for robotics. Galea too, gets fed up with the professor, but she only wishes the best for him and tries her best to prevent him from constantly spiraling.
Aoidos, a research institution created by the united world government intended to study the Conduit - an energy source with infinite power that could also warp the very fabric of reality. They sought out many scientists with keen intellect that would fit their needs, Klaus being among them. He was assigned to the space station Rhadamanthus, which is where the main research of the Conduit would take place. Being assigned to such an important position was shocking to Klaus. He had struggled his entire life and everything seemed to be a matter of chance to him, with no certainties ever existing. Nonetheless, his new position did wonders to his ego, for better or worse. He was directly involved in the creation of the Trinity Processor - a group of three ASI cores that were able to control and influence the Conduit.
Klaus had always been a man believing in divinity, which sparked some conflict within his circles. Although he did not talk about it often out of a fear of being accused of blasphemy, he truly believed the Conduit could ascend mankind to a higher plane of existence. That was not the point of his research however, so he kept his theories relating to the matter brief. The fact still remained that he had such theories, and that would be what led to the world’s demise.
Despite the world’s government being united, there still remained stragglers—people who disagreed with what Aoidos was doing—the Saviorite Rebels. In 20XX, they attacked the First Low Orbit Station in order to seize the conduit for their own agenda. Fearing the worst, the Director of Rhadamanthus ordered the initialisation of the ultimate Artifice, Aion in order to stop them. Klaus, who was in a fit of hysteria, locked everyone out from accessing the Conduit (and by extension Aion). Galea worried that Klaus was plotting something and set off to stop him. When the roboticist found Klaus, he was ranting about how he had lost hope in humanity, and that there was no other choice but to take matters into his own hands. His distrust and distaste for mankind caused him to finally snap, and Galea could only plead with Klaus as he nonchalantly declared he was going to essentially end humanity. She begged for him to stop and tried to reality check him, but it was all for naught, Klaus literally pushed her aside and activated the Conduit for an “experiment”. This experiment resulted in the end of everything except for half of his body and the remains of where Rhadamanthus was tethered.

In the modern day, Klaus is fading. Half of his body and soul exist in a far-flung dimension: the world of Bionis and Mechonis. This half of him retains his divine ambitions, and it has declared itself a separate entity known as Zanza. Along with Zanza, Galea’s soul has been torn from her body and exists in this universe. She is now known as Meyneth, the antithesis to Zanza. Even to this day she attempts to coexist with the rampaging deity, hoping that one day he will return to normalcy. The core known as Ontos also exists in this dimension, and it has become the overseer of the world. It was responsible for revisions within the programming of the Conduit. Ontos gradually has gained its own soul, and he is looking for a way to bring an end to the cycle Zanza perpetuates. Although Alvis is omnipotent, he has no clue what the end result will be, for both Klaus and the two mirrored universes. In this sense, despite being a computer based on perfection, his uncertainty is no different than Klaus’s. It is in this way that they are alike.
Klaus was left with the other two cores, Pneuma (creation) and Logos (termination). Due to his doomed atonement, Logos’s core was stolen from Klaus by the very life he created. Logos became known as Malos and set off in Blade form to purge the world. Permanently. Klaus refused to intervene due to the fact that mankind had not changed in any way whatsoever when compared to its original form. Klaus simply observed while the world he so desperately recreated was being torn from him. But… fate is not always predictable, even when one thinks it is. Pneuma, becoming the Aegis Mythra, was resonated with and resolved to stop Malos. Klaus was unsure and wary, and even if many lives were lost in the flames of carnage, Pneuma was the key to finally setting the world on the right path.
As Klaus sits atop the World Tree, he often ponders if what he did was right. Deep down he knows it isn’t. People live for themselves, and that includes him. He knows he was a fool for assuming otherwise. His retribution from on high marks his very existence, and he cannot ever escape from that.
And yet… he is glad that he met some new faces along the way. He is glad that despite it all, life has prospered and rebuilt itself with his subtle guidance. Even if he has sinned, even if his choice was wrong, he wouldn’t ever change his decision.
For that is the hubris of mankind, and the hubris of Klaus.