Backstory

Dr. Edward Nelson was once a luminary of the Pre-Sundering era, a leading researcher on life extension and nanotechnology. Born on Kylos to one of the first groups of settlers, his aptitude for scientific discovery revealed itself early on. Frustrated by the slow pace of progress and his own mortality, Dr. Nelson performed an experimental nanotech procedure on himself. It worked, biologically speaking; he became stronger, faster, and de-aged to a physical prime of 44. However, the nanites required specific enzymes found only in fresh human blood to function, and they amplified his aggression, turning him into a scientific vampire.

After more than a millennia of hiding and hunting the galaxy, he arrived back in Sector 36. Desperate to cure his vampiric thirst without losing his immortality, he recovered a forbidden artifact known as the Clone Transference Core. He attempted to split his condition from his consciousness. The experiment resulted in a bifurcation: a feral, blood-starved clone (which was subsequently locked away and destroyed on Elegara Station) and 'Edward Prime'—the man who remains today.

While Prime is free of the feral blood-lust, the separation was imperfect. His mind is slowly fracturing, a condition known as 'Synaptic Drift.' He now hides in plain sight on the planet Kylos within the Elegara system. Masquerading as 'Professor Edric Niles,' a visiting scholar from the core worlds, he utilizes the Red Sun Dominion's strip-mined intellectual archives to find a way to stabilize his degrading neural pathways before he devolves into total madness. He views the Red Sun Dominion as useful idiots, hating their anti-Maltech dogma while exploiting their resources.