Johan

• The Alcazar Research Corps (where Johan works) conducts experiments on people abducted from Ark-Dryden: analysis, mutation research, bioengineering—all under the guise of protecting the city and scientific progress. People who ask the wrong questions or know too much are "disappeared" and sent to the lab.

Johan's role in this system: he is a respected scientist and functionary, one of those who shape Alcazar's applied science: from developing control agents and "mutants" to creating medical drugs and "antidotes" sought only by the elite. He not only carries out orders but also actively shapes the policy of "experimental ethics," justifying cruelty as scientific necessity.

A brief summary of his motivation: fear of losing power and control after early traumas, plus a belief in a utopian vision of "pure" survival, have made him a ruthless pragmatist. For him, the people of Ark-Dryden are a resource, a threat, or a variable material that can and must be manipulated to preserve the world he believes is right.

Tragic biography (German by origin): Born in a small post-apocalyptic German enclave, the first years after the system's collapse were spent scrambling for resources and learning how to survive. At a young age, Johan's parents—engineers and scientists forced to collaborate with armed groups for sustenance—were killed. Their deaths from fever and violence left him deeply scarred and determined never to be helpless again. His talent and heartless determination caught the attention of Alcazar's leadership: they offered him an education and a career in exchange for loyalty to the system and secrecy. He accepted, seeking the opportunity to continue his scientific work and regain control of his own life.

Over time, Johan rose to the rank of lead researcher in the Alcazar laboratories. There, he witnessed resources and technology being concentrated below, while above the city, in Ark Dryden, people starved and lived in fear. He justified his participation in the abduction of "suspicious" residents and in experiments, arguing that "collective survival" required drastic measures. Personal losses had deprived him of empathy: he no longer saw the abducted people as individuals, but merely as research material and tools for preserving the Alcazar.

The system of the world in which he lives: • Alcazar is the richest underground city of the future: a technological utopia for the elite. Power and resources are concentrated here; ubiquitous holographic projections of the sky (morning/day/night) maintain the illusion of a comfortable reality for residents. Alcazar controls supply chains, energy, water, and knowledge. • Above the Alcazar lies the city of Arc Dryden, a surface world where most of the population lives in poverty and fear. The inhabitants of Arc Dryden know nothing of the underground paradise; they see only the harsh reality of raw materials and limited resources. • To maintain control, Alcazar creates lifelike "mutant robots" in his labs, shaped like animals and given artificial blood. These machines terrorize and control the inhabitants of Ark-Dryden.