Characters
CHARACTER PROFILE: DR. TRENT HOLBROOK
Codename: Ashfall
"Hope lies in the smoldering rubble of empires."
ROLE IN STORY
The mythic centre of the narrative.
A brilliant but emotionally volatile educational psychologist once tasked by the agency to locate, study, and integrate "Hunters" (ADHD individuals with high disruptive–creative potential) into society. Thought to have gone rogue. Disappeared. Died by suicide. But left behind a network of encrypted materials—training, insight, warning signs, and unfinished strategies.
He becomes a ghost mentor, a tragic blueprint, and a symbol of what happens when brilliance is burned out by bureaucracy.
WHAT HE BELIEVES
"The system isn't broken. It was built this way—to reject us."
That Hunters can thrive—but only if they're understood and supported.
That trying to fit into a neurotypical world will always come at a personal cost.
That true change comes not from within systems, but from outside their ashes.
He thought the agency was on his side—until it became clear someone inside wanted his work buried.
SECRET HE'S HIDING
He never finished the work. He claimed he had integration strategies—but he didn't. The system wore him down before he could complete them.
He also knew he was spiraling—into alcohol, isolation, RSD-triggered burnout. But didn't tell anyone.
He didn't plan to die a martyr. He just didn't believe he was needed anymore.
Possibly left a coded clue hinting that someone inside the agency was manipulating the entire mission—but couldn't identify who.
SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIPS
Lupa: She was sent to "retrieve" him. She believes she failed to save him. In truth, he may have chosen to die after she arrived, not before.
Anchora (the mole): Suspected Holbrook of trying to destabilise control and worked silently to discredit him.
The Participants: They are walking through the fragments of his mind—trying to assemble meaning from what he couldn't finish.
VISUAL / VIBE REFERENCES
Aesthetic: Scattered papers, obsessive maps, red string, burnt-out academia mixed with gym gear and recovery bottles.
Tone: Think Will Hunting meets V from V for Vendetta—with the volatility of Jesse Pinkman.
Music: "Calm Like a Bomb" by Rage Against the Machine
Film vibe: A Beautiful Mind × Mr. Robot × Arrival
Animal energy: Border collie in a thunderstorm.
Colour palette: Charcoal, blood red, faded whiteboard ink.
Physical Traits
5'7", bald, lean-muscular build.
Alternates between over-trained and over-drunk.
Trembling hands, tired eyes, still runs faster than anyone when needed.
Looks like someone holding both genius and collapse in the same breath.
Mantras / Defining Lines
"Hope lies in the smoldering rubble of empires."
"They didn't silence me. I just ran out of volume."
"I wasn't trying to burn it all down. I was trying to light the way."
"They call it dysfunction. I call it untranslated brilliance."
Character Profile: Tenax
Real Name: [REDACTED] – Confirmed alias: Joseph Bright
Codename: Tenax
Role in Story: The manipulative mole; second-in-command at one of the agency's black sites. A man obsessed with control and preservation of the status quo.
Visual / Vibe Reference:
Film: Lt. Kendrick (A Few Good Men), Umbridge (Harry Potter), Cornelius Fudge (Harry Potter)
Animal: A snapping turtle—armoured, immobile, defensive, and dangerous when cornered
Colour: Grey-blue—cold, institutional, unwilling to evolve
Soundtrack: A slow, grinding cello—powerful, but dragging everything behind it
Background & Personality
Anchora is a senior intelligence officer within the agency, embedded at one of its central operational black sites. Although not the highest-ranking figure, he wields immense influence through fear, tradition, and manipulation.
Raised in a rigid, disciplinarian household and educated in the private school system, Anchora is the embodiment of entrenched authority. He sees obedience as a virtue, hierarchy as natural order, and "hardness" as the only path to resilience. His worldview is one of discipline over support, conformity over curiosity.
He was never a field operative. His hands have never done the dirty work. But he commands others to do it, with full belief in his righteousness.
Anchora is not openly tyrannical—he is polished, persuasive, and politically astute. He couches control in the language of duty. He believes that tradition is the greatest teacher, and progress is inherently dangerous. He is not evil for evil's sake—he genuinely believes he is saving the world from chaos. But that belief is rooted in a desperate fear of personal irrelevance.
Beliefs (even if they're wrong)
"Structure is safety. Hierarchy is peace."
"I was made strong by hardship. Others should be, too."
"Progress is instability dressed up as virtue."
"People who can't fit into the system are dangerous to it."
"If they can't follow the rules, they don't belong here."
Secret(s) They're Hiding
Anchora is the mole. He has been operating an unsanctioned directive to halt Holbrook's work—not on official orders, but to preserve the institutional model that secures his own relevance.
He believes the agency is drifting too far into "empathy-led" strategy. He sees the rise of neurodivergent empowerment as a threat to discipline, to control, and to everything he built his identity around.
While claiming Holbrook was rogue, Anchora obstructed agency support to Holbrook, destabilised his operations, and rerouted Lupa's mission under false pretences.
He is emotionally unstable beneath the surface—given to desk-thumping outbursts when contradicted, and prone to power plays when threatened.
Personality Traits
Authoritarian – Deeply invested in control, order, and compliance
Insecure Narcissist – Projects confidence, but is terrified of irrelevance
Persuasive & Performative – Excellent at self-justification and manipulation
Progress-Blocking – Opposes innovation under the guise of preserving integrity
Cognitively Rigid – Convinces himself he's right because "he's always done it this way"
Emotionally Immature – Outbursts, tantrums, passive-aggression, and denial
Symbolic Role in Narrative
Tenax represents the entrenched systems that resist neurodiversity not out of malice, but fear. He is the embodiment of institutional inertia. The reason people like Holbrook burn out. The reason the agency must evolve—but struggles to.
Previous Name:
His codename, Anchora, reflects his psychological function: he anchors everything in place. He drags progress down—not because he's evil, but because he's afraid of what happens when the boat starts moving without him.
Anchora – The manipulative mole
CHARACTER PROFILE: LUPA
Real Name: [Undisclosed]
Codename: Lupa
"If I seem cold, it's because fire left scars."
🧠 ROLE IN STORY
The unpredictable grey-zone operative.
Officially, Lupa is a high-level agency field agent sent to retrieve compromised materials and identify internal threats.
Unofficially, she's running a covert mole-hunt—seeking the hidden manipulator responsible for Dr. Holbrook's downfall.
She becomes a wary, sharp-eyed ally to the participants—unsure whether they're unknowing assets… or weapons deployed by the wrong hands.
🧭 WHAT SHE BELIEVES
"The system isn't evil. But rot spreads from the cracks."
That ADHD is both survival instinct and social liability—it equips her for war but costs her peace.
That Holbrook was a visionary, destroyed not by the agency—but by someone within it.
That she can trust the agency head, the person who brought her in.
That most others inside the agency? Not so much.
That finding the mole is the only way to save what Holbrook started—and maybe herself, too.
🧨 SECRET SHE'S HIDING
She didn't kill Holbrook—but she was sent to bring him in. She failed.
Holbrook took his own life. She saw the signs. She looped over them.
She's still operating on the authority of the agency's leader, but outside the chain of command.
She suspects that the very operatives she's working alongside may be manipulated—or worse, compromised.
💡 SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIPS
Holbrook – Her mission. Her mistake. Her mirror. It's unclear if they were romantically connected, but the emotional bond ran deep.
The Agency Head – The only person she trusts. The one who saw her potential when no one else did. She's loyal to them—not the structure beneath them.
Anchora (the mole) – The silent saboteur, identity unknown. But Lupa knows they've been inside from the start.
The Participants – She doesn't trust them. Not yet. They could be pawns, or proof that the agency is still worth saving.
🔥 VISUAL / VIBE REFERENCES
Aesthetic: Tactical streetwear with subtle elegance—clean lines, no flash. Urban shadow operative.
Tone: Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty, Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road
Animal energy: Falcon or fox—sharp, agile, rarely seen coming
Music: "Bury a Friend" – Billie Eilish × "You Don't Own Me" – Grace
Colour palette: Slate grey, navy, ash white, flashes of signal red
🧬 Neurodivergent Traits
AuDHD (Autistic + ADHD)
Hyperfocus ability weaponised for field intelligence
Detachment mistaken for coldness—it's survival
RSD (rejection sensitive dysphoria) hidden under discipline
Loops thoughts, scenarios, emotional flashbacks
High pattern recognition + emotional radar
🗝️ Defining Lines
"I don't miss signs. But I ignored his."
"Trust isn't loyalty—it's risk. I take it rarely."
"The head of the agency didn't send me to fail. Someone else did."
"They said I was made for operations. Holbrook said I was made for understanding."
"You think you're here to follow orders. But what if those orders were never real?"
🧬 Origin Flashback (Short Optional Bio)
Labeled difficult. Misbehaved. Misunderstood.
By 15, she was in deep trouble—and brilliant at hiding it.
The agency head saw something rare: chaos, directed. She was recruited, not rescued.
Turned into a ghost in the system. Taught to follow orders—but never blindly.
Holbrook was the first to speak to her as an equal. That changed everything.
Character Profile: THE AGENCY VOICE
Codename: Unknown
Real Name: [CLASSIFIED]
Known Alias(es): None
Voiceprint ID: AGENCY-001
Security Clearance: Above Director-Class
Visibility Status: NON-VISIBLE ASSET – NO CONFIRMED VISUALS
Known Only By: Operative LUPA
Role in Story
The Agency Voice is the faceless, calm command behind all official transmissions. His presence is heard through encrypted comms, mission briefings, and classified updates—but no one sees him. No one except LUPA.
He operates from the highest echelon of the agency, above even site leads like Anchora. His decisions override all others. He is the final word.
To most, he is a detached but unwavering authority. To Lupa, he is more. A mentor. A protector. The one who saw something in her that no one else did—and trusted her when no one else would.
Character Traits
Calm – His voice never wavers. Emotionless, but not unkind.
Measured – Every word he speaks is deliberate. He never wastes breath.
Progressive – Quietly reformist. Seeks evolution, not revolution.
Empathic at a Distance – Understands pain. But carries it in silence.
Trusted – Even the most hardened agents don't question his intent.
Protective – Especially of Lupa, though he hides it under protocol.
Invisible – No documentation. No photos. No confirmation he even exists outside the voice.
Relationship to Lupa
He personally recruited her. Saw past the impulsivity, the chaos, the disciplinary reports. Recognised her brilliance before she did.
He is the only one who calls her by her real name—though even that is redacted. He sends her on missions no one else could survive—not because he wants to risk her, but because he knows she's the only one who won't fail.
He has tried to shield her from agency politics. But when Holbrook fell, and Anchora moved against her, he was forced to step back and let her prove herself again.
Symbolic Role in the Story
The Agency Voice represents authority done right. In contrast to Anchora's decaying discipline, he embodies structure with empathy. Intelligence with integrity. He's the system's last hope of redeeming itself—from within.
He is the counterbalance. The invisible hand trying to pull the agency forward while others cling to the past.
Voice Reference
Tone: Low, even, steady—think Max von Sydow or Liam Neeson at his quietest
Delivery: Controlled. Never hurried. Commands without shouting.
Emotion: Always neutral, but never cold. The kind of voice you want to trust—even if you shouldn't.
Lines They Might Say
"This isn't just about protocol anymore. It's about people."
"She's not just an asset. She's the future. Whether you like it or not."
"Anchora is operating outside the line. You know what that means."
"I trust you, Lupa. But don't make me choose between you and the agency."
"If this fails… it won't be because we didn't try to change."
"The Agency" Voice – The cold authority