The Controller

Albert Joseph Clarke (a.k.a. The Controller)

The Controller is the main villain of the Truth Saga, head of the Purpose and the reason for the many kidnappings across Scotland and America.

Physical Description

Identifying Characteristics

The Controller is most often identified by his eyes. Described as a blue so pale it is almost white, the Controller's gaze is piercing and demands attention. His continuously calm demeanour combined with this is something he uses to his advantage, as intimidation is his primary strength.

Physical quirks

The Controller is known to stand tall and straight, with his arms behind his back. Often as a 'warning' he will move one arm from behind his back as if to strike the person he is talking to, only to perform a different action such as straightening his sleeves or tie.
His facial expressions are often completely unchanging from a passive, scrutinising calmness, with occasional small 'tells'. It is difficult to tell, however, if these tells are involuntary or a deliberate move like his 'warning' movement. When incited, or amused, the corner of his mouth will twitch upward or his eyes will narrow just slightly.

Special abilities

Little is known about the limits of the Controller's power, as he prefers to be restrained and keep his use to a minimum. He is capable of teleporting himself and others over great distances, which leaves a blackened scorch mark on the ground where he was. He is known to use telepathy and telekinesis, and can tell when others are speaking telepathically nearby. He can bind others to him with only their verbal agreement -- abling him to seek and locate any who have been signed into his service (this can be as simple as agreeing to work for him, and does not have to be consent to the actual binding act).
The Controller also posesses powers that allow him to inflict intense pain, and eventually death, to another person. He uses this often with his creations as he is able to do it to all of them at once through their physical link to him, but is able to perform the act on individuals not bound to him also.
Spoilers for Reckless Truth

Though the extent of his power is uncertain, it can be assumed that he is capable of performing similar acts to his lower-level soldiers -- creating blades, super-speed, etc -- as he is seen absorbing the body of one of these grunts in Reckless Truth.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

This section contains spoilers for the Truth Saga, and information about the Controller that have not been released in universe.

The Controller was born Albert Joseph Clarke in late 18th century London, to a wealthy Scottish biologist. His mother, who was English, died of complications in childbirth and he spent much of his childhood helping his father study, and learning of the bodies of humans and animals alike.
When he was twenty three years old, Albert's father died of smallpox, leaving the estate to him and Albert alone with his studies. He threw himself into researching illnesses and physical ailments, and for a time became a renowned physician in his local community; healing the sick and aiding the disabled. Over time his interests widened, investigating ailments of the mind and the effects of animal evolution on their ability to survive. He saw a world filled with sickness and suffering, and dedicated his life to discovering the reason. He began to dissect the patients he had who didn't make it, examining them in secret.
It was in one of these bodies that he discovered something magnificent. The man he dissected appeared at first glance to be human -- but everything was just slightly wrong. It was as if every inch of his body buzzed with some invisible force; like the air crackled before a lightning strike. He knew there was something extraordinary about it, but could not discover anything more with what he had available, so packed his equipment and journeyed out of the city to a small village on the east coast of England, where this man had been born.
The town buzzed with the same strange elecrtic power, and the longer he spent there the more things seemed out of the ordinary: people he couldn't quite focus his eyes on, flashes of what he could swear were tails and horns. He observed the people of this strange town in secret, noting every supernatural event and odd circumstance in an attempt to understand the nature of the creatures here. Could this be the secret to curing the sick he had been searching for, for so long?
Alas, time still passed. Albert was rapidly growing older, and the world was only growing sicker. It seemed that every day there were more discoveries and deaths and he was coming no closer to an answer. He had to work harder; faster. He needed subjects to test, and the issue with supernatural beings is that many of them lived far longer than humans. He needed to accelerate the process. A few lives for the good of millions seemed a fair trade.
He worked smart and quiet; never getting his own hands dirty. An anonymous threat here, a misplaced weapon there... these people may have been extraordinary but they shared the barbaric nature of mankind. The bodies rolled in, and once it began he barely had to intervene, merely keeping an eye on local happenings so he could be the first to scoop up the body.
It wasn't enough. Though he was coming closer to understanding the nature of these creatures, there wasn't enough time. It would take a lifetime to understand the way this new, fantastical world worked and he just did not have that much time.
Desperate to make some kind of progress; to be some kind of help to the world, he took to the town's bookstore. A town like this was bound to be well-stocked in occult books. Ordinarily he wouldn't think to stoop to this, but... he was a man of science, and this was an opportunity to learn. He couldn't give up now; not after so long.
Research was done. Rituals were performed. In the dead of the night, Albert was torn apart and reassembled, and something within him changed forever. He no longer felt hunger, sickness or weakness. He was no longer tired, nor cold or warm. He was the perfect machine to continue his work.
Decades passed and Albert retreated to a quiet corner of his mother's homeland, watching the world battle disease after war; seeing medical breakthroughs discovering more and more problems. They were useless, allowing pandemics and mental deficiencies to wreak havok on the population... Something more had to be done. Vowing to be that person, he went out in search of more bodies to work on, and it was on one of these days that he was dealt a fatal blow -- thrown from a cliff by a witch who had seen a little too much of the 'interventions' he performed.
And then, everything changed.
Albert found himself falling apart once more, his original body burning away as he floated back up the cliff, entering the witch's body with no control of his actions. She screamed, then grew eerily silent as he took her body and shaped it into his own, and when he became aware once more... he was powerful. He could feel the witch's electricity sparking through his own veins; understood it in a way he never had before, and he smiled.
Albert Joseph Clarke died that day, and the Controller was born. He knew what he must do. The person -- no, the god he must become, to reshape the world in his image. Free of impurities. Perfect. His Purpose was born.

Age

around 200 years old

Birthplace

London, England

Eyes

Ice blue, severe

Hair

Silver-grey, slick-back

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Pale, white

Height

6'0"

Ruled Locations

• The Facility