Ferdinand Clooney
- Rhine Lab Energy Section (temporarily left between Dorothy's Vision and Lone Trail)
- Columbian Union Department of Defense; Union Army (former collaborator)
Ferdinand Clooney is an NPC in Arknights. He is briefly mentioned in Mansfield Break before appearing as a major supporting character in Dorothy's Vision and Lone Trail. He also makes a cameo in Path of Life.
Background[edit]
Ferdinand is the head of Rhine Lab's Energy Section and one of its first members alongside Ahrens Parvis, having joined in 1085.[1][2] He is known for his aggressive yet confident approach in gathering resources to support Rhine Lab and drive its projects forward and often projects an intelligent yet domineering presence who cares more about tangible results or worth rather than projects or their creators. He is tremendously dedicated to his work and rather neglectful towards everything else, even his own assistants and family; because of this, he is also willing to use any means necessary to support his work, no matter what or whom he must sacrifice or manipulate. To that end, he is known to engage in shady dealings such as secretly supplying Rhine-made equipment to external parties, like corporations, mercenary groups, or even the Union Army of Columbia through his collaboration with Blake the Colonel, uncaring of why or how his buyers will use the resources he provides.
Ferdinand places great value on progress and the future, with his ultimate goal being to push for the advancement of humanity, as he believes that all things will eventually end except for progress itself. Because of this, despite his businessman-like behavior and focus on obtaining wealth and connections, he sees everything as a mere means to an end to ensure Rhine Lab can continue advancing into the future. Even the prospect of him not being there to enjoy the future he makes doesn't deter him, with him even being willing to put his own life at risk if it means his contributions will live on.
Behind the scenes, Ferdinand distrusts and plots to replace the R.L. director Kristen Wright, believing that her focus on her personal research and apathy towards the rest of Rhine Lab's wellbeing will cause the company's decline and eventual end.
Story[edit]
Mansfield Break[edit]
Ferdinand and the Energy Department are mentioned to be the ones behind HydeBro's attack on Simon Co., making them indirectly responsible for Anthony Simon's imprisonment and many of the events that follow.[3][4][5]
Dorothy's Vision[edit]
With Kristen's silent approval, Ferdinand's latest project at Research Site 359 goes smoothly, until the Pioneers stage a hostage situation that catches Elena, Silence, and Ptilopsis by surprise, threatening their lives and the whole project led by Dorothy Franks. At first, it would seem like the Pioneers merely rebelled, but as more of the project's true nature is revealed, it becomes clear that Ferdinand's ambition once again reared its ugly head, in the guise of more technological advancements meant to benefit the Columbian military. Unbeknownst to Dorothy, he planned to take control of her "Hub" project and forcibly inject Transmitter into subjects to create a reality-warping superweapon to impress the Columbian military, letting him use their power to seize control of Rhine Lab from Kristen, although Parvis - and Kristen herself - are both aware of his schemes. He also enlists the help of the sly Ho'olheyak for his plans.
As the situation deteriorated, Ferdinand was eager to show the final results to his backer, the Colonel. When Dorothy pulls the plug on the entire experiment, and Elena, with the help of Rhodes Island, alerts the Columbian authorities, he escapes arrest, realizing everybody he knows has pulled the rug under him. Only Ho'olheyak was there to help him evade the Columbian authorities, praising him for choosing to flee and let Rhine Lab salvage his research data rather than incriminate Rhine Lab and take it down with him. However, she still abandons him with only an empty suit of power armor to escape with.
Escaping to the barrenlands, he meets hostile Pioneers who immediately mobbed him. His fate remains uncertain from there.
Lone Trail[edit]
It is revealed that Colonel Blake eventually rescued Ferdinand after an unspecified period and that the Colonel is enlisting Ferdinand's help to track down the missing Kristen. Ferdinand cooperates at first but eventually sabotages Blake's assassination attempt on Vice President Conrad Jackson as he fears it will irreparably ruin Rhine Lab's reputation. Under the guise of helping Blake infiltrate the H.A.M.H.R.R. Kristen has launched into the skies, Ferdinand approaches Saria and provides her with an aircraft to reach Kristen, declaring his anger that Kristen would let such miraculous data go to waste, and his intention to salvage as much as he can before Kristen inevitably destroys it all. The two of them reach the H.A.M.H.R.R., and as Saria goes to confront Kristen, Ferdinand stays behind to record all the readings from the station's equipment. Even as Blake's forces swarm the station and hold Ferdinand at gunpoint, he refuses to stop and only mocks Blake, eventually convincing him to let him finish his work.
Ferdinand manages to escape on an escape pod with all the data but is arrested and thrown into prison along with Blake. Even in prison, Ferdinand refuses to stop writing down formulae and calculations, boasting that while Kristen discovered the truth, he'll be renowned as the one who shares it with the world. Justin Fitzroy Jr. eventually bribed the jailors to let him out, and Ferdinand was later pardoned and resumed his work as the Director of Energy.[6][7]
| An excerpt from a tabloid headline published on November 26th, 1099[8] |
|---|
| "Ferdinand Clooney, head of Rhine Lab's Energy Section, has been taken away at the R.L. HQ"
Late yesterday, a witness reported Ferdinand Clooney, director of the Rhine lab Energy Section, being taken away by Columbian federal law enforecment officers. An unnamed federal source told reporters that Ferdinand conspired with others to resell technical documents, which seriously damaged the interests of the Columbian Union. Due to the large number of people involved, relevant matters may not be public for quite some time. |
Path of Life[edit]
Ferdinand was part of the Rhine Lab press conference that was about to be held, where they would discuss about Director Nasti's big plan. However, he started to panic as soon as Aegir's alliance proposal with the Terran nations suddenly interrupted the conference, which Nasti initially thought it was one of his pranks.[9]
Trivia[edit]
- Ferdinand is mentioned in Arknights: Endfield as a legendary physicist who pioneered a field known as Ferdinandian Physics. He is also noted to have calculated the mass and orbital radius of Talos-II during the brief period when the Aethergate remained open.
References[edit]
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