Kristen Wright
| NPC | Enemy |
- Given name: Sally Kristen Ride
- Surname: Orville & Wilbur Wright
- Mr. and Mrs. Wright (parents)☠
- Jara Wilson (next-of-kin)
| “ | Such an idea never crossed their minds: That when we lift up our heads, we can see the untouched skies. | ” |
| —Kristen Wright [1] |
Kristen Wright is an NPC in Arknights. She is briefly mentioned as the Control in Mansfield Break and makes a short appearance in Dorothy's Vision before becoming one of the main characters of Lone Trail. She also appears in the Rhodes Island's Records of Originium - Rhine Lab comic.
Background[edit]
Kristen is a researcher with a Ph.D. in particle physics and a graduate from the famous Trimounts Institute of Technology. She is the only daughter of the Wrights, the famous aerospace engineers who unfortunately died in a test flight accident in Terran year 1075, when she was only ten years old. Despite their failure, however, Kristen is proud of her parents' achievements as their death answered the puzzling question of the limit of Terra's stratosphere and the border of its "fake sky"—6,152 meter above sea level. She carries on her parents' legacy and works hard to make achievements for her ultimate lifetime goal: uncovering the "fake sky" of Terra and flying beyond its unknown realm.[2][3]
Three years later, Kristen began her studies at the TIT with the support of her parent's friends, being admitted with excellent notes she grows up to pursue her parents' legacy, she is also dissatisfied with the Columbian society as a whole. She realized that the Columbian science community only cares about money or power rather than actual scientific advancement. She has that strong feeling as she has become that target by others who yearn to carve up the Wrights' heritages following the flight crash. With that in mind, she proposed to her associate and schoolmate Saria her idea to create a company dedicated solely to scientific advancement, and the two of them founded Rhine Lab together in 1083, after receiving their doctoral degrees respectively.[2] With their business expanding, Kristen recruited talents such as Ahrens Parvis, Ferdinand Clooney, and Dorothy Franks.[3][4]
As the head of the Component Control section and Rhine Lab as a whole, Kristen is renowned for her shrewd entrepreneurship which allows R.L. to expand rapidly, as well as being a highly visionary who can seemingly see beyond the skies and into the stars above. Her talent and ambition is said to be far beyond the current age of Terra, and her incredible charisma easily allows her to win support from other brilliant minds. However, she is also obsessed with research to the point where she can ignore any boundary or restriction for the sake of progress, including moral and ethical ones. Her single-minded focus on her own experiments and research is also a point of contention among the section heads who are left almost completely neglected as a result; particularly, Saria eventually questioned her unrestrained ethics, while Ferdinand started believing that Kristen's neglect towards RL's well-being would doom the company. Her prominence in Columbia's technological and scientific industry has led her to become a subject of the famous "Burdenmen conspiracy theory," claiming that she's one of the many celebrities who're related with the Burdenmen's plans to seize control over Columbia.[5]
Around four years ago, in the year 1095, Kristen accepted the request from the Columbian Department of Defense to initiate an experiment named "Project Diαbolic," a research on the genetic materials of the extinct Diablo Sarkaz in an attempt to weaponize it. The culminating string of events, starting from the destruction of Hayden's Lab-1 caused by Ifrit's rampage, led to the so-called "Diαbolic Crisis." For a long time, Saria angrily confronted Kristen about her apathy towards the incidents and willingness to disregard regulations, especially after learning the truth from the evidences provided by Maylander and the Tin Man. Their argument eventually developed into actual conflicts after Ifrit's second rampage inside RL that almost cost her life, and Saria responded by having a bitter brawl against Kristen inside her office. In the end, Saria decided to cut the fight short before resigning, cutting her ties with RL, and vanishing, something that Kristen remains bitter about to the point of never formally accepting her resignation.[6]
Kristen's inventions have been used in many practical uses. She installed a "Perturbation System" inside her office, a technology that allows her to control air vibrations and resonance for both offensive and defensive purposes.[6] She was also the one who helped formulate Saria's calcification Arts until the latter created her own formula after her departure from RL.[7]
Story[edit]
Mansfield Break[edit]
Although not appearing personally, Kristen is mentioned by her codename Control several times by Muelsyse, who describes how her disregard for morals and safety drove a wedge between her and Saria, and how it eventually lead to their falling out.[8][9][10]
Dorothy's Vision[edit]
October 1099, Trimounts. after learned that Ferdinand wanted to seize support by his ambition power and weaken the power of Kristen, Saria and Muelsyse decided to go and look for Kristen, for her safety and for getting rid of Ferdinand. Before that, Muelsyse hadn't been able to contact Kristen for more than a week. They met the Doctor and people from Rhodes Island on their way to the HQ of Rhine Lab.
In the Control's Office, Saria finally reunited with Kristen after a long time apart. In their chats, Saria blamed Kristen for indulging Ferdinand's actions, just like how she used to indulge Parvis in the Diablo Incident. However Kristen thought that Saria was just having her anger from the past coming up again, and is being emotional. Kristen did not care about Ferdinand, and Saria kept trying to persuade Kristen and wanted Kristen to cooperate with her and get rid of Ferdinand and the troubles he was making.
By the end the incident of Site 359, where Dorothy destroyed the out-of-control cluster of transmitter and Ferdinand's plan ended in a total failure, Kristen came up to speak to Ferdinand as he got arrested by the Columbian soldiers, saying that he almost ruined RL and RL does not need researchers like him. She then expressed thank to Saria for saving RL once again.
After her farewell with Saria, Ho'olheyak personally met Kristen to discuss their report to the government. While Kristen herself did not care much about Ho'olheyak's titles and her prophesies, each progress done further accelerates her ultimate goal – piercing through the "fake sky" and exploring the untouched beyond of the Terran planet.
Lone Trail[edit]
| “ | If, in a century or a millenium, our descendants walk among the stars, the masses will sing her praises. | ” |
| —An epitaph to Kristen Wright |
At some point in time, Kristen was "drawn" to the underground ruins containing the "Preserver" and countless Sarcophagi of the "Predecessors", where she asked him about the secrets of Terra and the false sky, being greeted by countless revelations in turn. After seemingly convincing the Preserver to cooperate, she enacts a plan to harness the immense power output of the Sarcophagi to pierce a hole in the "starpod" surrounding Terra. She launches Project Horizon Arc, initially veiled as the "Arc-01 Project" which the Columbian military sees as a superweapon, but in truth is a scheme to use its components to concentrate the Sarcophagus's energy into a beam to shatter the false sky. She also secretly enlists the help of various benefactors like Muelsyse, Nasti Lunorey, Justin Fitzroy Jr., Ahrens Parvis, Loken Williams, and Ho'olheyak, enticing them with the potential and discoveries that will come from her dream as well as her charisma.
Despite the efforts of Rhodes Island, Maylander, the C.U.D.O.D., and other parties, Kristen successfully launches the H.A.M.H.R.R. portion of Arc-01 into the skies and activates the S.H.A.F.T. to start channeling energy into it from the Sarcophagi. Saria and Ferdinand Clooney board the craft, where Saria eventually confronts Kristen herself in the station's planetarium. Saria manages to defeat Kristen after a tough battle and tries to save her by shutting down the station, but Kristen manages to catch her off guard and eject her from the H.A.M.H.R.R. just as it receives the energy from the ground and fires, shattering the false sky for the first time in countless millennia. The Galleria Stellaria then soars into the hole in the sky and breaches into the space beyond Terra, finally allowing Kristen – along with all of Terra – to see the stars for the first time.
With no way to return to Terra and the Galleria doomed to fall apart in due time, Kristen is nonetheless satisfied with the conclusion of her work and realization of her dream. She depowers the Galleria and enters stasis on a pod reverse-engineered by Loken, reminiscing about her life and all the discoveries leading up to this moment.[11]
Trivia[edit]
- Kristen has several similarities with two figures she is named after, Sally Kristen Ride and Orville & Wilbur Wright:
- Kristen and the Wright brothers are involved in aerodynamics; the former being interested to explore the sky of Terra and the latter being inventors of the first airplane.
- Kristen and the Wright brothers are involved in an aviation accident; the former lost her parents following a test flight accident while Orville Wright was severely injured following a failed flight test that cost the life of his first passenger Thomas Selfridge.
- Both Kristen and Sally Ride are physics scientists and founders of a science corporation (in the latter's case, Sally Ride Science).
- Prior to Lone Trail, her given name was rendered as Kirsten; the English dialogues of Dorothy and Ho'olheyak, among others, continues to refer to her given name as "Kirsten".
- Kristen's race as a Perro alludes to Laika the dog, the first animal to orbit the Earth.
- Her ultimate fate is similar to that of Laika, who died in space during Sputnik 2 — the first planetary orbital flight.
Note[edit]
- ↑ Based on the age and year when her parents died (10, 1075) and the year when Lone Trail occurred (1099)
References[edit]
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