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Island of Doctor Moreau Concept



"Gotta slow down before you hurt yourself"

Name: Ridley Marlow
Age: 23
Gender: Male (though the effects of a snail serum would force a hermaphroditic state.)
Hair: Scruffy dark brown.
Eyes: Hazel
Nationality: American
Concept: Broken Adrenaline Junkie

Skills: Advanced social skills and adept at gentle manipulation to his benefit. Proficient with a range of motorized vehicles but often reckless (i.e. he can fly a plane... but you'd be taking your chances as a passenger.) Works best in high-pressure situations.

History/Personality: Ridley Marlow used up his luck early in life. Born to old money in the heart of New England, his troubles centered around family pressures to succeed and his struggle to divide his time between family duty and the passions that only a ridiculous amount of cash on hand could fuel.

Far from carrying the cross of the "poor little rich boy," Ridley appreciated from an early age that nothing came free. His greatest skill was knowing exactly where the line was and skating, riding, and pushing it to the distant horizon, literally.

Perhaps it was a spin in the family speedboat one summer or his first ride on the handlebars of is brother's bike, but something early in his life sparked the search for speed and thrills. Between motorbikes, jet skis, snowmobiles, and cars there was something for every season that could put the wind through his hair and set a smile on his face. When motors tired him he snowboarded in the Rockies, surfed on the waves of Hawaii, and once, to the horror of his mother, jumped out of a plane over Texas. This was the passion that Ridley expertly balanced with the rest of his life. During high school, tensions reached a peak when Ridley's father feared Ridley would amount to nothing. Things took a turn when, after some costly shenanigans involving his father's sports car, a 16-year-old Ridley collaborated with two fellow students on a small internet venture that not only paid for the car, but bought an identical one for himself. He abandoned the business shortly afterwards, having proved his point. Ridley's life continued in this pattern for many years. He worked just enough to be given the freedom to do as he wished.

He skated though high school and college, harmlessly manipulating and charming himself through classes and tests. He was careful to only bend rules, not break them, enlist the aid of his peers, but never use them, and always, always to sit at the desk closest to the door and keep the bike parked at the front of the school. Everything was going well and with graduation on the way Ridley knew he was only days away total freedom to travel the world seeking adventure. That was when his luck ran out and the tragedy happened.

Ridley got into graduate school.

How Ridley Came to the Island:
Now when Ridley's father said that he only had to try to get into business school, he took it to heart. The last years of his college career were carefully crafted display of "the good effort" that Ridley had carefully aimed at just below the lowest bar. It was by pure accident that he managed to stumble onto the acceptance list and doom himself to years of studying and interning and, worse, the expectation that when it was all over that he would be ready to take his place in the family business. It was all down hill from there. His miscalculation had him trapped, so there was only one thing to do: Road trip.

It was the final summer before the end, and Ridley was seeing it all. He had $10,000 in his pocket, a dufflebag on his bike, and the entire country to scour. He had to take every daring chance and accomplish every heart-stopping feat he could and he did. After two months he wondered if he could ever go back but a missed turn in the road made the choice for him. 5 days later he awoke in the hospital of his hometown, both legs shattered.

To say the accident caused bitterness would be an understatement. His initial blind optimism was met only with warnings that his crushed limbs were more likely to kill him than carry him if he did not allow them to be removed. As he silently despaired his father took action.

Mr. Marlow had many investments and business connections, more than he could reasonably keep track of on his own, but there were some that came to mind, especially when nudged by outside forces. As he watched his son suffer, he remembered rather renegade but successful enterprise known as Feral Labs. They had reported great advances, even claimed to return a blind man's sight. Why not make a young man walk again? Once the phone call went through a representative was on a plane within the hour.

The good doctor wasn't from this hospital or any hospital that Ridley had heard of, but what he promised overshadowed all doubt.

"It's a new treatment, so we would have to monitor you closely at our own center."

"I don't care about the details... what do I have to do?"

"Patience. It's like any new challenge."

"What do you mean?"

"First, you have to learn how to crawl"

The Marlow Mule.