The Crew | Factions (Corporations: The Board, Auntie Cleo's, Spacer's Choice, C&P Boarst Factory, MSI), SubLight Salvaging & Shipping, Iconoclasts, Other Groups: Groundbreaker, Deserters, Gorgon, Eridanos, Marauders, Outlaws | Other Characters
A gas giant that is home to the floating Eridanos Complex, including the distillery where the Rizzo's corporation produces their colorful beverages as well as the Grand Colonial Hotel, a resort for the elite of Byzantium and the hunting grounds of the Wilderness Exploitation Reserve.
Some spoilers may be unmarked due to wiki policy. As Murder on Eridanos is primarily a murder mystery, proceed with caution.
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Eridanos
Grand Colonial Hotel Guests
Halcyon Helen
Ruth "Halcyon Helen" Bellamy
"But it wasn't just the triple-distilled deliciousness of Rizzo's Spectrum Brand Vodka that I found there. It was death."
The most popular aetherwave star in the colony. Helen was murdered shortly before she was set to host the unveiling of Rizzo's newest beverage, Spectrum Brown. The Unplanned Variable is hired to investigate her death.
- Ace Custom: Her personal gun the Needler, which became famous when she used it in the serial Terror on Monarch. It went missing after her murder. The player can obtain it for themselves.
- Action Girl: The character she played onscreen was a two-fisted, hard-drinking action heroine.
- Actor/Role Confusion: She's better known as Halcyon Helen than she ever was as Ruth Bellamy, and hero-worshipped as much for her onscreen antics as her offscreen celebrity.
- Big Eater: Her one quirk, as far as the hotel staff can see, is that she orders huge amounts of room service. Subverted; it turns out she was secretly ordering a supply of food for her sister, and since it was said sister's main source of food, she had to tax the room service deeply.
- I Call It "Vera": She calls it the Needler.
- Flechette Storm: Her signature gun is a revolver that can fire three different types of extremely small-caliber corrosive shots and never needs reloading.
- Life Imitates Art: In-Universe. Ruth Bellamy the actor was murdered shortly after filming Chapter 12 of Halcyon Helen Vs. The Brain Eaters — which appears to end with Halcyon Helen the character being surprised by someone she recognizes who attacks her. Halcyon seized upon the coincidence and broadcast the episode as part of their newsreel. As a further "coincidence", the fictional Helen was searching for the source of the Brain Eater parasites, and Ruth Bellamy is murdered on a planet where Rizzo's has begun brainwashing surly employees into permanent happiness with parasitic slugs.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: She was shot, beaten over the head, and poisoned, twice. She was hit over the head with a specially designed unbreakable bottle, with the plasma burns used to disguise the method of her death. Both poisonings, meanwhile, were unrelated: one was merely meant to make her nauseous enough that she'd have to back out of the Spectrum Brown unveiling, while the other, carried out by yet another perpetrator, was probably accidental, albeit the result of serious neglect.
- Posthumous Character: The murder the Unplanned Variable is called in to solve is hers.
Spencer Woolrich
Spencer Woolrich
"I'm quite used to being breathlessly watched."
A washed-up old aetherwave actor who fancies himself a rival of Helen's, maintaining a career with supporting roles in her films.
- The Apocalypse Brings Out the Best in People: He's a pompous blowhard of an actor and so no one is more surprised than him when in an Anti-Board ending he uses his skills to train the Colony on how to survive the collapse of the Board.
- Face of a Thug: While once a handsome leading man, he's spent the latter portion of his career mostly playing villains opposite Halcyon Helen, and has a very Obviously Evil, Mephistophelean goatee, pointed features, and dark blue eye makeup.
- Green-Eyed Monster: His well-known jealousy makes him a suspect in Helen's murder.
- Inelegant Blubbering: He wails and cringes if he's put in the local jail as a suspect in Helen's murder. Over the frightful conditions and not having a whole cell to himself, among other things.
- Jack of All Trades: He's managed to pick up a variety of real-life skills throughout the many roles his career. In an Anti-Board ending, he decides to help the people of Halcyon by creating a Radio Serial dedicated to inspiring them and teaching them various survival skills (and how to look good doing it).
- Large Ham: Overacts even more offstage than on it.
- Method Acting: In-universe. He apparently made a point of actually learning the skills his character would have. Among other things, he really can ride a giant sprat. This also explains how he's able to rewire automechanical thespian Burbage-3001 into a slightly better actor to rehearse lines.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Clinging to what little remains of his fame and success as an actor, he's a primadonna who makes absurd demands of hotel staff and studio management in the name of inflating his own importance.
- White-Dwarf Starlet: An aging celebrity whose star's been on the wane for decades, eclipsed by his longtime co-star Halcyon Helen.
"Black Hole" Bertie
Bertie "The Black Hole" Holcomb
"The hotel staff said we was bothering the other guests, on account of all the crying and yelling and practice body tackling."
The star player of the Rizzo's Rangers tossball team. Bertie and Helen were dating, but they broke up shortly before her death, making him a suspect in her murder.
- Ambiguously Related: He shares a surname with Parvati but when this is brought up she's not actually sure whether they're directly related although she does mention that her dad had some family in Rizzo's.
- Call to Agriculture: In his ending if the parasites are stopped, Bertie and the rest of the Rangers leave tossball to start a farm.
- Dumb Muscle: Has made a career out of being the biggest, strongest hacker in the league, and too dumb to know when to quit. He's also got a nasty temper. Underneath it all, he's got a soft spot for animals and says he would never lay a hand on Helen — snapping a tossball stick in half aside.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: He has severe anger management problems. He's been known to attack other players during games and to break equipment in a rage when off the field. Tossball equipment being made of literally weapons-grade material, this is more impressive than it sounds.
- If I Can't Have You…: Known for his temper, his recent breakup with Helen and the sheer overkill of her death makes him a suspect.
- Nice Guy: Bad temper aside, Bertie is a complete sweetheart who really loved Helen and is quite caring towards animals. This is best displayed if the player decides to get his cooperation by playing Good Cop/Bad Cop with him...with Parvati as the bad cop. In that case, Parvati gets him to cooperate by revealing that other people involved in this case are dying aside from Helen, (unintentionally) appealing to his better nature.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Sitting in a bar with a bellhop hat on. That's it. He's still wearing his Rangers uniform.
The Prophet of Profitability
Jasmine Leiva, The Prophet of Profitability
"Fruitful and productive welcome, brother. I had a feeling you would visit me."
A lifestyle guru who offers expensive seminars that allegedly help Board executives maximize profits.
- Cult: Her self-help "retreats" have many of the earmarks of a prototypical Church of Happyology.
- Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: In the ending where the Parasites are stopped, the Prophet ends up outright creating a death cult where it's implied she goes on to sacrifice people to a giant sprat.
- Revenge: Her motive, if she killed Helen: Helen ruined her business by badmouthing her methods in an interview.
- Snake Oil Salesman: Runs self-help seminars where she teaches executives how to get ahead... by rebalancing their humors through meditation and inhalation of mildly hallucinogenic, highly toxic substances.
- Taking the Heat: The Prophet believes she killed Halcyon Helen by an accidental overdose of her homemade incense — suspiciously, she badly wants for the Inspector to put her prison, apparently to keep her safe from some mysterious enemies, and more damningly, you can find proof that Helen was merely unconscious, not dead, and the Prophet knows nothing of the circumstances in which the actress was found in the hotel ballroom.
Burbage- 3001
Burbage-3001
"You are standing in the vicinity of Burbage-3001, the latest and therefore greatest automechanical actor ever designed."
An aetherwave actor notable for being an automechanical, successor to the late, great Burbage-3000.
- Dull Surprise: He's a non-sentient machine, so his acting has the energy and emotional range of a robocall.
- Ensemble Dark Horse: A rare in-universe example, but Burbage has human fans who consider him leagues above even Halcyon Helen. Several entendres suggest a few of them also admire his... other qualities, as well.
- Fall Guy: Ludovico hacked him to shoot Halcyon Helen in order to hide the real cause of her death.
- Our Slogan Is Terrible: "Burbage-3001: Anything Halcyon Helen can do, this unit can do slightly worse."
- Red Herring: He's one set up by Ludovico to direct you towards Spencer Woolrich as he reprogrammed him to be a better actor.
SLUG
Sedrick Kincannon
Sedrick Kincannon
"I'm a very specific man. It tends to invite specific problems."
The Sublight executive who runs Sublight Underground (aka SLUG).
- Affably Evil: He's a smuggler, a torturer, and a murderer and doesn't care who knows it, but he's charming, fond of his people, and rewards loyalty in kind.
- At Least I Admit It: Part of the appeal of Sublight, according to Sedrick, is that while they may rob and intimidate people, unlike the Board they've never pretended otherwise. They also pay well, honor their debts, and treat their employees with respect if they do their jobs well — and are pretty lenient even when they don't. He brazenly admits to a multitude of other, lesser crimes, on the basis that if he is willing to tell you all about his smuggling and torturing and killing a thief in his own organization, he presumably has no reason to lie to you about killing Halcyon Helen.
- Berserk Button: Nobody likes traitors, but for a man who is notably calm and collected in even in the face of death threats, actual murder, and an ongoing attack on the docks, Sedrick becomes noticeably enraged at even a slight betrayal.
- Card-Carrying Villain: Sedrick doesn't even try to hide that he's a crime lord. His alibi for Helen's murder was that he was busy torturing and murdering someone else and he has no problem admitting as much to the Unplanned Variable.
- The Charmer: A smooth talker who prefers to make potential enemies into friends.
- The Don: Is both crime boss and corporate executive in equal measure, as well as the official harbormaster of Piraeus Spaceport.
- Friendly Enemy: He and Keene are drinking buddies despite being on opposite sides of the law. He's genuinely upset when he learns that Keene was murdered.
- Neighborhood-Friendly Gangsters: Sublight runs along the lines of organized crime and Sedrick maintains power through fear and violence, but having just as much power as Rizzo's on the latter's own colony makes them more than just the local mob.
- If you side with Helen, then in the ending Sedrick uses his SLUG resources to distribute food and other resources across the colony so he can spread SLUG'S brand.
- Right Hand Vs Left Hand: Sedrick and SLUG are actively seeking legitimacy and a place on the Board, distinct from Sublight Salvage under Lilya Hagen. Sedrick makes it clear that you have a clean slate with SLUG no matter what your standing on Groundbreaker, Monarch, or Gorgon.
- Treachery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Sedrick hates traitors. The man he admits to torturing and killing as his purported alibi, for instance, was stealing from him. He challenges you to find a motive for him to murder a woman who was making him money hand over fist — until you discover that she bugged his office and stole an item from his docks, even after he was already helping her, in exchange for a tidy fee. He admits it might well have been enough for him to murder her, just to set an example and to work out his own rage.
Rizzo's
Administrator Ludovico
Administrator Quinton Ludovico
"Halcyon Helen was more than a character. She was a brand. Her death will now be associated with Rizzo's Spectrum Brown. You understand why that worries me."
The Rizzo's executive who runs the Eridanos colony from his office in the Rizzo's Spectrum Distillation Station.
- Arc Villain: Is the main antagonist of "Murder on Eridanos", though you can choose to side with him.
- Evil Plan: Through the sales of the new Brown Spectrum, Ludovico plans on spreading slug-like parasites all across Halcyon in order to give its people a chance at true happiness.
- Hates Being Nicknamed: Don't call him "Lou". His stoic veneer cracks a little every time you do.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: If sided against, then his happens to him twice over:
- He's the one who hires the Unplanned Variable to investigate Helen's murder, making him the reason why they are on Eridanos in the first place and is able to ruin his plans of spreading the parasites all across the colony.
- In either ending, he calls upon the Parasite Slug Queen in order to deal with the Unplanned Variable, but ends up getting eaten first.
- Karmic Death: In both of "Murder on Eridanos"'s endings, the Parasite Slug Queen eats him as an appetizer before attempting to devour the Unplanned Variable.
- Nightmare Fetishist: He's fond of the Parasite Slug Queen to an unsettling degree, referring to her as "my Queen", addressing her with "your Highness", and talking amiably to her when the Unplanned Variable can't hear (or at least, when he thinks they can't).
- Treacherous Questgiver: He hires the Unplanned Variable to investigate a murder he committed. If the Unplanned Variable accuses Ludovico of being the murderer, the administrator attempts to fire them. If the Unplanned Variable helps Ludovico spread the parasites across Eridanos, Ludovico decides to repay them by trying to infect them with parasites as well.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: He's trying to spread parasites all across the colony in order to give the people "a real chance at happiness".
Constable Keene
Constable Maria Keene
"Your room should be ready by now. If it isn't, I may have to go shake someone by the collar."
Corporate security for Rizzo's and the only non-mechanical law enforcement officer on Eridanos.
- By-the-Book Cop: She's fully aware of the contradictions of life in Halycon under the Board, but she remains dedicated to her job and keeping to the letter of Rizzo's regulations and requirements. Part of why she's so glad you're on Eridanos is because you're not beholden to Rizzo's, and that lets you say and do things she can't. She's so straitlaced she won't even talk about herself on duty, even if it might be relevant to the case.
- Consummate Professional: She prides herself on abiding by the letter of company regulations, but is willing to put aside some designated socialization time if you come see her back in her office. Too bad she's murdered before you get the chance.
- Friendly Enemy: She and Sedrick are drinking buddies despite being on opposite sides of the law. He says she was always a surprisingly good card player, and seems genuinely saddened to hear of her death.
- My Master, Right or Wrong: When her soon-to-be killer explained that Ludovico was attempting to spread parasites across the entire colony, Keene chose to continue following protocol and bring the killer in, despite the accusations against her boss. Matters escalated, and Keene was slower on the draw. A message on her terminal indicates that Ludovico had promised her a better posting and a better life for her and her family after all this was over, which presumably factored into her actions.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: She's the only authority on Eridanos who never tries to impede the investigation. Zigzagged — when Blossom's murderer came to her and poured out the whole story, implicating Ludovico in the death of Halcyon Helen, Keene was ultimately too by-the-book to be willing to investigate her own boss. Company loyalty came first — but her killer was a faster shot.
- Rugged Scar: Her face has slight but noticeable scars and weathering, in particular a thin straight scar along her left cheekbone, suggesting life hasn't always been easy on Eridanos.
- To Be Lawful or Good: She wants to solve the crime but she's not willing to overstep her jurisdiction, in either direction: she has no authority over SLUG, and can't look into her own superiors.
Dr. Blossom
Dr. Liora Blossom
"As if I could go anywhere! What a barrel of laughs you are."
The chief scientist in charge of RR&DD — Rizzo's Research and Development Department — on Eridanos.
- The Alcoholic: She seems fond of sampling Rizzo's supply, mentioning her drinking in terminal logs, sounding noticeably buzzed in an phonograph, and actually constructing a gun and lock that require all eight colors of Rizzo's Spectrum Vodka in order to activate them.
- Asshole Victim: A Board scientist who has no qualms about letting most of her staff die in the name of product research, and the murderer's second victim after Halcyon Helen.
- Mad Scientist: Experimenting with the parasitic slugs on Eridanos led her to infect almost every researcher in her lab, forcing her to seal herself and the other survivors in a small workshop upstairs.
- Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Dissecting alien parasites for use as potential flavorants for Rizzo's lines of sweets and beverages while also constructing an advanced protoypical minigun in her spare time.
- We Have Reserves: Whether you kill her infected research team or knock them out with sedative gas, she's entirely unconcerned either way. They're completely replaceable in her eyes.
Other characters
The Parasites
In General
"From Emerald Vale to Byzantium, a parasite in every brain and a grin on every face. Every last one of us trapped behind a mask of joy."
Eridanium gigasius, a colorful wormlike parasite discovered in the wilds of Eridanos, with which Rizzo's has been infecting their workforce as part of their Morale Improvement Program.
- Bright Is Not Good: They're pink, sky blue, and white, Rizzo's favorite colors. They're also alien parasites that take over the host's mind, which Rizzo's is using to enforce good customer service on the part of its workers.
- Chest Burster: As the slug grows, it eventually pops out of a bloody welt in the side of the host's neck. Multiple worms in the same host will attach themselves throughout the torso and limbs. This does not kill the host... at first. Unless the worm grows larger, or if the host proves unviable and the worm detaches itself.
- Getting Smilies Painted on Your Soul: By attaching themselves to an animal's nervous system and internal organs, they are able to modify the host's behavior by flooding them with pleasure signals. This creates a feedback loop where any negative emotion is met with intense agony and nausea, conditioning the host to only think happy thoughts at all times. This is the basis of Rizzo's Morale Improvement Program; they're not even hiding it, allowing subjects to walk around the resort with the worms dangling from their necks.
- Meat Moss: The caves below the old Rizzo's bunker where the worms appear to have first spawned are carpeted in pink veiny meat embedded with their gelatinous bright blue eggs, giving the appearance of countless eyes staring at the player.
- Puppeteer Parasite: By forcing their host to be happy, and then choosing what makes their host happy, the parasites are able to propagate themselves even beyond those hosts Rizzo's has implanted with the slugs themselves.
- Sand Worm: Like mantipillars, they're capable of burrowing rapidly into the ground and surfacing a short distance away.
- Truth in Television: In-universe. Halcyon Helen's final mission was indeed a battle against the Brain Stealers. They just look a little different than on the posters.
The Slug Queen
The giant progenitor of the parasites.- Big Creepy-Crawlies: A giant sluglike horror.
- Final Boss: Of “Murder on Eridanos“. Ludovico thought he was controlling it right up until it swallows him whole. It can either be fought directly or, with a high enough Hack skill, burned to death with the surrounding distillery equipment.
- Hive Queen: A gigantic, many-eyed, mandibled slug which lays the eggs that give rise to its countless spawn, with which it appears to be psychically connected.
- Mind Reading: According to geological survey notes found in the Holey Caves, Eridanium Gigasius possesses a nervous system capable of communication with the nervous systems of others, one that grows in complexity proportional to the individual's size. As far and away the largest parasite encountered ingame, the Queen herself appears to speak to Ludovico via some form of telepathy on several occasions.
- Speaks Fluent Animal: Inverted. Despite being a gigantic, sluglike monster, the Queen understands human speech well enough to respond, even arguing with Ludovico over whether Helen remains a threat should the player choose to side with the Administrator.
The Murderer (Major Spoilers)
Ruth "Halcyon Helen" Bellamy
"Beware of hope. It's a dangerous emotion, and will disappoint you in the end."
Not the murderer of Halcyon Helen, but instead the unknown killer who avenged her death through the many deaths that followed.
Unbeknownst to almost anyone but themselves, "Halcyon Helen" is actually a shared pseudonym for the twins Ruth and Belinda Bellamy. The original murder victim was actually Belinda, killed in an attempt to get at her sister. Now Ruth seeks to hunt down her sister's killer and save the colony while she's at it.
- Action Girl: Ruth is every bit the two-fisted action hero in real life as she is in her roles.
- Angsty Surviving Twin: Ruth hasn't taken Belinda's death well. Complicating matters is that they shared a public identity, so they were even closer than most twins.
- Big Good: She's ultimately the main figure opposing Ludovico and his plot to infect the colony with parasites.
- Big Sister Instinct: Ruth was the working twin, taking on most of the business and action side of their dual role, giving Belinda the fun and romance, and the supposed safety of being the hidden twin. She also initially disapproved of Belinda dating Bertie (Belinda was the "Halcyon Helen" Bertie fell in love with) due to Bertie's temper issues, but she admits that he turned out to be a decent man after all.
- Body Double: It's possible for the Unknown Variable to guess as much given the right clues and stats, but it's not quite the case since the two are actual twins.
- Collective Identity: The only people who knew that Helen was two people rather than one were their parents, their agent, and a few of their directors. Otherwise they had everyone fooled. Even co-star Woolrich, who'd worked with Helen for over a decade, had no idea.
- Everyone Has Standards: Ruth is a Byzantine who isn't particularly concerned about the working class, but Ludovico's parasites go way too far for her to tolerate. And if properly inspired her endings will have her outright opposing the Board.
- Evil Twin: Averted. Ruth is the antagonistic, murderous sister, but she got along great with her sister and is a Hero Antagonist trying to stop Ludovico.
- The Extremist Was Right: While she did commit multiple murders, she claims they were necessary in order to put a stop Ludovico's Evil Plan before it was too late. This is especially evident given the fact that the loyalty of Rizzo's employees even without the parasite was enough for Constable Keene to draw a gun on Helen rather than even consider the possibility of investigating the Administrator. The Unplanned Variable does have the option of agreeing with her about the parasites.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Zigzagged. Belinda was more invested in the game of deceiving everyone into thinking Halcyon Helen was only one person, but Ruth was the one who embarked on the dangerous quest of bringing down The Conspiracy on their own planet.
- Hero Antagonist: If you side with Ludovico, Ruth will try to stop you and you'll be forced to fight her.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Ruth's response to all the murders she committed to get to Ludovico and put a stop to his plans. — and avenge her sister. If the player doesn't buy this as an excuse, they can claim that they're only doing what they have to do to stop Ludovico and his parasites.
- It Amused Me: Posing as one person was mostly about seeing how long the twins could get away with it, how far they could push the act before anyone figured it out. Ultimately one of them died before anyone ever did.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Is living with the fact that her sister Belinda got killed because of her investigation into Brown Spectrum. To a lesser extent, if they confront her with the fact that she killed an innocent man, her demeanor will crack and will admit to a grave mistake.
- Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Played With. Halcyon Helen was a shared role between Ruth and her twin sister Belinda, with the latter being the murder victim the DLC revolves around while the former is still alive.
- Revenge: Stopping the Evil Plan is important to her as well, but Ruth makes it clear that the murders she committed were out of revenge for what Rizzo's had done to Belinda — in no small part because it was her investigation that put Halcyon Helen in danger. Ruth thinks it should have been her.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Starting with a few Orchards workers, some possibly not yet insane, and then Dr. Blossom and her surviving labmates, Ruth goes on to kill a large number of Rizzo's personnel on her way to Ludovico. This includes Constable Keene and the Rangers' mascot, both of whom may well have been relative innocents — depending on who you believe.
- Sent Into Hiding: Downplayed and self-enforced. Belinda was the secret twin, and occasionally took Ruth's place, but was apparently happy for Ruth to be the more public between the two of them — while for her part Ruth was determined to ensure her sister had the easier life between the two of them. This did mean that only one of them could be in public at any given time, thus explaining Ruth's apparent Big Eater tendencies — the room service wasn't for her, but for rather to ensure Belinda had a healthy supply of food (and cigarettes) while secluded in their penthouse.
- Survivor Guilt: For all her heroics, losing her sister breaks something in Ruth, and if you stop Ludovico from infecting the colony, in the game ending, Helen fades away, leaving public life behind... unless you can inspire her to carry on with a 150 Inspiration/Determination check (though the Spacer's Choice Edition reduced the requirements considerably).
- Sympathetic Murderer: All this began with Ruth setting out to uncover The Conspiracy behind Spectrum Brown. She never thought it could get her or Belinda killed. She does rack up a significant body count, but given that Rizzo's had tried to kill who they thought was her, it's possible to agree she didn't really have much choice. However, she did kill the mascot, who was not working with Ludovico, at which point she will admit she screwed up. Alternatively, the player can wash their hands of her and say they're only allies for as long as it takes to stop Rizzo's Evil Plan.
