-Chris Innes-

Background

Born in California but at a very young age moved to a scientific facility on the ocean floor with his family, he didn't get to leave to surface visits as much as the other children due to his mother being head scientist and his father being a leading engineer. Content to stay there as long as it meant he was with his family and friends, he can't say for sure whether that feeling has remained after the incident that occured now 8 years ago.

After the Corruption had taken hold of the facility and left him the only survivor, he serves it by sending out distress signals to passing ships in order to lure people (read: food) to the Corruption. Delusional to the fact that this is the only reason that he was kept alive, he instead sees it as a god and sees himself as being the chosen. He would never say it out loud or even dare himself to acknowledge it, but he does hate that he didn't die alongside his family and friends.

When the others had all died around Chris, especially after he lost his remaining parent, he hid himself in one of the control rooms. The Corruption took control of the monitors in the room and displayed its wants on them in short phrases. Chris, already deeply traumatized and grieving with no idea as to how to handle it, snapped and fell apart. He started to convince himself that he was in fact chosen by it, and started believing it was a god that decided to punish the others living there for a reason he didn't understand. He didn't question it because he needed to believe that there was a reason for what had happened, otherwise he wouldn't have known how to cope.

Though he's provided food for the Corruption, it has still slowly eaten his body over the years and replaced things gone with its own sludge like substance to keep him functioning and alive. He has gotten used to the constant pain from this, and doesn't concern himself with it anymore. It is unknown whether his replaced eye can actually be seen out of.

Story

The events of Catharsis start with York, a newbie on a salvage team specializing in gathering salvage on the ocean floor from ship wrecks, who decide to respond to the distress signal that Chris had sent out. When they arrive they are immediately extremely concerned at the state of disrepair that the facility was in, and the mounds of black goop and rot that had overtaken many surfaces around the bunker.

Slowly, York's coworkers go missing, either from splitting up or getting injured and heading back to the sub, only to not be heard from again. When York meets Chris, he's extremely relieved to see anyone alive, despite Chris's looks,odd mannerisms, and shady way of recounting things that caused him to send out a distress signal. Chris is actually very happy to have someone who doesn't immediately treat him with exteme suspicion, though he is plagued with vague feelings of guilt about the eventual betrayal that only grow as the story progresses.

(need to organize where this goes in this section, its just an amalgamation of Chris and York stuff) Chris, growing desperate for York to understand, pins him down and force feeds him the Corruption's goop, which York is unable to throw up since it crawls itself down his throat. York is filled with anger and frankly, murderous intent after this event, and their tentative friendship is destroyed. It's only when York finds Chris's mother's office and everything Chris had collected as memorabilia to remember her and his father and also a childhood picture of Chris before he gets turned into what he is today sitting on the desk that he begins to feel pity for him again. He decides to try one last time to rescue Chris from this place despite up until this point being hunted down. After setting the power station within the bunker to overheat and explode, he's able to convince Chris to join him on the escape pod.

Relationships

The Corruption: Based in extreme denial and delusion, Chris sees the Corruption as a vindictive god that he must help feed with, unfortunately, people who respond to the distress signals he sends out. The Corruption, in truth, feels only one thing: hunger. It will do what it can within it's limited capabilities to feed. It continuously manipulates Chris's unstable mental state to be fed, and whether or not it actually does watch Chris's actions like he is convinced it does is unknown. Chris harbors an extremely deeply repressed hatred for it, but even openly does not act like he loves it, only serves it.

York: He sees York as the first friend he's made since the incident years back, and tries to connect with him multiple times with varying levels of success. He feels guilt over what he knows is going to happen next, and tries to, in his own way, get York out of the situation before the breakdown of their relationship as York grows more scared and suspicious (especially after the force feeding incident). Chris continuously lies to York about his goals, but surprisingly not his actions. He is, however, much too vague for York to piece things together in his extreme state of denial as to whether Chris can be trusted or not. They have severe ups and downs in their relationship, but try to end the story maybe not as friends but two people who share the same goal and a desperation to escape.