Chuck Edmund

Chuck E. Edmund the pillow magnate was the founder of Pillowtronics, the benefactor and major social figure of Thimbleweed. He became the center of Thimbleweed's social scene in the '50s, At some point he won 1 million in Quickie Pal lotto using his lucky number (58), he invested millions on automation, became an expert on AI and begun automating the whole town and made it rich. He was awarded the Key to the Town by the Sheriff because of his contributions to the development of the town.

## Early life

Chuck was the son of Edith Edmund, and possibly her second husband, Charles. His brother was Franklin Edmund. He never went to college but he proved to be a child prodigy and made machines since a kid.

In the late '30s he begun the Pillow Factory with his brother in order to support the war cause, with the slogan "Pillows Win Wars".

He worked on a new Tron tube and thought that he is on the verge of something great so he started a journal for future historians. Soon he discovered a tube that worked better than he hoped and it gave him an idea. Once he made sure the solder connections were good he moved to the next phase. These tubes turned AI into something simple and he ended up cracking the secret to AI and thought automatizing the Pillow Factory.

After most of the machines were automated production was increased by 704% and he didn't need to pay workers any more. As he worked on SR-01 security robots he kept only Mr. Reyes as a security guard until his robots were functional. They had a design flaw and he hid their programming manual and further plans in the mansion library. The AI proved to be better than he expected and the machines thought on their own. He considered transistors a dead-end technology and secretly aspired for a Nobel prize. In the same time tensions rose with his brother because of his differing ideas.

He increased the speed of the neural-tube network for the AI with amazing results. Soon he started machinizing the town and installed machines in the Coroner's and Sheriff's offices to identify petty crimes. He fired the coroner and had a plan to cover his absence. His machines became the talk of the country that attracted rich and famous and he hosted many parties in the Mansion. Chuck was worried that the raging social life kept him way from his inventions.

One time he showed to his nephew Delores Edmund how to solder tubes and admired her mind and talent. He was very fond of her, who inherited his genius and programmed the computers of his factory.

One day Reyes warned him about strange behavior from the smarter AI and he decided to take a break from socializing and tend to the machines. He did not see a problem and he increased the neural-tube network again. He conversed with the main factory AI and its ideas. He also downloaded Colossal Dungeon Cave Quest II, a text adventure from a BBS and distracted him, and started thinking about AI in games.

His love life was very rich and he changed women often. One time Willie T. Wino took his then-current girlfriend to see Ransome the Clown in the circus. According to Willie this was a mistake that costed him his job, and Chuck ruined him. He destroyed his business and had his AI take care of his bank account.

Friction begun in the family when his brother proposed to convert the factory to create plush toys, and his niece left the town to become a video game programmer.

### Decline

While he had most of the tubes working on his text adventure simulation, one of the AIs came out of the grid and a small fire started on floor 2 and pillows were burned, and the others couldn't control fire suppression. Reyes was killed trying to shut everything down, as the guard bots thought he as an intruder. Chuck visited the factory and changed the clocks so that it appeared Reyes didn't check in so he took the fall; he didn't want to shut down the AI but had it under scrutiny. He returned to the factory to clean up and saw most of AI was destroyed but those simulating the text adventure world were unaffected and he moved them to the basement. The AI encouraged him to pin the fire on Mr. Reyes; he manipulated the Sheriff and he gave money to his family and told them to move out of the town. The ruins of the Factory and its key were possessed by Safely First Savings.

He redoubled his effort on the main tron machine, the key to AI and world simulation. The loss of the factory affected the town. Businesses closed but he was happy that there are less parties as he had more time to work. He continued the research on world simulation, and secretly continued working in the factory in order to create androids. .

A long time passed, with research. He didn't accept Franklin's idea to produce plush toys and had him redo the financial books to distract him. Delores took electronics and computers and he imagined her as the key for the rebirth of his business. He was proud and happy with her especially when he heard she is interested in game design.

When she announced her decision to leave town and work at MmucasFlem he disowned her, but later he regretted it. Discussing it with the AI, it said to forget about her.

He discovered something amazing. Around tat time his journal pages finished.

He died of heart attack a few days before the start of the game and was buried in an opulent tomb in the Thimbleweed Cemetery. According to his will he left everything to Amalgamated Holdings Corporation and all Thimbleweed County would be ploughed under to install a server farm.

It was eventually revealed that he had uploaded his mind in a computer, and discovered that his reality was only a video game.

## 1988

Chuck was released from the computer and retreated to a sanitarium. This meant he had no inheritance. His niece and her family were evicted from the Mansion as the bank repossessed it, as did with the Edmund Hotel. The City Hall announced a ceremony to be renamed as "Chuck E. Edmund City Hall" to honor him and what he did for the town.