Christopher Erbs

### Aliases

Coordinator of Scientific Research (ALPINE), Head of the Military Branch of ALPINE

### Occupation

Scientist, Operative, Head of the Military Branch

## Appearances

### Debut

Broken Arrow

I think I read his book once, "The Wooden Philosopher" - he has some great ideas that I don't agree with, but they are still well written I guess. He talked about a lot about human nature, inevitable collapse, systemic failure, yadda yadda yadda. The way he writes, its level but somewhat frantic, you can just feel it - he could do his heart a failure by chillaxing I think." - Taylor Greene, 2032

## Overview

Christopher lived also a somewhat uneventful life in his youth, growing up in the suburb of Temecula in California, with notable friends such as Isaac Perez and Jimmy Dickinson. After working a dead end job at Cafe Rio for two years, Christopher Erbs eventually went to Berkeley to study Atomic Physics, where he eventually attended graduate school and continued his studies as a brilliant mind that was well received by his peers and the scientific community. At the age of 26, Christopher Erbs and a friend from San Diego, Isaac Perez, discovered a threatening and inevitable disturbance of Strange matter in proximity to Earth, that could very well end all life in the next one thousand years. Naturally since this projection seemed rather far away, little attention was truly mobilized to combat this threat, and Chris and Isaac consequently became spiteful of the general community, who chose to ignore major issues such as this when it didn't seem to affect them. It was also during this time that Christopher developed an alcohol problem, that would take him many years to resolve. However due to this discovery, Jeremiah Jones reached out to Christopher Erbs in 2029 to help him construct a facility known as ALPINE in the Swiss Alps, that would dedicate itself to research for the betterment of humanity, and Chris and Isaac both agreed, become lead coordinators of the project.

Christopher spent the next three years of his life dedicated to the construction of ALPINE, while at the same time continuing research himself with Isaac, who was on the verge of creating a new form of power. Christopher managed the construction and development of important particle colliders and machines related to Atomic research, and also managed the growing influx of scientists who were beginning to integrate themselves in the research of ALPINE. He also in this time became acquainted with a few new operatives named Taylor Greene and Mercy Lynn, who would become life long friends. In this time he also met Montgomery, commenting that something just didn't feel right about him. In the year 2031, the construction of ALPINE was formally finished, and he and Isaac acted together as heads of research to manage the facility, with Chris taking more of an administrative role in managing scientists while Isaac managed research. It was however in 2033 that Chris was instructed by Jeremiah Jones to transition into more of a hybrid developer-operative role, working with Mercy Lynn to help her invent gadgets that would aid her in missions. Christopher Erbs was responsible for inventions such as the Seismic Sonic, a mobile grappling hook, Scramble Watch, Electromagnetic Impaler, and many more, which aided Mercy Lynn greatly in many of her missions. Eventually in 2034, Christopher accompanied Mercy Lynn on many of her missions, acting as a support role that made sure things were "just right." He partook in operations in Japan, Latin America, Mexico, Persia, Greece, and many more.

However in the year 2035, trouble began to stir within the administrative ranks of ALPINE, as Colonel Montgomery ended up defecting against Jeremiah Jones and took a large amount of the military ranks of ALPINE with him, securing technology for himself and established a new agency to directly oppose ALPINE, for the good of the "American People." Christopher Erbs and Mercy Lynn had suspected this defection for some time now, and had already began counter measures, but was still caught unprepared in that fall day in 2035, when Colonel Montgomery organized a large portion of the ALPINE Military and ransacked the base, stealing technology and killing dozens of scientists and guards, while leaving barely anything behind. Although Christopher had warned Jeremiah Jones the day earlier at Prometheus, this was to no avail. This disastrous day proved nearly fatal to ALPINE, as many scientists now feared for their lives and attempted to flee, threatening the secrecy of the organization as a whole. Christopher Erbs barely survived the incident himself, and he was forced to escape over the border of Switzerland into Austria, barely alive from his wounds and severely dehydrated. After recovering in Vienna after an operative by the name of Mayleen found him wandering around the countryside, Christopher reunited with Mercy Lynn and Isaac Perez at Mayleen's small apartment in Vienna, who were able to escape the facility relatively unharmed. Christopher Erbs, recognizing the urgency of the situation, quickly coordinated remaining ALPINE contacts now scattered across Europe, and was able to temporarily keep ALPINE intact, which may have been its saving grace. ALPINE was able to reorganize in the now burnt town of Prometheus, taking refuge in the area as now only several hundred scientists and survivors remained and returned (26% of their original faculty). A base of operations was set up in Prometheus, and now allowing Jeremiah to take over administrative measures again, Christopher Erbs alongside Mercy Lynn sought to bring Montgomery to justice.

Christopher Erbs, alongside Mercy Lynn, knew that the only way to break the power of Montgomery's new agency was to reveal definitive proof of the contradiction between what Montgomery had charismatically painted, and what he truly intended. Traveling to Latin America and the United States, Mercy Lynn and Christopher Erbs would track down Montgomery's operatives and gradually plant seeds of uncertainty amongst the defectors, who slowly began to realize of Montgomery's trickery and framing of Jeremiah Jones, copying Montgomery's own actions and applying it against him. At the same time, they rebuilt ALPINE's infrastructure base in Latin America by allying with Anne Stone and Jorge Alvarez, who not only sympathized with their cause, but also desired some of the technology of ALPINE, Alongside this, Christopher Erbs and Mercy Lynn were on occasion forced to dispatch with some their own co workers and allies, who had been completely influenced by Montgomery to join his cause. After a long chase and destruction of key networks across Latin America and the States, Christopher Erbs and Mercy Lynn eventually tracked Montgomery down and simply executed him in front of a diner in New Mexico, leaving his body to rot on the pavement, and forever breaking the power of Montgomery's agency who now had no leader and scattered.

The next two years of Chris' life was spent rebuilding ALPINE, who now had their contacts scattered and compromised across the world. Acting very much like Jeremiah Jones in the early years, Christopher Erbs traveled around the world and reached out to new and former contacts, eventually by the year 2038 having effectively rebuilt ALPINE from the ground up with fresh contacts and reconnecting of old contacts that now had a renewed confidence in ALPINE. Erbs during this time became Jones' most trusted right hand man, and the two of them frequently lamented over their past errors in Broken Arrow, visiting Prometheus frequently to reminiscence. Erbs eventually retired from operative roles but was now the new Head of the Military Branch, replacing Montgomery, and would continue this role all the way into the Third Great War, on occasion still playing active support roles such as in Jeremiah Jones' Tanzanian Expedition and participating in diplomatic meetings around the world, acting as simultaneously as Head of Public Relations. In the Third Great War, Erbs would occasionally coordinate small scale military operations to support the United Nations, playing a sleight hand in exploding fuel depots, assassinated commanders, and road signs pointing west instead of east.

## Personality

   Loyal, stalwart, reliable, and deeply thoughtful, Christopher Erbs is sometimes described as "weird" by his peers but is simultaneously extremely competent, paving the way for Scientific discovery. Althugh Erbs is first and foremost an academic, especially loving his field of study, Chris is also well regarded as a fairly hands on person, very practical when needbe and capable of being grounded when the situation arises. His commitment to friends and family triumph everything else, and this shows particularly during the collapse of ALPINE initially after Broken Arrow, when Christopher Erbs did not seem to display any care whatsoever for lost or destroyed scientific instruments, as much as his wounded colleagues who he considered to be as close as family. His exceptional loyalty would be widely recognized, and praised by his peers.