12th.3.2014 - A Spider called Ravager

Notes from Jay: This is notes on a character in a story series I've written. Only one of the stories is done, Star Force One: Origins, and the character only appears at the tail-end of the story.  He is unquestionably the villain of the series.
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The Thousand Systems are a fractious lot.  Governments and powers collide on a frequent basis.  Umbrage is taken, sabers are rattled, and now and again, blows are exchanged.  Across the starways, the one truth about mankind continues to hold fast in the face of eons of development-- men will always find a reason to fight one another. Now and then, peace is made.  The Great Powers retreat back behind their borders and lick their wounds, glowering at one another as they muster up for the next inevitable clash.  Even with the force of diplomacy smoothing things over, the natural aggression of men will always return. 

The starways are thoroughfares across the infinite void, connecting star to star and planet to planet.  Commerce, the lifeblood of civilization, flows along them, as resources and currency and materiel are traded, bartered, and exchanged.  Communications travels along them as well, data streaming across the aether from one node to another, keeping the worlds connected across the light-years.  Now and then, military might may march up and down the starlanes, a show of strength to remind everyone else of their puissance and keep them in line.

But in the midst of this web of economics there lurks a spider.  A predator which uses the starways and all the traffic thereon to tighten its grasp across millions-- billions-- of souls.  A manipulator that subtly guides the course of politics toward its own end.

This entity calls itself Ravager.

No one knows who Ravager is.  Many are not even aware that he exists.  (Or even if Ravager is a "he.") Of those who know of him, many think of him as just a rogue operative, an informational terrorist without affiliation, only represented by his symbol.

That symbol is found on worlds throughout the Thousand Systems, often by the other people whose lives have been irrevocably touched by Ravager.  How it is depicted varies on the haste with which it is scrawled, painted, or scratched, but many motifs are common, and chief among them is the Eye.  Frequently left in scarlet hues, it is often topped with a crown-like design, and left with a keyhole shape in the center.  It is left on walls, or flickering in hacked broadcasts, or stamped indelibly on papers, or digitized and signed to a communique.

Ravager's motives are unclear. His actions appear random. Here, a news broadcast is hacked apart in the aether, the anchors' words chopped into a statement of dread, warning the populace at large of the inevitable doom that takes all things, before the broadcast resumes normally.  There, a random lunatic clubs several people to death before cutting open his wrist and painting the Eye on the walls, along with a message begging forgiveness, but he had no choice because Ravager Is Always Watching.

Sometimes, Ravager would appear almost benevolent, warning of an impending attack, but being maddeningly unclear of the when, where, and whom.  The terrorists responsible would always deny connection to Ravager, who confirmed the lack of affiliation, and simply stated that he thrived on the chaos caused.

The truth about Ravager that no one knows is that his manipulations are far more subtle than his overt actions would imply.  He has in himself a power that no one knows about, and would not believe was real if you told them.  It is a power that has served him well, and with which he has kept his existence as secret as possible.  Ravager can control the minds of others, play them like an expert pianist.

There are limitations to his control.  The suggestions and triggers he implants in people fade in time, and thus he must renew them.  He cannot read another person's mind, not without physically touching them, and Ravager takes pains to keep himself well removed from any possibility of being discovered.  His commands cannot go drastically against his puppets' personality, lest he cause their minds to collapse under the strain. And so Ravager guides the minds into paths that suit his needs, slowly shaping them to fit.  Some of them have even been specially prepared to serve as hosts for Ravager's monstrous mind, so he can take charge personally, and also slake his own desires without sullying his own hands.

The spider's web of control spreads throughout the Thousand Systems, and he has key puppets in place for when he wants to guide the machine of politics toward an end he wants. Because Ravager does have a plan, he does have a goal toward which his every action is bent.

To trigger a calamitous war to end all wars, one which will touch every world in the Thousand Systems, and which will unleash chaos so great that there will be no escape from it...