Act 13 — Robert Anderson Story
Era: Power Unbound (Era 3)
Previous: Act 12 — Expansion into Prioxis
Next: Act 14 — Rescue of Destiny
Overview
Robert Anderson Story follows Robert Anderson, a detective within the Protection and Crime Enforcement, during the final major investigation of his life as an ordinary human.
Already known within the PCE for his persistence, observational skills, and unusually high case resolution rate, Anderson is assigned to investigate the disappearance of researcher Mick Holder on Nerevos.
What initially appears to be a missing-person investigation gradually leads Anderson beneath the ruins of an abandoned civilization and toward evidence of ancient Elysarian activity.
Deep beneath Nerevos, Anderson discovers a damaged Elysarian Ascension Chamber.
His investigation ultimately results in his own Ascension.
Anderson emerges fundamentally altered, capable of perceiving traces, anomalies, dimensional distortions, and structures invisible to ordinary biological senses.
Despite his transformation, Anderson retains his memories, personality, investigative habits, and identity.
Mick Holder remains missing.
The case is never solved.
Sub-Acts
13.1 — Detective Anderson
Robert Anderson is introduced as a detective within the PCE Crime and Evidence Division.
At twenty-nine years old, Anderson has already developed a significant reputation within the organization.
Later accounts frequently claim that he solved approximately 95% of the cases assigned to him, although the literal accuracy of this figure remains uncertain.
His success comes primarily from persistence and his ability to notice details that do not fit the expected explanation.
Anderson is suspicious of convenient evidence, contradictory testimony, and repeated coincidences.
Most importantly, he finds unanswered questions extremely difficult to ignore.
This curiosity becomes both his greatest investigative strength and his greatest weakness.
13.2 — Missing Person
Anderson is assigned a missing-person investigation involving Mick Holder, a researcher operating on Nerevos within the Aegimius System.
Holder had been studying the remains of abandoned civilizations when he disappeared without explanation.
Much of his personal equipment remains behind.
No confirmed record indicates that he left Nerevos.
Anderson begins reconstructing Holder’s activities prior to his disappearance.
What initially appears to be an unusual but conventional missing-person case gradually becomes considerably stranger.
13.3 — Nerevos
Anderson’s investigation takes him across Nerevos.
The detective examines Holder’s equipment, research, movements, and the archaeological sites connected to his work.
Holder had become increasingly interested in unusual structures buried beneath the planet’s known ruins.
Anderson begins following the same trail.
Small inconsistencies accumulate.
Individually, many appear insignificant.
Together, they suggest that Holder discovered something beneath Nerevos shortly before disappearing.
Anderson continues the investigation.
13.4 — Something Doesn’t Fit
Holder’s research leads Anderson deeper into the archaeological mysteries of Nerevos.
Evidence suggests that structures exist beneath the abandoned settlements which do not completely correspond with what is visible on the surface.
Anderson becomes increasingly convinced that Holder’s disappearance is connected to these structures.
The investigation moves away from ordinary criminal evidence and toward ancient technology and archaeological anomalies.
A more cautious investigator might have withdrawn and waited for specialist assistance.
Anderson continues.
13.5 — Beneath the Ruins
Following Holder’s research and movements, Anderson travels beneath the abandoned settlements of Nerevos.
The investigation leads into ancient structures hidden below the known ruins.
There, Anderson discovers evidence of an ancient Elysarian facility.
The discovery changes the nature of the investigation completely.
Holder was no longer simply studying the remains of an abandoned civilization.
He had found something much older and considerably more significant.
Anderson continues deeper into the facility.
Holder remains nowhere to be found.
13.6 — The Chamber
At the heart of the ancient facility, Anderson discovers a damaged Elysarian Ascension Chamber.
The structure is ancient, degraded, and only partially functional.
Exactly what the chamber was originally designed to accomplish remains unknown.
Anderson’s investigation has finally reached the last known trail left behind by Mick Holder.
It provides no clear answer to what happened to him.
Instead, Anderson is confronted by another mystery.
The chamber remains capable of functioning.
13.7 — Ascension
The exact circumstances surrounding Anderson’s Ascension remain unclear.
During his investigation, Anderson enters or activates the damaged Elysarian Ascension Chamber.
The ancient structure responds.
Unlike several other known Ascension Events, the transformation is not dominated by a powerful regional element or external anomalous force.
Instead, the chamber appears to interact primarily with Anderson himself.
His perception, neurological processing, and relationship with physical reality are permanently altered.
Anderson emerges capable of perceiving information inaccessible to ordinary senses.
His lifelong ability to notice evidence that others overlook has become something far greater.
And considerably more dangerous.
13.8 — Detective Anderson
Anderson survives his Ascension.
Externally, he remains surprisingly close to his original human appearance.
Internally, his perception of reality has changed permanently.
He can perceive residual traces left by movement, biological activity, energy, and anomalous phenomena.
He can detect dimensional distortions and spatial instability.
Ancient structures may reveal relationships invisible to ordinary observers.
Significant events can leave fragmented impressions upon reality that Anderson is capable of detecting.
None of these abilities provide automatic answers.
Seeing evidence does not mean understanding it.
Anderson remains an investigator.
He continues taking notes.
He continues carrying his sidearm.
He continues questioning evidence.
He continues searching for explanations.
And despite everything that happened beneath Nerevos, he continues to identify himself by the same title he possessed before entering the chamber.
Detective Anderson.
The Mick Holder case remains unsolved.
Characters
Robert Anderson
A PCE detective and the central character of the Act.
Anderson begins the story as an ordinary human investigator known for persistence, curiosity, and unusual observational ability.
His investigation on Nerevos ultimately results in an Elysarian Ascension Event that transforms his perception of reality.
Despite this transformation, Anderson retains his original identity and continues to consider himself a detective.
Mick Holder
A researcher operating on Nerevos whose disappearance begins Anderson’s investigation.
Holder had been studying abandoned civilizations before becoming increasingly interested in unusual archaeological structures beneath known ruins.
His research eventually leads Anderson to the ancient Elysarian facility.
Holder’s ultimate fate remains unknown.
Factions
- Protection and Crime Enforcement
- The Elysarian Dominion — historical connection through the ancient facility and Ascension Chamber
Locations
- Nerevos
- Aegimius System
- Ancient ruins beneath Nerevos
- Ancient Elysarian facility
- Elysarian Ascension Chamber
Major Events
- Robert Anderson is assigned the Mick Holder missing-person case.
- Anderson travels to Nerevos.
- Holder’s research leads Anderson toward structures beneath abandoned settlements.
- Anderson discovers an ancient Elysarian facility.
- A damaged Elysarian Ascension Chamber is discovered.
- Anderson undergoes an Ascension Event.
- Anderson develops Ascended Perception.
- Anderson survives with his original memories and personality largely intact.
- Mick Holder remains missing.
- The investigation remains unsolved.
Deaths and Casualties
No major confirmed deaths occur during the Act.
Mick Holder remains missing and his fate is unknown.
Lore Introduced
The Act significantly expands knowledge surrounding Ascension Events and introduces the existence of ancient Elysarian Ascension Chambers.
It establishes that Ascension does not necessarily produce conventional combat abilities or dramatic physical transformation.
Anderson’s Ascension instead manifests through perception.
His abilities include:
- Trace perception
- Dimensional sight
- Anomaly recognition
- Structural perception
- Enhanced pattern recognition
- Residual perception
These abilities allow Anderson to perceive evidence and phenomena normally inaccessible to ordinary biological senses.
However, his abilities do not make him omniscient.
Anderson must still interpret what he sees and remains capable of misunderstanding evidence or reaching incorrect conclusions.
The Act also establishes that excessive anomalous information can overwhelm his altered perception.
Unknowns
Several questions remain unresolved following the Act:
- What happened to Mick Holder?
- Why was an Elysarian Ascension Chamber beneath Nerevos?
- Was Anderson’s Ascension accidental?
- Was the chamber functioning as originally intended?
- Why was a human compatible with the chamber?
- What were Elysarian Ascension Chambers originally designed to create?
- Why did Holder become interested in the buried facility?
- Is there a limit to what Anderson can perceive?
- Are some entities capable of deliberately hiding from his perception?
Consequences
Robert Anderson is permanently transformed by the events on Nerevos.
Although he retains his identity, personality, and investigative methods, he can no longer experience reality in the same way as an ordinary human.
His Ascended Perception makes him uniquely capable of investigating anomalous events, dimensional disturbances, ancient technology, and other phenomena that conventional PCE investigators may struggle to understand.
The experience also changes Anderson’s relationship with his own curiosity.
Before Nerevos, unanswered questions encouraged him to investigate further.
After Nerevos, Anderson understands that some answers may be dangerous simply to perceive.
Despite this, he remains what he has always considered himself to be.
A detective.