Rickle

Rickle Epmen is a founder and long-serving chairman of NIRV, a hidden vampire, and the researcher who turns Dean's request to remove his werewolf nature into a far larger investigation of supernatural systems and possible futures. He presents himself as a champion of humanity in its broadest sense, but his help is always structured as an exchange, and he withholds enough information that even close collaborators cannot be sure which future he is trying to prevent.

Biography

NIRV, Dean, and the exchange

Rickle first appears directing NIRV's response to the Scavengers crisis from the corporation's headquarters. As founder and chairman, he oversees a network of laboratories, factories, gangs, and Retrievers while keeping his private research separate from ordinary staff. When Dean forces his way into a NIRV facility seeking a cure for being a werewolf, Rickle recognizes a unique experiment rather than a security threat. He agrees on conditions: Dean must endure the process, work as a Retriever, remain for observation, and answer a future request. Months of painful research expose both men's secrets. Dean identifies Rickle's scent as vampiric, and Rickle admits that vampire society believes him human and does not know he exists. (Chapters 741 and 947–951)

Rickle does remove Dean's wolf, but only after collecting extensive information about werewolf history, classes, bonds, and power. He describes his own ability as an exchange requiring sacrifices on both sides and uses it to transform matter while developing the procedure. The result leaves Dean human but keeps him tied to Rickle as assistant, Retriever, and later trusted partner. Their relationship is therefore neither simple rescue nor captivity: Rickle gives Dean the life he requested, Dean supplies data and service, and both continue because their research reaches beyond the original cure. (Chapters 949–960 and 1338–1345)

Harvor, the shadow infection, and withdrawal

Rickle intervenes when Rumper Karn's infected Altered project and Harvor's dragon body threaten a disaster he believes he has foreseen. He confronts Rumper, creates or carries an imitation black sword through his exchange power, and enters the Bloodspire fight after the Howlers have exhausted themselves. The sword blocks Harvor's golden attacks and strips shadow from him, but Rickle cannot finish the battle alone. He gives the weapon to Gary, explicitly entrusting him with changing the outcome, then removes the infection's source into a crystal once Harvor falls. Rumper dies before fully explaining that the shadow's true target is the Altered project, leaving Rickle aware that averting one catastrophe may not have ended the larger threat. (Chapters 1043–1052 and 1126–1137)

Rickle later moves against the Dark Guild when its conflict threatens broader supernatural exposure, yet he repeatedly avoids becoming the Howlers' standing solution to every crisis. His restraint is strategic as well as personal: he tells Dean that outside powers are watching and that changing short-term events draws attention from forces neither of them can casually oppose. When the Settlement begins eliminating Altered research and searching NIRV's leadership, Rickle plans to vanish, clean his tracks, and perhaps assume another name. By then he has trusted Dean with laboratories, engineering, and access to Werewolf System archives, but still keeps private absences and "Future Notes" beyond ordinary explanation. His last confirmed state is alive and preparing for another hidden phase rather than remaining NIRV's public chairman. (Chapters 1519–1522, 1583, 1680–1681, 1822, and 1845)

Appearance and personality

Rickle is a mature man with deep, sunken eyes and an outwardly human appearance. His irises can flash red when he reveals his vampire nature. He is calm around threats that would frighten ordinary researchers, speaks in partial explanations, and follows curiosity into ethically painful experiments. He can show genuine grief and responsibility, particularly toward Rumper and Dean, but compassion does not make him transparent; he believes secrecy and controlled sacrifice are justified when entire futures may be at stake. (Chapters 741, 947–951, 1126–1137, and 1822)

Powers and abilities

Vampire physiology

Rickle is a vampire operating outside vampire society. He possesses enhanced strength, speed, durability, senses, and longevity sufficient to pass through decades of NIRV leadership without exposing his true nature and to fight Harvor's enhanced dragon form at close range. He masks his scent with a specially prepared spray because werewolves such as Dean can otherwise identify him. The corpus does not state his vampire class, blood requirements, sunlight limitations, or maker, so those mechanics remain unknown. (Chapters 741 and 949–951, 1126–1137, and 1175)

Exchange and matter transformation

Rickle's distinctive power changes matter through an exchange. He demonstrates it by reshaping a metallic object and later by pulling surrounding floor and seating into a barrier. Rickle states that the process requires sacrifices on both ends, but the exact equivalence, activation conditions, and cost are not fully explained. This power underlies his confidence that Dean's wolf can be removed and appears central to his creation of temporary imitation artifacts. It provides extraordinary flexibility rather than unrestricted creation: Rickle experiments with its rules himself and cannot simply produce a permanent answer to every threat. (Chapters 950–960 and 1133)

The strongest representative product is an imitation black sword. It withstands Harvor's golden energy, cuts through shadow constructs, sends red aura slashes, and protects its holder strongly enough for Rickle to tell Gary that the weapon is his path to survival. Its existence is temporary, and Rickle acknowledges that even in his own hands it cannot change the foretold outcome alone. He also forms a crystal-based containment method that draws the shadow infection out of Harvor and the other affected Altereds. Whether every one of these effects is a direct application of the same exchange or partly engineered technology is not completely specified. (Chapters 1126–1137)

Scientific and strategic expertise

Rickle is a founding Altered researcher with expertise in beast crystals, fossils, serums, supernatural biology, engineering, databases, and experimental systems. He reverse-engineers a procedure capable of removing Dean's werewolf state, identifies supernatural contamination in NIRV's Altered work, and trains Dean in technology far beyond public knowledge. His planning incorporates glimpses or records of possible futures, but the corpus does not establish that Rickle personally possesses future sight; some of his knowledge comes through other people and archived notes. (Chapters 947–960, 1043–1052, 1338–1345, and 1845)

Relationships

• Dean: Dean begins as Rickle's unprecedented test subject and becomes his Retriever, assistant, and trusted partner. Their bond is built on a literal exchange, mutual secrecy, and persistent uncertainty about how much Rickle knows. (Chapters 947–960, 1338–1345, 1822, and 1845)
• Gary Dem: Rickle first treats Gary as the person who may avert a foreseen disaster, lends him the imitation sword, and then refuses to become the architect of Gary's future. (Chapters 1126–1137 and 1156–1182)
• Rumper Karn: Rickle co-founds NIRV with Rumper but eventually confronts him over the infected Altered project. He grieves Rumper's death while recognizing that leaving the shadow within him could renew the threat. (Chapters 741, 1043–1052, and 1126–1130)

Items

Rickle has no finalized configured inventory item. His temporary imitation sword and containment crystal are manifestations or products of his power and research, not finalized personal inventory entries.