Kenneth Copernicus Heppe (born 15 January 2065) is a free thinker scientist from H+XTROPY labs.

Early life and family

Kenneth Heppe was born and raised in the Solstace Intentional Community located outside Four Lakes, a village about 120 miles west of Rivertown. The community believed in "positive distributed parenting and promoting peace, love, and social change through science and contemplative thought." Heppe was a bright child, a favorite in the community, known for his sharp wit and lateral thinking. At the age of 15, he was approached by the H+XTROPY Foundation, a leader in transhumanist thought, to partake in a new intentional community starting in a sub-lab outside of Rivertown. He spent half his time at Solstace and half at the sub-lab until he turned 21, when he moved underground full-time.

The H+XTROPY sub-lab had no mandate beyond general transhumanist goal of improving the human condition through technology. The small, tight-knit group experimented with mood altering/enhancing drugs, free love, cyborg prosthetics, and invented languages. In 2087 Heppe nearly died from inhaling a drug called SLEW that was intended to slow the aging process. The disastrous experiment rattled the group so much that they considered disbanding, but then the superflu struck and they were forced to seal themselves in for their own protection.

The years passed slowly for the group who were psychologically unprepared for the large-scale disaster, and began to question the need for extending human life. They armed the security system for the first time in decades and some even began practicing with the weapons--mostly handguns and shotguns--they had been given. Rather than turn to violence even in self-defense, several people signed suicide pacts while others wandered off into the wasteland. Solomon Madison and Michael Miller, mentors and especially close friends to Heppe, began working on a final project to help make the world seem bearable again. Along with Marlon Simmons, the four of them developed the psychedelic drug jack that altered the users' perceptions for a few hours, making them believe they inhabited a personalized, idealized world. They achieved success in early 2113 and made a large batch. They divided out the drug four ways and left all they couldn't carry with the H+XTROPY lab.

Simmons headed west into the countryside, Madison and Mueller intended to retire to a small sub-lab of their own they had commissioned just before the world caved in, and Heppe headed east into Rivertown, intent of finding starting one enormous party before he died.

Disposition and traits

Heppe is a relaxed, easy going character whose very nature sets others at ease, if perhaps grates on their nerves after awhile. Handsome and charming, he often pretends to be dim-witted when in fact he is quite sharp. He abhors violence and believes you can accomplish more with love than with hate.

However, despite his neo-hippie outlook, Heppe thinks the world didn't act quickly enough to prevent its own doom and holds out little hope for the society to rebuilt in his lifetime. He also doubts humankind has the ability to learn from its errors, a thought that can pitch him into deep bouts of depression.

Goals and motivations

Heppe wants to spread as much happiness in Rivertown by sharing his allotment of jack with any pour soul with a good heart. His unspoken hope is to find a thriving subculture of love beneath the charred and crusted layer of death all around, but this is more fancy than expectation. While he assumes he is heading to certain death, he also wants to do his best to insure he is under the influence of jack when it happens so he won't know the difference.

Primary residence

Heppe lives among scavengers, moving around in the bones of old Rivertown.

Attributes and Abilities

Heppe is in fair to poor physical condition, having lived a rich but rather sedentary lifestyle underground. He is charming and can be quite persuasive, even when in dangerous situations. He has a strong grip on literature, philosophy, anthropology, politics, and the history of science.