Marek Venn

Marek Venn is the pilot of the C-9 “Wayfarer” and the player’s character in Rift Elevator. He launched the carrier into the Rift on the night of the Asterion blackout without authorisation, and has been descending alone ever since.

# Background

Marek grew up in the company towns along the edge of the Khepri exclusion zone, six years younger than his brother Ilyan. Where Ilyan was the family’s engineer, Marek was the one who took things apart to see whether they would still run without a part. He trained as a salvage pilot, flying remote industrial lifts through collapsed mine shafts, and earned a class III licence for unstable environments at twenty-four.

He is not a soldier. He knows how to keep a failing engine alive, how to read a bad vibration through the soles of his boots and how to choose which piece of equipment can be sacrificed. Directorate psychologists described him as “calm under load, impatient with procedure.”

# At Asterion

Ilyan brought Marek to Asterion in 2212 as a contract pilot for cradle operations. The two brothers worked on the lift program together for two years. Old flight recordings show Ilyan teaching Marek the carrier’s emergency control sequence, a procedure that was not in the official manual.

After Ilyan’s disappearance in 2214, Marek stayed. He flew unmanned trials of the rebuilt C-9 for Yara Demir and applied twice to be certified as its pilot. Both applications were refused.

# The descent

On the night of the blackout, the last relay packet carried his brother’s voice and his own name. Marek filed a recovery mission, launched the C-9 and disabled its ascent lock before Commander Graf could recall him. See The recall order.

His carrier has no crew. The Rift interferes with live communication, and the descent needs every kilogram for power and supplies. Asterion is his only voice on the upper relay when the signal gets through, usually Sana Okafor.

# In play

The player decides Marek’s loadout, combat style and route. The archive deliberately does not prescribe his private thoughts or his ending. His appearance is fixed only by his field portrait.

Ilyan always said the shaft listens. Fine. Let it listen to this.
— Marek Venn, C-9 cockpit audio, floor 1-1