Willard Argyle

H-193780-ND-TLA-01-098-F

Willard is the person that Vizier Frederick requested the party to obtain the Notebook from.

When the party tracked Willard down in an isolated hunting lodge on the world of Pristine, they found him to be suspicious and un-cooperative (to the point of ordering them out of his property at turret-point).

Willard is about 17kCy old, slightly stocky with brown hair, brown eyes and is of Polynesian or Eurasian appearance.  He has apparently been living in the isolated areas of Pristine for many years and has a fairly weathered look.

Or…. is he really 

Abbas Lozenge-Sok?

H-193780-ND-TLA-01-003-F

History

As Abbas Lozenge-Sok

• Argyle/Lozenge-Sok is a chronic journaller, and much of his history comes from information gathered from his journals.
• At the time of his first book he was in Senior Education, very much on the maths-science-computing course
• His first book is largely about notes he was keeping for a school project, and that may be the origin of these writings
• In similar vein to his later works, the notes are interspersed with random reminders, diary notes, and technical notes on several topics at once
• The school project was a computing assignment that used a conjunction of a mathematical proof and a brute-force computing algorithmic approach using a modified computer to analyse a mathematical sequence.
  • Apparently he received an excellent mark for it.
  • After the project was over he retained his journalling, note-keeping habit.
• The young Argyle seemed fascinated by mathematics, science and computing.
• He entered the Higher Education stream, remaining on Zargholme while he studied for his HE Certificate
• During this time he lived on campus.
• There are occasional references to visits with his father, but no other mention of family at all.
• His studies seemed related to mathematics and electronics, computing was, at least initially, only a sideline for him.
• At age 7, he moved to Zargonia to study his AHE there at Bright University.
• He was excited at the opportunity, and it is at that point that it is apparent he is a Hybrid class.
• His AHE continued his maths/engineering path but it was at that point that he developed an interest in Cryptographic applications of his maths skills
• He began some computer studies so he had the tools to work more practically in the maths/crypto space.
• On Zargonia he formed a romantic relationship with a fellow student named Lyanna, who was apparently studying astrophysics.
• The notebooks are interspersed with love poetry of questionable quality at this point
• He also refers to his friend Barty, who is also studying electronics.
  • Barty doesn’t seem to be as clever as Argyle
  • There are even a couple of notes in another hand, presumably Barty’s, as they are working on problems together – Argyle seems to be teaching Barty stuff.
  • Argyle appreciates Barty’s perspective and his social nature There are occasional references to other classmates (and later, workmates) and some confusingly cryptic references to someone named Abbas.
• At age 8 he attempted to do a CHE, but was not approved.
• Instead, he did some brief grunt work as a private contractor in the private sector, apparently installing and repairing comms panels in houses.
• That did not last long and he was apparently taken on as a private contractor for the Planning Bureau working on mathematical forecasting models.
• Once his first major project with Planning was complete he was apparently seconded to the Vizierate (still employed as Bureaucracy Technician) where he spent some time at MAPACOA working on networking problems and security.
• Shortly after turning 9, he wound up working at The Black Palace, his employment with the Bureaucracy was terminated and he was engaged as a member of the Overlord’s Household.
  • At the Black Palace he worked with a man named Alec Bronze-Stepping, who Oliver interviewed
• When not making cryptic notes or scribbling obscure mathematical formulae, his books lament the difficulty of spending time with Lyanna, as she is now working for the Industrial Bureau and it is difficult for them to match their work schedules.
• There are gaps of Cycles in these times when it’s apparent he is with her and not taking notes in these books.
• Argyle was focussed on some sort of security upgrade to the The Black Palace network and he appeared concerned about patching a security vulnerability.
• He is working with a team of several others on a project for Household (cyber) Security
• They are working on something he simply calls the system replacement
  • He’s concerned there is a flaw in the system but seems to be having trouble conveying his idea, or even precisely how that flaw will manifest
• He meets occasionally with Lyanna and his old boss Ohare, who he seems to be using as a mentor, both of which make him feel better, apparently
• As the date of the crash approaches the project is nearing completion
• Lozenge-Sok was supposedly killed in a vehicle accident while returning to the Palace after a short leave

As Willard Argyle

• The books after the crash have a lot of diversions in them
  • Puzzles, cryptographics, math problems, etc
  • He starts writing film reviews
• He talks occasionally of missing Lyana
  • Some of the writing gets messy at these points
•  It seems ‘Argyle’ arrived on Pristine with some savings, and spent some time splitting his attention between forging a new life for himself and occasionally mourning his old one through cryptic references. 
• He did some work for the mine site, low-level tech repairs etc.
• Not long after that he was caught out in a bad storm and saved local hunter Billy Bobb-Jobethunt from an accident and subsequent exposure (the book is low on details but Argyle writes the hunter was ‘in a bad way’.)
• He apparently befriended Billy, who taught him to hunt and invited him to stay in the hunting lodge. 
• Argyle decided he needed to take proper control of his life, and is partitioning his books into topics as part of a more orderly way of living and organising his thoughts
• There were a couple of cryptic messages he sent directly to comms servers 
• He used to get work from ‘Contact’, who was almost certainly a man named Matthew Hale, who died under suspicious circumstances at Pristine Number One Mine.
• Argyle writes cryptically about a trip to the mine where he met someone who eventually introduced himself as a ‘replacement for his Contact’, someone who would be his ‘Patron’, and make sure he was looked after
  • Argyle’s suspicions about what happened to ‘Contact’ are aroused and he notes he will make some enquiries into ‘Patron’
  • Later, he notes he has checked up on ‘Patron’, found out who he is and some background, though he doesn’t commit this detail to the journals
  • Argyle is almost certain that ‘Patron’ had ‘Contact’ killed, but notes that ‘Patron’ seems to be a better ally for him to have 
  • Indeed, he observes a steady stream of lucrative, paid-in-cash work coming his way as a result
• Near the end of the decrypted journals, ‘Patron’ introduces him to his ‘associate’
  • Argyle thinks he means his boss 
• The ‘Associate’ notes that he has a specific problem and Argyle is able to help him out
  • This is apparently documented in IT Project#59
• The Associate assures Argyle that if ever there’s any trouble arising from his activities, he will be taken care of, and not in the same way as ‘Contact’ (apparently he asked)
• On one of the pages of the decrypted general journal, Argyle is apparently feeling philosophical, having just watched his favourite movie again.  
  • He writes that at last he feels he has found some kind of peace with his life and self, and that he may have actually escaped his past.  
  • He only wishes, he writes, that Lyanna were here with him to share in this life of his on the cold but beautiful world he has ended up on.  
  • If only he could actually communicate with her, even if it was just once, to let her know he is alive and still thinking of her, though they parted a long time ago.
  • He revisits this idea several times through the journals, though the references become more cryptic as time goes on
  • Oliver will recognise that these are actually also mentioned in the hardcopy journals that come last chronologically but which he read first, and now he sees these for what they are
• After being spooked by Oliver and the team, Argyle fled to the mine site on a snow mobile that he then gave away to a former associate, Joel Cagnotti
• Argyle used his control over the mine’s ore bucket line to penetrate outer security at the local downport
• Then he used his electronics knowledge and some basic disguises to move around inside the port
• After some time he was observed entering a cargo handling facility leased to Iceheart Import Export Brokerage, from which he was never seen leaving
• There was an instance of a ship loading a single speculative powered cargo container of fragile technology components from Iceheart’s shortly after that
• That ship was last reported heading for Zarg’s World