Drakmar The Blind
Rumors swirling around the origins of
"Drakmar The Blind" (the so-called prophet of Downshaft) are like
dark mists endlessly rising from the Bogz: No one knows for sure what truth,
if any, lies behind them. What is known is that the person who is now called
Drakmar was caught up in the Great
Purges of the early 70's and sent Downshaft with a group of young infractors
from the Inztitut who were punished for speaking out against the "Goorla"
Directorship.
Most of these ex-students were initially assigned
to one of the older Hydroponik Farm Units (HFU 19, near the Bogz) where
they worked long hours harvesting and packing food grown for The Quadrant's
"Upshaft" population. In the late 70's a small number of Disconz
from HFU 19 were caught trying to escape into the Bogz, and sent, as punishment,
to work in the much harsher environment of the Pitz. A man called "Draker,"
who was thought to be the leader of the escapees was singled out to work
in the 120 degree heat of the rendering heaps (the worst and filthiest job
in the Pitz). After a time, the man became known as Drakmar -- then "Dirty"
Drakmar, and was continuously taunted by Enforcerz and other workerz.
During the late 80's, on a visit by Emil Zarg
(Kommander of Downshaft's Enforcement Unit) to the Pitz, Drakmar -- after
10 years of hard labor in the rendering heaps, suddenly refused to work.
Dressed in filthy tattered clothing, he was brought before Zarg who told
him that his eyes would be torn out if he did not return immediately to
his job. Drakmar simply looked at Zarg and reputedly said "One does
not need eyes to see that you are a little tyrant in Hell." According
to a Discon who said he was there, Zarg became irate and with the help of
some nearby Enforcerz, personally gouged out Drakmar's eyes. Drakmar was
later taken to an infirmary near the Hydroponik Farms to recuperate, and,
apparently aided by some of the inmates there, he finally succeeded in making
his escape into the Bogz.
In the early 90's, rumors surfaced in Dunztown
and elsewhere in Downshaft that a prophet who lived in the Bogz, had come
to save the Underworld. Shortly aftwerward, pictures of a grasping hand
began to appear, scrawled on buildings everywhere. Soon, the name "Drakmar
The Blind" came to be whispered on Discon and Anteek lips regularly,
with some even repeating Drakmar's calls for humanization of Downshaft,
the death of Zarg, and the dismantling of The System itself.