Benjamin Mathius
Captain of the USG Ishimura
Benjamin Mathius was the captain of the USG Ishimura and a high ranking Unitologist, placed in command to retrieve Marker 3A from Aegis VII for the Church. His devotion and the Marker''s influence drove him to madness, and he died restrained on his own ship as the outbreak began.
Benjamin Mathius was the captain of the USG Ishimura during the vessel''s final voyage to Aegis VII, and a high ranking member of the Church of Unitology. He was placed in command to oversee the retrieval of Marker 3A for the Church, a mission he pursued at the cost of his crew and ultimately his own sanity. His death marked the collapse of order aboard the Ishimura on the eve of the Necromorph outbreak.
Background and the Unitologist mission#
Little was recorded of Mathius'' early life beyond that he was a high ranking Unitologist and an experienced ship captain in the employ of the Concordance Extraction Corporation. The Church of Unitology, intent on recovering Marker 3A from Aegis VII, used its considerable influence within the company to have him posted as captain of the USG Ishimura for the ship''s final cycle of duty. He sailed alongside other devout members of the faith, including Terrence Kyne and Challus Mercer, as well as CEC Executive Director Warren Eckhardt, to whom Mathius granted executive access aboard the ship.
Before the Ishimura departed, Mathius secured a place for his body in a premium stasis capsule aboard the Church''s Mausoleum Fleet, on the condition that his pilgrimage was completed and the Marker delivered safely into Church hands.
Aegis VII and the cover up#
Throughout the voyage Mathius was consumed by the Marker''s retrieval, intending to bring the artifact aboard for study. When the Ishimura reached Aegis VII and learned of the colonists'' strange behavior and mounting deaths, he took a hardline position against any further contact with the colony, fearing that whatever afflicted it might spread to his ship and jeopardize the mission. He blocked outgoing communications, and according to a log left by the Chief Communications Officer, he overloaded the Communications Array to prevent any call for help from leaving the vessel. In a report to a Church figure named Paragon Jorden, Mathius indicated his belief that the Church intended to reveal the Marker publicly once it was secured. When Kyne confronted him over the Marker''s possible influence on the colonists, Mathius insisted the risk was worth the prize.
Madness and death#
As events worsened, Mathius grew increasingly erratic, driven by both the Marker''s influence and his own fanaticism. Kyne declared him unfit for active duty and relieved him of command, instructing First Officer White and Second Officer Chic to restrain him while a sedative was administered. As Mathius struggled, the needle was lodged in his eye and passed through the skull into the frontal lobe, killing him. With his death, White became the Ishimura''s acting captain. A later autopsy log confirmed the needle had penetrated the eye and brain, and noted that Mathius''s blood lacked the white blood cells responsible for fighting infection, an absence not present in his pre-flight tests and possibly linked to his exposure to Marker 3A.
His body was carried to the Morgue, where it remained as the Necromorphs overtook the ship. When Isaac Clarke later came to retrieve Mathius''s RIG to access the Bridge systems, an Infector leapt onto the corpse and turned it into an Enhanced Slasher. Isaac destroyed the creature, making Mathius the first person he saw transform into a Necromorph and the first Enhanced Necromorph he faced.
Frequently asked questions
- Who was Benjamin Mathius?
- Benjamin Mathius was the captain of the planet cracker USG Ishimura and a high ranking member of the Church of Unitology. The Church used its influence within the Concordance Extraction Corporation to place him in command for the ship's final cycle of duty, with the secret task of retrieving Marker 3A from Aegis VII.
- How did Benjamin Mathius die?
- As the Marker's influence and his own fanaticism drove him to erratic behavior, Doctor Terrence Kyne declared Mathius unfit for command and ordered First Officer White and Second Officer Chic to restrain him so a sedative could be administered. During the struggle the needle was lodged in Mathius's eye, passing through into his brain and killing him.
- What happened to Mathius after his death?
- His body was taken to the Morgue, where it lay as the Necromorphs overran the ship. When Isaac Clarke came to recover Mathius's RIG from the corpse, an Infector reanimated the body into an Enhanced Slasher, the first transformation Isaac witnessed firsthand.
Sources
- WikiBenjamin Mathius — Dead Space Wiki entry
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Aegis VII was a remote, metal-rich planet in the Cygnus system used by the Sovereign Colonies as a secret test site for Marker 3A. Two Necromorph outbreaks scarred the world, and after Isaac Clarke returned the Marker to its pedestal in 2508 the planet broke apart entirely.
Aegis VII Colony
The Aegis VII Colony was an illegal mining settlement built on Aegis VII by the Concordance Extraction Corporation in 2505. After the discovery of Marker 3A in 2508, the colony fell into madness and was overrun by Necromorphs before being destroyed in the planet crack.
Alissa Vincent
Alissa Vincent was the Chief Security Officer of the USG Ishimura who fought through the outbreak after Marker 3A was brought aboard. She died launching a warning beacon, unaware the Marker had manipulated her into luring more victims to Aegis VII.
Bridge
The Bridge of the USG Ishimura was the command and control center of the Planet Cracker, a large open section at the front of the ship from which its crew ran the vessel and its mining operations. By the outbreak its displays read only System Failure.
Challus Mercer
Challus Mercer was the Second Science Officer of the USG Ishimura, a fanatical Unitologist who experimented on the crew in the belief that Convergence was the gateway to life after death.
Church of Unitology
The Church of Unitology was the most influential religion in human space, born from the death of Michael Altman and built on the belief that the Markers promised rebirth and unity in death. Its faith in Convergence ultimately served the very forces that meant to consume humanity.
Concordance Extraction Corporation: The Planet-Crackers
The Concordance Extraction Corporation was the mining concern that pioneered Planet Cracking and ended the Resource Wars, operating the deep-space fleet led by the USG Ishimura. Its reach made it a vehicle for the Church of Unitology and the retrieval of Marker 3A.
Crew Deck
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Flight Deck
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Hanford Carthusia
Hanford Carthusia was the Unitologist project manager of the Aegis VII mining colony at the time of the Second Aegis VII Incident. His devotion to the Red Marker and his refusal to heed warnings about the spreading violence helped doom the colony, and he offered himself to a freshly reanimated Necromorph in the morgue.
Jennifer Barrow: Aegis VII Dig Team Leader
Jennifer Barrow was the geologist who led the dig team that unearthed Marker 3A on Aegis VII. Driven mad by the artifact, she took her own life, and her reanimated body became the first Necromorph seen aboard the USG Ishimura.
Marker 3A
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