Craig Markoff
Co-founder of the Church of Unitology
Craig Markoff was a Sovereign Colonies military officer who led the extraction of the Black Marker in 2214. After the outbreak that sank the artifact, he and the psychologist Stevens murdered Michael Altman and used his name to found the Church of Unitology.
Craig Markoff was an officer of the Sovereign Colonies Armed Forces who served as a key figure in the original extraction of the Black Marker in 2214. After the disaster that sank the artifact and the facility built to study it, Markoff joined with a psychologist named Stevens to murder Michael Altman and use his name to found the Church of Unitology.
The Black Marker extraction#
As an influential member of the military, Markoff led the initial effort to unearth the Black Marker after its discovery in the Chicxulub crater, working alongside the mining corporation DredgerCorp. When the artifact was brought up to a floating facility built above the crater, Markoff took it upon himself to oversee the scientific work it provoked, eventually directing the researchers as they tried to harness what appeared to be the Marker's limitless energy.
During this project one of the scientists, a geophysicist named Michael Altman, escaped the facility and revealed the Black Marker's existence to the world, defying the government's wish to keep it secret. Altman was eventually captured and brought back to the facility by Markoff. Shortly afterward a Necromorph outbreak began, an event that ended with the facility and the Marker sunk and Markoff stripped of the control he had worked to maintain over the project.
Founding the Church of Unitology#
In the wake of the disaster Markoff resolved to conspire with another member of the project, a trusted psychologist named Stevens, to murder Altman and publicly declare his martyrdom, intending to use Altman's name to draw the public into a new religion. The two carried out their plan despite the rest of the government's efforts to bury every trace of the Black Marker affair. Having killed Altman, Markoff and Stevens posed as his acolytes and released only the information about the Marker that would gather followers and spread their faith, which became the Church of Unitology. During Altman's eulogy, Markoff appeared to be on the verge of tears.
Frequently asked questions
- Who was Craig Markoff?
- Craig Markoff was a former military officer of the Sovereign Colonies Armed Forces who oversaw the recovery and study of the Black Marker after its discovery in the Chicxulub crater in 2214. He was one of the two men who founded the Church of Unitology.
- What was Craig Markoff's role in founding Unitology?
- After a Necromorph outbreak destroyed the floating research facility and cost him control of the Marker project, Markoff conspired with the psychologist Stevens to murder the scientist Michael Altman and declare him a martyr. They used Altman's name to found a new religion, the Church of Unitology.
- Why did Markoff have Michael Altman killed?
- Altman, a geophysicist on the project, had escaped the facility and revealed the Black Marker's existence to the world against the government's wishes. After recapturing him, Markoff and Stevens decided that turning Altman into a martyr was the most effective way to win public faith in the Marker, so they had him killed and posed as his acolytes.
Sources
- WikiCraig Markoff — Dead Space Wiki entry
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Related entries
Michael Altman
Michael Altman was the geophysicist who in 2214 revealed the Black Marker to humanity as the first proof of alien life, and whose murder was twisted into the founding martyrdom of the Church of Unitology.
Stevens
Stevens was a psychologist on the floating facility that held Michael Altman and the other Black Marker scientists in 2214. After the outbreak there, he and the military officer Craig Markoff murdered Altman and founded the Church of Unitology in his name.
Sovereign Colonies
The Sovereign Colonies was the global government that united Earth and its early off-world settlements, custodian of the Black Marker and architect of the secret Red Marker program. Its discovery of the Brethren Moons led it to purge all Marker knowledge under Scenario Five.
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.
Black Marker
The Black Marker was the alien artifact discovered in the Chicxulub crater on Earth in 2214, believed to have guided human evolution and to have served as the template for every Red Marker copy that followed. Its public exposure by Michael Altman gave rise to the Church of Unitology.
Marker
Markers were enigmatic double-helix obelisks that broadcast a signal capable of reanimating the dead, driving the living to madness, and seeding their own replication. Their purpose was to spread the Necromorph infection across intelligent civilizations until a Convergence Event could form a Brethren Moon.
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Stevens
Stevens was a psychologist on the floating facility that held Michael Altman and the other Black Marker scientists in 2214. After the outbreak there, he and the military officer Craig Markoff murdered Altman and founded the Church of Unitology in his name.
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