The Inkromancer's Studio

In the early days of the Farcade, there were too many things to do, and not enough hands to do it. Dusk had to juggle training new recruits while keeping the Syntax in check. This would be a reoccurring issue for the Farcade until one day they ventured into the game world that housed the antagonist entity known simply as Master Mind.

A sentient eyeball with two giant, disembodied hands, forever bound to a single spot in the game world. Where he commanded a seemingly endless supply of alien monstrosities which he referred to as "The Blue Strain." Master Mind struck a simple, pragmatic bargain with Dusk: provide him with a body, and enable his exodus from the game world, and in exchange Master Mind would oversee and handle all tasks for the Farcade involving onboarding, strategy, and logistics.

Imagine the most generic, archetypical, run-of-the-mill good guy. The most heroic hero to ever hero. That was John at one point. A noble warrior of light who stood against the coming darkness to save his world. A man who could do no wrong, right up until he defeated his villian, and doomed his world.

In an unprecedented act of villiany and violence, John drove his sword blade into the heart of his enemy the second the system lock failed. Assaulting his arch nemesis again and again until his sword finally shattered. Seeing potential in John, and now without a villain to recruit, Syntax took him with them before harvesting the planet.