Quaiche

Quaiche was a human individual who, by 2615, found himself in the employ of Queen Jasmina of the Gnostic Ascension. Failing to deliver on his promises of riches for the ship, he was given a final chance to prove his worth. Placed aboard the Dominatrix along with his lover -- who had been caged inside the scrimshaw suit as insurance against betrayal -- he was instructed to search the 107 Piscium system and find something of value.

On the planet Hela he found what he was looking for: a miraculous artificial bridge that seemed to defy physics. Taking a smaller craft, Scavenger's Daughter, into the planet's atmosphere, he was attacked by automated weapons emplacements and forced to crash. His ship damaged, he sent out a distress signal. The automated pseudo-intelligence of the Dominatrix responded, accelerating with enough force to kill Quaiche's love, whose presence inside the scrimshaw suit had not been taken into account by the ship.

Saved but devastated. Quaiche used the last remaining emplacement on the surface to attempt a coup of Queen Jasmina. With help from Surgeon-General Grelier, he lured the Ascension near Hela and fired upon it. Unexpectedly, the weapon destroyed the Ascension, trapping Quaiche and his co-conspirators on the planet.

Quaiche, infected with an indoctrinal virus, came to believe that the disappearing gas giant Haldora (which had disappeared at just the right moment to allow his distress signal to reach the Dominatrix) was a sign from God. Determined to keep witnessing the event and seeking revelation, he enlisted Grelier into performing surgical procedures to ensure he never had to take his eyes off the planet; he went so far as to construct a mobile platform, a cathedral he named the Lady Morwenna, that would circumnavigate the barren Hela and keep Haldora ever in his sight.

He eventually solidified his control over Hela by selling alien artifacts -- made by the scuttlers -- to various passing lighthuggers, some of whom brought pilgrims seeking redemption or protection under Quaiche's new religion.

Over one hundred years after his arrival, in 2727, Quaiche conspired to seize a lighthugger, any lighthugger, and use it to alter Hela's rotation. His plan was to tidally lock Hela so that he would no longer need to continue traversing the planet to see Haldora. This brought him into conflict with the crew of the Nostalgia for Infinity, who were in the 107 Piscium system searching for the shadows, the true creators of Haldora and its mystery.

Though he was able to put all the pieces of his plan in place, including forcing the Infinity to land on Hela's surface, he was ultimately killed by Captain Brennigan before he could complete his life's work.