Dr. Sebastian Robarts

(work in progress)

Dr. Sebastian Robarts is a character from Heaven's Bones. Manipulated by his "assistant" Trueblood, Robarts is the creator of the Angels.

Biography

Life and tragedy

Dr. Robarts was married to Margaret Robarts and a resident of London. Janet was their servant, though they had several. Dr. Robarts also owned a home in St. Agnes in Cornwall, Bryani House, that he inherited from his uncle Yorick. In his youth, Sebastian loved to read the books in Yorick's library, just as his uncle did - including a number of esoteric works Yorick had collected during his study of angels and demons, anthropology and religion. When he grew up, Sebastian received a medical degree and established a private medical practice.

In the spring of 1867, tragedy struck the Robarts household. Margaret died while giving birth to their son, Jonathan Robarts. Dr. James Symons, Dr. Robarts' colleague, and his staff, including Bartholomew McPherson, couldn't save mother or child, leaving Dr. Robarts without a family. Desperate for meaning in his grief and anger, Dr. Robarts turned to studying the old and strange books of Bryani House. After Margaret's burial, something within him died, reeling with how perfect yet how fragile God had made Margaret, a veritable angel. Dr. Robarts began to fall apart in regret and grief. His thoughts began to grow twisted and started to lead him down a dark path.

Descent into madness

In the summer of 1867, four months following Margaret's death, Dr. Sebastian Robarts encountered Cherise Daughtery, a streetwalker laden with child. Dr. Robarts thought he could save her from the same fate that had taken his own wife. After luring her into his home with the seeming intention of propositioning her, Dr. Robarts incapacitated her with a drug and attempted to surgically deliver the child. The surgery was a miserable failure, and both mother and child once again lost their lives. Dr. Robarts left the body on the streets with a couple of gold coins for a respectable burial. Artemis Donovan investigated the murder but never caught the culprit before his superiors in the department redirected his attentions elsewhere.

During the grief over his failure, Dr. Robarts began hearing a disembodied voice of encouragement and scolding for giving up too easily. Progress in saving these weak and fragile angels and breaking the birth-death cycle initiated by the Fall of man would require loss and sacrifice. Unknown to Robarts, the voice of temptation in his head was a disembodied entity with a sinister agenda all its own. Thus manipulated, Dr. Robarts dismissed his servants and succumbed to madness. The Mists surrounded Robarts as he vowed not to be deterred and dropped the remains of Cherise's internal organs into the Thames River. Soon there were two more women on his operating tables.

Creation of the Angels

Under the direction of and sometimes even possession of the disembodied entity, Robarts began work on transforming his captives into horrid biomechanical constructs, rearranging organs and cutting away "excess" flesh. The entity revealed to Robarts secret and alien knowledge beyond the realm of normal men. In London's slums and lower class districts, Robarts' kidnappings inspired the legend of the Gentleman, a bogeyman that made child and adult alike shudder in fear.

The nameless, disembodied entity was able to be reunited with his body. Taking on the new name of Trueblood, the darkling joined Robarts' side as a servant and assistant. In reality, Trueblood was giving orders to Robarts, yet even Trueblood wondered about the true purpose the Mists had for him. Trueblood began interacting with the normal world for Robarts and captured new victims for his surgeries.

Despite years of effort in shaping flesh and bone, Robarts could not construct the wings necessary to fly to the heavens, something which his Angels needed. This was a feat of aeronautics and mechanical engineering, something different from Robarts' expertise. It was a job for which Henry Thorpe was brought on board in 1882. He was first plied with coin as a beneficiary of Robarts' philanthropy in aviation, and eventually invited into the Bryani-House-of-the-Mists, a Mists-created copy of the run-down down residence in St. Agnes. There, Trueblood commanded Thorpe to construct wings for the Angels.

Return from the Mists

Also in 1882, Dr. Sebastian Robarts emerged from the Mists to announce his return to public life after a decade and a half of "retirement" "abroad". Lady Cecelia Agnew, Margaret's sister, introduced him to Dr. Sophie Huxley. Huxley's medical skill, as well as certain similarities she held with the departed Margaret Robarts, made Dr. Robarts become obsessed with enlisting her aid in applying the finishing touches to his Angels.

When the day came for Dr. Huxley's (forcible) recruitment, Robarts stopped by her clinic only to run into Dr. Bartholomew McPherson, Dr. Huxley's former mentor and current colleague. Long-held resentment and paranoia welled up in Dr. Robarts for the perceived sabotage of both Margaret's operation so many years ago and for keeping Dr. Huxley from him in the present. Filled with rage, Dr. Robarts beat Dr. McPherson to death. Before he died, McPherson warned Janet, now a longtime servant for Dr. Huxley, to get help, for Robarts was after Huxley. Dr. Robarts came after Janet with a scalpel and stabbed her, but she escaped. With the help of Lady Cecelia, Janet was able to tell Artemis Donovan Robarts was the Gentleman.

Trueblood's defeat

Although Donovan was too late to stop Huxley's abduction, his interference ushered in a series of events that resulted in Trueblood's defeat. Dr. Huxley escaped the Mists. Her resemblance to Margaret allowed her to command the Angels to fly into the sea. Before they were able to, the Mists captured them and brought them to Bryani-House-of-the-Mists, where they protect the addled Robarts, rudderless without Trueblood, for eternity.