Ripper/Characters

This is a list and short description of all characters appearing in Ripper. Unlike other adventure/mystery games, Ripper does not contain many on-screen texts or subtitles; all clues concerning the characters and their backgrounds are revealed in dialogues, most of them are easy to miss (especially by players whose natural language is not English), considering that some of them are heard in some echo or other digital effect. This includes many of the CyberWell passwords which are given only orally, and only once.

Protagonists/Suspects

 * Jake Quinlan (Scott Cohen): The protagonist of the game, investigative reporter for the Virtual Herald, who is investigating and writing about the Ripper. The Ripper regularly sends messages to Quinlan. He has a romantic relationship with his colleague, Catherine Powell, who, without his knowledge also investigates the murders secretly. When she is attacked by the Ripper, he starts chasing him. Quinlan seems not to be experienced in cyberspace but learns about it throughout the game, as much as the player.


 * Detective Vince Magnotta (Christopher Walken): A violent and corrupt police officer of the SOHO Police Dept. During his youth he was a member of the webrunners for 8 years known as 'Sir Duke', being an arch-angel and ICE-cracker, rivaled only by Falconetti. He authored games such as "Designer Genes", "Hebrew Vice", "Cobadelphia" and "Pistol Party".
 * He is accused for betraying the creed that information should be free, when he joined the "Data Fascists" at the SoHo Precint of the United Police Forces. Since 17 years ago he has a romantic interest in Dr. Clare Burton and showed up uninvited to her wedding with Falconetti. About the same time he had hired Hamilton Wofford to design a virtual training ground for cadets, therefore when he was murdered, he personally took the investigation. Magnotta had arrested Falconetti for the murder of Josey Dorsett and was promoted to Detective; it was then revealed that he had faked the evidence but he was never convicted about it. He is eager to frame him again as the Ripper in order to collect the reward for solving the case. Magnotta also has the bad habit of keeping crime scene evidence as "souvenirs". Magnotta likes to smoke CIGARS, is a SCORPIO, and his nickname is SLAYER. The code to his apartment is 226481. He has received several awards (Silver Cross, Scorpio Award and Virtual Cluster).
 * At the beginning of the game he destroys Renee Stein's cup (with the word "Salisbury"). After Powell's assault he sent her to Meta-Cog center and set up a security ICE in her cyber WELL and encrypted her journal (the password is one of the words above, depending on the difficulty level). He also keeps Catherine Powell's WAC.
 * In Act II he leaves his security card near Brannon and is seen in the interrogation room interrogating an Addict and a Prostitute. As Brannon says to Quinlan, he inexclicably replaced 2 experienced officers with fresh ones for the Ripper case. Later in the Act, he collects the body of Jordan and notes that the recent Ripper victims are close to Quinlan.
 * At the beginning of Act III he interrogates and threatens Jake for Farley's death. Later he is seen with a shoulder ache. When Jake asks for Catherine's WAC from Magnotta in Act III, Magnotta tells him that Virtual Herald should complain to him, and the hearing would take quite long. Later, the bug installed by Jake reveal that he has two tense visits by Falconetti and then Burton, who delivers to him a disk with Jake's interface with Powell and refuses to cooperate any more.


 * Dr. Clare Burton (Clare Burton): A cyber-surgeon at the Meta-Cognition Center of the Tribeca Center Hospital who specializes in the human brain. Prof. Beck considered her a genious and encouraged her to leave school as it would disrupt her development. During her university years, she and Falconetti were the founding members of the Web Runners where she was member for 5 years. She was a gifted cyber traveler specializing in graphical user interface development in multi-dimensional hyperplanes and 1st-person post-arcade shooters. Her handle was "Churchill". She authored the games "Hoschay Chigull" (?), "Slipstream" and "Hip Hop Mafia". 17 years ago she married Falconetti for 2 years but very soon realized he was not for her: During a gaming session she switched roles with Josey Dorsett as Mary Kelly, resulting to her mysterious death, leaving the possibility that Burton was the target. Falconetti was arrested by Magnotta as he was the Game Master. After his arrest and their divorce, both Falconetti and Magnotta made her life chaotic.
 * At some point in the past, Burton went to Pan Financial to fund a research involving translating brain images directly to video and audio. The bank wanted her to create a program that implanted subliminal messages to people when they interface with cyberspace. She decided to shut down this operation, and since Pan Financial owns the cops, she worked with Ben Dodds; however as she did not provide enough evidence to Dodds, he stopped their cooperation. A few months back, someone stole her notes, and believes this became the Ripper's cyberspace weapon.
 * In the start of the game she is responsible for Catherine's recovery, but she seems to stall her treatment without any explanations. In Act II she argues with Falconetti about what to do with Powell, before she agrees to connect with her brain. She is then to be found in the gym where Jake can question her. Most importantly, he can record her voice and gain access to her secret lab.
 * In Act III she is found in her office and has a shoulder ache. The bug planted by Jake earlier reveal that she was visited and harassed by Falconetti when Magnotta shows up, and then they accuse each other for being the Ripper.


 * Joey Falconetti (David Patrick Kelly): A cyber hacker and technician. A "founding father, angel, ICE cracker, master of cyber space". He was among the Aro 33 (?) and rumors said he masterminded the "PRW (?) thing" that stole all the credit records of the East Coast. During his university years, he and Burton were the founding members of the Web Runners where he participated for 8 years. His handle was "Beaverbrook" and authored games such as Collateral Damage 2020, Humvee, Logic Bomb and Vortex/War Toss (?).
 * He has a feud against Magnotta after he disrupted his wedding with Burton 17 years ago. He was the Game Master in the Jack the Ripper game where Josey Dorsett lost her life, the first victim of the Ripper, 15 years ago. Magnotta arrested him because of his responsibility and Falcon went to prison for 2 years and divorced with Clare. It was discovered that Magnotta had falsified the evidence but never convicted of mishandling it. Falcon still has feelings for Clare. He seems to have a fascination with knives, skeletons and other violent images. He lives in a safehouse with Twig.
 * Quinlan first meets Falconetti in his cyberwell, after the challenge to beat his own high score. After this, he allows Quinlan to meet him in person, and offers his help with healing Catherine. In Act II he is at the meta-cog center persuading Burton to perform an interface with her brain, allowing Quinlan to connect with her and restore her memory.
 * At the beginning of Act III he is practicing with knives and Jake notices that his shoulders are injured. Falconetti also gives Jake a portrait from Catherine's memory, which is the face of Magnotta. Sometime later he visits Magnotta in his office and they exchange threats.
 * His cyberwell password is CIRCUS MAXIMUS


 * Catherine Powell (Tahnee Welch): The daughter of Josey Dorsett, who died when she was still in her teens. She works as a reporter for Virtual Herald and Jake's lover. She had told Dodds that she is from the Inquirer in Philadelphia, but to Jake she had told that she is from LA. Knowing that her mother was killed in the last Ripper Web Runners game, she secretly investigates the Ripper case by herself hoping to steal the story from Jake, apparently to boost her career. Catherine believed that the Ripper was either Falconetti, Magnotta or Burton. Soap Beatty helped her and also had supplied her with two bugs to spy on her suspects. During her investigation she intoxicated Twig and learned Falconetti's cyber password (LEATHER APRON) from him. Farley told her that Burton was involved in a secret project but she couldn't access the voice-locked restricted area and considered seeking Beatty's help. She had deposit box #759 in Panfinancial where she kept an electronic ledger with the Berman Well password (BERMAN4).
 * At the beginning of the game she sends a message to Jake's WAC mentioning something she discovered. She connects to a virtual library when she is transferred to a Virtual Whitechapel and the Ripper attacks her. Then the Ripper notifies Jake that she had to attack Catherine as she came close discovering his identity. She is found by Jake in her apartment and says "Ripper" before falling in coma. For most of the game she is tended at the Meta-Cognition Center of the Tribeca Hospital by Dr. Claire Burton. She manages to retrieve a distorted image of her attacker, but requires restoration of her memories, a process which is stalled by Burton as "too dangerous". In Act II Falconetti helps Jake interfacing directly with her brain to transmit beneficial information; such clues include the information that Burton and Falcon were married, that Magnotta disrupted their wedding, and that all three were Web Runners. Furthermore, 1/3 of her memory is restored when Jake tells her about Burton's secret lab.
 * In Act III Cable and Jake find out that her brain activity spikes each day that the Ripper kills. When Jake connects with her, she tells him about George Rhodes. Curiously, she also mentions Farley's death although she isn't supposed to know about it.
 * Catherine seems to be interested in zodiac and crystals. Her cyberwell password is HOROSCOPE. She kept a journal in her Well, but Magnotta put a security ICE there, and also encrypted it with a password.

Other characters

 * Hamilton Wofford (Burgess Meredith): A cyber-architect living with his twin brother Covington in a cottage on the outskirts of NY. He built virtual worlds based on historic locations. 15 years ago he was hired by Magnotta to create a police virtual training center. He was also hired by the Ripper to build a replica of Whitechapel. However he was suspicious of the Ripper and hid a cyber weapon in Cyberspace which can destroy his angel. One of his creations included a cyberspace AI with his knowledge and character. Described by his brother as a da Vinci, he had created some contraptions in his house, in which he hid three vacuum tubes. He was killed with 2 shots on the head and Magnotta personally took the case.
 * In Act III Covington gives Jake a disk with his AI and Jake meets him. He tells him about the weapon and give shim 3 passwords: PEGASUS, ORESTES and ODYSSEUS, and to find the software integrator that will activate it.
 * His cyberwell password is VULCAN.


 * Covington Wofford (Burgess Meredith): Hamilton's twin brother. He seems to be a senile recluse, socked by his brother's death and distrustful of criminals, policemen and journalists. In ACT I he is seen mainly holding a broom threatingly. In the beginning of Act III Jake decides to visit him only to find him assaulted by a cloaked figure, which he shoots on the shoulder. Covington begins to trust Jake and gives him a disk containing the AI with the memory of his brother.


 * Ben Dodds (Ossie Davis): The editor of the Virtual Herald. At one point in the past his daughter wrote a falsified article about the mayor, which resulted to his suicide. At some point he secretly worked on a story with Burton to expose illegal operations by Pan Financial, but as he wasn't sure she was giving him all the facts, he didn't publish the story.
 * He is in his office throughout Acts I and II although he is not always helpful to Jake. In Act III he is alerted about Jake's arrest. He reveals to him that Catherine gave inconsistent information about her past. Haman reveals the story of his daughter to Jake; when Jake mentions it to Dodds, after some thought he decides to allow Jake to write this story, despite Haman's threats.
 * When asked about a visual editor, he redirects Jake to Schneider's workstation.


 * Soap Beatty (Jimie Walker): A disabled computer hacker who was helping Catherine with her investigation on the Ripper. Jake finds him by looking up Catherine's Rolodek. He also informs Jake about cyberspace. In Act II Jake asks him about the Web Runners and Beatty redirects him once more to Nelson in Cafe Duchamp (although the location doesn't open in the map). Jake also can ask him about voice-locks, and Beatty tells him how they work. In Act III he is afraid of Jake for being the Ripper but later they discuss Farley's death and he redirects Jake to Visual Eden where he can find Maximum Cain.
 * After Jake gets a perscription paper from Burton and some signatures from Berman LTD Well, Jake asks Soap to run a comparison test on the handwritting. Soap determines they are all Burton's.


 * Gambit Nelson (MacIntyre Dixon): A cyberspace enterpreneur found in Cafe Duchamp. In Act I he tells Jake where to find Falconetti. At the beginning of Act III he has investigated more about Falconetti and tells Jake about his journal found in his secret LEATHER APRON Well. When Jake meets him, he tells about the Jack the Ripper role-playing game by Warp Space company where Falconetti used to play.


 * Sgt. Lou Brannon (Steven Randazzo): An honest police officer, desk sergeant at the police station. He is father of 2 college kids and has 5 years to retirement. He seems to know Jake from before, and discusses Magnotta's suspicious activities, such as his private collection of evidence or the replacement of experienced officers with fresh ones. At the beginning of Act III he runs a check on fingerprints on the knife found at Wofford's and reveals they belong to "Jelly Roll Wilson" (?) who works for Vigo Haman.


 * Vivien Santiago (Kira Arne): The flirtatious and somewhat provocative secretary at Tribeca Hospital. She makes advances to Jake hoping to date with him. Later in Act II she tells Jake that Magnotta was looking for him.


 * Vic Farley (Peter Boyden): The pathologist who performs autopsies at the morgue of the Tribeca Center Hospital. He seems to have been friends with Jake. Before the beginning to the game, he has revealed Catherine that Dr. Burton was involved in a secret project.
 * In Act I he is in the morgue performing an autopsy and then describes to Jake how the Ripper's victims had died. He notices that all the Ripper's victims were decked-in; in ripple tissue he finds inorganic impulse code which was fed into their essence matrices causing their torsoes to explore. Having figured how the Ripper performs the murders he notifies Burton but gets no response; instead he is fired because he litters the sterile environment with ashes.
 * In Act 2 Jake learns that he was fired because he "talks too much", and is replaced by Bob Eppels. Burton claims no knowledge of the incident, although her notes reveal that she plans to examine Stein's body after he leaves. At the end of the Act, Farley contacts Jake and invites him to Duchamp, and relates to him his discoveries. It was then when Farley's intestines open. Jake is subsequently accused for the murder.


 * Bob Eppels (William Seymour): The nervous pathologist who replaces Farley in Act II after he is fired. He is very negative talking to Jake as he is too afraid to lose his job. Later in the Act, after Jordan's death, he asks Jake to fix the microchips of the computer. After Jake succeeds, he absentmindedly reveals the location of Jordan's body to Jake.


 * Twig (David Thornton): Falconetti's bodyguard. During her investigation, Catherine had intoxicated him and fished out from him Falconetti's secret WELL password (LEATHER APRON). He is seen in Falconetti's safehoue testing a new cyberspace motion-tracking technology. When threatened, he tells Jake how to contact Falconetti in cyberspace, giving him his WELL password (CIRCUS MAXIMUS). In Act II and the rest of the game he is seen still there although he is not interacted.


 * Dr. Bud Cable (Paul Giamatti): A doctor tending to Catherine Powell under Clare Burton. A lot friendlier than Burton, he is puzzled why she stalls treating Powell and keeps Jake up to date about Catherine's condition. In Act II he is found to Powell's side and reminds Jake to tell things that might recover her memory and conscience and in Act III he and Jake note that Catherine's EEG bursts up whenever the Ripper kills. At the very end of the game he messages Jake to tell him that the image of Catherine's assaulter is downloaded, but when Jake arrives, it has been deleted.


 * Prof. Lillian Bech (Phyllis Bash): A New York University professor who knew Burton as a student and considered her a genious. She has written the book "Advanced Notional Modelling" which Jake finds in Burton's office in Act II. She tells Jake that Burton, Falconelli and Magnotta belonged to the "Web Runners" club. She also gives the hint that the Web Runners communicated by leaving coded posts on the corridor bulletin. After her meeting with Jake, she tells about him to Stephanie Jordan.


 * Kashi Yamamoto (Lianna Pai): A young gamer found in the Web Runner Loft. She informs Jake about the past of the Web Runners and the existence of a Web Runner archive along with its password (ANACHRONY STATION). She later witnesses Stephanie Jordan's sudden death; covered in blood, she narrates the scene to Jake, insisting that she is innocent.


 * Vigo Haman (John Rhys-Davies): A leading figure in the soho mob specializing in the trade of smart drugs and pirated c-space code, said to be affiliated with the Adeline (?) family or the Freelancer (?). A sausage operation he owned was destroyed because of one of Jake's stories.
 * Jake learns about him from Brannon and can meet him at Cafe Duchamp. They briefly discuss Jake's article on "Schultz" (?) which put him out of business; Haman warns him that he knows that Dodds' daughter was responsible for the death of the ex-mayor and warns Jake if he considers writing anything about him again. Based on fingerprnts found on a knife which assaulted Wofford, Jake accuses him for being affiliated with the Ripper. He mentions that he was assigned a job by a woman he met on cyberspace but he ended it. In one possible scenario he owns the Berman account.


 * George Rhodes (Richard Spore): He works at the Pan Financial Bank. His data is found in Catherine's Rolodek. Jake learns about him when connecting with Catherine's mind in Act III. When Jake meets him he is afraid of him and mentions Catherine's slot number, but doesn't reveal the combination.


 * Maximum Cain (Buster Maxwell): A hacker and apparent friend of Soap Beatty. He tells Jake what he needs to confront the Ripper: a sensor program from the Isis Well (password PSY BARD), a compression program which provides himself to Jake ("Bulltech Shrinker?") and an anti-viral utility code, which he must research to the bulletins. When he is visited again, he finds information on it, and redirects Jake to the anti-viral well, password EXTERMINATOR.


 * Addict (Brian Tarantina): An addict of "Lucid B" who was arrested for selling drugs to senior citizens resulting to their deaths. In Act II Magnotta is seen interrogating him violently.


 * Prostitute (Anna Levine): She is seen in Act II interrogated by Magnotta after the addict. If Jake opens the interrogation window again, she will be seen alone in the room, and will limp to the window to close it.


 * Dr. Karl Stasiak (Richard Bright):


 * Dr. Pezzi (Maryann Urbano):


 * Gym attendant (Lisa Summerour): Only seen in Act II	and talked to when Jake comes to the Gym. He can have a brief chat with her, asking information on Burton. She says that members information is in the terminal beside her.


 * Bartender (Dan Moran): The barman at Cafe Duchamp, seen only in Act I and III when the Cafe is visitable. He gives some information about Falconetti, then his only "function" is give Jake a new beer to taste.


 * Warren Spankowski (John Ventimiglia):


 * Librarian (Phyllis Goodis): She is seen only when the Virtual Library is available. She helps Jake locating Stein's rent book (although she doesn't give any hints to the puzzle). She is visited again in Act II where Jake asks for an Audio Editor.


 * Police Officer (Reginald James):

Web Runners

 * Renee Stein (Alexa): A former member of the Web Runners for only 2 years, known by her handle 'Salisbury'. She was mostly known as a plot writer, character development, artificial personality construction and plot tree branching. She authored the Heat of Heat City, BloodNet 3000. After leaving the group, she became the author of 3 acclaimed interactive novels and became a senior editor of Kanop (?).
 * She had rent a book on Jack the Ripper from the Virtual Library. She is the person seen murdered at the very start of the game. She had a mug with the word "Salisbury" which Magnotta breaks early in the game during the investigation in her house.


 * Josey Dorsett (Natalie Baker): The mother of a teenage daughter (Katherine Powell) and would talk always about her. She was also an extraordinary, but modest, hacker and decker. She wrote a graduate research thesis on the effects of extended decking which brought her national acclaim in the cyber community. An enthusiastic gamer, she authored the games Alien Mothers, Virtual Twister and Beach Party Cryonics.
 * She was a member of the Webrunners for 3 years and played the Jack the Ripper role playing game in cyberspace, under the handle "Disareli". One day she switched the role of Mary Kelly with Clare Burton, and died mysteriously leaving the possibility that the murderer was after Burton. Falconetti, as the Game Master during that session, was held responsible and spent 2 years in prison.


 * Stephanie Jordan (Deborah Lee Johnson): A member of the Web Runners for 5 years where her handle was "Victoria". She had no significant specialties other than authoring the games Trophy Wife and Streptococcus, and the company she kept. She engaged with the multiplayer games with Falconetti, Magnotta and Burton but had no role in the events leading to Dorsett's death. She left the Runners due to unknown circumstances.
 * In Act II she is contacted by Prof. Bech that Quinlan was investigating. About the time Jake visits the Runners' Well, Jordan sends him a WAC message telling him to come to the Runners' Loft fast as she is in danger. However she dies in front of Kashi before Jake arrives. Magnotta then removes her body from the scene. Eppels reveals to Jake that her body has been transferred to Burton's secret lab, with a lock that opens only with Burton's voice.

Victor Estevez was a member for 5 years. He was a highly skilled programmer, decker and designer, having the handle "Albert". Expert in low-level supercomputer programming, he was reputed to be the Webrunners' programmer extraordinaire and authored controversial underground games that attracted a cult following. After his infamous personal religious conversion he became a senior programmer for Revelation Inc. specialized in religious interactive adventures. He authored the games "13 Runaway Exploitation", "Headhunter", "New Testament Interactive Vol. 1", "Sim Noah" and "Genesis - The ultimate God game". He was killed by the Ripper late night at his office.

Sam Mendler was a member for 4 years. A decker of above average ability especially interface design and applied gaming theory. His handle was "Balfur" (?). Known for his game design skills He authored the games "Wolfinator" (international best seller), "Poor Bastards". Fleeing a hungry international media, he retired from the gaming comunity and opened a dry cleaning business in Balroom. (?) He was killed by the Ripper in his laundromat after hours.