Biography:
Wooden Heart: Chase’s branch grew on Atlas as a reaction to the attack which split Whirljack and created Lugh. But he did not emanate until 3599, when Tara was tricked into using the Staff of the Matriarch to transfer the power of the Archon to a group of Arya Nau’gsh; she was subsequently removed from office in a coup d’état plotted by the Grand Vizier Bok Denevi, Tara’s uncle, Christolea, Clive Rivers, and Tal Erich.
Chase’s branch had grown abnormally when the explosion shifted the tree, thus he was hanging out over the cliff but had sprouted from the roots and not the trunk. This is a possible explanation of why he is not only able to survive in space, but to thrive there as an exceptional pilot, but emanated with amnesia.
With no identity other than a name, and with Tara on the run on Sideria, Chase suffered from the sensory overload phenomena inevitable for a Cu’enashti with no Chosen. In order to stave off madness, he blunted the pain with various pharmaceuticals, and even attempted suicide which was, of course, pointless, as Ashtara continually regenerated the damage to his emanation. Chase finally found something effective on his suffering – Black Opium-27, a hallucinonarcotic engineered by the Ennead to be ridiculously addictive and resistant to all physical and psychological drug recovery therapies.
In need of money to support his habit, Chase is employed by Sweet Blonde Suzanna, a courier/mercenary known for her willingness to take impossibly dangerous missions. While he is working for Suzanna, she discovers that he is an impossibly good navigator, but only when he disengages from the ship’s sensor equipment and flies completely blind. She is attracted to Chase and tries to seduce him, but he is unresponsive and apathetic, which she attributes to his addiction.
Suzanna’s pick-up and delivery client turns out to be an ex-boyfriend – Clive Rivers. They are pursued by Christolea’s ship – unknown to them, Clive and Tal Erich have grown disenchanted with the conspirators and are attempting another coup. Curious about the nature of her cargo, she decides to go to mining asteroid Humvee in order to have the holographic seal removed by Nikki the Rat. A group of Ennead enforcers are waiting for them. Suzanna escapes, but the rest of her crew is killed by a telepath who shreds their minds trying to get information. When the telepath attacks Chase, she reacts in the typical fashion of her kind to a Cu’enashti mind – she is driven insane.
Suzanna returns to her ship to find that only Chase is left alive, but in a state of mental confusion. She also detects an intruder on the ship. The intruder happens to be Tara, who stowed away with the enforcers looking for the Staff. Chase recognizes her, and returns the Staff, which she uses to restart the Aion and reinstate Ashtara as Archon. They capture Suzanna and take the ship to meet Governor Tellick. On the way, Tara confesses her love for Ashtara and tries to restore Chase’s memory. He is happy but unable to remember until they obtain some Gyre. Tara learns that unlike all the other emanations, Chase needs to sleep.
Tellick is facing his own problems with the rebels Clive and Molly on the loose and General Panic unable to apprehend them. Tara makes a deal with him – she will capture Clive and sign a treaty with Terra if he will help her retake Eirelantra and extradite General Panic – Tara hasn’t forgotten about what Panic did to Ross. Chase becomes the mothman and incapacitates Clive’s spacecraft.
Chase eventually becomes the quality control expert for RR-2 labs. Covertly, he assumes control of the contraband trade in the Domha’vei. With the help of Mickey and SSOps, they eliminate Ennead trafficking and restrict trade to drugs which are within reasonable tolerances of safety – giving preference to the substances Tara devises at RR-2.
Eden Blues: Chase has the idea to make Gyre from one of Goliath’s apples. Chase takes the Gyre in hopes of communicating with the Goliath emanations. He enters their pleroma, but only his half-brother, Manasseh, is conscious. Manasseh is distraught and Chase seeks to comfort him. When the drug wears off, he is traumatized, and vows to help Manasseh and the other Goliath branches.
The Poison Garden: Chase has little direct influence on the events in the novel; however, Suzanna’s interactions with Lucius are colored by her prior experience with Chase. Seth interviews Chase on the subjects of dissipation and the transgressive impulse as part of his attempt to understand the concept of evil.
The Perpetual Rose: Chase does not contribute to the events.
The Portable Grove: Chase is one of the subjects of experiment 5. The experiment is supposed to investigate the production of nau’gshtamine, but when Tarlach runs a series of initial baseline psychological tests, he discovers that Chase suffers from a number of issues including depression and apathy. The nau’gshtamine experiment proves to be ineffective for Chase; Tarlach stages an intervention. Chase is resistant to being helped. WJ stands up for him and ends up in a duel with Balin over the n’aashet n’aaverti of Atlas.
Despite Seth’s assertion that Chase doesn’t need help, Tarlach remains concerned. He enrolls Chase in the newly formed Big Budders program. Once again, he is resistant to treatment, resenting Valentin’s interference with his opium addiction.
Before the sixteenth experiment, Tara insists on speaking with Chase alone in his apartment. They find that the room is dark, the furniture covered with tarps. When Tara uncovers the furniture, they discover an attractive, well-appointed flat. Chase reveals that he maintains an addiction to Black Opium-27 in order to understand the phenomenon of addiction, as Tara was once addicted to Gyre. He says that the existence of the apartment predicts that he will someday be the kind of man who would live in that dwelling, but now is not the time. He asks Tara to have patience and allow Ash to evolve the situation as He sees fit.
Chase participates in the third stress test. He discovers a secret passage in Suibhne’s palace which proves to hold valuable paintings and a Stradivarius. He is chosen as one of the best kissers by Wynne.
Correspondence Chart Entries from The Portable Grove
| Denotation | Donovan Chase (Gaelic: dark brown; English: the act of pursuit). |
| Numeration | 22nd emanation of Ashtara; 22nd branch of Atlas; 71 in the correspondence chart. |
| Age | 27 |
| Hotness | 9/10 |
| Vital Statistics | 1.735 meters tall, cock size 16.80 cm when erect. |
| Description | Well-built although his body language seems lethargic and unfocused. Wears smart leather jackets and jeans that never look old or worn – the impression is initially careless, but his clothing is quite expensive. Medium brown hair, short but not close-cropped, casual. Short sideburns. Handsome, bad-boy charm. |
| Skills | Drug overlord secretly employed by SSOps to control the drug trade in the Domha’vei. Knows his wares. Amazingly good spacecraft pilot. |
| Sexual Prowess and Kinks | Pleasure pig. |
| Average Duration of Play | 39 minutes, 24 seconds. |
| Totem Tree | Myristica fragrans, nutmeg. |
| Fixed Star | Gomeisa, the bleary-eyed (β CMi), also called Gurumana, a human who was changed to a gum tree in the dreamtime, but could communicate by rustling his leaves. |
| Color |  |
| Esoteric Symbol | The Minchiate trump Il Carro, the Chariot, (often called the Hovercar in Skarsian decks.) |
| Function | Visionary gravity. |
| Official Title | His Exceedingly Highness, Grand Pasha of Procurement. |
| His Prophecy | Nostalgia induced by absinthe. |
| Dessert | Poppy-seed loaf and highweed brownies with nau’gsh cream. |
Persistence of Weeds Addendum
| Branch Growth Characteristics | Natural branch growth resulting from trauma of the explosion which injured Atlas. Used as a template for his half-brothers on Goliath, Manasseh and Stephen. |
| Nul-history | One of the last single sparks to join the Ashtara-Atlas entity. It is unclear whether he was drawn in by either pudge or lethargy. |
| Proto-conscious Root Concept | Insouciance, designated Why Not? |
| Prime Number of Energy Resonance | 353 |
| From Self-Portraits Not-of-Me II: Baby Pictures by Driscoll Garrett |  |