Winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award in Bald Disapproval
Richard Knowles was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Tech Infantry Special Service, serving the Earth Federation as a specialist in covert special operations. He is a Werewolf of the Bone Gnawers clan.
Early Career[]
Born in a military hospital on Avalon to a couple of werewolves serving in the Tech Infantry, Richard Knowles has been groomed his entire life to be a soldier. Joining the military at age 16, he fought with distinction and great success against the Bugs, Jurvain, Vin Shriak, and K'Nes Tor. He also fought in the Third Civil War against both the TI Rebels and the Christian Federation, serving the Grand Council Loyalist side in that conflict.
Raptors Career[]
Following the reforms of Arthur Clarke, Knowles was transferred to the Raptors and joined a special detachment within their organization tasked with covert intelligence-gathering operations conducted among the Federation's own military ranks to ensure their loyalty and prevent another Civil War. While serving in this capacity along the former Jurvain frontier, the Caal Invasion shattered the Federation and Knowles found himself working for Joseph Smythe, combatting disloyalty within the ranks as well as the threat of terrorist groups affiliated with religious fanatics supporting Vin Dane's Holy Terran Empire.
Conspiracy and Downfall[]
However, the looming threat of a treaty of reuinification with the Ministry of Public Safety worried Knowles and many of his fellow Werecreatures. The anti-awakened policies of the Ministry and its leader, Aisha Ramirez, threatened to favor normal humans over the awakened like in the days before Clarke came to power. Knowles joined others in trying to recruit support for a military coup to prevent the alliance, but his unsuccessful efforts to recruit Major Bernard Dent to join the conspiracy were overheard by Lieutenant Argus McCall, who had been asked to watch Major Dent by David Tibbetts on behalf of Fleet Intelligence and Admiral Smythe. Knowles spotted McCall's remote drone listening device and realized the jig was up. Knowles tried to attack and kill McCall, trying to take advantage of the fact that a Cult of the Emperor car bomb had just gone off in the building to accuse McCall of complicity in the attack, but other members of McCall's unit came to his defense and subdued the enraged Knowles. A subsequent investigation by Tibbetts and others uncovered evidence of the conspiracy, and Knowles was arrested and imprisoned.
Behind the Scenes[]
The character is named for and was inspired by a professor at Cochise College in Arizona and was also a colonel in the US army. He teaches anatomy and physiology, and one of the players attended his classes for two semesters. His Actor Avatar is James S. Tolkan.