Pluto Varyn is the president of the United States of Republic and one of the most powerful figures in the known universe. A business magnate who graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in engineering the same year as Zeno Ayers II, the two were once part of the same elite group of scientists and engineers.
The Varyn and Ayers families have been in competition for centuries. The root of their feud is a theft: Zeno stole the blueprint for the interstellar ark — the space ark — from Pluto and his collaborators, taking sole credit for a creation that was built by a team. Zeno had the resources to fund the project, which gave him the power to steal Pluto's blueprint and claim history as a sole inventor.
Pluto received no credit and no patent for creating the space ark. His lifelong mission has been to take over Zeno's empire and cement the Varyn family name as the true elite. Despite everything, Pluto was resourceful enough to collaborate with the same scientists and engineers who built the first space ark — and help create a second interstellar ark.
Pluto also created Prototype Venus specifically for Mars Ayers — a strategic act that reveals how deeply he is willing to insert himself into the Ayers family's personal story.
The Stolen Blueprint: Zeno's theft of Pluto's interstellar ark blueprint is the foundational injustice that drives every action Pluto takes throughout the story — centuries of rivalry rooted in one act of betrayal.