- Everyone has a little secret.... you must be one big little secret.”
- ―Antonin Kvasir Antonin Kvasir
Nicholas Raine, also known as the Protagonist, is the silent hero of RAGE. A former Marine, official artwork displays him as a man with a military hair cut that is a buzz cut. He is of indeterminate age, around mid 20s to early 30s. During the events of the game his past is largely unknown, and his actions in the world after 99942 Apophis are only based on how the player chooses to play RAGE.
Biography
Early life
Before Apophis hit, Raine served as a Recon Marine, operating throughout the world. His father and brother before him were both decorated Marines, and out of a sense of duty he chose to follow in their footsteps and enlist. His brother was killed in the line of duty, while his father passed away shortly after. After their deaths, Raine became a decorated and respected Marine as a way of honoring them. But the frequency and nature of his missions in various brutal conflicts worldwide would begin to take a toll on his psyche. His last mission is inferred to have been in Afghanistan, where his brother was killed by an IED during the United States' withdrawal from the country.
Apophis
Two nights before the asteroid hit, Raine was at a club in Brooklyn. Upon leaving he was approached by a shady individual who told him little other than that he was an agent of the U.S. government and to come with him. Raine, out of a sense of duty, followed and soon found himself in a private jet hurtling across the country to an unknown destination. Ark 437a, one of the last to go under, was where he found himself. He was to be the Ark's military adviser when they found that they had to replace the first, his old commander Captain Stephen Hill, after he was found to have had cancer. Injected with experimental Nanotrites, Raine was cryo-frozen before Apophis hit Earth. Over the years, Raine's Ark suffered a cryogenics malfunction as a result of seismic activity.
The New World
Raine's Ark emerged in 2138, two years after it was planned to emerge and after it was rendered unusable by seismic activity. This emerging makes him the most recent Ark Survivor known at the time. Around him all the other Ark residents were long dead, and with its vital systems damaged, the Ark was soon to become his tomb lest he escape. He then left the Ark and began exploring the world outside. Raine found ruined cities and barren wastelands filled with gangs, mutants, and a secret government known as the Authority, which is searching and arrested him for their own benefit of dominion after the old world is destroyed.
Gallery
