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Early life

Kyrre Mortensen was born to a fisherman and his wife, their one and only "miracle child" born after years of believing that they were unable to conceive. In the remote, polar region of northern Norway where they lived, dog sleds were one of the few suitable forms of transportation, vital for bringing fishing hauls into the nearby market town. Thus, the boy grew up surrounded by dogs and quickly learned how to handle them well in order to help his aging father. Due to his relatively isolated upbringing, Mortensen sometimes struggled with social interactions and on the whole felt much more comfortable in solitude.

The Journey South

Mortensen applied to join the Enlightenment Expedition in 1909. Theodore Hawthorne was impressed by his depth of knowledge on dogs at his relatively young age, and his obvious dedication to the comfort and safety of the dogs that would be under his care. Mortensen preferred to work alone, but Hawthorne hoped that the nature of his role meant that this would not be a major issue. He accepted Mortensen onto the party and tasked him with picking the dogs for the expedition.

Mortensen struggled to fit in with the rest of the crew, much to Hawthorne's disappointment. It turned out that he had a rather short temper, and his rosy complexion turned into a brilliant red when he got angry, which was often. This, along with his short stature and the crew's unwillingness to properly pronounce his name, quickly earned him the pejorative nickname "Cherry" and made him an easy target for teasing and torment. The already aloof Mortensen withdrew into isolation even further, spending nearly all of his time and energy on the dogs and avoiding human interaction whenever he could. Hawthorne told Mortensen that this arrangement was tolerable as long as his work with the dogs remain unaffected, preferring it to seeing the young man break out into arguments with his men on the daily.

Illness and Strife

About a month after building base camp at Antarctica, Mortensen began to notice some concerning symptoms of illness in the dogs. They were becoming increasingly lethargic, bruising easily, experiencing what seemed to be joint stiffness and pain, and had below average body temperatures. This coincided with some of the crew members experiencing the same symptoms. The surgeons, Cecil Rycroft and Domagoj Evans, concluded that this was likely a outbreak of scurvy and started to give treatment to their human patients accordingly. Mortensen, however, urged them to investigate further, as he knew that it was impossible for dogs to get scurvy.

When this issue was brought forward to Captain Hawthorne, he deliberated for some time on what to do, but ultimately chose to side with the surgeons' judgement. As much he respected Mortensen's knowledge, he felt that the men who had formal medical training were the more trustworthy authority on this particular subject. Feeling betrayed by Hawthorne and powerless to do anything to help his dogs, Mortensen reacted rather explosively to this decision, getting into heated arguments with both the surgeons and Hawthorne. As a compromise of sorts, Hawthorne told him that he could do whatever he wanted to try to help his dogs, as long as his doing so did not interfere with his or the other crew's duties, especially the surgeons.

A Companion?

Mortensen approached the scientific team's resident zoologist, Lawrence Brewer, to see if he could help his dogs in some way. Brewer agreed, but made it clear that progress would be slow due to his limited time to dedicate towards the dogs, and that he might have to conduct some experiments on them that might seem cruel to Mortensen. This prospect was deeply troubling for the dog handler, but so was the prospect of doing nothing and potentially allowing the rest of his pack to suffer, and so he agreed to the arrangement.

Following this, Mortensen made frequent visits to Brewer's workspace, so he could check on the dogs and enquire about progress with his research. These started out as strictly professional interactions, but slowly a sense of cameraderie began to build between the two. They had much in common which they could bond over, particularly a deep love for nature and an inability to fit in with the rest of the crew. Finally, Mortensen had someone whom he might be able to call a friend.

The First Bloodshed

Unfortunately for the young Kyrre Mortensen, his life was cut tragically short. While the rest of the crew was asleep, he went out to tend to some of his sick dogs, trying to provide any sort of comfort to them that he could. During this visit, he was attacked by a monster, the shapeshifting Captain Hawthorne who had an uncontrollable craving for human flesh. Mortensen fought back against his attacker, stabbing him with his utility knife several times, to no avail. His skin was lacerated almost beyond recognition, and many of his organs haphazardly bitten into and then discarded. Hawthorne then fell unconscious and turned back into his normal self, with no memory of what he had done. When the pair were found the next morning, it was assumed by the crew and Hawthorne alike that both fell victim to the same animalistic attacker.