I also like the sound of his status being unknown, not only does it service the existence of multiple parties, but with his fate unknown it encourages people to only (initially) submit characters interested in the investigation itself. Sort of hard to introduce big cats when the stakes are so nebulous. This should let everyone get a feel for the setting and brainstorm about how they want the world to develop.

On that note, do we have an intended start date, or maybe some templates to work with? As to the latter, if we do not I could whip one up for everyone to use.