In The Master of the World (1904), Verne created another inventor who is a criminal or near-criminal, a man driven outside the law by his ambition, and in the Astonishing Adventure of the Mission Barsac (1919) there is a town called Blackland which is ruled by a tyrant, Harry Killer. Blackland stands on one side of a river, and on the other shore Killer has erected a fortress complete with laboratories, like Stahl Stadt. Killer uses the inventions developed by his scientist Camaret for his own evil purposes until Camaret, learning the dreadful costs in life and suffering he has caused unwittingly, blows up the town by remote control.