Mathias arrived to the island by his plane being caught in the Sun Queen's storm, causing it to crash land on the island of Yamatai. He and his men tried numerous times to escape, however, all attempts failed. Mathias, seeing that they could not escape and knowing there was something more about the storms, did not participate in the last attempt of escaping by boat, which killed his men, leaving him alone.
Knowing to unlock the power of the island, he craved to understand it and searched for the secrets around the island, avoiding any other survivors that came to the island and killing them if they got in his way. But he soon found that he may need help, so began gathering loyal followers, forming them into killers, with no intent to share what they may discover of the island. Thus was formed the Solarii Brotherhood.
Believing the Sun Queen was guiding him, he searched for a descendant of the Sun Queen to complete the ritual.