History Characters / Tyranny

* NotQuiteDead: Stuck at the bottom of a Spire and unable to move or speak, but apparently still alive [[AndIMustScream and in great pain]].

* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Compared to the brutality and and wanton bloodlust of the Scarlet Brotherhood, but close inspection of the Disfavored tenets makes it clear they're prototypical fascists.

* AntiHero: A Rebel Fatebinder who's genuinely on the Vendrien's Guard's side can still be as ruthless as the rest of Kyros' agents.

* TheChessmaster: Various outcomes on the "Rebel" path let the Fatebinder prove they can play the long game as well as anyone. [[spoiler:You can play-act at sympathy to get the rebel leaders to meet you in person, then cut them down. You can join them just to [[UnwittingPawn turn them into your own personal army]] and use them to carve out your own swathe of power. You can join them to use them unite the Tiers while [[MyRuleFuIsStrongerThanYours playing the legal system to convince Tunon to join the rebellion]]. You can join them to use them to unite the Tiers [[FaceHeelTurn under Kyros's banner]].]]
** If you play your cards right and know how to anticipate the Archons' moves, the endgame of the Anarchist route lets you [[spoiler: defeat every Archon in the political scene of the Tiers non-violently, either by having them join your side by convincing them, or finding out non-violent ways to eliminate them]].

* FolkHero: Regardless of what their actual reasons for joining are, [[spoiler:the Rebel epilogue has the Fatebinder praised as a folk hero among the Tiers for sacrificing their high position in the Empire.]]

* MagikarpPower: The "Thrust" ability can be imbued with abilities from other talent trees, not just the talent you've chosen at the start of the game. This gives it cumulative effects, but it veers into AwesomeButImpractical since you spend 4-5 talent points to get all talents, but it remains useful if you add an additional ability.

* VillainProtagonist: The Fatebinder is this by default, ranging from [[WellIntentionedExtremist a merciful and reasonable agent of TheEmpire who believes Kyros will bring the Tiers peace]] to [[CardCarryingVillain a sadistic, bloodthirsty mass murderer who not only embraces the suffering that the Conquest causes, but relishes in it, and abuses their power whenever possible]].

* GuileHero: [[VideoGameCaringPotential Hero depends on]] [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential your choices]], but high Subterfuge and/or Lore lets you trick and deceive your way to victory, and as noted under the RulesLawyer entry, the game lets you end the Edicts in your preffered way even if it differs from Kyros' apparent intent.

* HeroOfAnotherStory: Two of the senior Fatebinders read whichever two Edicts the player character didn't read during the Conquest. Nunoval destroys Stalwart with the Edict of Storms, Rhogalus burns the Vellum Citadel with the Edict of Fire, and Calio neutralizes Cairn and brings an end to the realm of Azure with the Edict of Stone.

* TakeAThirdOption: For his personal mission in "Bastard's Wound" [[spoiler:if you are on the Disfavored path, you can get Graven Ashe to rescind his aegis allowing Barik to be freed of his armor without having to kill Ashe.]]

* {{BFS}}: The only weapons she can equip are two-handed melee weapons, but she's so huge that she wields them [[OneHandedZweihander one-handed]].

* OneHandedZweihander: Due to her size and strength, she can use two-handed weapons one-handed. Reflecting this, wielding two-handed weapons levels up her ''one-handed weapon skill'' instead of the two-handed weapon skill.

** And finally, ultimately, [[spoiler:subverted. In the Conquest, Ashe sacrificed legions of his troops to try and rescue his daughter, who did not want to be rescued, even running them into an Edict ''you may have warned him was coming''. He never tried to help Barik out of his armor and shows no concern for his well-being once he's in your party. He is content to stay in his tent and ''organize'' attacks while leaving the interactions with his troops to his marshals. Finally, most damningly, he will hide behind his soldiers if you battle him in Act III and only goes in after you've slaughtered waves of them (Nerat, in comparison, ''immediately'' fights you himself) Ashe even acknowledges this as he lays dying, noting that his love for his men turned into a chain somewhere along the way as he became more weary of taking on their burdens and injuries.]]

** The War Mage and the Hunter are the unhappiest about it; the War Mage isn't convinced that having Tunon's attention is a good thing, prefers "glorious battle" to "exhastive legal precedent", and dwells on the life Tunon denied them by pulling them away from the front lines. The Hunter resents being taken from their tribe, is fully aware they're considered an amusement by diplomats, and daydreams about the day they can bite down on Tunon's throat.

* MismatchedEyes: [[spoiler:Removing his armor in ''Bastard's Wound'' reveals that he has one blue eye and one red eye, just like his half-sister Verse.]]

* MismatchedEyes: As mentioned above, her eyes aren't the same color, one is blue, the other is red.

* OlderThanTheyLook: She's old enough to have had three children, two of whom were themselves old enough to die fighting during the initial invasion. Outside of the white hair, you would never know it. Some dialogue suggests tidecasters don't age at the same rate as other people, and while her husband was a few years older than she was, by the time he died he was looking his age while she still looked much younger.

* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Oddly enough, she's this to ''[[NobleDemon Barik]]''. She's outwardly much more bloodthirsty and sadistic than he is, but as she points out, he's just hiding the same level of cruelty behind a facade of righteousness. In addition, while she is only out for herself and doesn't care for the Voices of Nerat's plans, and even despises his wickedness, Barik is blindly loyal to the Disfavored ideals, which include FantasticRacism as well as regular racism, and totalitarian control over the kingdoms of Terratus.

** A Rebel Fatebinder is also perceived this by various members of Tunon's court. They didn't ''technically' break the law by recruiting the Vendrien Guard, and can even win Favor with Tunon by arguing there was good reason to, but they're sure toeing the line.

* SadisticChoice: He faces one in his "Bastard's Wound" personal mission: [[spoiler:Barik learns that Ashe's aegis prevents him from ever being free of his armor, leaving Barik with the choice of killing Ashe and thus betraying everything he believes in, or remaining trapped in his iron prison forever. If you sided with the Disfavored [[TakeAThirdOption there are ways around this]]. Alternatively, if Ashe dies at Bleden Mark's hands, this also works out.]]

* WideEyedIdealist: In his own bizarre way, ''yes''. His backstory is that he was a judge who was inspired by the laws Kyros wrote and began introducing them into his nation because he believed they were the best way for peace. He is the ''only'' Archon who doesn't have some personal agenda or seek power for his sake; all his dedication goes into upholding Kyros's laws, again for the sake of peace. [[spoiler:If the Fatebinder wins their trial, he realizes that Kyros's laws aren't as perfect as he'd thought and that Kyros's Peace is a lie, which triggers a [[VillaionusBSOD mental]] [[LogicBomb breakdown]]. And ultimately, should he swear loyalty to the Fatebinder, he does so under the hopes that the two of you can usher in new, ''truly'' just laws.]]

* PowerIncontinence: Sirin's powers are unique, and so as a child she wasn't aware of how much they were capable of. This led to tragedy when she improvised a song about wanting to spend time with her baby brother. [[spoiler: Problem was, her baby brother wasn't born yet. The line "come out and play" gave her mother a miscarriage.]]

* TokenGoodTeammate: Less so than Eb, but it's made clear Sirin is a reluctant PunchClockVillain who hates many of the more immoral actions she's forced into.

** They are the youngest of the Fatebinders, but their potential backgrounds include previous careers like soldier or diplomat. That said, Kyros is a known employer of ChildSoldiers, so there's room for interpretation in ''when'' they started said careers (a War Mage Fatebinder, in fact, ''was'' a ChildSoldier).
** Bleden Mark simultaneously helps and murkies this. He mentions that Kyros picked up Sirin shortly after Tunon picked up the Fatebinder, and a decade has passed since then. On the other hand, he ''and'' the Fatebinder both state they've known the other for "decades", which doesn't fit with Sirin's stated age of fifteen. The most plausible explanations are that Mark is either misremembering something (he ''does'' admit he's stopped counting years) or that at least another decade passed between the Fatebinder and Sirin's arrivals and Mark is just [[WhoWantsToLiveForever so old he considers that "shortly"]].

** In the Conquest, you get to pick which of the Tiers you dropped an Edict on. Later in the game, you can chose to revisit that region and lift the Edict. Of course, it's downplayed in that [[PragmaticVillainy you might not necessarily be doing so out of regret]].

* TheChessmaster: Various outcomes on the "Rebel" path let the Fatebinder prove they can play the long game as well as anyone. [[spoiler:You can play-act at sympathy to get the rebel leaders to meet you in person, then cut them down. You can join them just to [[UnwittingPawn turn them into your own personal army]] and use them to carve out your own swathe of power while [[MyRuleFuIsStrongerThanYours playing the legal system to force Tunon to join the rebellion]]. You can join them to use them to unite the Tiers [[TheCorrupter while convincing them submission is better than death]], [[FaceHeelTurn and then hand the Tiers over to Kyros with their approval]].]]
* ChildSoldier: The War Mage background. Your ''first memories'' are of combat drills and studying for war, and you have no idea what became of your family except the missives you "allegedly" receive from them.

* EvilSoundsDeep: He speaks with a rumbling baritone that alone commands authority.

* EvilOverlord: [[VillainWithGoodPublicity Their empire would disagree with the 'evil' part]], but make no mistake, Kyros certainly is. They have waged war on the world for the past 400 years and forced people to follow their laws at swordpoint, destroying entire cultures, religions, books, and art that Kyros does not like in the process. Kyros proclaims equality while permitting slavery and racism, as well as the usage of ChildSoldiers. Kyros is ''also'' fully willing to destroy their own followers and even their own Archons, crippling the empire in the process, and drafts so many laws dedicated to protecting their image of infallibility it can create a Catch22Situation. While Kyros proclaims all of this to be done in the name of peace, [[spoiler:they prove once and for all that "Kyros's Peace" is a lie when they command the surviving Archons of the Tiers to fight to the death--a huge violation of said peace--and then begin marching armies there to eliminate the Fatebinder.]]

* EvilOverlord: Played with. Kyros is without a doubt an Overlord; whether she's evil or not depends on your experiences with her subjects and whether you offend the sensibilities of said subjects.

* PragmaticVillainy: While Kyros's laws have harsh punishments, most of them simply amount to "do not disrupt Kyros's rule"[[note]]and some of the more seemingly-peculiar ones have reasons that be gleaned in light of what you learn during the game. For example, the ban on naming people after Kyros makes ''perfect'' sense once you find out that Edicts run on ExactWords and many have clauses that refer to Kyros by name.[[/note]]. Kyros also allows their servants and Archons considerable leeway on how they fulfill their duties, as long as they ultimately uphold the law. This means that the Empire is simultaneously EqualOpportunityEvil (see above) while also allowing FantasticRacism to prevail in at least one of its elite armies.

** The Guild Apprentice and the Diplomat are the most optimistic about it; the Guild Apprentice is relieved to have escaped conscription into the Scarlet Chorus, feels that their studies into spellcraft are progressing far beyond what the guild could offer, and are happy with the new avenues Tunon's education has opened up. The Diplomat notes that the stakes are higher than ever now, but also that service to Tunon is the most ambitious use of speechcraft in Terratus, and hopes that by playing their cards right they can make it to retirement.

* VagueAge: They mention knowing Bleden Mark for "decades", indicating they're at least in their mid-twenties (more likely mid-thirties or forties, given their potential backgrounds already include previous careers like soldier or diplomat), but an exact age is never given.