Characters / Aristillus

The Aristillus series contains the following characters:

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Aristillus Citizens

Mike Martin

Founder of Aristillus. Originally from Earth. CEO of Morlock Engineering. First appearance: Powers of the Earth.

• The Ace: Mike is a preternaturally effective entrepreneur and engineer, apparently a competent marksman, and is basically driven by perfectionism in everything his does, which certainly helped when he near-singledhandedly founded Aristillus with barebones resources and a Tunnel Boring Machine.

• Alliterative Name.

• Cargo Ship: Mike and his Tunnel Boring Machines. He literally gets distracted from important conversations thinking about designs for the newest model.
  Mike Martin: Like most kids, he'd been infatuated with big earth-moving equipment - bulldozers, dump trucks, back hoes. Unlike most kids, he'd never grown out of it. One of the few things more fun than thinking about big iron, he'd learned, was operating it.

• The Engineer: Literally his passion/obsession, which unfortunately keeps getting sidetracked by this whole 'pending war' business. Mind, many other characters can match his mechanical prowess.

• Famed In-Story: At least among the Denizens of Aristillus, where he is known as the reason the city even exists. This earns him some free lunches on occasion, and is also why Javier wants him to lead the fight against earth forces.

• Rebel Leader: When a formal resistance group is formed to defend the colony, Mike is the De Facto leader even if not everyone automatically recognizes his authority.

• Refusal of the Call: Ironically, even though Mike is the one who predicts and fears an eventual invasion, he is also reluctant to take on any leadership role in organizing defense of the colony. Eventually Javier talks him into it and trains him for the role.
  Mike Martin: Me? Bullshit. People wouldn't accept me as leader.

• Relationship Upgrade: With Darcy, but only after much convincing.

• Rightly Self-Righteous: He is hardcore in favor of personal freedom and will spend millions of his own money to prove it and protect it. When he accuses somebody else of having an authoritarian agenda, he's probably right, even though they may have a point.

Darcy Grau

The Wookkiee's navigator, coder, longtime girlfriend to Mike. First appearance: Powers of the Earth.

• Damsel in Distress: She's captured during a smuggling run to earth in "Powers of the Earth" and forced to pilot her vessel back to luna by Tudel. She does try and fight back but ultimately needs rescue by Mike and Co.

• The Engineer: She is mainly a pilot, but her relationship with the Wookkiee is far more intimate, and she has complete knowledge of all of its systems, including her own custom-made software systems and UI. This helps her come up with solutions to in-flight crises on the fly.

• Good with Numbers: Her navigation and piloting depends on it, although she has computer assistance.

• Improbable Piloting Skills: Almost completely out of battery for the main drives, completely out of propellant, and extremely far off course, she manages to land a cargo freighter on the moon while being held prisoner and even 'hops' it over some rocks to bring it in for a 'gentle' landing. Crosses over into Awesome by Analysis as most of her job consists of determining orbital injections and calculating trajectories rather than actively flying the ship.

• Tomboy: While still attractive, Darcy is not too worried about appearing feminine, and her boyish attitude is remarked upon by several characters.

John

The ex-special forces soldier who saved Gamma and all of the uplifted dogs from destruction. First appearance: The Powers of the Earth.

• The Big Guy: He's the only protagonist with explicit combat experience and all-around weapons proficiency, and possibly the dumbest main character, as the dogs note he is 'merely' above average in intelligence.

• Dark and Troubled Past: While his backstory in the Novels is not revealled, it is strongly implied that he is guilt-ridden or otherwise bothered by the activities he participated in while he was active-duty military, which eventually caused him to go rogue and redeem himself by rescuing the dogs and the AI. The short story The Team goes into more detail about his backstory.

• Friend to All Children: Switch out 'children' for 'dogs' and this is very much how he views his relationship with them, and you would almost interpret his role as fatherlike as he has to work to reign in their worst impulses and keep them safe.

• Heroes Love Dogs: You know John is a good guy because he loves all the dogs and they in turn love him.

• Only One Name: John. No other character calls him anything else, nor shows any interest in his full name.

• Papa Wolf: In a somewhat more literal sense, he is the de facto pack leader while the dogs and he are traversing the lunar surface and since none of the dogs are combat trained he feels very much responsible for their wellbeing, and when they come under actual threat by UN/US military forces... watch out.

Leroy Fournier

The CEO of a Maison Nueve Construction, a tunneling Company that competes directly with Mike Martin's Morlock Engineering. Originally from a wealthy and influential earth family, and maintains ties with home. First appearance: The Powers of the Earth.

• Conspicuous Consumption: Whilst most denizens of the Moon make due with jury-rigged or purely utilitarian living arrangements, Leroy's furnishings are consistently shown to be lavish and expensive, doubly so because they'd have to be shipped up from the Earth.

• Corrupt Corporate Executive: His defining trait. Almost nothing else matters to him but making his business succeed while making his perceived enemies fail, and almost no tactic is too underhanded to resort to.

• Spoiled Brat: Surprisingly, his parents are able say "no" to him, as his father does when he seeks a small loan for his business. But it is clear that he and his siblings were raised such that they always expect to get their way.

• Upper-Class Twit: Simply lacks any sort of sense for when he's in over his head, although that doesn't mean he's a harmless opponent.

Darren Hollins

CEO of Goldwater Mining and Refining on Aristillus. An exceptionally perceptive and strategic executive, and able to leverage his control of Aristillus' gold to achieve his goals. First Appearance: The Powers of the Earth.

• Every Man Has His Price: When you have a lot of gold, there aren't many problems you can't solve. Darren strategically uses his wealth to develop 'contacts' in DC to stay apprised of any moves before they are made.

• Unspoken Plan Guarantee: He doesn't reveal his ongoing plans to protect his company and assets to his employees or associates, and not even the reader knows what he is up to. That's why it works.

Javier Borda

CEO of First Class Homes and Offices, one of Mike's oldest friends, and Mike's political advisor.

• The Social Expert: He is equally adept at psychoanalyzing individuals and reading and directing group dynamics, which comes in handy during the Boardroom meetings.

Wasseem Vivekanand

Darcy's co-pilot on the Wookiee.

• Guy in Back: For Darcy, he is the co-pilot who checks her calculations and comes up with ideas to help them navigate their ship back to the moon after going dangerously off-course. Handles most mission-control duties while she is doing the heavy lifting, and useful for exchanging dialogue.

Ewoma

12 year old immigrant to Aristillus from Nigeria. Precocious and intelligent, she is helping run her family's restaurant. First Appearance: The Powers of the Earth.

• Adorably Precocious Child. Mike offers her a job within five minutes of meeting her.
• Homeschooled Kids: She studies in the mornings before working in the restaurant during lunch rush. She could attend school but doesn't actually want to given how successful the business is.

Ponnala "Ponzie" Srinivas

• One-Man Industrial Revolution: Developed and helped Mike deploy the anti-gravity drive, which kickstarts the colonization of the moon, and quite literally breaks out of the stasis gripping Earth's economy.

The Dogs

Blue

One of the first generation uplifted dogs rescued from destruction by John, the most level-headed of the bunch. First appearance: The Powers of the Earth.

• Dogs are Dumb: Explicitly inverted.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: has been in a pack with Max for over twenty years, so they have settled into very established routines and are able to communicate very efficiently. Sometimes shows up as Vitriolic Best Buds.
• Old Dog: Over twenty human years old, and the same age as Max, but comes across as the most experienced and worldly of the dogs.
• Only One Name: None of the dogs bother with last names.
• The Stoic: Blue is the most reserved of the dogs, and rarely sees any reason to panic about anything.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Take a guess as to which one he is, compared to Max.
• Uplifted animal.

Max

One of the first generation uplifted dogs rescued from destruction by John. Is extremely suspicious of humanity and views them as a threat to the continued survival of his species. First appearance: The Powers of the Earth.

• Bookworm: As stated by blue, Max spends most of his time reading books, focusing on military history.

• Dogs are Dumb: Explicitly inverted.

• The Extremist Was Right: Turns out that his fears about earth governments coming to finish the genocide of his people were right on the money. Further, he actually overestimated how long they had before the war arrives on their doorstep.

• Good with Numbers: Able to spout out quick answers while others are still mulling over the question.

• Heterosexual Life-Partners: has been in a pack with Blue for over twenty years, so they have settled into very established routines and are able to communicate very efficiently. Sometimes they behave as Vitriolic Best Buds.

• Only One Name: None of the dogs bother with last names.

• Insufferable Genius: He can barely hide his disdain for those who can't keep up with him, even when he's not being actively aggressive.

• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red Oni to Blue.

• Superior Species: Max has a LOT to say about human and Dog kind, and he's not very sympathetic to the humans, whom he considers 'animals'. Still has to grapple with the fact that humans created him.
• Humans are Bastards: Reading history has lead him to this conclusion:
  Max: You need to read more history. Humans are bloody-minded. Just look at the number of wars they've fought - it's insane. Even outside their formal wars, they pick out the weak and go after them. They're vicious.

• Uplifted animal.

Duncan

One of the second generation, and therefore younger but more 'advanced' uplifted dogs living on Aristillus. The most innocent and childlike of the dogs, but just as skilled and intelligent as any. First appearance: The Powers of the Earth.

• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Tends to focus on playing is games even when important conversations are going on, and will tend to forget everything else when food is mentioned. The other dogs work to keep him on track.

• Butt-Monkey.

• Dogs are Dumb: Explicitly inverted, but Duncan is the the most 'dog-like' in attitude of them all.

• Cloudcuckoolander: A minor version. Where all the other dogs are practical and serious, Duncan can easily get his head in the clouds or come up with improbable solutions.

• My Instincts Are Showing: Starts whimpering and whining when the idea of eating tasty hamburgers is mentioned, prompting a swift rebuke from Max.

• Only One Name: None of the dogs bother with last names.

• Playful Hacker: A skilled coder like all the dogs are, but prefers to code fun games and AR displays rather than "practical" things.

• Uplifted animal.

Rex

One of the second generation, and therefore younger but more 'advanced' uplifted dogs living on Aristillus. First appearance: The Powers of the Earth.

• Dogs are Dumb: Explicitly inverted, and Rex may be the overall smartest of the bunch.

• Only One Name: None of the dogs bother with last names.

• Techno Wizard: As told by Blue and demonstrated in the story, while all the dogs are skilled with computers and coding, Rex is truly in his element when dealing with obscure code stacks.

• Uplifted animal.

Earth Government

Themba Johnson

President of the United States at the start of the Series. First appearance: The Powers of the Earth

• Pointy-Haired Boss: Chief executive version. Themba is charismatic and good at navigating social environments, in all other areas where competent leadership is necessary, she falls drastically short, but nobody dares call her on it.

Senator Linda Haig

High-powered and Machiavellian U.S. Senator for Maryland. Hugh Haig's mother. First Appearance: The Powers of the Earth.

• Manipulative Bastard: Always planning how to benefit from any situation, and is willing to use anybody, even her own son or the President of the United States, as a pawn to advance her goals. She tricks Hugh into going to the moon just so she can gain an edge over her political rivals.

General Bonner

4 star U.S. Army General tasked with planning and preparing invasion of the Aristillus Colony. First appearance: The Powers of the Earth.

• Yes-Man: Plays this role for the purposes of keeping his boss, the President, happy.

General Restivo

U.S. Military Commander assisting General Bonner with planning and executing an invasion of the Aristillus Colony. First appearance: ''The Powers of the Earth."

Captain Matthew Dewitt

U.S. Special Forces Operator Tasked with infiltrating the Aristillus Colony. First Appearance: "The Powers of the Earth."

• The Mole.

• Heel–Face Turn: Eventually comes to appreciate the Lunar way of life and finds that the Expats are all-around good people, and decides to throw his lot in with them.

Captain Frank Tudel

U.S./U.N. Commander a unit of Peacekeeper forces, tasked with capturing an expat ship and AG drive.

• General Failure: Except in the U.S. military of the future, its very easy for him to continually fail upwards.

• Kick the Dog: He frequently engages in little acts of sadistic cruelty towards people he views as his lessers that tend to serve no larger purpose or goal. More literally invoked when he kills Rex and revels in moment of his death.

• The Neidermeyer: Treats those under his command with disdain and is far more worried about survival and promotion that their wellbeing; every command decision he makes leads to disaster.

Miscellaneous

Gamma

An artificial general intelligence created by the Bureau of Sustainable Research under the U.S. government and rescued from Destruction by John, it now resides on the Moon, carrying out its own inscrutable plans whilst assisting the other characters in various ways. First appearance:The Powers of the Earth.

• Benevolent A.I.: Gamma's actions during the story are all beneficial to the Lunar Colony, but hits real intentions and goals are not revealed.

• Chessmaster Sidekick: For most of the story, Gamma acts behind the scenes, orchestrating events or providing strategic advice to the human characters. He is sometimes forced into direct actions, but his machinations don't become clear until near the end of book 2. He expresses no desire to take control of Aristillus or interfere with humanity more than necessary to protect himself.

• Machine Monotone: It is implied (and confirmed by the author), that Gamma speaks with flat affect, not letting emotions color his words speak, as typical of AI portrayals in science fiction.

• No Sense of Humor: While evident that Gamma knows what humor is, at no point does it react in a way that indicates it experiences mirth, nor does it even pretend to laugh.

• Prescience by Analysis: Downplayed, but Gamma expends a lot of effort on calculating the odds of a military invasion by earth, and it can explain his reasoning in excruciating detail. And it turns out to be right.
  Gamma: I have no evidence to suggest that there is such a thing as a "magic eight ball," but I will adjust my priors if you have evidence. Regardless, I do not have one. No, my predictions about the future are merely the result of analyzing the geopolitical situation. I have identified eighty-nine different primary paths the coming conflict might take, with three hundred sixteen variants.

• The Spock: For literally every action Gamma takes, it can explain in detail why its the logical thing to do. Even if the explanation isn't fully truthful, there's no way to deny that it makes perfect sense.

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