Operators: Vanguards (A-M | N-Z) | Snipers (A-M | N-Z) | Guards (A-H | I-Q | R-Z) | Defenders (A-M | N-Z) | Casters (A-G | H-M | N-Z) | Medics (A-M | N-Z) | Supporters (A-M | N-Z) | Specialists (A-M | N-Z)
Factions: Rhodes Island | The Reunion Movement | Dublinn | The Military Commission of Kazdel | Allied Factions | Enemy Factions | Miscellaneous factions & characters | Nation States (A-M | N-Z) | Enemy Units Index
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Organizations affiliated with Rhodes Island
Abyssal Hunters
Affiliated Characters: Andreana, Gladiia, Skadi, Specter, Specter the Unchained
- BFS: In "Under Tides", Gladiia mentions that Abyssal Hunters are trained in cold weapons to prevent the Seaborn from adapting to Aegir's more advanced weaponry. This is reflected in Skadi, Gladiia, Specter and Ulpianus' weapons being all massive melee blades. The exception is Andreana as she is Iberia's attempt to emulate the Abyssal Hunters, and thus is not officially one herself.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: As revealed on Skadi the Corrupting Heart's profile, due to their genetic modifications, Abyssal Hunters are not only under the risk of mutating into a sea monster, they are also potentially capable of mutating their surroundings as well, which happens at the end of their lives. Their physiology also differ enough compared to normal Aegir folks that they can't even be considered as Aegir anymore and their race is listed as Undisclosed instead.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: It's revealed in "Under Tides" that in the Abyssal Hunters' final battle, they managed to slay the Seaborn "God", with Skadi herself landing the killing blow.
- Expy: They are rather clearly a reference to the Hunters in Bloodborne. Besides being identified as Hunters themselves, the Abyssal Hunters dress in vaguely Victorian-era style clothes, wield almost impractically large bladed weapons meant to bleed opponents to death, are sworn to combat a race of monsters, have a deep fascination with blood ("Abyssal Hunters are bound by blood."), and most importantly gain their supernatural powers by injecting themselves with the blood of the very monsters they hunt and therefore risk turning into one themselves.
- Fish People: Quite unlike the members of every other faction, everyone associated with this group appears to be based on some kind of marine animal. This is because, of course, they originally came from an underwater society.
- Freudian Trio: As of the current playable roster, the "true" Abyssal Hunters have this dynamic:
- Specter, upon regaining her sanity, is the Id, as the most expressive, approachable, sentimental, and outspoken out of the three.
- Gladiia is the Superego, as the most task-driven Hunter with relatively little empathy to things outside her interests. She is also the most strategic out of them, acting as their 'leader' and is responsible for the group's next moves.
- Skadi is the Ego, as she is not as open as Specter when it comes to her emotions but not too distant towards others like Gladiia either.
- Mystical White Hair: All of the full-fledged Hunters (Skadi, Specter, and Gladiia) shown so far have these, on top of red eyes.
- Non-Indicative Name: Their faction name is technically a misnomer, since none of the species represented as operators in the game live in the deep sea (with the possible exception of Andreana). Some species have been recorded to live in the deeper end of the sea, but even then it's still a massive stretch to refer to their zone as "abyssal". Instead, the name refers to their place of origin and threats they were facing, which came from the deep sea.
- Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: Pun aside as most of them consists of Fish People, Abyssal Hunters consist of superhuman soldiers with feats of extreme strength, but they aren't even considered as the top of their hometown Aegir's military strength, rather more of their frontline soldiers.
- Outside-Context Problem: They are fighting a completely new and unexpected threat that nobody, not even Reunion, Dublinn, and Kazdel, is equipped or ready to deal with or is even anticipating. It does not seem like the surface civilizations have had much contact at all with Aegir and are mostly unaware of their existence, until Skadi and Gladiia slowly begins to spill the beans to the Doctor, Amiya and Kal'tsit as documented in their profile and voice lines.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: The official members of the group sports these, as a sign of their strength and potential threat of turning into a sea monster.
- Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: There is a bit going on with them; "Aegir", the place Skadi and Specter say they are from (and who no one else has heard of), is the name of the jötunn who was a friend of the Aesir, the ruling pantheon, of Norse Mythology and was the primary deity of the sea. "Skadi", meanwhile, is the name of the jötunn wife of the Aesir sea god Njord and is the deity typically associated with skiing, winter, and mountains.
- Super-Soldier: All of their members are essentially this, as they have been biologically enhanced to combat sea monsters and have shown extraordinary combat capabilities based on tests. Downplayed with Andreana as she hasn't undergone the full transformation of being one, but still scored Excellent in both combat skills and mobility.
- Super-Strength: A primary trait among the official Abyssal Hunters, due to the modifications on their bodies. All of them possess at least Outstanding rank in terms of strength, and several accounts had mentioned about their sheer physical prowess, including how they can cause a lot of collateral damage by accident.
- Made of Iron: On top of their enhanced physical strength, full-fledged Abyssal Hunters also have shown massive endurance, which is reflected in-game as regenerative ability (Specter and Gladiia) and Specter's second skill.
- Furthermore, stacking all possible buffs exclusive to the Abyssal Hunters note leaves them with +20 ASPD, +22% ATK, +50% Max HP, 3.5% HP regeneration per second, 30% reduction on pretty much all damage they receive and an extra 0.5 SP per second. By the time you are able to stack these buffs, you basically get near-immortal operators.
- Those Who Fight Monsters: Abyssal Hunters are created to combat the threats of sea monsters... by using the cells of said monsters to enhance their physical attributes. Said monster side of them can be awakened and eventually turn them into the same species that they are fighting against as reflected in Skadi the Corrupting Heart, and Gladiia is revealed to have started undergoing signs of transformation at the end of the "Under Tides" event.
- Willfully Weak: Gladiia mentions that the Abyssal Hunters don't even use Aegir's most advanced weaponry, so that they don't give away their full capabilities to the Seaborn and risk giving them a chance to evolve countermeasures.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: It's implied that once the majority of the Abyssal Hunters died killing the Seaborn God, the few surviving Hunters were exiled to the surface, as Gladiia can't even get into contact with Aegir anymore.
Ulpianus
Race: Unknown/Aegir with Seaborn cells
An Abyssal Hunter who was once Skadi's superior.- Anchors Away: "Mizuki & Caerula Arbor" states that his weapon is an anchor.
- Covered with Scars: Specter the Unchained's second module mentions that he is heavily scarred from experimentation.
- Deus Exit Machina: In "Stultifera Navis" he attempted to land a blow on the evolved Endspeaker, only for it to stop the attack and then knock him overboard, taking him out of the fight. He did return later to finish it off after it was heavily wounded, however.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: After the climactic battle that apparently slew Ishar-mla, Ulpianus was gravely wounded and sunk to the bottom of the ocean, where he caught a glimpse of the true scale of the Seaborn threat and realized how insignificant Aegir is compared to them.
- Hidden Agenda Hero: While he is certainly not hostile to the other Abyssal Hunters, it's not exactly clear why he wants to prevent them from returning to Aegir. "Stultifera Navis" and "Mizuki & Caerula Arbor" revealed the reason why: he witnessed Skadi becoming Ishar-mla's host and realized that letting her return home would result in Ishar-mla's awakening and the destruction of Aegir.
- Jerkass Has a Point: He points out to Gladiia that Aegir's war against the Seaborn was partly their own fault, as the Seaborn only attacked out of self-defense when their nests were threatened by Aegir's rampant expansion. However, Gladiia points out that given the Seaborn's own rate of expansion, they would have encroached onto Aegir eventually anyway.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Likely named after Saint Ulphianus
who was martyred when he was forcibly put into a sack and cast into the ocean, mirroring how Ulpianus sank to the bottom of the sea for quite some time. - Odd Friendship: The ending scene of "Stultifera Navis" shows Ulpianus together with the Last Knight.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: Like Gladiia, he is also a high-ranking Abyssal Hunter and a Consul in Aegir leadership. He's the one who taught Skadi everything she knows and chides her on how her skills have deteriorated ever since she was exiled to land. He can also wipe out entire waves of Seaborn with ease, and even lands the finishing blow on the Endspeaker.
- Stealth Expert: He learned a technique that allows himself to hide his presence from other Abyssal Hunters, evading even their heightened senses. Even Gladiia, who is the most perceptive of the group, doesn't realize there's a fourth Hunter present until they board the Stultifera Navis.
- Take a Third Option: After coming to believe that the Seaborn cannot be destroyed by conventional means, he begins searching for alternate ways of defeating them other than relying on pure extermination.
- Taken for Granite: An encounter in "Mizuki & Caerula Arbor" shows Ulpianus, Gladiia, and Specter petrified at the bottom of the ocean.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He briefly teams up with Amaia just so he can prevent Gladiia from making contact with Aegir, stating that she's not ready to see Aegir's current state.
- Walking the Earth: Like his fellow Abyssal Hunters, Ulpianus spent his time exiled from Aegir wandering Terra.
Alive Until Sunset
- Berserk Button: Seaborn incite a disgust out of them that's unusual of their more carefree persona, referring to them as 'naughty children'. Which, given that they are the shattered remains of an Aegirian god, is fairly understandable.
- The Bus Came Back: They make a flashback cameo during the second act of Gavial: The Great Chief Returns, as their tour passed through the stretch of Acahualla jungles where the main story of the event would take place later on. The band had stayed there for a while to host an unofficial music festival. They are also major supporting characters for the "Stultifera Navis" event.
- God Was My Copilot: They are a group who are Pieces of God who have been under Kal'tsit's lead for a very long time, overseeing several events in the story for Kal'tsit to keep eyes on things outside of her actual presence.
- Hidden Depths: It is all but outright stated that the entire band is Aegirian and have an interest in (or fear of) the Abyssal Hunters in Rhodes Island's employ. As mentioned in "Stultifera Navis", it's due to the fact they fragments of an ancient Aegirian god, and probably feel some measure of guilt and responsibility to their current predicment.
- Mysterious Backer: Kal'tsit secretly controls the band, as to act as her eyes and ears in places where she is not.
- Mysterious Past: All four members are described as being "shrouded in mystery", with little information on what they did before becoming a band. As noted in Hidden Depths above, they are all strongly implied to be Aegirian. "Stultifera Navis" reveals that they are fragments of an ancient Aegirian god.
- Pieces of God: "Stultifera Navis" reveals that, much like Nian and her siblings, they are fragments of an Aegirian deity that are millennia old themselves. However, they are all closely knit together and it seems like they can be merged back into their proper deity form at any time; the only reason they haven't is that Kal'tsit hasn't let them yet.
- Shout-Out: The band name itself seems to be an intentional reference to Dead By Sunrise.
Alty
Click to see her appearance in Gavial: The Great Chief Returns
Artist: LD没有梦想
The bassist of Alive Until Sunset.
- The Face: She's the one who does the primary talking for everyone else in the band as she's the one who negotiates with Kal'tsit whenever they need to make a deal and manages to arrange their safety with Eunectes when they're stranded in Sargon.
Aya
Click to see her appearance in Gavial: The Great Chief Returns
Artist: LD没有梦想
The vocalist of Alive Until Sunset.
- Sarashi: She wears bandages around her torso during her appearance in Gavial: The Great Chief Returns.
Dan
Click to see her appearance in Gavial: The Great Chief Returns
Artist: LD没有梦想
The drummer of Alive Until Sunset.
Frost
Click to see her appearance in Gavial: The Great Chief Returns
Artist: LD没有梦想
The guitarist of Alive Until Sunset.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted. A drone enemy and the Specialist Operator of Team Rainbow are also named Frost.
- Signature Instrument: She's actively shown carrying her guitar around with her everywhere and frequently plays it outside of concerts for emotional riffs to punctuate her thoughts.
Azazel
Affiliated Characters: Hellagur
An underground Ursus clinic specialized in treating Oripathy. Noted by some Rhodes Island medical personnel to have even more advanced treatment method than Rhodes Island. All known members are currently affiliated with Rhodes Island.- Aborted Arc: All mention of Azazel completely disappears after Chapter 1, despite them playing a large role in Hellagur's backstory and the implication that they commanded resources and technology that could rival Rhodes Island.
- The Man Behind the Man: Despite the authority Hellagur commands, it is generally understood that Hellagur is not the actual leader of Azazel, with that role being fulfilled by an unknown individual.
- Neutral No Longer: Initially, Azazel did not want to get involved with either Reunion or Rhodes Island, instead intending to focus solely on helping the Infected in Chernobog. However, after Reunion attacked and ransacked Azazel's main clinic in Chernobog, the organization has formally allied itself with Rhodes Island.
- Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Named after the instance 'Azazel', referencing the desert, where each year, a ram was sent to carrying the sins of the people. It is said that Azazel was the last place the Infected in Ursus, shunned by everyone else could go to.
Blacksteel Worldwide
Affiliated Characters: Almond, Franka, Jessica, Liskarm, Vanilla
- Cool Ship: Similar to Rhodes Island, they are headquartered on their own private landship, Fort Barron.
- Expy: Of Blackwater International, now known as Academi.
- Fantastic Racism: Infected are allowed work in Blacksteel, but are heavily restricted by their policies and often discriminated against by other Blacksteel staff. Upon arriving at Rhodes Island, Franka and the others are surprised that the Infected aren't being treated like dirt.
- Fantasy Gun Control: Averted. Blacksteel makes no secret that they manufacture guns and arm their soldiers with them. Seemingly the only reason why Laterano hasn't come down on them for threatening their monopoly on guns is because the founder and CEO of the company is a Sankta.
- Non-Indicative Name: Despite calling themselves "Worldwide", they are primarily based in Columbia to do work within that nation, something Cliff emphasizes when he states he cannot ignore the obligations he has to the Columbian government.
- Private Military Contractors: They are one.
"Clip" Cliff / Rupert
Race: Sankta
Artist: 九日九号
The founder and CEO of Blacksteel. Also serves as the Final Boss of its event, Come Catastrophes or Wakes of Vultures.- Achilles' Heel:
- Once he's in his second phase, Cliff can destroy most units he directly engages in combat with, which may lead to Disaster Dominoes if he manages to constantly get resets on Stroke of Thunder, so ranged-heavy compositions that simply engage him from a distance where he can't fight back tend to do much better against him. This is especially the case with ranged Arts users despite his fairly high RES, as going through his constant 60-70 RES is more preferable to anywhere between 2500-4000 DEF which can only be reduced for a few seconds at a time. By extension, damage dealers that ignore or reduce RES such as Eyjafjalla, Ifrit, Goldenglow, and Surtr are even more effective; Ceobe with her Module in particular can rip him apart in seconds because of her RES piercing and Thresher scaling off of his massive DEF, potentially adding up to several thousand Arts damage per hit.
- Units that can temporarily survive lethal damage like Surtr, Specter (the Unchained), or ones buffed by Silence the Paradigmatic can really ruin his day, as they're one of the only ones who can reasonably survive Stroke of Thunder without the debuff of the Waste Heat Vents, which will deny him the dash and cooldown reset while leaving him comparatively open for the next 30 seconds or so.
- Anti-Armor: His boss version has the ability to apply an infinitely stacking DEF debuff on hit, although it thankfully wears off after a bit.
- Anti-Villain: Despite being a ruthless PMC boss and one of the main antagonists of "Come Catastrophes or Wakes of Vultures", there's nothing outright villainous about Cliff besides his willingness to perform the Columbian government's dirty work as a deniable asset. He still values his former friendship with Woodrow, runs Blacksteel as a way to keep potential wars from starting or going out of control, and shows plenty of Pet the Dog moments.
- Armor Is Useless: In his boss fight, he's dressed in a simple suit and longcoat with no visible body armor, but is one of the most defensively sound bosses in the game, being tankier than a Marching Stance Patriot outside of his slightly lower RES.note
- Armor-Piercing Question: When Jessica slams him for being so indifferent towards the suffering in Davistown and being complicit with how the bank strangles its residents, calling out how coldly he runs his mercenary business, Cliff retorts by saying that that's exactly what it means to be a mercenary who trades money for violence, and that he was completely open about what working at BSW entailed. He points out that Jessica initially wished to help protect others, but actively chose to join BSW instead of any other job that would have let her do it without compromising her morals, before questioning why Jessica is even here if she disapproves of it so much. This causes Jessica to hesitate, before ultimately admitting that she joined BSW out of selfish ambition and a desire to stand out within her family, but not without calling out Cliff for his "rationality" dooming him to turn a blind eye to suffering as he once did in his war days, something that clearly weighs on his mind after she leaves.
- Badass Longcoat: Cliff is a renowned war veteran and the head of one of Columbia's most renowned PMCs, himself being a capable threat in combat even in his 90s, and he wears a long black longcoat as part of his outfit.
- Broken Armor Boss Battle: He has a gigantic DEF stat paired with very high RES, which combined with his boss-tier HP and two phases makes it extremely difficult to seriously hurt him without significant debuffing or piercing. However, the player can make his DEF more managable by luring him into a Waste Heat Spout's beam, which will reduce his DEF by a massive 70%, which turns it from Nigh-Invulnerable to merely above average. The Spout also reduces his ATK by the same amount, which considering how much he hurts (especially with his Stroke of Thunder and second phase's buffs), is often the only reasonable way to survive a head-on confrontation.
- Broken Pedestal: Woodrow is mentioned to have not only been his friend, but to have actually looked up to Cliff's young, idealistic self. Cliff's actions during the Columbian Revolutionary War and his general growth into a cynical man obsessed with thinking about war eventually made Woodrow lose all respect he had towards his former friend.
- The Chains of Commanding: He mentions to Woodrow he has had to grapple with this countless times during the war, having to continually send men to their deaths with limiting the amount of casualties being the best he could do.
- The Chessmaster: It's implied that Cliff let the events in Davistown play out as a ploy to pressure the bank president into selling him the rights to the Davistown plate, as he plans to expand Blacksteel's presence in both Bolivar and eastern Columbia.
- Consummate Professional: He takes his mercenary work and the business of Blacksteel very seriously and maintains cold professionalism throughout it. Unfortunately, this also leads him to be more impartial to moral issues he encounters as he just considers them part of his job, which ultimately leads to his and Jessica's falling out at the end of the event.
- Everyone Has Standards: He may be a cold-hearted mercenary with a Lack of Empathy towards any concerns besides what's laid out in the contract, but he still threatens Davistown's bank for ordering BSW to fire on unarmed protestors (even if only to call out their acting without his input), with an implication that he wouldn't have made that call so recklessly, if at all. Later on, he also lets Woodrow and the other robbery culprits go free without a hitch despite how much trouble they caused, even offering Woodrow a chance to spend the rest of his life in peace at his mansion; he writes it off as it not being in the contract, but also remarks that even he isn't so petty as to hunt down a band of fleeing refugees out of spite."I may be a cold-blooded monster, but even I don't like feeding on the flesh and blood of others."
- Exact Words: When the bank president demands he chase down the people responsible for robbing his bank, Cliff notes that his contract only states that he is responsible for towing the the Davistown plate to the nearest city, and anything that happens off the plate is none of his business.
- Flash Step: Once he's in his second phase, if the target of his Stroke of Thunder retreats or is knocked out, he'll blink forward and reset its cooldown, letting him use it again. It's generally pretty hard for anyone to survive this when combining its huge damage output and DEF shred, and if you recklessly send operators to fight him, it can lead to a rapid Total Party Kill or Cliff just dashing into the exit.
- For Doom the Bell Tolls: The ringing of a church bell plays during his transition to his second phase, which usually indicates that his opponents are about to have a very bad day.
- Magically-Binding Contract: Strangly averted when Cliff gets into a gun duel with Woodrow and neither of them become Fallen despite shooting at each other with their guns.
- Old Soldier: He's clocking in at least 90 in the present day, and is a war veteran who was already fighting during Columbia's war for independence. All the war he's seen has also turned him into a Jaded Professional who believes averting war is impossible, with the best he can do being to control and standardize it.
- Quick Draw: A seeming specialty of his, and the literal name of his special attack, which stuns units in a cross and rapidly shoots 3 shots at them. In his second phase, this attack is upgraded into Stroke of Thunder, which fires six shots and, if it knocks out the target, refreshes its cooldown and blinks Cliff forwards.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: Prior to founding Blacksteel, he was a legendary war hero turned mercenary, and his present-day performance shows that he hasn't gotten sloppy since those days.
- Sadistic Choice: His falling out with Woodrow stems from the fact that he was forced to leave his team behind in order to save the larger majority of his men from a sudden encirclement, leaving Woodrow to be captured and sent to a brutal POW camp for years, something Woodrow hasn't forgiven him for. Later on, he tells Woodrow that he's had to make countless similar sacrifices in his career afterwards.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Although he doesn't outwardly show it, especially compared to Woodrow, the latter notes that when they met after the war and he used his Sankta empathy to peer into Cliff's thoughts, he admitted that the horrors of his torture in Victoria's POW camp paled in comparison. Regardless of how he actually expresses this in the present, Woodrow notes that fighting in the war completely destroyed and reshaped Cliff's entire being.
- Took a Level in Cynic: Woodrow notes that in the past, he used to be an idealist who carried Laterano's scriptures around and constantly preached about bringing justice and peace to the world, a far cry from the cold, fatalist old man who only thinks about war and how to control it.
- Tragic Keepsake: He tried to search for his and Woodrow's friend's lost gun, which was stolen by a Victorian officer after his death. However, all Cliff could find was a single bullet in a pawn shop, which he obtained and later passed on to Woodrow.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: For all of his militant activity and cold-hearted mercenary dealings, Cliff's end goal is still the same as his past self who wanted to end conflict - by controlling the flow of war, he hopes to be able to provide at least a few moments of true peace. Woodrow disagrees with this and calls him out on this mentality, saying that if anyone is going to end war, it's going to be the mundane survivors who have to rebuild after it."War is always here. It merely takes a break every now and then, before erupting somewhere else."
"...If I can never end war, I have to settle for the next best thing. To hold its on-off switch in my hands."
"Even if all I can manage is to put it on pause for a few seconds, that's more than enough for countless folks like you to pick up their brushes again." - We Used to Be Friends: With Woodrow. Cliff would still like to maintain their old friendship, but Woodrow clearly is not interested given what he had to deal with.
Janet Longfellow
One of the professors working at Blacksteel, and Franka's superior.- Cassandra Truth: Before her Blacksteel days, Janet published an essay regarding how Victoria's rampant Originium manufacturing and lack of waste processing would spell disaster in the future, most notably a surge in the number of Infected. Nobody paid her any heed and ridiculed her instead, causing her to leave Victoria; naturally, everything she spoke about came true soon after.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Although initially skeptical of Rhodes Island and worried that Franka having her infection exposed will harm her standing at Blacksteel, she ultimately decides to let Franka and her team collaborate with Rhodes Island for her sake and Blacksteel's.
Tila
- Everyone Has Standards: While a loyal Blacksteel officer, even she voices some concerns about Cliff's willingness to take on morally dubious contracts.
- Friendly Enemy: She seems to become quick friends with Helena despite being tasked with keeping tabs on her movements by Cliff.
Catastrophe Messengers
Affiliated Characters: Ayerscarpe, Biederman, Cronin, Earthspirit, Eyjafjalla, Leonhardt, Provence, Tsukinogi
A group who oversees the weather forecasts which signal the approach of Catastrophes and the recordings of previous Catastrophes, and providing advance warnings for areas that are about to be hit by Catastrophes as well. Most of its members are currently affiliated with Rhodes Island.- 0% Approval Rating: Catastrophe Messengers who get their predictions wrong tend to be the subject of wrath from the people directly affected by said predictions. For example, Biederman in Twilight of Wolumonde was turned into a social pariah overnight after failing to predict a Catastrophe, while Earthspirit's mentor was beaten and burned at the stake by angry peasants when she evacuated a village and the Catastrophe she predicted never occurred.
- Badass Creed: "It is all about saving more lives."
- Bearer of Bad News: Their specialty.
- Heroism Incentive: The Contingency Contract system was established by the Catastrophe Messengers, borne from the realization that they need to work with other organizations to give fast aid to any region struck by disasters, and thus set up a bounty system for those strong, brave, or crazy enough to jump right into the conflict zones.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: It's revealed in "Twilight of Wolumonde" that there is a subset of radical Catastrophe Messengers that believe more in "fighting Catastrophes" than "saving lives". This means they are willing to do their job by any means necessary, even if it means sacrificing a few innocent lives for the greater good.
Whelan
The Catastrophe Messenger of a remote town in the wilderness. He appears in "A Perilous Road" (Provence's second Operator Record).- Hate Sink: He accepted the bribe of the noble he gave his Catastrophe report to, leading to many preventable casualties.Provence: Exploiting Catastrophes to make money, trampling over peoples' lives, knowing the horrors to come yet deliberately not informing people—only truly vile people would do these things! To him this was simply a way to make money. If he cannot be punished under the law, in a situation we can control, who knows how many more murders he will go on to commit?
- No Name Given: Downplayed. The game just calls him "Catastrophe Messenger" during his only scene, with his name revealed later.
- Public Execution: Through Provence's efforts, Whelan and his accomplice are ultimately sentenced to death, to be publicly executed in the rebuilt town square.
- The Voice: He has speaking lines but no NPC art.
- Walking Spoiler: His existence spoils his role in Provence's second Operator Record.
Eartha
Affiliated Characters: Rockrock, Stainless
Also known as the Londinium Citizens' Self-Salvation Corps, Eartha is a resistance group mostly comprised of Londinium's working class fighting against the Kazdel occupation of Londinium.- All Your Base Are Belong to Us: Chapter 12 begins with the Military Commission staging a massive attack on all of Eartha's bases and safehouses simultaneously, nearly wiping the entire group out and forcing the survivors to evacuate Londinium to regroup.
- Fantastic Racism: A majority of Eartha's members have a vehement hatred of all Sarkaz because of personal tragedy inflicted by them before or during the conflict. This causes an extreme mistrust with some of their members and Rhodes Island as a result due to a significant amount of their Operators being Sarkaz themselves, despite being the ones to ask for their aid to begin with. Considering how some of the Sarkaz under Theresis are shown on-screen to be a Bad Boss to the poor Londinium citizens forced to work and how they also kill off those who slack off throughout the Kazdel's occupation of Londinium, their initial distrust towards Rhodes Island and their Sarkaz operators had some merits.
- Foil: To Rhodes Island's ally in the previous arc, Great Lungmen:
- From a position standpoint; Lungmen was a prosperous Land of One City that was in a time of fair peace under Wei Yenwu's rule before the Chernobog incident and the ensuing Reunion attack that followed, while Eartha is what remains of Londinium's resistance against an occupation by a foreign force during a succession crisis that has all but won completely and is barely holding out.
- In terms of their relationship to Rhodes Island; Wei Yenwu expressed a very politically affable proposition to Rhodes Island after seeking their aid, but as tensions rose, so too was that relationship strained as Wei and Amiya began to butt heads on the morality of his decisions during the Reunion conflict until it nearly blew up into what could have been a full-scale war with Yan and Ursus, forcing Wei Yenwu to admit his failings in the end and genuinely aid Rhodes Island after the fact. Eartha, on the other hand, despite having reached out for Rhodes Island aid immediately into their resistance efforts to take back Londinium from Kazdel, they collectively share an instant mistrust of Rhodes Island over how many of their Operators are Sarkaz themselves, but as the scale of conflict with Theresis becomes increasingly clear to both parties, Eartha is quicker to put aside its suspicions and trusts Rhodes Island more earnestly to lead the offensive against his forces.
- La Résistance: They are fighting to expel Theresis and his Kazdel troops from their occupation of Londinium.
- The Mole: They have long been infiltrated by the Damazti Cluster in Theresis's court, posing as several people within the organization such as Bill at once with the members none the wiser as to keep tabs on their movements for Theresis's plans. Chapter 11 reveals that the Shapeshifter has now disguised themselves as Molly, a good friend of Golding, one of Eartha's members before Logos found them.
- Ragtag Bunchof Misfits: As a grassroots resistance group, Eartha is made up of Londinium citizens from all levels of society, such as the oppressed working class, loyalist Victorian soldiers, and sympathetic nobles.
Clovisia
Race: Unicorn
Artist: m9nokuro
The young leader of Eartha's Sudean Borough branch.- A Child Shall Lead Them: She is very young yet extremely charismatic to the point where both Rhodes Island operators and Eartha troops quickly point out the similarities between her and Amiya.
- Mirror Character: Feist and later other characters quickly get on board with Amiya as Rhodes Island's leader because they note how Clovisia has the same sense of fragility with powerful emotions bubbling underneath regarding their group. People affiliated with Eartha are noted to naturally turn their gaze to Clovisia as leader in the same way Rhodes Island operators look to Amiya for guidance.
- Mythical Motifs: She has a single horn protruding from her forehead, marking her as a Unicorn.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: She disappears without a trace early in Chapter 12 after Catherine's workers betray her and try to capture her. In Chapter 13 she reappears in Londinium, revealing that she managed to escape.
Allerdale Cumberland
Artist: Cenm0
A member of Eartha and the leader of Eartha's Central Londinium branch.- Childhood Friends: Allerdale used to know Siege in her childhood.
- Death Seeker: She initially refuses to fight the Steam Knight after her betrayal, believing the only fate fit for a traitor like her is to die at the hands of a "hero". Siege shoots this down immediately.
- Impoverished Patrician: Ever since the monarchy was overthrown, the Cumberland house has fallen on hard times and the only things of value Allerdale possesses any more is the Cumberland ducal estate and the remains of a first generation Steam Knight armor one of her ancestors used to wear.
- Redemption Equals Death: Due to guilt over betraying Siege, Allerdale locks herself inside the Mausoleum of Kings with the Last Steam Knight to protect her. Subverted, as death didn't take, instead pulling a genuine Heel–Face Turn after managing to escape the Collapsing Lair.
- Regretful Traitor: At the climax of Chapter 11, Allerdale betrays Siege in an attempt to steal the Sighs of Kings from her, revealing that she's working for the Dukes, though she's not particularly happy about it.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: She is the daughter of the Duke of Cumberland and has been doing her best to resist the Sarkaz occupation of Londinium.
- Secret-Keeper: She is the only member of Eartha besides Clovisia (who had her own guesses) who is aware of Siege's true identity as the Queen Incognito of Victoria.
- Uncertain Doom: The last we see of her is her facing off against the Last Steam Knight by herself, leaving her chances of survival very slim. "The Whirlwind That Is Passion" reveals she managed to survive the encounter.
The Followers
Affiliated Characters: Nearl, Nightingale, Shining
- Almighty Janitor: Who'd have thought that a group of travelling healers would be consisted of The Radiant Knight of Kazimierz, a former Confessarius, and a girl who can nullifies arts and reverse Oripathy symptoms? Even Kazimierz's assassins - two Lazurites of the Armorless Union that outranks Platinum - didn't dare to take them on and basically bailed out of their mission.
- Breaking the Fellowship: Towards the end of "Near Light", Nearl chooses to stay in Kazimierz to deal with the oppression of the Infected there while Shining and Nightingale carry on to Londinium without her to address some unspeakable crime that relates to their past and severing it once and for all.
- Cool Big Sis: While Nearl is the only one with an actual younger sibling, Blemishine seems to see all three as one, as in "Pinus Sylvestris" she calls both Shining and Nightingale as 'Big Sis Shining' and 'Big Sis Nightingale', though this doesn't get carried over to the English translation.
- Family of Choice: The Followers are very tight-knit and consider each other as family: Nightingale in chapter 10 said that she considers her home to be with Shining and Nearl; Shining outright said in chapter 11 that she considers Nightingale her family; and Nearl, despite loving her family, admits in Near Light that she felt more relieved to have Shining and Nightingale by her side than anything else.
- Knight Errant: While the interaction between the members is closer to two knights swearing to protect a lady, they functionally work as a chivalrous wandering healer troupe before they join Rhodes Island. Nearl is notably this because she was a former knight.
- Lady and Knight: Nightingale is the Lady, frail and must be protected in exchange of being the best healer of the group, while Shining and Nearl practically serves as her knights, helping and protecting her in their travels. This is further emphasized in "Near Light", which has a scene where Nearl takes Nightingale's hands for a dance like a knight would to their lady, while at the end of the event Shining said that her place will be always by Nightingale's side.
- Light Is Good: All of their arts are light-based, and all three are among the kindest and most noble members of the cast. Shining and Nearl notably makes numerous mentions of the light in their voice lines and profile.
- The Medic: Every member is capable of healing...though there are some of them that are also capable combatants like Nearl. Their crest even resembles a caduceus, reflecting their emphasis on healing.
- True Companions: All three are very close with each other; Shining saved Nightingale from her confinement and protects her in their travels, Shining and Nearl praises each other in their voice lines, Nightingale enlists to become an operator despite her frailness to be with Shining and Nearl, and the two Sarkaz accompanies Nearl back to Kazimierz when she decides to come back. Nightingale also worries over Nearl when she decides to crash into the arena despite supposedly having emotions "as blank as a sheet," further emphasizing their closeness with each other. Nightingale's operator records put it nicely:Nearl: I trust you, and I trust your decision. If that's where Liz wants to go, then we'll take her there.Nightingale: We'll be together...Shining: Together.
- Walking the Earth: Formed after Nearl became a wanderer and met fellow healers Shining and Nightningale, the "Followers" is a travelling group dedicated to helping the infected everywhere.
Glasgow Gang
Affiliated Characters: Dagda, Indra, Morgan, Siege, Delphine
- Bodyguarding a Badass: Given how it's heavily implied that Siege is exiled Victorian royalty, and that Glasgow's members have military training and are deathly loyal to her, it can be surmised that Glasgow are actually Siege's personal bodyguards.
- Breaking the Fellowship: During Chapter 12, Outside of the members already affiliated with Rhodes Island, the Glasgow Gang essentially breaks apart. Baird is killed in an evacuation operation gone wrong, Cador leaves the gang in disgust after finding out Siege's royal heritage, and Delphine is revealed to be the Duke of Winderemere's daughter all along and rejoins her side when her army arrives.
- The Ghost: Basically anyone in the gang whose names are not Indra, Siege, Morgan, and Dagda. While Indra and Siege's dialogues mention that other Glaswegians are staying with Rhodes Island as well, it doesn't go any further beyond that. The other members made an appearance in Chapter 12, now Unseen No More.
- Hidden Depths: It's noted in Siege's profile that Rhodes Island didn't expect much from the gang as they presented themselves as common thugs. Cue their surprise when analysis reveals that they're more on the level of highly trained soldiers, with fighting skills that far surpass anything that would be learned on a street level.
- Poor Communication Kills: Baird, one of Siege's closest confidants within the gang, suffers this while trying to evacuate Infected from the warzone in Londinium, as a deaf Infected was unable to understand what Baird was communicating and thus interpreted her approach as hostile, fatally stabbing her in a panic to defend themselves. The consequences of Baird's death ends up shattering all of Siege's confidence in herself as she begins to grasp the true price of war and swears off becoming the heir of Victoria over losing any more of her friends for a country she couldn't give a damn about anymore.
- Queen Incognito: It's implied that just like Siege is a possible heir for Victoria, Glasgow Gang is actually her personal retinue of knights that accompany her in her exile. Everything written in Siege and Indra's profiles are a cover story provided to conceal their identities while they're in hiding. Subverted as later chapters reveal that, aside from Siege, only Dagda and Delphine are nobility, and only Dagda used to be a knight.
- Selective Obliviousness: Despite Siege being very frank about defeating Indra in a fight, the other members frequently refuse to talk about how they met Siege and dodge the topic as much as possible when it's brought up.
- Violent Glaswegian: Subverted. While they're named after the world's premiere exporter of the Trope Namers, they are based in the in-universe counterpart of London, and thus can be assumed to be the equivalent of English gangsters.
- Theme Naming: A few of the named Glasgow members share names with key figures in the Knights of the Round Table such as Morgan and Siege (named after the Siege Perilous).
- Uncertain Doom: When Siege joined Rhodes Island, she only brought a small portion of the Glasgow Gang with her, with the rest staying behind in Londinium. During Episode 10, after seeing the state Londinium is in from the Sarkaz occupation, Siege and her friends begin to worry about the fate of the rest of the gang. This is later averted come Chapter 12 as some of the members show up in person.
Baird
Artist: Cenm0
One of Siege's most trusted lieutenants who takes up leadership of Glasgow after Siege left Londinium for Rhodes island.- All for Nothing: The Infected that Baird got fatally wounded trying to save ends up dying anyways to his Oripathy.
- Hell-Bent for Leather: Baird is always seen wearing a black leather jacket and cap.
- Iconic Item: She carries a butterfly knife with her at all times. It gets taken from her by the infected man she was trying to help evacuate after he fatally stabs her. When the Glasgow members see said infected hold the knife in his hands, it immediately tips them off that something horrible happened to Baird, as she is noted to always carry the knife with her.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: She goes out of her way to try and evacuate an Infected neighbor, only for said Infected to fatally stab her.
Cador
Artist: 我妻洛醬
A member of Glasgow who stayed behind in Londinium.- Aristocrats Are Evil: He vehemently holds this belief and despises any and all nobility, even going so far as to turn on Siege after her royal lineage is revealed.
- Jerkass: He becomes highly confrontational and distrustful towards Siege when he finds out about her royal lineage, often accusing her of acting in the crown's best interest instead of the common people.
- Locked Out of the Loop: He's the only member of Glasgow who didn't know Siege's true identity as the heir apparent to Victoria.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: He's vehemently opposed to the Victorian nobility and leaves Glasgow when he believes that the group's priorities have changed from helping the commonfolk to putting Siege on the throne.
Iberian Inquisition
Affiliated Characters: Lumen
Former Members: Irene
Known as just the "Inquisition", they are Iberia's religious protectors and enforcers who serve as the country's first and last line of defense. They have currently established an alliance with Rhodes Island in order to fight back against the Seaborn threat.- Awful Truth: Irene's profile reveals that the Inquisition keeps a captive Seaborn locked away in the deepest dungeon beneath their headquarters. As part of the requirement to become a High Inquisitor, an Inquisitor must delve into the dungeon and personally confront the captive Seaborn so that they can realize the Seaborn they are at war with are actually an intelligent species.
- Black Box: Much to the Rhodes Island engineering department's frustration, Inquisition hand cannons are built with such esoteric technology and techniques that they can't figure out how they work without irreparably dismantling them.
- Defector from Decadence: After the Profound Silence had proven to be incredibly devastating, the king still attempted to establish an anti-papacy as a way to squeeze last bit of wealth from the people. Carmen and twelve of his fellow Saints then wrestled power from the aristocracy and the puppet church, refused their compromise by rejecting the pope crown, and reorganized the church into the highly austere Inquisition - because they recognized that Iberia could not afford to be wasteful anymore.
- The Dreaded: Regular Iberians and Aegir fear the Inquisition, due to stories of how they can purge entire villages to root out heretics.
- Hand Cannon: High caliber revolvers are standard issue among Inquisitors, which help equalize the discrepancy in strength between them and Seaborn as well as Abyssal Hunters.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Their brutality to stamp out the Church of the Deep make them regarded as no less evil than the cultists they fought. This often causes situations where villagers betraying the Inquisition for the Church of the Deep because they fear the Inquisition's wrath more than they fear eldritch fishes.
- Knight Templar: This is certainly their reputation to the public, as they militantly enforce Iberia's religious laws.
- Mind Rape: The lanterns all Inquisitors carry aren't just for illumination. They also act as Arts units that allow Inquisitors to inflict severe mental and nervous system damage against their opponents.
- Properly Paranoid: The Inquistion pretty much treats everybody as a potential Church of the Deep infiltrator, and as the many Seaborn-related story events have proved, the Inquisition aren't exactly wrong for thinking this way given how deeply rooted Church of the Deep corruption is in Iberian society.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: While their methods in suppressing the Church of the Deep are harsh, it's a necessary duty especially in the aftermath of the Profound Silence.
High Inquisitor Dario
Artist: aZLing4
Irene's superior who oversees her tasks, and overrides her decisions should it be necessary.- Died Standing Up: When Kal'tsit and Carmen reach the Eye of Iberia, they find Dario's corpse still standing guard over the entrance. His defense was so fierce that even the Seaborn developed an instinctual fear of him and refused to approach his corpse.
- Knight in Sour Armor: Spending a long time fighting a Hopeless War against the Seaborn has left him rather cynical about Iberia's chances of survival, but he continues to fight regardless.
- Last Stand: In "Stultifera Navis", he decides to stay behind at the Eye of Iberia to try and protect it against the encroachment of Seaborn. By the time his corpse is discovered, he seems to have killed tens of thousands of Seaborn over the course of hours.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: His death at the Eye of Iberia is what causes Irene to affirm herself and leave the Inquisition in order to fight the Seaborn her own way.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted. There's also Dario, a manager of Rhodes Island's bar.
- Parental Substitute: He acts as a sort of surrogate father to Irene after he rescued her from her destroyed village.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: Being Irene's immediate superior, Dario proves to be a very formidable fighter, being able to match Skadi in single combat and even successfully wounding her and drawing blood.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Despite what his job title would suggest, he is actually very reasonable, allowing Irene to make her own judgment calls and being willing to let the Abyssal Hunters leave Iberia without punishment.
- Sink or Swim Mentor: He tends to let Irene make judgment calls before giving his opinion on them in order to train her resolve.
Saint Carmen Iberia
Race: Liberi
A High Inquisitor of the Iberian Inquisition and a recognized Iberian Saint.- Gameplay and Story Segregation: It is possible to get both the "Lonely Elder" encounter and the "Requiem Aeternam"/"Eternal Wrath" Dreadful Foe, which can result in you getting help from Carmen after you killed him.
- Good Samaritan: In "Mizuki & Caerula Arbor", you can meet him in the "Lonely Elder" encounter where he gives you different supplies depending on what your current situation is - even giving you his lantern if you are low on Light.
- Manly Tears: He begins to shed tears at the moment of Alfonso's death.
- Meaningful Name: When he accepted his position as a Saint, Carmen renounced his original surname and changed it to Iberia to signify his dedication to protecting the country.
- Offered the Crown: Carmen almost became Iberia's antipope against Laterano, but he refused it so he can fight alongside his people. Nevertheless, he's now the highest authority in Iberia after the country falls into anarchy.
- Old Soldier: He is 123 years old as of "Stultifera Navis", which is rather long for a human and particularly long for a Liberi. It's noted that the Inquisition extends his lifespan by using esoteric Originium Arts.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: Holding not just the position of High Inquisitor but also Sainthood, Carmen is quite possibly one of the most powerful Inquisitors to ever exist.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He is willing to enter into an alliance with Kal'tsit to fight the Seaborn threat, as well as end Iberia's isolationism to reach out to foreign countries for aid. He's also the one to suggest that Irene can renounce her position as Inquisitor but remain affiliated to the Inquisition as a Messenger. Not to mention, he decides to improve Iberian-Aegir relations by appointing Lumen to be the very first Aegir Inquisitor.
- Sanity Slippage: In the Bad Future of "Mizuki & Caerula Arbor", Carmen ends up going insane from both his life-extension Arts and the constant fight against the Seaborn, becoming a wrathful Seaborn killer who goes berserk at even the slightest hints of Seaborn influence, even other Inquisition members stained with Seaborn blood. As a result, he ends up being fought as one of the possible mid-bosses of the mode.
- Shut Up, Kirk!: He remarks that he's far too old to be listening to Kal'tsit's long winded speeches and instructs her to get to the point.
- So Proud of You: After Dario fell in battle and his presence etches an instinctual fear toward the Inquisition within the Seaborn's hivemind even after his death, Carmen both celebrates and grieves that Dario was his finest student.
- Sole Survivor: He is the last surviving of the twelve original founders of the Inquisition.
- Willfully Weak: He hardly ever uses his sword to fight, instead mainly employing his lantern and his Arts. However, that doesn't mean his sword skill isn't equally, if not more dangerous.
Karlan Trade Company
Affiliated Characters: Cliffheart, Courier, Degenbrecher, Gnosis, Matterhorn, SilverAsh
A trading company owned and operated by the Silverash family with the express purpose of opening Kjerag to foreign trade and modernizing the country.- Family Business: Karlan Trade was established by SilverAsh and is largely run by him, his relatives, and his most trusted retainers. It also acts as a natural extension of the Silverash Clan.
- Signed Up for the Dental: Karlan Trade is the only company in Victoria that has an organized healthcare plan for Infected workers, keeping stocks of Oripathy medications to keep them treated.
- Universally Beloved Leader: Since SilverAsh is tolerant of Infected, this is reflected in his company policies as well, as he employs many Infected workers and treats them fairly. This makes him universally popular among his Infected workforce.
Chester
Race: Feline
Artist: Ryuzakiichi
A Karlan Trade Company employee who is SilverAsh's secretary and uncle.- My Greatest Failure: He blames himself for not supporting the Silverash siblings' parents in their efforts to open Kjerag's borders before their untimely deaths, which is why he has thrown all his support behind SilverAsh's endeavors.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He allows Cliffheart to leave the Silverash estate to claim Mt. Karlan and rescue Pramanix, as he believes both sisters deserve to meet each other, and he has seen that Cliffheart has matured ever since she she left for Rhodes Island.
King's Wand
Affiliated Characters: Skyfire
The central organ of Foxtail, an Originium power research institute.- Badass Crew: Skyfire's dialogue lines and Archive Files suggest that King's Wand is a powerful group in the battlefield:Skyfire: Your current skills can't compare to even the average level of a King's Wand member such as myself. Ha, right, I'm powerful... and the power of all five of us put together... words can't begin to describe.
- The Ghost: Despite King's Wand being a group of famous and highly powerful scholars, Skyfire is the only known member despite the entire group allying with Rhodes Island. No mention is made of the other members by any other character or event.
- Underestimating Badassery: The demonstrators from Reunion didn't expect how a group of just five scholars rose up in combat and stood against them just for the sake of revenge.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: During a riot, Reunion killed Phil, the pet of the King's Wand group of scholars. And because of Phil's death, Skyfire and her friends wanted to get revenge on the entire Reunion. From Rhodes Island's point-of-view, this type of motivation seemed insignificant, viewing it as plain Disproportionate Retribution on Skyfire's part instead. Surprisingly, this backstory is also similar to John Wick.Just because of a pet— a member of the family to the Wand, the scholars began a campaign of vengeance that devastated the protesters.
- Team Pet: They have a pet named Phil, who was unfortunately killed by the Reunion in a riot.
Laterano Notarial Hall
Affiliated Characters: Executor, Enforcer, Fiammetta, Insider
Former Members: Mostima
An elite law enforcement organization based in Laterano that regularly sends agents to foreign nations to enforce its laws.- Ape Shall Never Kill Ape: One of the law pertaining to Sankta seems to be this, even just by pointing your gun at fellow Sankta. It's how Mostima fell. The members of Notarial Hall seems to have devices that allow them to bypass this, however.
- Badass Bureaucrat: The Laterano Notarial Hall is essentially an entire department of these. While on paper they are basically nothing more than lawyers enforcing Laterano's laws, in reality they are basically a special forces unit that sends agents out to enforce Laterano's laws by any means necessary, up to and including the use of lethal force. If Ambriel's fear of Executor is any indication, they'll even come after you for tax evasion.
- Shotguns Are Just Better: Other than Fiametta (who uses grenade launchers) and Insider (who uses a handgun), most members of the Notarial Hall we see so far seem to favor some form of shotgun as their primary weapons. Even Mostima favored a blunderbuss prior to her fall.
Lemuen
Race: Sankta
Artist: IRIS_呓
A Laterano agent who is Exusiai's older, non-blood related sister. She was previously injured in an operation gone wrong in Kazdel in an incident involving Mostima, which prompted Exusiai to leave Laterano to search for Mostima.- Badass in Distress: She and Oren went MIA at the start of "Hortus de Escapismo", prompting the Hall to deploy a squad to rescue them. However, it's later subverted in that Lemuen was never in any danger at all. She could have left the Sanctilaminium Ambrosii anytime she wanted and only stayed so she could observe its inhabitants.
- Berserk Button: Do not speak ill of Andoain, Mostima, or Fiammetta in her presence, or you will quickly regret it. Oren finds this out the hard way.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Lemuen has a gentle personality and only uses violence as a last resort, but she is fully willing to force Oren into falling back in line by threatening to shoot him, completely disregarding the risk of falling, all without losing her pleasant disposition.
- Consummate Professional: According to Fiammetta, Lemuen is very careful to keep her work and personal life separate, which is why Fiammetta doesn't know a lot about her family.
- Everyone Has Standards: Despite being a By-the-Book Cop who abides by Laterano’s laws, including its discrimination against Sarkaz, she still finds Oren’s Knight Templar tendencies and paranoia towards them excessive.
- The Ghost: She is mentioned quite often by Exusiai, Mostima, and Fiammetta across "Code of Brawl" and Exusiai's and Mostima's Operator Records, but is never seen in any of those stories.
- Handicapped Badass: Even when confined to a wheelchair, she still retains enough strength and marksmanship to wield a sniper rifle to deadly effectiveness. In Hortus de Escapismo, she manages to keep up with and hunt the Seaborn hybrid Hyman, easily neutralize Oren, and repel the Master Swordsman Aulus after temporarily standing up from her wheelchair.
- Happily Adopted: She was adopted by Exusiai's parents and owes them an eternal debt of gratitude, and she has a very healthy relationship with Exusiai like an actual sister.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: She is a crack shot with her sniper rifle, even when she is confined to a wheelchair. She also won her hospital's marksmanship contest by such a huge margin that she was banned from ever being able to attend again.
- Noodle Incident: It's known that she was heavily involved in the Kazdel Incident, where she received her injury, though everybody with knowledge of what happened has been sworn to secrecy.
- In "Guide Ahead", the part of the incident where she got crippled is revealed. Andoain was compelled by the Black Lock and White Key, resulting in him using his Arts on Lemuen; it would've been fatal if Mostima hadn't shot him with her blunderbuss in return, leading to Mostima becoming a Fallen Sankta.
- She also somehow manages to perch herself on top of a billboard along with her wheelchair. Her Hand Wave is "When there's a will, there's a way."
- Pistol-Whipping: When Oren is acting in a particularly insufferable manner during Hortus de Escapimo to her, she strikes him in the gut with the barrel of her sniper rifle. As he doesn't stop being insufferable, she threatens to shoot him next if he doesn't stop his nonsense.
- Rank Up: By the end of "Guide Ahead", Lemuen decides to accept a promotion to the Seventh Tribunal, one of Laterano's most powerful ruling institutions, as she is inspired by both Fiammetta and Mostima continuing to forge ahead on their own paths.
- Red Baron: During her time in the Laterano forces, she was known as "Lemuen the Silent".
- Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: While Exusiai had told her Penguin Logistics co-workers about her sister's hospitalisation, her explanation was vague enough that most of them assumed she'd died. This left Sora very confused when they received a letter from the very much alive Lemuen in Exusiai's first Operator Record. It turns out the injuries she suffered were only enough to put her into a coma — and even then, she'd already woken up by the time Exusiai left Laterano.
- Tranquil Fury: In the extreme event that Lemuen does get angry, she rarely shows it outwardly, still retaining her good natured smile even as she aims her rifle at the source of her anger.
- Unseen No More: She finally appears as a supporting character in "Guide Ahead", which takes place in Laterano.
- Worf Had the Flu: "Hortus de Escapismo" reveals that that Lemuen is a terrifyingly powerful combatant even in her crippled state. It's only her injuries that hold her back from pretty much defeating Bishop Aulus and Hyman singlehandedly.
Lee's Detective Agency
Affiliated Characters: Aak, Hung, Waai Fu, Lee
- Fighter, Mage, Thief: Hung, Aak, and Waai Fu, respectively.
- Hung fills the role of the Fighter. As The Big Guy in their power trio, he is always at the frontline where he will take the brunt of the damage.
- Aak is the Mage, a Support Party Member who provides a variety of buffs to his allies.
- Waai Fu is a Fragile Speedster Thief who specializes in quick hit-and-run tactics, and she often operates independently of the other two.
- The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: They call themselves a detective agency, but their spinoff animated shorts emphatically insist that they do all kinds of work but detecting; they leave that to the police.
Little Black Sheep
A race of unusual entities resembling sheep that Eyjafjalla is familiar with.
A mysterious entity resembling a large black-and-pink sheep that has been accompanying Eyjafjalla since her childhood. They're also the Final Boss the "So Long, Adele: Home Away From Home" event.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Being a race of childlike beings split off from what amounts to a deity, they don't see the world in the same way as humans do and are generally mischievous and believe in nonsensical things such as bottlecaps being seeds for things to grow from.
- Divine Intervention: While they normally don't involve themselves in mortal affairs, the sheep do go out of their way to save Enis and his sister from a tsunami.
- Invisible to Normals: They are generally invisible to most people except for those that interest them, such as Eyjafjalla and young children.
- Leitmotif: Adele's Dream, a light wistful theme that helps create the fantastical atmosphere the sheep bring to Adele's ventures at day and dreams at night.
- Me's a Crowd: All of the Little Black Sheep with the exception of Dolly are clones of Dolly that have developed their own personalities.
- No-Sell: Considering they're immortal beings, the Little Black Sheep can casually bathe in lava like a regular hot spring.
- Reincarnation: It's implied that Dolly's clones are actually the reincarnated spirits of people who have passed away and are looking for closure, such as Costa's grandfather, Ceylon's mother, and Eyjafjalla's parents. However, Dolly later admits that his clones are simply the copies of interesting people he had met during his travels, and although they're designed with their looks and even memories in mind, even he can't bring back the dead.
- Thrill Seeker: One of their favorite hobbies is "volcano surfing", where they will sit in the crater of an active volcano and wait for it to erupt so surf on the expelled lava.
Dolly, Sovereign of Sheep
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Similarly to his clones, Dolly's motivations and actions often don't seem to follow conventional logic and he makes little effort to fit in with humanity, with him acting more like an extremely bored, somewhat immature deity who views the world as his entertainment. He's also somewhat nonchalant about any trouble he or his clones cause humans, and simultaneously shows a keen interest in them while still viewing them as frail and foolish. For example, he ranks forgetting the lyrics to a song worse than losing two humans he considered close friends, and although he does seem to have a genuine desire to help Eyjafjalla learn to move past her parents' deaths and enjoy life again, he has little remorse for all the trouble he causes her along the way.
- Broken Armor Boss Battle: His Wool Shield makes him nearly immune to damage and lets him fly while it's up, and can only be busted by attacking him with units next to a Decorative Geyser or throwing Steam Soda Bottles at him. Completely depleting it will temporarily down him and make him vulnerable, but he'll grow it back once he recovers.
- Delayed Reaction: He mentions he's been saving the Volcano Watcher flowers for Eyjafjalla as the thing he wanted to give to her, so she asks him where they are. He explains they're just over there on a hill nearby the volcano. Eyjafjalla points out the volcano is currently about to erupt, much to Dolly's sheepish embarassment when he also puts together that the flowers likely aren't going to make it.
- Divine Intervention: While he normally does not intervene in mortal affairs, he makes an exception for Eyjafjalla by saving her, Keller, and Kahn when Siesta's volcano erupts.
- Gender-Blender Name: "Dolly" is typically a feminine name, but Dolly identifies as male.
- Guardian Angel: He used to watch over Eyjafjalla as a child, and shows himself to her again in "So Long, Adele: Home Away From Home" to teach her how to have fun and find some closure with her parents' deaths.
- Named After Somebody Famous: He is named after the sheep that was famous for being the first mammal to be cloned, referenced by Dolly's ability to create clones of himself.
- Physical God: He is an immortal animal deity like Emperor, and is unsurprisingly acquainted with him.
- Playing with Fire: Has pyrokinetic abilities and uses them to attack in his fight.
- Self-Duplication: Dolly can create clones of himself which each can act independently and have their own unique personalities.
- Trickster Mentor: He ends up being one during Eyjafjalla's visit to Siesta, using the pretense of a scavenger hunt game to convince her to pull herself away from her research and just have some fun like a girl her age should.
Gentle Creature and Solemn Creature
A pair of Little Black Sheep that seem to hold a great interest in Eyjafjalla.- Dead Person Conversation: It's heavily implied that the Gentle and Solemn Creatures are the spirits of Eyjafjalla's parents, or at least clones made in their image.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: It's not clear of Eyjafjalla's encounter with them actually happened or if it was All Just a Dream.
Lungmen Guard Department
Affiliated Operators: Ch'en, Hoshiguma, Swire
- Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: The main trio of L.G.D. Special Ops Division.
- Beauty: Swire is the Ojou with an impeccable manner of dressing up and is emotionally invested in both Lungmen and her friends.
- Brains: While she also qualifies as the Brawn, Hoshiguma mainly serves as the voice of reason to the group and is very knowledgable in many fields.
- Brawn: Ch'en is the most powerful fighter of the group, and she uses her blade art to deal with criminals of Lungmen.
- Fair Cop: The playable L.G.D. members are as equally attractive as they are dedicated to their job.
Maylander Association
Affiliated Characters: Ho'olheyak
A Columbian NGO with several sub-divisions that secretly works to expose and disrupt inhumane experiments that are taking place in the country.- Covert Group with Mundane Front: Maylander has several of these as sub-divisions. The currently known ones are the Child Rights Protection Foundation, who rescued Rosmontis from the Loken Watertank Laboratory, and the Historical Association, who are investigating the Diablo Shards, as well as the Crimson Troupe. It's also implied that Maylander is possibly a front for the Columbian government itself, if a sticker description found in Dossoles Holiday is to be believed."Lone Trail" later outright confirms they're a spy agency working directly under the President's orders.Sombrero Dude's investor is a firm from Columbia called the "Maylander Association," and rumors say quite a few of the cooks are Columbian intelligence agents.
- Early-Bird Cameo: The Maylander Association was first mentioned in Rosmontis' profile, as one of its branches, the "Maylander Child Rights Protection Foundation", was responsible for rescuing Rosmontis from the Loken Watertank Laboratory and putting her in the care of Rhodes Island.
- The Ghost: While a few members of the association's subdivisions have been seen, its inner workings have yet to be revealed.
- Mysterious Backer: While they're known to uncover inhuman experiments, there are hints that the organization as a whole has more selfish intentions. It's implied that they're secretly part of a Columbian Intelligence agency, or least associates with them. In Crimson Solitaire Cannot Goodenough can give the player a brief warning about the group as a shop quote. Considering that he is willing to support any group that's willing to change Terra for the better such as Reunion and the Rusthammers, it's telling.Cannot: Be careful of any Columbian organizations with "Maylander" in the name.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: While Maylander and Rhodes Island share interests in a stable and safe Terra, Maylander's priorities lay with ensuring Columbia's own security and prosperity first. While both groups have had a history of working together in the past, Kal'tsit has always been careful to keep Maylander at arm's length. This comes to a head at the end of "Lone Trail" when Ho'olheyak bargains for asylum in Rhodes Island using her copy of Trevor Friston's mind as a bargaining chip. Tin Man and the President are clearly unhappy at losing both Ho'olheyak and Friston, but grudgingly agree to it since only Rhodes Island has the capability to rebuild Friston and the intend to come back in the future to collect him.
Tin Man
Artist: NoriZC
A detective who appears to be a robot. He acts as chairman of the Maylander Historical Association, and he's concerned with experiments involving the remains of the extinct Diablo Sarkaz.- Ambiguously Human: Or perhaps Ambiguously Organic. He appears to be fully robotic, but it's unclear if he's a cyborg or wearing an elaborate costume. Later story events having focus on him reveal he is a cyborg, but he's long since been hijacked by a Sarkaz's spirit who's concerned with the sacrilege being committed against his Diablo brethren's shards, making it a personal mission to put them all to rest before he can.
- Early-Bird Cameo: A story in "Ceobe's Fungimist" mentions a "tin man" living in a volcanonote , and he appears in "Phantom and Crimson Solitaire" in an encounter. He's formally introduced in the Records of Originium: Rhine Lab manhua.
- Hardboiled Detective: He certainly looks the part, complete with a hat and overcoat. He's also dedicated to using any means to expose the corruption within Columbia. It is all just a front for his personal mission of putting his Diablo brothers to rest.
- Mysterious Past: One of his remarks heavily implies that he's dedicated to tracking down all of the Diablo Shards because he is somehow personally involved with them, and possibly even a Diablo himself. Turns out he is a Sarkaz spirit possessing a cybernetic body, but does not clarify if he's a Diablo personally, only that he's invested in putting the Diablos race's shards all to rest.
- Really 700 Years Old: The CG description for his "Phantom and Crimson Solitaire" encounter describes his body as "hiding the Sarkaz's millennium of pain and discontent". "Lonetrail" confirms that he was a Sarkaz who personally knew Kal'tsit during Theresa's reign decades ago and now lives on as a revenant.
- Temporary Blindness: His Arts seem to be able induce blindness in his targets at will, severely hampering their ability to attack him.
- Xanatos Gambit: He actually faked his death when it seemed that Ho'olheyak and Nasti assassinated him, since he wanted to find out who was a traitor within Maylander, and Ho'olheyak's betrayal confirmed his suspicions.
MountainDash Logistics
Affiliated Operators: Bison
One of the largest logistics companies on Terra, which holds a near monopoly on delivery services in Lungmen.- The Rival: To Penguin Logistics.
Eurill Pides
Race: Forte
Artist: Ryuzakiichi
The CEO and founder of MountainDash Logistics, and Bison's father.- The Chessmaster: Bison figures out that everything that happens in Code of Brawl were part of a scheme by Eurill to draw the Rat King out into the open and (pretend to) assassinate him.
- Friendly Rivalry: He is close friends with Emperor despite them both running competing logistics companies. Close enough that he's willing to entrust the safety of his son to Emperor.
- Open-Minded Parent: He actually encourages Bison to expand his horizons and does everything in his power to avoid having Bison stay too close to him, presumably so that Bison doesn't grow too dependent on him.
Butler
Race: Forte
Artist: Ryuzakiichi
A butler working under Eurill Pides, and Bison's attendant. He has extraordinary capabilities as a sniper.- Battle Butler: After he gets separated from Bison at the start of "Code of Brawl", he spends the rest of the night following him from a distance and providing support fire with his rifle.
- No Name Given: The game only refers to him as "Butler".
Penguin Logistics
Affiliated Characters: Croissant, Exusiai, Mostimanote , Sora, Texas
- Big Damn Heroes: In the "Code of Brawl" event, they rescue Bison from an ambush in the streets.
- Carpe Diem: Practically a guiding principle all members abide by as they don't really put any thought into their next moves, simply winging it and going with the flow of whatever happens. Bison is flummoxed that such a renowned Messenger group operates like this.
- Crazy-Prepared: They have safehouses and hideouts scattered all over Lungmen, so if one goes up in smoke, they can simply retreat to another.
- Drives Like Crazy: According to "Code of Brawl" and the Holy Knight Light 1st Anniversary PV, it seems that being able to drive like this is practically a requirement for PL members, being duly demonstrated by Texas and Exusiai, respectively.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Penguin Logistics is rather infamous in Lungmen due to their penchant for getting into fights with criminal gangs and causing copious amounts of property damage in the process. The only reason why they haven't been thrown in jail yet is due to them paying off the LGD.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Inverted. Judging from their Obsgram conversation in the "Heart of Surging Flame" event, Texas, Croissant, and Sora were previously unaware that their boss is a rapper. Exusiai had to fill them in the details, and it's implied that she's the first among the group to realize this.
- The Navigator: As Liskarm explains in Operation 2-4, Rhodes Island couldn't have narrowed down the search area for Misha if Penguin Logistics wasn't involved in the mission. The chapter also demonstrates how the two P.L. operators are good at finding clues and directions.
- Texas was the one who discovered that there are infected Reunion members secretly hiding in the Lungmen slums, thus warning both the R.I. and the L.G.D. factions that there's a threat in that place.
- Exusiai served as the guide for the Misha rescue team's extraction via a radio device and when they had no other escape routes left. She explains that she knows Lungmen "like the back of her hand", had left behind penguin stickers to mark her hidden passages, and helped the team to navigate the place by roofhopping.
- New Job as the Plot Demands: Bodyguarding, owning a jazz bar, and other miscellaneous activities aren't under the usual purview of a delivery company but Penguin Logistics will get the job done if it's required by some employer or part of their assigned work. It's established in Code of Brawl that they have over a dozen commercial venues created to rake in cash.
- Trick Bullet: Due to Lungmen law forbidding the usage of live ammunition, they can only use rubber bullets when in the city's downtown area. Or in Emperor's case, a well made cardboard facsimile of a gun that's actually a slingshot for flinging rubber bullets.
- True Companions: While they don't seem like it at first glance, Il Siracusano shows that they are definitely this; Texas is shown to keep something from Exusiai, Sora and Croissant in her room to help remind her that she's no longer in Siracusa, and makes it clear multiple times that she'll come back to Lungmen and Penguin Logistics; Emperor trash-talks Zaaro and makes it clear that Texas is his employee even when she comes back to Siracusa; and Sora, Exusiai and Croissant followed Texas to Siracusa to make sure she's okay and can come back home to Lungmen safely.
- Unstoppable Mailman: This is practically their job, although the crew also acts as bodyguards for Emperor, as the Obsidian Festival shows.
- Violation of Common Sense: Bison points out that logically, there's simply no way Penguin Logistics could survive as a company with its quirky and slightly insane staff, complete lack of any sort of corporate hierarchy, penchant for getting into fights with criminal organizations on a daily basis, and need to reimburse Lungmen for the exorbitant property damage costs said fights incur. Yet despite all this, PL not only manages to survive, but prospers to the point where it is a legitimate competitor against the larger MountainDash Logistics.
Emperor
Artist: 幻象黑兔
Voiced by: Kenjiro Tsuda
Penguin Logistics' owner and an accomplished rapper.- The Ageless: In "Gavial the Great Chief Returns", the High Priest mentions that he has known Emperor for centuries, raising questions about exactly what he is or how he's survived so long. In "Beyond Here", he also offhandedly mentions personally knowing Paul Landen, the founder of the ancient Landen Monastery.
- Badass Boast: When an assailant attempts to attack Emperor during his performance at the Obsidian Festival in "Heart of Surging Flame", he casually blows it off, easily defends himself with his handgun, and makes several boasts about how he's got the upper hand.Emperor: My past is more expansive than this sea of falsity; so where are these "enemies" that await my majesty?
- Berserk Button:
- You can try to take his life all you want and he'd still be cool as a cucumber, but mess with his vinyl records and he blows a gasket. His reaction to his records being destroyed in an explosion during "Code of Brawl" can only be described as "indescribable penguin sounds", as he commands his crew to chase down the Siracusan mobsters responsible for the deed, heavy traffic be damned.
- When he and the Rat King meet each other during the finale of "Code of Brawl", he immediately dropkicked his elderly opponent. Not because the Rat King just stabbed him, but because he ruined the Emperor's favorite shirt doing so.
- A volcanic eruption is no problem. In fact, it's a fun opportunity to go lava surfing! But Dolly's lambs being a constant hazard to his shirt while he's doing that absolutely infuriates him.
- Cool Shades: He's always wearing his signature rectangular sunglasses, even at night.
- Funny Animal: Unlike every other character, Emperor is completely non-anthropomorphic in appearance, only distinguished from a normal penguin by talking and wearing clothes.
- Gratuitous English: He speaks English in his first sole voiced appearance for a trailer.
- Hidden Depths:
- Texas' Epoque skin shows that Emperor was apparently connected to the Texas family.
- His confrontation with Zaaro at the start of "Il Siracusano" indicates that he's an ancient god of the natural world, of the same sort as Zaaro. He was also apparently a renowned conductor and piano player in Leithanien before coming to Lungmen and adapting a more modern lifestyle and getting into rap and running a courier company.
- While Emperor undeniably evokes a gangster image, with a personality to match, "It's Been A While" reveals that he has a soft spot for musbeasts. When the Barkeep demands him to kill the musbeast, he opted to adopt the critter rather than killing it, much to the Barkeep's anger (and Emperor's amusement). Texas implies that it isn't the first time he took-in a musbeast.
- Humanity Is Infectious: Unlike many other gods or godlike beings in the setting, Emperor chooses to live among humans and adopt their culture solely because he thinks human creativity is fun and he wants to join in on it.
- I Call It "Vera": He names his sidearm "Lil' Homie".
- I Have Many Names: From the Obsgram feed in the "Heart of Surging Flame" event, it is revealed that he is called "The Monarch", "The King", and "Big E" in the music industry.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: In the climax of "Code of Brawl", he gets stabbed in the back, literally, by the Rat King while performing in front of the crowd. He gets better later.
- Leitmotif: "Not Your Business Part.2", a rap instrumental that Emperor himself produced in-universe as part of his lengthy music career.
- Non-Standard Character Design: In a game filled with characters leaning mostly towards the human end on the Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism, Emperor is just straight-up a realistic depiction of an Emperor Penguin.
- No One Should Survive That!: The Rat King shanks him and leaves a hole in him, and he shows up later just fine (and it's revealed later that it was a real knife that gutted him and not an act). He's apparently done this enough times that the other Penguin Logistics employees don't even bother to note that he should be dead. In a conversation between two (unknown) characters, they noted how The Emperor had encountered and survived many fatal scenarios, from having his brains blown out to being burned alive (to name a few), yet always comes back fine, to the point that they believed not even a Catastrophe would deter him.
- The epilogue to So Long, Adele shows he goes volcano surfing when the opportunity presents itself (IE, in the middle of the volcano erupting), so it's true that even catastrophes like that don't even register as a nuisance. Quite the opposite in that case.
- Physical God: Various events have dropped heavy hints and eventually made clear that Emperor is a type of physical deity tied to Terra itself, which explains his apparent immortality.
- Reclusive Artist: In-universe, his profile in "Heart of Surging Flame" says he likes to keep low profile in private life and is very hard to contact.
- Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: He was reported to be dead several times already, and it never stuck. If coming back from getting shanked in the back by the Rat King isn't enough, CB-EX3 lists several more situations in which the Emperor died yet came back anyway. The people talking there even think that he could probably easily survive being in the middle of a Catastrophe or volcanic eruption. While the Rat King did say that Emperor can't die, it's unknown if he's truly immortal, he just has a really advanced Healing Factor, he refuses to die, or he was Born Lucky enough to come out on top every time.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Being a person of great wealth and status, he, and by extension Penguin Logistics, often acts above the law. The one rule he does adhere to is not to brandish live firearms within the limits of Great Lungmen, hence the fake pistol he usually carries with him, which Texas found really odd. This doesn't extend to his staff, however, as Exusiai can use live ammunition anytime she wants outside of story segments.
- Tall Poppy Syndrome: Emperor didn't become the top rapper in Columbia without making enemies, and he has a lot of enemies. Fortunately, he has the staff of Penguin Logistics as his personal bodyguards.
- Wrestler in All of Us: Despite his stature, he seems to actually be pretty agile and has pulled off a few special moves in his appearances. In "Code of Brawl" he dropkicked the Rat King, and he's shown performing something resembling a Hurricanrana in the 1st Anniversary "Holy Knight Light" PV against a Siracusan Mafia thug.
Yith
Artist: 幻象黑兔
Another member of Penguin Logistics who takes care of everybody's gear and weapons.- The Cracker: He's implied to serve this role for Penguin Logistics as he demonstrates his computer expertise to help the group out in Code of Brawl.
- Non-Action Guy: Unlike the other PL members, Yith does not like fighting and prefers to stay on the sidelines, supporting the company from the background.
- Non-Standard Character Design: Has a non-human, non-animal looking head based on the Yith race from Cthulhu Mythos.
- Shout-Out: He's named after the Yith race from Cthulhu Mythos.
Pinus Sylvestris
Affiliated Characters: Ashlock, Fartooth, Flametail, Justice Knight, Wild Mane
A Kazimierz knightclub whose membership is exclusively composed of Infected knights. The knightclub has also recently signed on to a partnership deal with Rhodes Island.- False Flag Operation: It turns out they're being used by both the Adeptus and the Armorless Union. The Adeptus is using them as proxies to dig up dirt on the KGCC as well as cause a mass power outage in the Grand Knight Territory so they can use that as a pretext to declare a state of emergency and deploy troops in the city. Meanwhile, the Armorless Union used the blackout to assassinate their KGCC handlers and use the Infected as scapegoats.
- Floral Theme Naming: "Pinus sylvestris" is the scientific name for the European Red Pinenote .
- La Résistance: They do everything they can to resist the oppression of the KGCC.
- Meaningful Name: Flametail named the knightclub "Pinus Sylvestris" due to her remembering how they used to be all over Victoria when she was young, but are now nearly extinct.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Due to them exclusively recruiting only Infected knights, the membership of Pinus Sylvestris is quite varied and diverse.
- Rummage Sale Reject: Befitting their nature as a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits, the Pinus Sylvestris Operators are clad in an eclectic mix of civilian clothing, tactical gear, and exaggerated-looking knight armor crafted from some sort of transparent material (possibly ballistic plastic or plexiglass) rather than metal. Notably, the generic non-Operator Infected knights of Pinus Sylvestris do not dress like this, instead wearing battered-looking but otherwise standard examples of Kazimierz knight armor.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After the events of "Near Light", the group decides to leave the Grand Knight Territory and join Rhodes Island.
- True Companions: The members of Pinus Sylvestris are typically described as being a very close knit group.
- We Help the Helpless: Their stated mission is to help Infected knights and refugees find homes and obtain legal status, as well as fight for better treatment of the Infected.
Jamie
An Infected competition knight who joins Pinus Sylvestris.- A Death in the Limelight: The pre-battle scene of NL-2 shows his death, while the post-battle scene shows Flametail talking about his past.
- No Name Given: Downplayed; despite introducing himself as Jamie in Flametail's side story in "Pinus Sylvestris", the game continues to call him "An Infected Knight" in his other appearances.
- Sacrificial Lamb: NL-2 shows him being killed by Brassrust Knight (after other knights cut off his escape), and his death is exploited by the Kazimierz media to throw shade on allowing Infected knights to compete by claiming that their access to Arts gives them an unfair advantage and that they're ticking time bombs whose deaths would infect innocent spectators.
Raythean Industries
Affiliated Characters: Corroserum, Glaucus, Jessica
Affiliated Characters with Rhodes Island as their faction: Castle-3, Lancet-2, THRM-EX
A research company that specializes in producing advanced weaponry and equipment for operators. Rhine Lab
Affiliated Characters: Astesia, Astgenne, Dorothy, Ifrit, Magallan, Mayer, Muelsyse, Ptilopsis, Saria, Silence
Solve Intelligence. Think Different.
A highly advanced research institute that specializes in the study of Oripathy and biological science.The lab is divided among ten research branches each led by its own director - five scientific research sections, four general affairs sections, and one core section. The research sections include Ecological (Muelsyse), Energy (Ferdinand Clooney), Structural (Ahrens Parvis), Originium Arts (Dorothy Franks), and Scientific Investigation (Andenate Maryam), while the general affairs sections consist of Defense (Saria, only officially), Engineering (Nasti Lunorey), Business (Justin Fitzroy Jr.), and Human Resources Investigation (Jara B. Willson). The Components Control section, led by Dr. Kristen Wright, instead serves as the core and leadership of the company.
- Artifact Title: Despite their group name, of the six launch characters who are tagged "Rhine Lab" and feature the logo in their character sheet, only two of them (Mayer, Magallan) are actually still employed by and loyal to the lab itself. In case of Mayer, the girl's own profile notes this is mostly down to her being totally in the dark about what exactly happened during the Flame Demon Incident, which she wasn't involved in. Saria wants nothing to do with Rhine anymore, Silence is similarly disgusted with them (for, by her reckoning, letting Saria do whatever she did), Ifrit doesn't care, Ptilopsis is more loyal to Silence than to Rhine, and Magallan is completely clueless due to being literally Reassigned to Antarctica. The most that could be said is that they're all still employees (or an experimental subject in Ifrit's case), as Saria's resignation papers haven't been signed and the others are there with permission. Ironically enough, the one member who's actually loyal to the Lab, Astesia, is not tagged as part of the faction by the game, instead being affiliated with Columbia.
- Barely-Changed Dub Name: Rhine Lab's name in Chinese is 莱茵生命 (Lái yīn shēng mìng), which translates literally to "Rhine Life". Rhine Lab is considered a valid name used in the original script, which is the one solely used in English. The Japanese script splits the difference and refers to it as "Rhine Life Lab".
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Conflict and outright betrayal between the different departments of Rhine Lab is almost expected by this point. The entire "Mansfield Break" event involved multiple departments conflicting over either destroying or supporting outside corporations, and Silence expected Muelsyse to turn on her if she wouldn't hand over Mountain to the Ecology department. Saria's entire involvement in the titular prison break was solely to keep Mountain from being killed by assassins indirectly hired by Rhine Lab's Energy department.
- In theory, Control is supposed to coordinate all the departments to prevent the backstabbing (it's her codename, after all), but her policy of allowing science without any restraints resulted in her rubberstamping anything and everything for so long that she stopped caring.
- Evil Genius:
- The research department heads. The overall head of the organization, Control, is obsessed with For Science! and has undergone Jumping Off the Slippery Slope far enough that Saria left her. Muelsyse of the Ecological Department is a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing, Parvis and Ferdinand are borderline sociopaths willing to sacrifice anything and anyone in the name of progress, and Dorothy is an often-delusional idealist willing to go to terrifying lengths for her dreams. Even the ex-Director of the Defense Department, Saria, was a doctor and thus possibly fell under this trope before a possible Heel–Face Turn. Muelsyse finds it hard to imagine Saria caring about others and she didn't leave Rhine Lab until Control went too far down the slippery slope. Despite that, Silence and Muelsyse still suspect Saria of having her own agenda.
- The official Rhodes Island's Records of Originium - Rhine Lab manhua so far shows that in Saria's case, a series of unfortunate misinterpretations about certain events and her cold personality led to Muelsyse and Silence mistakenly believing Saria had a dark side. In actuality, she was always a good person with good intentions, just with some particularly Brutal Honesty.
- Furthermore, the Mansfield Break event shows that Rhine Lab isn't above interfering in other corporations, as they were directly involved in the incident that led to Mountain's family business being destroyed and his family being imprisoned. The fact that neither Silence nor Muelsyse found the situation remarkable indicates that Rhine Lab does this regularly.
- Evilutionary Biologist: Comments from Saria and some of the other (former) Rhine folks suggest the Lab's top brass is very interested in research of this sort, and that it may well have produced Ifrit which was confirmed in the Records of Originium - Rhine Lab manhua. Incidents like Ifrit's are also stated to be "a dime a dozen" at Rhine Lab.
- Gambit Pileup:
- The entire plot of "Mansfield Break" involves no less than three different Rhine Lab factions infiltrating Mansfield State Prison at the same time with differing intentions for Anthony.
- "Lone Trail" takes this even further, as every director (former or otherwise) of Rhine Lab except for the missing Andenate is operating simultaneously to either support Kristen's Project Horizon Arc, oppose it, or fulfil their own goals using the situation, on top of all the other parties trying to interfere.
- Interservice Rivalry: The various sections of Rhine Lab don't quite get along with each other. In particular, there is a bitter feud between the Ecological and Energy sections.
- Lucky Charms Title: The "Diαbolic Crisis," which played a major role in the backstories of Saria, Silence, and Ifrit, is always spelled with a Greek "α" instead of an English "a" for some reason.
- Magitek: Rhine Lab seems to be interested in the application of both Arts and regular science and engineering. Ifrit seems to be a product of this, being armed with a mechanical flamethrower but is capable of wielding fire-based Arts by herself.
- No OSHA Compliance:
- "Mansfield Break" reveals that lab accidents and containment breaches are actually quite a common occurrence in Rhine Lab. Even borderline disasters like the "Diαbolic Crisis" that convinced Saria and Silence to leave for Rhodes Island are treated as unfortunate but acceptable losses in the name of Rhine Lab's research.
- In "Dorothy's Vision", it is outright said that the frontiers of Columbia are littered with hundreds of experimental sites and lab facilities which were destroyed by Rhine's dangerous experiments. Between the huge numbers of Pioneers trying to settle Columbia and the vast tracts of uninhabited land, there's no shortage of places and personnel for Rhine to set up dangerous and isolated experiments.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: It becomes increasingly clear as character bios are released that Rhine Lab's specific field of expertise is actually weaponry; they're basically a defense contractor barely posing as a more general scientific research lab. Rhodes Island seem well aware of it, judging from them recognizing Rhine Lab's weaponry when observing Ayerscarpe's weapon, a failed prototype of theirs.
- Professor Guinea Pig: According to Ptilopsis in her Operator Record, outsiders think Columbian scientific research involves a lot of human experimentation, but she adds that many researchers are far too eager to carry out these experiments on themselves, implying that it's also a common sight with her Rhine Lab coworkers.Ptilopsis: ...and only a tiny number of them have happy endings.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork:
- Despite Silence basically stealing away Ifrit and taking her to Rhodes Island, Rhine Lab still maintains official relations with Rhodes Island and even has some of its employees contracted to them as operators, since both organizations have aligning interests in studying Oripathy. However, Saria makes it very clear that Rhine Lab will eventually become hostile to determine which faction will ultimately possess Ifrit.
- Records of Originium: Rhine Lab reveals that Silence actually got permission from Control to take Ifrit to Rhodes Island. It still was the equivalent of stealing away Ifrit anyways, but Rhine Lab has so many other projects that Control just didn't care. Parvis, on the other hand, will want Ifrit back eventually.
- Internally, Rhine Lab's department directors are this to each other. Muelsyse despises the other directors, Saria eventually got fed up with Control and quit, and the Energy and Engineering departments are cold with each other at best despite being intricately tied to each other. During "Mansfield Break" Silence fully expected Muelsyse to backstab her when they were done recounting the events of the prison break, which is why she kept Mountain on hand to cover her back.
- Token Evil Teammate: Out of all of the other groups and companies that Rhodes Island is partnered with, Rhine Lab is the most openly antagonistic towards them and is the most morally dubious, holding ethical values (or lack of them) completely counter to Rhodes Island's philosophy, with their only common interest being heavy investment in Oripathy research. It's made clear multiple times that both companies will inevitably come into conflict in the future.
- Rhine Lab had two events where they were the main antagonist faction (Lone Trail and Dorothy's Vision, with elements of Rhine Lab being in Mansfield Break). The only other ally that was an antagonist for an event was Silver Ash's Karlan Trade Company for Break the Ice, and even for that event the Doctor didn't particularly disagree with Silver Ash's intentions and was just stepping in at the end to minimize the collateral damage.
- The Unreveal: The director of Scientific Investigation is deliberately not shown and unnamed in all promotional material for "Lone Trail" even as everyone else was both given focus and/or at least some explanation as to who they are in Rhine Lab. Expeditioner's Joklumarkar eventually reveals it as Andenate Maryam, although they're currently declared M.I.A. due to an expedition gone wrong in the Infy Icefield.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Despite Rhine Lab's complete ignorance of ethics and willingness to resort to human experimentation, Infected are literally lining up at their door for an opportunity to be a test subject, due to their reputation as a respected Oripathy research lab looking for Oripathy cures. In addition, many young, idealistic scientists dream of being recruited in Rhine Lab, completely unaware of their ethically questionable research practices.
- We Used to Be Friends: As Parvis recounts, the Rhine Lab directors weren't always mistrustful of each other. Back in the very early days of Rhine Lab, Kristen, Saria, Parvis, and Ferdinand were actually very close friends until differing priorities drove a wedge between all of them.
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Based on its predominantly Columbian staff, Rhine Lab is presumably located in the in-universe equivalent of the United States. According to Magallan's bio, the tundra is just a ways up north, which corresponds to the real-world Canada and the northern Arctic circle. Despite its name, it has no explicit connection to the Rhine river in Central Europe.
- You Are in Command Now: In the time period during and after Lone Trail, the company saw multiple drastic changes in leadership following the various fiascos involving the section heads. Ferdinand, who was already juggling Defense and Energy due to Kristen not letting anyone replace Saria, went missing after Dorothy's Vision and left the departments without a leader until his eventual return to Energy after the event. Parvis' death and Jara's retirement lead to anonymous successors taking their places in Structural and Human Resources respectively, and with Kristen's disappearance, Saria stepped up as head of Components Control and the overall leader with Silence as an advisor, finally allowing another unknown successor to take over as head of Defense.
Control / Kristen Wright
Artist: NoriZC
The primary leader figure of Rhine Lab, and the director of the Components Control section. She was one of the co-founders of the organization, alongside Saria.- Alas, Poor Villain: Her impending doom at the end of "Lone Trail" is treated in a somber and tragic light, showing numerous flashbacks of when she, Saria, and Muelsyse used to be good friends, and how beautiful she finds the sky to be. All she truly wanted was to realize her parents' dreams, and she eventually succeeded.
- Animal Motifs: As a Perro, her motifs are dogs - specifically Golden Retrievers, which is ironic considering her ruthless nature. Lone Trail seems to paint it as more representative of her immense charisma.
- Anti-Villain: While she's portrayed as an antagonist and is highly amoral when it comes to scientific research, Kristen is not evil per se, as she's not actively malicious to anybody, just focused on her singular dream of shattering Terra's false sky to the point of obsession.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Achieves her objective of piercing the false sky at the end of "Lone Trail", despite all of the obstacles put in her path and the lives of the Precursors spent to funnel enough energy to shatter it altogether; although, she ends up dooming herself to the possibility of dying alone in space with no way to successfully be retrieved, she essentially is content having realized her dream.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday:
- The disasterous circumstances that led to Silence leaving with Ifrit and Saria quitting Rhine Lab was one of the most important events in Silence's, Ifrit's, and Saria's lives, and the project was such a big deal to many powerful people that it involved cover-ups and government conspiracies on multiple levels. At the end of it all, when Silence nervously meets with Control to get her approval to leave Rhine Lab with Ifrit, Control signs off on it without a second thought (or even a first thought) before moving on to signing other papers. Silence takes one look at her nonchalant facial expression and realizes that Control just didn't care. It's implied that because she discarded any restraints on scientific progress, Control had begun signing off on everything regardless of risks or ethics and just trusted the Department Heads to handle things their own way. Thus by that point even Ifrit's case was just another one in the pile that wasn't her problem.
- When Saria confronts her during "Dorothy's Vision", she accuses Control of continuing to turn a blind eye towards her company's unethical experiments like she did with Parvis all those years ago. Control genuinely doesn't remember which experiment she's referring to, suggesting that even the experiment that caused her closest friend to resign from their company doesn't stand out as particularly special in her mind.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Painted in a more serious light, as she's so focused on lofty dreamlike goals like exploring space, eradicating Catastrophes and suffering, and discovering the secrets of Originium, that she neglects more "worldly" things like ethics and the suffering of the very people she wants to save.
- Damsel in Distress: Averted in "Dorothy's Vision". Saria makes contact with Control out of concern for Ferdinand's plot to overthrow her. Turns out, Control was never in any danger at all and was in a position to thwart Ferdinand at any time. It's implied that she allowed Dorothy and Ferdinand's experiments with the Hub and Transmitter to play out so she could appropriate their research later, which "Lone Trail" eventually revealed that she used Transmitter as part of her plan to penetrate the false sky.
- Evolving Title Screen: After clearing all the main stages of "Lone Trail" (including viewing the last 2 story parts), the lobby screen changes from a group shot of Saria, Silence, Muelsyse, Ho'olheyak and Kristen in the observation bridge to a silhouette of Kristen standing in light at the end of the now-dark observation bridge, referring to her lone journey and eventual death in space.
- Face Death with Dignity: Faced with no possible way of returning to Terra or being rescued from orbit after shattering the false sky, Kristen understands perfectly well she's more than likely doomed to die up there — but she is ultimately satisfied having realized both her parents and her own dreams as she waits for the end up in her life pod.
- Final Boss: She is the final boss fought in "Lone Trail".
- Fling a Light into the Future: What she ultimately does at the end of "Lone Trail" when she breaks open the false sky over Terra, trusting future generations of scientists to exploit the shift in the status quo. She also leaves Rhine Lab in the care of Saria with the confidence she can lead the company into the future.
- For Science!: This is Control's primary motivation, causing her to discard safety and ethics in the name of scientific advancement.
- Inconsistent Spelling: Her first name was initially spelled "Kirsten", but was changed to "Kristen" in "Lone Trail". Curiously, Dorothy and Ho'olheyak's English voice lines use the former.
- Ironic Name: Her codename is "Control", painting her as a Control Freak, but her decision to let scientific research flow without restraint means she approves any project proposed to her regardless of risks, costs, or ethics, to the point where she barely even looks at what she signs off anymore. In essence, Control doesn't bother with controlling much anymore, least of all her own underlings at Rhine Lab.
- Last Ditch Move: When Kristen is defeated, she'll blow up all of the Star Rings on the map to deal massive global Arts damage and permanently speed up all other enemies, potentially causing a Total Party Wipe if there are enough Rings active and she isn't the last enemy standing. This can be mitigated or prevented by taking out the Rings before finishing her off (which also reduces her defenses), or, surprisingly, Silencing her.
- Magnetic Hero: "Hero" used tentatively given her callousness towards human suffering, but Kristen is noted to have exceptional charisma which lets her almost effortlessly pull in support for herself by appealing to people's dreams or ambitions. To wit, in Lone Trail, she's rather easily gathered the support of all of Rhine's currently present directors by appealing to their individual wishes (save for Ferdinand, who resents her but still can't help but admire her work and try to save it), convinced the incredibly self-serving Loken to serve as her lackey, caused Ho'olheyak to turn traitor against Maylander with promises of restoring her ancestral blood, tricked the Columbian D.O.D. and government into supporting her plans by appealing to their wish for military supremacy, and even convinced a millennia-old nihilistic AI into sharing esoteric knowledge and helping her, all to fulfill her personal dream.
- Malicious Slander: Her parents were a victim of this after they were killed when their experimental plane crashed, with newspapers loudly proclaiming how foolish they were.
- Named After Someone Famous:
- Her interest in flight, combined with her parents being aerospace engineers who died in a plane crash, implying that her surname references the Wright brothers, the creators of the first airplane.
- Her first name also references Sally Kristen Ride, the first American female astronaut who is also a scientist in physics and the founder of her eponymous science corporation, Sally Ride Science.
- Not So Stoic: Despite largely having let go of her emotions in order to pursue her research, Control expresses genuine shock when Saria decides to resign from Rhine Lab and even begs her to stay.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: She's the main leader of Rhine Lab, and as "Lone Trail" shows, is more than capable of putting up a fight, serving as the event's Final Boss. In the story, she's able to give even Saria a good fight, even incapacitating her and ejecting her from the Galleria Stellaria when she's distracted for an instant.
- Shielded Core Boss: Each of the Star Rings she summons onto the battlefield will grant her significant stacking damage reduction and make her take up one more block, encouraging players to prioritize them. Once her second phase rolls around, she'll convert all available Planetary Debris into Star Rings at once, making her effectively invincible and unstoppable until you've at least thinned their numbers.
- Shout-Out: A dog-themed character whose aspiration is to go to space and reach for the stars, and ultimately gets stranded in space with no way back? She's Terra's human version of Laika!
- Stone Wall: She's not too tanky in her story stage, but in CW-EX-8 or CW-S-4, she becomes this due to there being more Planetary Debris and her gaining more damage reduction with each one. At her strongest on CW-S-4 Challenge Mode, she'll have 6 Star Rings giving her 45% DR each, resulting in a maximum of almost 98% damage reduction.
- Weak, but Skilled: As a boss, Kristen isn't that durable, nor does she deal that much damage, especially in her first phase. Her second phase makes up for it by summoning a large amount of Star Rings that grant her significant damage reduction and constantly damage any operators around their radius, along with exploding for global Arts damage when they're destroyed and also speeding up all enemies to go with it. Even when Kristen is defeated, she'll detonate all Star Rings still active for massive damage, making her a formidable boss still.
- We Used to Be Friends: With Saria. However, they eventually drifted apart when Control's For Science! tendencies clashed with Saria's desire for restraint and caution, culminating in Saria declaring her resignation (violently, in the form of an all-out battle between the two). Control is still bitter about this to the point where even after their final argument and Saria's departure, she continues to obsess over her.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: She's disappointed in how Columbian science mostly cares about money and status rather than actual science, and initially founded Rhine Lab to realize the ideal of creating true scientific progress that could help the advancement of humanity and her dream of exploring the stars. However, she's also become willing to realize that ideal at any cost, no matter how many ethical barriers she has to break down in its name.
Ahrens Parvis
Artist: NoriZC
The director of the Structural section, and Silence's mentor.- Affably Evil: Despite his utter lack of scientific ethics, Parvis is a genuinely nice and polite old man.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: By the end of "Lone Trail", he decides to take the risk of using his mind to create a new Transmitter hub for H.A.M.H.R.R despite knowing it will definitely result in the death of his original body and no guarantee his mind will actually stay intact. However, he considers this a far better alternative than growing old losing his intellect due to his age.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: In the Rhine Lab manga, this gently smiling man might come across as a Reasonable Authority Figure at first, but as the "treatments" on Ifrit continue, it becomes clear that 'knowledge' and 'rationality' are more important to him than lives.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He genuinely doesn't understand why Silence would be opposed to Ifrit being used for human experiments, since he completely believes that her giving her life for science is an honor.
- Evil Mentor: Served as this to Silence, as although he genuinely helped her realize her dreams and talents, he was also not-so-subtly raising her to essentially be his successor, with all the unethical business that entails.
- Evilutionary Biologist: Despite being head of Structural, most of his research has to do with "Chimerism", essentially bioengineering to produce beings of unnatural strength and perfection. His ultimate goal is to be to create a wholly artificial consciousness that can transcend human limitation, something that seemed impossible until Dorothy and Ferdinand developed the Transmitter, and Kristen started Project Horizon Arc to provide an ideal scenario for testing.
- For Science!: Similar to Control, he shares this mindset, outright saying that progress is built on sacrifice and that unrestricted science is how a researcher's true talent shines through.
- I Just Want to Be Special: During their confrontation in Lone Trail, Silence speculates that his obsession with creating perfect life stems from a desire to make up for his own psychological weakness. He immediately denies it, but his response and subsequent admission of his weakness afterwards suggest that her words hit harder than he'd have liked.
- Last-Name Basis: Curiously, he's only ever referred to by his surname.
- Manipulative Bastard: Is well aware of Silence's utmost adoration of him and desire to see his approval, and he uses it, as well as leveraging her care of Ifrit and Saria, to gradually push her into continuing the unethical experiments on Ifrit despite her concerns for her wellbeing.
- Opportunistic Bastard: During the events of "Dorothy's Vision", he stays neutral in the power struggle between Control and Ferdinand, carefully placing himself so he can side with whoever is ultimately the winner. He's apparently done this so many times that he's practically well known for it.
- Token Minority: Out of all of the Rhine Lab directors, Parvis is the only one not native to Columbia, having immigrated from Leithanien.
- Villainous Breakdown: The only time he ever gets genuinely angry is when Silence tries to destroy the H.A.M.H.R.R.'s Transmitter hub at the climax of Kristen's experiment in Lone Trail, which he described as the magnum opus of his Chimera experiments. He proceeds to demand Silence apologize for even suggesting it and goes on a rant about how science only belongs to those visionary and transcendant enough to wield it, even citing the concept of the Übermensch that rises above the mediocre masses. In fact, Silence rebuking his rant and going through with it is what drives him to proclaim that if he's too weak to be a visionary, he is content with following and assisting one instead, followed by him sacrificing himself and subsuming his consciousness into the remaining Transmitter to stabilize the H.A.M.H.R.R. in the hub's place.
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: After revealing his true colors at the end of the Diabolic Crisis, he still treats Silence cordially, reasserting that she's his favorite student and destined for greatness. Naturally, given what just happened and what being his favored student actually means, Silence's disgust is palpable.
Ferdinand Clooney
Artist: NoriZC
The director of the Energy department, and Astgenne's mentor. He worked together with HydeBro, who in turn used Energy's resources in their assassination attempts against Anthony.
- Affably Evil: It's unclear how genuine his claims about caring for Elena are and how much he's just using her as a tool, but he shows her nothing but polite respect and pride even when the latter is in the process of ruining his plans, tried to spare her from said plan which would have killed everyone on the site as a martyr to progress, treats her better than his own children (although that isn't saying much), and was even willing to eventually give up his position for her. Elena can't muster up the will to completely hate him even after beating him up for his crimes, because a small part of her still respects his ideals and how much he gave her.
- Ambition Is Evil: His ambition is what endlessly drives him forward and allows him to make so many advancements in the name of the future, but is also what drives him to commit terrible acts and alienate his peers.
- Bad Boss:
- Mayer notes that although he leaves an impression when he talks, it feels he cares more about the value of the products made by the Rhine Lab employees than the products or employees themselves.
- This is also how he loses Elena's loyalty, when she realizes that for all the privilege and attention he showered her in, he treats her more like a disposable pawn than a trusted subordinate, and never trusted her enough to tell her about his real plans. And that isn't getting into how he barely showed any hesitation when his plans end up putting Elena in mortal danger.
- Subverted slightly in Lone Trail where a Defense department employee describes him in unflattering terms, but also admits that he personally paid the wages of the Defense department after he took over in Saria's absence, and also remembers the names and hobbies of all his staff as well as gifting them presents once in a while.
- Cats Are Mean: A Feline noted to be very aggressive and domineering, especially with regards to gaining resources.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- Downplayed, as while firmly The Unfettered like a majority of Rhine Lab in terms of ethics, especially as his goal was to develop a Fantastic Nuke in the form of the "Awaken" to be sold off to Columbia's military, Clooney holds Control in contempt for their apathetic For Science! behavior, as he can see the writing on the wall that she will eventually run the company into the ground just signing off on everything regardless of either the financial consequences or even the practical use of encouraging their development.
- Played straight when he plays an active role in sabotaging Colonel Blake's attempts to assassinate the Vice President, knowing that letting such a thing happen would ruin Rhine Labs' reputation.
- Evil Mentor: Served as this to Elena/Astgenne.
- For Science!: Just as dedicated to research as his peers, and just as willing to cross moral boundaries. Unlike his peers, he's more focused on the business side of science, pulling in resources so that Rhine Lab can continue advancing.
- Green-Eyed Monster: His misgivings against Kristen's apathy aside, he also admits to being jealous of her prodigal takent and charisma that allows her to achieve miracles and effortlessly pull in support, while he has to resort to every dirty trick in the book to even compare. His motivation in the later half of Lone Trail is acknowledging Kristen's brilliance, and as such salvaging all her miraculous data from Project Horizon Arc before it's burned up in space and abandoned by someone who - to him - doesn't care for it at all, with the secondary goal of upstaging her discovery of the truth by being the one who brought the truth to earth.
- Insufferable Genius: He's considered a genius and one of the leading minds in high-energy physics whose work helped define the field, and his arrogance is as big to match."Over the next century, any researcher arrogantly trying to step into the field of high energy physics in vain will have to engrave my theories into their mind."
"They will praise my name, regard me as a king, as a prophet." - Jerkass Has a Point: After his plan to usurp Control as the head of Rhine Lab fails, he angrily calls her out about not giving a damn about how the company is holding up as long as she gets to keep experimenting, accusing her of letting the company burn solely for her personal interests. Given that Control has a history of doing exactly that and can't even refute his claim when he tells it to her face, his worries likely hold weight.
- The Man Behind the Man:
- He is the unseen backer of HydeBro in "Mansfield Break", whose assassination attempts Mountain had to hold off for years. He is also indirectly the cause of Mayer becoming an operator - the Energy and the Engineering departments getting closer to each other meant less freedom for Mayer, which ultimately caused her to decide to leave.
- Is also this to Dorothy in "Dorothy's Vision". While Dorothy intended to use the Hub as a way for people to escape suffering in the Crapsack World of Terra, Ferdinand intended to use it as a superweapon to impress the Columbian military.
- No Place for Me There: He doesn't seem particularly bothered that he may not have a place in the future he's so determined to change, believing that the change itself will be his mark on the world. However, this may not be completely genuine: just as he's about to be attacked by Pioneers, he hears Elena's voice scolding him about how he never believed he belonged to this time to begin with and never took the time to enjoy the present, leading to him being left behind by it as a result. This is seemingly what convinces him to accept the Pioneers' attack without any resistance.
- Parental Neglect: Despite having at least one son, he constantly ignores opportunities to even talk to him, both due to how busy he is and how much he simply doesn't care. He even goes so far as to say that his assistant Elena has more in common with him than his own children.
- Skewed Priorities: In Lone Trail, while aboard the Galleria Stellaria, rather than prioritize saving himself from the collapsing station or the oncoming Columbian military, he prioritizes gathering as much miraculous data as he can from the station's instruments, even when Blake is holding him at gunpoint. He even continues doing calculations when he and Blake are imprisoned afterwards, thinking they'll be put to death and not knowing that Justin Jr. has come to bail Ferdinand out. However, this is played seriously as it shows Ferdinand is and always has been completely genuine in his dedication for science to the point that he'd put it over his own life, especially in contrast to Parvis revealing his much more conceited motives to Silence in the same cutscene.
- Uncertain Doom: The last we see of Ferdinand, he is attacked by an angry mob of Pioneers and accepts them with open arms, leaving it unclear if he survived. "Lone Trail" reveals that he did survive the events of "Dorothy's Vision", having been recruited by Colonel Blake once again to provide his expertise in tracking down Kristen.
- Walking the Earth: After his plan to usurp Control is foiled and he is disgraced, Ferdinand is banished to wander the Columbian wastes with nothing but a single suit of power armor.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Despite his aggressive nature and dubious dealings such as selling Rhine Lab's technology to shady organizations without caring for the destructive consequences, he arguably cares more about Rhine Lab's wellbeing than its founder herself and is wholly devoted to making sure it survives and thrives to keep building the future.
- Workaholic: He allegedly has only ten minutes of spare time each day while not managing his business and experiments, although how much of that is actually him being busy and how much is just neglect is ambiguous. This is further elaborated on in Lone Trail, where after recovering Kristen's spaceflight results, Muelsyse implies that he's become so occupied with writing papers that he's passed out from hunger at least twice.
- Visionary Villain: In his eyes, even the greatest creations and companies will eventually decay, but change and advancement itself will never die, making him determined to be one who helps brings about that change. Even Elena begrudgingly admits that for all his deceptions, his grand visions of the future were completely genuine.
Nasti Lunorey
Artist: NoriZC
The director of the Engineering Section.- Colonized Solar System: The main reason Nasti swore loyalty to Kristen is that she was fascinated by the idea of the Sarkaz colonizing space and founding a new Kazdel beyond Terra's limits.
- The Engineer: Naturally, being the director of Engineering, Nasti is highly skilled in building anything Rhine Labs needs, helped by her Banshee lineage giving her an understanding of space and geometry beyond what is normally possible. In particular, she is solely responsible for the construction of H.A.M.H.R.R.
- Mythical Motifs: She is not only a Sarkaz, but a Banshee, as well.
- Our Banshees Are Louder: Is of the Banshee subrace. Similar to Logos, she even has her own bone pens!
Jara B. Wilson
Artist: NoriZC
The director of the Human Resources Section.- Becoming the Mask: She initially infiltrated Rhine Lab as a spy for the Maylander Foundation, but was eventually won over by Kristen's ideals and defected to her side.
- Loved by All: She used be a famous actress, and pretty much everybody in Columbia fondly remembers her films.
- Parental Substitute: She knew Kristen since she was a child, and largely considers herself Kristen's surrogate mother, to the point where her helping Kristen's Project Horizon Arc and obstructing Silence isn't just out of support for her goal, but out of a personal desire to see her succeed.
- Passing the Torch: By the end of "Lone Trail", Jara retires and quits her job at Rhine Lab, intending to leave the future of the company to Saria and Silence who represent the younger generation.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: As the director of Human Resources, Jara does everything in her power to protect the employees of Rhine Lab, and provides assistance to Saria and Silence during their investigations in "Lone Trail". However, she does stand in Silence's way when she tries to stop Project Horizon Arc's completion, due to her personal loyalty to her adoptive daughter and belief in her dream.
- Silver Fox: Despite being past retirement age, Jara is still a very attractive woman.
- Stage Name: She used the name "Marianne Blake" during her acting career.
Justin Fitzroy, Jr.
Artist: NoriZC
The director of the Business Section.- Corrupt Corporate Executive: He is not above (and in fact frequently employs) bribing people to get what he wants, which is what he does to secure Loken's escape from prison and later Ferdinand's. His sweet-talking and under-the-table deals are heavily implied to be the reason why Rhine Lab has gotten into less legal trouble than it should over its lifetime.
- Screw Destiny: He hates the fact that the cure that saved him from a fatal congenital disease was created by complete accident, since that means he owes his life to a random twist of fate. To that end, Fitzroy tries to control everything around him to ensure nothing falls to chance. This is also implied to be why he likes investing in others so much, since he sees it as eliminating the factor of luck in their success."Where the hand of Justin Jr. reaches, there is random chance no longer, ma'am. I help the lunatic to succeed."
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: It's revealed that the reason Kristen was able to hijack Project Horizon Arc was due to Justin forging close relationships with pretty much all of Trimount's government leadership, convincing them to turn a blind eye to Rhine Labs' activities. However, he notes that many of these bridges got burned after the true nature of Project Horizon Arc came to light.
Andenate Maryam
The director of the Scientific Investigation Section.- The Ghost: Has never been seen in person and all that's known of them is their disappearance into the Infy Icefield, with Expeditioner's Joklumarkar covering the operation staged to rescue them.
Dellareed
The director of the Device #9 project that caused Ptilopsis's Oripathy and current condition. She also invented the chip implanted within Ptilopsis's brain that replaces a portion of her brain's functions. A recording of her is the description of Ptilopsis's module, which is given further context in Ptilopsis's Operator Record.- Everyone Has Standards: Despite her supervisor telling her to keep the experiment a secret from Ptilopsis due to its risks, Dellareed still informed her of the various possibilities that might arise during it.Dellareed: This is my line in the sand, as a citizen of Columbia, and as a person.
- Ignored Epiphany: There is indication that she deeply regretted the outcome of her first Device #9 experiment since it Infected and permanently damaged Ptilopsis' brain. However, this doesn't stop Dellareed from trying the experiment again, this time on herself.
- In-Series Nickname: Ptilopsis calls her "Della".
- My God, What Have I Done?: Despite the failsafe mechanisms of Ptilopsis's experiment activating in time, she still sustained injuries to her brain and contracted Oripathy. The recording then mentions "short, intermittent sobbing sounds".
- Posthumous Character: Her death is mentioned by Silence in Ptilopsis's Operator Record, giving context to the description of Ptilopsis's module (which was released in an earlier update and showed a recording of her "during her lifetime").Silence: Her death... had nothing to do with you. I don't have any right to blame her, but that tragedy was brought about by her obsession with her research.
- Professor Guinea Pig: After Ptilopsis became the first person in Columbia to survive a chip transplant operation, Dellareed had a similar chip implanted in her own brain to figure out how the information inside the Originium changed Ptilopsis and what the voice that appeared in Ptilopsis's head was. She then mentions reproducing the Device #9 experiment, implying that she used herself as the test subject and ultimately died.
"Awaken"
- Driven to Suicide: Dorothy connects to Awaken and manages to seize control of it through her own sheer willpower, and she subsequently orders it to destroy itself after realizing the folly of her actions.
- Eldritch Abomination: Awaken is simply a floating reservoir of Transmitter fluid that constantly changes form and doesn't resemble a living creature more than it does a cluster of geometric shapes. It's barely sentient, demonstrates an otherworldly and almost god-like power to reshape the world around it as it pleases, has methods of moving and attacking inexplicable to human logic, and can instantly disappear and reappear without any signs of actual movement.
- Fantastic Nuke: Ferdinand pushed for its creation specifically because he could sell it to the Columbian military as the ultimate weapon of mass destruction, as Awaken has the capability of instantly teleporting to any location on Terra and destroying anything in its immediate vicinity.
- Gameplay and Story Integration: It's a hive mind abomination powered by a collective of many people and linked to all other Transmitter experiments. Fittingly, not only does it share its damage taken with its fellow experiments, its devastating Shattered Vision attack also shares its damage equally among all deployed units, meaning the best way to mitigate it is to build your own collective of Operators.
- Hive Mind: It can only be controlled by the collective consciousness of the dozens of people connected to it.
- Lotus-Eater Machine: Its original intent by Dorothy was to act as a network that people could upload their minds into in order to escape the real world and live in an artificial paradise.
- Reality Warper: Given that it's a pure Arts construct with at least several dozen users powering it, the laws of physics and reality seem to completely break down around it. It perceives everything around it simultaneously and can freely alter physical matter within its range.
- Stationary Boss: It doesn't move normally and constantly fires spikes in preset directions, but it will periodically teleport to another position before unleashing a devastating shockwave.
- Synchronization: It is linked to Dorothy's other Transmitter experiments in a hive mind, which translates to it being able to redistribute half of all damage it takes to all other experiments on the field.
Sanctilaminium Ambrosii
- Crapsaccharine World: While life is tough in the impoverished abbey, it is one of the few places where Sankta and Sarkaz and peacefully coexist. However, as Gerald has correctly deduced, this was not sustainable forever since the underlying issues were never dealt with and eventually conditions would change where a schism would form between the two groups.
- Dying Town: The abbey is not in good condition when it is found, its engine having long run out of fuel and stranded in the barrenlands where food is hard to come by and the winters are harsh and cold. Though the inhabitants were able to survive for several decades on their own, their resources have finally reached their limit and everybody is on the verge of starving.
- Gambit Pileup: Everything involving the abbey becomes a huge mess when several factions attempt to influence events. First, there's Yvangelista who wants to welcome its inhabitants into Laterano, Oren's faction, who want to eliminate the Sarkaz population living there, the Sarkaz, who simply want to leave before the situation escalates, the Church of the Deep, who are trying to spread their influence into the abbey, Arturia, who keeps pushing events along just to see what will happen, and finally Executor, who finds himself caught in the middle of it all.
- Poor Communication Kills: Much of the tragedy that occurs in the abbey comes about not only due to Arturia's meddling, but also everybody's abject refusal to actually be honest with each other. For example, the Sarkaz try to hide their true nature from the Laterano envoys, Raimund refuses to admit he was picking flowers for Fortuna when the sacrarium burns down, casting suspicion on him, both Executor and Lemuen have their suspicions about Oren's duplicity and Arturia's presence but keep that information to themselves, Oren keeps his plans secret from Executor and Lemuen, Stefano doesn't tell anybody about the presence of the Church of the deep, and Clément doesn't tell anybody about Arturia's presence.
- Too Dumb to Live: The Monastery Inhabitant units in-game aren't particularly smart, especially when panicked, as they will often run away from your Operators and towards enemies which only panics them more, and they're even dumb enough that they will run straight off of cliffs, forcing you to babysit them otherwise they will get themselves killed.
- Town with a Dark Secret: While it is a Lateran built abbey that practices the Lateran faith, its inhabitants have been keeping secret the fact that they are also sheltering a group of homeless Sarkaz, something Laterano would never accept. Not to mention, the abbey also harbors a bishop from the Church of the Deep.
Abbot Stefano Torregrossa
Race: Sankta
Artist: 伍秋秋秋秋秋
The abbot of the Sanctilaminium Ambrosii mobile abbey.- Assimilation Plot: In his desperate bid to save both the Sankta and Sarkaz of the abbey, he considers spiking their food with Seaborn flesh forcibly convert them all into Seaborn, but he ultimately decides against it.
- Crisis of Faith: He is a firm follower of the Lateran faith's tenets to be a good and moral person, but he cannot reconcile this with the fact that if he wants to evacuate his people to Laterano, he must leave behind the abbey's Sarkaz population. This is what ultimately causes him to consider converting to the Church of the Deep.
- Foil: To Yvangelista. Both are high ranking religious leaders who want to do their part to help everybody as per their faith. However, where Yvangelista is a pragmatic realist who has to be selective about who he helps to preserve Laterano's resources, Stefano is a true idealist who tries to help everybody despite his abbey's circumstances, further straining its meager resources.
- Walking the Earth: In order to rediscover his faith, he decides to make his way back to Laterano on foot rather than go with the abbey.
Clément Dubois
Race: Elafia
Artist: 伍秋秋秋秋秋
The groundskeeper of the abbey.- Despair Event Horizon: He had long been struggling with his loss of hope, but Arturia's arrival and the subesquent events at the abbey following Lemuen's visit are what finally drive him over the edge and cause him to try and become a Seaborn.
- Driven to Suicide: He tries to consume bread spiked with Seaborn flesh but it ends up killing him rather than mutating him, though he welcomes that fate all the same.
- Final Boss: Of the "Hortus de Escapismo" event.
- Mercy Kill: If life in the abbey was about to collapse, he was fully prepared to detonate a number of bombs he had rigged under the abbey in an effort to spare the people from a prolonged death of starvation or exposure in the barrens.
- Straw Nihilist: He's come to believe that nothing can stop despair.
- The Unfought: Though he is supposed to be the Final Boss, you don't actually fight him because he is invulnerable for the entire stage. Instead, your objective is to keep the civilians on the map alive until he leaves. However, he does periodically apply debuffs on all operators in the field, cycling between debuffing attack speed, block count, and max HP, activate and shut down different collapsing boulders, and summon backups separate from the enemy counter.
Gerald / Holst Tyfindale
Click to see him with his hood down.
Race: Sarkaz
Artist: 伍秋秋秋秋秋
The abbey's chief hunter and Stefano's bodyguard.
- The Big Guy: As a former mercenary, he serves as the abbey's muscle both in hunting and defending the abbey from bandits.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Executor quickly deduces that Gerald is actually Holst Tyfindale, a Sarkaz mercenary who deserted Kazdel after its civil war and is wanted by the Notarial Hall for killing three Lateran soldiers.
- Face Death with Dignity: He is very calm when he commits suicide, as he is used to death as a Sarkaz mercenary and he sees this as an opportunity to reunite with his departed friend Eileen.
- Heroic Sacrifice: When he discovers that the Lateran army has surrounded the abbey, he commits suicide and has Clément present his head and dagger to Executor in a bid to have mercy shown to his group.
- Lost Lenore: He lost a dear friend named Eileen due to an infected injury and has never quite gotten over it.
- Off with His Head!: He cuts his head off with his own blade. He then has the blade and head brought to Federico by Clément as evidence of his death, along with a plea for mercy for the remaining Sarkaz.
- Old Soldier: He is a veteran of the Kazdel Civil War.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: He decides this is the best course of action once Laterano takes notice of the abbey, due to he and his group being Sarkaz.
- Senseless Sacrifice: Sadly, his suicide ultimately did not achieve anything since the Lateran forces being mobilized were entirely the efforts of Oren whose paranoia led him to continue his attempt to wipe out the Sarkaz regardless, while Executor and Lemuen had no intention of harming his people to begin with. If anything, his death may have made things worse instead by driving Clément off the Despair Event Horizon and causing him to attempt his plan to Mercy Kill the abbey’s residents.
Raimund
Click to see him with his hood down.
Race: Sarkaz
Artist: 伍秋秋秋秋秋
One of the abbey's hunters.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: While not explicit, it's clear he has a crush on Fortuna, despite them being a Sarkaz and Sankta couple. Thankfully, they manage to leave the abbey together after Fortuna becomes a Fallen and opts to stay with the Sarkaz.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: He ends up forming a rapport with Executor despite his initial mistrust of him.
- You Are in Command Now: After Gerald's death, he promises to lead Gerald's group to find the peaceful future he promised.
Hyman
Click to see her appearance (Spoilers!)
Race: Sarkaz/Seaborn
- But Now I Must Go: She leaves the abbey with Aulus to continue her evolution into a complete Seaborn.
- Parental Substitute: She ended up taking in Estara and Erendel and raised them as her own children.
- Posthumous Character: While Hyman is mentioned several times during "Hortus de Escapismo", she's never seen until it's revealed she was mutated into a Seaborn.
- Was Once a Man: Even as Seaborn, Hyman manages to retain enough of her humanity to not attack people she knows.
Fortuna
Race: Sankta
Arknights: 伍秋秋秋秋秋
A resident of the abbey.
- Affectionate Nickname: She is called "Tuna" by her friend Delfina.
- Fallen Angel: She becomes a Fallen when she accidentally shoots Delfina in a struggle.
- Gameplay and Story Integration: Fortuna is a non-combatant who has next to no experience with wielding her handgun. Her behavior as an elite enemy reflects this, as while her bullets have extremely high damage output, she will rapidly target random operators in range with each attack having a chance to miss until she expends all her ammo at once, reflecting her inexperience in contrast to other enemy Sankta units.
- I Choose to Stay: At the end of "Hortus de Escapismo", Fortuna decides to leave with Raimund rather than go to Laterano.
- It's All My Fault: She feels incredibly guilty over accidentally killing Delfina, and blames herself for it despite everybody assuring her it was an accident and she's not at fault.
- Mini-Boss: She appears as one during HE-6 and HE-EX-7, and becomes a Dual Boss with Clément on HE-EX-8.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: She genuinely believes that she can convince Lemuen to let the abbey's Sarkaz popuation into Laterano.
Delfina
Race: Sankta
A resident of the abbey.- Affectionate Nickname: She is called "Fina" by her friend Fortuna.
- The Resenter: She blames the Lateran envoys for driving a schism between the abbey's Sarkaz and non-Sarkaz population, and resents Fortuna for wanting to go to Laterano and naively believing that they can reconcile a centuries-long grudge between the species. This eventually leads to her coming to blows with Fortuna, although Fortuna's comments about Delfina not being herself imply that her emotions were being amplified by Arturia's Arts.
- I Just Shot Marvin in the Face: When she tries to steal Fortuna's guardian gun, they get into a struggle and she ends up getting shot and killed.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: She dies early in the event after getting accidentally shot by Fortuna.
Estara and Erendel
Estara (left) and Erendel (right)
Race: Liberi
A pair of young twins living in the abbey.- Children Are Innocent: Being just young children, they are completely unaware of the hardships surrounding them, and Executor has to explain the concept of eating and going hungry to them. They also mistake Clément's corpse as him just sleeping peacefully.
- Interspecies Adoption: They are adopted by Hyman, who is a Sarkaz and they both adore and see her as their Parental Substitute.
- Morality Pet: For Hyman when she transforms into a Seaborn and to a lesser extent, Executor as he grapples with his emerging emotions and even Arturia, who seems to have a soft spot for them and tells them stories about Executor's exploits.
- Parental Abandonment: It's unclear what happened to their real parents, but they were orphans by the time Hyman found and took them in.
Sui
Affiliated Characters: Chongyue, Dusk, Ling, Nian, Shu
- Achilles' Heel:
- They are all vulnerable to fireworks to go with their Chinese New Year theme.
- In gameplay, the Second Brother's waregeist creations are particularly vulnerable to Damage Over Time effects, as each damage tick is considered a separate "hit" that adds up to the number of hits needed to defeat them. Ambusher Specialists - particularly Ethan - trivialize them due to their wide area-of-effect strikes that hit everything in range and apply damage over time.
- Ambiguous Race: Despite looking obviously like dragons, their races remain "Undisclosed", because being Pieces of God, they don't belong to any particular race in Terra. To make matters more complicated, the beasts they are based on are called "False Dragons", the children of the Dragon King who are a hybrid of a dragon and other creatures.
- Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: The government of Yan has devoted massive resources and preparation to containing the Sui if they get out of line. However, the losses projected, particularly against the Second Brother, are colossal. Yan expects to lose an entire mobile city and a huge chunk of their military just to contain him.
- Dragons Are Divine: The true Sui is an immensely powerful Feranmut, and they resemble a Chinese dragon.
- Gender-Equal Ensemble: The family has 6 brothers and 6 sisters. Though it's subverted with the murder of Jie, leaving the family potentially with 6 brothers and 5 sisters.
- Horned Humanoid: The siblings all have horns and a tail, although the actual design varies between them.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: They are a family of twelve.
- Meaningful Name: "Sui" is in fact the real name of the god the siblings are derived from.
- Mythical Motifs: Both Nian and Dusk are based on Chinese New Year beasts, however the beasts depicted in their E2 art look nothing like the mythical Nian beast, rather being more likely based on the Sons of the Dragon who are dragon hybrids themselves.
- Oddly Small Organization: Despite having an entire Yan government agency (the Sui Regulator) tasked to keep track of them, there are only twelve of them in total, but each individual is phenomenally powerful. As of now, only four of the twelve have yet to be named (with the Youngest Brother briefly mentioned in Nian's voice line).
- Omnicidal Maniac: When the real god Sui recombines itself, it will cause untold destruction to Yan and perhaps even the rest of Terra. This is eventually made a plot point in "Invitation to Wine".
- Physical Gods: They are fragments of a bona fide ancient Yan god, and thus are seemingly immortal entities with capabilities far beyond most normal people. Interestingly, they all exhibit certain gimmicks: where Nian's seems to be forging, Dusk's is painting. Nian comments that there's another sibling who specializes in writing (later revealed to be Ling), implying that everyone in this family is skilled at one field of specialty. Later events revealed Chongyue's domain being martial arts, Wang's being forgery, Shu's being agriculture, the Youngest Brother's is cuisine, Ji's is weaving and it is implied that one of the siblings specializes in medicine as Chongyue mentioned seeking out said sibling in "Where Vernal Winds Will Never Blow" in an effort to find a cure for his disciple's Oripathy.
- Pieces of God: "Who is Real" reveals that Nian and her siblings are in fact fragments of an ancient Yan god that betrayed its kind by splitting itself into 12 entities and helping Yan destroy and banish all of the other Yan gods. However, that original god seeks to eventually revive itself, which would mean its fragments, including Nian, would cease to exist. Nian wants to prevent this from happening as she's come to enjoy having her own free will and identity.
- Pointy Ears: One of the few physical traits shared among the siblings.
- Significant Birth Date: Each sibling's birthday corresponds to their position in the family; Chongyue is the oldest with his birthday of Jan 1, and Dusk is the second-youngest with her birthday of November 11.
- Temporary Online Content: Every playable character is limited to the Chinese New Year-themed Limited Headhunting banner.
- Walking Spoiler: Given how mysterious they are, almost everything about them is bound to be marked as spoilers.
- Wrong Context Magic:
- The powers they wield are curiously not derived from any Originium Arts theories, confusing the researchers who try to study them, which is given since they are Physical Gods with no connection to Originium whatsoever.
- They are also this seemingly to other deities in the setting. As Patron Gods of their respective regions are only able to act divine within their area of influence seemingly, while the Siblings of Sui are able to maintain their divine power even outside of Yan—as is the case of Nian and Dusk able to explicitly use their magic elsewhere in the world without hindrance. It's not clear if their fractured existence makes them exceptions to the normal rules governing the world, or if Sui himself is a caliber above all the other Gods on Terra.
Wang, the Second Brother
Artist: 一千
Second-oldest of the Sui siblings, he is a schemer who seeks to revive Sui and set up a grand game spanning all of Terra.- Cain and Abel: He serves as the Cain to the rest of his siblings, as he actually wants to reunify the Pieces of God, which will collectively render them all Deader than Dead to revive Sui—and he already has a headstart with killing Jie after a dispute. Ji would later help him with his scheme after the events of "Here a People Sows".
- The Chessmaster: He was the one orchestrating the events of "Invitation to Wine" and "Where Vernal Winds Will Never Blow", through the black go pieces and manipulating another Feranmut, respectively.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: "Where Vernal Winds Will Never Blow" reveal that he does genuinely love his whole family, especially Shuo (Chongyue) whom he holds no hard feelings against his constant interference with his plans to reunite them to fuse into Sui once more and feels deep regret over causing the death of Jie — the latter of which serves as his motivator to accelerate his plans as fusing into Sui will revive her as part of whole being they once were if for a brief moment before they collectively cease to exist by becoming the greater Feranmut once more. "Here a People Sows" reveals that his actual plan to Kill and Replace Sui was to keep his siblings from being exploited by mortals.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": He was only known as the Second Brother prior to "Here a People Sows", which reveals that his actual name is Wang.
- Kill and Replace: In "Here a People Sows" Wang states that he intends to kill Sui, takes Its place and use Its powers for the purpose of all mortals.
- Pieces of God: Despite already being a fragment of a Feranmut, he shattered himself even further into 181 black go pieces to implant into various artifacts and relics around Yan to expedite his own plans by using them as avatars of Sui's return. "Here a People Sows" shows that he can return to his whole physical form, however.
- Power Copying: His talent is explicitly mimicry, specifically in strategy, able to learn techniques and personal patterns through just observation alone. It's to the point that he, over the course of decades, managed to not only capture the Grand Tutor's playstyle as his own but managed to perfect it and beat all of his strategies rather effortlessly in their last game against one another.
- Significant Birth Date: As the second-oldest, his birthday is implied to be February 2.note
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: His plan is revealed in "Here a People Sows" to be reviving and then killing Sui to take Its place, using Its powers for the benefits of mortals. Shu even warns him that the plan will likely lead to his demise, but Wang replies that he does not care as long as his siblings can be themselves.
Jie, the Third Sister
Fifth-oldest of the Sui siblings.- The Lost Lenore: "Where Vernal Winds Will Never Blow" reveals that the Second Brother intends to revive Jie by reviving Sui.
- Posthumous Character: "Invitation to Wine" reveals that she was killed by the Second Brother sixty years ago after a disagreement.
- Significant Birth Date: As the fifth-oldest, her birthday is implied to be May 5.
- Meaningful Name: Her name refers to the person in Chinese legend who invented writing and Chinese characters, fitting with her domain of calligraphy.
- Unperson: Averted. In "Here a People Sows" it is revealed that even though Jie's own writings and scrolls disappeared when she died, her legacy lived on in the form of writings that are still in use by schools and even the Tianshi Bureau.
Ji, the Seventh Brother
- Arc Villain: Is one for "Here a People Sows".
- Cain and Abel: Serves as the Cain alongside Wang to his other siblings after the events of "Here a People Sows", aiding Wang in his plan to revive Sui.
- Final Boss: A woven creation of his making serves as the final boss of "Here a People Sows".
- Master of Threads: His specialty is textile and weaving. His appearance in CGs is often accompanied by woven cloth, and his creations can even come to life in a similar manner to Dusk's paintings as seen in "Here a People Sows".
- Meaningful Name: His name means "hemp threads", referring to his domain of weaving.
- Significant Birth Date: Being the seventh oldest, his birthday is implied to be July 7.
"Youngest Brother"
The youngest of the Sui siblings.- Early-Bird Cameo: Downplayed. He's mentioned in one of Nian's lines.
- Significant Birth Date: As the youngest, his birthday is implied to be December 12.
- Supreme Chef: Nian mentions him as a "great chef" whose food puts Rhodes Island's to shame.(Nian's Talk 2 line) Nian: Maaan, I'm so hungry... But as they say, gourmet food takes a gourmet cook to make. I've got a brother who's a great chef, and when our family all gets together, he can cook you something up in a jiffy if you just ask. Now that's what I call a good chef! Rhodes Island's food just tastes like crap compared to his.
"Sui-Xiang"
- Beware My Stinger Tail: Starting from his second phase, he gains the ability to use Heavensfall, where he stabs the closest melee unit with the sword on his tail to deal two hits of massive physical damage. If they survive, they'll take Arts Damage Over Time that increases in severity as time goes on.
- Enemy Without: The true nature of the Sui-Xiang, an illusion representing the fears and doubts of the Sui siblings.
- Flunky Boss: Before engaging in battle, a large number of Wisps will attempt to converge on the slumbering Sui-Xiang. Letting them get to him will have him absorb them to buff his maximum health. In the last stretch of his fight, more Wisps will spawn even while he's active, which he can absorb to reduce the cooldown of his Limit Break.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: In the story, Ling defeats it handily due to deducing its true nature as an illusion and dispelling it with nearly no effort. In-game, Sui-Xiang is a massive and powerful boss that can easily fold an unprepared team in half, with Ling herself usually being unable to beat him on her own.
- Guide Dang It!: Sui-Xiang throws conventional targeting mechanics out the window, with each of his attacks using a special targeting system. His attacks and Heavensfall prioritize the closest melee unit, with Heavensfall additionally prioritizing units without their skills active and his attacks gaining a second target in his final phase, while his Faraway Mountains' Thunderclap prioritizes the closest ranged units instead. And even then, "closest" is unintuitive in the sense that it's relative to the bottom-middle tile of Sui's sprite instead of the middle as one might expect.
- Limit Break: Omnidirectional Breath. Sui-Xiang fires a row of lasers that blasts all tiles to his right, dealing massive mixed damage and scorching any unoccupied tiles, making them permanently unusable. While the first Operator in each row hit will take full damage, they'll also reduce the damage of any Operators behind them and protect the tiles behind them from the scorching effect. While he'll use this almost instantly after entering his third phase, it has an extremely long cooldown afterwards, which can be shortened if he absorbs any Wisps.
- Sequential Boss: Has three phases separated by waves of enemies and an intermission with his Wisps. Each phase increases his stats and gives him new attacks to use against you.
- Shock and Awe: His Faraway Mountains' Thunderclap targets the three closest ranged units with lightning bolts that constantly strike them for a duration, dealing Arts damage in a cross shape with each hit.
- Stationary Boss: Can't move normally, although he does change positions each time he changes phases.
- Tele-Frag: The result if any units are present on the tiles that he spawns on, with them being instantly defeated regardless of their HP or any skill effects.
- Time-Limit Boss: You have 9 minutes to defeat him before he creates an explosion that causes an instant loss. This timer will be extended by an extra minute if you manage to get him to his last phase.
Team Rainbow
Affiliated Characters: Ash, Blitz, Doc, Ela, Frost, Fuze, Iana, Tachanka
- Ambiguously Human: Invoked. The playable members' bios all have their races listed as "Unknown" because they're foreigners to Terra, even though they're all Homo sapiens from an alternate, near-identical Earth setting. It's implied to be Kal'tsit's doing.(Kal'tsit's note in Tachanka's Archive File 4) "This land is vast enough, and the secrets it contains far surpass our levels of understanding. Should we study every single phenomenon we do not understand, it would only serve to waste the energy of the Medical Department."
- Art Shift: Team Rainbow has a decidedly more realistic design scheme compared to the rest of the cast, with many of its members being drawn more similarly to Reunion Members than the rest of Rhodes Island's operators. The more Animesque art style they're depicted in here is still a far cry from the very realistic one employed in Siege.
- Badass Normal: Being natives of Earth rather than Terra means that none of them know how to use originium Arts, and their operator profiles hint they may not even be able to even if they tried learning how. That said, being good enough to be recruited as operatives for Team Rainbow means they're some of the finest soldiers and law enforcement officers on Earth, so they can still kick ass even if they lack the blatant supernatural flair of the Arknights cast.
- Black Box:
- Since Terran technology uses Originium to function, almost anything that looks like contemporary Earth technology ends up being this for Team Rainbow. Ash mentions how they took a car from a group of bandits, but once it broke down and they opened it up they couldn't make heads or tails of how it worked, with Tachanka wondering if it even had an engine as they understood it.
- Frost's module description shows that Team Rainbow's own tech is also this to Rhodes Island, with an engineer being excited over their communication equipment and the solar panel charger.
- And in general, Earth guns serve as a complete mystery to Rhodes Island because with the availability of Originium, it never occurred to Terrans to actually research and invent gunpowder. Even after careful explanation from Team Rainbow about gunpowder's chemical composition and how it's manufactured, they still have no idea where to start trying to replicate it.
- Bottomless Magazines: Zigzagged in-game as while their regular attacks have endless ammunition, Ash and Blitz have the rare mechanic of having a skill with limited charges that need them to be retreated and deployed again to restock. Completely averted in the story, as their weapons gradually ran out of ammunition during the six months between their stranding on Terra and making contact with Rhodes Island. They eventually switch over to cartridges with originium-based propellants after long and grueling work from Rhodes Island's engineering department, but the ammunition isn't as effective as Earth's nitrocellulose propellants.
- Combat Pragmatist: The sheer physical disparity between them and many of Terra's inhabitants mean they have to operate like this in order to keep up with whoever they end up fighting. Thankfully for them, being a counterterrorism unit meant they practically lived and breathed this trope as part of their job, with one of the men, John Clark, who founded the unit having a place on the trope's quote page.John Clark: "Timothy, "fair" means I bring all my people home alive. Fuck the others."
- Fantasy Gun Control: Discussed by a Rhodes Island engineer, who tells everyone to keep their mouths shut about the ammunition they developed for Team Rainbow's use lest they draw the kind of attention from Laterano that no one wants. The reason why is explained below under Firearms Are Revolutionary.
- Firearms Are Revolutionary: Earth-style firearms, to be specific. Terra has guns, but they're rare, expensive, and difficult to use, with misfires potentially infecting everyone nearby with Oripathy. By contrast, guns made on Earth are so simple to use that somebody with zero training can fire one the moment they pick it up, you can teach them to use it properly with just a few minutes of instruction, and they can be trained to use it proficiently in a matter of weeks. It's for this very reason that Rhodes Island treats their manufacturing firearm ammunition based on Earth designs as a closely-guarded secret, as stated above under Fantasy Gun Control.
- Fish out of Water: They're a modern-day counterterrorism unit dumped into a world where magic is real, the average human has Super-Strength by Earth standards, and the definition of "human" is much broader than it is on Earth. Oh, and the Green Rocks civilization runs on also cause an incurable fatal disease. They manage to adapt, but the first six months were pretty rough.
- Foil: They're essentially a micro-version of Rhodes Island, as both are composed of a Rag Tag Bunch Of Misfits. However, whereas Rhodes Island is essentially a group of people with different but otherwise mundane backgrounds from various countries and factions, Team Rainbow is an elite multinational counterterrorist unit comprised of various elite operators across the globe. Blitz even mentions that they feel vaguely familiar.
- Guest Fighter: Representing Rainbow Six Siege.
- Higher-Tech Species: Crazy as it might sound, Earth turns out to be this, at least in certain areas.
- Team Rainbow's introduction to Rhodes Island threw a spotlight on Terra's Schizo Tech and how it compared to tech from a world without Originium, and reading their operator records makes it abundantly clear that Originium has allowed the nations of Terra to skip massive sections of Earth's tech tree. They can build landships hundreds of meters long that carry cities on their back, drone technology is widespread enough for a poorly-funded terrorist group like Reunion to deploy them en masse, Artificial Intelligence, Power Armor, and holograms are all in limited production...yet they have no idea what nitrocellulose is, despite Earth developing guncotton in 1836 and nitric acid being described in 14th century alchemical texts. God only knows what else Terra doesn't have.
- Being cut off from Earth means this trope actually works against Team Rainbow, with Rhodes Island's engineering department struggling to repair and maintain their equipment. Ash's grenade launcher rounds are described as "too complicated" by a Rhodes Island engineer and attempts to replicate ammunition for Tachanka's machine gun cut the range from 700 meters to 200. This even extends to the political side of things, as one of the engineers wrote "Please keep the records of Operator Tachanka's weapon modifications strictly confidential to everyone, especially Sankta operators!" in the man's E2 promotion record, implying that Laterano would take the existence of firearms which don't require Originium Arts to use very seriously.
- Team Rainbow's introduction to Rhodes Island threw a spotlight on Terra's Schizo Tech and how it compared to tech from a world without Originium, and reading their operator records makes it abundantly clear that Originium has allowed the nations of Terra to skip massive sections of Earth's tech tree. They can build landships hundreds of meters long that carry cities on their back, drone technology is widespread enough for a poorly-funded terrorist group like Reunion to deploy them en masse, Artificial Intelligence, Power Armor, and holograms are all in limited production...yet they have no idea what nitrocellulose
- Like a Duck Takes to Water: Team Rainbow had to adapt to many things when they were stranded on Terra, but defending innocent people from the predations of criminals, mercenaries, and general scumbags was not one of them, and Rhodes Island was very pleased to learn just how good they were.
- Long-Range Fighter: Team Rainbow as a whole primarily rely on guns, as they come from an Earth very similar to our own and don't have the physical skillset to keep up with the rest of Rhodes Island in melee. This is reflected in their long attack ranges when deployed.
- Multinational Team: Is comprised of various nationalities representing their respective countries' special force units. In particular, the playable operators here are Americannote , Canadiannote , German, Russian, Dutch, French and Polish.
- Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: Inverted. Team Rainbow consists of the best of the best Earth has to offer, drawing personnel from the cream of military, special forces, and law enforcement units across the globe. Each member is highly intelligent, immaculately trained, and an expert in counterterrorism operations and their own specialized fields, all of whom are kept in peak physical condition through an intensive exercise regimen created by medical professionals specializing in physical fitness. Combine all of this with an ethos where "fair" means "we all come home alive, fuck the other guys", and nearly every operation involving Team Rainbow ended with them curb-stomping their opposition. Then they ended up on Terra, where even rag-tag desert bandits are more than a match for them in the physical department and some people can use magic they've never seen before and thus have no way of predicting. This negated two of the biggest advantages they had over their opponents back on Earth, leaving them with just their training, adaptability, and guns. The lattermost wouldn't have been much help either if they hadn't been transported over with a warehouse full of ammunition.
- Not Rare Over There: This particular example of the trope is Zig-Zagged in a weird combination of Played Straight, Justified, Inverted, Subverted, and possibly others. Guns and ammunition are commonly used on Earth but not on Terra, meaning Team Rainbow had to conserve ammunition until they could find more. Then they make contact with Rhodes Island they learn why they're so rare; Terran guns and etched Originium bullets are Laterano designs which function completely differently from the ones made on Earth. This means none of the ammunition available to them is compatible with their Earth-made guns, and since none of them can use Arts it's impossible for them to use Terran guns (with the exception of grenade launchers that use springs or compressed air to fire their payload). For their part, the Rhodes Island operators are quite surprised to encounter guns literally anyone can pick up and use with no prior training.
- Operator Incompatibility: Slightly downplayed, but the team suffers from this twice over. Every one of them is a Long-Range Fighter both by training and necessity, and unfortunately for them, most Terran ranged weapons (with the exception of grenade launchers) are unusable by people from Earth.
- Terran crossbows have such heavy draw weights that even Tachanka, easily the strongest member of Team Rainbow, could barely manage to cock one by himself. Frost's module shows her being given a Sarkaz military bow that she struggled to open by herself. Crossbows like this do exist in real life, but even the lightest are effectively impossible to cock without using a windlass.
- Terran firearms and etched Originium bullets require the user to be proficient in complex, difficult-to-master Arts to fire them properly, and they must be used together; no putting Terran bullets in Earth guns or vice-versa. Since none of Team Rainbow can use Arts, they can't use Terran guns either. Rhodes Island's engineering teams were eventually able to make ammunition compatible with Team Rainbow's weapons, but it wasn't easy.
- Terran crossbows have such heavy draw weights that even Tachanka, easily the strongest member of Team Rainbow, could barely manage to cock one by himself. Frost's module shows her being given a Sarkaz military bow that she struggled to open by herself. Crossbows like this
- Outside-Context Problem: The playable members of Team Rainbow come from an entirely different universe from every other character in the series with all the issues this entails.
- Having come from Earth where Originium is nonexistent, Team Rainbow are similar to the Abyssal Hunters in that they have practically zero traces of Originium in their bodies. Their medical records are censored in order to keep this fact secret.
- HR notes that despite being soldiers, all of Team Rainbow are shown to be highly educated, with Ash and Blitz being fluent in multiple languages while Tachanka and Fuze show high technical aptitude compared to Rhodes Island, where a good number of its Operators are barely even literate. While a college education or miltary equivalent is a basic requirement for Team Rainbow, universal education in Terra is practically non-existent with the countryside largely stuck in Medieval Stasis while even in the mobile cities, education is a privilege only the upper class has access to. This is even worse for the Infected, who are typically denied education even if they're able to afford it due to the discrimination against them in a lot of areas.
- They are uninfected who will not hesistate to help Infected in need, which is practically unheard of in Terra. As a counterterrorist unit holding liberal Earth values, Team Rainbow is naturally predisposed to helping civilians of any type while Rhodes Island is largely led and staffed by Infected and has to obfuscate its humanitarian efforts by presenting itself as a pharmaceutical company.
- Puny Earthlings: Compared to the races of Terra, Humans from Earth are sorely lacking in the physical department, with Tachanka having difficulty even cocking a normal Terran crossbow. Keep in mind that in order to be part of Team Rainbow, you need to be one of the fittest and most physically capable people on Earth.
- Too Good to Be True: The first contact between Rhodes Island proper and Team Rainbow involved the latter holding off a group of Sarkaz mercenaries at an RI safehouse with dozens of infected sheltering inside while Rangers, Franka, Liskarm, and Schwarz pulled a Big Damn Heroes attacking the mercenaries from behind. After the dust settled and the two groups got to talking, Franka expresses her skepticism about Team Rainbow and rhetorically asks her team what kind of saints would put their lives on the line for infected like that.
- Trapped in Another World: "Operation Originium Dust" is set half a year after an explosion from Levi Klitschko's experiment transported him and the playable operators of Team Rainbow to Terra. With Levi's death from his creation near the climax of the event, the still-stranded four decide to register with Rhodes Island as an affiliated group and explore Terra to find a way back to their world.
- Token Human: Unlike the various "human" races on Terra, all members of Team Rainbow are humans from a very slightly alternate version of our Earth, and thus can be classified as Homo sapiens.
- Universal Ammunition: An unusual aversion. Due to firearm ammunition on Terra being constructed like tiny caster staves, specially-made guns and complicated Originium Arts are required to fire them. The first makes Team Rainbow's guns from their home universe incompatible with Terran firearm cartridges even if the dimensions match, and the second locks Team Rainbow out of using most Terran-native tools, much less guns (limiting them to "Arts-charged" items similar to battery-powered stuff in real life). According to Tachanka's operator file, Rhodes Island's engineering department spent a lot of time and money developing compatible ammunition for Team Rainbow, and even then it required modifying their imported weapons to the point where they're not as effective on Terra as they were back on Earth.
- Weak, but Skilled: While they are lacking in physical ability compared to Rhodes Island's Operators, they are still incredibly well-trained and experienced soldiers who are more than able to hold their own in a fight. It's even noted in Ash's profile that there's a lot Rhodes Island could learn from them.
- We Have Those, Too: The rarity of guns on Terra made Team Rainbow wonder if they even existed until months after their arrival, and it's only after making contact with Rhodes Island that they understand just how different Terran guns are from the ones made on Earth.
- Wrecked Weapon: Much of the high-tech equipment that came with them was rendered unusable due to battle damage and lack of proper facilities to perform maintenance, and even with the help of Rhodes Island's engineering department several items can't be restored to full functionality.
Tower of Babel (Spoiler Warning)
Affiliated Characters: W the mercenary
Former Members: Ace, Amiya, Ascalon, Closure, Doctor, Garcin, Hoederer, Ines, Kal'tsit, Logos, Scout
- 0% Approval Rating: While Theresa was beloved by all Sarkaz, the same could not have been said for Babel due to their non-militant stance and their indiscrimination on recruiting members, including people from Leithanien who were an enemy of Kazdel. The organization was eventually driven out of Kazdel and many Sarkaz made attempts to destroy them feeling they had deceived Theresa and believing that she would return to Kazdel with Babel gone.
- Foreshadowing: The fact that the organization is named after the biblical Tower of Babel, whose construction was sabotaged by God who sowed confusion and discord among humanity, strongly hints to the fact that the organization would be brought down from the inside. In fact, "Babel" shows that the organization was sabotaged from within by the pre-amnesia Doctor themselves, who were following the directives given to them by their fellow Precursors, who are essentially worshipped as gods by the Terrans, particularly the Sarkaz.
- The Purge: Babel essentially disbanded after Theresa's death before reforming into Rhodes Island. Many of its Sarkaz went back to being mercenaries and some would end up fighting Rhodes Island later. A few operator profiles show that some chose to stay and are still in the employ of Rhodes Island, such as the Human Resources Department and an unnamed Sarkaz boiler operator.
- Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Of the eponymous Tower of Babel from the Book of Genesis.
Theresa
Artist: 唯@W
The "Sarkaz King" who was a major player in the Kazdel Civil War and the head of Babel. She was presumably killed in a coup staged by Theresis, which led to Babel's disbandment.
- Assassin Outclassin': Almost. The Babel stage BB-9 enacts the scene of her assassination, in which she kills thirteen assassins sent after her using an Orbiting Particle Shield, and it's all but stated that if not for the Doctor playing a part in giving her assassins an opening, she would have survived. She still manages to kill them all first before succumbing to her wounds.
- Back from the Dead: By the end of Chapter 9, Theresis manages to resurrect her... somehow. However, given that her consciousness and soul survives in Amiya, the Theresa that Theresis brought back to life is implied to be by all means, an Empty Shell.
- Badass Pacifist: Despite her reputation, Theresa never actually fights and instead uses her powers to pacify Sarkaz. Subverted in Babel where it’s shown that she can and will fight with killing intent if given sufficient reason and if doing so is the most merciful choice.
- Big Damn Hug: The last thing that Theresa did for Amiya was hugging her before she finally succumbed to her injuries, with Amiya still in her embrace◊.
- Book Ends: In Babel, the first time Theresa met the Doctor near the beginning of the event, she held their hands with a gentle smile as they converse for the first time◊. The last time they met and converse, Theresa once again held the Doctor's hands◊ - this time with a sad smile - as she erased their memories.
- Cover Innocent Eyes and Ears: In Babel, Theresa used her arts to shield Amiya's eyes and ears to make sure Amiya isn't really aware of what is going on when Theresa is fighting Theresis' assassins. She also made sure that Amiya is asleep when the Doctor came in so she isn't aware of the Doctor's betrayal.
- Cute Clumsy Girl: As attested by both W and Ascalon, Theresa can be quite clumsy; she'd accidentally break a door and tries to fix it, trips over her own skirt, and sometimes even forgets her meetings.
- The Dreaded: As the ruler of the Sarkaz, Theresa wields both incredible power and unquestionable authority among their kind, causing just about every Sarkaz to defer to her in a mixture of respect and fear. Ironically, when met in person, Theresa turns out to be a down-to-earth, placid, and almost naïve woman, which utterly stuns W.
- It is actually this very factor that encouraged the Confessarius to tell Theresis to revive Theresa, despite the sacrilegious implications that carries, as her power and prestige siding with him would make his will absolute since very few Sarkaz will question him with the Theresa, the rightful ruler, seeming to agree with him.
- Expy: She's basically one of SOPMOD II from Girls' Frontline, at least superficially, with the most telltale clues being her overall design, especially her asymmetrical horns, and close relationship with W, who was also a recycled character from said game. However, after her revival, she is revealed to be closer to M16A1 in personality as she does a Face–Heel Turn and sides willingly with Theresis's plan for The Needs of the Many.
- Foreshadowing:
- Theresa is mentioned in Waai Fu's bio when a member of the Human Resources Department reads off an inspirational quote to the rest of HR and then says "I hope you all appreciate this quote from Theresa", implying this "Theresa" was a renowned figure in Rhodes Island (or at least within HR); it's later revealed that she's generally kept a secret from the newer operators at Rhodes Island, although HR still talks about her freely amongst each other. She makes a proper debut in Darknights' Memoir.
- W's recruitment and Elite 2 lines have her passive-aggressively lampshading the events of "what happened that day", and that if the Doctor doesn't remember, they can get along. Come Chapter 8, it's revealed that the Doctor themselves were directly responsible for Theresa's death, and W never forgave them for it, but has decided not to act upon it because their amnesia has made them a different person from who they used to be.
- 'Theresa' is also the name of the player on this old promotion picture◊ of the Beta incarnation of the game.
- Face–Heel Turn: After being revived by Theresis and his court, Theresa is quickly convinced to side with his genocidal plans as she sees this is the only way to end 'the cycle of destruction' the Sarkaz repeatedly face and that it would be better off for Kazdel to Take Over the World to end all the ceaseless conflict. However, a conversation between Theresis and the Confessarius notes that Theresa's true emotions have deliberately been suppressed as part of the resurrection ritual, implying she's not in her right mind.
- Friend to All Children: Theresa adores children and doesn't mind to spend her time to dote on them, giving hugs and reassurance when she could, and many of the children loved her in return. The two most prominent examples are Ascalon and Amiya.
- Good Step Mother: Theresa practically adopted Amiya, and from what was seen in Episode 8, Vigilo and Babel, she was, by all accounts, a good mother; good enough that one of the memory Amiya remembers in chapter 8 prior to her battle with the Deathless Black Snake was of Theresa doting on her, and when she wakes up after briefly falling unconscious afterwards, she calls out for Theresa first instead of Kal'tsit or the Doctor. Theresa also expressed her regrets in pushing the crown of the Lord of Fiends to Amiya before she was truly ready, wishing that she could watch her grow up, and tried her best to make sure Amiya won't be overwhelmed by sealing off parts of the crown; even when she stabbed Amiya's chest, Amiya didn't feel any pain, but warmth instead.Theresa: If your mom and dad were at your side when you slept at night, would you be a lot happier? (...) Ah, I... It's fine, it's fine. It's fine, Amiya. I'm here. It will all be okay, Amiya. Your mom and dad must have thought so. No matter how many worries fill their minds, parents always think of more when looking at their children. Sometimes, it's the only reason for us to continue living.
- She's also one to Ascalon, so much so that Ascalon is utterly devoted to her and took it really hard when Theresa died. If asked in the present day, Ascalon would remember Theresa not as a saint or messiah-like figure like most others, but as a clumsy woman who is nevertheless genuinely empathetic and kind that she would sometimes randomly gave her a hug when they met - an act that Ascalon fondly remembered and appreciated.
- Hidden Agenda Hero: It's not immediately clear why the revived Theresa would side with Theresis. Does she actually agree with his ideals? Is it a case of Came Back Wrong? Is she simply pretending to side with him until an opportune moment? Or does she have some other agenda?
- Hidden Depths: As revealed in Vigilo, Theresa was a hero who emerged from war hundreds of years ago, and many Sarkaz still hear legends about her leading Sarkaz against foreign invaders.
- Inconsistent Spelling: Although all English written records say 'Theresa', W's spoken lines very explicitly say 'Theresia'. This may be because Theresa is Named After Somebody Famous (Maria Theresa) whose name is spelled as 'Theresa' in English, but in her native language as 'Theresia'. The Japanese form of her name also translates to 'Theresia'.
- Loved by All: Theresa was admired by everyone but particularly other Sarkaz, even despite her ideals being in direct opposition to their own. It's shown most clearly in Babel, in which even though most Sarkaz disagree with her and refuse to follow her, they also cannot bring themselves to act against her and all kneel in remorse. Theresa is so revered by Sarkaz that her own killers choose to cover their bodies and sever their horns to give up their identities because they don’t feel they deserve to be called Sarkaz and intend to die with her for the sin they’re committing. When she died, everyone mourned, allies and enemies alike, even the normally heartless Sanguinarch, who is taken aback by the feeling considering he has witnessed countless Lords of Fiends fall before.
- Mama Bear: In Babel, she's fighting off Theresis' assassins not only to protect herself, but to also protect Amiya, who coincidentally was in the room with her when the assault began because she wanted Theresa to read her a story. Even when the assassins managed to take down her HP to zero, Theresa kept on fighting until they're all dead, her last words before the stage ends being a reassurance to Amiya that everything will be okay once she wakes up.
- Messianic Archetype: Theresa is like a saint among the Sarkaz. She's compassionate and gentle, a pacifist who laments the Sarkaz's warlike traditions and history. When she walks in the battlefield, her entire body radiates light and all Sarkaz present suddenly loses all their aggression, even those who fight for her enemies. She's killed by a close ally, and her body is preserved by Theresis with a seeming intention of resurrecting her.
- Modest Royalty: Despite being a Kazdel King, W first met Theresa properly when she's incompetently trying to fix an automatic door together with Closure, one of her subordinates. This convinced W that Theresa wasn't like other nobles, and she pledged her loyalty to the Sarkaz King.
- Nice Girl: By all accounts, Theresa was a kind and motherly leader who loved and was beloved by her followers, even thinking of doing small things for their sakes, in one such instance choosing to walk around the (very cold) landship barefoot to not wake anybody up. This kindness allowed her to even see the good in the Doctor and give them a chance to change after their betrayal.
- Orbiting Particle Shield: In BB-9, her only shown ability used to protect herself against her assassins is "Everlasting Dust", which summons three regenerating spheres that expend themselves to deal massive true damage and knock back their targets.
- Parental Substitute: She is one to Amiya, if her flashbacks to her time with Theresa in Chapter 8 is of any indication. Vigilo and Babel further confirms it in case anyone still have doubts.She sees Theresa wishing her goodnight and turning off the lights.She sees Theresa picking out a white dress for her, with a smile brighter than her own.
- Passing the Torch: It's implied in Chapter 12 that she passed on the title of Lord of Fiends to Amiya because she herself could not find a way to break the Sarkaz race's cycle of hatred, and is hoping that an outsider like Amiya can succeed where she failed.
- Platonic Declaration of Love: Her last letter to Kal'tsit has shades of this.Theresa: Kal'tsit, I'm not like you. I can't even answer your question. But I'm on your side, Kal'tsit. Now and forever.
- Posthumous Character: Theresa is widely considered to have died before the events of the main story, assassinated by Theresis to usurp her throne as the monarch of Kazdel. However, rumors are that she's alive and only in hiding. Chapter 8 has Kal'tsit reveal that it was pre-amnesia Doctor who killed her.
- The epilogue of Chapter 7 implies Theresis has possession of her body and is in the process of reviving her.
- By Chapter 10, this is no longer the case.
- Plot-Triggering Death: Her death directly led to Babel's disbandment and reconstruction into the current Rhodes Island pharmaceutical company with her successor Amiya as its leader.
- Rose-Haired Sweetie: Theresa has light pink hair, and she is one of the nicest and most idealistic person in all of Terra.
- Secret Test of Character: Amiya theorizes that Theresa sided with the Military Commission as a way to pressure her to find a new path for the Sarkaz that wouldn't repeat the same mistakes of the past Sarkaz Kings.
- She Is the King: Is referred to as the Sarkaz King despite being female. This also applies to her apparent successor Amiya, who is called the Lord of Fiends.
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Theresa was one of the kindest and most well meaning people in all of Terra, whose only wishes were that Kazdel could live in peace with other nations and that a cure for Oripathy could be found, only to be murdered at the pre-amnesia Doctor's hands. Even then, she doesn't hate the Doctor for it, as she sees that the Doctor still has a good heart and instead erases their memories so that the Doctor has an opportunity to mature as their true selves.
- Thanatos Gambit: It's implied that the Doctor killing Theresa was according to her wishes, though the reason why remains unknown. "Babel" subverts this, as Theresa's death was the result of being too injured killing all of Theresis's assassins, with the Doctor simply being present and witnessing her impending death. She does however, use her last moments to erase the Doctor's memory so they could develop into the good person they truly were inside.
- Unable to Cry: When she sees Amiya in the departing train in chapter 10, Theresa discusses how she dreams of her time at Babel with Manfred. He notes that Theresa's eyes seem to be tearing up, but she writes it off as just ash in her eyes because Sarkaz do not cry. She then becomes nonplussed by the fact that she cannot cry.
- The Unreveal: Exactly why and how did Theresa die in the so-called decapitation operation? While the truth remains shrouded in mystery to those related to her; W, Kal'tsit and Amiya all state that they have different perspectives on this. The only thing that could be certain is Theresa was dead and her body fell into Theresis's hands.
- "Babel" finally reveals the true circumstances of Theresa's death. She in fact was killed by Theresis's assassins called forth by the pre-amnesia Doctor, who saw her as a threat to the Precursors' plan to spread Originium and Oripathy across all of Terra.
- Unperson: Per W's bio, the old operators in Rhodes Island swore to never bring the topic of her up ever again, because they don't want to confront the past. An old Sarkaz employee is surprised when the post-amnesia Doctor somehow knows Theresa's name, because it's supposed to be a secret.
- Wistful Amnesia: In the near end of Chapter 10, Theresa confess to Manfred how she often dreams of her time in Tower of Babel such as her conversations with the Doctor and how she took care of Amiya and tell her tales of Kazdel's warriors.
Marco
A Sarkaz who made an attempt on the Doctor's life despite working under Babel. He appears in "Cogitatio" (Theresis and Theresa's side story in Vigilo).- Broken Pedestal: The Doctor speculated that Marco didn't trust Theresa since she seemed so different from his image of her, which he admitted (first accidentally, then explicitly once Theresa leaves him to Ascalon).Doctor: This Sarkaz... He carried out an act of betrayal, not against me, but against an image of Theresa in his heart that had disappointed him. He cannot be called a traitor. As far as I can see, Her Majesty Theresa is willing to grant freedom to so many people. Why not exile this Sarkaz, and see what choices he makes?Marco: ......Doctor: Let him fend for himself upon this land. He may find a new faith, maybe in you, or someone else.
- Driven to Suicide: After Theresa essentially left his fate in Ascalon's hands, the Doctor later reported that Marco committed suicide.Doctor: Ascalon sends word that Marco committed suicide, out of fear of punishment...Theresa: ......Doctor: In order to avoid embarrassing his King.
- Fantastic Racism: He despised outsiders of Kazdel such as the Doctor and Kal'tsit. It's one of the reasons why he tries to assassinate the former.
- No Name Given: Downplayed. Despite other characters calling him Marco, the game calls him "Sarkaz Traitor".
- One-Steve Limit: Averted. A sticker in "Dossoles Holiday" mentions a cactus snack franchise founded by another Marco.
- You All Look Familiar: His NPC art reuses the art of the Sarkaz Greatswordsman enemy.
Reyka
One of Scout's teammates during their days in Babel. She is mentioned in "Anterior" (Kal'tsit's side story in Vigilo).- The Ghost: She's only mentioned in Kal'tsit's side story in Vigilo.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Reyka's desire to protect Theresa by giving chase to enemy troops during a mission resulted in Reyka and Scout's team being ambushed. Though they managed to lose no team members, this became one of Scout's rare mission failures.
- Parental Abandonment: According to Scout, Reyka's dad died in Kazdel's civil war, and her mom "suffered from severe Oripathy and was unable to raise her", implying that she eventually passed away.
- Undying Loyalty: According to Scout, Reyka only enlisted in the army to repay Theresa's kindness for providing financial support to Reyka's surviving family, such that she considers fighting for Theresa "her only wish and the entire purpose of her life".
- What Happened to the Mouse?: It's unknown if she survived Babel's collapse. Even if she did, whether she accepted Theresa's death is another matter entirely.
Ursus Student Self-Governing Group
Affiliated Characters: Gummy, Istina, Leto, Rosa, Zima
- Breaking the Fellowship: In her second Operator Record, Zima considers disbanding the the group because it functionally serves no more purpose, with all of its members no longer forced to band together for survival now that they are part of Rhodes Island, and everybody clearly following their own paths in the company. However, all of the other members flatly refuse, pointing out that despite everything, they're all still close friends and nothing can change that.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: Despite both Hypergryph and the game itself being absolutely mum about the existence of the other two students outside of early concepts, one of Gummy's voice lines already gave away the fact that they are part of the crew and will join the roster some day. Rosa's appearance in the "Children of Ursus" PV is only a formality, and fans are now holding their breath for the playable debut of Leto, the final member.
- Sailor Fuku: Despite being from a nation that is analogous to Russia, the female students all wear a sailor-styled school uniform normally associated with fantasy counterpart Japan (Higashi).
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: All of them have PTSD with varying symptoms as a result of the fall of Chernobog at the hands of Reunion. Leto seems to be the only exception to this.
- Slobs vs. Snobs: What ultimately caused the collapse of the majority of the group was an inability to move past prejudices based on social class — the nobles ended up preying on the commoners for supplies, and when the commoners retaliated, Zima accidentally set the food storage room on fire. At present this is mostly gone, but Rosa, the only confirmed noble of the group, tends to be seen in a My Friends... and Zoidberg light, in part because her inept management of the noble children is what caused things to go south in the first place.
- Teenage Wasteland: Ursus Student Self-Governing Group was created by the students that were confined inside the Peterheim Middle School as a way to survive inside a Reunion-occupied territory without an adult's supervision. The situation went to hell largely because the schoolkids were still carrying the prejudice they have from their upbringing, and that prejudice plus desperation bred violence between them. The remaining students survived largely because they're tired of fighting.
- You Can't Go Home Again: All of the members joined up with Rhodes Island because they had nowhere else to go after Chernobog's destruction.
