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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Aegir
Affiliated Characters: Deepcolor, Skadi the Corrupting Heart
- Animal Motifs: So far, pretty much every character known to be connected to Aegir represents some sort of aquatic animal, such as sharks, whales, and even sea slugs.
- Apparently Human Merfolk: Many operators and characters that hail from Aegir do not possess many traits that characterize them as aquatic unlike other Ancient races whom display some trait that symbolizes their animalistic connection. "Lonetrail" makes a small point of this discrepancy as a question is asked by Friston-3 about how the Aegir were able to settle so comfortably that deep in the ocean as they biologically shouldn't be able to in such short time, implying that their whole society is a product of artificial development than a natural one.
- Eldritch Ocean Abyss: Aegir is plagued with sea monsters dangerous enough to destroy entire cities and cause a lot of casualties even among the Abyssal Hunters. It is also implied that said monsters are the ones responsible for the Profound Silence happening in Iberia.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Aegir seems to be a reference to both Atlantis and a Lovecraft Country, due to comments about it being a highly advanced underwater society that's ecologically distinct from other areas, as well as potentially housing eldritch horrors and cults dedicated to them. It is also the hometown of the Abyssal Hunters, which is one of the products of Aegir's military technology.
- Hidden Elf Village: Due to its isolationism, few people in Terra seen so far know much about the existence of Aegir, and those who do would rather shy away about the details of the city. Considering the potential dangers of the sea, their fear is justified. In fact, most Aegir that people are aware of actually come from Iberia, having emigrated there from their home city.
- Higher-Tech Species: As lampshaded by Skadi and Gladiia's profiles, Aegir has far more advanced technology than anything Terra has offered so far, which is regarded as "primitive" in comparison. In Specter's second Operator Record, her sane self even gripes to Gladiia that Rhodes Island lacks "auto-flush smart toilets". Aegir's advanced tech is even evident in their weapons.
- Impossibly Cool Weapon: Aegirian weapons, especially melee instruments, are often described to be this. Although the material composition is mundane and typical compared to their surface equivalents, weapons of Aegirian made are usually impossibly sturdy and intricately produced, such that they're impossible to replicate by even skilled craftsmen which is likely due to them being created under Aegirian technology that has yet to be explored by Terrans. Skadi's BFS and Gladiia's spear are some examples of said weapons, and Cuora's baseball bat and backpack that also functions as a shield is heavily hinted to be one as well.
- Meaningful Name: Aegir is the name of a jotuun from Norse mythology who lived in the sea and was mostly known for throwing feasts and parties.
- Mystery Cult: There are suspicions about the presence of some sort of "heretical" cult that is based in the region. The Under Tides event reveals that the cult has blended into Iberia, and consists of people who worship the sea monsters that the Aegir have been fighting against.
- Ocean Madness: A rerun-added scene in the Heart of Surging Flame event reveals that if an Aegirian comes in contact with any large body of water, even if said water is Siesta's false sea or said Aegirian is no longer native to Aegir, the sea can assert influence on them in a similar way a Lovecraftian eldritch horror whittles down a person's Sanity Meter, including talking directly into their mind and showing them visions that mess with their perceptions. This 'connection' is also lampshaded by Whisperain.Whisperain: "I no longer can remember it, but there is still something flowing within my blood. Be careful of the sea, Doctor. It is capable of devouring us all, a stygian nightmare. It is... fear itself."
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In the Terra 3.0 video, Aegir finally breaks its tradition of isolation and broadcasts a plea to the land nations of Terra for aid against the Seaborn, signifying that the threat of the Seaborn has grown to such magnitude that not even the highly advanced Aegir can hold them off alone anymore.
- Proud Scholar Race: Of the scientific variant. Aegir is noted to have scientists and engineers make up their political structure, and they're said to be quite prideful and isolationist.
- Underwater City: It's basically the Atlantis of Arknights.
Bolívar
Affiliated Characters: Greyy, La Pluma, Tequila
Affiliated Characters with Rhodes Island as their faction: Beagle, Ceobe, Dobermann, Podenco
- Animal Motifs: Dogs, since most of the Perro operators seem to have come from here. The only non-Perro Operator is La Pluma, who is a Liberi.
- Apathetic Citizens: Ch'en and Yuhsia note that this seems to be representative of the citizens of Dossoles, who largely don't concern themselves with the three way civil war raging just outside the city limits and instead drown themselves in decadence and luxury to distract themselves.
- Banana Republic: After a major civil war, Bolivar has ended up divided between three factions: a puppet government controlled by Leithanen, a rival political party called the Autonomous Government, and the True Bolívarian Resistance which is made up of commoners dissatisfied with the constant power struggles among the government.
- Bread and Circuses: Dossoles is built around the concept, and survives in the otherwise war-torn landscape of Bolivar due to this. Aside from being a massive global vacation hotspot where the elites from every government in Bolivar can come to relax, it also provides enormous amounts of tequila, whiskey, sugar, coffee, and other luxury goods. No one in or outside of Bolivar wants the supply or the entertainment to be cut off, so they all respect Dossoles as a neutral ground.
- Civil War: The country is split between the Singas dynasty that is backed by Leithania, the Coalition government backed by Columbia, and the True Bolivarians who fight for an independent Bolivar. By all accounts, with the exception of Dossoles, most of the country is a war torn battlefield as all three factions fight for control.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: To South America, as the country being divided by civil war is an issue endemic to less stable South American nations, as well as the Latino naming conventions used for its people. Also, the dominant race from Bolivar are the Perro, which is the Spanish word for "dog."
- One of its resort cities, Dossoles, is a pretty clear cut reference to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, in particular the large mountaintop statue that resembles Christ the Redeemer
. - Meanwhile, the slang used by the young tourists in Dossoles, as well as Pancho, are reminiscent of Chilean slang, and accurate to their respective age groups.
- Bolivar's history is roughly analagous to South America's. It started as an Iberian colony (the colonization of South America by Spain and Portugal). In the wake of Iberia's collapse, Leithania seized control of Bolivar and attempted to use it as a springboard to destablize Columbia, provoking Columbia into meddling with Bolivar's politics (the infamous Zimmermann Telegram).
- The monarchist Singas government installed by Leithanien is most likely a reference to the Second Mexican Empire, a historical monarchist regime established through a European intervention and ruled by an Austrian Habsburg.
- One of its resort cities, Dossoles, is a pretty clear cut reference to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, in particular the large mountaintop statue that resembles Christ the Redeemer
- Named After Somebody Famous: Simón Bolívar, a South American independence movement liberator.
- "Not So Different" Remark: According to Dobermann, the resistance faction in Bolivar's civil war was no better than the Autonomous Government faction she defected from.
- Theme Naming: All operators hailing from this country (which are all Perro) are named after the dog races they take their name from. Ceobe is somewhat of a deviation of this role, having the phonetic form of the letters 'COB', which still points at her being paced on the Cerberus, or 'Ceroberos'.
- Wretched Hive: Unlike its rival resort city of Siesta, Dossoles has legalized most vices like gambling and generally turns a blind eyes towards crime, making the city immensely corrupt, as Ch'en and Yuhsia are quick to point out.
Candela Sanchez
Race: Perro
Artist: Ryuzakiichi
The mayor of Dossoles.- The Chessmaster: She is one of the few individuals who can rival Wei and Herman. Like them, she managed to singlehandedly build an entire city from essentially nothing despite all of the practical and political roadblocks in her way.
- Honorary Uncle: She declares herself as Ch'en and Yuhsia's aunt and calls them her nieces since she's friends with their uncle and father respectively.
- Like Parent, Unlike Child: Her father used to be the Mayor of Dossoles when she was a child but he was forced to go into exile with his family after the people rebelled against him due to his corruption. When she returned to Dossoles years later and became Mayor, she didn't make the same mistakes as her father and turned the city into the top vacation spot and exporter of goods it is today.
- Shadow Archetype: To Lin Yuhsia, exemplified when Yuhsia indirectly tells Ch'en that she doesn't want Ernesto to be wallowing in misery after he admitted that he has no destination in mind once he leaves Dossoles, contrasting Candela mocking Pancho after his coup has been thwarted by Ch'en and Yuhsia. Yuhsia empathizes with Ernesto's circumstances especially since she was partly responsible for his misfortune, whereas Candela is implied to have enabled Pancho's resentment of both her and the city by pointing out his Leithanien backer and exploiting his coup to add excitement to the Dossoles Warrior Championship.
- The Unfettered: Candela doesn't care about morals, ethics, or even her own citizens. As long as the "idea" of Dossoles survives, she will do everything she can to preserve it, even it means letting the entire city burn down and rebuilding it from the ashes.
- While Rome Burns: In the midst of Pancho's coup, Candela is simply ecstatic because it just makes the Championship even more exciting, and tells her men to keep filming, even while assassins are actively targeting her.
Pancho Salas
Race: Perro
A war veteran employed by Candela as her head of security in Dossoles, he is the father of Tequila and La Pluma.- And Then What? / Missing Steps Plan:
- Ernesto points out this is the major issue with Pancho's plan for Bolívar's future with destroying Dossoles. Pancho wishes to destroy the city because he doesn't want Bolivar to become the den of hedonism and debauchery that Dossoles is. However, he has no plan for what Bolívar will actually be afterwards, or how to go about setting it up. There's just some vague patriotic ideal that there should be a country called Bolívar, and no specifics on how it would function or what its new government would be. There's no plan to deal with the political fall out, or the on-going three-way war that won't even really be affected by the destruction of the city. In the end, his plan to destroy Dossoles would accomplish nothing besides some pointless and vague symbolism.
- Rather tellingly, his plan collapses almost immediately, as Candela already had more than enough security forces - supplemented by the competition teams - to easily deal with Pancho's men in the city, with Lin Yuhsia and Ch'en being the only ones needed to stop Pancho himself and rescue his hostages.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: To a certain degree of "evil", but Pancho cares deeply about Ernesto and Rafaela, and raised them to the best of his ability despite his grumpy demeanor and lack of social skills; they have disagreements sometimes, but both of his children ultimately reciprocate his feelings. He had even tried to convince them to leave Dossoles before his attack on the city to spare them from any responsibility, only for both of them to refuse due to their loyalty to him.
- Grumpy Old Man: A grizzled old military man in a perpetual state of grouchiness.
- Hypocrite: Despite his desire for an independent Bolivar, he accepts foreign backing to get the resources he needs to overthrow Candela. Candela herself mocks Pancho for his betrayal of his own ideals.
- King Mook: Functionally, he's a boss version of the Pier Sailor.
- Named After Somebody Famous: His given name references Mexican revolutionary Francisco "Pancho" Villa, and his surname references Jesús Salas Barraza, one of the men who took credit for Villa's assassination.
- Old Soldier: A veteran of the constant wars in Bolivar, he was discharged from the military before settling in Dossoles, which didn't help his disdain towards the state of his country.
- One-Winged Angel: Once his boat is destroyed, Pancho will leap out onto the battlefield wielding a cannon and an anchor. In addition, large Originum crystals will erupt from his left shoulder, tearing off his sleeve.
- Patriotic Fervor: Pancho made full colonel as a soldier under the True Bolívarians believing that Bolívar would find true peace if the Coalition and the Singas were chased out of the country. The day his brother-in-arms died saving him from prison after he was falsely charged (which he implies would've ended with him being shot) was the day he realized that none of the factions truly want to save Bolívar.Ernesto: He was majorly stubborn, thinks about nothing but war all day, and doesn't like kissing up to bosses. He got falsely charged, and then driven out of the army.
- Put on a Prison Bus: His ultimate fate after his failed attempt at a Military Coup in Dossoles is imprisonment. La Pluma's operator record explores this a bit, portraying Rafaela's visit of her father in prison and an unsuccessful plan of his followers to break him out.
- Shadow Archetype: To Ch'en, exemplified when Ch'en acknowledges that she can't unsheathe Chi Xiao against him. Ch'en recognizes when she lacks the knowledge of Bolívar or war to refute Pancho, but Pancho is willing to resort to terrorism to see his ideal realized despite lacking a plan beyond that terrorism. Also, like Ch'en, Pancho is hiding that he has Oripathy, which only becomes apparent during his boss fight when the crystals erupt from his arm.
- Villain Has a Point: Ch'en is unable to unsheathe her Chi Xiao against Pancho because it refuses to be unsheathed. The reason for this is that deep down, Ch'en understands Pancho's motive for committing terrorism on Dossoles; the city is a Wretched Hive that everyone turns a blind eye to because of its resort town status, and it's implied to be thriving at the expense of the rest of Bolivar, which is suffering from civil war and poverty. She also isn't familiar enough with Bolivar's culture or politics to act like she knows better than him.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Ultimately, despite his militant methods, Pancho just wants an independent Bolívar free from war and foreign influence.
Columbia
Affiliated Characters: Aciddrop, Astesia, Beanstalk, Corroserum, Cuora, Cutter, Franka, Jackie, Kafka, Magallan, Mayer, Mountain, Pinecone, Pudding, Ptilopsis, Roberta, Robin, Saria, Silence, Texas, Vigna
Affiliated Characters with Rhodes Island as their faction: Dur-Nar, Frostleaf, Orchid, Rosmontis
Terra bless us.
A rising superpower and one of the larger countries on Terra, Columbia is home to Rhine Lab and possesses somewhat more lenient policies toward the Infected, as long as one has enough money on their person.- Animal Motifs: Avian, seeing as most of those who came from Columbia are Liberi. Their logo resembles a star made out of bird wings.
- Boxed Crook: The Pioneer program is made up of a combination of criminals, poverty-stricken individuals, and Infected who cannot afford their immense insurance premiums. They are shipped out into the massive uninhabited Columbian frontier to settle the wilderness.
- Crapsaccharine World: While Columbia is one of the most inclusive and tolerant nations regarding Infected rights, any Infected that wants to live in Columbia must earn their citizenship through labor, meaning Columbia effectively uses Infected as a cheap labor source. Worse still, when an individual is diagnosed with Oripathy, their insurance premiums skyrocket, forcing them to either move to an Infected zone or join the Pioneers for treatment. And said Pioneers are often used as labor and test subjects for unscrupulous Colombian tech firms like Rhine Labs.
- Dying Town: Given the sheer number of Pioneer settlements and nomadic plates Columbia has been building in its rapid expansion efforts, it is an inevitable reality that many of these settlements will be lost, destroyed, or shut down. One example is Davistown, where its singular energy tower failed, forcing the majority of the population to evacuate and the local government to collapse, leaving only a few diehard residents forced to live under crippling debt from predatory loans issued by the local bank as supplies dwindle.
- Government Agency of Fiction: Columbia has the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Arts Units and Originium (or ATAO) as their domestic law enforcement agency.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: To the United States as a whole, perhaps an idealized one.
- Its name is obviously a nod to Columbia, the national personification of the United States.
- Their government is evidently democratic, their policies toward Infected are notably more lenient than nations like Ursus or Lungmen (one of the goals of Big Bob during "Grani & the Knights' Treasure" is to use the treasure to get him and his brothers-in-arms to Columbia so they can start anew as farmer and brewers, which he succeeds in doing), the country hosts advanced technological development houses like Rhine Lab.
- Like the real United States, Columbia is a cultural melting pot, with people of diverse populations and backgrounds. Likewise, the racial diversity of Columbian operators assigned to Rhodes Island is also very impressive, with the playable Rhine Labs crew alone being comprised of multiple Liberi, a Vouivre, an Anaty and a Sarkaz.
- Cuora's profile also mentions that baseball is the most popular sport in Columbia, which was imported there from Victoria, mirroring how American baseball was derived from British sports.
- Blacksteel International is also based in Columbia, likely an allusion to how its real-life equivalence, Blackwater International, (a.k.a. Academi) is a US-based PMC. Also, during Originum Dust, Druge mentions that his mercenaries were trained in Columbia, and that makes them some of the best.
- Magallan's bio mentions a tundra further up north from Rhine Labs, which is more than likely the in-universe equivalent of Canada and the Arctic circle.
- As the story has progressed, it's eventually revealed that Columbia is heavily involved in meddling with and manipulating the politics of Bolivar and Sargon, reminiscent of the United States' numerous interventions in the Middle East and South America.
- Wrankwood, as a region known for its film industry, is based on Hollywood.
- SilverAsh mentions in "Break the Ice" that Columbia seceded from Victoria with the help of Gaul, mirroring how the United States relied on other powers like France during its Revolutionary War to break free of Britain.
- Their development of an Originium based WMD is a nod to the United States creation of Project Manhattan in World War II.
- Columbia is noted to have an immense amount of unsettled wilderness, in which they are sending Pioneer teams to settle and develop, analogous to the American expansion west, minus the Native Americans and Mexicans.
- In a darker parallel, the Columbian medical system is extremely expensive and exploitative. In Mansfield Break, Robin is driven to work for Jesselton and later Rhodes Island to pay for her father's medical treatments. The Pioneer program is populated with Infected who cannot pay for massive Oripathy-related insurance premiums, which is implied to be intentionally put in place by the government to keep a steady supply of bodies for the program.
- The country's capital is named Max D.C., which seems to be clearly based on Washington D.C.
- Its name is obviously a nod to Columbia
- Fantastic Nuke: In A Walk In The Dust, Kal'tsit mentions that they've been working on an Originium-based WMD. In Dorothy's Vision, Ferdinand of Rhine Labs is shown to be behind at least one of these projects with the backing of an unnamed Columbian Colonel.
- In "Lone Trail", it's revealed that Project Horizon Arc was Columbia's attempt to develop their version of a Kill Sat as a strategic counter to Victoria's Shard Tower.
- Hidden Depths: They're definitely not as squeaky-clean as the initial impression a new player might get suggests, and this seems very much on purpose (as Columbia clearly tries to project a positive image). The high-level stages of Grani's event reveal that a major buyer of the rare and impressive items and weapons often buried with Kazimierzan knights (and thus, a tacit, passive-if-not-active supporter of the chaos that sometimes engulfs the countryside of Kazimierz) is the Columbian government itself (or various private groups within the country, like Rhine Lab); for that matter, Rhine Lab is Columbian, and so far we haven't heard anything to suggest the government has any particular problem with some of Rhine's shadier work. A comment in Rosmontis' profile states that Columbia has more progressive and stringent laws than Ursus or Sargon, but the administrators and enforcers of the law are 'only human', so even though there are laws against horrific experiments, that doesn't matter if the humans in charge are corrupt. In "A Walk In the Dust," Kal'tsit tells Passenger about backroom deals and plotting by Columbian corporations to intentionally stir up civil wars in Sargon and profit off of the chaos.
- Higher-Tech Species: Not to the same scale as Aegir, but between their rapid technological developments, dubious experiments, and mentions of the Union Army having Powered Armor and other equipment, they make a pretty close second.
- Interservice Rivalry: "Lone Trail" reveals that there is a large amount of internal squabbling within Columbia's government. The primary factions are the Maylander Association backed by the civilian government and the military under the Department of Defense, who disagree on whether Columbia's priorities should be on scientific or military advancement.
- Lensman Arms Race: Columbia is in one against Victoria, Ursus, Laterano and Leithania in an attempt to triumph over them in their respective technologies.
- Mysterious Backer: They are the mysterious backer behind various conflicts, possibly even more than Kazdel, due to their nature of using every little advantage they have to become the top power, up to and including having other factions test weapons of mass destruction.
- The Man Behind the Man: They're covertly funding the Autonomous Government in Bolivar, as well as supplying the mercenary operations in Sargon.
- Morally Bankrupt Banker: Columbian banks providing loans for developing towns are full of those, offering loans to hopeful settlers, weighing them down with impossibly high interest rates and taking everything from them when they cannot afford to repay the bank anymore. Come Catastrophes or Wakes of Vultures shows in detail how the Davistown bank essentially bankrupted all of the town's locals in order to seize complete control of Davistown's city plate and sell it to some scientific or industrial city for expansion. It is all but stated by the Governor in his appropriately embellished New Year speech that Davistown is just one of many towns where this is happening, and that this is in fact something that has the government's full support.
- Penal Colony: It is noted in Come Catastrophes or Wakes of Vultures that exiling criminals to the frontier for free labor or experimentation is a legitimate punishment, and is in fact used even more than imprisonment is. Jessica chooses this punishment at the end of the event for her role in the bank robbery to start a new life free from Blacksteel's and her family's influence.
- Person of Mass Destruction: If Ifrit and Rosmontis' potential are anything to go by, Columbia is certainly capable of providing these.
- Private Profit Prison: This is essentially what Mansfield State Prison is, offering to house inconvenient prisoners if clients are willing to pay the proper price. The prisoners are also used for slave labor to further enrich the prison and cut costs.
- Underestimating Badassery: The war between Columbia and Leithania over Bolivar pitted the still young nation against an army of the most skilled arts users of the time, which anyone would expect to be a Curb-Stomp Battle. Columbia still manages to battle the combined forces of Leithania and Bolivar to a stalemate.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Practically all of Terra loves their cultural exports while they covertly destabilize countries of interest like Bolivar and Sargon.
- We Care: When Sonny recalls his past as a law school student, he mentions how a lot of his old classmates did charity work like donating stuff to treatment zones. However, once he was diagnosed with Oripathy, those same classmates proceeded to ignore him. This made him realize that his classmates all did volunteer work so they could brag about their kindness and stroke their egos, and that they only did volunteer work because they didn't have to risk anything in the process. It's also implied that a lot of Columbia's upper class behaves this way, given how the country is praised for its tolerance of the Infected, when in reality their medical system exploits them with expensive insurance premiums.
President Mark Max
Click to see his appearance (Spoilers!)
Artist: NoriZC
The president and leader of Columbia.- Ambiguously Evil: While he gets along with Rhodes Island well enough and wants to turn Columbia into Terra's protector, Kal'tsit is openly suspicious of his motives and outright calls him a tyrant.
- Ambiguously Human: Mark is just as "human" as Emperor and the High Priest, being a talking bird, though it's heavily implied that he's even far more ancient than either of them as has connections to the pre-Teekaz civilization. He may even be an AI, as he compares himself to Preserver and PRTS. The Case Investigation files outright confirm that Mark is an AI like Preserver, and acts through proxy bodies he can remotely control.
- Chekhov's Gunman: He is actually the bird that is perched on the Vice President's shoulder.
- Four-Star Badass: He intervened in Columbia's Revolutionary War and was instrumental in the country winning its independence from Victoria, forcing a duke to retreat.
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: He seems to be inspired by George Washington in a few ways - he was a general in the country's revolutionary war against its colonial mother nation, after the war, he became the newly independent nation's first President, and the country's capital city is named after him.
- Really 700 Years Old: Mark is old enough that he considers Trevor Friston his father and PRTS as one of his kin. He's also been the President of Columbia ever since its foundation.
- President for Life: Despite Columbia being a democracy, Max has remained its President ever since the country's foundation. However, this is mostly due to how insanely popular he is among Columbians.
Vice President Conrad Jackson
Artist: NoriZC
The Vice President of Columbia.- Number Two: Naturally, being the Vice President, he's essentially second in command of Columbia.
- Protectorate: He ends up having to be protected from an assassination attempt with the help of both Rhodes Island and the Maylander Foundation.
Domma
Artist: NoriZC
The prison doctor and mortician for Mansfield State Prison.- Creepy Loner Girl: Both the prisoners and guards are wary of her due to her profession and temperament, and try to avoid her if possible. Only Anthony shows her any compassion and ends up being her only friend.
- Funetik Aksent: In the English localization, she speaks in a rather odd accent that resembles some sort of dialect from the rural American South.
- Heroic Suicide: In MB-6, she swears that she'd do this if it guaranteed her only friend Anthony freedom. Come MB-8, Jesselton has a prisoner take her hostage to make Anthony stand down and give Robin to the count of five to kill Anthony. Midway, Domma decides to follow through with her personal oath, but her attempt is foiled by her captor, subverting the trope.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Having lived in Mansfield all of her life and resenting how she is treated, it doesn't take much to convince her to escape the prison with Anthony, Kafka, and Robin.
- Super Doc: She is both the prison doctor and the mortician. However, the reason is not that Domma is explicitly qualified for both roles, but more that she's the only medical staff in the prison so she has to cover both roles by necessity.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: In MB-6, Mayer mentions that the jailbreak team convinced Domma to escape with them. The pre-battle scene of MB-8 is Domma's last appearance in the event proper, but one of Kafka's Archive Files mentions "the onboarding of Mountain and Robin, as well as Lotus", which implies that Domma ultimately joins Rhodes Island as Operator Lotus, with Mountain's second Operator record confirming Domma's survival.
Barton
Artist: NoriZC
The chief guard for the Mansfield State Prison.- Dirty Cop: It's revealed that the entire Mansfield State Prison is less of a prison and more of Barton's moneymaking scheme, as he readily takes bribes to either keep people's enemies locked up or their allies protected.
- The Neidermeyer: He's not particularly competent at his job and neither the guards nor the prisoners have any respect for him.
Jesselton Miller
Click to his second form
Race: Liberi
Artist: NoriZC
A hitman who entered Mansfield State Prison disguised as a guard, and the Final Boss of the "Mansfield Break" side story.- Ambiguous Situation: Due to the nature of his chapter in "To be Continued", it's unclear if the events depicted actually occurred or are just a dramatization made up by the True Stories show.
- Armor-Piercing Attack: In his second form, every fourth attack has him stab the ground and summon twin iron spikes that strike twice and ignore 60% of the target's DEF, letting him deliver crippling damage to even the tankiest of defenders.
- Barrier Change Boss: His initial form is a caster with low defense and high Arts resistance; when he switches forms, he inversely gains massive defense but losing his Arts resistance. This also applies to how his attacks should be defended against, as his first form mostly threatens squishier ranged units with his powerful Arts attacks, but can be dealt with by bulkier blockers; inversely, his second form can tear through most blockers, but leaves him susceptible to bombardment from the high ground units that he can no longer kill.
- Battle Theme Music: Jakiller
- Blade Below the Shoulder: In his second form, iron gathers around his hands to form two glowing metal blades that he uses to slash at Operators.
- Body Horror: He has iron plates implanted below his skin. When he releases his Arts, the iron forms sharp crystals and pierces his body from the inside out, jutting out of his skin.
- Break Them by Talking: Tries it on both Robin and Mountain at varying points, to limited success (although it does affect Robin a lot more than the latter). Anthony specifically calls him out on his habit of using these. Fittingly, Saria dishes one back at him before she cuts him down in their duel.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: In the final story node of the event he appears in, he's at first delivering one to Mountain, Kafka, and Robin, but he's later on the receiving end of one when he faces Saria one-on-one, who unlike in her usual playable form is not holding back.
- Dub Name Change: In the CN version, his name is translated as "Jayston". In the global version, his name is changed to "Jesselton". Although for some reason his in-battle description calls him "Jeston", which is closer to the original name. His actual surname was eventually changed again from "Williams" to "Miller" in order to match a previously incorrect translation in an earlier map.
- Evil Overlooker: His face is seen behind Saria's Iron Law skin, along with various prisoners.
- Extra-ore-dinary: His Arts ability allows him to freely control iron, which synergizes with the iron plates placed beneath his skin to give him flexible offensive and defensive options.
- Faux Affably Evil: He's ever polite, respectful, honest, inclined towards negotiation before conflict, and willing to commend people who impress him even if they're his opponent. He's also a petty, pathological manipulator who relishes the sight of people ultimately abandoning the ideals they struggle to uphold, having no qualms about threatening or toying with others. This trope is the reason why pretty much nobody likes him.
- A Glass of Chianti: He's always seen with a glass of wine in his hand, at least until he enters Killer Mode, where he throws it aside. Even then, his cutscene portrait still shows him with the wine glass.
- Green-Eyed Monster: He once applied to Rhine Labs' Defense Division, only to be turned down by Saria herself, the director at the time. He's bitter about it to this day and believes his own abilities are superior to hers, and thus relishes the opportunity to finally prove it by facing her in a duel. She swiftly proves him wrong.
- Hidden Eyes: In contrast to other boss characters, Jesselton's battle sprite portrays him with shadowed eyes, just like the game's typical mooks.
- Humiliation Conga: After his defeat in Mansfield Break, Jesselton goes through one in his To Be Continued story. He becomes an inmate of the prison he worked at, he's forced to scrub the toilets using his Arts, and he gets splashed with used cleaning water during a fight. His week-long plan to recruit his cellmate fails, and only lasts as long as it did due to the guards wanting to watch Jesselton waste his time and money with the attempt. The crowner is the ending where it's revealed that Jesselton's life in prison is being record as a mockumentary show, unbeknownst to himself.
- I Am Not Left-Handed: Once he loses his first health bar, he fully reveals himself as a hitman, abandoning his more passive skillset for a more offensive one, although his RES takes a hit as a result.
- Instant Armor: Combining his iron manipulation powers with the metal plating beneath his skin lets him selectively harden parts of his body to defend from attacks, making him highly resistant to pure physical blows.
- Slasher Smile: Gives one right before transforming into his second form.
- Smug Snake: He spends most of the event quite smarmy and self-assured, easily manipulating Robin into betraying the rest of her group and taunting them gleefully at the end when it seems their escape plans have fallen through. When Saria shows up to throw a wrench in things, he refuses to back down, skeptical that she's actually stronger than him. Naturally, she utterly stomps him, and only with her fists no less.
- Status Buff: Once he switches forms, he'll instantly free all imprisoned enemies on the map, buffing up their stats and activating their special abilities unless you can use the imprisonment devices to wrangle them back under control.
- Status Effects: In his first phase, every fourth hit will strike two targets and stun them for a time.
- "Truman Show" Plot: To Be Continued shows that Jesselton's prison life is being recorded as a mockumentary. One of its viewers even speculates that Jesselton isn't an actor, but actually playing himself, although he quickly gets brushed off by his friend.
- Uncertain Doom: His duel against Saria ends with his defeat after she gives him a "narrow, deep cut across his body", but whether it ultimately kills him is unknown. In MB-ST-2, Muelsyse guesses that he was imprisoned, but the question is left unanswered until the release of the Mansfield-themed Annihilation, where it's revealed he survived in prison only to try and instigate a breakout some time later.
- It's later revealed in To be Continued that he's been waiting patiently for his employers to secure his release from jail. However, the ending implies he's been left to rot, and even taken advantaged of, as his current life is being watched as part of a mockumentary series called True Stories.
Riverblade Squad
A squad of Columbian mercenaries.- Red Shirt: Their main role is basically to showcase not only Kal'tsit's awareness of the conspiracy behind the massacre of the Sand Soldiers but also her empathy by giving their surviving members a route to stow away in Minos. Unfortunately, after the captain lets Kal'tsit and Elliot go, he and most of his men are ambushed by Sarkaz mercenaries working under Padishah Murad, with three left alive to be grilled by their casters.
Professor Thorne
The teacher of a young Elliot Glover.- Posthumous Character: Died before the start of "A Walk in the Dust", presumably murdered by mercenaries pursuing him and his student.
Sonny Romano
Artist: 一千
The leader of the Pioneer Team helping construct Rhine Lab Test Site 359.- The Atoner: He greatly regretted taking advantage of Mary's charity and has been working to earn her forgiveness ever since.
- Healthcare Motivation: In the past, he robbed Mary in a fit a desperation to try and pay his insurance premium.
- We Used to Be Friends: With Mary, until he broke into her house to try and rob her.
Mary Banner
Artist: NoriZC
A member of the Trimount Police Department.- By-the-Book Cop: She is dedicated to her job and enforcing the law.
- Inspector Javert: She has a long standing animosity with Sonny and isn't inclined to trust him after he betrayed her.
- We Used to Be Friends: With Sonny, until he broke into her house to try and rob her.
Loken Williams
Artist: 我妻洛酱
Once one of Columbia's premier scientists until his company Loken Watertank was destroyed by the experiment that created Rosmontis.- The Atoner: He does have regrets about what happened to Rosmontis. However, this is subverted because he doesn't regret experimenting on her, instead regretting that the experiments failed.
- Cardboard Prison: He is broken out of prison at the start of "Lonetrail" by Kristen since she needed him to complete the Horizon Arc Project.
- Death Seeker: He was hoping to goad Rosmontis into killing him to assuage his own guilty conscience.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Regardless of what he had done, Loken still holds affection for Rosmontis in his own twisted way.
- Everyone Has Standards: Loken's research was so horrific that not even Columbia's ethically dubious scientific community were willing to publicly condone his methods and he was subsequently thrown in jail for a centuries long sentence.
- Go Out with a Smile: He succumbs to his terminal illness at the end of "Lonetrail", content that Rosmontis is there to witness his death.
- Hate Sink: During his lone appearance in the present during "Lonetrail", it is clear that Loken has no remorse about the experiment with about Rosmontis and is instead adamant about still continuing it if given the opportunity, in spite of his ailing health. His antipathy towards any sort of apology to what he did leads to even the Doctor to start laying hands on him in an outburst and would have gone much farther had Rosmontis not stayed their hand.
- Mad Scientist: He most certainly is one, given his illegal human experimentation on Rosmontis and many others.
Colonel Blake
Artist: NoriZC
A Columbian military officer and Ferdinand Clooney's co-conspirator to seize control of Rhine Lab.- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: He ends up saving Ferdinand and bringing him back in order to investigate Kristen's mysterious disappearance during "Lonetrail".
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": In "Dorothy's Vision", he is only referred to by his rank, and when Ferdinand requests to talk to the Colonel when confronted by Columbian soldiers, they simply point out that the army has countless colonels in it. It's not until "Lonetrail" that his name is revealed.
- False Flag Operation: During "Lonetrail', seeing that the Vice President is siding with Kristen, he attempts to assassinate him so he could use the Vice President's death as a pretext to put all of Trimounts under martial law.
- General Ripper: He is adamant about using military force to suppress Rhine Lab when Kristen hijacks the Arc Horizon Project since he fears she will go on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge with it and destroy Columbia. This is in contrast to the civilian government who are content to sit back and see what Kristen will do.
- Put on a Prison Bus: He is ultimately imprisoned for conspiring to assassinate Vice President Jackson in order to seize control over Trimounts.
- You Have Failed Me: He immediately cuts Ferdinand loose when it's clear his experiment and ploy to usurp Control have failed.
- This is eventually turned on him when he fails spectacularly to wrest control of the Arc Horizon Project away from Kristen, resulting in him getting jailed for treason.
Leone Theremin
Artist: 伍秋秋秋秋秋
An engineer at Davistown.- The Alcoholic: He has a reputation for drinking heavily.
- Driven to Suicide: He decides to blow himself up along with the Davistown energy tower to cover Helena's escape, despite having plenty of time to get clear himself. His attachment to Davistown meant he couldn't picture himself living anywhere else so he figured he would stay with the town forever in death.
- Heel Realization: It's not until Jessica points out that Benny was targeted by the bank that Leone finally comes to the realization that his stubborn refusal to sell his mine shares is actively destroying both him and his family. He then experiences this a second time when he realizes Sylvia was Carl's fiancé, and is stricken with regrets at how poorly he treated her just for being more well-off.
- Honor Before Reason: His neighbors have all taken note of his immense stubbornness when it comes to his loyalty to Davistown, with him refusing to give up his personal effects or his shares in the mine despite how much debt it's led him to accumulate. It's only when Jessica reveals that the local bank has been trying to kidnap Benny to coerce him that he realizes just how much damage his refusal to concede has caused.
- Old Soldier: He once served in the Columbian Army as a combat engineer so that he could learn demolition skills that he could use to help the Davistown miners.
- Parental Abandonment: He was abandoned in Davistown as an infant by his mother, and was subsequently raised by the miners living there, which is why he has such a deep attachment to the town.
Benny Theremin
- Antagonistic Offspring: He doesn't agree with Leone's obsession with holding on to his share' to Davistown's mine, as all it does is drag their family down into more debt.
- Child Prodigy: He is noted to possibly be the most academically gifted person in all of Davistown, and has enough potential that he could qualify for more prestigious schools in the larger cities.
- Distressed Dude: Jessica saves him from getting kidnapped by a pair of thugs the bank hired.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: He eventually decides to leave Davistown for good and travel with his teacher to Ironforge City where there are more academic opportunities for him, especially since unlike his father, he has no attachments to the rapidly declining Davistown.
Carl Theremin
- The Lost Lenore: To both Leone and Sylvia, who both never got over his death.
- One Degree of Separation: He actually served alongside Jessica during their time in Blacksteel, and ended up being killed while partnered with her.
- Posthumous Character: He was killed in Chernobog several years ago during a Blacksteel operation.
Miles
- Distressed Dude: His first introduction is when he is rescued from bandits by Franka and Liskarm.
- The Engineer: He has been maintaining Davistown's energy tower for most of his life.
- Grumpy Old Man: He is one of the last few holdouts that refuses to leave Davistown, and is probably one of its oldest residents besides Woodrow.
- Let the Past Burn: Eventually, he decides to leave Davistown for the frontier, so he sets fire to his photo collection as a symbolic way of cutting his ties to the town.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: Jessica the Liberated's profile reveals that he now lives in the new frontier settlement Jessica founded.
Woodrow Bianchi
Artist: 我妻洛酱
One of Davistown's hunters.- Cruel Mercy: Despite defeating Cliff in a duel and having him at his mercy, Woodrow ultimately decides to spare Cliff, pointing out how he is aware Cliff is internally torn up by the decisions he has had to make so he'll let him live with the guilt of his sins.
- Grumpy Old Man: He's not the easiest person to get along with, and he's particularly rude to people he doesn't trust.
- Hidden Depths: He was actually an artist before signing up to fight in the Columbian war for independence and once dreamed of being able to the paint the ceiling of a church in Laterano. However, his wartime experiences and the fact he had to have four of his fingers reattached destroyed any of his desire to paint.
- Magically-Binding Contract: Strangely averted when both Woodrow and Cliff engaged each other in a gun duel. Despite actively firing at each other with their guns, neither Sankta ended up becoming a Fallen.
- May–December Romance: He harbors romantic feelings for Helena despite being over twice her age.
- Old Soldier: Fought alongside Cliff in the Columbian war for independence and spent a considerable amount of time in a Victorian POW camp, which would put him at a similar age in his 90s.
- One-Man Army: When Blacksteel intervenes to try and stop the Davisville group's bank robbery, Woodrow single-handedly wipes out all of the men sent to capture him, only stopping when facing Cliff himself. Cliff straight up tells his men that there's no point in sending more reinforcements to stop him from coming to him, because nothing would be able to stop him anyways.
- Retired Badass: He was a soldier in the Columbian war for independence, but retired after the war ended and left to live a quiet life in a small town.
- Shellshocked Veteran: He is traumatized due to having been captured and sent to a Victorian POW camp that was infamous for the high mortality rate among its prisoners. He mentions that for a time after he was set free, he had a fear of sitting in chairs due to the association of being beaten in interrogations while sitting down.
- Sweet Tooth: Fittingly for a Laterano-born Sankta, he is noted to have fondness for chocolate.
- We Used to Be Friends: Used to be Cliff's sworn brother, but their relationship has soured as a result of Cliff leaving him behind during the war and his subsequent Took a Level in Cynic attitude.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: Jessica the Liberated's profile reveals he moved to the frontier settlement Jessica founded and continues his previous role as a hunter and guard.
- You Are in Command Now: With Davistown's police force no longer being present, Woodrow is basically the closest thing the town has to a sheriff who is willing to protect the town from bandits.
Sylvia
Artist: 伍秋秋秋秋
An attendant that works at Davistown's local bank.- The Caper: She basically comes up with the entire plan to rob the bank and recruits the remaining Davistown residents to help her.
- Category Traitor: Many of the people of Davistown and especially Leone consider her a traitor for leaving the town to pursue a better life, only to start working for the same bank that is trying to wring every last cent out of them, despite how her actions are not responsible for the town's situation at all. She sees herself as merely somone trying to survive the best they can, but is still deeply ashamed of this, to the point where she ultimately proposes the idea to rob the same bank she works at to recover funding for the last remnants of Davistown.
- Defector from Decadence: She could no longer stand by and watch the bank she works for force her fellow Davistown residents out of their homes. She gets the idea to rob the bank and brings her plan forward to Helena, Woodrow, and Leone.
- Good with Numbers: She's noted to be a top-scoring student with an exceptional talent for numbers and calculation, which her bank puts to use by having her quickly do paperwork. She later uses this to precisely map out Davistown's bank and crack their security codes in preparation for their impending robbery.
- Inside Job: She uses everything she learned as a bank employee to figure out ways to circumvent the bank's security systems.
- Shrinking Violet: She is incredibly soft spoken and shy, choosing to remain in the background and not causing any fuss.
- Tragic Keepsake: She keeps the ring of Carl, Leone's oldest son who was killed in action working for Blacksteel.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: Jessica the Liberated's profile reveals she moved to the frontier settlement Jessica founded and handles all of the settlement's finances.
Gaul
An ancient empire that was once one of Terra's most feared superpowers. However, after a disastrous war with Leithania, Gaul was invaded and carved up by Ursus and Victoria, ceasing to exist as a nation altogther.
- The Cycle of Empires: Is currently in the "Long Night" phase with the county practically being wiped off the map.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: France. "Gaul" is the ancient name of France—along with its capital Lingones being an ancient Gallic tribe, and it was ruled by Emperor Corsica I, a clear reference to Napoleon Bonaparte. Gaul's fate also shares the fate of Napoleon's empire, which was defeated by a coalition of Victoria (Britain), Ursus (Russia), and Leithania (Austria). It's also mentioned that Gaul was weakened by helping Columbia come into existence, reflecting how royal France was indirectly destablized by its political intervention in helping the US gain independence.
- Posthumous Character: Gaul ceased to exist long before the events of the game and is now only mentioned in vague memories and historical texts.
- Sweet Tooth: Flavor text from the artifacts and scenes in "Phantom and Crimson Solitaire" along with the third monthly operator record in said mode reveals that sweets are popular among the residents of Gaul at the time. However, they also have Bizarre Taste in Food when some of the popular food they had are chocolate pasta and marmalade macaroni.
Corsica I
The last Emperor of Gaul.- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: Emperor Corsica appears to be clearly based on Napoléon Bonaparte, a real-life Emperor of the French. Just like Napoleon, Corsica was initially successful militaristic ruler whose ambition eventually caused the rival nations to form a coalition which ended up defeating him. His attempted vassalisation of Leithanien reflects Napoleon's historical subjugation of the Austrian Empire (though Napoleon succeeded, whereas Corsica failed), and he participated in the Battle of the Four Emperors, which appears to take its name from the Battle of Austerlitz (which is sometimes called the Battle of the Three Emperors) and its outcome from the Battle of Waterloo (as it ended up being the Emperor's final defeat). A Duke of Wellington played a role in both emperors' downfalls as well. Furthermore, Napoleon was born on the island of Corsica, which Emperor Corsica is named after.
- Posthumous Character: The events of the Emperor's rise and fall happened over sixty years before the current storyline.
- Warrior Prince: He was a royal who personally commanded the Gaulish military on his campaigns, and he even met his end in battle.
Higashi
Affiliated Characters: Akafuyu, Hoshiguma, Kazemaru, Kirara, Matoimaru, Mizuki, Saga, Shirayuki, Suzuran, Tsukinogi, Utage
Affiliated Characters with Rhodes Island as their faction: Midnight, Noir Corne, Yato
- Balkanize Me: Higashi is traditionally ruled by eight families, but due to an as-of-yet undisclosed feud the clans split the country into two, with the more modern and mercantile Mitsumoto to the south and the warmongering, samurai'n'katana-heavy Kougon in the north.
- Doomed Hometown: Roka Village is destroyed by a self created Catastrophe, but fortunately the whole population was able to evacuate and build a new a town to live in.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: To medieval Japan as it's the birth place of the Oni race and all natives use Japanese weapons. Additionally, Shinto exists as an actual religion in Higashi alongside Buddhism according to Tsukinogi's bio, and is presumably largely the same as it is in real life, since she was a Miko before becoming a Catastrophe Messenger. Saga further exemplifies this as her design is a very clear reference to Buddhist monks.
- Fumizuki's Japanese cursing being addressed as 'Higashinese' makes it likely that Higashi is the Terran equivalent of Japan.
- From character descriptions, Mistumoto is often described as economically strong and technologically advanced, though their military tends to be smaller and weaker than Kougon's, much like modern day Japan. In contrast, Kougon is often described as a primitive warrior society, much like feudal Japan.
- The rarity of Originium in Higashi seems to be inspired by Japan's own notable lack of natural resources.
- Island of Mystery: Basically nothing is known about Higashi from the outside. While some members of Rhodes Island or Lungmen either came from or have been there in the past, the specific details of the nation are always glossed over in their profiles.
- Katanas Are Just Better: Like Yan, the people of Higashi, or "the Far East" as it is known to the world, use katanas during modern times.
- Gratuitous Japanese: "Higashi" is literally Japanese for "east". This kanji is also their logo.
- Forever War: The Mitsumoto and Kougon regions have been locked in a long series of hot and cold wars ever since their separation, and as of the modern day have yet to conclusively bring their feud to a close. Thankfully, relations between the two regions is largely peaceful, at least for now.
- Mythical Motifs: Youkai.
- Those that are implied to be Higashi natives (Matoimaru, Yato, Noir Corne) are basically just modern oni. Weirdly enough, the one character who was based upon a major oni in Japanese folklore (Hoshiguma) isn't associated with Higashi, but Great Lungmen instead; though to be fair, Hoshiguma lists Higashi as her birthplace.
- Given that Shirayuki is an Anaty from Higashi, with wind-themed skills and weaponry, it's very likely that she's a reference to the kamaitachi.
- Utage's race that is based on the Nue.
- Suzuran and her father are both nine-tailed Vulpos, which obviously point to them being based on the kitsune.
- Token Minority: Midnight. Despite hailing from Higashi, he's actually a Sarkaz and not an Oni. Since his actual name is Yoru, it appears Midnight was at least born in Higashi but his parents are implied to have moved to escape Kazdel's eternal wars.
- You Require More Vespene Gas: It's mentioned in "A Flurry to the Flame" that Higashi has very little in the way of natural resources, especially Originium, making any Originium mines found in the country extremely lucrative.
Yoshitaka Kashiwau
- Animal Nemesis: He has a grudge against the Rathalos, blaming it for the death of his son Akira, and has a singleminded obsession to hunt it.
- Dead Person Conversation: Due to his lingering feelings of guilt, Yoshitaka is haunted by hallucinations of Akira's spirit who often taunts and denigrates him. It's not until he comes to terms with Akira's death that Akira's spirit finally compliments him.
- Death Seeker: Part of his desire to hunt beasts to avenge Akira's death is due to his subconscious desire to die and be reunited with him.
- Grumpy Old Man: He's old and wasn't particularly easy to get along with to start, but he becomes far more irritable and reclusive after Akira's death, often living isolated from the other villagers who consider him old fashioned and out of touch for continuing to hunt beasts.
- Heel Realization: After being the target of a "Reason You Suck" Speech by Yato telling him to let go of his past, Yoshitaka finally comes to the realization that he's essentially throwing his life away pursuing revenge and accepts Akira's death.
- It's All My Fault: He blames himself for not doing anything to stop Akira from sacrificing his life to protect the village from beasts.
- Outliving One's Offspring: He outlived his son Akira, who died several years before the events of "A Flurry to the Flame".
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Yoshitaka falls into a coma due the injuries he sustained fighting the Rathalos. Though his condition is stable and he's expected to fully recover, he's still unconscious by the end of the event.
Akira Kashiwau
- Cassandra Truth: He was outspoken against the village's choice to start mining Originium and exterminating the arma-clawbeasts living in the tunnels, as he feared overmining and the unforeseen consquences of eliminating an important part of the local ecosystem would inevitably cause a Catastrophe. And he was right.
- Heroic Sacrifice: He used lure powder to lead the outbreak of beasts away from Roka Village's secret Originium mine, knowing he'd eventually be overwhelmed.
- Posthumous Character: He died several years prior to the events of "A Flurry to the Flame" protecting Roka Village from a stampede of beasts.
Ataru Takii
- The Atoner: He has always regretted being partially responsible for Akira's death and does his best to protect the village in his stead.
- Last Stand: When a beast stampede attacks the village, he and many of the former hunters take up arms to fight off the beasts and buy time for the rest of the villagers to evacuate.
- Properly Paranoid: He always suspected that the village's secret Originium mine would cause a Catastrophe, which is why he built a village shelter for when that time comes.
- Town with a Dark Secret: He and the other villagers hide the fact that they are operating an undiscovered Originium mine in secret. While selling Originium ore has been highly lucrative for the village, it's also extremely dangerous due to the risk of Oripathy as well as the threat of military invasion if word ever got out.
Mirai Takii
- Cassandra Truth: Like Akira, she was opposed to the village opening the Originium mine, as she predicted that their would overmine the Originium veins and cause a Catastrophe.
- Damsel in Distress: She ends up having to be rescued by Noir Corne after she gets trapped in the Rathalos' cave.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: She's not completely against the village's mining of Originium, as long as it is done in a safe and sustainable manner. She points out that even though the mine is gone, the villagers can still leverage their experience with working with Originium to contract their services out to legal mines.
- Skewed Priorities: She'd much rather talk about science with the Felyne Scholar than address Noir Corne's pressing concerns about the mines and the Rathalos when she's introduced to the two.
- Take a Third Option: She decides to study a way to mass cultivate the rare but valuable Suzuka plant so the village can export that instead of Originium.
Hiroshi Ritou
- Corrupt Politician: He tries to use the chaos the Rathalos created to his advantage by trying to smuggle as much of his own and the village's assets away under everybody's noses. He even sabotages the anti-beast netting around the village to maximize the chaos. He was also secretly embezzling money from the village's Originium trade.
- Laser-Guided Karma: After the village is evacuated, Ataru seizes all of Hiroshi's embezzled assets and uses them to pay for building a new village.
Kazuya
- Hero-Worshipper: He equates hunters with heroes and wishes to be a great hunter himself one day who will protect his village and take down the Rathalos.
- Distant Finale: The end of A Flurry to the Flame implies that an adult Kazuya will face down a new Rathalos in the future.
Iberia
Affiliated Characters: Andreana, Blue Poison, Glaucus, Indigo, Irene, Lumen, Thorns, Whisperain
Affiliated Characters with Rhodes Island as their faction: Elysium, Weedy
- And Man Grew Proud: When many Aegirian technocrats fled from the Seaborn's encroachment, the Iberian king and princes were more concerned whether the Aegir technology transfer can be used to polish their vanity. The Stultifera Navis, intended by her shipwright Breogan to be used as a research ship against the Seaborn, was turned into a gilded flagship of the Iberian naval fleet. Their endless prosperity made them consider themselves gods, holier than Laterano, and they rewrote the scriptures to accommodate this view. It is even said that if the Profound Silence did not happen, Iberia would crown their own pope and use their religion to fuel their further conquest.
- Animal Motifs: So far, most operators who originated from Iberia are based on marine animals. Elysium so far is the sole exception, being based on Arctic terns instead. According to Thorns' bio, at least a considerable portion of "traditional" Iberians are Liberi, who look down upon other non-Liberi Iberians who try to learn their cultural swordplay technique, Destreza, as poor imitators.
- Didn't Think This Through: In the immediate aftermath of the Profound Silence, the Iberian government immediately instituted a massive purge of the Aegirean population after making them scapegoats for the disaster. Unfortunately, this purge also included many of Iberia's most brilliant scientists and engineers, and they subsquently lost the ability to repair or rebuild the highly advanced technology they previously relied upon.
- Fantastic Racism:
- Thorn's profile says that while the Aegirs are especially seen as suspicious in Iberia, which is confirmed by Andreanna's profile, non-Liberi practicing the nation's signature swordsmanship is considered No True Scotsman no matter how competent they are.
- Aegirians, being immigrants to Iberia, are heavily discriminated against by the native Iberians and are barred from entering cities. However, Thorns does admit that the Iberians do have legitimate reasons to fear Aegirians. "Stultifera Navis" clarifies it was a result of the Profound Silence and an encouraged desire to root out Church of the Deep adherents regardless of how many innocents were harmed during the process.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Based on its name, it's more than likely based on nations that comprise the Iberian Peninsula such as Spain, Portugal and Andorra.
- Thorns' Image Song, "El Brillo Solitario", is a dance track with a Spanish name and decidedly-Spanish influences, complete with classical guitar... and mariachi trumpets.
- The Gratuitous Spanish is present in Thorns' third skill, which is named Destreza (Spanish for skill or dexterity). Verdadera Destreza is also the name of a historical Spanish school of fencing.
- According to Andreanna's profile, Iberia is within proximity to Laterano, and takes heavily after its culture, which is a parallel of how real-life Spain and Portugal (formerly Hispania) were historically heavily inspired by their Roman conquerors.
- Additionally, Magallan's bio mentions Iberian submarine volcanoes, and most of the operators who hailed from this region are based on pelagic aquatic lifeforms, meaning it's a coastal nation with a deep sea floor. Considering its inferred geographical location relative to Laterano (and Siesta by extension), Iberia is undoubtedly the in-universe equivalent of the Iberian peninsula.
- Ghost City: It is revealed in "Under Tides" that most Iberian cities, especially near the coast, are dead and lifeless due to the war between Iberia and Aegir. "Stultifera Navis" shows that the city of Gran Faro is on the verge of becoming one as well due to the enroaching invasion of the Sea Terrors.
- Hand Cannon: Iberian Inquisitors carry a quite literal one: they are massive single-shot pistols capable of destroying entire buildings in a single blast, but with limited ammunition.
- Hidden Elf Village: The current Iberia is majorly closed off from outside. No one is really sure what is going on in the country, but because the other countries are practicing non-interference for domestic affairs, there's no real need to check its current situation. It is revealed in "Under Tides" by Kal'tsit that the Iberian region has been infiltrated by the Church of the Deep and they should seek help.
- Hopeless War: Iberia is engaged in a near-constant struggle with the Seaborn and the corrupted Aegir who serve them, which is not allowing them to truly help their people or recover from the destruction that has ravaged their coastal regions.
- Knight Templar: Thorns mentions that Iberians show a level of faith in the Laterano religion that it puts even the outwardly pious Laterans to shame. However, they're so militant in their beliefs that Thorns recommends that non-believers of the Lateran faith should avoid Iberia completely. Based on various accounts from Iberian refugees and the Flavor Text of several relics in "Ceobe's Fungimist", Iberia is at war with the Aegir region and oppresses the Aegirians, likely because of this reason; Iberia, who follows Laterano's religion, considers Aegir as heretical. "Stultifera Navis" revealed that the discrimination against Aegirians only started after the Profound Silence due to infiltration by the Church of the Deep causing the Inquisition to be suspicious of all Aegirians.
- Lighthouse Point: The Eye of Iberia lighthouses were intended to be yet another symbol of Iberian prosperity during its Golden Age before almost all of them were brought down by the Profound Silence. Only one remains just off the shore of Gran Faro, with both civilians and the Inquisition spending years trying to reclaim it in hopes of regaining a foothold on the sea for Iberia. By the present day, the Abyssal Hunters arrive to work towards that goal after being informed by Kal'tsit that it's the only means of communicating with the Stultifera Navis, their one hope of returning to Aegir. The main catch is the reason no one has ever been able to reclaim it is because it became a nest for Seaborn and are almost able to fully claim it for their own if it wasn't for the Hunters, Inquisitors, Jordi, and Kal'tsit all working in their own way to prevent this. Furthermore, the lighthouses' true purpose as designed by Breogan is to create a shoreline network for defense and communication with Aegir in preparation for the Seaborn, something Kal'tsit grasps when she realizes that some of the signals pinging Gran Faro's Eye of Iberia are from Aegir, not the dreadnought as everyone had assumed. Reclamation of this Eye of Iberia by the end allows them to put one step forward for that goal once more.
- Lost Technology: Iberia used to be a highly technologically advanced nation, possessing machinery powered by an energy source completely separate from Originium. However, most of the this technology was lost or destroyed in the Profound Silence, with what few surviving examples that are left damaged beyond repair or rendered inoperable with nobody left who knows how they actually work.
- Lottery of Doom: In "Under Tides," in the city of Sal Viento at every 100th high tide there will be a special pot where the citizens will draw a seashell out. A white seashell means they're safe, but a red seashell means they will be taken by the sea while food will appear on the coastline for the remaining citizens. Downplayed as the citizens does not know the true purpose of the lottery, to assimilate as much land creature as possible for the Church of the Deep. Bishop Quintus also likely did not tell the citizens the truth.
- Master Swordsman: According to Thorns' bio, Iberians have a national preference for knives and swords, and many of them are rather frighteningly adept at their craft. They have a national swordplay form, Destreza, which the Liberi population of Iberia hold sacred and sneer at those of other races who try to learn it themselves.
- Vestigial Empire: Iberia was once a thriving nation until the Profound Silence occurred, leaving it a pale shadow of its former glory with all of its coastal cities becoming ghost towns.
- World-Wrecking Wave: The Profound Silence is noted to have been so devastating that it somehow changed the geography of Iberia's coasts along with the mass destruction of Iberian lighthouses and other towns.
Old José
- Outliving One's Offspring: He mentions a son who was killed.Old José: So what about you? Is there no one you don't know? Because that's the kind that killed my son. Someone you don't even know.
Anita
- Ms. Exposition: As the only one wiling to talk to Skadi, Anita is the one to introduce the culture, situation, and events happening in Sal Viento to both Skadi and the player.
- Tagalong Kid: Become one to Skadi in the Under Tides event, following her whenever she goes.
Grandma Petra
Thiago
- Awful Truth: The Aegir woman he fell in love with was in cohorts with the Church of the Deep. Saint Carmen deliberately left this fact out to let Thiago die believing that she had been innocent so he won't suffer with the knowledge that the Aegirian he fell for is not the person he believed her to be while on death's door.
- Interspecies Adoption: Thiago adopted Lumen after he lost his parents and went to great heights to protect him from the Inquisition. Lumen in return sees the man as family.
- Interspecies Romance: He fell in love with an Aegir woman once in the past but she was eventually killed for being suspected a traitor. Said Aegir Woman was later revealed to have been one of the bishops for the Church of the Deep in the past.
- Parental Substitute: Is one to Lumen. Lumen was heartbroken to learn he died under the hands of the Church of the Deep cultists.
- Revenge Before Reason: He holds a deep resentment against the Inquisition for the arrest and death of his Aegir wife to the point where he deliberately allows the Church of the Deep to take root in Gran Faro just to spite the Inquistion.
Captain Alfonso
- Ambiguously Bi: Garcia is his lover but Alfonso refuses to clarify their past identity. Alfonso teasing that Garcia could be a man or a woman puts him closest to this trope since he never expresses further interest in explicitly one gender over the other.
- Bizarre Alien Limbs: His left arm gradually mutated into a Seaborn limb after he was forced to consume Seaborn flesh for sustenance.
- Going Down with the Ship: As the captain of the Stultifera Navis, Alfonso decides to go down with the ship when it is irreparably damaged during the battle with the Endspeaker, mostly because with the ship and the Iberia he knew gone, he has no more purpose to live.
- Large Ham: Is shown to be one when Irene and the Abyssal Hunters encounter him on the Stultifera Navis and he declares that the ship is "HIS Iberia". He even names certain sections of the ship after other Terran nations to further signify Golden Age Iberia's dominance over them.
- Living Legend: He was one during Iberia's Golden Age, which was why he was selected to lead Iberia's mighty dreadnought armada.
- Mercy Kill: He was forced to do this to many of his crew to prevent them from going insane or mutating into Seaborn.
- One Degree of Separation: He was a personal friend with Carmen before the Profound Silence separated them.
- Sole Survivor: By the time the Stultifera Navis is rediscovered 60 years after its disappearance, it's revealed that Alfonso is the only recognizable human left on the ship out of a crew of hundreds, all of whom either died or mutated into Seaborn.
Garcia
- Ambiguous Gender: Since they were mutated into a Seaborn, it's impossible to tell whether Garcia was male or female. Alfonso knows but decides not to tell anybody as a show of respect to Garcia.
- Mercy Kill: Ulpianus kills them so they can die human and not succumb to being overtaken by the Seaborn Hive Mind.
- Suddenly Speaking: Garcia seems incapable of speech, right until near the very end, when they reveal they can still talk. They just chose not to so it would be easier to cope with the mutation.
- True Companions: With Alfonso to the point where they are lovers.
- Was Once a Man: Garcia was once Alfonso's first mate before eventually mutating into a Seaborn, and is only barely able to hold onto their sanity just so they can keep Alfonso company.
- You Are Who You Eat: Due to being forced to consume Seaborn flesh to avoid starvation, Garcia eventually fully mutated into a Seaborn.
Breogan
Race: Aegir
An Aegir immigrant to Iberia who was largely responsible for many of the technological developments made during Iberia's Golden Age, including the Eye of Iberia and the Stultifera Navis. He is also reportedly Lumen's ancestor.- Apocalyptic Log: The "Reflection In The Mirror" section of "Stultifera Navis" was revealed to be Breogan's last thoughts before his death.
- Defector from Decadence: For reasons unknown, he abandoned his position in Aegir and took his knowledge and skills to Iberia instead.
- The Engineer: He was a brilliant engineer, being responsible for technological marvels such as the Iberian lighthouses, their naval dreadnoughts, and figuring out how to fuse Originium and Aegir technology together to create a possibly unlimited power source.
- Posthumous Character: He is confirmed to be long dead by the time of the "Stultifera Navis" event.
- The Scapegoat: He was killed by a group of Iberians that blamed him for the Profound Silence.
Kazdel
Affiliated Characters: Nightingale, Shining, Theresa, Vigna
Affiliated Characters with Rhodes Island as their faction: Closure, Flamebringer, Meteorite, Mudrock, W, Warfarin
Affiliated Characters with the Reunion Movement as their faction: Mudrock, Patriot (as Buldrokkas'tee), W
For characters affiliated with Theresis and his inner circle, see Arknights Military Commission Of Kazdel.
- Asshole Victim: The Sarkaz are rightfully angry about the generations of discrimination they have suffered at the hands of the rest of the Terra. However, Episode 12 implies that when Kazdel was the ancient Teekaz civilization, their messing with Originium is what lead to Terra's Crapsack World state. In addition, many Sarkaz, especially the long lived ones that can still recall Teekaz, actively wish to revive the old Teekaz civiliation, even if means exterminating all other Terran races to achieve it.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: In his profile, Hoederer notes that the greatest enemy of Kazdel and the Sarkaz isn't from any other race or external source, but the Sarkaz themselves. Sarkaz mercenaries are all too willing to butcher their own kind for money, and it's likely that more Sarkaz died by another Sarkaz's hand than any other race on Terra. The Sanguinarch also reveals that starting from the very first Sarkaz King, all Sarkaz Kings were usurped and assassinated by their own subjects in one way or another, leading to Kazdel's endless civil wars that prevent it from being able to unite into a single country.
- Commonality Connection: The Sankta and Sarkaz are both a deeply religious people that, despite the common behavior expected of the mercenary life your average Sarkaz experiences, deeply care for their respective peoples and go to great lengths to respect their own in either living or death whether they admit it or not. The only difference is that Laterano prospers as a paradise for the Sankta while Kazdel is reduced to a war-torn desolate waste for the Sarkaz thanks to both constant invasions and in-fighting. This particular splitting point might contribute to their sheer animosity towards the Sankta, who return the favor towards them, which is all the more ironic since it is confirmed that the Sankta are just a subspecies of Sarkaz themselves.
- Cursed with Awesome: The racial makeup of the Sarkaz people makes them significantly more susceptible to contracting Oripathy than other races of Terra. However, many consider this to be a blessing in disguise, as it allows them to tap into the Originium floating around in their bodies and wield amazing levels of Arts power, as well as resist it, that they would have never been able to otherwise. It should be noted that not all Sarkaz see it this way, however, and for those people, they're actually Blessed with Suck instead.
- The Dreaded: It's revealed that Kazdel in its prime was an exceptional potent country with enormous military power and industrial strength thanks to their affinity with Originium that far eclipsed other nations, thus when it suddenly fractured and the Sarkaz were suddenly a divided people, it was a vested interest around the world to keep Kazdel a splintered nation to prevent a resurgence of it's strength that could Take Over the World fairly easily. And seeing the full extent of Theresis's plans in Episode 10, it's very clear they have every right to be afraid.
- Episode 11 compounds this further as it's revealed that a massive army consisting almost all of Victoria, Gaul, and Leithania's most elite military forces and led by Kal'tsit was necessary in destroying the original Kazdel, something that came at considerable cost clearly given how feared a potentially reunified Kazdel is in the modern day that the nobles of Victoria outright surrender to Theresis's will and betray their own Praetorian Guard as to not put up any resistance.
- Episode 12 reveals the true extent of why they are so feared, the Sarkaz are the original species of Terra and it's rightful masters when they were Teekaz in ancient times, long before any of the other Ancient races or even the various godbeings that have peppered the planet since existed. A fully resurgent Kazdel is essentially a threat unseen in tens of thousands of years that would be capable of dishing out such fury that all life on Terra—save perhaps the Seaborn—would be helpless before their revived empire. As a result of this truth, it is practically a mandate by every nation to keep Kazdel shattered, which has been the policy for at least over ten-thousand years lest they will unleash an Apocalypse How on everything not them.
- Due to the Dead: One of their most sacred cultural vows is to pay respect to the deceased, as the Sarkaz collectively believe death is the best requiem one could hope for after a long life of suffering; as such, despite very much having the power to do so, they refuse to bring back the dead as it would be considered sacrilegous to their beliefs. This makes Theresis's action to revive Theresa all the more shocking, as the Confessarius convinced him that Theresa's status as The Dreaded was too valuable to ignore in potentially reunifying Kazdel.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: The subject of Kazdel's real-life analogue is kind of contentious in the Western community, but currently it's generally accepted that it's a blend of the German Empire/Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Israel (see below for details), with the Sarkaz people themselves being a German/Jewish amalgamation.
- German parallels:
- It effectively holds the geographical position of Germany relative to Kazimierz (Poland), Ursus (Russia), and Leithania (Austria-Hungary and Switzerland).
- Kazdel is also the creator of Marthe brand of clothing, an expy for German-made Adidas.
- Their fracturing and sudden decline as a world power and Theresis employing any means necessary to regain that status is reminsicent of interwar Germany, still reeling from the effects of the Treaty of Versailles.
- The treatment of the Sarkaz as barbarians mirrors the Roman perception of the Germanic tribes.
- The Sarkaz mercenaries, their frequent raids on Laterano, and their prevalent use of heretical Originium Art is equivalent to both German mercenaries (e.g. Landsknechte), and the pagan Norse vikings (who were Germanic) and their conflicts against Christian kings endorsed by the Papacy like Charlemagne (who was from the Franks, a Germanic people).
- Kingdom of Israel/Jewish parallels:
- Sarkaz are extremely culturally diverse groups with different castes and factions, similar to Jews, and there is heavy religious themeing surrounding Sarkaz, specifically the Old Testament. Noticeably, Sarkaz originate from Kazdel but they are seemingly found in all countries of the world, similar to the Jewish diaspora; Lava and Hibiscus are Sarkaz of Victoria.
- Closure's first name, Ada, is in reference to Ada Lovelace, but it is also Hebraic in origin.
- Sarkaz are treated as pariahs pretty much wherever they go, further reinforcing the analogue; it might be alluding to a culture of anti-semitism that knows no borders. For that reason, Mudrock seemed to regard Kazdel as a promised land to return to before being rescued by Logos, which drives a lot of sentiment surrounding the Kingdom of Heaven and modern Israel.
- Ancient Kazdelian resembles Hebrew and other Semitic languages, and modern Kazdelian resembles Yiddish, a Germanic language fused with Hebrew elements.
- German parallels:
- Forever War: Kazdel is in a protracted, multi-generational war with itself and all of its neighbors to ensure that it never regains its full power, lest it bring ruin upon the world. At times, it seems to border on Guilt-Free Extermination War, since no one has suggested using a peaceful solution to the problem of a resurgent Kazdel, while Theresis actually is planning to try and infect the world with Oripathy as vengeance for his people's suffering.
- Genetic Memory: The Sarkaz appears to have a genetic collective subconscious memory, passed through generations and strengthened by their Arts witchcraft practices. Older and purer the lineage, the stronger their connection to the collective subconscious, but all Sarkaz nevertheless have a connection with it. The true Kazdel Kings' Divine Right of Kings is a powerful telepathic Arts that manipulates this collective subconscious like a pseudo-Hive Mind, and each king can summon the power of their predecessors in battle. When Amiya mortally wounds Patriot, suddenly he was telepathically informed of an ancient prophecy where Rightful King Returns that entails Patriot's death and becomes the world's greatest Catastrophe.
- Hellish Pupils: Although hard to spot on some characters, many Sarkaz have these. On top of their aggressive eye colors, the irises of a typical Sarkaz are slit vertically like those of a cat or snake, a lot of whom are recruitable, which is best observed in their E2 CGs.
- Hive Mind: The Damazti tribe, on top of being masters of Voluntary Shapeshifting, are also capable of replicating themselves entirely on their own; a process that has seemingly inflicted them with a unique shared consciousness among the Sarkaz that allows them to share one mind and only refer to themselves as a collective "we" instead of as individuals.
- I'm a Humanitarian: According to a conversation between Patriot and his wife, shown in an Episode 7 flashback, it's heavily implied that the extinct Sarkaz Wendigos practiced a form of ritual cannibalism. Although he's a descendant of his people, Patriot abhorred this barbaric tradition.
- There's also the Nachzehrer tribe, who unlike Patriot and the Wendigo tribe's modern descendants, still actively practice cannibalism of other Terrans to absorb their memories and the strength of their wrath rather than for ritualistic purposes.
- Mythical Motifs: There are multiple distinct subsets of Sarkaz with their own motifs.
- For the majority of Sarkaz, known as Goliaths, they seem to be based on the stereotypical depiction of demons, complete with horns and tails that end in pointed tips. It's also noted they commonly attack convoys from Laterano for raids, playing into the dichotomy of demons vs angels.
- Aside from their common brethren, there are the Vampire and Wendigo types. A typical Vampire Sarkaz bear the visual traits that you'd expect from the name, though very little is known about the Wendigos, since there exists only a handful of them on Terra, Patriot being the last pure-blooded one who's clad head-to-toe in armor, thus not leaving much if at all to see.
- Episode 10 reveals there are even more diversity among them beyond the more commonly known three: the ghoulish Nachzehrer, the powerful Liches, the enigmatic Gargoyles, the prophetic Cyclopses, and the elusive Damazti; all this implying that the Sarkaz as a whole are supposed to representing the various evil spirits and monsters in myth instead of any one particular creature like the other races. "Guiding Ahead" also implies that the Sankta are also a subsect of Sarkaz themselves, but transformed via unknown means by an advanced mainframe beneath Laterano.
- National Weapon: According to Ines, all people from Kazdel are at least competent swordsmen in one way or another.
- Never Given a Name: Many Sarkaz are never given a name, or forget the one they were given as a child, and only up a nickname later in life. W, for example, claims that she had no name before picking up the weapons of her predecessor and inheriting his codename by tradition.
- Noodle Incident: The "Kazdel Incident", which the Doctor and other members of Rhodes Island were involved in, remains shrouded in mystery due to it being covered up by various governments.
- Not So Extinct: Downplayed, while Patriot is indeed the very last known pure-blooded Wendigo, the clan is still existant in the modern day as a mix-bred people who still predominantly show the noteworthy Wendigo traits such as their Blood Magic, though seemingly no longer participate in cannibalism like their ancestors. Currently, the modern Wendigo tribe is fighting demons up in the far north of Kazdel to prevent an invasion from them on the shattered country.
- One-Gender Race: The Banshee tribe somewhat, as they are predominantly an all-female subspecies of Sarkaz, however males are known to exist, like Logos, and are a noteworthy case due to their sheer rarity among the Banshees.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: According to one of W's lines in "Darknights' Memoir", real names aren't considered to be a very important thing in Kazdel. While they do have names, very few actually bother to remember them, even their own, therefore each and every Sarkaz tend to identify themselves using aliases, and will address another in the same manner.
- Ornamental Weapon: It is common practice among Sarkaz mercenaries to collect the weapons of fallen enemies as trophies. In particular, Laterano guns are the most prized, even if the Sarkaz don't have the skill or resources to actually use them.
- Our Gargoyles Rock: The Gargoyle clan (Mudrock's people) are a hidden breed of Sarkaz who have gained an affinity for the earth around them and capable of manipulating it to their whims.
- Precursors: Episode 12 reveals that the original Sarkaz race were the original people of Terra, predating every other species that came to exist on the planet, and are implied to be responsible for the state of the world being plagued by Originium due to whatever calamity annihilated their old civilization.
- Private Military Contractors: Due to the civil war rocking their homeland, their strong warrior culture, and the poverty of Kazdel, a lot of Sarkaz sell their services as mercenaries both in and out of their country. They are quite frequently encountered alongside other enemy types, particularly in Episode 4 and Originum Dust.
- Ruritania: This is Kazdel's reputation among foreign nations, who consider the country to be a worthless backwater region.
- Sins of Our Fathers: Kazdel's continous suffering at the hands of the other nations of Terra is because its precursor faction, Teekaz, is responsible for many of the calamities that plague Terra. Despite the old civilization being gone for centuries if not milennia, no one wants to try and explore any other methods of preventing this beyond "wreck Kazdel when it gets uppity". This is slightly justified (albeit in a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy way) by the fact that the Sarkaz can persist beyond death, with many of the deceased being understandably bitter over watching their civilization be destroyed repeatedly.
- Take Up My Sword: A very strong cultural belief among Sarkaz mercenaries is that by taking up the weapon of a fallen Sarkaz, you're obligated to take their place.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: The Damazti subspecies, as revealed in Episode 10, are an extremely unique breed of Sarkaz that can turn into virtually anything, especially other people, which makes them highly sought after by the few people who know them for either episonage, assassination, and replacement. The leader of this particular tribe serves in Theresis's court and is infilitrating Eartha to spy on Amiya for him.
- Was Once a Man: The Sarkaz were, way back when they were the main species on Terra, implied to have been more traditionally humanoid and not as genetically-complicated as they are in the present. But, through dabbling with Originium, their bodies and collective identity as a species gradually morphed into their respective clans.
- Wretched Hive: According to Ines, Kazdel could be described as the most filthiest, disgusting, derogatory adjective one could think of times a hundred.
- Wrong Context Magic: While one of the most capable race in their proficiency with Arts compared to other races on Terra — the Sarkaz hold a very unique relationship that allows them to do things that should be flat out considered impossible by almost everyone on Terra such as being able to persist and even revive themselves after death, and weaponize their very soul energies of hundreds of generations of their dead to create superweapons like the Shard that can actually force Catastrophes to happen on a scale that shakes the entire status quo of Terra.
"W"
Race: Sarkaz
A mercenary who worked with Hoederer and Ines. "Darknights' Memoir" opens with Hoederer reporting to Ines that "W" sacrificed himself to get Hoederer and their squadmates to safety. A Sarkaz woman who had been trailing Hoederer for the past two hours then reveals herself to him and Ines with "W's" gun and knife in hand, fully aware of what taking his gear meant: taking his name as her own, thus becoming the current W.- The Ace: Hoederer tells Ines that "W's" kill count would've been higher than his own had they both made it back to camp to update their tallies. Most apparent in his reply to Ines' question:Ines: How much you think we can milk W's death for?Hoederer: A lot. He was a helluva merc. Everybody knew.
- Battle Trophy: According to Hoederer, W's Ornamental Weapon had apparently been this to her predecessor. When she is curious about how a Sarkaz like the old W could have a birthday, Hoederer clarifies that it was a self-appointed birthday chosen on the very day he got that gun.Hoederer: He once killed a Laterano and took his gun. I guess they had some history between them, so he decided that day was his birthday.
- Due to the Dead: Hoederer and Ines each have a moment to regard him.Hoederer: He fought until the bitter end.Ines: Poor guy.Hoederer: Yeah. If only he made it back to camp alive. His kill count was well past mine. He would've come out as top merc, easy. Forget it, no point talking about that stuff now. At least he's earned his rest.[...]Hoederer: He was a helluva merc. Everybody knew.Ines: At least... his death won't be in vain.
- Mask of Sanity: Several months after Hoederer recruited her, W asks him what the old W was like, and Hoederer recalls how strange the old W was for being a hard worker and a stand-up guy with an undercurrent of obsession that made him prone to traps (whether he meant literal ones on the battlefield, figurative ones like being deceived, or even both is unknown).Hoederer: That guy... was a strange one. He was with us for a long time. Hardest worker you ever met, a real good egg. He fought hard to become our team leader, racked up kills and commendations, just so we'd celebrate his birthday.[...]Hoederer: "W" was one of our biggest characters. He always had that devil-may-care laugh, but whenever he spoke, you could tell that there was something more lurking underneath. But he was quicker to trust than pretty much anyone else.W: Why is that?Hoederer: Because he had an "obsession." Obsessed people, good or bad, are always falling into traps.W: ...All right. Just sounds like a dumbass to me.Hoederer: I figured you'd get it... Because you're the same type of person. Good at putting on airs, good at living in the moment.
- One-Letter Name: He was only ever known as "W".
- Posthumous Character: "Darknights' Memoir" begins two hours after his death.
- Riddle for the Ages: The only details of "W's" exact cause of death are that his and Hoederer's squad was ambushed, so he "blew apart the ruins" and "fought until the bitter end" to give their surviving members a chance to escape. DM-6 implies that Hoederer confirmed "W's" death from afar, as he recognizes the blasted ruins where "W" died. The only other person who would know the specifics is W since she took his weapons, and Hoederer idly posited (before brushing it aside) that she may have seen his squad before or was working for someone else at the time. Whatever the truth is, Hoederer lost one W and gained another, and that's fine with him.
- Small Role, Big Impact: The current W's life would've been very different if she never approached "W's" comrades with his gear to claim his identity for herself.
- Weapon-Based Characterization: The two weapons the current W took from him seem to reinforce his implied personality:
- The real-life M4 carbine has a reputation as one of the defining weapons of the 21st century, and "W" was largely known as The Ace with a bounty on his head.
- His implied use of a knife (apparently a Sheffield Bowie knife according to the animation PV for "Darknights' Memoir") and Hoederer's description of him imply that he was a Psycho Knife Nut.
- You Shall Not Pass!: Hoederer tells Ines that if "W" hadn't stayed behind to create an opening for the rest of the squad, none of them would've made it out.
Garcin
The initial mercenary leader of Reunion's Sarkaz forces who was sent by Theresis. He previously worked under Babel alongside Scout.- No Name Given: Downplayed. The game calls him "Sarkaz Mercenary Leader" during his only onscreen scene, and it doesn't change even when you have Scout mention his name.Scout: Don't mercenaries also use codenames, Garcin?Sarkaz Mercenary Leader: ...But you're right.
- Off with His Head!: In DM-7, it's mentioned that this is how Scout killed him offscreen.
- Shout-Out: His name seems to be a reference to Joseph Garcin, a character from the French play Huis clos by Jean-Paul Sartre.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Scout killed Garcin so that W would be able to take command of Reunion's Sarkaz forces out of Theresis's control, after which she would help secure Rhodes Island's extraction of the Doctor. The deal not only cost the lives of Scout's entire squad (with Scout being killed by Hoederer) and Ines (after she followed Scout's advice and discovered Talulah's possession) but also led to Hoederer's house arrest in Victoria.
- You All Look Familiar: His NPC art reuses the art of the Sarkaz Greatswordsman enemy.
Kazimierz
Affiliated Characters: Ashlock, Blemishine, Gravel, Fartooth, Flametail, Justice Knight, Meteor, Młynar, Nearl, Nearl the Radiant Knight, Platinum, Whislash, Wild Mane
Affiliated Characters with Rhodes Island as their faction: Catapult, Fang
- A Day in the Limelight: For some reason, Kazimierz really enjoys the focus the developers puts on it.
- While the main plot up to Episode 6 focuses primarily on Lungmen and sometimes Ursus, the game's first side event, "Grani and the Knights' Treasure", takes place in the Kazimierzan countryside, specifically near the village of Dewville.
- The "Maria Nearl" event focuses on Kazimierz's more developed major cities, particularly around a major sporting event called the Kazimierz Major and the eponymous character's participation in it.
- "Pinus Sylvestris" further explores the nature of its eponymous group, of which the members have become playable after first starring a side role in the aforementioned event. The 2021 Autumn Livestream revealed plans for a Promoted to Playable Mlynar as well, which makes the Nearl family the second family to be playable.
- "Near Light" concludes the story arc set by "Maria Nearl" and "Pinus Sylvestris," focusing on Margaret Nearl and her efforts to change the country for the better.
- An Annihilation map is set in Kazimierz's arenas, and two of the Contigency Contract events, "Spectrum" and "Dawn Seeker" revolves around another Kazimierz arena.
- Animal Motifs: Horses. Based on the operators seen so far, the majority of Kazimierz's non-slave population are Kuranta. Their official coat of arms is even a knight piece.
- Artifact Title:
- The Knights of Kazimierz used to indeed be an order of noble knights, who eradicated evil and protected the land. As the years went by, however, they became increasingly more like a State Sec or Secret Police group, with their skilled personnel being used as enforcers and political assassins more than anything. To this end, they're not above conscripting slaves into their ranks, with Gravel formerly being one such "chattel". In the present, most knights are no more than gladiators who fight for money and sponsorship, or Ax-Crazy former convicts trying to escape capital punishment.
- A distinction is made between knights who fight in the arena for glory and money, and those who fight on the borders against other nations to protect Kazimierz. The former are called "competition knights" and are organized into "knightclubs" that compete for sponsorships, while the latter are the regular military, referred to as "campaign knights." There's some tension between the two groups, and neither are really akin the noble knights of the past. If anything, "knight" in Kazimierz seems to just be the word they use for their nation's armored warriors, as it gets used for everything from soldiers to gladiators to noble houses.
- Capitalism Is Bad: The "Kazimierz Major" event displays the criticisms of capitalism in their most exaggerated form, with the entire country of Kazimierz being controlled by MegaCorps run by Corrupt Corporate Executives. Money is the only thing that matters and those who are rich enough not only get to ignore the law, but make them as well. Everything, even a person's dignity, is a commodity that can be bought or sold.
- The Dreaded: The Adeptus' most elite soldiers, the Silverlance Pegasi, are widely feared within and without Kazimierz due to their light based Arts, high speed, and extreme strength that lets them cleave through fortified structural pillars single-handedly. Even the Armorless Union is terrified at the thought of having to deal with them. One Silverlance they could easily take on, but even as few as three together starts stacking the odds heavily against them. Nearl herself could easily be among their ranks if she ever chooses to take up their invitation.
- Dying Town: One of Meteorite's letters in the "Grani & the Knights' Treasure" event states that this is a huge problem in Kazimierz. Smaller towns tend to be ignored by the government in favor of the larger cities, and suffer from poverty as a result. Firewatch comes from such a town, and while Meteorite says Firewatch loves her hometown, she hates the country's government for neglecting it.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Broadly to continental European monarchies, with perhaps a special focus on Medieval Poland. The name of the country itself is a common first name there, and they seem to use the Polish language too as Grani's armband has polish word "Policja"(Police) on it. Similarly to Late Medieval Poland it also seems to be implied to be ruled by corrupt rich nobility, with barely any supervision from a king (if there even is one). Kazimierz maintains orders of knighthood, although they've evolved quite a bit with the modern era and are (in theory) more a profession than a noble class nowadays. Several Rhodes operators are knights or former knights, and the knights of noble births have pegasus Animal Motif, pointing at Kingdom of Poland's elite Winged hussars cavalry.
- Full-Circle Revolution: Kazimierz was once ruled by traditional nobility until they were eventually overthrown by a more modern corporate nobility. However, this didn't really change the fact that the country is still run by an oligarchic ruling class who enforce a strict social stratification with those at the bottom largely being poor rural peasants.
- Gladiator Games: A huge part of Kazimierz's culture and media focuses on gladiator combat, with the biggest one being known as the Kazimierz Major. Knights form organized groups known as "Knightclubs" who receive corporate sponsorship to compete in the arena. Arena bouts are as much about competition between corporations as it is between knights, with the various companies trying to manipulate bouts so that their sponsored knights win, or to suppress knights who don't have sponsorships. One of the few legitimate jobs that Infected can have is to fight in lower-tier arenas for the entertainment of the masses.
- The Government: Kazimierz is largely run by a body called the National Council, which consists of three major factions: The General Chamber of Commerce, the Knights Association, and the Adeptus Sprawiedliwi Kazimierz. The Chamber of Commerce represents Kazimierz's largest corporations, the Knights Association represents the competition knights, and the Adeptus represents Kazimierz's standing military.
- Home Sweet Home: The citizens of Dewville prioritize their home so much that they constantly return to it no matter how many times they have to be evacuated because of Catastrophes.
- Medieval Stasis: Much of Kazimierz's rural population live in small, isolated villages with no real signs of advanced technology. They rely entirely on the Knights for protection, who levy heavy taxes on them in return. It's noted that these villages are so cut-off from the rest of the world that Lungmen dollars, a universal currency everywhere else, are not accepted as a valid form of payment in Kazimierz.
- Nouveau Riche: It's revealed in "The Kazimierz Major" and Blemishine's profile that Kazimierz was once ruled solely by the knights and nobility. However, things changed a little over a century ago when a minor knight managed to raise a massive sum of money and bought out the highly desired property of a recently deceased knight, outspending all of Kazimierz's nobility. This heralded the gradual rise of corporate nobility that overthrew the traditional nobility and turned the knights from defenders of the nation into something of a public relations and marketing tool.
- Secret Police: The Armorless Union, who the government uses to assassinate problematic knights that pose a threat to their power or the status quo.
- Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: A few of the operator profiles paint a rather unkind image of Kazimierz, particularly on the point of slavery — Gravel, for example, was branded as "chattel".
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: The various factions of the National Council, particularly the Adeptus and KGCC, absolutely despise each other, with the Adeptus seeing the KGCC as arrogant and decadent Corrupt Corporate Executives slowly corrupting the entire country with their obsession on profit, while the KGCC sees the Adeptus as nothing but out of touch nobles who seek to return to the country's feudal roots and are nothing but a drain on on the country's economy. However, the Adeptus knows they need the money the KGCC generates to fund their defense expenditures, while the KGCC is aware the Adeptus is the only thing protecting them from invasion from Ursus, Leithania, and Victoria.
- The KGCC itself has sharp divisions within, and it's not uncommon for members to use the Armorless Union to call hits on each other. The Doctor quickly picks up on this and uses their disunity to Rhodes Island's advantage in "Near Light".
Carol
Race: Kuranta
Artist: Ryuzakiichi
A young girl and the chieftain of the village of Dewville.- The Bus Came Back: She makes a major return in the ending of "Near Light", as Toland introduces Flametail to her and reveals that she has been organizing the Infected in her village.
- Denied Food as Punishment: "Grani and the Knights' Treasure" opens with some bounty hunters denying a bound Carol of water unless she reveals where the treasure key is.
- Heroic Sacrifice: She tries to pull one in order to unlock the Treasure Key, but Grani intervenes.
- Inconsistent Spelling: In "Near Light", Toland calls her Clore.
- Living MacGuffin: She's being pursued by bounty hunters, Reunion, and Skadi for information on the key's whereabouts, while Grani is set on protecting her for the sake of the village.
- Motivation on a Stick: She even mentions "dangling the carrot" to Grani when she plans on giving vague hints to Bob instead of outright telling him the treasures' location.
- Ms. Exposition: She provides some backstory on the village of Dewville and why bounty hunters are searching for treasures near their place.
- Secret-Keeper: The treasure's location and the key are passed to each succeeding generations of chieftains.
- Young and in Charge: Grani was pretty surprised to find out that Carol was the leader of her village, to which she says she's had the position for around six months so far.
Bounty Hunters
- Big Bad Wannabe: They serve as the primary adversaries in "Grani and the Knights Treasure". However, they are consistently small fry compared to Reunion who regularly wreck them in combat, and later became the principal antagonist once they hijacked their antagonistic role.
- Couldn't Find a Pen: As the protagonists investigate the forest, some defeated bounty hunters managed to write the word "Monster" using their blood, referring to their encounter with Skadi.
- From Bad to Worse: They initially just kept discussions to themselves, but over time they suspected the villagers of hiding the treasures' locations, so they resorted to intimidation to the point of destroying mills and warehouses.
- Grave Robbing: Some managed to dig up a knight's sarcophagus in the mountains and find a treasure chest of Kazimierz coins.
- Mook Horror Show: When Skadi arrives in the village, they are absolutely terrified of, and are actively trying to avoid her if possible. Skadi's confrontations with them are barely even considered fights.
- Non-Indicative Name: The narration labels them as "bounty hunters", but their motivations are more inclined with treasure hunters, given the event's theme.
- Punch-Clock Villain: They're mostly just after the locations of the key and the treasure as part of their bounty hunting business, but Grani's insistence in protecting Carol makes them the event's common antagonists.
- You Don't Look Like You: When they made their first appearance, they use the Rioter 2D model to represent them in-game. It is not until "Hortus de Escapismo" that they are finally introduced as an in-game enemy, complete with their own 2D model and a varied rank (the one's in the portrait are listed as an Elite Mook).
Vogelweide
Artist: Ryuzakiichi
A retired campaign knight who looks after Blemishine alongside Kowal.- Cool Old Guy: He was friends with Blemishine's grandfather and helps look after Blemishine.
- Hidden Depths: He is also a partial descendant of the Nightzmora.
- In-Series Nickname: Kowal called him "V".
- Knight in Sour Armor: He doesn't have a high opinion of the government after his superior and love interest was assassinated by the Armorless Union.
- No Name Given: Downplayed example. The game's subtitles consistently refer to Vogelweide as "Old Knight", long past the point when his name has been given in dialogue and despite the fact that it isn't a secret in- or out-of-universe.
- Parental Substitute: To the Nightmare Knight, Tola, due to their shared heritage.
- Retired Badass: He was once one of Kazimierz's most renowned archers, with many of his squires having become renowned knights themselves.
- Those Two Guys: Most of his scenes are shared with Kowal.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Kowal.
Kowal
Artist: Ryuzakiichi
A retired blacksmith and Blemishine's mentor who looks after her alongside Vogelweide.- Beast Man: Kowal stands out among the Little Bit Beastly Kuranta that make up the majority of Kazimierz's population by being pretty much just a polar bear with mostly-human proportions.
- Cool Old Guy: He was friends with Blemishine's grandfather and helps look after Blemishine.
- Knight in Sour Armor: He swore never to make weapons or armor again after his superior and love interest was assassinated by the Armorless Union.
- Mentor Archetype: He's Blemishine's mentor in engineering.
- No Name Given: Downplayed example. The game's subtitles consistently refer to Kowal as "Old Craftsman", long past the point when his name has been given in dialogue and despite the fact that it isn't a secret in- or out-of-universe.
- Retired Badass: Was once a prominent member of the Craftsman Union, who worked to equip knights on the frontlines and even fought on the frontlines himself.
- Those Two Guys: Most of his scenes are shared with Vogelweide.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Vogelweide.
Greatmouth Mob
Artist: NoriZC
The commentator for the 24th Kazimierz major.- Anime Hair: That thing puts Benimaru Nikaido's hair to shame.
- The Con: He's literally paid by the corporations to spout advertisements and manipulate the audience to side with a certain contestant.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: "Evil" is very much a stretch, but that scummy sell-out salesman persona he's constantly putting on at the behest of his corrupt government is to make money so his family can afford to move to the city.
- Large-Ham Announcer: Serves as this for the championship, providing commentary while also ramping up the ham.
Bald Marcin
Artist: Ryuzakiichi
The bartender who manages the bar frequented by Maria, Zofia, Vogelwiede, and Kowal. He was formerly known as the "Tremoriron Knight" until he lost his arm and was forced to retire.- Artificial Limbs: He has a prosthetic arm after losing it in a duel.
- The Bartender: Runs a small bar in Kazimierz and is quite friendly with his clients. Gravel's operator records reveal that she once frequented his bar and has rescued at least one would-be slave from their fate there.
- Career-Ending Injury: He was once a renowned competition knight until he lost his arm.
- Cool Old Guy: Is a close friend of the Nearl family and does his part to look after Whislash and Blemishine.
- Extra-ore-dinary: His Arts abilities give him limited manipulation of metal.
- Handicapped Badass: Even with a prosthetic arm, Marcin is no pushover and he can easily hold his own against Armorless Union grunts.
- Retired Badass: Was once a renowned and famous knight himself.
- Pyrrhic Victory: He actually won the duel he lost his arm in, but naturally that meant his fighting days were over after that.
The Grand Knight
Real name: Ioleta Russell
Race: Kuranta
Artist: Ryuzakiichi
The leader of the Adeptus Sprawiedliwi Kazimierz, representing Kazimierz's standing military.- Big Good: She involves herself and the Adeptus in the events of the Major to not only put the KGCC in its place, but also as a personal favor to the Nearl family, who she greatly respects.
- Cool Old Lady: Ioleta looks to be at least middle-aged, and is a kind and affable lady.
- The Ghost: While she is a heavily influential figure in Kazimierz politics, she never makes a physical appearance for the first two events that take place in the Grand Knight Territory.
- Old Soldier: As a campaign knight, Ioleta is a veteran of the war between Ursus and Kazimierz, with her fighting alongside Nearl's grandfather Kirill. She also insinuates that she crossed paths with Tola's grandfather.
- Parental Substitute: She is the Candle Knight's adoptive mother after she was exiled to Kazimierz.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: She is willing to enter an agreement with Amiya and Rhodes Island to pursue better and more humane treatment of Kazimierz's Infected population. She also believes Nearl's exile was unjustified and puts her under her protection when she returns.
- Undying Loyalty: She reveals that the reason she went to such great lengths for the Nearls is because Margaret's grandfather roused seven knights, including Russell, to go on a rescue mission for several dozen trapped knights and brought them all back safely (or symbolically with the fallen knights' shields). As such, this permanently cemented absolute respect for the Nearls among the knights from this mission.
Galazka Knight
- The Ghost: He doesn't have a cutscene portrait.
Plastic Knight
Click to see him unmasked
Real name: Szewczyk
Artist: Ryuzakiichi
A member of the Roar Knightclub, and Blemishine's first opponent during the championship's qualifying contest.- Achilles' Heel: The armor he wears in his duel against Blemishine is prone to overheating and she takes advantage of that design flaw to defeat him.
- Ambiguous Situation: Czarny ordered Platinum to "silence" Szewczyk's son for witnessing the incident that caused his hospitalization. It remains unclear whether Platinum carried out this order or not. "Pinus Sylvestris" reveals that Flametail managed to save him.
- Anti-Villain: Compared to Maria's other opponents in the Kazimierz Major qualifiers, Szewczyk can be a bit of a jerk at times, but he lacks Olmer Ingra's sadism, Tytus Topola's arrogance and contempt, and the Withered and Corrupted Knights' sheer monstrousness. He mostly just comes across as an ordinary guy trying to do his job, and after his retirement his only real goal seems to be the safety of his family.
- The Cynic: He is familiar with the true nature of being a competition knight, and actively discourages his eager son from becoming one, saying that they're not the heroes he thinks they are.Szewczyk: The bigger the dream, the bigger the disappointment.
- Deflector Shields: Like his lesser kin, he gains a shield when first spawning which inflates his defenses to the point that he's Nigh-Invulnerable. This disappears after 60 seconds, longer than the 30 seconds offered by the Trainees and Elites.
- Heel Realization:
- After losing to Maria, he starts having second thoughts on being a corporate shill. This provokes the Chamber of Commerce to poison him.
- "Pinus Sylvestris" reveals that he initially has a very low opinion of the Infected, but after the titular group save him and his family from being targeted by the Chamber of Commerce he reconsiders his opinion and is grateful to the group.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: He willingly accepts using experimental and flawed armor in his duel against Blemishine on the request of his sponsor. Had he used his regular armor, he likely would have defeated her.
- King Mook: "Plastic" Szewczyk is essentially the strongest variation of the Roar Knightclub Trainees.
- Lightning Bruiser: He is known for his his speed, which makes him excel in sprint races.
- Meaningful Name: He had no sponsors during his time as an independent knight, and was resentful towards the corporations for taking his job with mass production equipment, so he created his own suit of rudimentary armor out of plastic, both as a symbol of his own hard work, and out of spite towards the corporations.
- Not in This for Your Revolution: He couldn't really care less about the plight of the Infected, but he gladly joins forces with Pinus Sylvestris to get some revenge against the Armorless Union who is targeting him and his family.
- Papa Wolf: Goes out to rescue his son in "An Obscure Wanderer" side story "No Peace" after hearing about an attack on the slums where schoolchildren go out to play, even almost getting into a fight with Młynar before he was convinced to stand down.
- Retired Badass: "No Peace" (his side story in "An Obscure Wanderer") reveals that he retired to Dzwonek with his wife and son.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He temporarily allies with Pinus Sylvestris in "Pinus Sylvestris" and "Near Light", not because he buys into their ideals, but because they have a shared enemy in the Armorless Union. Otherwise, he still maintains a rather low opinion of them as Infected knights.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: After he fails to knock Blemishine out of the Major and begins harboring rebellious sentiments towards the government, he is poisoned at his own son's birthday, and is forced to be hospitalized. However, "Pinus Sylvestris" reveals that he survived and managed to escape with the help of Fartooth.
Brassrust Knight
Real name: Olmer Ingra
Artist: Ryuzakiichi
A member of the Bloodboil Knightclub infamous for his bloodlust and tendency to maim his enemies.- Blood Knight: Coming from a wealthy knight family, Olmer only competes in the Major to satisfy his lust for violence. He's also infamous for not only beating his opponents but also outright crippling them.
- Fantastic Racism: Even taking his usual bloodlust into account, he has a downright genocidal hatred of the Infected, immediately jumping on any opportunity to brutalize or outright kill Infected knights.
- Ground Punch: He does this in a shot from the event's PV trailer.
- Jet Pack: He has rockets built into his boots that can give him a sudden burst of speed to surprise an enemy.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: In "Near Light", he kills a Pinus Sylvestris Infected Knight, nearly causing a massive Oripathy outbreak in the Arena. For that, he is permanently banned by Malkiewicz not only from his knighthood that he flaunted so much above others but also from the Major.
- King Mook: "Brassrust" Olmer Ingra is this to the Apprentice Bloodboil Knights.
- Red Baron: He's widely known as The Butcher of the Field due to his violence.
- Sadist: His brutal fighting style often causes his opponent to get permanently mangled, and he revels in that. In his fight against Maria, he raves about ripping her limbs off and gagging her with them.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Olmer, along with the Ingra family, have been convicted many times for behaving violently in the arena, but they avoided punishments by bribing the judges with money.
Left-Hand Knight
Real name: Tytus Topola
Artist: Ryuzakiichi
A member of the Blade Helmet Knightclub, renowned for both his strength and arrogance.- The Ace: Considered to be one of the strongest knights to step foot in the Major, and for good reason.
- Achilles' Heel: His own pride. Topola won't accept victory unless he can absolutely destroy his opponent's spirit and force them to surrender. Getting beaten up by each member of the Nearl family apparently was not enough for Topola to get the memo.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: He views himself quite superior to everyone else when it comes to fighting, and often looks down on his opponents, making an effort to utterly destroy their resolve. During his duel with Maria, he intentionally draws the fight out for almost two hours in an attempt to break her will, and when Maria manags to start deflecting his attacks he just gets more offended that she would dare to parry his strikes.
- Battle Theme Music: Corrosion.
- Breaking Speech: Specializes in giving these. In combat, this manifests as an ability to severely lower the ATK of the hardest-hitting Operator on the map for a while, with a much shorter cooldown than his lesser brethren.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: His insistence on dragging out his duel with Blemishine in an effort to break her spirit ends up backfiring on him, as that results in him tiring himself out and giving Blemishine the time she needs to figure out a counterattack against him. Had he fought seriously from the start, he likely would have defeated her instantly. However, this winds up being a Xanatos Gambit, as it's heavily implied that he bet against himself losing to make more money off of the match.
- Inconsistent Spelling: His last name is interchangably written as "Topola" and "Topopla" in the story.
- King Mook: "Left-Hand" Tytus Topola is the strongest Apprentice Bladehelm Knight variant.
- Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: Despite being an Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy or perhaps because of that, he never strikes Maria down when she's kissing dirt and always lets her to pick up her sword before attacking her again. He eventually comes to acknowledge Maria's resolve and tenacity.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: After suffering a second defeat at the hands of Nearl, Tytus realizes that he's no longer the same invincible knight that he used to be, and decides to retire while he's ahead before he finds himself on the recieving end of the corporations' scheming.
- Mini-Boss: Although the named members of each knightclub are generally far stronger than average, Tytus far surpasses any of them statwise and has arguably more deadly abilities, making him easily the strongest non-boss enemy in the entire event. Fittingly, during the EX stages, he's the only one of the knightclub "leaders" to appear more than once, as well as being the only one to get his own theme music when battled in the main stages.
- One-Man Army: He got his title of the Left-Hand Knight from breaking his way out of an encirclement while his right hand was impaired.
- Worthy Opponent: While he's extremely indignant to his defeat at Margaret's hands in the previous Major, he can't help but admire Margaret's strength. The main reason why he's so doggedly antagonistic to Maria is because he thinks Maria is dishonoring Margaret's name by not being as strong as her. While he still shows contempt toward Maria right up until the moment she knocks him unconscious, he does sympathize with her desire to prove herself, as he mentions that her sheer tenacity is something to be recognized.
Corrupted Knight
Race: Sarkaz
Artist: Ryuzakiichi
A fallen Sarkaz soldier who, alongside the Withered Knight, serves as the Final Boss of the event "Maria Nearl". Both are members of the Snowyheel Knightclub.- Achilles' Heel: You're supposed to kill this guy with Arts damage, as his base defense of 1200 makes all but the most powerful of physical attacks no more than a thought. Since he bulldozes any and all melee operators in his path, this means piling on the casters and supporters.
- Ambiguously Human: His bio states that he and his brother are just Sarkaz prone to heavy violence and drug use, but "Maria Nearl" event mentions how they 'smell of death'. Combined with their unusual glowing faces beneath the armor, it makes them closer to undead Humanoid Abominations. Revelations as to the subraces of Sarkaz in the Act 2 Story reveals that between their obscured faces and smell, they're likely Nachzehrer, which makes them closer to corpse-eating ghouls than straight up undead.
- Creepy Twins: He's the Withered Knight's twin brother, and together the two of them are creepy enough that even the spectators find them unnerving.
- Critical Hit: Every once in a while, he'll charge up a giant swing and strike his target for roughly triple his attack power, which also applies to his splash damage.
- Dual Boss: Both him and Withered Knight show up in MN-8 simultaneously to fight the operators.
- Fireball Eyeballs: His eyes burn with a cyan flame in battle.
- Hulk Speak: Both brothers have a simple, direct, and brutish way of speaking, implying that their mental faculties have been damaged by drug abuse.
- Identical Twin ID Tag: They can be identified by which side their horns are severed on.
- In-Series Nickname: Mob simply calls him "Corrupted".
- Kill One, Others Get Stronger: He gains a massive attack, attack speed, and movement speed buff if his partner is killed.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: It's heavily implied he abandons the KGCC and takes up Toland's offer to flee the Grand Knight Territory with him.
- Splash Damage Abuse: His basic attacks cause significant splash damage to operators adjacent to his target, which makes him dangerous against grouped-up defenses.
Withered Knight
Race: Sarkaz
Artist: Ryuzakiichi
The partner of the Corrupted Knight, who joins him as the other Final Boss of the event "Maria Nearl". While identical to his brother appearance-wise, he has his left horn broken instead, and is a sniper. Both are members of the Snowyheel Knightclub.- Achilles' Heel: In contrast to his brother, it's physical damage this time. His 70% Arts resistance means casters won't be doing much, and since his damage output is only threatening to high-ground operators before he Turns Red, it's best to fight him with melee operators.
- Ambiguously Human: His bio states that he and his brother are just Sarkaz prone to heavy violence and drug use, but "Maria Nearl" event mentions how they 'smell of death'. Combined with their unusual glowing faces beneath the armor, it makes them closer to undead Humanoid Abominations. With more details being revealed about the Sarkaz subraces in Act 2 of the main story, they're more likely than not Nachzehrer, a tribe of corpse-eaters.
- Creepy Twins: He's the Corrupted Knight's twin brother, and together the two of them are creepy enough that even the spectators find them unnerving.
- Dual Boss: Both him and Corrupted Knight show up in MN-8 simultaneously to fight the operators.
- Energy Bow: His weapon of choice is a huge bow that fires magical arrows to deal Arts damage.
- Fireball Eyeballs: Like Corrupted Knight, his eyes burn with a cyan flame in battle.
- Hulk Speak: Both brothers have a simple, direct, and brutish way of speaking, implying that their mental faculties have been damaged by drug abuse.
- Identical Twin ID Tag: They can be distinguished by which side their horns are severed on.
- In-Series Nickname: Mob simply calls him "Withered".
- Kill One, Others Get Stronger: He gains a massive attack, attack speed, and movement speed buff if his partner is killed.
- Multishot: He can nock and fire two arrows at once, three with his skill active.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: It's heavily implied he abandons the KGCC and takes up Toland's offer to flee the Grand Knight Territory with him.
- Why Am I Ticking?: His special attack attaches Arts arrows to three targets within range, which then detonate to deal high splash Arts damage to them and all targets around them.
Nightmare Knight
Real name: Tola
Race: Nightzmora
Artist: Cenm0
One of the elusive Nightzmora descended from the ancient Khagan civilization, who appeared in Kazimierz to test his strength as part of the archaic "Khaganquest".- Assassin Outclassin': After his rejection of knighthood and simultaneous string of victories, the Kazimierz government sends the Corrupted and Withered Knights after him in an assassination attempt. His response is to curb-stomp them, only stopping short of outright killing them because Toland convinced him not to - and even then, he breaks their arms just to send a message. Later on, he also gets into fights with the Armorless Union's Lazurite squads sent to kill him, and manages to hold his own against them.
- Badass Boast: Delivers a memorable one when reaffirming his beliefs and summoning his illusory army against the Blood Knight during their bout.My family is dead. My people are lost. The Khagan is wherever the tip of my blade points.I...am my own Khagan! Come!
- Blood Knight: As a surviving descendant of the Khagans, the only things that matter to him are battle, conquest, and honor. He despises Kazimierz for tacking on so many extra and superficial values to knighthood.
- Casting a Shadow: His Arts can manifest as a pitch-black smog that shrouds his surroundings. In game, his ability also takes the form of a shadowy copy of himself that slashes all Operators that don't have a lit up tile behind them.
- Death Seeker: Vogelwiede believes that the objective of Tola's quest is find a place to die.
- Hidden Depths: He has a soft spot for people he considers his relatives, no matter how distant. He even spares Infected Knights because Toland referred to them as his kin. Probably part of his madness comes from loneliness.
- Glory Days: Days that he didn't even experience personally, no less. He's so utterly devoted to preserving the glorious legacy of his ancestors that he's willing to throw away any semblance of his present and future just for the sake of a long-gone empire.
- I Reject Your Reality: Deep down, he knows that the Khagan he so venerates no longer exists, yet his will to keep it alive is so strong that by the end of the event, he merely declares that he'll just have to embody the Khagan all by himself and make it real again. In fact, this is implied to be partly how his Arts work, with his illusory powers doing their best to bring his delusions and obsession into the real world.
- King Mook: Tola boasts superior stats to the Nightzmora copycats who follow him.
- Master of Illusion: His Nightzmora heritage allows him to cast Arts that manifest shadowy illusions capable of causing physical harm, most notably armies of ancient Khagan warriors. They're realistic enough that they've been likened to summoning the spirits of his past ancestors.
- Meaningful Name: It's mentioned in a childhood flashback that Tola means "grasslands", which is part of the ancestral image he idolizes so much.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: Believes that all of his endless journeying and fighting is to glorify the history of his ancestors, the world-conquering Khagan. To that end, he worships their culture to the point of fanaticism and looks down on pretty much all civilization, believing that it has made people weak and cowardly.
- Sore Loser: After being disqualified against Nearl (against whom he planned to fight to the death) and dragged out of the round, he tried to forcefully find her and battle her again. Maria and Vogelwiede ended up clashing against him during his search to protect the injured Margaret.
- Supernatural Fear Inducer: The Arts abilities of his lineage allows him to strike fear into nearby people, such as how he sent the entire audience into a state of hushed terror during his bout with Nearl.
- Walking the Earth: He follows the Nightzmora's nomadice ways, and literally walked all the way from Sargon to Kazimierz. A feat nearly unheard of and only matched by other oddities like Ceobe. He never likes to settle in one place too long and is constantly on the move. After the Major ends, he decides to head to the northern wastes where it's said the last of the Nightzmora migrated to, where it's implied he went on to battle the demons lurking outside of civilization.
- Worthy Opponent: Sees Nearl as this, to the point where his fight with her being interrupted is something he considers a blasphemous sin.
- He also comes to see Maria as this, after he witnesses her bleeding golden blood, matching an ancient legend about a Pegasus hero who defeated the Nightzmora.
Blood Knight
Click to see him unmasked.
Real name: Dikaiopolis
Race: Forte
Artist: Ryuzakiichi
An Infected champion of the Kazimierz Major who helped instate the Infected Participation System after his victory, and is seen as a hero to the Kazimierz Infected as a result. He serves as the Final Boss of "Near Light".- Badass Boast: After breaking up the fight between Tola and Nearl, he declares himself to be Tola's next opponent, while also treating him like a footnote on his path to face Nearl. An enraged Tola asks if he's implying that he'll beat him, to which Dikaiopolis gives a single word of response.
- Bloody Murder: His Arts allows him to channel his own blood and shape it at will, which he can utilize as a terrifyingly effective offensive and defensive ability. However, not only does this accelerate his already severe Oripathy, it comes at the risk of literally exhausting all the blood in his body.
- Blood Knight: Ironically, despite it literally being his title, actually subverted. The Blood Knight is the one of the most honorable and tolerant of all of the Kazimierz knights seen thus far, seeks for equality of the Infected in the region, isn't shown to particularly enjoy battle, and has no desire to inflict excessive pain onto others even when he does fight.
- Damage Over Time: His Exsanguination special attack targets the last deployed unit (or the one blocking him) with a blast that temporarily stuns them and deals constant Arts damage for the duration.
- Dark Is Not Evil: He's an imposing horned figure dressed in crimson armor, uses macabre Arts that manipulate his own blood, and is called the Blood Knight of all things. However, he turns out to be arguably one of the most honorable characters in Kazimierz.
- Duel Boss: Downplayed. He takes 25% less Physical/Arts damage from anything that isn't directly blocking him (which increases to 50% in his second phase), making it favorable to funnel a single unit powerful enough to take him in a one-on-one melee duel (or sandwiching him between two units so that they can swap whenever one gets stunned by Exsanguination). At the same time, provided you have enough damage to overpower his resistance, there's nothing really stopping you from bombarding him to death anyways.
- Final Boss: Of the "Near Light" event.
- Flunky Boss: Continuously summons Bloodblade minions once you take out his first stage. While these are mostly to heal him if he manages to come into contact with them, they're no slouch in direct combat either.
- Heal Thyself: Any Bloodblades that come into contact with him will be consumed to restore 10% of his maximum health, letting him keep himself healthy if you can't eliminate them first.
- Knight in Sour Armor: Although he's seen as an infallible hero to all Infected and idolized by nearly all who know about him, he takes no pleasure in his status, with his main goal being just to survive and help others along the way. He is also disappointed in Nearl by virtue of the fact that as much as a powerful Hope Bringer she was, she was still unable to make any change to society in the end.
- Mighty Glacier: His movement is fairly slow and his attacks are even more so, especially in his second phase where he has to waste every other attack summoning more minions. He makes up for it by dealing tremendous amounts of damage with each blow, and boasting a combination of high HP, strong mixed defenses, damage reduction, and self-healing which let him take a huge amount of punishment before going down.
- Retired Badass: After the conclusion of the 24th Major, he decides to finally retire, renouncing his knighthood and settling down in a remote farm to grow olives.
- Spontaneous Weapon Creation: Out of his own blood, no less.
- Turns Red: Twiceover actually, as he has three stages; his second stage is an intermediate stage where he will absorb his summoned swords to gradually refill his health until he returns to full HP and repeats his first phase from the beginning. If 60 seconds pass and the player prevents him from healing to max, he instead activates his third phase where he becomes invulnerable for the initial six seconds while gaining a massive power boost and permanent range to his attacks.
- The Unpronounceable: A running gag during the cutscenes about his past is people can't pronounce his name, ending up being only known by his stage name. He doesn't mind it though.
- Worthy Opponent: Had a phenomenally fierce fight with the Radiant Knight Nearl during the 24th Kazimierz Major, to the point they absolutely wrecked the other's weapon and had to draw new ones from their respective Arts powers. In the end, despite his defeat, he's not sour about it and allows Nearl to carry him gracefully over her shoulder back to his feet.
- Your Days Are Numbered: After his retirement, he is shown to have major coughing fits, implying he's already heavily overused his Arts and his infection has become worse. Even worse, Roy shows up at his farm, implying he's there to silence him... or so it seemed until the "To be Continued" sidestory "Farewell Roy" reveals that Roy actually faked his death to throw the KGCC and the Armorless Union off from following after them.
Toland Cash
Race: Sarkaz
Artist: Ryuzakiichi
A bounty hunter who appears in "Near Light", assisting Pinus Sylvestris and the Infected knights to further his personal vendetta against the K.G.C.C.- Bash Brothers: He and Mlynar are close comrades who used to fight and travel together long ago. It's implied that the knightly fighting techniques Toland knows were taught to him by Mlynar.
- Bodyguarding a Badass: He was hired by Mlynar to protect both Nearl and Maria from the shadows, and during "Near Light" he intervenes in many of the Armorless Union's plots against them.
- Commonality Connection: He rescues the Corrupted and Withered Knights from being abused and experimented on, both out of sympathy with how abused they've been and because he has an interest in why their horns were severed like him (though the brothers' horns are not as thoroughly severed as Toland's).
- Loveable Rogue: Comes with being a bounty hunter, and it helps that he's on Nearl's side.
The Last Knight
Click to see Rocinante.
Real name: Mortica
Race: Kuranta-Seaborn hybrid
Artist: Cenm0
A legendary knight of Kazimierz and one of its iconic heroes, he mysteriously vanished at the end of his life to conquer the sea. His story had inspired many modern knights such as Nearl, Blemishine, and the Candle Knight, and his buried treasure became the focal point of "Grani and the Knight's Treasure". He finally makes his onscreen debut in "Stultifera Navis", appearing to be a human and Seaborn hybrid.- Achilles' Heel:
- The Last Knight is tremendously powerful, but has the misfortune of being vulnerable to every status effect besides Silence. This means that even if the player lacks a team capable of blocking or killing him quickly, as long as they have enough crowd control, they can trap him in a Cycle of Hurting and whittle him down through attrition. This becomes the main strategy on higher Surging Waves levels, where he becomes Nigh-Invulnerable to conventional damage and near impossible to block, but retains this same weakness.note
- Certain summons and the detached drones of Mech-Accord Casters can continue attacking him while the main operator themselves are frozen by his passive, bypassing his greatest method of defense. Goldenglow is especially effective due to her high damage output and passive RES penetration.
- Ambiguously Human: While he's now a Seaborn, bits and pieces of his humanity still remain, such as seemingly retaining a completely humanoid figure and how his charge is recognizable as a traditional Kuranta knight charge.
- Ambiguous Situation: It's not exactly clear what he is fighting or what he is fighting for, other than he somehow wants to destroy both the ocean and civilization.
- Attack Reflector: In his battle, any units that deal damage to him (even through sources like Damage Over Time) will be inflicted with Cold, which will freeze them if their attack interval is shorter than the Cold duration. The cold duration also doubles if he's below half health.
- Chekhov M.I.A.: First brought up in the very first event as his treasure was what everyone was fighting over, he would not be seen in the flesh until two years later in "Stultifera Navis".
- Contractual Boss Immunity: Averted. For a Final Boss, he's surprisingly susceptible to stun-type effects, making it possible to whittle his tremendous defenses down through attrition.
- Determinator: Being a Folk Hero, the Last Knight's disappearance was ages ago, yet even after becoming a Seaborn, losing his mind, and being barely able to speak he's still charging against the waves over and over again in the present day, just as described in the myths and novels. One of the endings for "Mizuki & Caerula Arbor" also shows that despite both him and Rocinante feeling a natural aversion against fighting Ishar-mla as fellow Seaborn, in the end he still charges against what is practically his god alone, becoming the last opponent that Ishar-mla faced in that ending.
- Empowered Badass Normal: Regardless of whether the myths of his feats were true or not, he was a knight of Kazimierz back before it became a corporate nation and thus was an exceptionally accomplished warrior who earned that right... however, whatever he has ended up becoming in the time since, it is clear he has become monstrously powerful to be able to contend with two veteran Abyssal Hunters like Ulpianus and Gladiia, whom are biologically-enhanced super soldiers meant to fight Eldritch Abominations, at the same time to a complete stand-still.
- Escort Mission: To get the second ending of Mizuki & Caerula Arbor and fight him as the Final Boss, you must keep him alive through the first four floors of the mode. While he can hold his own decently well as an allied unit, he is not invincible, and becomes even more vulnerable should you get the relic that lowers his defense, as it applies to him both as an enemy and an allied unit.
- Final Battle: One of the endings of "Mizuki & Caerula Arbor" depicts him charging alone against the titanic form of Ishar-mla in the ocean after civilization had been completely taken and submerged by the sea.
- Final Boss: Of the Age of the Silence ending in Mizuki and Caerula Arbor.
- Folk Hero: While his story is well-known in Kazimierz, everyone treated it as a mere legend, and his last actions as recorded in myth and novels - charging against the waves over and over - is thought to be some kind of metaphor. It turns out to be more literal than anyone could've guessed.
- Guest-Star Party Member: In Mizuki & Caerula Arbor, he can be ‘recruited’ as a random event to get the second ending, becoming a pre-deployed allied unit for the first four floors.
- Injured Vulnerability: Deals significantly increased damage to Frozen units.
- Mighty Glacier: In spite of his slow speed, he has incredibly high HP, devastatingly high attack power, and extremely high defenses - 4000 DEF and 70 RES at base, which makes him take Scratch Damage from all physical sources and absorb significant punishment from Arts as well, although the former of which can fortunately be reduced to a more manageable 800 by a Collectible. However, what really makes him this is his ability to chill and freeze anything that even attacks him, significantly crimping the player's DPS (especially for fast attackers) while also leaving them sitting ducks for a swift One-Hit Kill since his already punishing attacks deal bonus damage to frozen targets.
- Our Hippocamps Are Different: He tamed a hippocampus as his steed and named it Rocinante at some point after leaving for the ocean, with it seemingly able to function on land as well as water. In battle, once his first health bar is defeated, he'll restore 25% HP and mount Rocinante, rendering him unable to attack and slowing himself, but becoming unblockable.
- Poor Communication Kills: Although he helps you against the Seaborn if recruited, it's implied he ultimately turns on you as the Final Boss of his ending is that he senses Mizuki's Seaborn nature and possibly also him carrying the cells of the Caerula Arbor, registering him as a hostile despite him being friendly. By the time he realizes this, it's already too late and Ishar'mla is knocking at the door.
- Sanity Slippage: It is said that he lost his mind sometime after retiring to Iberia, chasing out something towards the sea and never returned in the stories about him—and while he's still very much alive and present, his sanity has clearly been eroded away to the point he can barely communicate with any other being let alone hold a meaningful conversation with anyone, leaving the only thing keeping him going is his determination to fight whatever is out there waiting in the waters to Silence everything.The past died on the land, and neither the present nor the future have any meaning. Only the ocean; kill the ocean.
- Shout-Out: His history, plus Rocinante's name, reference the eponymous Don Quixote. Even his code in the Enemy Archive is "DOQ". He also attacks a lighthouse in his madness, sort of like how Don Quixote would also attack certain inanimate tall structures (windmills).
- Spanner in the Works:
- The Last Knight is not affiliated with either the land races or the Seaborn and just appears unannounced during the battle for the Eye of Iberia in "Stultifera Navis", unexpectedly fighting both the Abyssal Hunters and the Seaborn.
- He's also this in the Downer Ending of Integrated Strategies 3 for Ishar'mla. Despite the Seaborn being posed to wipe out all life on Terra by that point (save for the Doctor, whom will eventually succumb to them or die), the Last Knight is so tenacious that his sheer determination won't allow him to fall under Ishar'mla's influence, leading him to fight against Him despite being a Seaborn himself. This is subverted, however, by the fact that the Last Knight ultimately falls before Ishar'mla, and the Silence proceeds in full force right after.
- Time-Limit Boss: A soft time limit version. Instead of a winding route, he walks a straight path from spawn to the blue box, while demolishing a few boulders in his path. He doesn't have any fancy attack pattern or mechanics other than an annoying Attack Reflector, and is surprisingly vulnerable to stun-type effects. The fight is thus a matter of overcoming his defense and DPSing him down before he reaches the blue box. Stunning or slowing him essentially adds to the time limit.
- Was Once a Man: It's highly implied that he used to be a Kuranta knight from Kazimierz before retiring to Iberia and going insane from proximity to the sea.
Czcibor
Race: Kuranta
Artist: Ryuzakiichi
A campaign knight who is an old comrade of Mlynar and Toland who has his own ideas of how to save the ideal of knighthood in Kazimierz.- Arc Villain: Of the "An Obscure Wanderer" event.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: He forces a duel with Mlynar, preferring to die by his hand in combat rather than turn himself in to the Adeptus and inevitably be executed for his crimes.
- False Flag Operation: He tried to frame a visiting Leithanian noble as a spy and have him executed in order to trigger a war with Leithanien.
- General Ripper: He's convinced that the only way to save Kazimierz from both Leithanien and itself is to start a war with Leithanien.
- Heel–Face Turn: He was in fact part of the noble family planning to betray Kazimierz to Leithanien many years ago. He exposed the plot to Mlynar, who subsequently annihilated the entire family without mercy, only sparing Czcibor.
- Knight in Sour Armor: Like Mlynar, Czcibor was disillusioned with Kazimierz after he became exposed to the corruption and politicking within not only the KGCC but also the Adeptus.
- The Lost Lenore: He never forgave the National Council for executing his lover Celina under false accusations of treason, and her death was the triggering event for his loss of faith in Kazimierz.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Even though he wanted to instigate a war between Kazimierz and Leithanien, he only did so because he believed it was the only way to remind Kazimierz why the campaign knights were still needed. In addition, he wanted to get a preemptive strike against Leithanien since he is convinced the country is gearing up for a war with Kazimierz anyway.
- We Used to Be Friends: He's never forgiven Mlynar for leaving his lover and their mutual comrade, Celina, to be executed by the National Council for treason.
Kjerag
Affiliated Characters: Aurora, Cliffheart, Courier, Gnosis, Kjera, Matterhorn, Pramanix, SilverAsh
Affiliated Characters with Rhodes Island as their faction: Steward
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Primarily the Tibetan Himalaya.
- Despite it being named after a mountain in Norway, the climate in Kjerag does not match the one in said mountain area. Instead, the typical geography consists mainly of snow-capped mountains, snow falls year-round, and all of the characters who hailed from this region are based on species native to the Himalayas. Buddhist influences can be seen in its culture, as well as its chief reliance on resource exports and technological innovation spurred by folks like SilverAsh and his family. Additionally, Matterhorn's weapon is a kukri, made iconic by the Nepali Gurkhas.
- Kjerag itself is nicknamed the "Snow Realm". Apart from the year-round snowfall, the significance of this name becomes twofold when you take into consideration the strong Himalayan influences in its culture. In Sanskrit, "Himalaya" (himá (हिम, "snow") and ā-laya (आलय, "receptacle, dwelling")) means roughly "Abode of the Snow" which, when understood from a more worldly perspective, corresponds very well to "Snow Realm".
- The background◊ of the "Glory of SilverAsh" banner features strings of colorful prayer flags similar to the signature decorations of Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal.
- Kjerag's close relations with Victoria mirror Nepal's close relations with Britain.
- Kjerag also appears to draw certain inspiration from Switzerland. Kjera, in her character lines, mentions cheese fondue, a typically Swiss food, to be a meal from Kjerag. In "Break the Ice", Jungfrau and Matterhorn, after which the operator Matterhorn is named, are mentioned to be Kjerag mountains. And then there are the Tschäggättäs, legendary creatures and SilverAsh's special soldiers, who also come from Swiss folklore.
- Despite it being named after a mountain in Norway
- Hidden Elf Village: Kjerag remained isolated from the world for thousands of years, and is only just now establishing trade with foreign countries thanks to SilverAsh.
- Ruritania: Kjerag technologically lags behind the other Terran countries by decades, which much of the country's domestic technology basically being Medieval level. The country is considered such a nonthreat that most of the great powers that surround them simply have not put any priority into invading Kjerag, at least not yet.
- Place of Protection: Kjerag is unique among other countries in that Catastrophes do not occur at all within its borders. It's heavily implied that this is the doing of their deity, Kjeragandr.
- The Theocracy: Kjerag society completely revolves around worship of their main goddess, Kjeragandr. The Vine-Bear Court basically runs all of Kjerag's affairs, and strictly enforce worship of Kjergandr.
The Great Elder
Race: Feline
Artist: Ryuzakiichi
The political and spiritual leader of Kjerag, who mediates disputes between the three main clans of the Tri-Council.- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Despite being a kind and pious man, the Great Elder is also ruthless enough to eliminate threats to his power, even if it involves murder.
- Death by Irony: Twofold, courtesy of SilverAsh. Firstly, he's given a fatal dose of his own poison via a drink delivered to him as a gift—a method preferred by the Great Elder to dispose of any political dissidents to his power no less—dooming him to a long, drawn-out demise fitting of his past crimes. Then, as he lies dying, unable to speak up at all, SilverAsh uses the pious reputation he worked so hard to maintain against him to undo his and his predecessors' nihilistic agenda of keeping Kjerag a Hidden Elf Village from the rest of the world, causing all of his well-laid plans to keep the country isolated to fall apart as he helplessly watches.
- Dying Alone: After Pramanix takes his place as the new leader of Kjerag and heads off to thwart SilverAsh's coup, the Great Elder is left forgotten and alone in his room as he is slowly dying of the poison he ingested. Only Kjera is present to express pity for him and see him off in his last moments.
- Greater-Scope Villain: While SilverAsh is the Big Bad of "Break The Ice", it is the Great Elder, in his attempts to keep Kjerag a Hidden Elf Village, that led to a lot of the drama to unfold in the first place. In fact in comparison, if it wasn't for the fact that SilverAsh's coup d'etat runs the risk of starting a bloody Civil War, SilverAsh would be vastly more favorable as the Lesser of Two Evils since he's nowhere near as nihilistic or cruel as the Great Elder is in secret.
- Laser-Guided Karma: He's taken down by the very same poison he used to kill to Valais' father, served by Valais herself, no less.
- The Man Behind the Man: It's revealed in "Break the Ice" that the Saintess, while being the face of the Vine-Bear Court is ultimately the Great Elder's Puppet Ruler. It's not until Pramanix demonstrates she has the force of will to defy the Elders that the role of Saintess becomes more active in Kjerag politics.
- Straw Nihilist: Witnessing Kjerag being content to stay in its isolationist stasis convinces the Great Elder that the people of Kjerag will cling to their faith and always reject change.
Laterano
Affiliated Characters: Ambriel, Archetto, Arene, Fiammetta, Enforcer, Executor, Exusiai, Insider, Mostima, Spuria, Plume, Virtuosa
Affiliated Characters with Rhodes Island as their faction: Adnachiel
The homeland of the Sankta, a race of humanoids with angel-like features, Laterano is a theocracy and the center of the Lateran religion, with several sets of laws that seems to be binding beyond the normal definition. It also has a practical monopoly in the production and ownership of firearms thanks to the Sankta's natural affinity with the weapon, and every Laterano citizen owns one after they obtain their license as a means of self-defense.
- Animal Motifs: Avian; while this is still a Sankta-dominated country, Laterano has quite a significant Liberi population if Plume, Archetto and Fiammetta are any indication.
- Ape Shall Never Kill Ape: One of the law pertaining to Sankta seems to be this, even just by pointing your gun at a fellow Sankta, and one can fall even if the act was a complete accident. It's how Mostima and Fortuna fell. The "law" of the Sankta can make exceptions to this, such as when Pope Yvangelista and Andoain outright shot each other and remained fully Sankta, as well as Executor after shooting at his own distant cousin. This does, however, have a Loophole Abuse in that it does not actually forbid any other form of armed conflict between Sankta, which is put to plenty of use by the Pathfinders and whoever they fight. It also doesn't stop outside forces, such as the Lock and Key, that takes control away from the Sankta and forces them to shoot another. As shown by Andoian remaining Sankta when he shot and crippled Lemuen as the "law" recognized he had no personal fault in the act, but the same could not be said for Mostima who shot him in self-defense, as the action was entirely of her own volition.
- 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.
- Cavalry Refusal: According to the Revenant in Chapter 12, the collective Sarkaz anger towards Sankta and Laterano stems from the ancient Sankta either abandoning their posts or refusing to provide aid to Kazdel, leaving Kazdel open to invasion and destruction at the hands of a coalition of foreign nations.
- The Empath: All Sanktas are this to each other to some degree, as their halos allow them to feel what other Sanktas feel. Losing this halo or distorting them will weaken or even remove this ability.
- The Exile: Infected citizens retain the same rights as the rest of Laterano population, but are forever banned from their homeland in exchange.
- Fantastic Racism:
- The Sankta loathe the Sarkaz, and the latter are more than happy to return the sentiment, with both races eagerly taking any chance to slaughter the other. This stems from an age-old feud that led to the creation of Laterano, and has become so ingrained in their cultures that it's become instinctual. Whether this has anything to do with the fact that they may be closely related remains to be explained.
- Though not exactly second-class citizens, Liberi are not treated exactly the same as Sankta and have fewer opportunities within Laterano. A number of them flock to the Pathfinders for this reason and look for a way to get Laterano society to treat Liberi as equals with Sankta.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: A mix of Switzerland and the Vatican.
- Their namesake is the Lateran Palace, an ancient Roman palace and later the main Papal residence in Rome. The country as a whole is deeply religious and the stereotype of a Lateran is that of dourness, which is rather suggestive of something like the Vatican (or rather the Papal States, back when the Papacy has its own nation and military). Lateran is the seat of power for the Pope who oversees a religion with influence in other nations, Iberia being the most prominent of them. Lateranians also favor names that are in Latin or old Greek, with many operators being named after significant Biblical angels. According to Plume's comments, Laterano is culturally and religiously closed-off from the rest of the world, which can be construed as a Take That! to the close-minded teachings of the Catholic church.
- As for the Swiss analogue, Laterano is a nation full of Gun Nuts and has a rich history of service as mercenaries. One of the few non-Sankta Lateran operators is Plume, who's a Liberi instead of a Sankta and serves as one of its honor guards, is clearly an Expy of the Pontifical Swiss Guard, a 500-and-change-year-old organization dedicated to the protection of the Papacy. In fact, the official name for Plume's organization, Pontifica Cohors Lateran, is almost directly lifted verbatim from "Pontificia Cohors Helvetica", the Latin designation of the Swiss Guard.
- Their namesake is the Lateran Palace
- Gun Nut: This is their national hat. Gun control in Laterano seems to be very lax, with even civilians being able to procure and use guns of various models, with those not yet qualified for firearm ownership being given the alternative choice of crossbows, as in the case of Adnachiel. Of all operators of Lateran descent, a sizable amount of them are ranged units, using very cool guns compared to the more mundane bows of their colleagues.
- Firearm development is Serious Business for most Laterans, and it's all but stated that they're extremely touchy about any other nation developing firearms and challenging their monopoly on them. When developing new weapons for Team Rainbow (who are from Earth, and thus use gunpowder-based firearms without Originium), the R.I. engineers make a point of saying that they need to make sure Laterano never finds out about this.
- Hive Mind: To non-Sankta, the Sankta came across as this because of how their halos let them instantly receive and understand other people's feelings. This is even a common funeral practice where they share a great sorrow in one's death. Much to Fiammetta's irritation, this means her teammates all instinctually understand Andoain's thought processes for that incident eight years ago but she never will.
- Lawful Neutral: In-Universe example. Laterano takes its neutrality in Terran politics very seriously, which makes them effective peacemakers and mediators and it is not uncommon for them to conduct diplomacy between differing nations through their Legati. This is also the basis for how Yvangelista tries to forge a common alliance between all the Terran nations. Interestingly, this lawful nature also makes Laterano a surprisingly free-spirited nation, because as long as the appropriate forms are filled out and and member of the Notorial Hall is present to sign off, a citizen can get away with nearly anything as long as it doesn't hurt anyone.
- Magically-Binding Contract: Executor's and Mostima's profiles (see Ape Shall Never Kill Ape above) seems to indicate that at least some of Laterano's laws are supernaturally binding laws and not just normal legislation. Guiding Ahead reveals that Laterano has an immutable and intangible "law" whose goal is to preserve the longevity of the Sankta. It gives them their physical attributes and empath abilities, can instill emotions in them on a race-wide scale, and can also dictate who recieves these "blessings" and when to revoke them if its laws are broken. And the latter isn't even consistent — the law can make exceptions to its own judgements seemingly of its own volition, implying that the will of Laterano is somehow sentient.
- There appears to be a dubious and seldom-elaborated-on law involving the Sankta and firing six bullets from their gun at once, with no Sankta in the setting being known to have more than five bullets - even Exusiai, who sprays like no tommorow, only fires 5 shots at once with her third skill, with the sixth chamber in her skill icon being conspicuously empty. Andoain also follows this numerical theme, with his gun having 5 shots, his attacks bouncing 5 times, and his special attack having 5 targets. Notably, Outcast was stricken by "divine judgement" for firing the sixth shot from her revolver and seemingly breaking a covenant, although it's unknown if this was specifically because she made a promise not to, or applies to the Sankta as a whole.
- Our Angels Are Different:
- Virtually all of the world's Sankta, or angel people, are from Laterano, including the ones you recruit. While they do have the halo and energy wings of some sort, Sankta are otherwise flesh and blood humanoids and have nothing to do with the souls of the departed. Most Lateran Sankta are pretty religious, though (even Exusiai, though she's less obvious about it). Their wings also tend to light up and expand when invoking Originium Arts (as can be seen on Exusiai when she uses her second or third skills).
- Should a Sankta commit a grave sin, they would be regarded as "fallen", and would begin to exhibit physical traits like those of the Sarkaz, as exemplified in the case of Mostima. This actually raises a lot more questions than it answers, since it puts the entire Sarkaz race as a whole into the spotlight: "Where does a "fallen" Sankta end and a Sarkaz begin? And if the Sankta can transform into Sarkaz when they "fall", are the extant Sarkaz a pure race to begin with?"
- The answer seems to be the other way around. It is heavily implied that Sanktas are in fact offshoots of Sarkaz, since a mysterious machine beneath Laterano's cathedral is responsible for giving Sankta their racial traits. Breaking its law results in a "fallen" Sankta, returning their Sarkaz features. Later story chapters and events such as "Hortus de Escapismo" would reveal this is absolutely the case, with the Sarkaz's vicious feud with them being a deeply rooted and bitter Et Tu, Brute? response to their sibling race betraying their kind for becoming, essentially, Ascended Demons thanks to the Law that governs them and, during Chapter 12, Amiya can feel many dead Sankta souls inside the heart of the Shard Tower alongside the vast amount of Sarkaz souls when reaching into it, further showing their deep connection to one another.
- Praetorian Guard: The Apostolic Knights are Laterano's most elite soldiers, who are essentially sci-fi paladins wielding massive miniguns. They serve as the personal guard of the Pope and make up the backbone of their military might during wartime.
- Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Almost all Sankta operators are named after biblical angels, except for Executor and Enforcer, who are referred to by their job title.
- Stuff Blowing Up: It is perfectly legal to set off explosives in Laterano and destroy architecture for entirely arbitrary reasons, as long as one files the proper permits, evacuates the area, and has a member of the Notarial Hall observing the process. In fact, explosions are rather commonplace in the country.Patia: What's so weird about explosions in Laterano?
- Sweet Tooth: A cultural trait, as Adnachiel mentions in a trust line that he's afraid of disgracing Laterano by his lack of knowledge with merely 25 dessert recipes. "Guide Ahead" reveals just how much it's Serious Business to them: the Pope and his inner circle treat the subjective taste of fruit tarts with the same level of urgency as Laterano's convened assembly of Terran envoys.
- The Theocracy: Despite having a constitution that guarantees rights, Laterano comes across more as this; religion is a huge part of Lateran culture, and one of the military units of the country is called the "Pontifica Cohors Lateran" (which implies there's a pontiff that needs a cohort). The game has not yet completely detailed the structure of the government, though.
The Law
The god that serves as the foundation of the Lateran religion.- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Its only priority seems to be the preservation of the Sankta race, and the means that it uses to do so are often inexplicable by normal standards and subject to change seemingly at random, with it even sometimes contradicting its previous actions. The commandments of Laterano are simply the way the current Pope interprets the needs of the Law. Friston refers to it as an "icy chain of command" and remarks about the danger of booting up a machine to worship as a god, suggesting that the Law lacks self-awareness and may not even fully understand the mission that was asked of it.
- Some of the biggest examples of this is what exactly causes a Sankta to "Fall". For example, Both Mostima and Fortuna become Fallen when Mostima is forced to shoot Andoain to save Lemuen's life and Fortuna accidentally shoots and kills Delfina. Meanwhile, Both the Pope and Andoain, as well as Cliff and Woodrow get into active gunfights with each other yet none of them become Fallen.
- The Chosen One: It presents a list of candidates for sainthood to Yvangelista when it senses danger to Laterano.
- Deus est Machina: While it was implied beforehand, "Hortus de Escapismo" confirms that the Law is actually an ancient supercomputer buried underneath Laterano.
- The Masquerade: While Laterans are led to believe the Law exists as a god, its true nature as a supercomputer is kept secret to all but the highest ranking members of the Lateran Church.
- Seers: As a highly advanced supercomputer, the Law is able to predict the future through raw calculations and simulations.
- Vagueness Is Coming: It senses imminent danger to Laterano, but cannot determine what exactly it is or when it will occur.
Pope Yvangelista XI
Race: Sankta
Artist: Jacknife
The current leader of Laterano.- Badass Preacher: Doesn't hesitate to pull out a revolver to defend himself when Andoain confronts him. He's also stated to be physically strong enough that he caused property damage to the Basilica while winning an arm-wrestling tournament, which also has the implication that he beat the Apostolic Knights in a game of strength.
- Cool Old Guy: He is nothing but polite and well meaning to everybody he meets, even his enemies like Andoain.
- Fantastic Racism: Subverted. It is actually a noteworthy point that Yvangelista isn't prejudiced at all towards fallen Sankta that has given them some status back within Laterano to dutifully serve their country still. He also doesn't seem to look down the Sarkaz like other Sankta do, given his leniency and compassion towards Cecelia. Babel insinuates that this is because he has personally met Theresa and found that they shared the same ideals.
- The Good King: Yvangelista stands as easily one of the most sincerely compassionate leaders on all of Terra by a mile, earnestly displaying honesty and a compassion unseen by most rulers, and yet, despite the Crapsack World setting they live in, he is not hopelessly naive about the world he lives in and understands his limits despite knowing people suffer all over outside Laterano, seeking diplomatic channels to unify the world under one cause at a summit to better the predicament people live in around Terra rather than attempt to stretch themselves thin to the point of destruction by forcing the change entirely by themselves as Andoain wanted.
- Meaningful Name: It's explained that Yvangelista is the Saint of Sacrifice and Unity in the Lateran faith, with the latter being the ideal he preaches and impetus to assemble envoys from all nations of Terra together for a conference as the setup for further unity down the line. The ending implies he succeeded as his "Lateran Declaration" is the first quote to be used in International Summit Handbooks.
- Meta Twist: With the Church of the Deep and Vine-Bear Court's religious corruption stemming directly from religious heads using dogma to pursue their own goals, it creates a precedent that there may be something sinister going on in the Lateran faith. Laterano's Pope turns out to be an entirely benevolent figure to everyone he meets with no ulterior goal beyond what he preaches and is willing to debate with Andoain on even terms about each other's theological beliefs. The only actual secret he's shown to be hiding is the thing that dictates the "law" of all Sankta and he shows it to Andoain to explain why it allows them to not become fallen Sankta after wielding guns at each other.
- One Degree of Separation: Babel reveals that he met Theresa during the earliest days of the Tower of Babel who used her empath powers as the Lord of Fiends to read into his heart and discovered that they had similar ideals.
- Reasonable Authority Figure:
- He seems to have no problem with fallen Sankta, even though their status denotes they broke the laws of his nation, as he employs Mostima as one of his Legati.
- At the end of "Guide Ahead", he lets Cecelia go free with little fuss because she's ultimately a little girl who just lost her mother and is lost in the world. He even lets her keep her mother's firearm despite it being against Laterano law as he can't do something as heartless as deprive an orphan of her only parental keepsake available to her. The Pope also overlooks Ezell's blatant rule-breaking by making his protection of Cecelia an official assignment and gives him permission to travel the world with her.
- He also pardons Andoain and lets him and his followers leave Laterano peacefully, as he knows Andoain is simply misguided and doesn't mean any harm to Laterano.
- Babel also reveals that he's far more lenient towards Sarkaz than any of the previous popes, having met Theresa and found their beliefs to be compatible.
- Try to Fit That on a Business Card: Andoain refers to him as "The guardian, keeper, and executor of the most supreme law. The eleventh man to take the name of Yvangelista, the Patron Saint of Sacrifice and Unity, and to stand atop the Lateran Curia as the Apostle, His Holiness the Pope." Yvangelista is fairly unimpressed at Andoain's recital of the Pope's various titles since Andoain doesn't put any stock in them.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: Downplayed. When Andoain confronts him on why Laterano continues to ignore the plight of the rest of the world to further its own paradise, Yvangelista counters with the point that the Sankta's racial empathy is the only reason why Laterano's "paradise" can exist, and that trying to spread it to other nations will inevitably result in failure while using up Laterano's resources, thus he is willing to prioritize maintaining his own country over futilely trying to help others. That said, it doesn't stop him from wanting to help inspire change with the world, it's just that he's not going to threaten Laterano itself or the rest of the world to make it happen by force like Andoain and the Pathfinders wanted when he can take other peaceful measures to achieve a better world that's more comparable to the "utopia" of Laterano than the Crapsack World Terra presently is.
Cecelia
Race: Sankta-Sarkaz hybrid
Artist: Chuzenji
The daughter of a Sarkaz father and a Sankta mother, who mysteriously exhibits Sankta traits despite them being believed to only appear in the children of two Sankta parents.- Child of Two Worlds: She's a Sankta-Sarkaz hybrid, something that was not only considered Beyond the Impossible (since Sankta traits are usually only expressed in pure-blooded Sankta), but improbable considering the historical enmity between the two races. Her hybrid nature is reflected in "gaps" in her wings and halo, as well as parts of her wings looking like they have melted off.
- Children Are Innocent: In part due to her mother sheltering her from the general Laterano populace so as to not let them know of her being a Sankta-Sarkaz hybrid and thus protect Cecelia from the discrimination she would have faced, Cecelia has the innocence and naivety to match, as she wasn't aware of the concept that her mother has died from illness at the start of the event story, and thought she was just "sleeping" until Enforcer breaks down the concept for her to understand.
- The Chosen One: For some reason, she is able to cause the Bells of Revelation to ring for the first time in a thousand years since the time of Laterano's First Saint. Nobody is exactly sure what this means, or if it has anything to do with her mixed Sankta-Sarkaz blood, but everybody knows Cecelia is special in some way.
- Good Parents: All indications show that despite having to live apart from her, Cecelia's father genuinely loves her since he takes a big risk coming out to meet her in the middle of the night. In addition, Rhodes Island HR operators have noted that despite having been raised in complete isolation for most of her life, Cecelia does not exhibit any of the traumas or psychological damage such an upbringing normally causes, suggesting that her mother did an exceptional job of raising her.
- Living Macguffin: She is a central piece for the Gambit Pileup in "Guide Ahead". Andoain and his group wish to take Cecelia away from Laterano with an ulterior motive of having her join them, while the Laterano Notarial Hall wishes to take her in to watch over her after learning of her existence, which is considered an abnormality and extreme rarity. Meanwhile, Oren wants to use her half-breed status - considered dangerous to Laterano's status quo - as leverage to forcibly bring about change in the country, all while Enforcer just wishes to safeguard and fulfill the promise he made to her to let her see her deceased mother one last time.
- Poor Communication Kills: Part of the plot is kickstarted because Cecelia doesn't have the vocabulary and context to convey what she saw to Ezell, so he assumes that the strange man (Executor) and the two women in gowns (Ecclesia Requietum workers) who were in her house kidnapped her mother and goes on a bit of a wild chase to figure out what happened.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Chuzenji, the artist who illustrated Cecelia, posted an artwork of a young Cecelia and her mother (who lacks an illustration sprite in the event itself) and showed that Cecelia strongly takes after her physically beyond just inheriting her mother's Sankta traits.
- Tragic Keepsake: Both Ezell and Pope Yvangelista realize it's better to let Cecelia keep her mother's personal firearm than take it to the Notarial Hall, as its symbolic value to Cecelia far outweighs the rule to inter it in an archive.
- Walking the Earth: At the end of "Guide Ahead", Cecelia decides to leave Laterano in order to find her father, with Enforcer accompanying her on her journey.
- Wham Line: Cecelia said this when she encountered a Sarkaz vendor in disguise, giving Enforcer the hint to what Cecelia's other half of her Sankta heritage was.Cecelia: Miss! Your horns look just like Papa's... Are you also a Sarkaz?
Oren Argiolas
Race: Sankta
Artist: Xiàyě Hóng Míng
One of the Legati who is employed by Laterano to maintain diplomatic relations with other nations.- Boxed Crook: He's ultimately caught and arrested by Executor and has his Legatus status revoked. However, Velliv decides to keep him around as he can still prove to be useful to her and Laterano.
- Elite Mook: Serves as a stronger variation of the Pathfinder Nuncio.
- Fantastic Racism: He hates all Sarkaz which is why in "Hortus de Escapismo" when Federico and Lemuen wanted to let the Sarkaz living in the monastery leave in peace, Oren opted to secretly mobilize the Laterano military against the monastery after he escaped at the start of the event.
- Hated by All: Nobody likes Oren, and for very good reason, being a smug, racist prick who has no problem using lethal force against his fellow Sankta, and later on expresses glee in planning to massacre a group of innocent Sarkaz who can't even fight back by bombing the monastery they were hiding in, even angering Lemuen enough to physically put him in his place.
- Hidden Agenda Villain: He secretly wants to use Cecelia as a bargaining chip to force change to Laterano.
- Kick the Dog: His decision to violently remove the Sarkaz refugees in the Sanctilaminium Ambrosii, who are almost entirely non-combatants and were planning to leave the abbey to ease any political tensions anyway, even after Gerald/Holst offers his head to placate Laterano. It's to the extent that even Lemuen and Executor condemn his actions and refuse to go along with them.
- Lack of Empathy: Ironically for a non-fallen Sankta, he has very little regard for others. He is even willing to use lethal force against fellow Sankta such as Ezell just for being in his way, but he is especially callous towards Sarkaz, disregarding the fact that those within the Sanctilaminium Ambrosii are innocent refugees and even taking some amount of glee in the prospect of them resisting as it would give him an excuse to wipe them out.
- Loophole Abuse: Oren is fully aware that the Law's rules towards Sankta falling only applies to firing their guns at each other, and he exploits this to the fullest degree through using other, but no less lethal, methods when fighting other Sankta ranging from close-quarters combat to explosive weapons.
- The Mole: Served as one for Andoain to spy on the Basilica.
- Smug Snake: Despite him always having plots in the background, Executor and Lemuen always can sniff them out because he's so predictable about them.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Though he's working with Andoain and the Pathfinders, he is only doing so because their interests happen to align in forcing change to Laterano. Otherwise, he doesn't care one bit about Andoain's ideals and even considers stealing Cecelia for himself.
- In "Hortus de Escapismo", he’s nominally on the same side as Lemuen and Federico, but his Knight Templar tendencies clash with Lemuen’s diplomatic approach leading him to disappear and act on his own, and the extremism he resorts to causes infighting with Lemuen to the point that she physically assaults and threatens to shoot him, even disregarding the threat of falling. By the end of the event, the only reason his allies tolerate him is because he’s needed to fix the mess he caused to begin with.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His mobilization of Lateran forces causes Holst to commit suicide as a scapegoat in a bid to spare his fellow Sarkaz, which was a factor in driving Clément, who had to personally deliver his head to the Executor and company, completely off the Despair Event Horizon and make an attempt to Mercy Kill the abbey’s residents before things got any worse. If not for Executor discovering the plan and stopping Clément in time, he would have detonated his explosives and likely killed everyone in the abbey, including Oren himself.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: He ultimately wants to prepare Laterano against the political machinations going on within Victoria.
- In "Hortus de Escapismo", he mobilizes the Lateran army to eliminate the Sarkaz population of the Sanctilaminium Ambrosii because the revelation that Sarkaz have been living in harmony with Sankta in a Lateran abbey may hurt diplomatic relations with Victoria, which is still reeling from their war with Theresis. He is fully aware that his actions may result in consequences from the Lateran authorities once he returns home, though he believes he's done absolutely nothing wrong.
Velliv
Race: Sankta
A cardinal of the Laterano Papal Hall.- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: After Oren is captured and his status revoked, Velliv decides to keep him around rather than execute him, believing he still has his uses to her.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Cannot stand working alongside Oren and constantly snaps back whenever he tries to joke around. The "teamwork" part of that is dropped entirely once Oren turns traitor.
Leithanien
Affiliated Characters: Bassline, Carnelian, Earthspirit, Eyjafjalla, Czerny, Ebenholz, Lessing, Viviana
Affiliated Characters with Rhodes Island as their faction: Cardigan
- Animal Motifs: Cardigan aside, most of the operators from Leithanien seen so far are of the Caprinae race, which means they are heavy on the goat, sheep, and ram motif. Additionally, Wolumonde Town is largely populated by Elafia (deer).
- Apocalypse Cult: In rural Leithanien, there are pockets of secret cults who organize Originium experimentation in order to revive the Originium Arts of the Witch King, Leithania's ancient Evil Overlord. The Arts includes atrocities such as using the Infected as living 'wands' to channel the Arts.
- Conditioned to Accept Horror: After having suffered under the rule of the Witch King, almost every Leithanien considers the rule of the Twin Empresses to be a major upgrade, despite the rampant wealth inequality between nobility and common folk and the exploitation of Infected.
- Drunk with Power: Leithanien nobility is used to abusing power for their own self gratification, as besides the wedding incident mentioned below, the Flavor Text for Aristocrat's Antique Aureus reveals that their aristocratic descendants passed down a law demanding their currency to be put into circulation solely for satisfying their own vanity.
- Dying Town: When Folinic and Suzuran arrive in Wolumonde, they find that the town is in dire straits, as it was knocked off course and separated from its sister towns by a Catastrophe. Not only are the town's trade routes and primary source of commerce cut off, but the crop fields and engines are damaged so the town is stuck in the middle of a barren wasteland, leaving the very real possibility that the entire town will starve when winter hits. And this isn't even touching on the mass rioting by the Infected population.
- Mudrock's profile reveals that even though the town was saved thanks to Rhodes Island's efforts, the damage the town sustained and the scandal of a mass uprising among its populace convinced the nobles to decommission it, with its remaining population and intact modules merged with its neighboring towns.
- Failsafe Failure: The Gramophones were originally designed to protect towns by warding away monsters and invaders. Unfortunately, it turns out that they are incredibly easy to sabotage or even be seized by any decently competent Arts caster. The flavor text of one of the stages even admits that the Gramophones completely failed at achieving their intended purpose.
- Fantastic Racism: Downplayed compared to the rest of Terra. The "Twilight of Wolumonde" event emphasizes how good the Infected of Leithanien have it compared to the Infected in other regions. They have it so good that Mudrock, a member of Reunion, doesn't have much sympathy for the Infected rioters. That being said, discrimination against the Infected is still present. For one thing, they're segregated into their own neighborhood (shown in both "Twilight of Wolumonde" and "Lingering Echoes"), and as mentioned below, there's a law requiring the Infected to be euthanized if their infection gets too severe. Also, when the town leaders of Wolumonde learned that Severin was Infected, they immediately consider replacing him because they're worried that tourists might not want to visit a town with an Infected Schultz, as well as what Leithanien's nobility might think if word got out to them. This is immediately called out by Folinic, who's lived the Ursus Empire for most of her life and can immediately pick out the typical signs of cultural and systemic racism against Infected.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture:
- It has numerous paralles to the various German-speaking countries of Central Europe:
- For starters, much of the native non-English terms are in German, e.g. dukes being called Herzöge.
- Its name being based on the Latin Leithania, meaning (of the) Leitha river, which flows through Austria-Hungary and which formed a part of the border between the Empire's two halves, Cisleithania and Transleithania.
- The monarchs are called Kaisers (German for "emperor"), just like the rulers of the German Empire and the Austrian Empire/Austria-Hungary.
- The monarch is chosen by an electoral college of princes and nobles that are titled Kurfürsten, referencing the Holy Roman Empire.
- The political divisions resembles the canton structure of Switzerland. And according to the potential token of Istina (who is from the Russian Empire/Soviet Union-inspired Ursus), the author of her signature book was exiled there, a very clear nod to the exile of Vladimir Lenin to Switzerland during the late 1800s.
- The nomadic cities resemble the free imperial cities of the Holy Roman Empire and later German states.
- The Gallo-Leithanian War is an allusion to the Napoleonic Wars, in which the German states of Austria and Prussia were members of the coalition that opposed Napoleonic France, with the Battle of the Four Emperors paralleling the real-life Battle of the Three Emperors in name and the Battles of Leipzig and Waterloo in outcome.
- The Leithanian populace's infatuation with music might be inspired by the fact that Imperial Austria is very often associated with classical music, historically being home to a great amount of famous musicians and composers.
- Cardigan being a Leithanien native hints at Wales and some bits of Northern Ireland being part of it as well.
- Given the presence of a Gendarmerie in Wolumonde, it is likely that Leithanien covers at least a little bit of France as well (though Switzerland does have Gendarmeries as well, and French is one of Switzerland's co-official languages). This is further supported by Gaul's backstory, where it lost significant territory to Leithanien after losing a major war.
- It has numerous paralles to the various German-speaking countries of Central Europe:
- Gratuitous German: The locals of Wolumonde refer to locations and titles primarily in full German, further indicating Leithanien as an analogue for Austria and Germany.
- Inconsistent Spelling: Pre-Near Light update, the country's name on the EN server side was mistranslated as "Leithania".
- Magical Society: Leithanien embraces Arts to a greater degree than any other nation, with almost every citizen being trained to at least a basic understanding of it. They also greatly embrace Arts-based technology like the Gramophones.
- Magic Music: As Leithanien Originium Arts is often channeled through music, the country is populated with musicians that also double as Casters, and it is mentioned that both music and Arts are mandatory in Leithanien education. Further emphasized with the description of the "Arts Killer" collectible in "Phantom & Crimson Solitaire", which is a loudspeaker on a drone that plays noise.Considering how Originium Arts and music go hand in hand in Leithanien, it's quite amazing someone came up with the bright idea of combating Arts with noise like this.
- Mercy Kill: It is mentioned that Leithanien has a law that mandates that any Infected whose infection exceeds a certain level must be euthanized.
- Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: The reason why Wolumonde's situation gets particularly hairy in "Twilight of Wolumonde" is because a noble is having a several week long wedding ceremony and funnelling police forces from nearby mobile cities to serve as their security personnel. With Wolumonde's security understaffed, the city's Infected use this chance to riot for any convenient reason. Even as the city tries to call for reinforcement, there's none because apparently a city-wide riot is less important than the wedding.
- Sentry Gun: Leithanien widely uses Gramophones, which are essentially magical defense turrets that automatically engage threats.
- Town with a Dark Secret: All of Wolumonde's residents are forbidden from speaking about the Winterwisp tribe. The reason is that the Winterwisp opposed Wolumonde's conversion into a mobile town, subsequently starting a guerrilla war which forced Wolumonde to exterminate them.
The Twin Empresses, Lieselotte and Hildegard
Lieselotte Ewiggnade
Hildegard Grimmmacht
Race: Caprinae
Artist: Ryuzakiichi
The current Empresses of Leithanien, following the Witch King's fall.- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Hildegard has black hair, and is shown to be quite ruthless and more radical with her rule.
- The Archmage: Considerably no slouch in this department as they managed to defeat the Witch King as fellow Arts Casters and maintain their rule over Leithanien until the present day.
- Artificial Human: "Zwillingstürme im Herbst" reveals that the Twin Empresses were specifically created by Archduke Leopold with assistance from Fremont the Lich Sarkaz King to defeat the Witch King.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: Hildegard is dressed in a sharp suit, and is quite the badass in battle.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": They're collectively referred to as the Twin Empresses since they're the duo rulers of Leithanien. Their personal names were revealed in Kal'tsit's "Retraced Terra" video.
- Hair-Contrast Duo: Lieselotte is blonde and Hildegard is black-haired. The "Leithanien Medal of Honor" and "Empresses' Wish" items from Integrated Strategies demonstrate they personally color code all items related to them around this motif, as Lieselotte styles herself as the dawn for her blonde hair and Hildegard styles herself as the dusk of Leithanien for her dark hair.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Lieselotte has blonde hair and is shown to be a gentle and loving ruler to her people.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Hildegard sacrificed herself to seal off the Witch King's dimensional hole, saving Terra from being overrun by the Collapsals in the process.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Lieselotte wields a massive stylized shield in combat.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted. "Hildegard" is also Archetto's real name.
- Royal Rapier: Hildegard's weapon of choice is a black-purple rapier that also doubles as her Arts Unit.
Tatjana
Race: Caprinae
Artist: m9nokuro
The leader of the local militia and a member of the Wolumonde government council.- Kissing Cousins: In one line, it is said that Thorwald, her uncle's son, is "almost her husband" before his death.
- One-Steve Limit: Downplayed. Two other characters have very similar names: Tatyana the Ursus noble in Children of Ursus, and Tatiana the Infected Ursus civilian in Episode 7.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: She's the only member of Wolumonde's city council that isn't concerned about politics and outward appearances, and is more focused on finding a way to actually help her people.
- Stepford Smiler: She tries to suppress her grief over Thorwald's death, but is advised by Suzuran to let out her emotions rather than bottle them up.
Severin Hawthorn
Race: Elafia
Artist: m9nokuro
Tatjana's uncle, and the most powerful resident of Wolumonde.- Dying Dream: The last scene of Twilight of Wolumonde's main story is Severin dreaming that Mudrock's largest golem represents his dead son and has become a guardian spirit for Wolumonde, and one of the last lines gives the impression that he's not going to wake up again.He is tired, and his violent bronchial spasms do not bring him back to reality.
- Incurable Cough of Death: Severin suffers from constant coughing fits. Everybody believes it's due to his heavy smoking habit, but in reality, it's due to an Oripathy infection in his throat.
- Let Them Die Happy: TW-S-1 and Mudrock's Promotion Record reveal that his son had masterminded the tragedy, was still alive for some time during the riot, failed to assassinate a noble that had come to give Wolumonde aid, and ultimately committed suicide to escape punishment. That noble didn't inform Severin mainly because "he had no good will left to spare".
- Old Soldier: Severin is a highly experienced soldier, who had a hand in wiping out the Winterwisps.
- One Last Smoke: Before willingly letting Mudrock kill him, he asks for a match to light one last cigarette. However, Suzuran saves him from Mudrock's strike. Later, Severin actually gets a match from a Sarkaz soldier who had quit smoking long ago.
- Poor Communication Kills: While he has good intentions in not creating a panic, Severin covering up the true danger Wolumonde is in and initially lying about Atro's fate to Folinic don't earn him any favors.
- The Stoic: While he is obviously affected by Thorwald's death, Severin does a very good job of hiding it.
- Your Days Are Numbered: The last scene of Twilight of Wolumonde's main story seems to be Severin's Dying Dream, but Mudrock's Promotion Record implies that Severin might still be alive, if "in great danger".
Biederman
The Catastrophe Messenger of Wolumonde.- 0% Approval Rating: He became the town's social pariah overnight after failing to predict the Catastrophe that Wolumonde was caught in.
- A Day in the Limelight: He is the viewpoint character and narrator of TW-S-1, with the story being mostly focused on him.
- Faking the Dead: TW-7 reveals that he was actually still alive until a few hours ago, which means he somehow managed to have Tatjana and Severin believe that he was among the charred bodies of the fire at Atro's camp.
- Killed Offscreen: In the post-battle scene of TW-7, GreyThroat reports to Folinic and Suzuran that Biederman was found dead, killed by an Ice Arts attack a few hours ago.
- Last Request: Mudrock's Promotion Record reveals that Biederman had one for Thorwald.(Biederman's letter to Thorwald) I've changed my mind. I'll die in your stead. But there's one thing you have to do for me. If you recognize him, get rid of him.
- Murder-Suicide: Mudrock's Promotion Record heavily implies that he caused the fire at Atro's camp and fully intended to die for his role in sparking the subsequent uprising to get outside help.
- The Needs of the Many: TW-S-1 reveals that he initially objected to Thorwald's plan of causing a fire at Atro's camp and getting her and innocent people killed just so outside help can save Wolumonde from a winter famine, but his last request to Thorwald confirms that he ultimately followed through with it.
- Posthumous Character: He was one of the victims of the fire at Atro's camp that kicks off "Twilight of Wolumonde". Or so it seems.
- The Voice: As the viewpoint character and narrator of TW-S-1, he speaks but isn't given NPC art.
- Walking Spoiler: It's hard to talk about this character without spoiling "Twilight of Wolumonde".
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: It's heavily implied that he caused the fire at Atro's camp and led the subsequent uprising for the good of Wolumonde.
Thorwald
Race: Caprinae
The son of Severin Hawthorn, and Tatjana's lover.- Driven to Suicide: Mudrock's Promotion Record reveals that after Thorwald failed to assassinate a noble, he fled to the Winterwisp Mountains and killed himself by biting his own tongue. The report speculates that it was a case of Better to Die than Be Killed, but TW-S-1 heavily implies that he was already resolved to die even if he had succeeded.
- Faking the Dead: Mudrock's Promotion Record reveals that he was actually still alive when the local nobles arrived to investigate Wolumonde at the end of the main story, which means he somehow managed to have Tatjana and Severin believe that he was among the charred bodies of the fire at Atro's camp.
- An Ice Person: TW-S-1 reveals his proficiency with Ice Arts.Thorwald: I went to great lengths just to escape my pursuers. Heh. Covering myself with ice Arts in the freezing snow, nearly killing myself with my own Originium Arts.
- In-Series Nickname: Severin and Tatjana call him "Thor" in TW-ST-1, as does Biederman in TW-S-1.
- Kissing Cousins: Tatjana was his cousin, and he was "almost her husband".
- The Man Behind the Man: He's the mastermind of the Infected uprising in Wolumonde. His reasoning was that the only way to get help for the town was to create an incident too big for outside parties to ignore, therefore sending forces to resolve the situation. Unfortunately, this required arranging for the murder of innocent people like Atro to turn the Infected against the local government.
- Murder-Suicide: It's heavily implied that he was Biederman's murderer and planned to assassinate a Leithanien noble for Biederman, fully intending to die for masterminding Wolumonde's uprising.
- Posthumous Character: He was one of the victims of the fire at Atro's camp that kicks off "Twilight of Wolumonde". Or so it seems.
- The Voice: He speaks in TW-S-1 but isn't given NPC art.
- Walking Spoiler: It's hard to talk about this character without spoiling "Twilight of Wolumonde".
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: He claims everything he's done is for the good of Wolumonde.Thorwald: It's all about saving lives. More lives.
Rita
A refugee who lost her home due to an earthquake. Shows up in Breeze's Operator Record.- Missing Mom: When Breeze finds herself rescued by Rhodes Island, it's mentioned that Rita's mom passed away.
- The Voice: She speaks in Breeze's Operator Record but isn't given NPC art.
Kreide
Him in formal outfit
Artist: Ryuzakiichi
One of the descendants of the Witch King and Ebenholz's friend who debuted in the event "Lingering Echoes".- Battle in the Rain: The sky starts to rain by the time he is outside of the Afterglow Hall and transforms into Kreide, "Worldly Remains".
- Bizarre Taste in Food: Downplayed, but he is shown to be the only character to show any willingness to eat Hibiscus's food more than once, though more due to preventing wastefulness than taste due to his background in poverty, as even he admitted the flavor of the food was 'strange'.
- Body Horror: Absorbing the out-of-control Voice of Terra during the music performance caused Originium crystals to erupt out of his skin as a result of Arts from the Voice accelerating his Oripathy. The crystals transformed into his boss form as Kreide, "Worldly Remains".
- Cast from Lifespan: He doesn't know that the Voice of Terra sealed inside of him is casting Arts using the Originium in his own body - which is established to accelerate Oripathy - and him practicing music with Ebenholz is making it worse, because music has the ability to influence Originium Arts.
- Connected All Along: He is one of the descendants of the Witch King and a distant relative of Ebenholz. Their first meeting was when both were undergoing the Witch King loyalists' experiments, which they recalled later on.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Kreide dies in Ebenholz' arms at the end of "Lingering Echoes".
- Dying as Yourself: After his "Worldly Remains" form is defeated, Kreide was freed from the Originium outer shell created by the Voice of Terra. He gave an encouraging speech to Ebenholz before dying from Oripathy.
- Fighting from the Inside: During his boss battle as Kreide, "Worldly Remains", after being defeated in his first phase, the music changes to a quiet, somber melody and he temporarily becomes an allied unit helping you defeat the other enemies on the map. Tragically, he soon loses control again and changes to his more dangerous second phase.
- Final Boss: Of "Lingering Echoes", where the Witch King's melody sealed in him went out of control and took over him and he must be defeated.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: The "Worldly Remains" can briefly increases his attack speed and has a global attack range with Lamentation of Nothingness, but using the skill costs 25% of his maximum HP. It is possible to force him to use the skill enough times to reduce himself to 1 HP by stalling, at which point a single poke will kill him.
- I Cannot Self-Terminate: Asks Ebenholz to defeat him as he is on the verge of succumbing to the Voices of Terra. Ebenholz mournfully obliged.
- Like Parent, Unlike Child: A variant. The Witch King had been known in life as a tyrannical ruler; Kreide, on the other hand, is a true blue Nice Guy who can be self-sacrificial to a fault, protecting Hibiscus from discrimination when the locals scrutinize her for being a Sarkaz.
- Only in It for the Money: Kreide initially auditioned for Czerny's concert because he was led to believe band members would be paid, which he intended to use to help take care of Grandpa.
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Kreide is a Nice Guy who wanted to help people around him however he could. He was forcefully taken over by the Witch King's melody sealed in him and morphed to a monstrous form that Ebenholz, Czerny, and Hibiscus had to put down, and he eventually succumbed to his worsening Oripathy due to that takeover.
- Unwitting Pawn: He ended up being used by both Gertrude and the Twin Empresses. Gertrude wanted to use Kreide's ability to resonate with Ebenholz to kill all the With King loyalists controlling her in one fell swoop. Meanwhile, Biegler reveals to Grandpa that his organization deliberately lured Kreide to Vyseheim in order to flush out Gertrude and other Witch King loyalists.
- Walking the Earth: He spent most of his life wandering between nomadic cities with his grandfather because he is an Infected and he noticed the effect of the Voice of Terra "leaking" around him even if he did not realize what it actually is.
- Walking Wasteland: Unintentionally. "Lingering Echoes" revealed that the Voice of Terra inside him is damaged and "leaks", causing him to unconsciously cast Arts that accelerate Oripathy in other people.
Biegler
Artist: 我妻洛酱
A spy in Vyseheim working on the behalf of the Twin Empresses.- Becoming the Mask: Grandpa points out that after living in the Afterglow district for over 12 years, Biegler is just as much an Afterglow resident as anybody else. This is likely why he chooses to ignore Ebenholz's long series of rule-breaking during the latter's Operator Record.
- By-the-Book Cop: He very much sticks to the rules regarding his loyalty to the Twin Empresses, even the point where he has to swallow his personal disgust towards Gertrude because he doesn't have the evidence to convict her of her crimes. That said, when he kills Gertrude at the end of Lingering Echoes, he admits it was largely emotion-driven.
- He averts this at the end of Ebenholz's Operator Record, where he secretly attends Ebenholz's performance at the Afterglow plaza despite it being illegal and even suggests a musical piece to him.
- Hidden Depths: Aside from the fact that this seemingly nondescript barista turns out to be an agent for the Twin Empresses, his time spent in Afterglow has caused him to develop an appreciation for music. In Ebenholz's Operator Record, he anonymously recommends Ebenholz a piano piece at the end of his performance.
- I Did What I Had to Do: He justifies his killing of Gertrude as protecting the public safety of Leithania, though he knows deep down it was motivated by his personal disgust of her.
- The Mole: His cover identity is acting as the owner of a cafe in the Afterglow district.
- Pet the Dog: Despite vocally expressing dislike for Ebenholz throughout Lingering Echoes, he's clearly sympathetic to him after Kreide's death, and during Ebenholz's Operator Record, he turns a blind eye to Ebenholz breaking his house arrest and performing in the plaza while all music had been banned, and suggests that he dedicate his final piece to himself during a performance that was meant for all the infected of Afterglow.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Even though he legally could have killed Grandpa for stealing documents about the Voice of Terra and leaking them to outside parties, Biegler instead decides to just invite his old friend to coffee so they can catch up.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Neither he nor Ebenholz particularly trust each other, but they are forced to temporarily work together to stop the slugs Lachmann unleashed. By the end of the event, however, Biegler has developed more respect for him.
Grandpa
- Becoming the Mask: At first he simply pretended to be Kreide's grandfather, but he eventually came to love and care for him as an actual grandson.
- Dark and Troubled Past: He used to be a regular person until he was deliberately infected with Oripathy so he could be used as a sacrifice to the Witch King.
- Everybody Has Standards: He was supposed to kill Kreide as a child for being a vessel of the Voice of Terra, but he spared his life instead.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Tried this with Kreide when the Voice of Terra transformed him into a monster. It didn't work, forcing Ebenholz to put Kreide down.
- I Owe You My Life: He's sworn eternal loyalty to the Twin Empresses since their overthrow of the Witch King literally saved his life.
- The Mole: He is in fact a spy working for the Twin Empresses tasked with keeping an eye on Kreide.
- One Degree of Separation: He is actually acquainted with Biegler as they are friends and used to work together.
- Your Days Are Numbered: He admits to Biegler that he doesn't have much time left due to having spent a long time around Kreide and his Oripathy-accelerating Arts.
Ursula
Czerny's relative and housekeeper.Katia and Magna Naumann
Artist: Anmi
Eyjafjalla's parents who were both famous volcanologists before perishing in a tragic accident.- Good Parents: Even though they've largely been separated from Ejyafjalla due to their research and science expeditions, they nothing but loving parents to her.
- Posthumous Character: While a greater focus is put on them in "So Long, Adele: Home Away From Home", they have been deceased for many years already.
Great Lungmen
Affiliated Characters: Aak, Bison, Ch'en, Hoshiguma, Hung, Jaye, Lee, Mulberry, Nian, Rope, Shaw, Shirayuki, Snowsant, Swire, Waai Fu
Affiliated Characters with Rhodes Island as their faction: Ch'en the Holungday
Affiliated Characters with Reunion Movement as their faction: Nine, Talulah
- Beast Men: For reasons unexplained, aside from being KuroBlood's Creator Thumbprint, quite a few of the characters hailing from Lungmen or are closely related to it have decidedly beastly appearances. Many Lungmen citizens look like anthropomorphic animals, rather than being human-like but with visual traits of the species they represent, with the most prominent examples being Hung, Aak, Waai Fu, and even Wei Yenwu himself.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Seemingly to Hong Kong. Compared to its neighbor Yan, which is very definitely based on mainland China, Great Lungmen is depicted as a free and autonomous economic zone with decidedly Western influences, both commercial and cultural.
- Further reinforcing Lungmen as Hong Kong is that the game uses Cantonese phonetics for Chinese characters in some Lungmen Operators' callsigns and street names, while Yan uses standard Mandarin phonetics for their Operators. Examples of notable Cantonese usage would be Waai Fu (Huai Hu in Mandarin), Hung (Hong in Mandarin) and the city's name itself (Lung is the phonetic for dragon in Cantonese, while it's Lóng in Mandarin).
- In fact, one of the more prominent characters associated with Great Lungmen, Swire, was named after a notable conglomerate in real-life Hong Kong, and is a clear nod to the British influences on its growth, owing to her distinctly-Anglo name.
- Fictional Counterpart: Schwire, a company that owns lots of property throughout Lungmen, which has just enough dissimilarity in its name from the actual Swire Group, one of Hong Kong's actual biggest real estate companies. They even own Paci Plaza, a very thinly veiled reference to Swire's Pacific Place mall/office/hotel complex.
- Global Currency: The Lungmen economy is so strong that Lungmen Dollars (LMD) are accepted as currency pretty much everywhere on Terra.
- Mythical Motifs: Dragons. Specifically, Chinese-style dragons, most notably Wei Yenwu, Fumizuki, Ch'en, and Talulah, though the latter has more of a "western" dragon motif, and her race is specifically Draco rather than Lung.
- Secret Police: It's revealed in Episode 6 that Lungmen has their own version of this in the form of the "Black Cloaks", a covert team of highly skilled assassins who absolutely decimate Reunion's forces and purge the entire population of the Lungmen slums.
Wei Yenwu
Artist: KuroBlood
Voiced by: Kōichi Yamadera (Japanese, anime); Hai Fan (Mandarin Chinese, season 1), Wang Wei (Mandarin Chinese, season 2)
The chief executive and political leader of Lungmen. An extremely shrewd businessman and politician, Wei always ensures that his dealings result in some kind of benefit for Lungmen - and himself, but naturally that's just a bonus. Naturally. Rhodes Island first encounters him in the aftermath of the destruction of Chernobog, requiring Lungmen's help to recover from the disaster.Voiced by: Kōichi Yamadera (Japanese, anime); Hai Fan (Mandarin Chinese, season 1), Wang Wei (Mandarin Chinese, season 2)
- Accomplice by Inaction: In Episode 7, he uses this to try and justify the murder of the Infected in Lungmen's slums in Episode 6. Reunion had to get into Lungmen somehow, and he's convinced they slipped into Lungmen via the slums. By not doing anything about the Reunion troops, Wei thinks they're guilty because of their inaction. Thus, he argues they had to be punished for their inaction. Ch'en counters his argument by claiming Reunion acted too fast for anyone to realize what was going on.
- Wei himself is also guilty of this, as his need to make himself the scapegoat to atone, by bearing all of the dishonor on himself so his successor and niece Ch'en doesn't has unfortunately made him hilariously easy to manipulate due to his own misplaced naivety to multiple malicious parties (the Emperor of Yan and Kashchey to name a couple) and his inability to disclose his true feelings or act beyond his assumed role, which only worsened the conflict with Reunion; nearly causing a war between Yan and Ursus to emerge as a result.
- The Atoner: Wei is deeply guilt-ridden by his failure to protect his best friend, and in turn, his sister's well-being as a result of an incident orchestrated by Kashchey through his brother's jealousy that forced him to make a Sadistic Choice between their lives. It led him to marry off his sister to an aristocrat in Yan to protect her, which further soured his relationship with her. His lack of love for Talulah, led the latter to develop disdain and hatred towards him and Lungmen in general, which left her vulnerable to Kashchey's grasp and forced Wei to abandon her completely during her kidnapping incident, resulting in her current state. All these failures motivated him to raise his niece Ch'en in a way to make sure she won't repeat his mistakes, lest he would lose another family member.
- Also, as described in Break the Haughty, after Episode 8, through the actions of multiple people practically beating through all of his ignored epiphanies, Wei is overcome with a sense of guilt once more that he came close to destroying Lungmen by trying to bear the burden on his own and nearly ostracized everyone close to him he still had left. Wei decides to Take A Level In Kindness and not only be more forthcoming with his plans for the future of Lungmen, but also becomes a fully supportive ally with Rhodes Island out of gratitude for resolving something he couldn't and vows to help them treat his Infected civilians (whether by giving them whatever money, resources, or even land that he can offer at a simple request) that he nearly put on the chopping block as part of turning over a new leaf in atoning for his previous failures.
- Batman Gambit: He knows that Reunion would attack Lungmen if they think that the city is left unguarded, so he purposely sets a bait of sending Rhodes Island away to fight somewhere else while Reunion's troops invade Lungmen as expected, only to be met and crushed by Wei Yenwu's elite force.
- Break the Haughty: When Rhodes Island first meet him, he's a smarmy politician who considers Rhodes Island below him and shows off his power over everyone, including his own niece Ch'en. As Reunion's invasion to Lungmen becomes more than a band of rioters and more a False Flag Operation to spark a war between Ursus and Yan, he starts losing his cool to the point of roaring at his trusted personal guards to stop telling him that the situation just won't improve, and would march to Chernobog himself despite everyone telling him that it's a bad idea. The last straw that shatters his arrogance is when the Rat King reveals to him that he and the Black Coat assassins didn't obey Wei's order to purge the slum because they're humans with empathy, and everyone has a hand in protecting Lungmen alongside of him. This makes Wei realize that he has allies to depend on and stops thinking that he has to shoulder all burdens by himself. After the crisis has been resolved, he becomes humbler and sees Rhodes Island as an equal partner out of gratitude, working with them to treat his Infected citizens.
- Cain and Abel: Has this relationship with his half-brother, the Emperor of Yan. Surprisingly, he's the Abel; Wei ultimately cares about his family and citizens despite his many screw ups, but the Emperor always tries to hinder his efforts seemingly out of petty jealousy. Most of Wei's Kick the Dog moments are motivated by the Emperor's order, to the point that Wei is no better than the Emperor.
- The Chessmaster: It is already known that Wei is an extremely shrewd businessman and diplomat. However, the true depth of his strategic genius and ruthlessness is shown in Episode 5, where he deliberately uses Rhodes Island as bait to trick Reunion into thinking Lungmen's defenses were weakened. However, he was merely holding his main forces in reserve while luring the main Reunion force deeper into the city where they can be surrounded and annihilated by the LGD.
- Dramatic Irony: For all of his chastising of Ch'en's beliefs in justice as naive, Wei himself is dangerously suspectible to his own naivety in believing that his Zero-Approval Gambit will not have massive consequences for both Lungmen and what remains of his family.
- Death Seeker: In Episode 7, it's revealed that in his guilt over his failures with Edward, his sister, Talulah, and everything concerning Lungmen not being as prosperous as he wanted it to be, Wei deep down feels genuinely defeated and firmly believes that he should die to bury the failures with him by facing Talulah and Kashchey alone so that—hopefully—a better Lungmen can be made past him.
- Didn't See That Coming: Amiya's decision to pull Rhodes Island out of their arrangement with Lungmen after he tried to use them to fulfill his goals callously enough to risk their deaths is enough to rattle Wei's cage to drop his normally confident Affably Evil behavior to be genuinely confused, before he shows disappointment in Amiya's naivety rather than consider the practical business benefits of their continued relationship. Amiya, however, is quick to shut him up when he tries to pull an Armor-Piercing Question with one of her own.Amiya: "Mr. Wei, there is one more thing I must say.—The living are not pawns. People are people."
Wei Yenwu: "Do you play chess, Miss Amiya?"
Amiya: "Mr. Wei... Do you play black, or white?" - Even Evil Has Loved Ones: When Ch'en is determined to pursue Talulah no matter what in Episode 7, he demands for her to stop, obviously she refuses to listen. Even using Chi Xiao, his elite agents are still more than a match for her, making it clear that they could have stopped her though at the cost of crippling her for life. His refusal to hurt her was what gave her the chance to escape.
- Faux Affably Evil: Don't let his politeness fool you, Wei Yenwu is far from a hospitable man. As a businessman/diplomat, he will ensure that his dealings will benefit him and/or Lungmen, no matter what it takes. He callously sends out a Rhodes Island squad to die if it means he wins. He is later revealed to have a squad of assassins working exclusively for him to quietly eliminate the Infected in the slums before dumping their corpses into the sewer. After Episode 8 though, this is dropped completely after he Took a Level in Kindness after seeing the error of his ways and becomes a genuinely hospitable and supportive ally to Rhodes Island.
- Fatal Flaw: He wants Lungmen to prosper, and for Ch'en to inherit the city free from the mental burden of politics' dirty businesses. To do so, he insist to be the man who does the difficult choices, always intending to die dishonored later so Ch'en would caught none of his bad reputation. However, there's no way this will be the case as even Wei realizes that Fumizuki would be targeted by his enemies for being his widow if he dies. Furthermore, the amount of dog-kicking he does alienates the more heroic characters, including Amiya and Ch'en herself, which in turn cause them to be uncooperative in his schemes. Even Fumizuki, who is his biggest supporter, calls him an idiot for continuously antagonizing Ch'en's sense of justice, to the point that Ch'en decides to desert Lungmen.
- Fiction 500: Since he commands the resources of Lungmen, he is, in essence, one of the wealthiest people on the face of Terra.
- Foreshadowing: In the cutscene of Operation 5-6, a Reunion Caster finds it very strange for Lungmen to be empty when they infiltrated, especially the Paci Plaza and the mall which was supposed to be filled with people. He finds it odd that the shops no longer had anything of value... As if some high authority in Lungmen hid everything or knew that Reunion was coming. The final cutscene of Episode 5 reveals that Wei Yenwu lured the Reunion Movement into the city so that he could demonstrate the elite force of Lungmen and have them crush the intruders.
- Happily Married: Despite all odds with his family, he's in a perfectly loving relationship with his wife Fumizuki.
- Hidden Depths: The plot of Episode 8 reveals quite a lot about Wei that the audience was only alluded to before, or taken for granted. Despite his harsh treatment of Ch'en, it's made apparent that he only did what he had to to keep her safe within the boundaries of Great Lungmen. After what's happened to Talulah and her parents, and the greater looming threat that is Duke Kashchey, Wei could not stand to lose yet another family member. To that end, he made sure to be as draconian as possible in order to instill a sense of obedience and loyalty in Ch'en, along with giving her a sense of duty to Great Lungmen, so that she won't be as likely to run away and fall victim to Terran politicking. Despite his stoic external, Wei feels immense guilt over his failure to protect his sister, her husband Edward, and Talulah, from the clutches of Kashchey when he should have, and now feels it's his obligation to prevent the same from happening to Ch'en, whom he had come to love as his own child.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: He's planning to send Fumizuki somewhere secluded after his death to take off the anger from Lungmen after the core city of Chernobog is stopped by him and protect her from the wrath of Emperor of Yan. Naturally, she's against this, and is perfectly willing to kill Talulah for him or die together with him instead. Fortunately, this scenario is averted as Rhodes Island manages to stop the core city from colliding with Lungmen.
- Ignored Epiphany: After a lot of What the Hell, Hero? from everyone present, especially from his wife, he has a moment of clarity where he realizes that he's alienating his family for sake of Lungmen. However, he ultimately denies Fumizuki's wish to die by his side regardless of her feeling, and continues on attempting an attack on Chernobog despite her hiring Rhodes Island to spare him from political backlash of such action against Ursus Empire. Fortunately, the Rat King successfully stop him.
- Kick the Dog: During the events of Episode 6, he used Reunion Movement's attack of Lungmen to secretly order a purge on the slums, killing its residents, both the poor and Infected, in order to please the Yan inspectors and demonstrate how he wasn't being "soft" on the Infected. In Episode 8, however, Rat King and the black raincoats evacuated the slums residents from the purge without his consent, foiling Wei's plans.
- Master Swordsman: He has mastered Chi Xiao to the point where he no longer needs the sword itself to wield its power. In fact, he can utilize Chi Xiao's techniques with his bare hands. Even Ch'en admits that it is very unlikely that she will ever reach his level in swordsmanship even if she were to keep training.
- My Greatest Failure: Wei's greatest regret is his inability to protect his sister, her husband Edward, or their daughter Talulah from the influences of Duke Kashchey, all of whom he spent almost a decade grieving for. In light of this, he made it a point to not let the same happen to Ch'en, no matter the cost.
- Parental Substitute: Because Ch'en's father is a Glorified Sperm Donor in order to conceal Talulah's real father, Wei is the closest thing Ch'en has to a father. He not only taught her swordsmanship and how to administrate a city but also instilled in her justice and loyalty to Lungmen.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: While he's a formidable political leader, his profile also states that he's in very good physical shape due to an unspecified previous employment. Episode 8 further proves his worth in combat, as it's revealed that he can casually cast Arts comparable to Chi Xiao's at will.
- Really Royalty Reveal: Even though Hoshiguma does mention he is from Yan aristocracy in Episode 5, Wei later mentions himself that his younger brother is the current Yan emperor, and he was given Lungmen, previously a backwater city nominally controlled by Ursus, as his fief after being disinherit from Yan's throne as the Emperor's attempt to humiliate him.
- Sadistic Choice: He was forced by his brother, the Emperor of Yan, to choose between the life of his best friend Edward and his sister who was pregnant with Edward's daughter at the time. He ended up choosing the former, since which he mourned for him and hid his death for 10 years, which is perhaps the reason why he couldn't bring himself to love Talulah.
- Forced to do it again when representatives of Yan arrive and pressure him to purge the Infected in the Lungmen Slums after Reunion's attack to demonstrate he hasn't gone soft, he tries to justify it by them being an Accomplice by Inaction, but by Episode 8, after it's revealed his Elite Guard betrayed his order to do so by following the Rat King's suggestion, Wei is partially guilt-ridden over nearly committing an unspeakable crime that might have destablized Lungmen further than Reunion had, among other reasons.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: His typical outfit is a fusion of a traditional Chinese official's outfit and a European business suit, and succeeds in getting across the point that he's richer than Croseus.
- What's In It For Me?: He's quite polite about it, but he always makes sure that Lungmen (and by extension, himself) get something out of any transaction, which puts Rhodes in a bit of a jam as they're smart enough to not want to be in his pocket, but have little choice.
Fumizuki
Artist: KuroBlood
Voiced by: Noriko Hidaka (Japanese, anime), Huang Lei (Mandarin Chinese, anime)
A princess from Higashi and Wei Yenwu's wife.- Badass Biker: In "Beyond Here" side story, she's revealed to own a motorbike that she likes to ride on high speeds at night to the point of competing with Hoshiguma with it.
- Everyone Has Standards: While she deeply loves Wei and supports him, she also doesn't hesitate to call him out for continuously antagonizing Ch'en's sense of justice and causing her to desert Lungmen.
- Happily Married: Loves her husband Wei more than anything else in the world and can't stand the idea that he will potentially leave her as a widow with his sacrifice to prevent Ursus from waging war against Lungmen.
- Mysterious Employer: Kal'tsit's noted to be very wary of Shirayuki's presence as one of their Operators as the ninja ultimately will defer to orders placed by Fumizuki and it's completely unknown if Fumizuki has a greater agenda at work by deploying her bodyguard to work with Rhodes Island. Shirayuki's Operator Record ultimately implies there is no hidden agenda for now and Fumizuki explicitly goes out of her way with providing Rhodes Island some forewarning that Shirayuki will spy on them.
- Mythical Motifs: Like her husband, Ki-lin.
- Pet the Dog: The reason she sent Shirayuki to work with Rhodes is revealed in the latter's Operator Record to be so she could experience some life outside of Lungmen and her occupation as Fumizuki's bodyguard.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: While she looks rather weak, she's an incredibly proficient caster and a political visionary on par with her husband.
- Satellite Character: She's mostly defined by her external relationships by being married to Wei Yenwu and employing Shirayuki as a bodyguard.
- Silk Hiding Steel: She's a very capable woman despite her appearance. In Episode 7, she's determined to take back Talulah on her own, which is suicidal and something Wei is unable to do and won't allow her to, before deciding to leave the matter in Rhodes Island's hands.
- Women Are Wiser: Compared to Wei, Fumizuki is kind, gentle, and understanding while still being a competent politician and negotiator. In "Ancient Forge", she's playing the mayor of Lungmen instead of Wei likely because she endears the audience more for being a cooperative leader figure.
- Yamato Nadeshiko: Zigzagged. As expected of her position, she's polite and demure in her mannerism, but can get rather hotheaded to the point of cursing in Higashinese in front of Wei when she's upset. Also see Badass Biker entry above.
The Rat King
Real name: Lin Kojui (Lin Gray)
Artist: Liduke
Voiced by: Hōchū Ōtsuka (Japanese, OVA), Xu Zongzhe (Mandarin Chinese, OVA)
The ruler of Lungmen's slums and the final boss of the events "Code of Brawl" and "Beyond Here".
- Battle Theme Music: Kingmouse
- Chekhov's Gunman: He's initially presented as an unassuming shopkeeper that Mostima and Bison meet when browsing his candy wares, and they make small talk with him about the impending holiday celebration. He turns out to be one of the most powerful people within Lungmen.
- Coat Cape: He uses a stylish white coat as his cape to help shore his image as the king of the slums. He's particularly attached to wearing the coat all the time as it was a gift from his daughter. He applauds Penguin Logistics at the end of their fight for being the only people who have ever successfully managed to make it fall off during a fight.
- Deadly Dust Storm: He'll periodically target the operator with the lowest max HP with Sand Tomb, which summons a sand tornado to deal rapid AoE Arts damage per second while severely reducing the ATK of its targets.
- Dub Name Change: His codename "MK" implies his title should be "Mouse King", but it was localized in the Global version as "Rat King". The meaning still remains the same, obviously.
- Elemental Barrier: He enters combat a sand barrier that gives a huge boost to his DEF while active. Unfortunately, it doesn't give him any RES, although it will only go down after taking a significant amount of Arts damage.
- Faking the Dead: He appears to be sniped by Bison's butler, but in reality, it was just a blank and he played dead to wrap up the escalating chaos of that night.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: The Lee's Detective Agency anime special episode stars a cheerful country bumpkin rat as one of the protagonists. The ending reveals that humble young farmer was Lin, presumably before he became one of the most feared and powerful dons in Lungmen.
- Graceful Loser: When he's defeated in battle, he will applaud you before fading away. At the end of "Code of Brawl", his bomb was designed to give out candy to everyone at the Sauin parade as a way of congratulating Penguin Logistics for making it so far.
- He Knows About Timed Hits: At the start of his boss encounter, he will warn the player about how he will target the operators with the highest and lowest HP with his special attacks.
- Herd-Hitting Attack: Singing Sands and Sand Tomb only target one operator each, but both are capable of affecting operators surrounding the target as well.
- Heroic Sacrifice: In "Vernal Winds Will Never Blow", he went up to Yumen's defenses to help reinforcing it against the Catastrophe battering the city with his Originium Arts and suffered serious injuries for it, though slightly subverted in that he survived the ordeal.
- Intergenerational Friendship: The elderly Rat King formed one with the young and spry Mostima. He's content to allow her to do what she likes because of their friendship while he plays his game with the other members of Penguin Logistics.
- A Lizard Named "Liz": Texas is nonplussed that the Rat King is rodent in appearance as she thought it was just a metaphorical title, not an accurate description of his appearance.
- Non-Standard Character Design: As with most named NPCs associated with Great Lungmen, the Rat King looks like, well, a rat, albeit bipedal, and an old one at that.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: He's the head honcho of the Lungmen slums, and a caster powerful enough to take down all of Penguin Logistics and a Siracusian mafia without breaking a sweat.
- Sand Blaster: He uses Originium Arts for the manipulation of sand, and he fires sand blasts as his standard attack. He'll also periodically target the operator with the highest max HP with Singing Sands, an powerful sand explosion that inflicts massive physical damage in a cross.
- The Don: The undisputed boss of Lungmen's criminal underworld, who has countless lackeys at his service.
- Turns Red: Below half health, all of his attacks gain a damage boost.
- Would Not Shoot a Civilian: Imposes strict rules about not harming civilians in combat, even in the middle of gang wars. Failing to adhere to these rules is a good way to bring his wrath down on the offender's head.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Despite his criminal activities, the Rat King is adored by those living in the slums, simply because of the fact that he genuinely cares about them.
- You Shall Not Pass!: When Wei insistently goes to attack Chernobog himself despite everyone's attempt to stop him, the Rat King himself stands in his way and stalls him until the crisis has been averted.
XR02
Real name: Phal
Voiced by: Yûki Yonai (Japanese, anime), Ma Chengwei (Mandarin Chinese, anime)
An informant serving the L.G.D. under Hoshiguma's division who is also loyal to Ch'en by extension.- A Death in the Limelight: When the L.G.D. is on its way to rescue him, a part of his backstory is revealed in Operation 5-3 as Hoshiguma reminisces what he's like. He doesn't make it out alive though.
- Distressed Dude: Episode 5 starts with him getting ambushed in a warehouse, holding a vital piece of intel detailing Reunion's infiltration in the city. Ch'en, Hoshiguma, and their team set off to rescue him.
- Dub Name Change: Lore discussions and translations from the CN playerbase imply that his name was originally "Faat", but the English localization by Yostar wrote his name as "Phal" instead.
- Eye Scream: When they reached him in the warehouse, his eyes were already blasted by an Art. His artwork later shows him blindfolded after being patched-up, although blood still drips down his cheeks.
- Face Death with Dignity: Knowing that he's about to die soon from his wounds, he asks his boss Hoshiguma to bury his body in their old hideout, hoping to join his other comrades who died there.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Whatever physically happened to his eyes isn't shown in detail. Instead, a silhouette of Phal is seen sitting in a corner as Ch'en approaches him and sees the aftermath.
- The Informant: His role to the L.G.D.
- Nominal Importance: Among the minor members of the L.G.D, XR02 has a plot relevance other than having a unique codename. His real name is Phal, and his backstory is detailed for a while in Episode 5.
- Undying Loyalty: He's known to be loyal to Hoshiguma and Ch'en despite expressing that he never liked Lungmen.
Edward Artorius
Race: Draco
Talulah's father and a native of Victoria, Edward left Victoria to help Wei seize control of Lungmen from Kashchey. He was later killed on the Emperor of Yan's orders after marrying Wei's sister without permission.- Chekhov's Gunman: Though he's long dead, Edward's relevance to the main plot suddenly comes to play in the end of Episode 10, when Allerdale asks the Doctor if they brought Edward's "relic" with them.
- Defector from Decadence: Something caused him to abandon his native homeland of Victoria to travel with Wei to Lungmen. Based on the story of the Draco's downfall, it's implied that Edward was a descendant of the traitorous Draco prince who abandoned his sister and country so he could be a rich man in Leithania.
- Posthumous Character: He is long dead by the time of the main story.
- Really Royalty Reveal: As a Draco, Edward is implied to share a blood connection to one of the royal bloodlines claiming legitimacy for the Victorian throne, which would extend to his daughter, Talulah.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Though a Posthumous Character by the point of the plot and unintentional on his part, his actions are pivotal during the second main arc in helping Rhodes Island put a wrench in Theresis's plans. The relic he safeguarded is revealed to be the birthright of the Victorian ruler, the Breath of Kings, and one of the only things that can challenge Theresis's tyrannical rule over the Victorian populace.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: His romance with Wei's sister was ultimately doomed because of his status. Wei initially approved of his sworn brother marrying his sister, but Kashchey leaked Edward's presence in Lungmen to both Victoria and Yan after Lungmen fended off Kashchey's incursion. The Emperor of Yan then ordered Wei to execute Edward so that Victoria would have no reason to attack Yan in an attempt to eliminate a threat to Victoria's throne, and Wei then married off his sister to a Yanese nobleman primarily to hide the identity of Talulah's real father. All of this made Wei's sister resent him to her last breath.
- Together in Death: After his sister died, Wei buried her together with Edward in an unmarked grave far away from Lungmen so that they symbolically can have their peace outside of the city's intrigue.
Adam Schwire
Swire's grandfather and the head of the Federation of Enterprises.- Dark Lord on Life Support: He is greatly feared and has an iron grip over global trade, but due to his extreme old age, Adam is bedridden and constantly has to be monitored by doctors.
- The Dreaded: As the head of the powerful Federation of Enterprises, he has the power to destroy any business that dares defy him.
- End of an Age: He comes to realize that younger generation will eventually rise up and supplant him.
- Foil: To Wei. Both men are massively successful businessmen who wield enough power to influence the global economy. However, their main difference is that Adam fears his own family succeeding after he passes away, leading him keep them under tight control and hoarding as much power and wealth for himself as possible, while Wei believes in the future the younger generation can bring, and actively counts on Ch'en succeeding him in some way which is why he gifts her Chi Xiao and gives her a wide range of freedom to do as she pleases.
- Grumpy Old Man: From the interaction he has with Wei, Adam appears to be a very unpleasant person to deal with.
- Terminally Dependent Society: Adam's greatest fear is the Federation of Enterprises collapsing once he passes away.
- Uncertain Doom: After viewing Swire's video message that taunts him about how his old way of doing business is coming to an end, he passes out after a serious coughing fit that has Wei shouting for a doctor.
- The Unseen: While he makes an appearance in "So Long, Adele: Home Away From Home", he does not have any character art.
- Wins by Doing Absolutely Nothing: Swire figures out that Adam likely created and maintains his fearsome reputation simply by not letting either his allies or rivals know what he's actually thinking, ensuring that they're always on edge, and forcing them to play it safe so as not to risk drawing his attention.
Minos
Affiliated Characters: Conviction, Croissant, Erato, Pallas, Sideroca, Vulcan
Affiliated Characters with Rhodes Island as their faction: Perfumer
- Animal Motifs: Bovids. Most of the operators who came from here are Fortes.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Minos appears to be based on several Greek-cultured civilizations.
- Since the name is taken from King Minos, sire of the minotaur, and its primary race are the Forte, it's serves as a counterpart for Crete, the island nation that Minos ruled.
- Based on Sideroca's profile and the size of its sphere of influence in the world map◊, Minos is compromised of several city-states even more loosely allied than other countries' mobile cities, only gathering at the time of crisis. This based on the Greek city-states alliance in the antiquity like the Delian League.
- Ceobe's favorite food is Minoan honey cake, which is the Baklava. This means some of Minos' culture is inspired by the Ottoman Empire, which territory was previously belonged to the Greek-cultured Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire.
- Hero-Worshipper: Minoan culture is centered heavily around hero worship, with every Minoan city having at least one temple dedicated to honoring heroes.
