The cast of Ciconia: When They Cry and associated tropes. It consists of many representatives from countries all over the world, with each of them belonging to various squads. This page will regroup all of them, along with their affiliated faction.
Due to the nature of the story and its relations to the previous When They Cry, spoilers are unmarked. Be careful from now on.
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General Tropes of all Gauntlet Knights
- Bag of Holding: The Gauntlet's Dimensional Storage system lets them carry as much weaponry as a warship.
- Cast Herd: The 24 Gauntlet Knights are grouped into eight "Kettes" consisting of teams of threes, with two Kettes representing a faction.
- Character Class System: Each of them have to choose a role fit for their abilities.
- Attacker: Specialized in dishing huge damage to enemies, either in close-range combat or with firearms.
- Defender: Setting up defensive devices to protect allies, such as automated weapons or barriers.
- Supporter: Observers of the battlefield, and determining the best course of action in battle. Their abilities leans more towards utility than fighting.
- Responder: Versatile fighter able to do offensive actions as much as defensive, but not as much as an Attacker and Defender.
- Sniper: Very long-range, specialized at taking down enemies from vast distances.
- Fire Support: Backline fighter using long-range attacks to wear down opponents rather than fighting them head-on.
- Child Soldiers: The youngest candidates having potential to be Gauntlet Knights can be selected at age 3 onwards, while the oldest known candidate was selected at 13. Justified by the fact that they need to be trained at parallel processing, which only bears fruit if it starts when the brain is still developping.
- Dream-Crushing Handicap: Exaggerated. Despite being the dream job most kids aspire to, becoming a Gauntlet Knight requires such a high mental ability that less than 150000 people worldwide even have the potential, and only 1000 have actually used a Gauntlet. Unless you happen to have been born blessed with genius ability and trained from childhood to develop the necessary skills, you have no chance of ever using a Gauntlet.
- Flight: The Gauntlet allows its user to fly as fast as a fighter jet. The most common reason for kids applying to be Gauntlet Knights is "I want to fly!"
- Genius Sweet Tooth: Operating a Gauntlet requires constant focus, which requires a lot of glucose, so Gauntlet Knights consume large amounts of sugary foods to remain in top shape. The AOU's base is shown to have an all-you-can-eat dessert buffet for trainees to recharge after training.
- The Mole: Jestress confirms that she has planted spies within the elite kettes. There is at least one spy from each faction, but their exact number and identities have not yet been known.
- One-Man Army: Thanks to their Gauntlet, they possess tremendous power, enough to fight off an entire army.
- True Companions: Even in the middle of intense political tension, they still resolved to stay friends and work together to buy time to prevent World War 4. They still retain this sentiment even as they are forced to fight to the death at the end of Phase 1.
- Tricked-Out Gloves: The Gauntlets they are named after, a large armored glove that covers their entire left arm, is the source of their powers.
Artic Ocean Union (AOU)
Warcat
Miyao Mitake
Miyao Mitake
- The Ace: Be it close or long range, he's the best in every form of combat despite his short stature.
- Break the Cutie: Finally breaks down as his own Gauntlet was hacked and used to kill Lingji at the end of Phase 1.
- Decoy Protagonist: Downplayed. The first half of Phase 1 is mostly centered on Jayden and his relation with Meow, so he doesn't appear often until things get serious.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: The cute little child on the cover of the front page? That's Our Hero. Because he shares his body with the female personality Meow, it's implied that he keeps himself from making his body too masculine for the sake of her comfort. Meow's (and, by extension, his own) biological sex is actually brought into question at one point, so it's very much possible that he's transgender.
- Experienced Protagonist: The visual novel starts with Miyao already being the established strongest Gauntlet Knight in the world.
- Full-Potential Upgrade: He's actually so good with using his Gauntlet that the technology don't allow him to fight at his full potential.
- Height Angst: His short frame is a detriment in close combat, which infuriates him to no end.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: To the point he actually wanted to be a cat video maker, until destiny said otherwise. He's also one of the nicest characters of the cast.
- Magnetic Hero: He's quick to make friends and gather many of them, thanks to his idea of creating a virtual room where Gauntlet Knights from all over the world meet him personally.
- Missing Mom: Though the majority of AOU gauntlet knights don't have parents, ciconia-born Miyao is specifically lacking a mother.
- Tsundere: Pointed out by Jayden. He might sound like a Sore Loser but he actually has the time of his life when flying and fighting, and shows a great deal of attention to people around him. Even more when Jayden tries to be more intimate with him, after his Split Personality Meow was discovered in him.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Believes that he and other Gauntlet Knights will be able to maintain world peace.
- World's Strongest Man: Is stated to be the most powerful Gauntlet Knight ever born, and that the current technology isn't actually able to catch up with his potential.
Meow Mitake
Meow Mitake
- Demoted to Extra: She's rather prominent in the first half of Phase 1, but once World War IV starts to draw close her appearances are few and far between.
- Foil: She's essentially more patient, comprehensive, and shy compared to Miyao.
- Gamer Chick: Is a huge fan of video games and manga, though she doesn't like to show it.
- Nice Girl: One of the nicest persons of the cast, and one of the reasons Jayden falls for her.
- Punny Name: Miyao has a split personality named "Meow." The names sound the same.
Jayden
Jayden
- Audience Surrogate: Downplayed. He isolated himself during his climb to become a "supergenius," leaving him ignorant of certain world/Gauntlet Knight affairs. He has to have a few concepts of the world explained to him as a result.
- The Lancer: He's the best buddy of Miyao despite their opposing personalities.
- Love at First Sight: With Meow, and much to his confusion at first since he thought she was Miyao before realizing his mistake.
- No Sense of Personal Space: After meeting Meow, he tries to get more intimate with Miyao but creeps him out. By the second half of Phase 1, he still does it, but way less than before after hearing advice from the other Gauntlet Knights.
- Only in Florida: The undermentioned incident he was responsible of happened in Florida.
- The Prankster: Following an incident where he drew "indecent" pictures in the sky while training, he was permanently banned from flying over the USA.
- The Rival: Frequently does "warm-ups" with Miyao to test their combat abilities, with the latter pointing out Jayden's flaws and progress at the end of every fight.
- Stupid Sexy Flanders: Was confused at first by the fact that he fell in love with Meow, who shares a body with Miyao, but eventually gets over it.
Gunhild Gustafsson
Gunhild Gustafsson
- Cool Big Sis: Has this dynamic with Warcat, as she's their oldest member and is cool-headed unlike them.
- Determinator: She became a Gauntlet Knight through sheer hard work than talent, unlike most of them.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Justified, as she resents Miyao and Jayden for being geniuses (and selected to be Gauntlet Knights at birth) and not having to do hard work and training unlike normal people like her.
- The Heart: Downplayed. She keeps things stable between Miyao and Jayden thanks to her presence, but she's perfectly capable of fighting alongside them.
- Sacrificial Lion: Killed in battle at the end of Phase 1.
- Self-Made Man: She was born without the natural aptitude to become a Gauntlet Knight, living in a dirt poor city, and climbed her way to the top.
Grave Mole
Chloe Ironside
Chloe Ironside
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She is introduced as a clumsy and good-natured girl and is among the first and most enthusiastic members of the Public House Order. When the Gauntlet Knights battle breaks out in phase 1's climax, she not only murders Lilja, Chloe mocks her while doing so.
- Butt-Monkey: Is picked on by her partners moments after she appears for the first time. And spends some of her screentime getting karate chopped by Okonogi.
- Cowardly Lion: Despite being afraid of conflicts, she actually gives her all when she's deployed in actual combat.
- Cute and Psycho: Played for Laughs in the "Training with Grave Mole 2" Archive, when she starts activating Lilja and Koshka's Restraining Bolt to force them to apologize after they upset her a little too much. Only Okonogi's karate chop can stop "Chloevil", apparently. Not played for laughs at all in the main story's climax, where she uses the same method to get Lilja killed in battle when Lilja starts to resist orders. And she doesn't seem to feel that bad about it.
- Emoticon: She sometimes punctuates her sentences with > < whenever she's embarassed.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: Suffers from this since the beginning of her training, and it actually cripples her P3 levels. In one data fragment, she also made a disturbingly realistic short VR film with a cemetary and zombies from scratch, while presenting it at "merely average".
- Ineffectual Loner: Inverted. She actually better performs better if she's alone.
- Ironic Name: "Ironside" isn't a name you'd expect for a Butt-Monkey with low self-esteem. She does justify it when given a chance to exploit her full potential though.
- Nightmare Fetishist: If the Archives are anything to go by, her "most delicious way of eating an energy bar" involves… being the last human alive in a Zombie Apocalypse with almost no food or ammo left, and eating said bar before committing suicide. This girl has issues.
- Restraining Bolt: She has the ability to instantly disable Koshka and Lilja movements with an electric shock in case they get out of control. She deliberately uses it on Lilja during the climax fight, leading to the latter's death.
Koshka
Koshka
A criminal who was allowed to leave her prison in exchange for volunteering as a research subject. She ended up being selected as a Gauntlet Knight, but her true talent is unknown due to the lack of data, aside that she's a Sniper. She often quarrels with Lilja and they are at each other's throats, but it somehow contributes to balance within Grave Mole.
- Almighty Janitor: She's a crucial test subject codenamed "Pandora", which AOU scientists have been desperately trying and failing to replicate by sacrificing countless other subjects. It's yet unknown what makes her special exactly but according to Gunhild, she might be the last hope to save humanity.
- Body Horror: The small glimpse we have in Phase 1 of the experimentations she suffered in the GL4 Military Center depicts how her body was torn apart, and was drugged to enhance her P3 Levels.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: She's a supergenius granted the rare ability to become a gauntlet knight, but she seems to think of it as annoying, more than anything.
- Childish Tooth Gap: Downplayed. She has one missing teeth, though she's not a child anymore.
- Emotionless Girl: Was one before becoming part of Grave Mole. With some help of Lilja, she's able to feel emotion again, namely anger.
- Hypocrite: Not herself, but she demonstrates the AOU's hypocrisy. For a nation that prides itself on human rights, it doesn't have much of a problem taking her apart, including her brain in the interest of the nation's goals.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: Hints at the fact she's not that villainous. As shown in one data fragment, she likes to watch and collect cat videos. Her name also means "kitty" in Russian.
- Introverted Cat Person: She loves cats, and expresses a distaste for being around other people.
- Noodle Incident: It's unknown how she got into jail in the first place.
- Not So Above It All: Despite not being very talkative, she spends most of her free time playing the mobile game WanyaDora and quickly bonds with Miyao, also a huge fan of it.
- Save This Person, Save the World: In Fragment 15, it is stated that she may be the last hope to save humanity, and that is why researches cant preform even more inhumane experiments on her.
Lilja Viljakainen
Lilja Viljakainen
A criminal who was allowed to leave her prison in exchange for volunteering as a research subject, and famous for holding most of the records in her former school before her arrest. After her imprisonment, her personality has changed drastically, and some believe the center she was experimented on to be the cause. Like Chloe, she's also a Defender and fights with drones to counter airborne enemies.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The only times she drops her speech quirk for more than 2-3 lines is At the very end of Phase 1, when revealing her crime, and when Chloe shocks her.
- Jack of All Trades: Stated in her character tips screen. She can skillfully use just about anything, but couldn't tell you her best weapon.
- Morality Pet: Thanks to her, Koshka is able to communicate with others and is mostly civil towards them despite being short-tempered.
- Noodle Incident: Same as Koshka, the circumstances behind her jailing are unknown. It is eventually revealed at the very end of Phase 1 to be that she killed three officers by accident when she tried to fly by one because he was annoying her, and a gust of wind threw her off course.
- The Gadfly: Likes to pick on people to see their reaction, especially those with the name of Koshka.
- Third-Person Person: Refers to herself as "Lilja" and occasionally, "Lilja-chan-sama". She also urges other people to call her by the latter as well. At one point does Miyao call her that playfully.
- Verbal Tic: She peppers her speech with meows and other cat sounds, full with a cat smile. An Archive reveals that she started doing that to help Koshka open up.
Central Ocean Union (COU)
Baibao
Liu Lingji
Liu Lingji
A Gauntlet Knight of COU China. She's a demure and humble person despite having great talent, as she was also given the best of education and resources to grow as the most powerful Gauntlet Knight of the COU. Due to her sheer charisma and influence given by her grandfather, she's also its representative in the Public Bath Order founded by Miyao.
- The Ace: Introduced as an “ace among aces,” Lingji is the most powerful Gauntlet Knight in the COU and possesses the best official simulator score in the world.
- Lady of War: Kind-hearted, polite, graceful, cultured, and one of the most fearsome fighters the world has known.
- Oblivious to Love: She seems completely oblivious to Momotake's obvious crush on her.
- Worthy Opponent: The only Gauntlet Knight capable of beating Miyao during the Battle Standard Festival. This and their shared values create a strong mutual trust between them.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: She is the most fervent supporter of Miyao's ideals and enthusiastically accepts when he invited her into his Chivalric Order as the COU Representative. She is forced to abandon this after being confronted by Aysha at the end of Phase 1.
- Your Head A-Splode: Dies at the end of Phase 1 by having half of her face torn off by Miyao, whose Gauntlet went rogue and controlled by his father.
Momotake
Momotake
The old-fashioned Gauntlet Knight from COU Japan. He values ancient Japanese traditions as well as customs and clothing, which makes him opposed to Miyao at first, but he quickly warms up after knowing him personally. He also likes to follow strong warriors, and as such he has a crush on Lingji.
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: His Dimensional Slide (SS) ability acts as such.
- Born in the Wrong Century: He's very old-fashioned and prefers to dress and act like a samurai, despite the story taking place in a steampunk-esque future.
- Calling Your Attacks: Played for Laughs. During Baibao's first real mission, he tries to pull off a cool finishing move to impress Lingji, but he's too embarrassed and ends up biting his tongue.
- The Comically Serious: His strait-laced chivalrous attitude makes it easy for his fellow Baibao members to tease him.
- Portal Cut: His Finishing Move uses his Gauntlet's Dimensional Storage to cut things down. It's shown cutting a huge mining machine in half cleanly and instantly.
Aysha
Aysha
A rather salacious girl from COU Indonesia. She's also a Gauntlet Knight who become one by training instead of having the good genes, and as such her fighting ability is average, but she makes up with her tactical insight.
- All Women Are Lustful: Doesn't seems too much bothered with innuendos and teasing.
- The Gadfly: She loves to tease the easily flustered Momotake, particularly in regards to his feelings for Lingji.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Similar to Gunhild, she secretly resents her teammates because unlike them she had to work herself to the bone to get to her position. She considers Momotake a spoilt princeling and Lingji a little princess playing at war, at least until the latter gives the order to allow her fellow COU Knights to fight to kill at the behest of the military.
- Self-Made Man: Like Gunhild, she wasn't born as a genius, lived in a poor city and had to climb her way up to the top.
- The Strategist: To Baibao. It's stated that her presence and analysis alone was enough to put pressure on enemies even when she didn't fire a single round.
- Shipper on Deck: She tries her best to have her two teammates hooking up, as shown when she gives Momotake advice to get Lingji's attention.
Suparna
Sujatha
Sujatha
An overly serious and hard-working woman from COU India, though her orders often fall on deaf ears. In combat, her specialty is to use her Rejection Shield at close range to perform counter-attacks, making her a Responder.
- Endearingly Dorky: She surprisingly gets a moment of adorableness when Rukhshana takes her off guard and sends her far more missiles than she was expecting. Even Rukhshana calls her cute.
- The Stoic: A very serious and hardworking young woman, though she has less stoic moments towards the end of phase 1.
- Not So Stoic: She gets uncharacteristically flustered once she realizes she’s accidentally sent Miyao a message she’d intended for Lingji.
- Sour Supporter: Joins Miyao's Order of the Public Bath, but expresses concern and cynicism whether the ideals of the order can really be done in real life.
Rukhshana
Rukhshana
The easily frightened Gauntlet Knight from COU Saudi Arabia, but ironically ends up as their best defensive asset: As a Defender, she can use the Deflection Shield more efficiently than the rest and also has the ability to conceal herself from enemies.
- Blank White Eyes: She sports these a lot when she gets overwhelmed.
- The Dog Bites Back: Snaps at her superiors after they blamed Suparna for failing their mission.
- Split-Personality Switch Trigger: Her CPP gets triggered whenever she laughed.
- Shrinking Violet: She's very timid and easily frightened.
Andry
Andry
The more laid-back member of the squad, from COU Madagascar. One of the few Gauntlet Knights who became one through sheer efforts, he was selected at the late age of 13 but was also the quickest to complete his training. Perhaps as a reflection of his easygoing attitude, he fights with long range weapons from a safe distance, making him a Fire Support.
- Mellow Fellow: The self-proclaimed “peacemaker” of Suparna, Andry’s a lot more easygoing and calm than his fellow teammates. He doesn’t drop his mellow attitude once, even when taking a blow from a superior in place of Rukhshana.
- Verbal Tic: Inserting “woo” at the end of his sentences. In the Japanese version, it's "イエｲ" (I-ei).
Abrahamic Brother Nations (ABN)
Thalathat Suyuf
Naima
Naima
A gauntlet knight of ABN Iraq. Naima is a perky and energetic young girl, who also happens to be an absurdly talented soldier who is considered the "trump card" of the ABN. However, she seems to suffer from anxiety and has to be given medication for it.
- The Baby of the Bunch: Going by her looks and demeanor, Naima appears to be the youngest member of the cast. Some of her dialogue implies that her Selcom is programmed to censor language that is too "adult" for her.
- Badass Adorable: Naima’s a tiny energetic girl who’s hinted to be younger than most of the main cast, but she’s also the ABN’s top ace. Lingji mentions that she was trounced by her during the Battle Standard Festival because she underestimated her.
- Color Motif: Each Thalathat Suyuf members are very obviously associated with different colors. Naima's are red and pink.
- Red Is Heroic: Her gauntlet has red markings as well as glowing red lights, and the red sword in Thalathat Suyuf's insignia represents her.
- Cheery Pink: That being said, Naima herself is heavily associated with pink. She wears a pink hijab that she accessorizes with frilly pink bows, fitting with her cheerful Genki Girl personality
- The Cutie: Is one of the most pure-hearted and good natured of the cast, owing to her younger age.
- Genki Girl: So genki that she has her own sound effects for when she bounces around.
- Honor Before Reason: Naima is one of the only characters who still attempts to stick to the Public Bath Oath in the final battle of Phase 1. She even threatens to kill her own allies for striking down their enemies.
- Verbal Tic: "Wowowow!" and variations thereof.
Stanisław
Stanisław
A gauntlet knight of ABN Poland. Stanisław is a very calm young man who holds a lot of loyalty towards the ABN. Besides being a member of the Aerial Augmented Infantry, he's also qualified to be a doctor. His main role is accompanying and managing Naima, the Peace Department's secret weapon.
- The Caretaker: He and Naomi are both this to Naima.
- Color Motif: Blue. He wears a blue cloth over his outfit, his gauntlet has glowing blue lights on it, and the blue sword in Thalathat Suyuf's insignia represents him.
- Hidden Depths: He shares interest in Rock and Metal bands with Gunhild and is a member of her Order of the Blood-Vomiting Death Growls.
- The Medic: Because of the ABN Aerial Augmented Infantry's use of drugs to manage P3 levels, all squads require a member with a medical role. Stanisław fulfills that role for Thalathat Suyuf.
- Combat Medic; Can fight just as well as everyone else.
- Stock Foreign Name: "Stanisław" is a very common male given name in Poland, so naturally it's given to the only Polish character.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: At first thought to be a serious, cold person by other Gauntlet Knights, he gradually warms up to other members of the cast. Even Miyao is surprised.
Naomi
Naomi
A gauntlet knight of ABN France. Thanks to the use of drugs, she has completed mental optimization training, allowing her to command immense P3 levels during missions despite her naturally average P3 levels, putting her on par with aces from all nations. However, she also claims to have suffered a loss of some of her emotions and memories as part of this optimization training.
- The Caretaker: She and Stanisław are both this to Naima.
- Color Motif: Green. She wears a green sash over her waist and her gauntlet has glowing green lights on it. The green sword in Thalathat Suyuf's insignia represents her.
- Cool Big Sis: To Naima. She used to take Naima up to the peak of the Eifel Tower to sightsee.
- Disabled Badass: She's a gauntlet knight who is also classified as a disabled veteran due to suffering some memory loss and the loss of some of her emotions.
- Nice Girl: Immediately offered to help Sujatha's perpetual headache at their fist meeting.
- The Stoic: Her intense mental optimization training unfortunately comes with the side effect of having lost some of her emotions and memories. She does show some emotion, but it is mostly very, very subdued.
Yeladot Shavit
Leah
Leah
A gauntlet knight from ABN Israel. Before she joined the ABN Peace Department, she was attached to the ABN Guidance Department. Her history before that is classified due to "undisclosed activities involving good deeds". Like her squad mates, she is an Attacker. Leah and her allies love to espouse love and peace, though they must do so with the strict approval of their superiors.
- Ambiguous Situation: All three members of Yeladot Shavit have the "Trinity Comet Deathblow" listed in their special abilities, but each one has a different description for it. According to Leah's profile, the Deathblow is a secret technique that could allow the three of them to instantly kill a gauntlet knight, but it's rumored that the move could kill the three of them in the process as well.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Leah's "Friendly Observation" supposedly gives her the ability to make high-level battlefield judgements and assessments of each of her allies' performance on the same level as Miyao.
- The Dividual: "Trividual" in this case, but the Yeladot Shavit girls all have very similar personalities and basically act as a singular unit, often going so far as to finish each other's sentences. This makes them seem more like an idol group than a unit of soldiers.
- Improvised Weapon: Even when not using her Gauntlet, she supposedly can kill with anything, even a chewed-up piece of gum, a plastic bottlecap, or a pair of glasses.
- Love Freak: Yeladot Shavit loudly stand for all kinds of love, regardless of age, gender, religion, and so on. This manifests in them being very eager to mediate any potential relationships between their friends, particular any relationships involving multiple young, handsome men.
- Shipper on Deck: She gossips with Fatma and Stephania about the antics of the Cairo Squad and are very interested in "helping" Miyao and Jayden sort the conflict involving Meow.
- Teen Superspy: Heavily implied. Her profile states that she was involved with ABN's intelligence department before becoming a Gauntlet Knight.
Fatma
Fatma
A gauntlet knight from ABN Turkey. Fatma is a popular blogger who writes about the daily life of an active-duty member of the Aerial Augmented Infantry. Like her squad mates, she is an Attacker. Fatma and her allies love to espouse love and peace, though they must do so with the strict approval of their superiors.
- Ambiguous Situation: All three members of Yeladot Shavit have the "Trinity Comet Deathblow" listed in their special abilities, but each one has a different description for it. According to Fatma's profile, it's a three-person joint finishing move that was once captured on film, but only for a bit of fun. It goes on to say that the technique's true power is still classified.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Fatma's "Sixth Sense Mental Analysis" gives her a "sixth sense" to accurately psychoanalyze others. Unlike Leah or Miyao, however, this only seems to apply to regular social interactions and not combat situations.
- The Dividual: "Trividual" in this case, but the Yeladot Shavit girls all have very similar personalities and basically act as a singular unit, often going so far as to finish each other's sentences. This makes them seem more like an idol group than a unit of soldiers.
- Love Freak: Yeladot Shavit loudly stand for all kinds of love, regardless of age, gender, religion, and so on. This manifests in them being very eager to mediate any potential relationships between their friends, particular any relationships involving multiple young, handsome men.
- Shipper on Deck: Fatma describes Yeladot Shavit as "the ultimate cheerleaders for all couples in love." She gossips with Leah and Stephania about the antics of the Cairo Squad and are very interested in "helping" Miyao and Jayden sort the conflict involving Meow.
Stephania
Stephania
A gauntlet knight from ABN Romania. Stephania is a former idol who once traveled to elementary schools all over the ABN, recruiting volunteers for Monasteries of Peace. Like her squad mates, she is an Attacker. Stephania and her allies love to espouse love and peace, though they must do so with the strict approval of their superiors.
- Ambiguous Situation: All three members of Yeladot Shavit have the "Trinity Comet Deathblow" listed in their special abilities, but each one has a different description for it. According to Stephania's profile, she has supposedly mastered this technique despite her inexperience.
- The Dividual: "Trividual" in this case, but the Yeladot Shavit girls all have very similar personalities and basically act as a singular unit, often going so far as to finish each other's sentences. This makes them seem more like an idol group than a unit of soldiers.
- The Fake Cutie: A harmless example, but Stephania intentionally tries to invoke the Cute Clumsy Girl trope: her bio reveals she sometimes intentionally screws up during performances to draw attention to herself. This also may be why she plays up her intense fear of heights even though she got over it during training.
- Idol Singer: Unlike Leah and Fatima, she actually was a former idol before joining Yeladot Shavit.
- Love Freak: Yeladot Shavit loudly stand for all kinds of love, regardless of age, gender, religion, and so on. This manifests in them being very eager to mediate any potential relationships between their friends, particular any relationships involving multiple young, handsome men.
- Shipper on Deck: She gossips with Fatma and Leah about the antics of the Cairo Squad and are very interested in "helping" Miyao and Jayden sort the conflict involving Meow.
Africa Commonwealth Realm (ACR)
Squad 601
Rethabile Eenentwintig
Rethabile Eenentwintig
- Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: She wears an opulent golden dress and crown fitting of her position as a princess, even during combat, contrasting with the boxy, camouflage-patterned Gauntlet she and the other ACR Gauntlet Knights use.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: She drops her "queenlike" habits the second a serious situation arises.
- Pimped-Out Dress: Her default outfit.
- Politically-Active Princess: Although not official, she was appointed to represent her faction in Miyao's order and took an active role to ensure both her faction and the order's objection are not at odds. Atleast, until the christmas party where she's finally forced to chose her Faction and people over Miyao's order and ideals.
- Pretty Princess Powerhouse: A Princess of the ACR as well as their top Gauntlet Knight ace.
- Royal Brat: Played with and ultimately averted. She has an Ojou personality, arrogance and Noblewoman's Laugh and all, but she's self-aware enough to lean into the image for other's entertainment. When things get serious, she drops the behavior entirely.
- Spoiled Sweet: Despite initial impressions, she cares deeply about ensuring world peace and the well-being of others.
Ishak
Ishak
- Badass in a Nice Suit: Complete with Cool Shades.
- Bodyguarding a Badass: Technically, he and Abdou are both Rethabile's Bodyguards.
- Functional Addict: Addicted to one of the drugs used to enhance his P3.
- Lady and Knight: The Bright Knight along with Abdou to Rethabile's Bright Lady.
- Servile Snarker: Isn't above badmouthing the Princess even in front of her.
Abdou
Abdou
- Badass in a Nice Suit: Just like his partner, Ishak. No shades, though.
- Bodyguarding a Badass: Technically, he and Ishak are both Rethabile's Bodyguards.
- Fanboy: to Yeladot Shavit. Apparently he's planning to go to their next Meet-And-Greet.
- Lady and Knight: The Bright Knight along with Ishak to Rethabile's Bright Lady.
- Servile Snarker: Isn't above badmouthing the Princess even in front of her.
Cairo Squad
Noor
Noor
- All Love Is Unrequited: Noor seems to have affection for Mariana while rejecting the affection of Gannet.
- Cool Big Sis: Her bio describes her as "an object of admiration" for many of the younger trainees.
Gannet
Gannet
- All Love Is Unrequited: Gannet seems to have affection for Noor while rejecting the affection of Mariana.
- Animal-Eared Headband: She wears some sort of accessory that gives her the appearance of having little cat ears.
- Child Prodigy: Gannet is described as a "born genius" in her bio who started hovering at the age of three and entered the ACR Ethiopian Aerial Knight Corps at the age of nine. Interestingly, it's also noted that her P3 levels and thinking ability seem to have seen as a drop around the time she reached adolescence.
- Elegant Gothic Lolita: She wears a gothic lolita style dress.
Mariana
Mariana
- All Love Is Unrequited: Mariana seems to have affection for Gannet while rejecting the affection of Noor.
- Emotionless Girl: Mariana often appears detached and emotionless to observers, but the truth is a little more complicated.
- Hollywood Autism: Actually invoked: Mariana's perpetual blank expression and flat affect is similar to how autism is often depicted in fiction, but her bio reveals that what seems like symptom of autism are actually a manifestation of her having CPP like Miyao. Unlike his single Split Personality, though, her condition manifests in multiple personalities that often conflict fiercely with each other, leaving her "driver's seat" empty, so to speak.
- Lolita Fashion: In contrast to Gannet's Gothic Lolita style, her dress seems to be of the "sweet Lolita" variety.
Latin American Treaty Organization (LATO)
Since they doesn't have any visible flaws, many people consider them to be the best nation where one could live in, which attracts the jealousy of other factions.
Healthy Military Balance Oversight Committee
Valentina
Valentina
Maricarmen
Maricarmen
Unaffiliated Characters
Antagonists
The Three Kings
The Three Kings
From left to right: King of Fury, King of Ridicule, King of Sorrow
Three mysterious beings with a tremendous influence, whose stated goal is to destroy human civilisation and replace it with a better one should it fail to attain perfection. Through not directly appearing in the plot, they use their numerous connections with the different Orders to start creating conflict when the time is right.- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Their stated aim is to prevent the complete end of humanity and to return humanity's fate to human hands. They plan to do this by restoring civilisation "back to square one" via mass disaster.
Jestress
Jestress
Without her mask
A servant working for the Three Kings, and acts as their agent on Earth. She seems to have her own agenda despite working for them.
- Dragon with an Agenda: Whatever enthusiasm she seems to show in her task, she's only serving the Three Kings to further her own mysterious goals, no matter how many people she has to sacrifice in the process.
- The Gadfly: Part of her job is to take light sarcastic jabs at the Three Kings to make them laugh, much like actual jesters in medieval royal courts.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The name "Jestress" refers to her aforementioned role, but her real name remains unknown.
- Perpetual Smiler: She always seems in a good mood, regardless of what horrible deeds she helps to accomplish.
- Reused Character Design: Her pink attire, ribboned hat, haircut and blonde hair with brown eyes are reminiscent of the Witch Lambdadelta.
Toujirou Mitake
Toujirou Mitake
The father of Miyao, and broker who travels to many places across the world to rack in some money for a unknown goal. Despite being estranged with his son, he still loves him dearly and act as an advisor of sorts to him.
He's revealed to be affiliated with the Three Kings through their representative Jestress, and works closely with Seshat. He's also the Grand Master of several Orders whose goal is to spread the sprouts of war or prevent it, making his true allegiance a mystery.
- Contemplate Our Navels: Is a source of most of the philosophizing throughout the novel.
- Dissonant Serenity: What do you do when the entire city around you is being destroyed by out-of-control drones and thousands of people are dying? Take a long chair and enjoy the sight while sipping a cocktail surrounded by two beautiful bodyguards. His rationale for his calm is that the spot they're in has already been destroyed, so the drones won't come back. Obviously, this clues in Valentina and Maricarmen on the fact that Toujirou knows a lot more about what's going on than they do.
- Double Reverse Quadruple Agent: He's part of multiple Orders with contrasting goals.
- Doting Parent: Dearly loves his son Miyao, to the point he has tons of pictures of him since early childhood.
- Mythology Gag: "Mitake Toujirou" is just "Tomitake Jirou" with one syllable moved. A reference to both characters' regular use of cameras.
- Parental Betrayal: It is specifically stated that he is working against Miyao behind his back.
- Parents as People: Toujirou is given a lot of indepedent screentime and character depth well removed from his position as just "miyao's father".
- Perpetual Smiler: He's quite similar to Jestress in that regard, probably explaining why they get along so well.
- Wild Card: While he seemingly isn't fazed by the outbreak of WWIV, he still claims that he wants to foil the Ancient Conspiracy and save humanity. It seems like no one actually has any control over him.
Seshat
Seshat
The Grand Master of an Order affiliated with the Three Kings. She possesses a Gauntlet whose strength exceed that of LATO, known to be the best on Earth. Her hacking abilities also vastly surpass Keropoyo, as she was able to hack entire databases to hide her presence.
- Ambiguously Human: Her profile page makes it ambiguous whether her appearance − somewhat reminiscent of ancient Egypt − is the real deal or a disguise of hers.
- Meaningful Name: Religious and Mythological Theme Naming, to be exact. "Seshat" is the Egyptian goddess of knowledge and wisdom, representing the character's role as a seemingly omniscient and not-quite-human presence.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: According to her profile, even her real name is unknown.
- Story-Breaker Power: She can directly control the 8MS through a tablet of her own, something that is stated to be very costly and time consuming (let alone nigh impossible for a single human), and can erase her presence from all existing footage regardless of their storage capacity.
- Stripperiffic: Wears a midly revealing outfit as civilian clothes.
- Supernatural Gold Eyes: One more element that make her appear not quite human.
- Unperson: Subverted, as she uses it to her own advantage. She's able to completely disappear from any picture or footage she appeared in to erase her tracks.
Others
Okonogi Tetsurou
Okonogi Tetsurou
An military instructor of the AOU who's mostly affiliated with Grave Mole. Also regularly uses Chloe as a punching bag whenever he's upset. Despite his short temper, he's surprisingly more human and compassionate than the rest of the higher-ups of the military.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: If you mess up during training, you're in for an earful from him. It's very much necessary, since the majority of Gauntlet Knight hopefuls lack the necessary Parallel Processing Power to operate a Gauntlet safely, so it's better to crush their hopes early and have them pursue a more reasonable line of work rather than have them spend their entire youth training for an impossible job and having nowhere to go after failing.
- Everyone Has Standards: He is not exactly nice to the gauntlet knights, however...
- He may be very rough on his trainees, but seeing the manipulative and dehumanizing ways the military conditions and educates Chloe deeply disgusts him, and he pulls her out of the program before they can do more damages to her, while declaring that those under him will not be subjected to the same treatment.
- He is the only one in the military who objects to the armchair generals who do not have faith in the Knights as well as their monstrous actions in the climax.
- Expy: The last member of a long line of Okonogi Tetsurous throughout various 07th Expansion works. Although he's probably the most humanly likeable version, relatively speaking.
- Green-Eyed Monster: His profile suggests that he's so harsh on his subordinates partly out of jealousy, because by the time Gauntlet technology became (more or less) operational he was already too old to receive the proper training.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Sure, he harshly chews out GK trainees and unfairly punishes Chloe when Koshka or Lilja make a blunder, but it's shown at several points that he does care about the Knights' well-being to a certain extent, and won't tolerate that their efforts and talents are looked down upon.
- Only Sane Man: Acts as one for the high ranking members of the military. Even though he is harsh toward the Gauntlet Knights, he is seemingly the only one who treats them like humans rather than chess pieces to win glory. He is also the only one to openly speak out against the military in the finale as they force the gauntlet knights into a final battle, leading to many deaths even as the men giving orders never have to put themselves at risk.
- Token Good Teammate: By the end of Phase 1, he is more or less the only member of the military other than the Gauntlet Knights to be portrayed sympathetically, even if he does seemingly support the foolish war efforts. He has complete faith in the Gauntlet Knight and respect them as frontline soldiers and has nothing but contempt for the high ranking military men barking orders while sitting safely behind a monitor, and is openly outraged by their action in the climax.
"Mitake Miyao"
"Mitake Miyao"
A mysterious individual showing up inside Miyao's inner thoughts at times. Though he shares the same face and body as him, he's mostly gloating about The End of the World as We Know It and warns him about the imminent catastrophe, either by making ominous "prophecies" or showing him visions of the future. He claims that his goal is to stop the "murder program" that Miyao supposedly is.
- Head Swap: He's got Miyao's head, but changes his body to that of a "Gauntlet Girl" to help differentiate himself from the other Miyao.
Vier Dreissig
Vier Dreissig
One scientist among many others hiding beneath the Earth, who suddenly went missing during the A3W Era. Having grown free of her mortal condition (i.e. her aging), she partakes in many experiments with her fellow scientists, free of any restrictions she could have as a former "human". All of them seem to be opposed to the Three Kings.
- Expy: Between her design, her eerie smile and her obsession with scientific research, she's Takano Miyo in everything but name… actually even in name since "Vier Dreissig" (from "vier-und-dreissig, meaning 34) is a rough German equivalent of "Miyo" (3-4).
- For Science!: She, and everyone in the secret lab, threw away their lives in the pursuit of knowledge − of any kind. Her goal is, as she puts it, to translate the wisdom of God into human words.
Keropoyo
Keropoyo
The AI that manages the various functionalities of Kizuna, the selcom software used by almost every youngster in the A3W era. Many users find it annoying and have tried to delete it, to no avail.
- Adjustable Censorship: Its automated censorship can be turned off, even though it's responsible for having prevented several fights.
- Mascot: Represents the Selcom software.
- Ridiculously Human Robot: For an AI, it is surprisingly expressive. It can show joy, sarcasm, annoyance, tiredness, sadness, and a lot of the time misplaced enthusiasm. During the climax battle, the Keropoyos express as much despair as the Gauntlet Knights themselves.
- Sidekick Creature Nuisance: The most common phrase said to it is "how do I delete you" due to its annoying nature.
- Somewhere, a Herpetologist Is Crying: In-Universe, its species is "outie frog", referring to its prominent navel, which real frogs lack. According to its profile, several kids now genuinely believe frogs have navels because of the character's ubiquity.
- Sound-Effect Bleep: Keropoyo's croaking is used to censor insults and other vulgar words in virtual rooms, which apparently solved a lot of disputes in laughter. Of course, the novel then uses it even in the real world, just because.
- Verbal Tic: It has a tendency to end its sentences with "-poyo" and make frog sounds, which play when it appears on screen.
