Characters / Cursed Lands

As with prior installments, many quirky and interesting character populate the word of Cursed Lands.

Main Characters

The party of fighters that the player recruits and controls in battles.

The Envoy

The viewpoint character, customized at the start of a run. While in the lands of N'Mar on business, they end up aiding a platoon of soldiers working for the Grimoire Council, and are embroiled in a mission to rid the land of its curse.

• Ambadassador: As the their title implies they serve as an envoy to various groups on behalf of the Grimoire Council while still being a skilled hero.
• And Then John Was a Zombie: A possibility. If the Envoy gets high approval with Zachery and Valery they will offer to turn them into a vampire which the player can accept.
• Badass Bookworm: An Envoy with the Scholar background.
• The Bard: One of the options for the Envoy's backstory.
• Guile Hero: Worked into gameplay with the "Social Talents," abilities that allow the Envoy to confuse their foes, intimidate them or even temporarily persuade them to fight for him/her.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Half-elves are an available race.
• Hello, [Insert Name Here]: Their name is chosen by the player.
• Intrepid Merchant: An Envoy with the Merchant background.
• The Hero: Given the responsibility of assembling a task force to deal with the problems originating from N'Mar.
• Magnetic Hero: Noted as being the Envoy's most important skill. While no slouch in combat the reason why they stand a chance against N'Mar is their ability to pull together disparate people into an effective team.
• Multiple-Choice Past: A (male/female) (human/elf/half-elf/dwarf) that works as a (scholar/debt collector/bard/merchant). Regardless of their history, though, they have reason to travel through N'Mar in the game's opening, and enough knowledge of the area to be nominated as a task force leader.
• Player Character: The story is told entirely from their perspective.
• The Unchosen One: No grand destiny here, just a more-skilled-than-average person who happened to be in the right place at the right time.
• Vampire Hunter: Not by trade but at least for the three months the game takes place in they take on this role.

Leena

Captain of the Royal Guard

An amazon. Mainly responsible for training the daughter of the current queen, she is chosen by Karen to accompany the player as the first member of their task force.

• Badass Teacher: She is the instructor for many of the young amazons, including Princess Loren.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: Leena is mostly all business but spending time with her reveals a softer side. Most notably she is heartbroken when her griffon dies.
• Fantastic Racism: Shows a bit with regards to the nagas on the team. In fairness to her most nagas in Aravorn really are violent and amoral and Enok and Sylrissa don't deny that.
• Full-Frontal Assault: Not in actual combat, where she wears what is by Amazon standards fairly modest armour. But if romanced Leena will, upon getting an official portrait of her in battle done, commission an extra copy of her in the nude to gift to the Envoy.
• Undying Loyalty: To Queen Karen and the amazon royalty in general. She is even, if necessary, to die as part of her training with Loren, since doing so would prove the Princess had outdone her teacher.

Nuala

Shaman of the Dunemarchers

A desert nomad of the Dunemarchers tribe.

• Body Paint: She wears various painted-on markings.
• Break the Cutie: She went through some of this as a child. A wild rhino badly hurt her and two of her tribemates and left her barely able to keep them alive for days until they were rescued. She mostly came out of it intact but she does harbour a grudge against the rhino in question.
• Combat Medic: Primarily focussed on healing but does have some offensive talents.
• Covert Pervert: Nuala is sweet, kind, gentle and even somewhat naïve. If you romance her however she proves herself very aggressive in the bedroom. And some other places.
• Forgiveness: If the Envoy encourages Nuala that she has a choice in her life rather than being held by destiny she decides to leave the rhino that hurt her be, noting that it was just being an animal at the time and is old and not long for the world anyway.
• Heroic Lineage: Possibly; the lich Nimineus refers to her as a "daughter of Urd," Urd being the legendary hero of the Nomads. He doesn't expand on this and he might just mean she's a Nomad mage but Nimineus did know Urd personally and could have recognised a resemblance in a descendant.
• Naïve Newcomer: Outside the desert. She hasn't had a chance to see much of the rest of the world.
• Nubile Savage: Complete with leather bikini and tribal markings.
• Restrained Revenge: She has hunted the rhino that attacked her as a child ever since. If the Envoy encourages her to follow her destiny she goes to kill it and she notes afterwards that the rhino was close to death anyway and rather than draw it out she just finished it off.

Larik

Tribal Chief

The chief of the Dunemarchers.

• Body Paint: Like Nuala he adorns himself with tribal markings.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He is willing to listen to a stranger to his tribe and later in the story arranges for other tribe members to temporarily take over as chief so when he dies or retires his replacement will have some experience.

Vaeril

Druid Exile

A fallen druid.

• Cast from Hit Points: He has a couple of abilities that allow him to draw his own life force (causing damage) for buffs and healing.
• The Exile: He lives alone in the Great Forest as the other elves fear his life draining magic. When he is (incorrectly) blamed for the blight spreading in the Forest he has to even leave the Forest for Grimoire.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: The self loathing resulting from his abilities causes him to put himself down. Notably at the start of his romance he doubts that the Envoy could ever love him.
• Vampiric Draining: His status as a "fallen" druid is due to his nature powers somehow twisting so that he heals by drawing life from living things, likely killing them in the process. Outside of battle he uses this on plants, not people but being a druid he hates himself for doing so.

Kusho

Forest Assassin

An elven assassin.

• Aloof Archer: He favours the bow and fits several of the other classic traits, including a cold and analytical nature.
• Assassin Outclassin': At one point Kusho discovers a trio of dwarven assassins have been hired to kill him. He approaches the Envoy and company to deal with them first.
• Professional Killer: He makes his living ending others. He is a bit more earthy than most examples however, as he also works as a guardian of the Great Forest from those who might harm it.
• Token Evil Teammate: While "evil" might be a bit of a stretch Kusho is an assassin and kills casually and coldly as opposed to the more heroic nature of the rest of the team.

Sylrissa and Enok

Swamp Nagas

A pair of Nagas.

• Badass Bookworm: Enok loves his books, on any topic. He's also a powerful battlemage.
• Black Magic: Enok practices Dark Magic although, as noted in Loren, that doesn't make him a bad person. Indeed it turns out nagas have a much higher resistance to Dark Magic than other races allowing them to use it safely.
• Blood Knight: While she's turned her back on the naga race's tendency to attack innocents Sylrissa still loves a good fight.
• Dual Wielding: Sylrissa is a fan and turns out to be the one who taught Princess Loren the style.
• Mermaid Problem: The nagas' humanoid anatomy ends at the waist, the rest being snake tails. Despite this both of them are capable of having sex with the entirely humanoid Envoy. The mechanics of this are not discussed.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Neither of them like the bloodthirsty nature of naga society.
• Platonic Life-Partners: The two have lived together for years and are clearly the most important people in each other's lives but both insist that they are just good friends.
• Playing with Syringes: As a child Sylrissa was captured by the Mage Academy in Horus and subjected to experiments to test nagas' magical qualities for potential use by humans. Naturally she holds a grudge though thankfully not against humanity as a whole.
• Snake People: Nagas in Aravorn are snake tails to the waist of scaled humanoid forms.
• Supreme Chef: Enok makes great food. The man can cook hellhounds.
• Token Heroic Orc: They're outcasts from the nagas because naga culture really is savage, most nagas living only for combat, sex, and eating any humanoids they catch. They each want something more than that.

Jasper

Sea Rogue

A Pirate.

• Cynicism Catalyst: He had one in he backstory that led to his current less-than-legal lifestyle. He was once in service to the Council similar to the Envoy but was disavowed after getting caught.
• Lovable Rogue: He's a pirate but he and the crew he's part of seem to limit themselves to the less bloody end of piracy and are the only ship willing to lend naval support to the conflict with N'Mar.
• The Musketeer: He is the only party member other than the PC who can use guns and also uses a sword.
• Older Than They Look: He doesn't look any older than most of the team but he's got history with the positively ancient Apolimesho. He not anywhere near as old as the wizard but it was long enough ago that Apolimesho looked younger at the time.

Dasyra

Street Mage

A dwarven healer.

• Genki Girl: Not to the extent of Dora but definitely another energetic, excitable dwarven girl.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Blonde and one of the most moral and kind members of the party.
• Heroic Bastard: She's the daughter of an unmarried maid and her former employer.
• Lethal Chef: She enjoyed baking as a child so attempts to take it up again. The results are...unpleasant.
• The Medic: She's a mage with a focus on healing magic.
• Really Royalty Reveal: She can discover that she's the child of Faberge Arasmas, the richest dwarf in Hammerhands.
• Thrill Seeker: While a skilled mage Dasyra had never been in combat before the night she meets the Envoy. She finds she enjoys the rush. It's not enough to make a Blood Knight out of her as she's too nice to be comfortable hurting people, but does lead her to revel in danger when it comes.
• Tragic Keepsake: When first encountered she was stealing a broach that once belonged to her dead mother. This broach later turns out to be much more important, serving as proof of Dasyra's parentage.

Galan

Regretful Warrior

A dwarven fighter.

• The Atoner: After he committed several murders in a fit of rage he turned his life around and is devoting himself to being a better person. Helping the Envoy save the Empire is a good way to do so.
• The Berserker: He is one but he's not happy about it, preferring to have more control.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: A serious problem of his. While he has made use of it in combat it's also led him to many actions he regrets.
• Warrior Monk: He plans to become one after the adventure is over in order to control his anger.

Important NPCs

Characters that the player interacts with throughout the story.

Private Reginald

A soldier that comes across the player after getting lost in the fog, entwining them with the main plot.

• Small Role, Big Impact: He's just a random soldier that stumbled onto the PC by accident but without him the entire plot would never have happened.

Sergeant Thomas

The leader of the platoon originally sent to investigate the recent fog that has appeared in N'Mar.

• Field Promotion: His involvement in the N'Mar threat gets him to Captain within two in-game months.
• The Generic Guy: He's a competent and pleasant but unremarkable soldier. His sprite is even a reused one from previous games for general Imperial officers.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: He's actually in charge of the final attack on the Catle of N'Mar and doing a good job but everyone (including him) is focused on the Envoy and their party. If Sir Cedric has joined the assault Thomas even finds his authority being eroded by the more experienced man. Thankfully none of this seems to bother him much.

Lady Geraldine

A rich merchant in Lothark and major supplier of weapons.

• Graceful Loser: If the Envoy supports Cedric's position on the monument debate she's a little disappointed but remains polite and friendly with the Envoy and continues to support them.
• Intrepid Merchant: She was one in her youth, frequently taking advantage of circumstances to ship needed goods to willing customers.
• Merchant Prince: She wasn't born Lady Geraldine, she earned it. She is now one of the richest people in the Empire and highly influential.
• Romanticism Versus Enlightenment: Strongly on the side of enlightenment. She has picked out a perfect spot for a steel weapons factory to support the war effort but there's a treasured war memorial on the site. She thinks the memorial should be moved to allow for superior weapons to fight the undead and tries to get the Envoy to back her.

Sir Cedric

A veteran soldier and popular figure among the Imperial military.

• Graceful Loser: If the Envoy supports Geraldine's bid to remove the monument Cedric is upset but still offers to tutor them.
• My Country, Right or Wrong: He has some issues with the Empire's leadership but is steadfastly loyal.
• Old Master: While he's not got much to teach the Envoy regarding actual fighting, he does offer to act as a mentor to them in the other concerns of warfare from a soldier's perspective.
• Old Soldier: A retired war hero, he can eventually be persuaded to come back into action to aid the assault on N'Mar.
• Romanticism Versus Enlightenment: Broadly on romanticism's side. He objects to the removal of a war memorial for a steel weapons factory. He admits the weapons thus produced will be superior but believes that courageous soldiers that feel valued by the population are worth more. He tries to recruit the Envoy to support him.

Major Antagonists

The enemies, vampires or otherwise, that are responsible for the story's problems.

Zephyr

A vampire lieutenant guarding the battlements of N'Mar with his pets.

• The Beastmaster: Controls an army of Creepy Crows
• Sadist: He seems to enjoy playing with his food.

Adede

A studious vampire lieutenant inhabiting the Castle of N'Mar's library.

• Badass Bookworm: Adele could not care less about the grand plan to topple the Human Empire, she's just interested in studying in the castle library. If you dare interrupt her though...
• The Beastmaster: If truly threatened she will summon a Spider Swarm.

Nootau

A vampire lieutenant with a clownish theme found in the Castle's dining hall.

• Monster Clown: Dresses in a clown outfit and fights using colourful bombs.
• Throw Down the Bomblet: His approach to battle.

Malone

A very odd vampire lieutenant encountered in the courtyard.

• Ambiguously Evil: She is a vampire and working with Humbra and the others but as noted above she may not actually understand what she's doing and seems to mostly care about looking after her beloved dire wolf.
• Bandage Mummy: Malone is dressed in this fashion. It's not clear if this is due to some deformity or just a strange fashion choice.
• The Beastmaster: Has an undead dire wolf as her constant companion.

Hersilia

The vampire captain in charge of the assault on Grimoire.

• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: She is certain she's unbeatable. She walks the walk, taking several rounds of combat to take down without using any shortcuts, but she continues to declare her superiority even as her strength withers.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: She is the leader of the undead armies attacking Grimoire and the strongest of them.
• Evil Weapon: She wields a sword steeped in dark magic. It's so evil that it cannot even be touched with the bare hands of living beings. Now if the PC has become a vampire...

Humbra

The vampire shadowknight leading the forces of N'Mar.

• BFS: Has an impressive one almost as tall as him. And he's tall.
• Fallen Hero: He was a heroic knight in life.
• Large and in Charge: He's a good half again as tall as the lesser vampires that accompany him in his fight.
• Love Makes You Evil: How he got started. He was a mighty and noble knight until his lover died. This turned him into a pathetic, drunken wreck until Zachary took pity on him and turned him into a vampire. Some time after that Mother Morte, a powerful necromancer, persuaded him to destroy the Human Empire as the price for her bringing his lover back to life (whether she could or would keep her promise is unclear).
• Vampire Monarch: He's the ruler of Castle N'Mar and in charge of all the other vampires in the game except Zachery and Valery.

Nimineus

An ancient lich inhabiting the Tomb of Urd.

• Archenemy: He was one to Urd, the legendary hero of the Nomads.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: He wanted to become an immortal tyrant. He succeeded but the hero Urd crippled his body and left it trapped with a silver weapon in a buried tomb until the corpse wore away enough that his soul could escape, a process that took centuries. Nimineus did eventually escape...only to have the exact same thing be done to him again by either Nuala or Larik. And they're going to leave behind stories so when he escapes again their descendants will return to repeat the process.
• Demonic Possession: He possesses corpses and can also control the living remotely.
• Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: He initially appears to be this, being entirely separate from the vampires of N'Mar. However it seems his current body was drained of blood suggesting that the vampires left it for him, likely to prevent the inhabitants of the Orcish Wastes from aiding the Empire while dealing with Nimineus' return.
• Our Liches Are Different: His soul is capable of possessing any corpse but can only leave said corpse if killed. If there's a way to permanently finish him no-one in the party knows it.

Hoxor

An orc warlord leading a large force into the territory of the Dunemarchers.

• Anti-Villain: While he is by his own admission a bandit and a raider his main concern is the wellbeing of his people and protecting them from N'Mar's mists.
• Talking the Monster to Death: One possible solution. He's touchy but not completely unreasonable and if the Envoy can make a good enough case he'll call off the entire invasion.

Edgar Arasmas

A very rich and corrupt dwarven businessman.

• Hoist by His Own Petard: Regarding how he got his wealth. His father left most of his money to Edgar in his will but also left some to his daughter from an affair with a maid who he knew about but had lost track off. Edgar, not wanting to give up any money, destroyed the will and claimed it was never found. In the absence of a will the law grants everything to the eldest child. This works until it's discovered that party member Dasyra is the lost daughter...and it turns out Dasyra is two years older so now, given that there's no will, she is the only legal heir and Edgar loses it all.
• I Own This Town: Edgar has enough money and influence to pretty much do as he pleases in Hammerhands.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: How he lives his life.
• Smug Snake: He thinks he's in full control of the situation when Dasyra and the Envoy confront him. He quickly discovers how badly he's misjudged the situation.

Returning Characters

Characters that originated in Loren: The Amazon Princess. For Tropes about their role in their earlier appearance, please refer to the original game's Character page.

Karen

The current Queen of the Amazons. Wanting to take action concerning the N'Mar situation, the Grimoire Council foists the duty of assembling a task force to her, but she delegates the task to the player because of her royal duties.

• Action Mom: While she's not a party member like in Loren she is still very active throughout the game.
• Big Damn Heroes: Twice. At the start of the game she swoops down on her griffon to lead the future Envoy and the beleaguered Imperial soldiers out of the mist. At the end, after Humbra has been killed but the party is being overwhelmed by hordes of undead Karen leads a wing of griffon riding amazons to rescue them.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: The most reasonable. While the Grimoire Council is technically employing the Envoy they only really offer a (fairly low) daily stipend. Karen is the one who offers leads and even assigns her head of the royal guard as help.
• Talking in Your Dreams: She can kiss you in a dream if you have high relationship, and she is very much into you, but you can't have a full romance with her. Both because she's the Queen, and she has other romances in her future.

Apolimesho

A member of the Grimoire Council. Though he disagrees with some of their methods, he supports their intentions.

• Grumpy Old Man: Definitely but less so than in Loren. Presumably the next decade or so soured him further.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Less so than Karen but he does still offer help and advice, which is more than the rest of the Council does.
• Wizard Classic: He's got the look and the attitude.

Myrth

One of the elder druids of the Great Forest.

• The Cameo: Shows up exactly once to complain about Kusho being reckless about his shots and to mention that he's almost as annoying as her brother Rei.

Valery and Zachary N'Mar

The current heirs of the lands of N'Mar.

• Affably Evil: They are unfailingly polite and courteous and seem to genuinely like the Envoy while still lacking much in the way of morals.
• Classical Movie Vampire: Zachary has the look.
• Enemy Mine: They have no interest in preserving the Human Empire nor any of the other peoples under threat but they are interested in regaining control of N'Mar from Humbra and will aid the Envoy in pursuit of that. This changes if the Envoy gains approval with them, as they begin to like the idea of keeping them around.
• Impossibly-Low Neckline: Valery's fashion sense didn't change much between this game and Loren.
• Mr. Exposition: Zachery serves as this from time to time, especially at the end.
• The Older Immortal: Not Valery, who has only just become a vampire at this point, but Zachery is the oldest vampire encountered in the game.
• Saved by Canon: As they are making no secret of their intentions to reoccupy Castle N'Mar once the current regime is defeated the Envoy (and the player) might very well think that killing them is a good idea. But they appeared in Loren: The Amazon Princess so that can't happen.
• Unholy Matrimony: They are just getting started with theirs. It's a rather less equal relationship then it will be by the time of Loren, as Valery has only just been turned and is still somewhat in thrall to Zachery.

Grob

A goblin mage and leader of his clan.

• Anti-Villain: To an extent and certainly more than his in-universe later appearance. He's invading a dwarven mine but doing so in order to provide for his people.
• Master of Illusion: On his way there but not at the skill level he will later reach. The best he can manage here is an invisibility spell to escape.

Loren

Karen's daughter and thus Princess of the Amazons.

• Adorably Precocious Child: She already has the determination and drive that will define her later in life. The "adorable" part is helped by the fact she has yet to develop the more prickly elements of her adult personality.
• Dual Wielding: She's looking to take up the style and asks Sylrissa to teach her.
• Vague Age: She refers to herself as a teenage girl at one point but her sprite is pretty childlike. Therefore she's probably around 12 or 13 but it's not outright stated.

Breza

A young Amazon girl taken prisoner by the vampires.

• Misery Builds Character: Karen notes that her terrible experience seems to have strengthened her and is recommending Leena start training her. This will eventually lead to her becoming head of the royal guard and Loren's friend by the time of Loren: The Amazon Princess.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: After being rescued she shows a bloodthirsty desire to see the rest of the vampires pay. Justified as she was traumatised by the imprisonment and in any case for an Amazon this is probably not that unusual.

Mother Morte

A necromancer.

• The Ghost: She doesn't appear in the game, working behind the scenes.
• Greater-Scope Villain: She was the one who manipulated Humbra into leading N'Mar's invasion of the Empire.