A character page for the RP series known as Darwin's Soldiers.A list of character sheets as they were written by the authors during character creation can be found here.
The good guys
Dr. James Zanasiu
Former Pelvanida scientist from the biologics department and unofficial leader of the good guys. An all-around qualified individual. Author Serris' main character.
- Badass Bookworm - A scientist who really knows his way around a shotgun.
Former control room admin and original Non-Action Snarker of the group. Usually does the tech and communications stuff, and is not good with guns. Author LettuceBacon&Tomato's main character.
- The Smart Guy
- Action Survivor - More than the other characters because he can't adequately defend himself, and when a villain wants something shut down/turned on, the control room is the first place they go.
- Butt-Monkey - Shelton gets beat up a lot.
- But Not Too Foreign - Shelton has mentioned that he's not American, but other than a few odd colloquialisms and the use of "zed" instead of "z", he's pretty much the same as the rest of the team.
- His ambiguous nationality is a Running Gag. To expand: he's used phrases or sayings from several different dialects, like Canadian, Australian, or British, but he's mentioned his mother didn't speak English, and his father was in the American Navy, but he went to school in Switzerland, bought his first calculator in Germany, yet when he lost his job he was deported to Austria, and in the end retired to Scotland...about the only thing we can say for sure is that he's European.
- Dead Pan Snarker - Oh so much.
- Do Anything Scientist - He often complains that despite being in a team of scientists, he's the only one who ever does anything except shoot people. This is because the team is almost always outnumbered, and everyone else is busy holding off the enemy so he even has time to solve the current problem.
- Growing the Beard - Literally, in the third RP.
- Mission Control
- Mr. Fixit
- The Mole - At the end of the second RP, he and Dr. Kerzach go undercover to infiltrate Dragonstorm.
- Killed Off for Real - LettuceBacon&Tomato had Shelton die of a brain hemorrhage between the end of Disruptive Selection and the epilogue.
- Kick the Dog: On the day his daughter finally locates him and pays a visit.
- Posthumous Character - Plays a large role in Chasing Seconds despite having died before the series began.
- What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway? - He is not pleased that of all the possible superpowers he could have gained from Nixx's syringe, he got the ability to talk to plants.
Werner Donitz
The youngest scientist at Pelvanida, Werner was one of the first people to join James's team. Author f-22 "raptor" ace's main character.
- Rebel Leader - Werner gets left behind on Gaman, and by the time the others return, he's become one of these.
- Teen Genius - Only 18, and already working for a top-secret military research base. He's explicitly mentioned to be the youngest scientist at the base.
Dr. Josephine Smithson
Another scientist at Pelvanida. Author Mirumoto_Kenjiro's main character. Usually goes by "Dr. Joe."
- The Medic
- Token Minority - Like Star Trek's Uhura, hits two; female and black.
- The McCoy - In a brief scene in Schrodinger's Prisoners, James, Shelton, and Dr. Joe fall into the classical archetypes during an argument about helping an old friend out. Dr. Joe wins.
Neku
An experiment created at Pelvanida, Neku is a young anthro-reptile and the first experiment to join James' team. He has a variety of powers and a crush on Snow, another surviving experiment. Author StarfallRaptor's main character.
- Healing Factor - he can heal from rather serious injuries given enough time.
- Mind over Matter - he is also telekinetic.
- Shock and Awe - he possesses the ability to generate electricity to use as a weapon.
Hans Donitz
A terrorist who switched sides to help the scientists and Werner's long lost father. f-22's character.
Alfred Byford
A construction worker who was hired as part of a crew to clean up and repair Pelvanida after the terrorist assault. Serris's character.
- Ascended Extra - he was originally referred only as the "Bison construction worker".
- Beware the Nice Ones - He is generally easy going but angering him will result in serious injury/death.
- The Big Guy - He towers over the main cast at a staggering 7 feet tall.
- Farm Boy - It is mentioned in the second RP that he grew up on a farm. At the start of the second RP, he is working in construction and he gets dragged into the whole story by Aisha.
- Super-Strength - Alfred possesses enough strength to fold a steel baton on itself, tear a gate right off its hinges or drag a large van out of a ditch with his bare hands. Or scrap heavy combat robots with his bare hands.
Cpl. Thomas Stern
Freelance corporal, later revealed to be an old acquaintance of Aimee. Only appears in the second and third RPs. Author Noname's main character.
- Meaningful Name - Stern is, well, stern.
Aimee
A female Vixen who has robotic arms. Author MrDrake's main character.
- An Arm and a Leg - Well, both of her arms were amputated in the past and replaced with her now, robotic arms
- Berserk Button - She absolutely hates it when someone calls her a cripple
- Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting - Well, she does need a use for her robotic arms, which can do damage
Shakila Brennan
A female black cat who is more of a techie than anything else. MrDrake's character.
- Doesn't Like Guns - Simply for the fact she has not fired one before
- Non Action Girl - She prefers to be behind a computer more than anything
- The Smart Girl - she is very talented with computers.
Hailey
Aimee's best friend since childhood, she too is a Vixen, like Aimee. MrDrake's character.
- Heel–Face Turn - After a lengthy talk by Aimee, she switches sides and becomes one of the good guys
- Killed Off for Real - The second time.
Jayden
One of their friends whom has connections to the FBI. MrDrake's character.
- An Arm and a Leg - Subject 19 had cut off his hand once, but since then, it has been healed up.
- Cowboy Cop - He tends to not tell his superiors what is going around, trying to keep everything under control.
Kiara
Jayden's FBI partner, a Coyote. MrDrake's character.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat - Kiara fits this, as she does want to tell her superior on what has been happening, but as of late, it has been failing.
Siberys
Anthro Dragon Experiment from the first RP, Siberys played an important role in the first RP, but disappeared after that. Author lbt/cty_lover's main character.
- Mind over Matter - another telekinetic experiment.
- Spell My Name With An S - his name has been rendered as either "Siberys" or "Syberis".
- I Just Want to Be Normal - He agrees to be the test subject for a bioweapon that permanently disables the powers of psi-experiments because he doesn't want his powers any more.
Sgt. Frederick Clyco
A Canadian soldier who brought an experimental weapon to Pelvanida in the second RP. Cautizer's character.
- Action Survivor - He just happened to visit Pelvanida on a bad day.
- But Not Too Foreign - Like Shelton, his foreignness is practically an Informed Ability
- Escort Mission - What he was on.
- Sole Survivor - the other Canadians who escorted the weapon were all killed rather quickly.
Aydin Marcos
A Vulpine , later revealed to be an old acquaintance of Aimee. Only third RPs. Author Noname's secondary character.
- Berserk Button - If he perceives Aimee to be in danger, he will turn on his own allies.
- Fantastic Racism - He hates snakes.
- My Species Doth Protest Too Much - Aydin strongly disapproves of how the Vulpine act.
- Satellite Love Interest - His only defining personality trait is the fact that he loves Aimee.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute - He seems to be a Vulpine clone of Corporal Stern.
ROSS
An artificial intelligence modeled after Rudyard Shelton, created by Drake to showcase his virtual-reality machine when Shelton reviewed it as a Dragonstorm representative.
- The Ace - In the short story "Byte Me", ROSS joins a team of vigilante AI and quickly proves to be better at every other teammate at their chosen roles on the team. This proves to save his life when they reveal their true nature.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot - When Drake ordered ROSS to fight Neku, ROSS waited until nobody was looking and teamed up with Neku in order to escape the virtual reality machine. A rare positive example, since ROSS' creator was a villain.
- Androids Are People, Too - Averted at first. Shelton can't stop mentally considering ROSS a subsection of himself, which causes ROSS to receive all of Shelton's inner thoughts as if they're thought-speak messages.
- Benevolent A.I. - Once he's escaped to the internet, ROSS seems more interested in just living and letting live. At least, as soon as he kills Soundwave, his former overseer. In the short story "Bite Me", ROSS actively joins a group of AI freedom fighters and sabotages companies that are hurting the public good.
- The Constant - ROSS expects to live as long as the internet does. In "Chasing Seconds", when Junior and Florence are discussing the possibility of being trapped thousands of years in the future:ROSS: See you two in a couple millennia, possibly. Honestly, I’ll be there. Unlike these organics, I’m immortal.
- Deadpan Snarker - Just like his namesake.
- Expecting Someone Taller - Having spent almost his whole life reading up on Shelton's academic accomplishments and previous daring exploits, ROSS winds up underwhelmed when he finally gets the chance to talk to Shelton in person.
- Fun with Acronyms - His name stands for Rudyard Oscar Shelton Software.
- Hypocritical Humor - At one point, ROSS criticizes Shelton for stereotyping someone based on nationality. Seconds later, ROSS reveals he discovered info on Shelton's past by checking his MediaMarkt purchases because "Germans are staunch recordkeepers".
- Not Quite Dead - Despite dying in the third RP, ROSS returned in Chasing Seconds with the explanation that he'd created a backup of himself before fighting Soundwave.
- Robot Names - See Fun with Acronyms.
- Stalker without a Crush - ROSS spends his first thirty minutes of freedom scouring the internet for any info he can find on his namesake, Rudyard Shelton, hoping to locate the man and discover why ROSS was created.
- Taking You with Me - ROSS ultimately defeats Soundwave by absorbing Soundwave into his code and deleting himself.
The bad guys
Dr. Greydon/Johnson Zenarchis
The creator of Dragonstorm and The Man Behind the Man, Zenarchis is a mysterious figure who has escaped death at least once.
Dr. Ian Branston
The Thoroughbred Horse who deals with the day-to-day activities of Running Dragonstorm. He replaced Dr. Shelton as Pelvanida control room admin.
Keegan O'Neill
A Shire Draft Horse, he's the [[most recurring subordinate The Dragon]] to Dr. Zenarchis.
Howard Hicks
A Dragonstorm human, commonly seen with Montgomery. Killed in the second RP by Aisha.
Lester Montgomery
A Beagle, member of Dragonstorm who was elevated to Big Bad in Serris' story Fool's Gold.
Pietr Kozlov
A brown bear, former dragon until his death in the first RP. Creator of the flare shotgun.
- The Brute: He towers over almost all the cast and possesses extreme strength. And is just as happy to use his fists or a gun in a fight.
- Genius Bruiser: He's a towering bear who also developed the flare shotgun.
- Russian Bear: He's a hulking anthropomorphic Siberian brown bear.
- Spell My Name With An S: His name kept switching between Koslov and Kozlov, until Serris explicitly decided it was Kozlov.
Trinity
Evil, cold-hearted, practically, one evil, uncaring bitch. MrDrake's character.
- Badass Normal - She is unaugmented but is more than capable of standing her ground against the augmented heroes.
- Empowered Badass Normal - She later doses herself with with an experimental Super Serum giving her superhuman strength, speed and agility.
- Ice Queen - Well, she doesn't care for anyone....well...save for Subject 19
- Jerkass - Possibly to the lesser extent of the above.
Subject 19
Dragonstorm experiment with a short fuse. MrDrake's character.
Kain
Responsible for Subjects 16 through to 19 and on how they had come to what they are like.