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Main Characters
The Player Character
Your unlucky character who, if the pattern established by The Relic Hunter is any indication, is one of The Chosen Many by the mysterious Kether and Malchut who have all failed before you came along, and so they have put very high expectations upon you to get past the security puzzles put in each realm and retrieve the relics.
- Code Name: With each assigned number comes a codename, and so Number 1 is called the Firebird, Number 2 is called the Snowbird, and so on. Malchut is the one who uses them most of the time, while Kether - the more business-like of the two - goes by numbers pretty much exclusively.
- Featureless Protagonist: While the assigned characteristics based on number might give an indication about their personalities and behaviors, nothing is said about their name (besides whatever you enter into the computer), where they came from, or how they ended up at the Bequest Globe.
- It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: Unless being strung along by higher powers who have ill-intentions for humanity is supposed to be a good thing.
- Reincarnation: You are shown a list of past lives who are from a wide range of backgrounds, time periods, professions, and moralities.
Kether
The Crown of Crowns
One of your masked handlers who is located atop the Spiral Staircase. His Lodge is a boardroom with a TV which he projects his "face" onto.
- Affably Evil: He'll sing your praises whenever you retrieve each artifact with the tone of a corporate boss congratulating their workers for a profitable quarter, but he's certainly tied to sinister forces.
- Blatant Lies: Kether warns you about the evils of shackling the human spirit to technology under a surveillance state, but the imagery of his Lodge combined with the way he speaks are major red flags that he's on the side of the technocrats.
- Emotions vs. Stoicism: At first it would appear that Kether is the clinical, straight-to-the-point Stoic to Malchut's more Emotion-based appealing to peace and love, but this becomes subverted later with Kether's Villainous Breakdown.
- Straw Nihilist: His final speech to you has him declaring that the only truth in the world is chaos.
"There is no secret. No conspiracy. Your assumptions were correct, there is no conspiratorial web, no plotting groups of masterminds hellbent on the enslavement of humanity. There is only the ragged march of CHAOS, ALL THE WORLD IN CHAOS. ALL HAIL DISCORDIA!"
Malchut
The Earth Gate
The other masked figure who sets you out on your quest. She worships the goddess Isis, and her Lodge appears to have an altar upon which she projects her face onto.
- Cold Ham: She never loses her cool like Kether, but as the game progresses, she makes increasingly grandiose statements about how nature must take back the world from the evil corporations, her voice dripping with venomous contempt, all while never dropping her outwardly calm demeanor.
- Mother Nature, Father Science: At first it would appear she's the Mother Nature to Kether's Father Science, but as her ending shows with the genetic experiments on humans her world would bring, she's not entirely opposed to science.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: Her mask is a deep red that's bathed in shadow to where it almost looks black, and no matter what she says it's clear she isn't telling the whole truth about what she plans for the world.
Osiris
The Sun
The Drowned God himself. Originally an extraterrestrial who was forced to come to Earth following the destruction of his home planet, and on Earth, he created Atlantis... which was destroyed by an asteroid from the rubble of his home planet... so then he bounced around the world to different places like Egypt and Mexico, at some point marrying the human Isis, and together, they would watch over the new humans to help their progress... and then he was betrayed and killed. Guy can't catch a break.
- God Is Good: Although not a god in the traditional sense, as the one who helped create humanity as it is in the game, he is pretty much God. While there's an in-universe debate as to who murdered him, most accounts of him say that he was a benevolent shepherd to humanity, even if there was some genetic manipulation involved to get there.
- The Greys: While most of the other Greys in the game are given the classic small, spindly look, Osiris - although he had the Grey head before his death - had a body that was proportionally more humanoid, as can be seen from his corpse. It's unknown why he looks different from the others.
- Happily Married: Related to the above, those same accounts usually portray his relationship with Isis as a loving one and that they were equals even if she was a human.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Part of what did him in was that the Aztec deity known as The Smoking Mirror used his, well, mirror to reflect the rays from Osiris's Rod back at him.
- I Have Many Names: Osiris is what he is usually referred to as, but he's also Quetzalcoatl and essentially the Abrahamic God; plus, he has other nicknames such as The Sun, The Emperor, and The Father.
- Scannable Man: His body is covered in tattoos, but only the four Rod tattoos on his body are scannable by the player (including the one on his penis) in order to get the genetic samples to place into NOAH.
- Transmutation: His Rod has the ability to change one form of matter into another, such as turning water into fire, which makes it a highly sought-after relic in present times.
Isis
The Moon
Osiris's wife, the Moon to his Sun. She is said to be a human from the lost continent of Mu who got with Osiris after he came to Earth. Although Osiris was killed, Isis lived on, and her influence on humanity can still be felt even in modern times...
- Ambiguously Human: Although Isis being a human was supposedly the reason why Horus was so upset with her being with Osiris, a lot of her artwork portrays her with what appear to be horns and it's unknown if whether or not it was a decoration on her veil. Some depictions of Isis show her having a cow head, but the shape of her veil in the game in artwork throughout makes this unlikely. If she is a human, she probably isn't one in the traditional sense since it's hinted throughout the game that she's still around in some form or another.
- Driven by Envy: If Horus is to be believed that she was the one who betrayed Osiris, she was motivated by jealousy over the treasures Osiris and Horus had like the Rod, and that she stole their secrets. There's hardly any evidence to support Horus's claim, however.
- The Faceless: Artwork and statues of her depict her with a white veil that covers her head. It's probably a reference to the book Isis Unveiled by Helena Blavatsky.
- I Have Many Names: Not quite as many as Osiris, but she has a few of her own like The Moon, The Mother, and The Empress.
- Unperson: While not totally erased from history, like all the other histories in the game it's said that the whole truth of what she was and what she did was hidden for most of history, which that she along with Osiris led humanity.
Horus
The Serpent
An alien like Osiris who followed him and Isis into the Garden of Eden. Either angered by the relationship between Osiris and Isis, or because of simple jealousy about not having Osiris's relics all to himself, Horus employed the help of three Aztec deities to carry out the murder. Afterwards, he was put inside of a water tank in Chesed, which is where you find him, still insistent that he is innocent.
- Adaptational Villainy: Horus takes the place of Set in this game as the one who killed Osiris, although the circumstances are very different than in the myth. However, Horus claims that it wasn’t he who betrayed Osiris, but Isis. Not many other characters take his side in the story, with most others as well as the official testimony saying he did it. Also, he might be the Serpent from the Garden of Eden. Either way, he doesn’t seem like a pleasant fellow when you meet him.
- Ambiguously Related: It's not made clear what Horus's relationship to Osiris is supposed to be. It's unknown if he's Osiris's son with Isis, with someone else, if he's his brother, or if he's just another Grey.
- Big Bad: Of not just the events prior to the game, but of the future dystopia seen in Chokmah.
- Boomerang Bigot: If he is supposed to be Isis and Osiris's son like in Egyptian mythology, then Horus would likely be this in regard to alien-human hybrids.
- Composite Character: Like how Morgana Le Fay was combined with Nimue, it's possible that Horus was combined with Set as being the one who betrays Osiris.
- Fantastic Racism: His discovery that Osiris, an extraterrestrial with great powers, had the gall to demean himself by marrying an "animal" in Horus's eyes was supposedly one of the main motivators behind his betrayal. It is worth noting that only one source, the Priory of Sion book in Binah, says this was what upset Horus so much, while Horus makes no mention of viewing Isis as a lesser being in his speech to you, so the source shouldn't be viewed as definitive.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: At some point, he was put into a giant water tank which he asks you to free him from. Choosing to free him sees him disappear, and you don't hear from him for the rest of the game. During the Legion ending, in the central water-tank in the background a very faint silhouette of him (or perhaps someone who looks just like him) can be seen, and this combined with other possible clues hint towards Horus either being the actual creator of the Legion or at least being heavily involved with them.
- Unreliable Narrator: Despite his claims of being innocent, most other characters who talk about the betrayal including Baphomet and even his own co-conspirators say that he did it.
The Man In Black
Agent M.I.B. 3645AG
A mysterious man who you first see at the Round Table in Binah, this agent keeps track of your progress and wants to hinder your mission for unknown reasons...
- Bald of Evil: Like in many descriptions of supposed M.I.B.s seen in the real world, and his employers certainly seem to be sinister.
- Code Name: The one who transmits a message to him refers to him as "Agent M.I.B. 3645AG", which could very well be his actual name.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Assuming that neither Kether nor Malchut are aligned with him, the M.I.B. and by extension the people he serves are this.
- Knockout Ambush: Unlike most other M.I.B.s in fiction who have a special gadget or some sort of superpower that allows them to stop their target, this M.I.B. takes the rather straightforward approach of beating you up with a baton to kick you out of Chokmah.
- Teleportation: Unlike your character, who needs the Cryptowheel in order to travel through the realms, the MIB is able to come and go whenever he needs to, disappearing into the walls of the building which houses the Round Table the first time you see him.
The Legion
The faction of Greys you first alert to your presence by sending an SOS signal out to space from Binah, which they then intercept. The modern world's first encounter with the Legion was during the Philadelphia Experiment, and ever since then, the Legion has steadily worked with world governments more and more for their own purposes. Their treaty with the U.S. government in particular allows them to capture 144,000 humans to use in their genetic experiments, and in return, the Legion will lend their advanced technology to help protect the Earth from potential incoming asteroids.
- Alien Abduction: Apparently, a major reason they abduct humans and cows is because of an evolutionary genetic weakness that creates a disorder in their digestive system that can only be dealt with by extracting certain hormones, enzymes, and hemoglobin.
- Alien Invasion: Because they're already working with the world powers, their planned invasion is a staged one meant to trick the public.
- I Am Legion: Named after the entity from the Bible, and they always refer to themselves in the third person, seemingly with no individuality. Only the stranded EBE demonstrated a mind of his own, after his separation from his fellow Legion, he warned the U.S. government not to trust them, but they didn't listen.
- Mars Needs Women: Well, the Legion needs humans and certain other animals for reasons other than reproduction, but they do impregnate hosts to create alien-human hybrids for unknown purposes.
- Telepathy: They have this ability, as written about when the crashed Legion member called "EBE" psychically communicated with Secretary James Forrestal.
Binah
Morgana La Fay
The Lady of the Lake
The sister of King Arthur and the former lover of Merlin, though - like Malchut - she worships Isis and puts her loyalty to the goddess above all else. The game's interpretation of the Arthurian stories is left rather vague, though it would appear she had something to do with Arthur's death. She aids you in finding the Grail.
- Arch-Enemy: Merlin is this to her, the game manual mentioning that in the past, Morgana permanently sealed him beneath his Oak.
- Composite Character: As she refers to herself as "The Lady of the Lake", she is this with Nimue.
- Dark Lord on Life Support: If Morgana was indeed an antagonist in the past, then the machinery she's hooked up to is probably this.
- Draconic Humanoid: The upper half of her body resembles that of a human, though very twisted, but she has wings and the lower half of her body, as can be seen in a poster within the game, is serpentine.
The Templar
A very ancient-looking (and perpetually drunk) member of the Knights Templar (or the Rosicrucians, it's not 100% clear) who sits in the Tower that leads to finding the Holy Grail. To get past him and visit Morgana Le Fay, you must extinguish all of the flames on a board, and each time you lose a round, you must drink the poisoned wine the Templar gives you.
- Ambiguously Human: He might have been a human at one point, and a more normal-looking render of him shown in the behind-the-scenes documentary seems to suggest this, but whatever power in the Tower is keeping him alive has not been kind to him, as he now resembles a mummified corpse.
- Flowery Insults: Loves to make fun of you whether you're losing or winning the cup game, and his insults can get very creative.
"Did I ever tell you about the beetle and the turd? They were married by a priest and lived in a boat. Their grandchildren were your parents!"
- Tampering with Food and Drink: The poison in the cup's wine will kill either him or you if you lose the game twice in a row. Despite knowing full well the cup is poisoned, the Templar goes ahead and drinks when he loses the game, killing him.
- Unreliable Narrator: He might be one of the very few characters to believe in Horus's story about Osiris, assuming that's what he's talking about instead of Arthur as most players assume since every other mention of the Templars in the game and manual tie them directly to the passing down of the Drowned God secret instead of being connected to Arthur, declaring that he's dedicated to the "preservation of the one true God murdered by a woman's treachery", although not much else in the story supports this.
Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton
Two esteemed scientists who were a part of an organization known as The Priory of Sion. You find marble heads of theirs inside of a museum, where you must cycle through different doors marked "Yesterday" and "Tomorrow" to piece together their arguments over science, and from them you learn the true power of the Holy Grail.
- The Atoner: Einstein was a part of the Philadelphia Experiment that would eventually have long-reaching consequences for humanity and change the way the secret governments of the world operated, and although Newton accuses him of trying to play dice with the universe, Einstein denies having ill-intentions, and after you piece together the two scientist's conversation, Einstein is the one to explain the true purpose of the Holy Grail to you and tell you what to do next.
- Like an Old Married Couple: Although a lot of their arguing about science and the state of the world can get intense, at other times their arguing comes off as more playful, like when they hang a lampshade on their puzzle.
- Newton: I told you that was too easy.
Einstein: Oh, shut up! It was better than your damned apple puzzle.
- Living Statue: It's unknown if these are supposed to be the "real" Newton and Einstein who have somehow been turned into rotating marble heads or if it's just a mechanical construction, but these statues talk on their own and acknowledge your presence.
Chesed
The Conspirators
The Flayed One
The Night Axe
The Smoking Mirror
Night Axe, the Flayed One, and the Smoking Mirror were three Aztec deities whom either Horus or Isis asked to kill Osiris, which they succeeded at.
- Aztec Mythology: Naturally, but it's never stated in-game if they are supposed to be from the same planet as Osiris, if they're supposed to be results from some of the genetic manipulation on the Earth's animals, or if they're something else entirely.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Night Axe has one of the deepest voices of any character in the game.
- Mooks: Did the dirty work for Horus or Isis, and if Horus hired them, it was likely partially because that as a fetus-looking alien, he probably couldn't do much to Osiris even if he wanted to.
- Trickster God: The Smoking Mirror was able to reflect the rays from Osiris's Rod back at him, which wounded him enough for Night Axe to finish him off.
Din
The Relic Hunter AKA Richard Henry Horne
"The idiot in the machinery"
An old man who roams the halls of the labyrinth in Din, leading you through the maze while telling you stories of the Philosopher's Stone and Atlantean technology (or something to that effect, it's really hard to tell with him).
- Cool Old Guy: While he might not look like one at first, with his doddering walking and his tendency to ramble on about history, the Relic Hunter manages to be one in his own way. While he failed to collect any of the relics that were asked of him, he still travels through the realms and at some point, made his way through Chesed to get Osiris's hand, which is no easy feat.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Known only as the Relic Hunter, and the psychology papers from when he ends up in the future have his real name censored. Harry Horse all but confirmed in a letter that his true identity is that of the poet Richard Henry Horne, as you find his book Orion on the floor after the one half's death, fitting into the pattern of getting Crowley's The Book of Lies and Jung's Flying Saucers.
- Evil Doppelgänger: After talking about how the Philosopher's Stone creates a doppelganger made from the darker, more primal aspects of a person's mind, a copy of himself is made that stabs him to death (or he stabs the evil clone to death?), so while he doesn't have the Stone with him, he might have come into contact with it at some point.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: As someone from the 18th/19th century, whenever he travels to the past and futures within each realm, he is this. His letters where he describes the future areas like in Chokmah show him to be unfamiliar with present-day technology, and when he visited Newton and Einstein in Binah, he recognized Newton but not Einstein.
- Plague Doctor: He wears a red mask of this design, and while not an actual plague doctor, he is a very well-educated man as demonstrated in the game manual.
- The Poorly Chosen One: Was one of the ones chosen by Kether and Malchut before you to retrieve the relics, but unlike you who at least managed to get three out of the four artifacts, the Relic Hunter never retrieved even one of them, which makes his title very ironic.
Baphomet
The Templars' Talking Head
A skull-like psychic head that is kept and reanimated inside a metallic shell. Baphomet, an associate of the Knights Templar, sends you to find two pieces of the Philosopher's Stone so that he can make it whole again with his own fragment.
- Cryptic Conversation: Most of the characters in Drowned God speak like this by default, but Baphomet probably takes the cake for being the one whose lines are the most ambiguous, with some only making any sort of sense after you dig very deeply through all the lore. Thankfully, his instructions on how to get the Philosopher's Stone are comparatively more straightforward.
- I See Dead People: According to Aleister Crowley, "the dead speak through Baphomet", and if he's being literal about that statement, then Baphomet's main function might be to be able to communicate with Osiris and possibly Isis after their deaths, which is probably how he's the one with the testimony about Osiris's murder, an event that happened centuries if not thousands of years ago in Mexico.
- Oracular Head: He may be of the Brazen Head variety as his shell looks to be made of brass, and he more than most other characters in the game seems to know the full picture.
- Prophet Eyes: Despite his rotted state, he has blank white eyes (assuming those are his natural eyes), and he gives you metaphor-laden foreshadowing about the future seen in Chokmah.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Although he only shows up in the game proper as one of the several characters you encounter in Din (although he is the one you receive the reconstituted Stone from), he is given a few mentions by characters across the realms and his name appears multiple times in the written backstories. Baphomet's testimony about Osiris's murder provided groups like The Knights Templar and The Priory of Sion among many others with the secret knowledge about the Drowned God, and by extension the true history of humanity, that they've passed down through the generations.
Aleister Crowley
The King of Depravity
The Great Beast, the Wickedest Man in the World, 666, etc. who unwittingly trapped himself in Din after a ritual gone wrong, and whose voice projects through a strange jack-in-the-box within the Theatre of Memory. You give him Osiris's hand so that he can read it.
- Apocalyptic Log: You find letters addressed to his old mentor, Samuel Mathers, explaining why he went to Din and how he fell into its trap, and while he says that he doesn't feel hunger, thirst, or exhaustion while inside, he has already been there for so long he's lost track of time and doesn't think he'll be able to escape.
- But Not Too Evil: For all of Crowley's declarations of being "The King of Depravity", before he channels Osiris, he speaks fondly of the love between Osiris and Isis, and afterwards he mellows out.
- The Computer Shall Taunt You: Like Kether and Malchut, he has unique dialogue for each of the nine assigned numbers, except Crowley's specific lines are all about prodding at the perceived character flaws that come with each number, taunting you about how you're a failure at life.
- Imperfect Ritual: While he managed to accomplish his goal of getting to Din in order to obtain more knowledge, he quickly found that he could not get out, and so he's been stuck there ever since.
- Large Ham: Mirroring the behavior of his real-life counterpart, this Aleister Crowley revels in tearing down the player and asserting his powers.
- Willing Channeler: After receiving the hand of Osiris, he briefly channels his spirit, referring to events in the past that occurred to Osiris and the other stranded aliens such as sending out rescue beacons while speaking from Osiris's point of view.
Carl Jung
An early psychologist and researcher on UFO phenomenon, you encounter Carl Jung after winning at a slot machine in the Theatre of Memory.
- Mr. Exposition: Jung explains to you in great detail the difference between the conscious and unconscious mind in order to demonstrate how the Philosophers' Stone creating an Evil Doppelgänger functions.
The Count of Saint Germain and The Man in the Iron Mask
The Iron Mask
The Immortal
Called "The Immortal" and "The Iron Mask" for short, respectively, they are both found deep within the dungeon beneath the Theatre of Memory, and from them you receive the two biggest pieces of the Philosopher's Stone.
- Artistic License – History: The Man in the Iron Mask is supposed to have been imprisoned by a king named Philip, but the real Man in the Iron Mask lived 300 years after the last French king of that name. The Count of Saint Germain's audio biography is almost entirely fictional. His arrest by French authorities is reminiscent of the life of Alessandro Cagliostro, who was similar to the real Count of Saint Germain but whose career peaked somewhat later. The audio also claims Saint Germain was arrested on the orders of "Bonaparte" in 1778 — when Napoléon Bonaparte was nine years old.
- Cassandra Truth: The audio that explains St. Germain's backstory tells of how he went to the courts of the French aristocracy to warn them of the upcoming Revolution that would come if they didn't change their treatment of the poor, but he was ignored.
- Evil Doppelgänger: It's heavily hinted, though never outright confirmed, that one of them is this to the other:
- They have the pieces of the Philosopher's Stone, which has already been stated to create these for people who come into contact with the Stone, they were both in France around the same time, and although the Iron Mask's face is covered, the shape of his head is similar to St. Germain.
- There's also Baphomet asking you to choose between them before he gives you the reconstituted Stone, saying that you have to choose between "good and evil, which betrayer, which betrayed" which implies one of them is probably bad; however, the choice has no effect on the game and it's likely that whatever outcome it was supposed to have was cut from the final game.
- Living Museum Exhibit: Maybe, if they are the real deals and not just animatronic versions.
- Locked in the Dungeon: Where they both are located in the Theatre, though the Iron Mask had already been locked up by King Phillip of France in a dungeon for years before.
Chokmah (Spoilers Unmarked)
The Hacker
An anonymous and highly sought-after member of the Aviary who works to leak classified information about the secret government's operations to the public.
- Hacker Cave: Avoids detection by operating within the Realms, having a caravan in Din and a trailer home in Chokmah.
- The Hermit: Their computer is where you find The Hermit Tarot card depicting the person in the diving suit in the Din subway, but it's unknown if that means they're one and the same. The demo depicts the diver inside of the Hacker's Caravan, where they wave at you as if to signal to you to get out of there, so it's a possibility.
- The Mole: It is speculated among groups like Majestic 12 and Illuminated Nine that The Hacker must have very high security clearance in order to be able to access the information in the first place, but they have no idea who that would be.
- Rebel Leader: Is possibly this, but even if they aren't, they're definitely the most infamous of the Aviary among the secret governments.
The Woman on the Phone
Either a member or an ally of the Aviary who can only communicate by phone while being on the run from those who threaten their whole operation.
- Benevolent Alien Invasion: If that's her voice on the radio talk show, then she believes the aliens plan on doing this, saying that she thinks the aliens are here to help humanity and that they're like kind doctors.
- Vagueness Is Coming: She says that "they know everything", but it's unclear just who "they" are, whether they're the secret governments or the Legion.
Edgar Cayce
A psychic codenamed "COSMIC EYE" who had his powers enhanced by special hardware. Under the orders of Majestic 12, Cayce was tasked with using his powers to remotely spy on enemies and help locate the relics within the realms for them; however, it seems that he is turning on his employers...
- Astral Projection: He cannot physically enter the realms, so this is what he uses in order to see through them.
- Heel–Face Turn: While he did participate in spying for the US government and looking for the relics, it would appear that he now works for the Aviary, or at least the Woman on the Phone trusts him enough to ask you to contact him.
- You Will Know What to Do: Cayce explains that in order to find the Dreamgate, the portal to the "first world", you'll have to figure out which of the Lodges are trying to deceive you. Unfortunately, his hints about that are very vague, and it's hard to guess when both Kether and Malchut are Obviously Evil.
Pigface
"You want to know where the card is? I'll tell you where the fucking card is. Pigface has got it."
A human man who had the face of a pig forcibly grafted onto him; he has seen the experiments on humans going on in the underground tunnels beneath the Four Corners Area of the US and so he teleports into the Diner to spread the message.
- Body Horror: Rather than being an actual human/pig hybrid, Pigface explains that the pig's skin was attached onto him with needles after he got caught, but the lines where he explains this will only play by clicking on certain objects within Chokmah in a certain order, causing most players to assume that he's one of the oft mentioned "manimals".
- Harbinger of Impending Doom: He warns of the breeding experiments, bemoaning that "we're all dead now", and immediately after he leaves you are attacked by The Man In Black.
- Sdrawkcab Speech: Has a few lines of reversed audio when he enters and leaves.
