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Healers
As a whole
- Combat Medic: They're doctors, but they all do a lot of killing throughout the campaign. The dialogue even confirms that Artemy served some time in the military.
- Glory Hound: Downplayed. Their motives are compassionate, but each healer believes their way is the best way and anyone else is misguided. Since their ways are often incompatible, this leads to a lot of strife.
- Good Is Not Nice: They do want to heal the sick and save lives, but the sheer desperation they are forced to contend with daily makes it nigh impossible to fulfill their goals or even stay alive without getting blood on their hands. And all three of them can be pretty rude and dismissive as well.
- I Work Alone: Downplayed and ultimately subverted. All three healers believe that their methods are the best for the situation and that the other two should just stay out of their way, but they do end up sort of working together as time progresses and the total death toll rises.
- Like Brother and Sister: Clara describes them metaphorically as siblings: they're similar in a lot of ways, but they are not the same and often fight.
- Too Much Alike: The determination is what makes them the town's only hope also means they will never get along.
- We ARE Struggling Together: You would think three skilled healers would be able to pool their combined talents and resources together to combat the plague overtaking the town, but you'd be wrong. Their different methods and goals all prevent them from ever cooperating for long.
- With A Herring: The plague arrives unexpectedly, so all the healers have is a bit of travel money and whatever they can scrounge from trashcans without angering the townspeople. A government fund is set up on Day 4 – if the player lasts that long that is.
Daniil Dankovsky, The Bachelor
Voiced by: Andrey Barkhudarov (Russian), Tom Tucker (English)
The big-city dandy doctor whose goal is to protect the ordinary (i.e. uninfected) population by creating a vaccine for the Sand Pest. He's the player character in the Marble Nest standalone DLC.
- Adaptational Nice Guy:
- In Classic he was a jerkass with not the strongest of moral compasses, but in 2, he's far more sympathetic and accepting of the Town's peculiarities, its plight, and its people – the Kin included.
- Downplayed in the Marble Nest: there, he has the choice of lashing out at the residents of the Stone Yard. Justified in that he is being pushed to his absolute limit by the deliberate disruption of his quarantine measures.
- Badass Bureaucrat: He gets guards and signal fires posted at the entrances of every infected district within two days of the plague hitting. He also gives Artemy protective (if slightly worn) gear, and special sanctions to enter and exit quarantine. Pretty helpful, especially since nigh anything else political in the game involves hours of running between the ruling triad's houses.
- Badass Longcoat: His snakeskin coat makes him extremely recognizable, and leads to him being described as a dandy.
- Beetle Maniac: Flavor text confirms that he's had a beetle collection as a child.
- Break the Haughty: At the beginning of the story, he is bragging about his 'naturally high intelligence' and generally acting like he knows better. As the events of the game progress, and the strange superstitions of the town prevent him from doing his job, and his attempts to create a vaccine hit dead end after dead end, his attitude changes. By the end of the game he has gained a reputation for being pretentious, oblivious, and trigger-happy. His lab is closed down, and he becomes fixated on the Polyhedron. Regardless of which ending is chosen, there is no good outcome for him. Either the Polyhedron he becomes obsessed with is destroyed, or the Nocturnal ending ushers in a world which he cannot comprehend and he flees into the Steppe alongside many others.
- City Mouse: Daniil is dismayed at how underdeveloped the Town-on-Gorkhon is, lacking a hospital and proper water supply.
- Classy Cravat: Part of his outfit.
- The Dandy: Described as this by many characters. They're not wrong.
- Dr. Jerk: Has shades of this still, especially before the outbreak happens.
- Eat the Evidence: Discussed and Subverted. He considered eating the Inquisitor's orders to demolish the Polyhedron, but decides against it as Artemy, being a surgeon, would've probably just cut it out of him.
- Fashionable Asymmetry: His longcoat has asymmetric lapels.
- Fish out of Water: Sticks out like a sore thumb, even in a place as odd as the Town.
- Ignored Expert: He sees himself as this, and that is true to some extent.
- Literal-Minded: In the Marble Nest, he can encounter a Tragedian who tells him that he'll happily share with Daniil knowledge on how to defeat his adversary, but won't because Daniil lacks an open heart. Upon returning to him carrying a very physical and still-beating heart taken from a Herb Bride, the Tragedian will be disconcerted and request Daniil not to take things so literally in the future. He helps Daniil out nevertheless.
- Pet the Dog: If Artemy brings Daniil the bull blood and asks him to examine it for antibodies, Daniil will express concern for his well-being and suggest he takes a nap on Daniil's own bed.
- Pretentious Latin Motto: He drops Latin every so often. Just to show how smart he is, of course.
- Poor Communication Kills: In his second conversation with Artemy, Daniil scoffs that he doesn't have time to help the "mangy mutts" whose poisoning has so distressed the children. He's talking about actual dogs – unbeknownst to Artemy, who thinks he's insulting children.
- Pyrrhic Victory: If you do what he wants and save the Polyhedron, he's still not happy as realizes he has no place in the Town anymore exclusively because it defies all reason and logic – the ideals he stands for above all else. That, or he's being compelled to leave alongside everyone else. Either way, Daniil fails to create the vaccine he sought, and the secret to defeating death continues to elude him.
- Sanity Slippage: Towards the end of the game, he seems to have given up on combating the plague and instead becomes fixated on the Polyhedron and the Oneirotects who built the odd structures around the Town. On Day 11, he tracks down and shoots a courier bearing orders to destroy the Polyhedron, and burns the orders.
- Science Hero: What he sees himself as. Unfortunately, modern science isn't something that can combat the disease that's been born from the bowels of the Earth.
- Science Is Wrong: Being a modern doctor, he doesn't understand the nature of the town, but nor does he want to.
- The Spock: Dankovsky's focus on a vaccine for the healthy and on containing the infection is good for the greatest number of people, but he's indifferent to the already-infected individuals, stating that there's no way any of present healers could create a cure for it before the entire Town is doomed. Artemy ends up proving him otherwise.
- Trigger-Happy: Reputation-wise, quite a few characters have voiced lines about how quick Dankovsky is on the draw. On day two, he can even threaten Artemy with a gun to enter Isidor's house.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: If the townsfolk did not believe in the superstitions they do, and the plague was an ordinary disease and not a manifestation of the Earth's pain he might have been successful in containing the outbreak.
Artemy Burakh, The Haruspex
Voiced by: Vsevolod Kuznetsov (Russian), Tom Zahner (English)
A surgeon who grew up in the town, who is more familiar with its odd customs, and whose goal is to create a cure for the Sand Pest. He's the player character of the currently available main campaign.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: In Classic, he's a plain-faced man
with a goatee who looks a decade older than he really is; in this game, he would be a Hunk if not for his severe facial expression. - Adaptation Dye-Job: In Classic, he was almost fair-haired and had dark-ish eyes. In 2, he's been given medium-brown hair and very light blue-grey eyes.
- Adaptation Personality Change: At least in the campaign where you play as him. In Classic, he's, generally speaking, an uncouth and reserved man with a wicked sense of humor. In 2, he is more sensitive and at odds with himself and his role. Instead of dark and cruel jokes that were so popular in Classic, here, he resorts to dry wit (and exasperated remarks towards the children on his List).
- Ambiguously Christian: In a dialogue option, he tells a bandit that "the son, the father, and holy spirit" will judge him. In others, he expresses belief in Mother Boddho/Earth, who is... pretty incompatible with Christianity.
- Animal Motifs: Often likened to a bear and "Cub" was even his childhood nickname. He's also associated with bulls.
- Armor-Piercing Response: Aglaya frantically rants to him that they're all just puppets in the hands of higher forces and everything they do only seems real to them. Artemy considers this for a minute, and then goes, "So what?"
- Baritone of Strength: Has a very deep and imposing voice in both language localizations. It makes sense, given his size and strength.
- Bilingual Bonus: Often peppers his speech with Pathologic's fictionalized Steppe language which, in fact, borrows a lot of words from real-life Buryat, Mongolian, and Tibetan. The Bachelor, at a specific point, will even inquire on the meaning of these words.
- Bruiser with a Soft Center: He kills three armed men by himself in the prologue, but later on he spends most of his time taking care of street urchins and working tirelessly to find a cure for the plague so he can save his hometown.
- The Butcher: In the Steppe Language, "surgeon" and "butcher" are denoted by the same word: 'yargachin.' Depending on the context, Artemy being called a butcher or even a ripper can be positive, negative or even just matter-of-fact.
- But Now I Must Go: A victorious Artemy can enlist with the army again, or return to the Capitol as Yulia's assistant- presumably because his memories of the town make it too painful for him to stay there.
- Character Catchphrase: If the player chooses, Artemy can repeatedly ask, "But what does that mean for me?" It can even be his last line in the play.
- The Call Knows Where You Live: If he attempts to escape the Town with Aglaya, they are caught shortly after departure and the army shoots her to preserve quarantine.
- Child of Two Worlds: He has his father's sense for Lines and his mother's sense of individuality.
- Conflicting Loyalties: Between the people of the town and the people of the Steppe. Both sides conflict with one another, both want to enlist Artemy's help for their problems, and Artemy, in turn, needs the aid of both factions to uncover the mystery behind his father's murder and find a cure for the plague. In the end, there is no way to reconcile both sides. Either you cure the plague, save the town, and doom the people of the earth to eventual extinction, or you let the Kin flourish at the expense of the town.
- Destructive Savior: A trait of all Burakhs. When the White Mistress Capella looks at him, she sees footprints of blood in his wake.
- Determinator: Goes hand in hand with the bull motifs. His actions and dialogue options paint a picture of someone who never gives up, no matter what.
- Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Artemy gets many opportunities to poke fun at the personification of Sand Pest that follows him around under the guise of either an Executor (or the Changeling in a certain quest).
- Dreaming of Things to Come: He can see the children on his List long before he meets them in person.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Died in an unexplained fashion sometime before the events of the Marble Nest, leaving behind a single bottle of Panacea for the Bachelor to retrieve. Subverted in that the Marble Nest is Daniil's elaborate Dying Dream and Artemy, as shown in the promo art, is very much alive and well.
- The Dutiful Son: Artemy intends to uphold his father's legacy, though his actual enthusiasm for doing so depends on dialogue options chosen by the player.
- Face of a Thug: The few glimpses players have of Artemy's avatar during the prologue and theatre pantomimes shows him to be bulky and coarse-haired. Small wonder that Saburov pins Isidor's murder on him.
- First Person Snarker: His descriptions of items to the player often diverge into anecdotes about his friends, jabs at his medical rivals, and exposition about Kin beliefs.
- Genius Bruiser: He is big and imposing but is also a capable surgeon.
- Gentle Giant: He can use his strength to terrifying effect, but mostly he runs around interacting with children and picking herbs.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Downplayed. On Day 6, Murky will advise Artemy to meet her mysterious friend. When it is revealed that this friend is the Sand Pest itself masquerading as Clara's twin sister and that the Pest had taken Murky hostage, Artemy can accept its offer and save Murky by letting it infect him regardless of his current immunity. Refusing or not showing up at all for the meeting will result in Murky dying on the spot.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: A pantomime version of him laments that he isn't sure he knows how to love, although it's abundantly clear that this is because he expresses his love by doing, not feeling.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Spends most of the first day hated by everyone – save for his childhood friends and the Olgimskys – in the town because they blame him for his father's death. Even after the whole mess blows over, he's still treated as an outsider despite growing up in the town.
- The Heart: He truly loves the town and its people, even if the feeling isn't always mutual.
- Honor Before Reason: His 'canonical' personality, although player/actor choices can diverge from this trope. Bad Grief fully expects Artemy to go charging into the midst of the oppressive authorities, believing that the truth will somehow prevail.
- Honorary Uncle: If Notkin survives to the epilogue, he will declare that Artemy is one of his gang, even though he's an adult. (It helps that Artemy has a Half- his pet bull- like all the other members.)
- Hurricane of Aphorisms: A good chunk of his conversation-starting voiced lines to the Bachelor or the Changeling – particularly in the original Russian text – consists of various sayings, proverbs, and aphorisms.
- Inadequate Inheritor: Several characters believe that he isn't a worthy successor to his father. How much this is true ultimately depends on the player.
- Made of Iron: Downplayed. He can fix any injury he sustains good as new, given sufficient bandages or tourniquets. And he never gets sick from anything but the Sand Pest, no matter how many trashcans he picks through. However, realistically, he isn't likely to live through a confrontation against a mob or multiple armed goons.
- The Magic Comes Back: His endgame choice is between demolishing the Polyhedron (a clot of Earth, which holds back enough blood to heal every human of the Sand Plague) and preserving it. The latter will keep spirits and aurochs from going extinct.Possible dialogue option: I just...wanted to preserve a sliver of the miraculous in this world.
- The McCoy: In contrast to Dankovsky, Artemy has little interest in broad-scale containment but goes to great lengths for individuals.
- Meaningful Name: He's named after Artemis, the Greek goddess of hunting, which reflects his ceaseless "hunt" for a cure. Artemis is also the goddess of the moon, which sits in the sky alongside the Taurus (bull) and Ursa Major (bear) constellations.
- Messianic Archetype: In the "Nocturnal" ending, Aspity praises him for caring about the weakened Kin and saving them from extinction. Artemy tells her to stop because he's well aware of the people he let die so that the Kin could live.
- Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions: Despite growing up in the town, he's very skeptical of a lot of its superstitions, especially since he's spent the last six years studying more modern and scientific medicine abroad. At the end of the game, he can literally kill his living and breathing town.
- Parental Substitute: Becomes one for Murky and Sticky in the Diurnal Ending.
- Politically Incorrect Hero: He can be pretty disrespectful of the Kin's beliefs, depending on player choices.
- The Power of Blood: He uses the blood of the people he's killed to grow healing herbs, although whom he acquires this blood from and how depends on the player's decisions. Naturally, during his character arc, he often ruminates on the subjects of familial duty and love.
- Professor Guinea Pig: During Act III, Artemy has the option of testing the new medicine he'd just brewed on himself, but for that to count towards the quest progression, he has to be infected first, naturally. Drinking the panacea serum also nets you an achievement.
- Refusal of the Call: After Isidor's funeral, Aspity takes Artemy aside and explains his duty as a son to him. None of his dialogue options in response are positive.
- Semantic Superpower: As a menkhu, he can cut anything. The connections tying heaven to earth... or a god to her creations... or the memories between best friends. And, somehow, things or people that need to be cut are always stumbling into his path.
- Unperson: Everyone he condemns in the Nocturnal Ending forgets that he ever existed, much to his horror. Even when they try, they mistake him for someone else entirely. This might be because he's alive and they're dead.
- Weapons of Their Trade: He can use three different types of scalpels as a weapon in addition to using them for their intended purpose.
- Witch Doctor: The player literally can't access Artemy's menkhu knowledge until he goes into a sort of trance on Day 3, nor do the Kin acknowledge him as a full doctor until he successfully treats Patches back at Notkin's fortress.
- Worthy Opponent: Throughout the story, Artemy will have to contend with a nameless Executor – the Plague personified – dropping occasionally by to mock him as well as admire his sheer tenacity. Then, on Day 10, it decides to test him by claiming (i.e. infecting) all of the children on his List at once.
Clara, The Changeling
Voiced by: Maria Volkova (Russian), Jessica McIntyre (English)
A girl with a penchant for threats who also, allegedly, has healing powers.
- A Lighter Shade of Gray: Despite her sometimes odd sense of morality and her high-handedness, and if you put aside her much more alarming 'twin', Clara really does seem to want to help and doesn't show either Dankovsky's depths of callousness or Artemy's violent streak.
- Ambiguously Christian: Her dialogue mentions vaguely Abrahamic concepts, but isn't consistent with any one canon."God sees us from beneath the earth. Why do you think he's in Heaven? He's down below."
- Ambiguously Human: After meeting her for the first time, Artmey feels that she is "not entirely human".
- The Baby of the Bunch: The youngest of the three healers. And as it turns out, she's even younger than she looks.
- Bald Mystic: Her lack of hair is meant to signify her mysticism and faith, as well as her association with sickness.
- Baldness Means Sickness: Inverted. She's bald, but is said to have healing powers.
- Beneath Notice: The Kain and Olgimsky authorities barely notice her, although they order the other healers to work together and report to the hospital daily. Even Artemy only comes across her by chance.
- Beneath the Mask: She has to be the savior she hopes she is, because she has nothing else. Sometimes this desperation is visible.
- Blood-Splattered Innocents: Her bloodied hands on the final day do not indicate violence, but her desperate attempts to heal gunshot victims through touch.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Her preternatural knowledge tells her that Lara is willing to give her the food she needs. It doesn't tell her that Lara would be a lot happier if Clara knocked on the door and asked politely instead of breaking in.
- Brought Down to Normal: Over the course of the Haruspex's scenario, her powers gradually wane. If the Polyhedron is destroyed at the end, then they are by all accounts gone and she is essentially a normal human being.
- The Chosen One: She is the Earth Mistress of the town's next generation, and was likely brought into being to play just that role.
- Dissonant Serenity: When Clara's caught breaking into someone's house by a hulking brute covered in blood, her response is, "Do you know where she keeps the bread?"
- Fake Faith Healer: Dankovsky and Artemy see her as such. She claims to have cured three hundred people, but never actually does any healing on-screen. note
- Flat-Earth Atheist: In a world where damn near everything is sapient (towns, animals, the Earth...), she is enraged by Artemy's belief that the Plague is also such. It's likely that this is because if she did accept the possibility, she'd also have to accept that her existence is pretty fucking suspicious.
- Green-Eyed Monster: She does not like Artemy engaging in any sort of philosophical questions or introspection because that's her job. His job is to do all the disgusting grunt work of tending the sick.
- I Will Only Slow You Down: In Clara's final scene, she gives Artemy vital information and tells him to run, leaving her to the gun-toting soldiers approaching them. Artemy does not like this, but the sheer amount of soldiers and his lack of time forces him to accede.
- Mysterious Waif: No one has any idea who she is, where she came from, or how she's able to treat the sick with her strange powers.
- Opposites Attract: She declares herself "quite enamored" with Commander Block, of all people.
- Prophecy Twist: She distrusts Artemy because she sees that he will be a "Ripper" who spills rivers of blood. This is factually true- he causes the death of the Kin in one ending and the death of the townsfolk in the other- but contextually leaves out important bits of information like the fact that he had no choice, that he took no pleasure in doing so, that it was the only way to save anybody, that the Earth's existence and the panacea's is mutually exclusive, etc.
- Rise from Your Grave: Or someone's grave. It's not really clear. All she knows is that she woke up in an empty plot, knowing nothing about who she was, but a lot of theology.
- Spot the Imposter: There are two of her, and the more evil-seeming one claims that the other Clara is the imposter.
- Took a Level in Kindness: She is much less defensive in the epilogue, even managing to compliment Artemy. It's unclear whether this is because the play is over, the plague is over, her Evil Twin is neutralized, or some other reason.
- Troubled Fetal Position: She is found in this pose at several points through the game, most notably in the prologue when all hope seems to be lost.
- Vague Age: Clara is often referred to as a little girl, but here and in Classic she's apparently considered too old for the Polyhedron, where 16 is the cut-off point.
- Waif Prophet: She certainly plays the part, but how much if it is authentic is yet to be seen.
- You Are Not Alone: In the Diurnal ending, she tells Artemy that she's learned from his Heroic Sacrifice to save Murky that he's not a bad person, and she looks forward to their future adventures."So don't wander too far. We're still connected, you and I. And there's a great deal ahead of us."
Leaders
Vlad Olgimsky (Big Vlad)
Voiced by: Vladimir Antonik (Russian), Mark Rossman (English)
The head of the Olgimsky family and the leader of the Town's economy.
- Bad Boss: He runs his Bull Enterprise with an iron fist, and the workers he employs see him as greedy, exploitative and cruel.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Comes across as this.
- Large and in Charge: One of the physically biggest characters in the game and he owns a huge portion of the Town.
- Lost Lenore: His wife Victoria Olgimskaya died prior to the events of the game, and he misses her dearly.
- Pragmatic Villainy: He closes his Factory, forcing its many workers to find other ways to put food on the table. If Artemy tells Vlad about this, he will ask if Artemy knows how much profit he loses every day the Factory is shut down, insisting that he wouldn't do so unless he had a very good reason.
- He's the reason the Town has water pipes, even though Kin tradition decries digging as heretical. This comes in useful when the Sand Pest hits, because taps are much harder to taint than barrels of springwater.
- The Social Darwinist: Shows shades of this. He treats people as resources and believes that only the fittest (including him) deserve to survive.
- Tyrannical Town Tycoon: Owns huge portions of the Town, is easily its largest employer, and treats his workers quite poorly.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: He and his late wife Victoria Olgimskaya were an example of this trope.
Alexander Saburov
Voiced by: Dmitry Polonsky (Russian), Tom Tucker (English)
Part of the third ruling family in the Town. He is in charge of the Town's order and criminal prosecution.
- Ambition Is Evil: Believes that the Olgimsky's greed and especially the Kains' pursuit of abstract ideals will not lead to good.
- Authority in Name Only: He's not completely powerless, but despite being the Town's governor, ruling in an official capacity, his actual power is curtailed by the rival Kain and Olgimsky families. Once the outbreak begins, he loses much of even this power.
- Deadpan Snarker: Is this on occasion.
- General Failure: Fails to stem the chaos that spreads through the Town due to the outbreak. The people of the Town completely lose faith in his authority.
- Happily Married: He has a lot of problems, but his relationship with Katerina isn't one of them.
- Knight Templar: He once tried to ban all tourniquets, for everyone, just to curb his wife's morphine addiction. It's noted that this law was both extreme and unenforceable.
- No-Respect Guy: His reflection explains that Saburov feels unappreciated and a lack of respect for his role in the Town's functioning, which goes some way to explaining his motivations and actions in the game. His actual status as one of these comes down to player interpretation.
- Perpetual Frowner: Described as being stern and dour.
- Sour Outside, Sad Inside: Implied by dialogue with the Reflections, as well as the abnormally high number of reflections in the Rod.
- Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: If Artemy expresses annoyance over Saburov locking him up solely on the basis on public opinion, Saburov snaps that he should be grateful, because other prisons starve their inmates and let rats chew on their toes.
Katerina Saburova
Voiced by: Irina Ponomareva (Russian), Jill Holwerda (English)
The town's third mistress and wife to Alexander Saburov.
- Addled Addict: Has a morphine addiction which has not done her wellbeing any good. In her bedroom closet, the player can find several pieces of drug paraphernalia.
- Driven to Madness: The Rat Prophet regularly torments her with nightmares and visions.
- False Prophet: She believes her visions come from the Earth itself. They are actually being fed to her by the Rat Prophet. It is implied that the Rat Prophet is misleading her.
- Inadequate Inheritor: Is seen as an inferior successor to Nina Kaina and Victoria Olgimskaya.
- Lady of Black Magic: Attempted to replace Nina Kaina as this, but the death of Victoria Olgimskaya and her own personal misunderstanding of the role led to her being a failed version.
- Law of Inverse Fertility: She doesn't have power or a child, which causes her extreme angst. Even her attempts to adopt meet with obstacles.
Victor Kain
Voiced by: Andrey Barkhudarov (Russian), Tom Zahner (English)
Husband of Nina Kaina, Simon and Georgiy's brother, father to Maria Kaina and Khan.
- Clock King: He isn't an obvious example of this trope, but a touch quote for the pocket watch has Artemy say that Victor can tell time precisely without a clock.
- Necromantic: While not truly an antagonist, Victor himself says in the Theatre, if he dies, that his chief motivation was to "anchor the memory of my unearthly wife here in this town."
- Only Sane by Comparison: He seems relatively more reasonable and grounded than Georgiy and Maria, but it's clear that he believes in his family's outlandish ethos as much as the other Kains.
- Time Master: If his conversation regarding time and how the Cathedral produces it is any indication, he and his family have at least some control over time in the town.
Georgiy Kain
Voiced by: Georgiy Martirosyan (Russian), Armin Schwing (English)
Brother of Simon Kain and Victor Kain, and the Town's Judge.
- Identical Stranger: Georgiy uses the same model as Isidor Burakh, but with hair and facial hair. Whether this has any significance or not is yet to be seen.
- Mind Screw: He is Simon Kain's twin brother but it is common knowledge that he is, somehow, physically younger than Simon.
Maria Kaina
Voiced by: Vassilia Voronina (Russian), Margit Sander (English)
- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: She speaks to Artemy in a hostile, condescending way, voicing outrage if he tries to talk to her as an equal.
- Ambiguously Evil: Like the rest of the morally ambiguous Kain family.
- Ambiguous Situation: It’s not clear if her talking to her dead mother is a sign that she is mentally unstable or if she is genuinely talking to her mother’s spirit.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: Has visions of the future that she cannot properly interpret.
- Generation Xerox: Of her mother, Nina. Maria wishes to follow in her footsteps and rule over the town with an iron fist.
- Get Out!: She doesn't appreciate Artemy butting in on a conversation between the Town's future Mistresses. Or when she finds him in her house.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Almost every dialogue option you pick is guaranteed to upset her in some way.
- The Ophelia: There’s clearly something not quite right about her...
- Rich Bitch: She's very wealthy and isn't too pleasant to deal with.
- Waif Prophet: The future Dark Mistress, who claims to experience visions.
- Womanchild: Is noted to be quite immature.
Vlad Olgimsky (Vlad the Younger)
Voiced by: Alexander Dziuba (Russian), Adam Wakeling (English)
Vlad the Elder's son and heir to the Bull Enterprise.
- Antagonistic Offspring: Does not see eye-to-eye with his father on many issues.
- Moral Pragmatist: Opposes his father and advocates for labour rights and better working conditions for the Kin working at the Bull Enterprise, not because it's the right thing to do, but because he believes it will improve productivity.
- Overlord Jr.: It's even in his name. Unlike his father, he does believe in improving conditions for their workers, but doubts are constantly raised as to how effective he might be accomplishing these goals.
- Rich Kid Turned Social Activist: While not a full-time activist, he does seem to genuinely want to improve conditions for the Bull Enterprise's workers, institute labour rights, and has an interest in preserving the Kin's cultural heritage.
- Upper-Class Twit: Is viewed as this by many in the Town, in opposition to his father who is seen as cruel but competent.
- White Man's Burden: He wants not only to give the Kin equal rights to the townsfolk, but to make them exactly like the townsfolk, debunking the parts of their culture that he considers superstitious or isolationist. Artemy can point out that the Kin don't want to be like their oppressors, but Vlad will not listen.
Children
Capella (Victoria Olgimsky Jr.)
Voiced by: Anna Volkova (Russian), Georgina Harrold (English)
- A Child Shall Lead Them: She serves as leader and “mother” of the children. If she believes that Artemy is not doing a good enough job of protecting the children, she will take matters into her own hands and arrange to have them all be transported out of the town.
- Class Princess: She hails from the Town's wealthiest family and is gifted with supernatural abilities, but devotes her time to being a good leader to the Town's children and looking out for their best interests. Tellingly, none of the Town's children has anything bad to say about her.
- The First Cut Is the Deepest: A platonic example. As the plague progresses- potentially killing all of Capella's family- she comes to believe that all adults will just die like her mother did, and cannot be relied upon emotionally.
- Generation Xerox: Her plan to shelter the town's children in the Polyhedron is less selfish than her brother's plan to prevent a riot by locking the Kin in the Termitary, but similarly unsafe because of the plague's extreme contagability.
- The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: If all characters involved survive, Capella will become the sister-in-law of Maria her mystical counterpart and competitor for power over the Town.
- Heroic Wannabe: She is genuinely heroic, but as the plot progresses she becomes obsessed with the idea of saving everyone herself...even when this means separating them from the only doctors in town and leading them through an infected district.
- Hero-Worshipper: Her idea of what her mother was capable of- and therefore what she should be capable of now that she has Mistress power- is a tad...inflated.
- Like Mother, Like Daughter: Is said to be almost obsessed with the idea of walking in her mother’s footsteps.
- Like Parent, Like Child: With that being said, there are moments when it is made clear that she has quite a bit in common with her father.
- Married in the Future: She comes up with the idea to enter an arranged marriage with Khan, in order to ensure peace between the two families and the future stability of the town.
- More Hero than Thou: During the List's endgame infection, Capella asks that Artemy tend to Khan before her.
- Nice Girl: Though she is somewhat standoffish with Artemy, she is nonetheless one of the most genuine characters in the game.
- Please, Don't Leave Me: After her mother's death, Capella locked herself in her coffin, hysterical with grief. Even her independence during the game can be seen as a way to fulfill the role of a White Mistress, and thereby feel closer to her mother.
- Waif Prophet: Capella is at the beginning of coming into her power as a Mistress.
Notkin
Voiced by: Daniil Bledny (Russian), JT (English)
- Animal Companion: Has a spirit-like creature in the form of a cat which he calls Jester.
- Animal Lover: Notkin's gang places a high value on animals an other living creatures.
- Beneath the Mask: Despite attempting to act like a grownup there are moments throughout the game where the player is reminded that he is still a child.
- Closer to Earth: Unlike Khan, Notkin is not interested in miracles, instead preferring to deal with and focus on earthly values, such as animals and realistic infrastructure.
- A Father to His Men: Cares deeply about his friends. If he ends up a carrier of the Plague, he will beg Artemy to not let any of his friends near him.
- Street Urchin: After being ousted from the Polyhedron, he formed his own gang; “The Souls-and-a-Halves”
- We Used to Be Friends: He was once best friends with Khan. The two now lead rival gangs of children, who are shown to despise each other.
Taya Tycheek, Mother Superior
Voiced by: Vassilisa Savkina (Russian), Daniel Wood (English)
- The Baby of the Bunch: She is the youngest and most childlike of the children on the List.
- A Child Shall Lead Them: Many members of the Kin, as well as several children, are completely loyal to her.
- Locked Out of the Loop: She spends most of the game stuck in a tiny Termitary room, which her "courtiers" will not let her out of because they know about the plague outside.
- Take Up My Sword: Became Mother Superior of the Abattoir following the death of her father.
Grace
Voiced by: Olga Kashinskaya (Russian), Jeju Caron (English)
- Due to the Dead: Her role as caretaker of the cemetery. She is known to speak to and sing songs to the graves, and occasionally give them gifts.
- Happily Adopted: While the happy part is debatable, in one of the endings she is adopted by Alexander and Katerina Saburov, who let her continue to spend time at the cemetery via giving her the responsibility of counting and writing down the number of dead people.
- At an earlier point in the game, Peter can decide to adopt her. Like the above example the happy part of the trope is debatable, especially if you take into account Grace’s experiences with twyrine abuse.
- Heroic RRoD: It's not that her ability is inherently bad, but she uses it way too young and way too often. If she survives long enough to grow out of her need for ghosts' comfort (and the Diurnal ending is chosen), she becomes a full Mistress, implying some degree of control.
- Tough Love: The other kids don't talk to Grace anymore, because they refuse to sit back and watch as she kills herself by talking to dead people.
- Waif Prophet: Can speak to the dead, although calling their spirits hurts her.
- Wild Child: Borderline. She can talk well enough, but otherwise lives by herself in the cemetery, eats whatever she finds on the ground, has absolutely no formal education, and can just not function in normal society.
Murky
Voiced by: Tatiana Vesyolkina (Russian), Avery (English)
- Defrosting Ice Queen: She's initially cold to Artemy, partially because she blames his father for killing her parents, and partially because her mysterious "friend" doesn't like him. Because the friend is the plague itself that Artemy is fighting against. It takes some patience and compassion to get her to warm up to you, as well as an act of absolute selflessness. Namely, freeing her from the plague's influence by taking it into yourself.
- Happily Adopted: The Haruspex can adopt her, which moves her portrait to "Blood".
- The Immune: You'll quickly notice that she's never really in danger of getting infected, and after a while, rumors begin to circulate that there's some urchin running around who is immune to the plague, whom Artemy quickly deduces has to be Murky. Turns out to be subverted; she very much is infected, just in a different way.
- Kubrick Stare: Her animated portrait is flashing this look at you each time you talk to her.
- Oracular Urchin: She knows more than she lets on, claims to be able to speak to the dead, and seems to have a "friend" that keeps her informed on things no one else is aware of.
- Street Urchin: She lives on her own in a railway car.
- Tsundere: A platonic example. We know she needs friends because of how often she proclaims she doesn't need any except the Sand Pest.
- Waif Prophet: Her "friend" tells her things she should not know because it's the plague incarnate.
- You Killed My Father: In his attempts to stop the Plague during the First Outbreak, Artemy's father essentially killed her parents, something she was witness to.
Sticky
Voiced by: Maxim Chikhachyov (Russian), NT (English)
- The Apprentice: He insists on becoming Artemy's student and helping him find a cure. The player can choose to play this trope straight if they manage to keep him alive.
- The Artful Dodger: An orphan who prefers to look after himself, rather than ally with either of the child gangs.
- Good Counterpart: He's like a small version of Stakh, except that he's slightly more responsible, and capable of caring about his peers.
- Happily Adopted: The Haruspex can choose to adopt him.
- Plucky Comic Relief: The conversations he has with Artemy come off as a recurring Boke and Tsukkomi Routine, making Sticky one of the game's few sources of levity.
- Street Urchin: Prior to meeting Artemy, he lived alone on the streets taking care of himself.
- Tagalong Kid: The closest the game has to one. He lives in Artemy's hideout and insists on helping the Haruspex find the cure despite both his complete lack of medicinal knowledge and the latter's constant frustration with him. If the player permits it though, Sticky can help the cause in his own way.
Kaspar "Khan" Kain
Voiced by: Vanya Nepomnyashchiy (Russian), Regina Evinal (English)
- Antagonistic Offspring: To his father, Victor
- A Child Shall Lead Them: Serves as the leader of the Dogheads and the rest of the children holed up in the Polyhedron.
- Emancipated Child: Seems to live independently without his family. The other location where he can be found outside the Polyhedon is not his family home, the Crucible, but the Nutshell, a house where children spend time.
- Expy: Is said to have similar character traits to Peter Pan, Kai, and Joffrey.
- A Father to His Men: Cares deeply about his people, to the point where he refuses to return to the Polyhedron when the Sand Plague breaks out for fear that he'll spread it to them. Artemy can outright call him this trope by name.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Is quite rude and unkind, but he nonetheless cares about the children under his rule, as well as the future of the town.
- Married in the Future: To Capella, for purely political reasons.
- Older Than They Look: His dialogue implies he has the same longevity as the rest of the Kains. One of his idle dialogues has him say that he hasn't grown an inch in 15 years.
- Sibling Rivalry: With his older sister Maria.
- Token Good Teammate: Is arguably this to the Kain family.
- We Used to Be Friends: He and Notkin were once best friends, but now lead rival gangs whose members are willing to murder each other.
- What You Are in the Dark: During Khan's endgame infection, on what might be his last day alive, he asks Artemy if Capella's okay.
Townsfolk
Simon Kain
The town patriarch, whose death under suspicious circumstances has thrown the town into a frenzy.
- The Ace: Everyone loved him, regardless of their race, age, or class, and everyone had a place in his town. Even in death he remains a legendary figure from whose body was taken the first panacea prototype.
- Long-Lived: Daniil travelled to the town to scientifically test whether Simon was the trope or truly immortal. The latter seems most likely.
- One Degree of Separation: When the game refers to "the Bound", it's not your Bound it's talking about. All 27 people vital to the town were close friends of Simon, before his death fractured them into the Blood/Bone/Nerve groups.
Lara Ravel (Gravel)
Voiced by: Tatiana Ermilova (Russian), Jill Holwerda (English)
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Was part of Artemy’s posse of friends when both of them were children.
- Bonding over Missing Parents: Her father died a few months prior to the story and she assumes that Artemy has come to see her now that they have both lost their fathers. Unfortunately she's wrong, but they do end up bonding over their losses in a way.
- Broken Bird: Though she does her best to be compassionate and helpful to other people, the recent death of her father has left with her some visible mental scars.Lara: It's just that sometimes you feel, all too poignantly, that your life is over. You're not even thirty, but you're done. Not dead, but burnt through… and there's nothing ahead for you.
- Beneath the Mask: Underneath the presentation of an altruistic Samaritan lies a Broken Bird, apathetic to life, and with a murderous desire for revenge on the man responsible for her father’s death.
- Childhood Friends: With Artemy, as well as Bad Grief and Rubin.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: It is implied that this, as well as the desire to restore her family’s broken name, is what fuels her altruism. If she survives, she offers to help Artemy raise Murky and Sticky, desiring to both make things easier for him and lighten her own life.
- Good Samaritan: Runs a shelter and goes out of her way to help anyone in need. She evens asks Artemy to find a source of water for the homeless people of the town.
- I Miss Dad: She seems to have been hit especially hard by the death of her father, who was killed earlier in the year.
- In-Series Nickname: Gravel, as part of the Haruspex's circle of friends. She seems to like it the least.
- Insult Backfire: As children, Artemy and his friends tried to tease Lara by calling her 'Trout'. Instead of being offended, she said she respected fish for their calm and focus.
- Nice Girl: The nicest girl in town.
- Parental Substitute: Will offer to help Artemy raise Murky and Sticky if he decides to adopt them and all three survive.
- Perpetual Frowner: Is nearly always seen with a stoic look on her face and is said to be unable to properly smile.
- Ship Tease: With Artemy.
- You Killed My Father: Attempts to assassinate General Block for having her disgraced father executed.
Bad Grief (Grigory Filin)
Voiced by: Dmitry Polonsky (Russian), Alex D'Attoma (English)
- Adaptational Heroism: He appears to be a great deal less selfish and sadistic than his original counterpart. Although time will tell if this will continue to be the case in the Changeling’s scenario.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Is a childhood friend of Artemy, as well as Lara and Rubin, in the remake.
- Arms Dealer: He's the one you can buy knives, lockpicks and ammo from.
- Foil:
- Is described by the developers as an “anti-Immortell”, naive to the way the world actually works and unable to properly cope when his worldview comes crashing down. He evens runs his own “anti-Theatre” at the Warehouse.
- Barley the Barber, the man who replaces Bad Grief as the leader of the underworld seems to genuinely enjoy perpetrating violence, has a firm grasp on his people and isn't afraid of breaking Steppe taboos unlike Bad Grief.
- The Fatalist: He showed shades of this in the sidequest to blow up the train tracks, but it really ramps up once he begins speaking to the Inquisitor.
- Friendly Neighborhood Gangster: Bad Grief has a reputation as a bad guy, one that he carefully cultivates. His bark is worse then his bite.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: His talk with the Inquisitor breaks him, and he starts muttering about destiny and puppets.
- Heel–Face Turn: If he ultimately survives, he will decide to abandon his criminal life and go straight.
- Hidden Depths: On meeting him for the first time, his reflection tells you that he's putting on the appearance of being a criminal mastermind, but the truth is that he doesn't enjoy committing violence, and he dreads facing the fact that he's losing control of his people.
- Honor Among Thieves: Even though he is a leading figure of the Town's criminal underbelly, there are lines he will not cross, such as violating Steppe taboo.
- King of Thieves: Presents himself as the leader of the Town's underworld. The reality is more complicated.
- A Lighter Shade of Grey: His unwillingness to violate Steppe taboo, and the obvious performative nature of his gangster-persona make him relatively unthreatening. Contrast him with Barley the Barber who seems much more like a realistic, scary criminal.
- Perpetual Smiler: His character model always has a smirk, and the games design documents say he smiles like he knows something about you.
- Smug Snake: Believes himself to be a Magnificent Bastard and Social Expert capable of outsmarting everyone around him. His talk with the Inquisitor causes him to rethink this point of view.
Stakh Rubin
Voiced by: Vladislav Kopp (Russian), Adam Wakeling (English)
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: While he was said to occasionally board at Lara’s shelter, there wasn’t much indication that the two were particularly close in the original game. In the remake, the two of them, as well as Bad Grief, are childhood friends.
- The Apprentice: To Isidor Burakh.
- Asleep for Days: Does this halfway through the game as a result of the exhaustion spiral he trapped himself in.
- But Now I Must Go: Ultimately decides to leave with the army once the Outbreak has been stopped. The player can convince him to stay and become Artemy’s assistant, however.
- Childhood Friends: With Artemy, along with Lara and Bad Grief.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Is said to have been dealt a hard hand in life.
- Deadpan Snarker: His default attitude, once he is on good terms with Artemy and things are going well.
- Driven by Envy: He would like it if it were true that Artemy killed his father, because then Rubin would feel validated that he was Isidor’s 'true' heir.
- Expy: The developers of the game compare him to Levi Matvei from The Master and Margarita.
- Foil: To the Haruspex. Rubin is not a menkhu, but he feels he is closer to Isador then the Haruspex, and more able to cure the plague. Like the Haruspex, he too seems to be in an exhaustion death spiral, working days at the clinic and nights on the plague. However, his own stubborn pride prevents him from getting help from Artemy.
- The Fundamentalist: Described by the developers as a fiery zealot type.
- Good Is Not Nice: Rubin is a man who finds it hard to love people, and whose jealousy and misplaced feelings of retribution complicate his relationship with Artemy. He is also a man dedicated to finding a cure for the outbreak, no matter the cost, and who is ultimately willing to make peace with Artemy.
- Grave Robbing: He has almost certainly stolen Simon Kain's body in order to examine his tissue to create a vaccine for the plague.
- Green-Eyed Monster: It seems that he is jealous of Artemy's position as Isador's son and believes that he would have been a better son to Isidor.
- Heroic BSoD: The guilt of his actions after his panacea has been prepared drives him into a suicidal depression. If the panacea is not properly given to the inquisitor, he will die in his sleep.
- Idiot Hero: His actions are usually incredibly poorly thought out and lead to severe and fateful consequences. Artemy outright calls him an idiot several times throughout the game.
- Ineffectual Loner: He refuses to assist or seek help from Artemy in developing a panacea, which only makes things more difficult for both doctors, and gets him in trouble with the Kin. You can call him out on it.
- Inferiority Superiority Complex: Is hostile to Artemy throughout the game, but it clearly stems from feelings of jealousy.
- The Insomniac: By day, he works tirelessly in the hospital, doing what he can to help the sick. By night, he works just as tirelessly on the panacea, doing very shady things that start drawing the ire of the Kin. Deconstructed when the constant sleepless nights make him too exhausted to get out of bed.
- Jerkass: The years have made him a very unpleasant person to all of his former childhood friends, especially Artemy, whom he blames Isidor's death on.
- Like a Son to Me: Was the closest to Isidor, out of all his pupils, to the extent that Rubin considers himself to be Isidor’s true heir and son.
- Technician Versus Performer: Technician. He laments that however much he studies, he doesn't have the lineage that enables Artemy to intuitively see the Lines a menkhu must work in.
Peter Stamatin
Voiced by: Artur Ivanov (Russian), Erik Hansen (English)
- Addled Addict: To twyrine.
- Awkwardly-Placed Bathtub: Has a bathtub in the middle of his studio.
- Drowning My Sorrows: His traumatic past and regrets have led to him becoming a twyrine-addicted drunken wreck.
- The Exile: He and his brother were exiled from the Capital for breaking the Law.
- Mad Artist: As evidenced by the disheveled state of his studio, the drawings littering them and his gravity-defying Polyhedron that he treats like a living being.
- Parental Substitute: Depending on the player’s choices, he can become this to Grace, who he may decide to adopt.
- The Ophelia: Made especially clear if he becomes infected.
Andrey Stamatin
Voiced by: Artur Ivanov (Russian), Alex D'Attoma (English)
- Big Brother Instinct: Though he and Peter are actually twins, he is quite protective of his brother.
- The Exile: He and his brother were exiled from the Capital for breaking the Law.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Is said to be based on Benvenuto Cellini, one of the most important artists of Mannerism.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: If the player decides to have the army destroy the Polyhedron, he vows to track down and murder everyone involved in the act.
Yulia Lyuricheva
Voiced by: Maryana Spivak (Russian), Jeju Caron (English)
The logician who designed the Town's roads.
- Absent-Minded Professor: Fits the trope pretty well.
- Cigarette of Anxiety: Dialogue lines reveal her to be a heavy smoker, and the game's design documents say it's because of stress.
- Deaf Composer: A mild example in that she designed the Town's layout, but walks with a limp.
- Good Samaritan: She is seen in the Theatre on Day 6, and offers to help the patients any way she can.
- Mad Mathematician: Not as pronounced as in the first installment, but it's still there.
- I Should Write a Book About This: She plans on writing a book about Artemy's role in the events of the game.
- What Beautiful Eyes!: Artemy can express admiration for her eyes.
Anna Angel
Voiced by: Nika Sarkisova (Russian), Georgina Harrold (English)
A mysophobic former circus performer.
- Baby Be Mine: This trope is invokved with the baby-rescuing sidequests, with Artemy alluding to Anna's complete lack of maternal instincts. But it's pretty obvious that that's not why she wants to rescue the babies.
- Child Hater: Some of her dialogue lines indicate a less than high opinion about children.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Not much is known about her past, but if she is to be believed, she was a part of the mysterious Ace of Diamonds Caravan that kidnapped children for unknown reasons and this has left her disturbed.
- Early-Bird Cameo: She is seen in the introductory sequence, and is part of the crowd in front of Isidor's house before she is introduced properly to the player.
- Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: Her appearance is said to make people inexplicably love and trust her. However, she is described as a person devoid of morals and utterly undeserving of the love and trust people have in her. If she can be believed, she participated in the kidnapping of children in the past.
- Hysterical Woman: She does not speak nor act in a rational manner, and seems to be in a perpetual state of panic.
- I Just Want to Be Loved: Her need for adoration borders on addiction.
- It's All About Me: Thinks the Sand Pest has come to the town specifically to punish her.
- Karma Houdini: She gets no punishment for any of her past deeds. Artemy can even comment that people like her always survive.
- Mad Artist: She was a former circus performer, and is clearly not in the best mental state.
- Monster Clown: Her circus performer past, the clown-resembling makeup she sometimes wears and the baby-kidnapping brings this trope to mind.
- Nervous Wreck: Seems this way most of the times that you encounter her.
- The Shut-In: Seems to have become this because of her germophobia.
- Terrified of Germs: She is extremely distraught about the outbreak of the plague and was said to be a germophobe even prior to this.
Eva Yan
Voiced by: Marina Vorozhishcheva (Russian), Jeju Caron (English)
Owner of the Stillwater, the house the Bachelor stays in when he arrives in Town.
- The Idealist: She believes in the Utopians' ideals with even more earnestness than they do.
Kinfolk
Isidor Burakh
Artemy's father.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: In the original game, Isidor "caught the Sand Pest by the tail", which is technically true here. It's just that here, the Pest was stopped by quarantining the Crude Sprawl, condemning everyone inside to a horrible death.
- Parental Betrayal: While his intentions were noble, he was still the cause for the second outbreak of the Plague
- Post Humous Character: He's dead before the game begins, and much of the Haruspex's storyline is piecing together what exactly he was trying to accomplish in the years leading up to his death. Near the end, father and son finally meet face-to-face in a dream.
- Take Up My Sword: Not Isidor himself, but the Kin want Artemy to fulfill his father's oath.
Aspity (Sahba Asp'tae)
Voiced by: Polina Pushkaruk (Russian), Sara Kelly-Husain (English)
- Ambiguously Human: Her backstory, appearing in the aftermath of the previous plague, along with her gaunt face, imply she is a steppe spirit, clay given life by the Earth as a reminder and a warning.
- Ancient Keeper: She teaches Kin about all the history and rituals that colonialism has made them forget.
- Barefoot Sage: She wears no shoes and serves as a spiritual leader to the Kin, helping to keep their traditions alive.
- Emissary from the Divine: Aspity's mysterious origins imply that she was created by Boddho to return the Kin to a more naturalistic way of life.
- Heroic Sacrifice: She tries to take Artemy's place in the grand design, because his fated role is very painful (and/or she doesn't believe he's strong enough to bear it). If Artemy does not reject this coddling, she will instantly die from the cosmic backlash.
- Honey Trap: She's not one herself, but she sets up Kin women as dancers so they can spy on what the townsfolk are doing.
- I Have Many Names: Her name is Asp'tae, the Kin refer to her as 'Sabha' while the Town has corrupted her name into 'Aspity'.
- Meaningful Name: Her name is a combination of 'asp' (a type of snake), 'spit', 'pity', and 'spite'.
- Really Was Born Yesterday: She came into existence during the First Outbreak of the sand pest, and is implied to have been created as a result of Isidor's actions during the outbreak.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Drinks a lot of milk.
- Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: She wants the Kin to kill their oppressors...and the oppressor's children, and everyone who isn't Kin. Though in the Nocturnal Ending, she's content with them being driven out from the sacred lands, so that's good?
Nara
A Herb Bride who claims to be part of Artemy's destiny.
- Earthy Barefoot Character: As a Herb Bride, she is closely connected with the Earth and does not wear shoes to signify this connection.
- Heroic Sacrifice: As a Herb Bride, she understands that giving blood to the earth will make Healing Herbs grow. Even if that blood is her own. She also believes that Mother Boddho has a right to her children's lives (and deaths...).
- Meaningful Name: "Nara" is the Kin word for "sun", one of which is painted on her collarbone.
- You Will Know What to Do: Most of her conversations with Artemy have her saying that they are connected in some way and Artemy will know how and what to do when the time comes. Artemy must cut her open to extract a spindle from her, which he later uses to prove he knows the Lines
Foreman Oyun
Voiced by: Vladimir Antonik (Russian), Erik Hansen (English)
The current Warden of the Kin, who servers as an intermediary between them and Vlad Olgimsky.
- Adaptational Heroism: His relationship with Artemy is not at all antagonistic, unlike in Pathologic Classic.
- Boomerang Bigot: Has a rather low opinion of the Kin, despite being of the Kin himself. They too despise him in turn.
- Defends Against Their Own Kind: Facilitates the Kin working at the Bull Enterprise despite how poorly they are treated.
Other
The Sand Pest
Voiced by: Irina Kireeva (Russian), Adam Wakeling and Jessica McIntyre (English)
A highly contagious disease that reappears every few years to ravage the town.
- Big Bad: Your primary foe, and the entity responsible for the turmoil overtaking the whole Steppe.
- Eldritch Abomination: This is no mere disease caused by a microbe. It has a will of its own and a purpose to achieve. It speaks either through various people that serve as its physical avatars, like the Executors, or directly to those it has infected. It doesn't just infect the living either; the sickness can be seen in the earth itself, including the buildings built from it.
- Evil Is Petty: After you discover how to make a panacea, an Executor appears to you and tells you it's infected all of the children under your care at once, just to spite you.
- False Friend: The plague itself is the mysterious friend Murky is always talking about. It's also the reason she is seemingly immune to it; because she's technically infected, and it's planning to eventually take her as it does everyone else. If you don't take the disease into yourself, then she will die.
- Faux Affably Evil: It is a deadly plague that kills all it infects, but the Executors that serve as its mouthpiece are sometimes willing to offer guidance and advice on how to proceed, though they're just as likely to taunt and patronize you. When infected, the Sand Pest will speak directly to you, using soothing words to urge you to just lie down and accept your fate.
- Gaia's Vengeance: It's supposedly a spirit sent from the Earth to punish humans that settled in the wrong place.
Mother Boddho
The earth deity that the Kin worship.
- And I Must Scream: She is in agonizing pain because of the Polyhedron spike stabbed towards her heart, and the plague is an expression of this pain. She can no more restrain it than a person can restrain their screams while being tortured. In some ways, Artemy letting her bleed to death before the Diurnal ending can be seen as a Mercy Kill.
- Animal Motifs: Cattle, especially bulls. Boos Turokh, a giant three-horned auroch, was Boddho's first creation...or maybe her husband, tellings vary. All the earth's life is said to be one herd.
- Earth Mother: She created everybody- humans, Worms, aurochs- and lets them all live on her "body".
- Genius Loci: She's the reason why the townsfolk don't like digging holes in Her earth or slashing the veins of Her creations. Anything that violates the ventricular order she created is not a good idea.
- God Is Good: She raises her own life-sustaining blood to the surface so that people can drink it, and is responsible for the existence of nearly all magical beings and the Healing Herb twyre. The Termitary Kin suffer not because she wants them to, but because she can't reach into the stone tower they've chosen to live in.
Mark Immortell
Voiced by: Alexander Dziuba (Russian), Simon Law (English)
The director of the theater.- Fourth-Wall Observer: He directly addresses the player at certain points.
- Prima Donna Director: Words of praise for the play he is staging are few and far between, but on the whole he's still a milder example of this trope.
Aglaya Lilich
The Inquisitor sent to oversee the town's plague outbreak.
- Big Shadow, Little Creature: While she's not especially little, thanks to the lighting in one of the pantomimes, she casts a giant, imposing shadow on the wall.
- Feet-First Introduction: In her introductory cutscene.
- Fourth-Wall Observer: Spoken dialogue indicates that she seems to be aware of the true nature of the game.
- Judge, Jury, and Executioner: Serves as this in her capacity as an Inquisitor. The nightly pantomimes featuring her, and her introductory cutscene drive this home.
- You Can't Fight Fate: She believes she has been assigned to the Town specifically to cause her to fail. Despite this, and despite the fact that she knows the true nature of the game, she still tries to flee the town. It doesn't work out for her, and she will always end up dead.
Alexander Block
Voiced by: Alexander Hoshabaev (Russian), Tom Tucker (English)
The General sent along with armed forces to handle the out-of-control plague outbreak
- All There in the Manual: The artbook explains that the military top brass are pushing him to join their conspiracy, while he has many enemies which has lead to him becoming very nervous, meaning that during his arrival in town, he is 'ready to snap'.
- Expy: Inspired by Antonius Block from The Seventh Seal.
- Four-Star Badass: Is a young general in the army.
- In-Series Nickname: Called 'General Ashes' by several characters.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Despite the desperate situation in the Town by the time he has arrived, Block is always calm, rational and can be reasoned with.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Is already General in the army at age 30, and seems older than he actually is.
The Powers That Be (Measly and Thrush)
A boy and a girl.
