The staff of Power Academy.
Administrative
Headmaster James Mall
A soldier-turned-superhero, James Mall is the renowned headmaster of Power Academy. He's also a member of an order worshiping a mythical firehawk creature. He's been through no small amount of trouble over the years, and he has put all of his effort and money into the Academy. If it goes under, he's out on the streets.
- Abusive Parents: His father tried several times to kick him out of the house before James finally ran away, leading to him joining the military at 16.
- Badass in Distress: Early on he ends up going missing, held captive by a rogue Equinox cell. He's freed soon enough, though.
- Badass Longcoat: One of his regular outfits, worn without a shirt.
- Berserk Button: Threaten the school, the students, or Lily, and face his wrath.
- Celibate Hero: Set up, but eventually subverted; for years, he remained this way until he met Lily.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Don't let the laid-back, somewhat bumbling facade fool you. He will lay down the law when he has to.
- Deal with the Devil: His giving in to Jonathan's demands, such as letting Vilhelm on the staff, in order to get the Academy built.
- Four-Star Badass: In his early days, leading an elite team of superhumans to defeat Vulcannus.
- Guest-Star Party Member: Shows up in a few boss fights.
- Hidden Depths: He has an intense amount of pressure on him; Power Academy is his life's work, and if it fails (and it is already in danger of failing), he'll have nowhere to go. It's not until he opens up to Lily that his inner demons become apparent.
- Kicked Upstairs: He was only hastily promoted to his general rank to be a public face for superhumans—so the authorities could say, "Hey, we like superhumans too!" Although he had the tactical know-how to back it up, he was just a general in name only.
- Mr. Fanservice: The fact that he constantly goes around shirtless (or at least with his chest exposed) helps.
- My Greatest Failure: He regards his failure to stop Wardson from destroying an entire city as this.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The aforementioned Deal with the Devil, which allows him to create Power Academy so quickly, caused a dimensional flux in the Multiverse that ensnared Terminus. The Great Old One is now trapped within the heroes' universe... but now it gives them a chance to defeat her once and for all.
- Not a Morning Person: As people who interrupt his naps learn the hard way.
- Really 17 Years Old: At age 16, he ran away from his family and faked his age to join the military, just to get away from them.
- The Runaway: From his family as a child. See above.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Aside from the above, sometimes he just goes without a shirt or coat altogether.
Lily Taylor
Lily was once a superpowered teen vigilante before dedicating herself to becoming a nurse. She was also a close friend of the Ashen family; after their mother died and father disappeared, Val and Isaac were adopted by Lily. In addition to being a mother figure, she has served as a crimefighting mentor for them, training Val to manage her powers. At the Academy, in addition to healing people and providing a calming influence for James, Lily is the head of the female dorms. She has the ability to control and summon plant life to do her bidding, from healing to combat.
- Adoptive Peer Parent: Following their mother's death, Val and Isaac (both 5 at the time) are adopted by Lily (22 at the time).
- Abusive Parents: Her mother hated her for being a mutant, referring to her as "that thing" and kicking her out of the house when her powers awakened.
- Berserk Button: Threatening the environment, or hurting/threatening Val, Isaac or James.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Soft-spoken, motherly, ladylike, not afraid to constrain someone with strong vines...
- Chainmail Bikini: Subverted; at first, it looks like she's going to fight in her usual skimpy casual outfit, but then she summons a set of natural Instant Armor to fight in.
- Combat Stilettos: Often seen wearing high-heeled sandals. Justified in that she usually fights at a distance, as opposed to getting up close and personal.
- Crippling Overspecialization: In a fight, she's devastating at long range...but not so effective in a melee fight. She makes up for this with her healing skills though.
- Hospital Hottie: Lampshaded by a couple of generic students, who jokingly mention that getting to see her makes a trip to her office worth it.
- Innocent Fanservice Girl: Downplayed; she wears just enough to be comfortable, but it's often quite revealing. She can instantly create new clothes for herself anyway (see below).
- Instant Armor: Although her casual outfits are very revealing, in combat she opts for a full-covering suit of natural armor (very dense layers of leaves, bark, and other materials), roughly as tough as leather armor. Even so, it's not meant for getting up close and personal, given her fighting style.
- Living Emotional Crutch: For James. Makes sense in hindsight once his Deal with the Devil is revealed.
- Magic Staff: An old, worn wooden staff that serves as the conduit for her powers.
- Ms. Fanservice: She's nearly always half-naked in her various nature- or floral-themed outfits, many of which show off her ample chest, hips and legs.
- Never Heard That One Before: Gets a lot of comparisons in-universe to Poison Ivy, much to her chagrin.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: A big part of her attraction to James, aside from the pretty white hair, is his virtues.
Magi C. Waters
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He's among one of the crazier staff members—and still manages to help the students with their psychological issues.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: He believes himself to be a boy from Neverland. Nevertheless, between him and Harken, he appears to be the more sane of the two.
- Determinator: In the past, he was gravely wounded by an assassin and left for dead. However, his love for Harken helped him hold on long enough to signal for help and return home. He relates this anecdote to Selene, who is struggling with her unfamiliar feelings for Timmy; he explains that love can be a source of strength.
- Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds: He's best known for flooding three cities and two of his old team's HQs.
General Subject Teachers
Tripp T. Ometer
For all he knows, he has always existed. But at one point or another, Tripp was bound to a mystical time gauntlet and charged with being the guardian of time. He serves as the school's History teacher, which naturally involves brief trips into alternate timelines.
- Ambiguous Gender: Though appears and referred to as male for convenience.
- Amplifier Artifact: The stabilizer gauntlet.
- Big Damn Heroes: In spite of the aforementioned non-interference, he promises his students he will save them from an absolutely hopeless situation, but only once for each. He eventually makes good on this promise. Subject Zero confronts Terminus and fights her for the first time...and finds her/himself way in over her/his head. As Terminus is about to kill her/him, Tripp intervenes and saves the PC.
- Big Good: Although James is this for the Academy, Tripp can be considered this for the space-time continuum, especially considering some of the enemies they face.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He talks about time paradoxes as part of the natural course of events for the space-time continuum...but clearly, the universe hasn't been destroyed yet, so he's doing something right.
- Dem Bones: Appears as an ethereal, bright blue skeleton-like being attached to a powered gauntlet.
- Ditzy Genius: Incredibly intelligent, but clueless about simple, mundane things.
- He Knows About Timed Hits: He plays a large part in the tutorial, even explaining the controls to the player. The other characters brush this off as Tripp just being Tripp.
- Soul Jar: He is bound to a powerful pair of gauntlets; it is only when he is in this form and bound to a "catalyst" (host) that he can use his time manipulation powers.
- Time Abyss: As far as he can tell, he has always existed.
Harken Woods
Harken is ostensibly the Moral Dilemma 101 teacher, but with every iteration of the class, the subject changes each time, forcing the students to think on their feet. He has served as a mentor for James, and despite being legally insane, he is one of the most intelligent members of the staff. Harken has the ability to teleport anywhere, an ability he often uses to surprise people (especially his students). Married to Magi.
- He Knows Too Much: While they were still involved in the military, James was sent by the government to hunt down and kill Harken, who had gone rogue. However, it turns out he had defected because he learned too many secrets, asking the wrong questions and provoking the wrong people.
- Insane Troll Logic: His moral dilemmas; a simple question is given, with no context given beforehand. Example: Burn it or drown it? (Answer: Burn it and then drown it. The target is a zombie; burning the zombie burns down the building you're protecting from the zombie apocalypse, drowning it doesn't kill it fully, and burning it and drowning it is the only way to ensure it's dead.)
- Kaleidoscope Eyes: His eyes are constantly changing color, though they are usually obscured by his bangs.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Reveals himself to be Timmy's actual father, having hidden the truth from him.
- Shipper on Deck: With Magi. In preparation for Valentine's Day, the two even start assembling a collage photo album of every couple in the school sharing a tender kiss.
- Sink or Swim Mentor: His class is completely random, often requiring the students to think on their feet in order to pass. Naturally, it's optional. Or is it?
- Teleporters and Transporters: Has the ability to teleport.
- Troll: Gets a kick out of messing with students' heads.
- When Is Purple: Often speaks in a cryptic manner—usually to confuse the hell out of his students.
Mikoto Nakamura (real name unknown)
A member of the felis sapiens race, Mikoto was once a crimefighting journalist, writing exposes on the crimes she foiled. However, one day she stumbled across evidence of large-scale plans being made by Equinox—which made her a target. Now under a new identity as a theater teacher, Mikoto has come to the Academy, also serving as the head of the Newspaper Club. She's one of the more lighthearted members of the staff, tending to provide levity to very heavy situations.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Very easily distracted.
- Drama Club: In charge of one, with...mixed results.
- She Knows Too Much: Equinox went after her because she found evidence of their plans and was about to publish them.
- Only Known By Her Nickname: Whatever her real name is, it's not the one she goes by during her time at the Academy.
- Super-Reflexes: Being able to dodge bullets, for instance.
Selene Petrucci
- Attractive Bent-Gender: When hit with a gender-flip ray. Her male form is very muscular and manly, and includes No Shirt, Long Jacket as part of her attire.
- Clueless Dude Magnet: And Chick Magnet. Both from Timmy and a lot of generic students in her class.
- Dating Catwoman: With Timmy; they start out as Friends with Benefits, but affection soon blossoms between the two.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Despite being so unstable. She views Vilhelm and his cyborg army as twisted abominations, and rejected his offer to become one of them. She also refuses to hurt children.
- Heel–Face Turn: She eventually fully sides with the heroes.
- The Lad-ette: Loves video games, drinking, sex, killing, and sports. She does, however, wear a dress and heels on occasion.
- Little Black Dress: Her casual outfit is a tight black leather minidress, with matching heels.
- Love Is a Weakness: Believes so; due to the detachment from people she's built up from all the killing over the years, she grows increasingly fearful of her growing, unfamiliar feelings for Timmy. However, she learns to see it as a source of inner strength.
- Ms. Fanservice: The skintight outfit certainly helps. The male version applies as well to her genderbent form, which is a Walking Shirtless Scene.
- Really 700 Years Old: 228, to be precise, though she looks and feels 27.
- Spy Catsuit: Her old supervillain outfit, a skintight black leather jumpsuit with a couple of armored components.
Charmont Paige
- Subject: Various; co-librarian
Hailing from the same dimension as Helena, Charmont was a renowned hero in his dimension. Due to being struck by a car mid-teleportation, he has been trapped between different realities. He eventually finds himself in the heroes' world, quickly joining as a teacher at Power Academy. He teaches multiple classes on the various standard academic subjects—history, science, math, etc.—so the other teachers can specialize. His classes are just very rarely seen in the narrative itself. He even helps run the library in what spare time he has.
- Casting a Shadow: He can meld with the shadows.
- Encyclopaedic Knowledge: He covers a lot of the basic subjects so that the other teachers—Timmy, Alexei, etc.—can focus on their specialties.
- Insufferable Genius: He's a bit of a know-it-all.
- Mr. Fanservice: To the point where nameless female students regularly swoon over him.
- Teleporters and Transporters: He can teleport via the shadows.
- Trapped in Another World: He was trapped between dimensions for a time.
Tech Teachers
Professor Vilhelm Christiansen
Jane Searpent
- Abusive Parents: Towards Jackson. Big time. However...
- Anti-Villain: She's aware of the severity of her past actions, but is willing to use any means to achieve her goals.
- Evil Matriarch: Downplayed; she's more extreme, but noble in intent, rather than outright evil. That said, many of her actions are worthy of being called out.
- Jerkass: To illustrate this, she makes her first impression upon entering Power Academy is drag her son Jackson into the cafeteria by the ear, threaten James before handing him her application, and calling Lily a slut for wearing a low-cut top.
- Our Elves Are Different: Rather than being magical, elves in the Power Academy 'verse are highly intelligent.
- Unusual Ears: Elven ears.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Willing to go to any lengths to achieve her scientific goals.
Timmy/"Tammy" Woods
Harken's nephew, Timmy loves him like a father. When Harken was disowned from the family due to his insanity, he stood up for him, rebelling against his adoptive parents' wishes. Timmy was then disowned himself. He went through a rough childhood, but moved past it to become a successful mad scientist. One of his most prominent inventions is a gender-flip ray, which does exactly what one would expect. In the present, after Vilhelm deserts the Academy, Timmy assumes control of his Mad Science class.
Timmy has the ability to travel through the Internet and cell phones, making him a very specialized technopath. However, outside of some weapon skills, he's very much a Non-Action Guy, preferring a support role in combat.
- All of the Other Reindeer: As a child, he was ostracized in school by peers and teachers alike when his ability to travel through the Internet was accidentally revealed.
- Attractive Bent-Gender: Several characters note Tammy is really cute.
- Dating Catwoman: With Selene. He even compares her to Catwoman, both in sex appeal and her relationship with Batman (himself). They start out as Friends with Benefits, but genuine affection soon blossoms between the two.
- Gender Bender: Often switches between a male and female form, thanks to his patented gender-flip ray.
- Gender-Blender Name: Goes with the nickname "Tammy" in his female form.
- Likes Older Women: Technically. He tells Selene at one point that her age isn't important; he loves her nonetheless.
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Feminine Boy to Selene's Masculine Girl.
- The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: Discussed in-universe. He's researching this effect in regards to shapeshifting and other physical transformations, and is using tests with his gender-flip ray to help with it.
- Pronoun Trouble: Generally referred to as male for ease of communication. Timmy himself even lampshades this in dialogue.
- Spiky Hair: In both his male and female forms (the latter resembling a pixie cut).
- Techno Babble: Frequently engages in this. When he does so with Talan and/or Isaac, the conversation cuts to an outsider's perspective; all they hear is incoherent gibberish.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: Often doesn't even bother switching outfits when transforming.
Magic Teachers
Arielle DeVries
Hailing from 10th-century Scotland, Arielle was a mage brought to the present by Tripp, with whom she often worked together. She has come to the Academy as a teacher, finding a place to teach her theory that magical beings and mutants are linked in some way. She plays a large role as an ally in the Shadow Court sidequests, being the Academy's foremost expert on magic.
- Ambiguously Gay: She definitely cares for Victoria greatly, but apart from a couple of offhand comments about her beauty, it's only implied to be romantic on her part. She knows about her apprentice's crush and isn't really put off; she just sort of goes with it.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: Originally from 10th-century Scotland.
- Insufferable Genius: She is very much a know-it-all and isn't afraid to show it.
- Light Feminine Dark Feminine: Dark to Victoria's Light.
- Merlin and Nimue: A variant involving two women and a much smaller age gap, with Arielle as the Merlin to Victoria's Nimue.
- Moe Couplet: With Victoria. Despite her snarkiness, the two have a very close and intimate bond and bring out the best qualities in each other. During the school dance, they are seen slow-dancing together.
- Princess Curls: Has two large, drill-like curls.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: To contrast with Victoria.
- Rummage Sale Reject: Her wardrobe is very thrown-together, with pieces taken from numerous time periods.
- Sarcastic Devotee: She's loyal to the Academy, but that won't stop her from mercilessly mocking people.
- Sexy Mentor: Victoria mentions that she finds Arielle strikingly beautiful, and appreciates how protective she is (even if she's very darkly cynical about it).
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: She projects a sour and prickly demeanor, but in reality, she cares deeply for her students, the staff, and her new apprentice Victoria.
- Troll: Gets a kick out of making snarky remarks about everything; often, it's a sign she cares.
Victoria Scheherazade
Victoria was trained as a mage in strict confinement for nearly her whole life, not allowed to leave her house. As a result, she had a lonely childhood and was treated as a freak by others. She was a quick learner, however, and took to magic naturally; eventually, Victoria left her home and came to Kragsmark to find work fighting evil. Despite what her ditzy behavior and general attention span may suggest, Victoria is a witch beyond her years.
She shows up in Kragsmark as the quest giver and main ally for a sidequest chain involving the Shadow Court, and eventually joins the Academy as a teacher (with Arielle taking her under her wing).
- Beware the Nice Ones: If the people she cares about are put in danger, expect her to unleash hell.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: At one point, she spends a moment trying to track down eye floaters, not unlike Osaka.
- Damsel out of Distress: Gets kidnapped a couple of times, much to her chagrin; she even starts training harder to avoid damsel status. When the Shadow Court comes after her, they intend to use her as a new host for the Shadow Daemon Lord.
- Dark Action Girl: While temporarily possessed during the penultimate Shadow Court mission.
- Gamer Chick: Justified, as she was constantly isolated from other people in her childhood and had to keep herself entertained somehow.
- Genius Ditz: Very clumsy and ditzy—but unbeatable when it comes to magic.
- Grew a Spine: Over the course of the game, she goes from painfully shy to an assertive badass.
- Light Feminine Dark Feminine: Light to Arielle's Dark.
- Lipstick Lesbian: Has a fairly obvious crush on Arielle.
- Merlin and Nimue: A variant involving two women and a much smaller age gap, with Victoria as the Nimue to Arielle's Merlin.
- Moe: In-universe. Arielle describes her as being "adorable" and feels a need to protect her.
- Moe Couplet: With Arielle. Despite her mentor's snarkiness, the two have a very close and intimate bond, and bring out the best qualities in each other. During the school dance, they are seen slow-dancing together.
- Princess Classic: Her appearance invokes a very princess-like motif, right down to her surname.
- Shrinking Violet: Though Arielle (despite her harsh snarkiness) gently tries to get her to come out of her shell, and she starts making progress.
Combat and Power Teachers
Alexei Grigorovich Reznov
A longtime adversary of David Archer, Alexei is the head of the covert Equinox organization. He and his followers are determined to eliminate corruption and bring peace, order, and a new golden age to the world. Their golden age. At any cost. At the Academy, Alexei is the Self-Defense class teacher, in the vein of Defense Against the Dark Arts. He has no superpowers per se, but is cybernetically augmented with Super-Strength and has a bionic arm with various weapons and gadgets built into his arm. Subject Zero and her/his allies find themselves, depending on the occasion, at odds with him or working alongside him.
- Affably Evil: Especially compared to the other villains. His subordinates are shown to, if not like, at least respect him. He can even join forces with the heroes down the line.
- An Arm and a Leg: Lost his right arm in the past. Later on, he has his legs replaced with cybernetics below the knee to improve his endurance.
- And I Must Scream: If he is spared after his boss fight but not convinced to join forces with the heroes, Alexei later goes after Vilhelm's forces with a detachment of soldiers. He ends up being the sole survivor, and is captured and turned into an elite cyborg minion.
- Body Horror: Par for the course for Vilhelm.
- Archnemesis Dad: To Dahlia.
- Artificial Limbs: His bionic arm (and later, his legs).
- Bond Villain Stupidity: Pushes himself to avert this trope as much as possible; killing enemies rather than spare them, for instance.
- Cassandra Truth: He's one of the first to learn the truth about Terminus, but nobody believes him. So, he decides, he'll make people listen.
- Even Evil Has Standards: He has multiple last-resort backup plans for conquering the world, such as using mind-control technology to subjugate humanity and establish utopia. However, he has deemed such methods too cruel for him—or anyone—to use. For now, anyway.
- Flunky Boss: Being a tactical genius, Alexei doesn't take any chances in his boss fight and summons waves of his elite guard to fight alongside him.
- Give Her a Normal Life: He left the infant Dahlia in the care of a CEO he was friendly with, to distance her from his dangerous life.
- Heel–Face Turn: Can be convinced in the game to join forces with the heroes.
- Icy Blue Eyes: The same color as Dahlia's, notably.
- In a Single Bound: Can jump high distances (and land perfectly) thanks to his cybernetic legs.
- Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: It is revealed much later in the story that, deep down, he believes himself to have crossed the moral event horizon long ago. He genuinely believes that, if he does succeed in achieving utopia, there would be no place for him there.
- Killer Game Master: He very rarely goes easy on his students.
- Knight of Cerebus: The game starts out fairly lighthearted. The arc where he takes over the Academy is where the storyline takes a turn for the more serious.
- Large and in Charge: He's at least a head taller than most other characters (with only Alice matching his height), likely due in part to his replacement legs, and he's in charge of Equinox.
- Literal Change of Heart: Has a powerful mechanical heart, courtesy of Vilhelm, to replace his old one when he was mortally wounded in a mission years ago. It can trigger a massive self-destruct explosion in the worst case scenario.
- Mercy Kill: When the party encounters him in the elite cyborg state, they are forced to fight him to the death. If Dahlia is in the party, she is always the one to deliver the killing blow after the fight.
- The Mourning After: Years after the death of his wife and elder daughter, he still can't move on.
- Pretty Boy: Not in the present, but in flashbacks, he is shown to have been one in the past. His features have coarsened greatly over the years.
- Purple Prose: He loves to hear himself speechify.
- Shirtless Scene: Has one for the entirety of the battle for Hell, where the evil Helena has ripped up his torso armor. He reasons that, considering the armor damage left him exposed (not to mention Helena's abilities), he's just as vulnerable with or without it. His muscles, cybernetics and mechanical heart are on full display.
- Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: In one of his speeches, he views the traditional superhero's no-killing rule as old-fashioned at best and a detrimental self-handicap at worst.
- The Strategist: To the point where, during an in-game fight, he and his allies gain an increased chance for critical hits.
- Super-Strength: Thanks to his cybernetic augmentation; far from being on the same level as naturally-gifted people like Alice, though.
- Taking You with Me: During the battle for Hell, if he's still alive at that point, one choice the party makes during that mission is whether to save Alexei or his men. If they choose the latter, Alexei charges into a horde of Helena's minions, activating his heart's self-destruct function in one last blaze of glory.
- Tautological Templar: In his worst moments. Alexei believes himself to be utterly benevolent, justifying all of his actions as being For the Greater Good. So obviously, anyone who opposes him or his organization is misguided or evil, right? At least, this is how he outwardly appears.
- Tyrant Takes the Helm: When James goes missing, Alexei takes over as Headmaster (even though Lily and Magi were next in line for succession).
- Visionary Villain: His subordinates hold him up as this.
- Wicked Cultured: Often quotes from Tennyson and Hobbes. If he dies, he quotes Moby-Dick ("To the last, I grapple with thee...") to his last breath.
- Worthy Opponent: Considers James a worthy foe and a potential ally, even though he could never share Alexei's worldview.
The Others
Jackson Mall
- Berserk Button: Avoid calling attention to his ears.
- Unusual Ears: Elven ears.
- Younger Than They Look: His mother, Jane, accelerated his aging process, appearing 19 at 9.
Pontoon
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: In-universe. He often disappears for long periods of time with little explanation.
- Not So Stoic: He's generally calm and quiet...as long as his meditation isn't interrupted.
- Really 700 Years Old: His true age is unknown.
- Zen Survivor: It can be assumed that, as an immortal, he's seen a lot over the years.