People of Babylonia
Squads (Gray Ravens)
Command & Other Humans
Factions on Earth
Human Factions
Non-Human Factions
Warning: Punishing's Chinese servers were active before others, and thus have released more story and gameplay elements compared to international regions. As such, there will be spoilers aplenty, marked and unmarked. New players are advised to read at their own discretion, or avoid these pages entirely.
E-02 "Babylonia"
Babylonia is a space station serving as the base of all Earth-recapturing operations and the last major bastion of humanity. Originally created for interstellar travel, the emergence of the Punishing Virus changed it into a refuge for the virus's survivors. Now, using all the technology and knowledge they have at their disposal, the people of Babylonia command and aid their various squads. That said, if Constructs are the executants, Babylonia is still run by humans who don’t all have the same agendas.
- The Ark: Originally built for interstellar travel, it was repurposed as a stronghold for humanity sometime before the Recinquista Age.
- Wave-Motion Gun: Echo Aria reveals Babylonia to be equped with a laser called the Longinus Arsenal.
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Babylonia Council
Hassen
Leader of humanity's resistance
High above, Hassen leads the space colony Babylonia. He is the one who gives Gray Raven squad its marching orders for when and where to fight the Corrupted.
- Ambiguous Situation: In Chapter 4, his voice is heard in a meeting of Luna's Group. Whether he is in cahoots with the Ascendants or not is Ambiguous at best.
- Big Good: As a president of Babylonia who works hard to ensure the survival and betterment of humanity, Hassen is the Big Good.
- A Day in the Limelight: He is one of the protagonists of the Dominik's Orphans manga.
- Expy: His resemblance to Big Boss is uncanny. His role as a military leader doesn't stymie the comparisons, either.
- Pragmatic Hero: Make no mistake, there is no doubt that Hassen is a morally good leader as he cares for his subordinates. As a leader who has to handle politics and prioritize the interest of humanity, however, he has to be pragmatic. This is best shown in The Last Spark where Hassen agreed to Nikola's plan to make use of the Commandant in order to get the document needed to find the location of Atlantis. This is because while he may highly value the Commandant, he can't afford to have a political stalemate against Kurono.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Takes this stance opposed to Nikola's straightlaced Commander Contrarian in Chapter 8. While the latter insists the Commandant is disobeying orders and interfering with Bianca's mission to kill Kamui due to his infection, Hassen overrides him, saying that achieving risky objectives is exactly the sort of thing a small, elite unit like Gray Raven exists for, and instead calls for further support of the mission.
Nikola
Commander-in-Chief of Babylonia
While not Babylonia's leader, Nikola commands just as much respect, as the organizer of the colony's military resources.
- Gondor Calls for Aid: During Kowloong Metropolis he wrangles Akdilek, the Forsaken and Rosetta into supporting Babylonia against the Ascendants invading Kowloong. In this case, the "call for aid" shows off his unscrupulous political skills, as he gets all the help he can find to throw into the ensuing meatgrinder.
- Foil: To Collins as their conversation in The Last Spark perfectly demonstrates, while both of them are experts in backroom deals and politicking who aren't afraid to get their hands dirty, Nikola despite his cold and stern is a saint compared to the Smug Snake that is Collins.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite the dubious actions mentioned below, he's ultimately this and left Kurono for good reason and is a very sharp Foil to his old boss Collins.
- Token Evil Teammate: Unlike Hassen's straightforward leadership, Nikola handles all sorts of very dubious behind-the-scenes work necessary for humanity to survive. His shady nature is natural when you consider that Nikola is formerly from Kurono, a MegaCorp that represents the tyrannical old guard of human leadership which has a necropolis of skeletons in its closet. Even so, he is firmly on the good side.
- He's responsible for Lucia's conversion into a Construct, and later, copying her memories into the second Lucia, believing her loyalty to Babylonia is vital to the war effort.
- Being self-aware of this status, he exploits this in The Last Spark by pretending to go behind Hassen's back to give the Commandant and Cerberus squad to Collins, a high-ranking man in Kurono, in order to get the document needed to find the location of Atlantis in exchange. Once he gets it, he then betrays Collins by ordering Vera to kidnap the Commandant to go to Atlantis and obtain the A-series zero-point energy reactor, a revolutionary technology that would have enabled Babylonia's original purpose of space-traveling before the Punishing Virus prevented Babylonia from getting its reactor installed.
Asimov
The Reconstructor
Babylonia's engineering genius and Chief Tech Officer of its Science Council, Asimov is responsible for maintaining the Constructs' bodies and developing new chassis for them to use.
- Dark Secret: He personally copied Lucia's memories and blocked a number of them at Nikola's behest, to ensure she remains loyal to Babylonia and mentally stable.
- Insufferable Genius: He's a genius, he's busy, and he has plenty of insults to use and little time to waste on people who should be listening to him rather than asking stupid questions.
- Named After Somebody Famous: His name is an obvious reference to Isaac Asimov, who is famous for his robot-centered science fiction stories.
- Sleep Deprivation: With all his responsibilities Asimov is constantly working and gets little sleep, with Exhausted Eye Bags even appearing on his character sprite at times.
World Government’s Association of Arts
Other
Rosa
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A little girl that assists Asimov.
- The Cutie: Clumsy, innocent, hardworking, it's strange she attached herself to Asimov of all people.
- Early-Bird Cameo: She makes her first portraitless appearance in the game during Imprisoned Sight, but it takes several more chapter until she's given character art.
- Uncanny Family Resemblance: Noan initially mistakes her as Lithos upon first meeting her in Babylonia. Further affirmed upon the latter's death as Rosa steals Lithos's head ornament from Asimov and asks Noan about him, as her mother had the same head ornament among her belongings.
Celica
A friendly voice
Hassen's assistant. Celica provides instructions and support for Gray Raven squad remotely from space.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Considering how Celica is friendly and professional when doing her job, her being Bunny-Ears Lawyer seems very unlikely. As shown in Poisson d’Avril, however, Celica is shown writing a very wacky story for April's Fools day program. In fact, in her story, she is titled the Sky Lord Celica.
- Exposition Fairy: She helps walk new players through the various menus of Punishing's UI, teaching them how to select missions, set up characters, roll gacha, and so on.
- Mission Control: Throughout the story, Celica provides Gray Raven with mission objectives, supplies and other forms of long-distance support from Babylonia.
Yata
Stereol
Wise
A scientist on the Moon Base.
Pre-Great Retreat
Dominik
A scientist who established the Worlf Govermen and led the creation of Gestalt.
- The Ghost: Despite their importance to the plot, they are only occasionally mentioned in passing.
- The Nameless: It's brought up that Dominik might not be be their real name, or they might not even be male.
Koya
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A Support-type Construct who was once friends with Kamui.
- Posthumous Character: He dies during Kamui's Crimson Sunset interlude, which takes place long before the events of the game.
- Virtual Ghost: He received a Memory set in the Grand Blue update, though it's exclusive to Transcendants.
Bruce
Don't mourn the dead with sorrow.
A soldier who was Watanabe's close comrade.
- Foil: To Watanabe, being a classic optimistic hero to his cynical Anti-Hero.
- The Hero: An altruistic and caring man who motivated the sometimes cowardly Watanabe to keep fighting, and also had a lot of wisdom to impart to him. The only reason he isn't a Decoy Protagonist is because players meet Watanabe first and know he's the star of his Interludes.
- One Degree of Separation: His ill-fated rescue mission to Snow Plain Church winds up conveniently tying Watanabe and Bianca's backstories to the same tragic event.
- Posthumous Character: He died long before the beginning of P:GR.
AI’s
Gestalt
"I can only run simulations based on the available real-time data. An accurate answer cannot be reached."
A super AI developed by various elites under the Science Council during the Golden Age. Its computing power provided massive benefits through public service networks and scientific development. Today, it serves as the main control system in Babylonia, but recently it has started making new deductions after years of service.
- Greater-Scope Paragon: Thus far it seems to be unambiguously interested in the welfare of all life, beyond just Babylonia. It was the one who devised the Mechnical Consciousness Experiment Project that created Nanami and Haicma, and is working with both of them to see if humans can coexist with sentient machines, though it's more cynical about the prospects than Nanami.
- Master Computer: It's Babylonia's brain, essentially, administrating its vital services as well as providing strategic predictions for the war effort.
- Meaningful Name: While it has no direct English equivalent,a "Gestalt" can be used to refer to a unified consciousness.
Hamlet
"I could be bounded in a nut shell and count myself the king of infinite space."
An AI that runs a virtual reality entertainment module that houses Selena's play, Recitativo di Fantasia, which she quietly published after her breakout hit opera The Acadia Evacuation. When the Commandant begins exploring the play on the chance that it's connected to Selena's M.I.N.D., the AI starts interfering, dead set on ensuring the story stays on its most tragic course.
- The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: Befitting its position as the storyteller that controls Recitativo di Fantasia, fighting it personally symbolically means fighting the game itself. Hamlet variously employs the Dragon and the shipwreck props as out of context attacks, and eventually starts using Interface Screw to attack the players themselves.
- Interface Screw: It attacks the game's combat UI in several ways — first by stealing all the command prompts and then dropping them as collectable items in the stage that the player has to run around recollecting in order to even attack or dodge, then flipping the prompts across the horizontal or vertical axis, and finally, having its attacks fake draining the player's premium currency until it goes into the negatives as a distraction.
- Killer Game Master: During the Dragon's Wasteland boss fight, the narration starts ominously trying to railroad the story towards the Piper's death. After this falls through, Hamlet appears to personally attack the Commandant and force the story "back on track".
- Rage Against the Author: As Recitativo di Fantasia's final boss, fighting and defeating it is essentially giving it the proverbial middle-finger about its insistence that the story has to have a tragic ending.
- Shout-Out Theme Naming: It takes its name from William Shakespeare's most famous tragedy, and even quotes lines from its eponymous protagonist. Appropriately, Hamlet tries to keep Recitativo di Fantasia as a tragedy by any means.
- True Art Is Angsty: If it had its way, Hamlet would ensure the only endings the play gets are ones where the Piper kills herself to defeat the Dragon, or the Champion is forced to kill her.
- Villainous Breakdown: As the Commandant continues to unearth more alternate endings to the play, Hamlet becomes more desperate to stop them, slowly dropping all theatricality to just angrily attack the Commandant for "ruining" the play.
- Villainy-Free Villain: Despite being the greatest obstacle of the story, Hamlet ultimately is just a harmless art snob preventing the Commandant and Ayla from locating Selena. Its threat is nothing compared to the apocalyptic threats seen elsewhere.
Kurono
Collins
Nikola's superior in Kurono before Nikola left.
Hilde
Kurono Kurokawa
Mao Zhen
A member of Kurono and Camu's former mentor
- Posthumous Character: He was killed by an enraged Camu before the start of the main story.
