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Scientists

Emilia

Emilia Karwowska

This genius biologist hails from the Krakow university. She's looking to find more exotic plants. Loves to read romance novels.

Bespectacled Cutie: Adorable, bespectacled and super-kawaii.
Friend to All Living Things: She just wants to talk everything out.
The Medic: Learns the AOE Tranquility skills, which heals her crew within a huge range
Magic Tool: She starts with 1 Tool (which increase the chances on an Adventure Wheel by 25%) in the expedition when you select her as a leader
Nature Lover: As a leader, she earns +1 study token when she lands on a Nature tile. Additionally, when playing her card "Emilia the Botanist", the value of a discovery token will increase with the number of Nature tiles landed.
Skilled, but Naive: She's rather gullible, despite her intellect.

Anna

Anna Proskuriakova

Anna is a bright, young scientist who loves the scary power of electricity more than anything. She wants to uncover the secrets of the world.

Badass Teacher: Her campfire storyline "Prof. Proskuriakova" makes her this, where she teaches one of her crew members one of her perks, or obtain a Discovery Token
Crippling Overspecialization: In the emotion of Fear.
Doing Research: As a leader, completing research papers improves the value of a Study token.
Evil Gloating: When using her Strike of Fear attack.
For Science!: One of her traits pushes her to pursue most science-related choices, pushing aside possible occult options or nature-preserving ones.
Mad Mathematician: The Naturalist-Mathematics perk is unique to herself.
Mad Scientist: Anna's weapon of choice is an electric prod, and she strikes fear in her enemies and occasionally even her allies.
Shock and Awe: She loves using electricity and electrical-based attacks, whether to inspire terror or simply fry her foes.
Stone Wall: Her defenses (especially in speech) are quite good, but her attacks are somewhat lacking in power to start.

Phillipe

Phillipe Bensoussan

This surgeon of the foreign legion learned how to handle a knife on the streets of Algiers. Wants to see the world.

Always Accurate Attack: His normal attack & Amnesia Shot has a 220% accuracy. The developers' reasoning is that a surgeon never misses.
Big Eater: His big weakness. If he sees food, he has to eat it.
Combat Medic: Phillipe is a good medic (learning the AOE healing skill Tranquillity) and knows how to defend himself
Determinator: Encouraged to play as this when he is the leader, as the more Resolve he has, the more Study tokens he can collect at the end of every expedition.
Disability Superpower: Revealed in his campfire storyline. He lost a leg in the army and replaced it with a mechanical one. He can make minor improvements on it, resulting in stat buffs.
Gadgeteer Genius: His natural Engineer perks are steampunk based, having the Engineer-Clockwork perk unique to him.
Still Wearing the Old Colors: He still wears his French Foreign Legion uniform despite that he now works for a British explorer society.

Agatha

Agatha von Brünswick

Some say this German professor is really too old for leading expeditions. But as a teacher, she knows how to handle people.

The Alcoholic: Her card "German Import", which for 6 Secret tokens & improved spirit for the crew, could bring complications such as a potential loss of study tokens, reduced speech defence, or gaining additional campaign tokens.
Badass Teacher: Either as a captain or a crew member, she's going on expeditions that would test a person half her age, and both of her special attacks are based on teaching. As a leader, she will obtain an additional Study token when spending insight on Study locations, as well as gaining 1 insight at the end of every expedition.
Cool Old Lady: Cranky as she may be, she's still adventuring right along with the spry youngsters at sixty-seven years of age.
Flat-Earth Atheist: Scoffs at the supernatural, despite the frequency with which supernatural phenomena occur in an average expedition.
Germanic Depressives: German, and very stern and serious.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
- Sometimes her mean personality opens up new "insulting the enemy" options in adventures. By default, her lectures are apparently extremely saddening.
- Of course, she's equally capable of inspiring enemies with Inspiring Course.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Agatha saddens enemies by pointing out their academic shortcomings.

Earl

Earl Shanty

Earl is the nephew of the Renowned Explorer's janitor from Kansas. Has a fake membership, but everyone acts like it's real. Good with explosives.

Demolitions Expert: Sometimes bordering Mad Bomber. He has a unique Engineer (Explosives) perk.
Discount Card: Has a "Know A Guy" option, where upgrading shops are 50% cheaper.
Doing Research: Completing research papers grants him 6 Collect Tokens.
Glass Cannon: He's great and blowing his foes up, but starts with little defense against either physical or social attacks.
Greed: Sometimes you don't have any choice, he just likes to grab the money or treasure at the expense of fame, science or the party's well-being.
Juggling Dangerously: With his Try to Impress action, he does it with Cartoon Bombs that actually explode after he does it.
The Klutz: His official art/intro pose shows him tripping on a rock and dropping a bomb.
Self-Deprecation: If his second experiment in "Weird Patents" fail, he would be wary of himself.
Short-Range Shotgun: His basic aggressive attack uses a blunderbuss, which range is limited to 2 squares.

Min-Jeong

Suh Min-Jeong

Talented daughter of a distinguished bureaucrat. Quite good at making a scene. Wants to learn more about other cultures through exploring.

Acting Your Intellectual Age: She's one of the more calm, composed, and professional characters in exploration, though in encounters she endures sharp words only slightly better than she does sharp blades.
Crocodile Tears: Her "tearjerker" ability uses these to sadden her foes.
Glass Cannon: She has powerful social abilities able to cause massive damage to crowds. She's also fragile, mentally and physically, due to her age.
Hypocrite: She can get the "led by a child" debuff on a crew with Hildegard as captain, despite being an even younger child.
Improbable Age: She's twelve, edging out Hildegard for youngest character by two years. And still allowed to go on, possibly even lead, dangerous expeditions into wild, untamed lands and lethal ruins.
Parasol of Pain: Her aggressive attack consists in hitting an enemy with her umbrella.
Spoiled Brat: She was raised in a wealthy family, and most characters find her self-seriousness infuriating. (More orderly and disciplined crew appreciate her attitude, though.)

Scouts

Kiwi

Kiwi Paakariki

Kiri, as she is really named, ran out of places to run on her home island. She built her own boat and went on to explore the world.

The Gadfly: She loves pushing people's buttons, and can easily provoke a large group with Loudmouth.
Nature Lover: Aside from starting with Survivalist skills, her captain perk allows her to live off the land, gaining supplies by visiting Nature tiles.
Spell My Name With An S: Her name is Kiri, but everyone calls her Kiwi.

Pedrinho

Pedrinho Pinheiro

The Riot of Rio made a bet at a party that he would make it into the papers worldwide. Turns out he has a knack for exploring and making friends!

Chronic Hero Syndrome: Multiple times he forces a battle you can normally opt out of, usually involving protecting the weak from bullies. Best example is in the Mali Mystery—hyenas oppressing a poor little elephant? Not on Pedrinho's watch!
Flash Step: His special move, Party Starter, lets him basically do this up to 2 tiles away (even through enemies) before performing an Area-of-Effect cheer around him.
Grin of Audacity: Pedrinho's Disarming Smile special move can enrage his target — and prevent them from using Aggressive attacks for a turn.
Fundraiser Carnival: His theme as a leader, his story card also improves the amount of tokens when spending Insight.
Fun Personified: Wherever Pedrinho is, there is a party. One event even has him literally walk into a pack of bloodthirsty smugglers and charm all of them with his dance moves.
Magikarp Power: As a leader, he gains additional collect tokens when spending Insight in campaign location with his level of both Beguiler & Survivalist perk.
Patriotic Fervor: As his card, "Brazilian Blend" indicates. He never wastes an opportunity to brag about how his homeland, Brazil, is the greatest country ever.

Hatice

Hatice Ataman

An already respected treasure hunter from Antalya. Very confident of her skill. Obsessed with gold.

Glass Cannon: Her attack power is high, but she needs to rely on her grit to avoid being taken out by attacks and especially words.
Greed: When there's a choice between gold, honor and research in the game, having her in the party often forces you to pick gold.
Improbable Age: While 20 may be a reasonable age for an explorer, she apparently began her career in business at 14.
Long-Range Fighter: She's one of the rare characters with a ranged physical attack, when most wallop their foes with melee or improvised weapons. And she's good at it.

Harry

Harry Walker

Harry was a street urchin who survived on the streets by pickpocketing. Now he is a cunning and charming leader.

Glass Cannon: He has high attack across the board, but basically no defenses at all.
The Gunslinger: Wields a pistol. His shots never miss.
Jack of All Stats: One of the few who has 100% accuracy in all 3 of his normal attacks.
Lovable Rogue: Harry is handy with his pistol and starts with Rogue skills, but he's also charming and able to learn Beguiling skills.
Street Urchin: Harry was brought up on the street, and still wears the uniform.

Molly

Molly Jones

On her very first day at the Society, Molly was suspended for a week after accidentally using a very vulgar word describing Mr. Pinkerton's receding hairline.

Awesome Aussie: Rough, tough, outdoorsy, and Australian.
I Shall Taunt You: Her main method of dealing with problems.

Hojo

Hojo Fumiaki

Stern guy from Kyoto with an anger management problem. Determined to use this energy as constructively as possible, he picked up exploring... and cleaning! Prefers to be called by his family name.

Broomstick Quarterstaff: His agressive attack consists in hitting enemies with a broom. His friendly "attack" consists in sweeping the floor in front of him.
Informed Attribute: He seems to have his "anger management problem" under control, with decent speech defense and a number of buffs allowing him to keep his cool in aggressive situations and flourish in peaceful ones. His powerful "ENOUGH!!" attack doesn't start fights so much as punish foes who were already aggressive.
Last-Name Basis: Family name basis, anyways.
Scissors Cuts Rock: The point of his "Suspicious" perk, which reduces the armor loss for being friendly against an aggressive opponent from a brutal -20 to a bearable -5.

Fighters

Ivan

Ivan Dashkov

The silent giant from Yekaterinburg. Incredibly strong, but not so talented with words. Really just wants to be part of a group of friends.

Badass Preacher: If his card "Vow of Peace" is played.
Chronic Hero Syndrome: Same as Pedrinho, which is remarkable, since fighting friendly is actually his weakest ability.
Crippling Overspecialization: Especially when the accuracy of both of his normal speech attacks are 80%. If his card "Vow of Peace" is played, his Try to Encourage attack will become his main attack & finishing friendly will net the crew an additional encounter token at a cost of losing half his attack.
Emotional Bruiser: Which is unfortunate, given how many enemies have psychological attacks that focus on ruining the party's emotions. He can take (and throw) punches like they're nothing, but once the insults start flying...
Good Old Fisticuffs: Ivan's preferred fighting style - at least until he takes his Vow of Peace.
Husky Russkie: Big, strong, and from Russia.

Bia

Bia Hekaton

Bia Hekaton fought for Greek independence from a young age. Now she's a terrifying mercenary.

Crippling Overspecialization: In fighting aggressively, especially when bosses are included (since she will becomes stronger & obtain 10 additional campaign token when she defeats one aggressively). Also, all of Bia's special moves are single target attacks. No AOE, no heals - but she can pound a single target hard.
Glass Cannon: She's very strong, but very frail.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has the typical "tough guy/gal" cheek scar.
Hidden Heart of Gold: Bia's campfire storyline has her regularly ask you for Collect tokens to support her spy network, in return for Secret tokens. Another crew member grows increasingly suspicious of this until they finally accuse Bia of being in league with the Anti-Explorers. She then reveals that the whole spy network story was a ruse, because she feared the crew wouldn't approve of what she's really doing — sending the money to aid in her homeland's reconstruction.

Dolores

Dolores Garcia

Dolores won many a wrestling tournament but kept her identity hidden behind a mask. Now she travels the world in search of new things to punch.

Big Eater: Forcefully picks food-related options. Is she chasing a bunch of monkeys and they attempt to distract you with tasty edible coconuts? Prepare for a delay.
Boisterous Bruiser: Especially when she's forcing her team to become a wrestling company.
Masked Luchador: Complete with the traditional air of mystery.

Jan-Piet

Jan-Piet Corneel

All his friends have full and exuberant beards, but Jan-Piet cannot grow one himself. Searching for self-respect, this sailor now travels the world's most exotic places.

Improbable Weapon User: He fights with an oar.
Perma-Shave: He just cannot grow a beard, much to his dismay.
Punny Name: His full name is taken from the characters in the Dutch sea shanty Al die willen te kaap'ren varen put together.
Shout-Out: His name is from the Dutch shanty Al die willen te kaap'ren varen. In the song, the positive qualities of Jan, Piet, Tjoris and Corneel are sung, who are exemplar sailors. The very first verse is on how these sailors have a beard. Jan-Piet ironically does not have one.

Victor

Victor Signac

Victor is a decorated military captain. His words and skills motivate friends and foes alike to follow him. Wants to impress with rare finds.

Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys:
- Zig-zagged with his amusingly-themed skill Peace Treaty. Thematically, it's purely heroic as he attempts to make friends from enemies — he's making a peace treaty between two enemy factions. Other interpretations have included signing one to surrender, feigning peace to then attack aggressively, or passive-aggressively insulting enemies with a chance to surrender. In gameplay terms, it's an "attack" nonetheless that lowers spirit regardless of how you spin it.
- His Trying to Enrage skill icon is a picture of smelly cheese.
Spear Counterpart: To Maria considering their leader perks, she improves the campaign value of encounter token, while he improves the gold value of encounter token
The Good Captain: An honorable fighter who excels at both swordsmanship and diplomacy.
Happily Married: To the point that he rejects the idea of a relationship with Maria when "The Lovely Lady" card is played.
My Greatest Failure: Revealed in his campfire storyline. His cautious tactics in the Crimean War led to a friend getting killed. This has shaped his views on war and also motivated him to be bolder.

Wang Yu

Trouble straight out of the bustling slums of Shanghai! Loud and arrogant, but also inventive and strong-willed. Joined the adventurers for an incredibly dark reason.

Ascended Fanboy: To Rivelaux if his card "Explorer Showdown" is finished. And if the story has ended & his crew went to Shangri-La as a leader, Rivelaux would offer him a choice to be given an Emperor Statue in their final node
Jerkass: Wang Yu rapidly builds up rivalries in his campfire story because he's all too happy to mock everyone. Similarly mean-spirited characters will admit his quips are kinda funny, though.
Mad Bomber: Right up there with Earl, he gleefully lobs around fireworks as his main weapon.

Speakers

Charles

Charles Templeton

Ex-sailor and then ex-butler from Manchester, who wants to rub elbows with the Queen. Knows how to throw a punch and an insult.

Battle Butler: Former butler, anyway.
Good Old Fisticuffs: When he has to get physical, Charles strikes a "fighting irish" pose.
Glory Seeker: Sometimes when the player is being made to choose between gold, honor and research, having this guy in the team makes honor the only option available.
Never My Fault: His campfire card has him send a letter to the Queen. If he fails to impress her, he blames his teammates.
Quintessential British Gentleman: While he is dressed as one, he does not act like one.
Throwing Down the Gauntlet: He tosses his glove on the ground to terrify enemies.
Trash Talk: Charles excels at two things: cruelly mocking his foes, and punching them in the face.

Yvonne

Yvonne Lefevre

Montreal's cruel mistress. Assertive, intelligent, and the center of attention. Wants to see if she can trample the world under her boots.

Adventurer Outfit: Wears a Bomber jacket, jodhpurs, and boots.
The Baroness: Of the Sexpot variety. Cool, composed, vicious, and wields a whip.
Crippling Overspecialization: When she is the leader, it is recommended to end all encounters deviously as she gains additional campaign tokens from it, and her special skills are also devious base.
Jack of All Stats: However, she is one of the few members that has a 100% accuracy on all of her normal attacks.
Whip of Dominance: Her weapon of choice is a whip, fitting for being an assertive, arrogant, and snobbish high-class woman with a domineering streak.

Maria

Maria Rodriguez

Being the daughter of an Argentine politician, she copied her father's way of handling problems and added her mother's looks and charm to the mix.

Distaff Counterpart: To Victor considering their leader perks, she improves the campaign value of encounter token, while he improves the gold value of encounter token
Even the Girls Want Her: Her card "The Lovely Lady" can be used on girls as well.
Glass Cannon: Has low defenses and Spirit, but high Speech Power.
Glory Seeker: When you have to pick between gold, fame and research, she forces you to go with fame. As a leader, the campaign value of an encounter token is increased by 50% and provide 5 renown.
Kiss of Distraction: When using Impress.
Show Some Leg: When using Seduce.
Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Only Ivan can win her love in her campfire storyline.
Spicy Latina: Maria may not be quite as Hot-Blooded as more well-known characters from this trope, but she's from Argentina and her social attacks are both seductive and devastating.
The Woobie: Not Maria herself, but given that only one character can win her love in the "Lovely Lady" storyline, you're all but certain to see this trope applying to the character you picked for it.

Hildegard

Hildegard Haas

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/renownedexplorers_hilly.png

How did this adorable Austrian magician get here? This expedition isn't safe for children!

Adorably Precocious Child: She is a child who joined a group of scientific explorers who go into dangerous areas and face massive peril, (if conveniently survivable, as losing an aggressive defeat implies you just flee).
Cheerful Child: Hilde has no non-friendly specials, and even those are "Dance" and "Cheer".
Constantly Curious: When the choice is between gold, fame or science, she always picks science. Also you get special options, where you can get more science tokens.
Improbable Age: Lampshaded. Especially when she is selected as the leader of the expedition.
Innocent Prodigy: She's perfectly capable of leading a scientific expedition... but she's still an excitable child at heart.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When she gets herself into peril (i.e. collapsing caves), her main priority is getting out of it ASAP, ignoring everything else.
Stage Magician: Wears the uniform, and most of her attacks involve pulling things out of nowhere.

Kwame

Kwame Amanquatia

Kwame left his Ashanti tribe to spread the spirit of happiness around the world. Used to be a real ladies' man.

The Charmer: As a leader, Kwame gains followers when he finishes encounters Friendly.
Cool Old Guy: One of the oldest explorers at 63, and still very good at winning people over.
For Happiness: His stated goal is to "spread the spirit of happiness throughout the world."

Phailin

Phailin Boonyasak

This exotic dancer from Bangkok somehow managed to get into the society, but none know of her background. That can't be right...

Backstab: Her "assassination" ability allows her to deal from +150% to +200% damage if her crew is being friendly before, and her enemies aren't actively attacking.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: While most friendly/aggressive mixes tend to be Boisterous Bruisers or honorable fighters, Phailin is all about using friendliness to set enemies up for a backstab.
Femme Fatale: She's as deadly as she is beguiling.
Magic Skirt: Somehow, her dancing skirt doesn't get in the way of a roundhouse kick.
The Mole: While she's not working for any of the game's antagonists, she does have her own private mission that involves betraying her crewmates if you take her to the Anagogic Archipelago.

Allies

Pinkerton

Chairman Pinkerton

The leader of the R.E.I.S.

Big Good: He's the one bankrolling all of his society's expeditions, as well as giving them leads on new expeditions. He can also potentially be a part of the party's Entourage if recruited in Madrid, giving them a bonus to Friendly victories.

Antagonists

Rivals

Rivaleux

Matthieu Rivaleux

The famed French explorer. An egomaniacal glory hound, he is the Beloq to your crew's Indiana Jones. The goal of this game is to become more renowned than he is.

Big Damn Heroes: He actually busts you out with a giant drill if you get trapped in the desert.
Egopolis: Holding the Key of Prestige transforms the Shangri-La treasure room into being decorated with statues of himself.
Establishing Character Moment: His first appearance has him steal credit for your party's first major discovery, and unleashing his henchmen on you while he makes off with the find.
French Jerk: Contrasting the affable and charming Victor, Rivaleux is both egomaniacal and eager to steal credit for the discoveries of others.
It's All About Me: And if it wasn't obvious enough from everything else he does and says, he likes to emphasize the "I" and "me" in his sentences — even when he's congratulating you for defeating him.
Last-Name Basis: You can see his full name on the scoreboard, but everyone just calls him Rivaleux.
Punny Name: "Rival" is right there in the name.
The Rival: While Rivaleaux is never seen doing anything monstrously evil, he's still the insufferable, arrogant main antagonist of the game.
Shameless Self-Promoter: Is Rivaleaux's mouth open? Then he's talking about how he's the greatest explorer ever, or he's thanking you for the discovery he's about to steal from you, or both.
Sore Loser: Even when he's defeated once and for all, it's still always all about him.
Unsportsmanlike Gloating: When you fail to surpass his Renown score, he clearly doesn't pull any punches with the insults. He also gives you the Most Amusing Explorer award.

Amir

Amir Akhtar

One of Rivaleux's lieutenants, a loud but devious man. He is the Scout of Rivaleux's crew, and prefers to trade insults with opponents rather than fists or polite greetings.

Hopeless Suitor: He has a crush on Cassandra, but unfortunately she's more into Friendliness rather than Deviousness. Also, she doesn't like mean people, which he is.
I Shall Taunt You: His preferred method of attack.
Loving a Shadow: During the Shangri-la mission, he is able to project and fall in love with an illusionary version of Cassandra who is into Deviousness. He attacks the party when they point out that she's not the real one. (It Makes Sense in Context)
No Indoor Voice: Even Lampshaded before you fight him in the first mission.

Cassandra

Cassandra Shafiq

One of Rivaleux's lieutenants, a friendly and fashionable woman. She is the Scientist of Rivaleux's crew, and prefers to keep encounters Friendly.

Ancient Egypt: Has the dress and looks for it, even if that should've been outdated in the 19th century.
Friendly Enemy: She's your enemy, but much prefers diplomacy to violence.
Talking the Monster to Death: Her preferred method of attack is to impress people.
The Vamp: Due to her Friendly nature, she chooses to flatter and flirt to gain an edge in combat and further Rivaleux's goals.

Tommy

Tommy Gunn

One of Rivaleux's lieutenants, a dangerous bruiser. He is the Fighter of Rivaleux's crew, and understands only the Aggressive approach.

The Brute: He's a large man whose Attack and Armor are high, though his Speech Defense is subpar.
Bruiser with a Soft Center: Which the player can cruelly exploit by shattering his ego with devious mockery and insults. Or by chatting with him and making friends!
Dumb Muscle: Tommy is not very bright, much to the delight of the devious (and cruel) Amir.
Punny Name: After "tommy gun", the nickname of the Thompson sub-machine gun associated with gangsters like Tommy and his henchmen.
Punch-Clock Villain: At least one event can reveal that when Rivaleux isn't ordering him to clobber you, Tommy really doesn't have a problem with your crew.
Villains Out Shopping: Rivaleaux's goons mainly carry baseball bats. The next logical conclusion is that Tommy actually tries to set up a baseball team with them. You can accidentally happen upon one of their training sessions, which prompts Tommy to attack you for interrupting.

Anti-Explorers

Magellan

Florentina Magellan

An Anti-Explorer on the trail of the Holy Grail, who serves as the Explorers' main opponent in the Holy Land area.

The Anti-Explorer Leader

The person in charge of the Anti-Explorer organization, otherwise known as Charles Darwin.

Area Bosses

Smuggleone

Don Smuggleone

A smuggler whose base of operations is Suwasa Island, the location of Captain Roche's treasure horde.

Sekhmet

The cat-faced ancient Egyptian god of war. A team of explorers proving their might to gain access to their temple in the Memphis Desert should prepare, as her resurrection is nigh.

Load-Bearing Boss: Her temple starts crumbling after her defeat, requiring the Explorers to dash for the exit. Rivaleux saves you if you don't escape in time.
God Guise: If you visit the Lost Island then Charles Darwin will tell you that the person you fought wasn't actually Sekhmet but was actually one of the Anti-Explorers in disguise.

Abbess

The Mother Superior of a church in the Highland islands. Her paranoia has led her to personally guarding an ancient holy relic.

Roche

Captain Roche

A feared Dutch pirate from long ago. His treasure was buried at Suwasa Island, and his ship has been found on the recently-discovered Emerged Island...but thanks to the presence of voodoo, he won't give up the latter without a fight!

Dracul

Count Dracul

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/renowned_explorers_count.png

A vampire living in an abandoned fortress in the Transylvania woodlands. The Explorers will inevitably cross paths with him should they search for the Globus Cruciger. While he's willing to get a holy artifact as far away as possible, his desire to enthrall them means he serves as the area's boss.

Grail in the Garbage: There's a random chance that, rather than having the Globus Cruciger, he has a completely different artifact of equal holiness just taking up space until the Explorers arrive.
Heel–Face Turn: If the explorers get a Devious victory and comfort him afterwards, he joins their Entourage, giving a permanent bonus to Campaign tokens.

Characters / Renowned Explorers

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