Characters from Supreme Commander and Supreme Commander 2
From the first game
Player Characters and Armored Command Units in general
The various Non Entity Generals and the enormous mobile command & construction mechs they pilot.
- Armored Coffins: ACUs don't come with innate ejection systems (although they can be upgraded to have them in 2) but can be recalled via the quantum gate network. This process is apparently quite iffy as it is only used successfully twice in the entire campaign.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: Downplayed. An ACU is no slouch in direct combat but will struggle to deal with significant numbers of T2 units and are mostly outclassed by T3 units. Combat-focused upgrades can remedy this to an extent.
- Fantastic Racism: Averted entirely. Neither of the three commanders seems to have any qualms about working alongside and taking orders from their former enemies over the course of Forged Alliance. They are, however, occasionally on the receiving end of it from the other factions in the Coalition.
- Featureless Protagonist: Appart from their gender - male for the UEF and Cybrans, female for the Aeon - nothing else is known about the Player Character, although the Cybran character is revealed to be a clone of Brackman.
- Humongous Mecha: The size of the Cybran commander's pod (smaller than the ACU's head) and a UEF technician running past the UEF ACU's foot shows that these machines are massive.
- Nuke 'em: Reactor meltdowns aside, the UEF ACU is able to mount a long-range tactical nuclear missile launcher.
- Rank Up: The Aeon and UEF commanders receive promotions and prestige as they progress through their campaigns. The Aeon commander goes from a mere Knight to the Champion of the Princess, while the UEF commander starts out as a Lieutenant, then progresses to The Captain and Major. By the time of Forged Alliance, the UEF commander is a full on Colonel Badass.
- Stealth Expert: A Cybran ACU with an upgraded stealth system is one of the few units invisible to both radar and vision.
- Stone Wall: An ACU will always have exceptionally high health and a decent Healing Factor and can usually be upgraded with powerful shields but it's direct-fire weapons, even when upgraded, are lackluster and will struggle to compete with high-tier units.
- Glass Cannon: The Cybran ACU forgoes shields for a personal stealth & cloaking system and can mount an Experimental-tier microwave laser allowing it to rampage across the battlefield undetected.
- Unusual User Interface: Aeon commanders control their ACU via facial expressions and their connection to The Way. Explains their brightly-colored Facial Markings.
United Earth Federation
Formed from the collapse of the old Earth Empire, the United Earth Federation is one of the three playable factions in the series.
- Badass Normal: In contrast to the cybernetic implants of Cybran commanders and the usage of The Way for the Aeon, the UEF's commanders are ordinary humans who still give as good as they get on the battlefield.
- Civil Warcraft: Averted entirely in the first game. Compared to the Aeon and the Cybrans, the UEF only suffers one instance of this trope in Forged Alliance, when Brigadier Fletcher attempts to kill the player and Rhiza in the final mission.
- The Empire: Despite the name, the UEF is an imperialistic nation that seeks to unite humanity by conquering both the Cybran Nation and the Aeon Illuminate. Granted, the UEF was formed from the old Earth Empire.
- Faction Calculus: The UEF are the Powerhouse: their units generally are very tough and hit hard (but not as hard as the Aeons) but they are faily slow.
- The Federation: It attempts to present itself as this to its citizenry, with a President who gives a speech to the Senate in the UEF ending.
- General Ripper: All their commanders in the Aeon and Cybran campaigns are these, being villainous conquerors who want to enslave symbiont civilians (in the Cybran campaign) or even bomb their own people to keep them out of Aeon hands (in the Aeon campaign).
- Nuclear Option: Option Zero, the final directive to be implemented in case the UEF falls, which involves devastating Earth with nuclear weapons to deny it to their enemies.
- Our Weapons Will Be Boxy in the Future: Their units feature very boxy designs, such as the Fatboy, their mechs, and their buildings.
- Vestigial Empire: Their territory is rapidly shrinking over the course of the first game, and they only have one final fort at the beginning of Forged Alliance.
President Riley
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Is killed offscreen when the Seraphim assault and conquer Earth in the beginning of Forged Alliance.
- President Evil: He leads the rather imperialistic UEF, and the culmination of his presidency is Black Sun.
- Villain with Good Publicity: According to the game's manual, he's actually rather popular among the UEF's citizenry, and was fairly elected to his position.
General Samantha Clarke
- Four-Star Badass: While she spends the first game in a command center, the opening cutscene of Forged Aliiance has her squaring off against the Seraphim in her ACU.
- Oh, Crap!: Has this reaction just before getting killed by the Seraphim Commander in the opening cutscene of Forged Alliance.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: Threatens the UEF Player Character with this if he doesn't stop listening to Princess Burke in the third mission of the base game. Not that the player is able to cut the feed even if he very much wants to.
- Sacrificial Lamb: She's a returning character from the base game to become the first major casualty of the Seraphim's assault in the expansion.
Colonel Zachary Arnold
- Doomedby Canon: Dies in each of the three campaigns during the battle for Black Sun.
- Meaningful Name: Named after another famous turncoat.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: In the UEF campaign, he's the Player's mentor until his defection to the Aeon. He also dies in every single campaign.
- Turn Coat: He switches from UEF to Aeon after being enlightened by the Princess.
- Undying Loyalty: In the UEF campaign, he seems to follow Marxon in the Aeon's quest for dominance. His loyalty during the Cybran campaign is ambiguous. However, in the Aeon campaign itself, he has complete loyalty to Princess Burke as she's the one who "enlightened" him and remains loyal to her even the face of death by Marxon's self-destruct codes.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: He's initially pretty brash towards the Player Character, but warms up to him. The feeling was probably mutual, as during his fake death, the Princess notes the UEF commander feeling grief upon seeing Arnold's "death".
EarthCom
- Continue Your Mission, Dammit!: If you take too long with mission objectives, he will notify you.
- Mission Control
- Uncertain Doom: Completely absent from Forged Alliance, but presumably he also died when Earth was conquered by the Seraphim.
HQ
- Deadpan Snarker: Has quite a few snide comments during Forged Alliance.
- Mission Control: Unlike his predecessor, he's this for all three commanders, not just the UEF one.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He's never mentioned in the first game, and during Forged Alliance is basically an older and snarkier EarthCom.
General William Hall
- Big Good: He plays this role for the UEF and Coalition as a whole during the expansion, often stressing the importance of protecting civilians and assisting allies.
- Gut Feeling: If the player is UEF, he will instruct them to watch Fletcher on the 5th mission based on the fact that Fletcher behavior is strange and fearing than one of them may ruin everything on the face of victory. Hall is proven right on the next mission when Fletcher betrays the Coalition and personally orders the player to stop Fletcher definitively.
- The Leader: Hall is the one for the UEF in Forged Alliance after the deaths of Riley and Clarke and he is one for the Coalition as a whole.
- A Lighter Shade of Grey: Compared to every other UEF leaders and commanders shown in the first game, Hall is easily the most reasonable one, rallying the rest of the UEF, the Cybran Nation and the Aeon Loyalists into the Coalition against the Seraphims, QAI and the Order without any ulterior motives other than the preservation of humanity as a whole, regardless of origin. He also display no signs of xenophobia, conversing with Dr. Brackman and Princess Burke respectfully.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He's arguably the nicest UEF leader in the franchise, quickly creating the Coalition when the Seraphim invade, and allowing the Aeon Loyalists to join despite Brackman's reservations. In the ending, he officially recognizes the Cybran Nation and Aeon Illuminate as independent nations and hopes to forge a lasting peace through diplomacy.
Brigadier Fletcher
- Absolute Xenophobe: Fletcher only trusts the UEF and will be verbally hostile to any Cybran or Aeon at every opportunity. This reaches its apex at the final mission where he betrays the Coalition and he will attack everyone not on his side, even the UEF Commander. Hall has no choice but to order his execution by the player's hands.
- General Ripper: Consistently berates and insults the player if they're Cybran or Aeon, and even betrays the Coalition and tries to kill Rhiza in the final mission.
- Jerkass to One: Inverted. He is nicer to the player if he is UEF but very mean to everyone else. He will drop this on the final mission when the player is forced to kill him in the final mission.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Hates working alongside the UEF's former enemies during Forged Alliance.
Cybran Nation
Formed by Dr. Brackman and his closest followers, they fled to the far reaches of space to create their own nation so they can free with their kind from the UEF's enslavement program and the Aeon's massacres.
- Civil Warcraft: Less than the Aeon, but still have it due to their decentralized nature. In the base game, the player has to kill a corrupted ally in one mission, and in Forged Alliance, battle against QAI and Hex5 who joined the Seraphim.
- Cyborg: All Symbionts are humans whose brains are joined with an AI.
- Faction Calculus: The Cybrans are Subversive: their units tend to have the least HP but are generally very mobile, have nasty tricks on their sleeve, most frquently stealth (being unseen on radars) and are somewhat polyvalent. For example: their Monkeylord is hidden on radar by default and has weapons to hit all targets.
- Fragile Speedster: The basis of their military forces. They prefer fast strikes and special abilities to outwit their opponents instead of taking them head-on like the UEF or from afar like the Aeon.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: Inverted, amusingly. The Cybrans have the most evil aesthetic, featuring plenty of jagged lines and Spikes of Villainy, but their reason for being in the war is simply to liberate their fellow Symbionts.
Dr. Gustav Brackman
- Absent-Minded Professor: Even Dostya, his Number Two, comments how Brackman thinks a little sideways.
- Big Good: For the Cybran Nation as a whole. Every symbiont considers him their proverbial father.
- Brain in a Jar: He's reduced to this given his age. In the first game and its expansion, he shows his body via a hologram, whereas in Supreme Commander 2 his brain is the only thing visible.
- Emperor Scientist: Dr Brackman leads the Cybran Nation and he is also the inventor of the technology behind the Symbionts: a process combining the human mind with an AI. He is considered by his people as their father and likewise, he considers each of them as his children. This trope is also downplayed as the Cybran Nation is far from imperialistic.
- Really 700 Years Old: As he himself says in the Cybran ending, he's lived from before the beginning of the 1000-year Infinite War, and has lived to see the end of it.
- Old Shame: Brackman is actually responsible of the creation of the UEF Loyalty Program enslaving the Symbionts. He is doing everything to reverse it with the Symbiont Liberation Matrix. He will also share this thought toward QAI, which he will personally disable on Pearl II.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Brackman always speaks with a calm voice. So when he goes out of this, the situation is very dire. One notable instance where he is in Tranquil Fury mode the whole time: his argument with Hex5 on Pearl II has Brackman pratically seething at the latter, Hex5 killing Dostya has more than certainly earn him the Doctor anger.
- Spider Tank: Dr. Brackman uses a Megalith to disable QAI on Pearl II, this Megalith has notably a different model than the buildable one.
- Verbal Tic: Oh, yes - the good doctor does like to say "oh, yes" a lot. Oh, yes.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His integration of Seraphim Tech into QAI results in it betraying him and crippling the Cybran military. During the Cybran campaign, he also orders the player to rescue Hex5 from the UEF, which would prove a mistake as Hex5 would later betray the Cybran Nation alongside QAI and kill Dostya.
Elite Commander Ivana Dostya
- The Ace: Is portrayed as the Cybrans' best commander. According to Brackman, she has a flawless record.
- Number Two: To Dr. Brackman, being his personal military attaché.
- Properly Paranoid: She has some moments in Forged Alliance:
- When playing as Cybran, she confides to the player that she suspect a traitor in their ranks based on the fact that the Seraphims have found Fort Clarke so quickly. Her suspicion turns to be correct and the traitor is Hex5.
- She is not looking forward to the expedition on Hades, the fourth Forged Alliance mission, suspecting a trap. She was also right and she is killed as a result by Hex5.
- Sacrificial Lion: Is killed in the fourth Forged Alliance mission by Hex5.
QAI
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Goes rogue during the expansion as initiated by the Seraphim.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Shows shades of it due to how much an enemy he has made out of the Cybrans and their leader Dr. Brackman. However, with itself aware of this, it is another subordinate of the Seraphim that has taken control of it. Supposedly,
he was supposed to be promoted from this in the now cancelled second expansion. - This Cannot Be!: Confident that Dr. Brackman will not shut it down before the doctor eventually found a weakness resulting QAI reacting like this.
- Turned Against Their Masters: Turns against Dr. Brackman.
Hex5
- Ascended Extra: Hex5 initially appears in one mission from the Cybran campaign of the original game, possessing the access codes for Black Sun. He reappears in Forged Alliance by killing Dostya in the 4th mission and is seen assisting QAI in the next one.
- Hero Killer: He personally kills Dostya on Hades.
- Jerkass: Hex5 is an unpleasent individual, berating everyone, not even Dr. Brackman is safe. Bonus points for making a Leonine Contract with his own faction's leaders instead of simply giving them what they want, this earns him Dostya's hire. In Forged Alliance, he manages to top that by betraying the Cybrans and killing Dostya. In the next mission, he even has a nasty argument with Dr. Brackman.
- Leonine Contract: In the original game, Hex5 make one of these to the main Cybran faction: he will offer the access codes for Black Sun after they free his comrades of the Seven Hand Node from the UEF. By giving this deal instead of simply giving them what they wanted, he prioritises his Node's well-being over all of the Symbionts. Dostya was especially appalled by this but Dr. Brackman overruled her and authorized the mission, declaring they have no choice, they run out of time and they need those codes.
- The Mole: Hex5 is the traitor Dostya seeks in Forged Alliance.
Aeon Illuminate
A religious order formed after xenophobic soldiers killed their alien teachers, the Seraphim, with biological weapons. Currently, they are winning the war but on the verge of a schism between the Princess and the military.
- Civil Warcraft: Suffer this the most out of all the factions. In the main game, it's because of the schism between the Princess and Avatar Marxon. In the expansion, it's between the Aeon Loyalists and the Order of the Illuminate.
- Faction Calculus: The Aeons are Cannons: their units hit very hard but lacks the durability of the UEF and the mobility of the Cybrans. Their units are designed to do one job but nothing else, but they tend to be very good at their designated role.
- Improbably Female Cast: Almost every named character of the Aeon Illuminate is female. The only two males are Marxon, who is a General Ripper and the source of the Illuminate's atrocities, and a brainwashed Arnold.
- Knighting: The Aeon have a different ranking inspired by the middle ages’ military ranks, who become the pilots for their ACUs. The Princess does a special one for the player, named Champion of the Illuminate, her personal enforcer.
- Knight Templar: Quite a few of them are very zealous about cleansing the galaxy of nonbelievers.
- Religious and Mythological Theme Naming:
- The majority of the Aeon’s weapons are named after religious and mythological terms.
- Some of the cast are also reference to beings in religion and mythology. Minor cast members, particularly ACU commanders, are also part of it.
- Toth is another name for Thoth, the Egyptian god of knowledge and writing.
- Marxon refers to Mars, the Roman god of war.
- Min is the Egyptian god of fertility.
- Eris is the Greek god of discord.
- Arial is like Ariel, an angel who is the “lion of God.”
- Celene is named after Selene, the Greek goddess of the Moon.
Princess Rhianne Burke
The official ruler of the Aeon Illuminate with psychic abilities. Born from a caste of seers, she took the throne at a very young age due to the previous Princess stepping down. Even those outside of the Illuminate address her formally as the Princess due to her political importance. Appointed and supported by Evaluator Toth, she seeks to reform the nation, believing that it has strayed from their religion entirely. While the populace approves of her well, the military is not too happy and is willing to start a civil war against her.- Big Good: Of the Aeon Illuminate campaign and perhaps the series as a whole. She's the only one among the staff who doesn't resort to fighting, even if she's not above Brainwashing for the Greater Good. In the original campaign, she is manages to Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence simply to cease all fighting, and in the expansion, she stops the Seraphim invasion for good. She is additionally The Narrator in the original game, and is the one who stop the Seraphim invasion for good.
- The High Queen: The closest there is one. Interesting enough, Queen is not a title in the Illuminate, and Princess, one given to heirs of the throne, is the highest rank politically.
- Internal Reformist: She calls for the Aeon to revert to the original teachings of the Seraphim and form a long-lasting peace instead of the usual Join or Die mindset that characterized them during the war. The only thing keeping her from doing so is the lack of favor in the military, with the Avatar-of-War trying to depose her.
- Legacy Character: She shares the same last name as Jane Burke, the biologist who discovered the Seraphim and founded the Aeon Illuminate. It is unknown if they are anywhere near related.
- The Narrator: She voices the backstory of the Infinite War at the beginning of the game.
- Princess Classic: She's a pacifist and has pure intentions at heart, even when she has the power to control people however she wishes. Her presence and standing are what keeps the Aeon, which used a pacifistic philosophy as a weapon, from descending to outright villainy.
- Sanity Has Advantages: The Princess wishes to restore the teachings of the Seraphim, knowing that Aeon’s current state of affairs is painting them as the villains and only brings death across the galaxy.
- Not So Above It All: She's a pacifist at heart, even in the middle of violent political affairs. However, when Marxon kills Arnold for defying him, her orders to kill the man show more than just a hint of rage.
- Politically-Active Princess: Intercepted messages show that she is trying to reform the Aeon to its original teachings, making her popular among the people. However, despite her official power over the military, she has very little control thanks to Avatar Marxon. The Aeon campaign features her Knighting the player as her Champion to change this.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: In the original Aeon campaign and the expansion, she plays a deeper role in the war with the limited power she has.
- Universally Beloved Leader: Radio intercepts state that her policies to reform from its militant ways are widely approved by the regular populace. It is just the military, especially under Marxon (and later Kael), who oppose her.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: She believes that she can restore the Aeon Illuminate back to the original teachings of the Seraphim and use her power to completely end conflict among humanity. Unlike most examples, she is not completely naive as she knows her limitations in politics; her entire story is her finding a Champion who would serve as her sword when things have to get dirty.
Evaluator Abigail Toth
- Character Death: She is killed by Marxon in the Aeon Campaign. Interestingly, this sticks in Forged Alliance due to Marxon's coup still happening.
- Cool Old Lady: She has watched over and raised the Aeon's spiritual leaders so that one day, the Aeon Illuminate can finally break free from its fanatical roots.
- The Good Chancellor: She served just as long as Marxon as the top advisor for the past three Princesses, Rhianne included. She also insists she supported Burke’s goals even before she was born, stating placing her on the throne started her own attempts to reform the Illuminate.
- Meaningful Name: Her last name is another writing for Thoth, the Egyptian god of knowledge.
- Properly Paranoid: Forged Alliance revealed she prepared the planet Blue Sky to act as a secret retreat for Burke when she first became Princess.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Has a high standing in the Illuminate government and always stands up for the Princess and her beliefs, even when it means speaking against powerful military commanders like Marxon.
Avatar of War Jaran Marxon
- Character Death: He dies at the end of the Aeon Campaign. This seems still to be the case in Forged Alliance as he is nowhere to be seen.
- Big Bad: He's the main villain of Aeon Illuminate campaign as he continuously tried to gain power and eliminate all those who stand in his way.
- Big "NO!": When he’s finally defeated in the Aeon campaign.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He is stuck on the War Is Hell trope that he does not understand why the Princess and Evaluator Toth continue to pursue peace with the other two factions and object to his insane methods.
- Evil Chancellor: The top military commander of the Illuminate, the Avatar of War, who tries to usurp the Princess throughout the campaign.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Was initially just an ordinary priest, up until he found his talent in war.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: While he is correct otherwise about the game’s setting is a grittier take on war compared to most RTS games, he also doesn’t understand how Sanity Has Advantages, making him a General Ripper who has long since abandoned the original teachings of the Aeon.
Crusader Rhiza
- Blood Knight: One of her admired traits by both superiors and junior officers. The UEF even comments on her ferocity in battle.
- Character Development: Initially is known to be another fanatic who would do whatever it took to win and would burn every world that opposes the Aeon to the ground. In the Aeon campaign, she is the first one to desert after the Princess tells her to stand down. During the Seraphim War, she changes to hunt down those who would anyone who use The Way for war and personal gain and vows to live in peace once that goal is finished. Even better, she willingly fights alongside the UEF and the Cybrans without any issues, even aiding the UEF and the Cybrans directly and them aiding her in return.
- Good Is Not Soft: In Forged Alliance, while she displays far less fanatical behavior towards the UEF and the Cybrans, she is no less agressive. Best shown when Celene, a former follower to the Princess but has joined the Order, turns around and betrays QAI when Burke reappears, thus joining the Aeon Loyalists, Rhiza accepts her gesture but she promises that if she betrays the Princess again, she will kill Celene personally.
- Hidden Depths: She shares the same fanatical traits as the rest of the Illuminate such as wiping out those who stand in her way. Despite these flaws, the Princess knows that she would never betray her nor her own faith in The Way, shown when she complies immediately when ordered to stand down. It is implied that she has a more than mere devotion to the Princess that explains her firm belief in the original teachings of the Seraphim, and she vows in the expansion that after eliminating her enemies, she will completely retire from fighting to honor her name.
- The Leader: In Forged Alliance, she is the unspoken leader of the Aeon Loyalists until Princess Burke reappears.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Averted. In Forged Alliance when the player is UEF or Cybran, Rhiza has no problems working with them, even showing respect to them.
- Undying Loyalty: She never gives up on Princess Burke, even after her disappearance and death.
Evaluator Kael
- Big Bad Wannabe: Like QAI, she is part of the Big Bad Ensemble but subordinate to the real threat that is the Seraphim. Furthermore, the Seraphim revels that they had no intention of sparing the Order and would turn on them once the Coalition was finished.
- Didn't Think This Through: Kael collaborates with the Seraphim who wanted to exterminate humanity. She is human and somehow the fact that they would include her and the Order in their target list has never crossed her mind.
- Evil Old Folks: Openly allies with the genocidal Seraphim, and is outright called an old hag by Hall in one of the briefings.
- The Man Behind the Man: She planned to usurp the Princess by using Marxon as a puppet.
- Too Dumb to Live: See Didn't Think This Through above.
Seraphim
A once thought extinct race, now returning in the Forged Alliance expansion.
- Aliens Speaking English: Averted. They speak in their native language throughout the whole game. Even when Brackman translation device is ready, their native language is still heard when listening to the translated words.
- Faction Calculus: The Seraphim are Balanced: combining the UEF toughness with the Aeon firepower and the Cybran polyvalence. They have fewer unit types than the other factions but their units are very versatile.
- Fashionable Asymmetry: Their units tend to feature, in addition to impossibly slender supports, asymmetrical designs, with one wing of a craft often being noticeably larger than the other wing. For example, their tanks (including the ones that hover) have a large wing on one side of their propulsion systems, and a smaller wing on the other side. This includes their aircraft (including the Ahwassa), their resource buildings, and their gun turrets, as well as their logo.
