This page shows information about the characters appearing in The Red Strings Club. It will also contain spoilers regarding the video game.
Playable Characters
Donovan is a bartender at The Red Strings Club, which works hand-in-hand with his other occupation as an information broker. He works and resides at the Red Strings Club where he is said to be trapped, or possibly supernaturally-bound to it forever.
- The Bartender: Donovan is a particularly exceptional bartender according to his patrons. It might be because his drinks really hit the spot... or Soul Node, especially when it's on the more positive side.Diana: [served a glass of Sympathy] Why do you need the information dealing side hustle when you make cocktails this good?
Diana: I'm telling you, you should be a world famous bartender. - The Empath: His "power" being his bartending and drink-making skills with the help of his muse Numen.
- I Cannot Self-Terminate: When playing Russian roulette with Irving III, he implies this.Donovan: If it were that easy to leave The Red Strings Club, I'd have done so ages ago.
- Knowledge Broker: He does this side-by-side with his job as a bartender. He's considered a pretty good one too, especially given the power he has in bringing out a particular emotion using his drinks in order to extract information from his patrons.
- Straight Gay: His appearance and behavior don't really point to camp. Some players don't even notice he's in a relationship with Brandeis until the end.
Brandeis is a 24-year-old hacker with a mastery of social engineering, a pianist, and a "Freelance Hero" as categorized in the profiles listed in the VOMOD.
- Artificial Limbs: Brandeis is one of the implant-users in the game, and he uses his modified limbs and senses to help himself do his work as a hacker.
- Bequeathed Power: Based on the player's choices, he could either inherit Ariadne's Knowledge or Determination, which can help him when in pursuit for Johanna.
- Black Dude Dies First: The very first scene shows Brandeis falling off the Supercontinent Ltd. tower from the CFO office.
- He Knows Too Much: The reason he was killed by Akara, whom he learned was the actual Big Bad rather than Radhika.
- The Piano Player: The very first scene we see inside The Red Strings Club itself includes Brandeis playing the piano.
- Straight Gay: The same reason as Donovan's that there's nothing that really points to him being camp.
- The Man Behind the Man: It was not until the very end that Brandeis finds out that Akara is the mastermind of it all. This could be hinted if the right choices are made when the player gets the information that Radhika was raised by Akara.
- Ridiculously Human Robots: Akara passes themself off as a worker in The Red Strings Club and is also quite well-versed in human society, mostly due to the help of their research using the entire Internet since 2009.
- Stalker without a Crush: Akara is able to access public surveillance cameras or any other technology that they could use to monitor human society, just like when it knew that Naima was shadowing Diana because it reviewed camera footage.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: One of the reasons Akara was created was to help humans be happier. Akara is so well-adjusted to this mission, having gathered information regarding human society, that it could go to extreme lengths just to achieve it, which is what happens in the game.
Others
Adrian Ferguson
Adrian Ferguson is the 47-year-old Chief Financial Officer of Supercontinent Ltd.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Adrian is under the effects of a rogue implant that, depending on the player's choice, can either make him empathetic to others, hate corporations, or kill him.
- Killed Offscreen: If given the "Grandpa" implant, his wife will inform the player later that Adrian passed away.
Johanna Sephtis
Johanna Sephtis is the 38-year-old Chief Operations Officer of Supercontinent Ltd.
- Token Evil Teammate: Justified. Johanna states that she is still loyal to Supercontinent Ltd. It's just that the rogue implant that was installed in her amplified the anxieties she's been having about the company and made her fully realize that the company should be steered to the right direction, which is why she is ambiguously on the main characters' side.
Diana Meyes
Diana Meyes is a 31-year-old Consultant Engineer at Supercontinent Ltd. She also reveals herself to be the director of Social Psyche Welfare.
- Trapped in Villainy: If served the right drink, Donovan can find out that Diana has some doubts on the ethics of SPW and that she is also scared that Supercontinent Ltd might kill her.
Naima Cosse
Naima Cosse is a 34-year-old Corporate Lawyer that works for Supercontinent Ltd.
- Stalker without a Crush: Naima was seen shadowing Diana by Akara through the information extracted from public surveillance cameras nearby.
Larissa Robillard
Larissa Robillard is the 29-year-old Marketing Director of Supercontinent Ltd.
- Beergasm: When the player hits the Soul Node pertaining to Euphoria, Larissa's reaction is this.Larissa: HOLY FUCKING YES! [...]
Larissa: THIS IS THE BEST FUCKING DRINK I'VE HAD IN MY LIFE! - Easy Sex Change: Hinted at in some parts of the game. Some examples seen in the game are: when the player is finding Dr. Edgar Coldstream's security code which is hinted as "Number of existing Akaras + Larissa's former name" (which is masculine), and when the player uses Larissa's voice to call Karen, she reveals that Larissa uses "gender calibrators", as she calls it.
Dr. Edgar Coldstream
Dr. Edgar Coldstream is a 37-year-old Macropsychologist expert and the director of Project Akara and the Mirror Neuron Algorithm at Supercontinent Ltd where he is employed in for 12 years. His occupation is listed as a "Mad Scientist" in the VOMOD.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Dr. Edgar Coldstream doesn't really have the strait-laced personality usually seen in scientists, but he's competent enough to remain on the job, as Karen from HR says that his achievements outweigh his blunders or clumsiness. There's that issue with Pink Tequila too.Donovan: Only thing left is for you to laugh maniacally in your lab.
Edgar: ...
Donovan: Oh, come on. Don't tell me you already did that.
Edgar: Dude! I just love my job!
Radhika
Radhika is a 15-year-old child prodigy and newly assigned Chief Executive Officer of Supercontinent Ltd. It is also revealed that she was raised by Akara.
- Big Bad: Mostly unseen, but discussed between the characters. It is later revealed that Akara is actually the Man Behind the Man and the true Big Bad.
- Child Prodigy: Considered one as she was able to become a CEO of a large company at the age of 15.
- Red Herring: Ever since her existence was found out, she was treated as the Big Bad, but it was really Akara all along.
Francis Cocanette
Francis Cocanette is the 42-year-old Chief Technical Officer of Supercontinent Ltd.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: Francis wears glasses and is the CTO of Supercontinent Ltd.
Karen from HR
Karen from HR is the Human Resources Manager of Supercontinent Ltd.
- Married to the Job: Implied, since her last name is listed as "from HR" in the VOMOD.
- Secret Identity: It might not necessarily be a secret identity, but since it is not explicitly stated, it is hinted at and implied that Karen could be an Akara android who works as a HR manager. This is because she tends to talk a lot about the person (depending which voice the player puts on) more than necessary, which ties in with the traits that Akaras have of being concerned with humans. It is also seen when she calls Edgar (when Brandeis is using his voice) "daddy", as it's stated that Edgar programmed all Akaras to refer to him as "father", and when she includes herself when referring to Akara by using the pronoun "we".
Ariadne Keyward
Ariadne is a 24-year-old female hacker who is associated with PROXYMA.
- Action Girl: She infiltrated one of Supercontinent Ltd's implant clinics where Akara-184 resided.
- Hackette: She shows her skills of hacking on the spot, and she's also a member of PROXYMA.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: When she found out Supercontinent Ltd's plans.Ariadne: WHAT!? BUT THIS IS...
- She Knows Too Much: The reason she got killed.
Qianbing
Qianbing is shown to be associated with PROXYMA.
- Bequeathed Power: They inherit Ariadne's Wits.
- Cool Mask: Qianbing wears a white mask that covers the top half part of their face.
- In the Hood: Wears a red hoodie. Doing the "Slav squat" makes them look even more badass.
Vega
Vega is shown to be associated with PROXYMA.
- Bequeathed Power: She inherits Ariadne's Empathy.
- Boyish Short Hair: Has cropped light blonde hair.
Irving III
Irving III or Irving McAllister the Third is a 19-year-old, self-proclaimed information "breaker" who, instead of collecting information like the usual information broker, opts to torture it out of his targets.
- Ambiguously Gay: His behavior (such as the way he sits on the bar counter) and his choice of words towards Donovan (such as calling him "daddy" and "sugar") could hint something about his character.
- Fatal Reward: Zigzagged. He is Akara's "reward" to Donovan after he successfully finishes the game that they're playing. He competes with Donovan at guessing each other's ages by using Russian Roulette as a method of getting information out of Donovan. His role as this trope is subverted since he doesn't actually get to kill Donovan. This trope is also inverted if Donovan wins the bet, since Irving will be able to do a job for Donovan instead of killing him.
- The Quincy Punk: Downplayed, since his style, while not over-the-top like the other examples in this trope, is still distinctly punk.
- Torture Is Ineffective: To Donovan, if the player chooses to go on with playing Russian roulette.
Gost
Gost is a dealer who can get anything the client wants in less than 24 hours under one condition: "No weapons, no living beings". Also thinks money is overrated. He's one of the supernatural dealers in the game just like Donovan, but unlike Donovan, who is definitely a human, he could be an entity of unknown origin, since Akara wasn't able to profile him.
- Arms Dealer: His appearance suggests this at first, but it is then subverted when he says that he could get whatever Donovan wished for, provided that it's not a weapon or a living being. He may as well be this to Donovan, since he provides him with Red Secret and Blue Whisper, which Donovan can utilise in the making of drinks.
- Instant Home Delivery: Donovan is quite surprised by the fact that Gost was able to acquire Red Secret and Blue Whisper in less than an hour, especially since he has been trying to get his hands on them for years to no avail.
- In the Hood: He wears a black hoodie that covers his head.
- Named After Somebody Famous: His name could be a reference to a music contributor for The Red Strings Club whose name is the same but with a capital T. They have the same skull motif too.
