Character page for The Shadow of Greed.
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The Party
The main characters are a group of Spirit Centurions who have teamed up to do hero work. They are Player Characters, with the exception of Dr. Ekk.
As a Whole:
- Dark and Troubled Past: Drake's mentor mysteriously disappeared while they were attempting to start a rebellion, and he got off light by comparison.
Anton Korvanatz, Tsar of Gears and Spirit of Electricity
A typically stoic and reserved man with a highly innovative mind that has already used his ingenuity to the betterment of mankind. Except he's being forced to fight again. He hates fighting. He wears a fancy wristwatch he built himself with a built in arc welder which he can use at a distance. He is very close to Dr. Ekk, and the two have worked together extensively.- Dark and Troubled Past: Served in the Great War.
- Dark Is Not Evil: He's constantly running from people trying to kidnap him and use him for weapons designing, so he is accustomed to working at night.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Never seen on screen, but implied by the large amount of empty vodka bottles in his house.
- Misplaced Accent: He has a Russian accent despite having grown up in Chicago. No one's quite sure why.
- Improbable Age: He joined the Navy in his mid teens.
- Lightning Gun: His Watch, while meant to be an arc welder, ends up as this more often than not.
- Papa Wolf: The cause for most of his badass moments revolve around someone trying to harm Ekk, Anastasia, or some other important person to him.
- Willfully Weak: He's fully aware of how effective he can be, but usually tries to limit what he does to keep from blowing up yet another building by accident.
Dana "Great Dane" McCallister, Spirit of the Dramatic
Dana, or the "Great Dane," as he is known in some circles, is a colorful Brit with hypnotic powers and expertise in the occult. He was formerly a high-ranking member of the Ordo Corvi, a cabal of thieves with a supernatural bent, before he left the organization on not entirely amicable terms and started a new life with a huge sum of cash that he had coincidentally acquired. He sees himself as a sort of larger-than-life figure and has a personality to match - no matter the cost or the inconvenience, he does everything stylishly.- Eccentric Millionaire: He has enough of his ill-gotten gains responsibly invested to be able to spend the rest on whatever happens to strike his fancy at the moment.
- Improbable Age: He became a spy in his mid-teens.
- Technical Pacifist: He doesn't condone killing except as a last resort, but he's more than willing to beat people silly with his cane as long as they survive.
- Villainy Discretion Shot: All his most morally objectionable acts took place offscreen and/or in the backstory.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: He more or less got over it once he discovered that his father might not be such a principled man after all.
- You Killed My Father: Toward Angel Rose for killing his mentor.
Drake Cob
- Guest-Star Party Member: His player left shortly after joining due to scheduling issues.
- Improbable Age: He was a spy in his mid teens.
Millie Diamond, Spirit of Goodwill
Millie is a wealthy socialite with philanthropic leanings, the daughter of a Baltimore newspaper magnate and a distant cousin of one of Britain's minor noble families. She is very much The Diplomat of the group, lacking combat skills but unparalleled when it comes to social interactions. She is engaged to NPC archaeologist Max Gentle, and rescuing him from the Children of the Night provided her driving motivation for her backstory and the first major chunk of the game's Story Arc. Tausret, a priestess allied with the Children of the Night, believes her to be a goddess in human form. Lady Victoria Pride is her distant cousin on her mother's side, and wants nothing more than to claim the Diamond family fortune for herself.- Dirty Communists: Capitalism was very good to her family—she takes serious umbrage at the idea that its polar opposite is the way to go.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Blonde, sweet, loyal (she joins the plot to rescue her fiance) and unrealistically young.
- Improbable Age: She was already working closely with a professor at a university at age 17.
- Refuge in Audacity: Walking into the middle of a firefight between the Irish Mob and Gorilla Khan's minions in order to make friends with an ape.
Major Samantha "Sam" Gears, Spirit of Flight
Major Samantha "Sam" Gears is an ex-air force pilot who flew in the Great War with the squadron Gray's Raptors. She currently runs a worldwide delivery service. Sam is a loud, cheerful hick with a high alcohol tolerance and the ability to punch out men twice her size. Sam has come to realize her destiny as the Spirit of Flight.- Berserk Button Don't even think of going near the Sparrowhawk, much less touch it, without Sam's permission.
- Improbable Age: She became a fighter pilot in her mid teens.
Sarah the Singed, Spirit of Defiance
Sarah has had a rough past. Abusive parents, jail, mental facility that was a front for dastardly experiments, military psychological experimentation done on her during the Great War, and finally, being held in a secret military base afterward. When she got out, however, she found that her brother, Larkin, had taken over the criminal underground of their home city, Philadelphia, and he welcomed her back home. She acts as his enforcer when she isn't saving the world with her fellow Spirit Centurions. Due to her conditioning from the military experiments, she was able to get over most of, but not all, of her neuroses. She has a shoot-first-ask-questions-later way about her, and is rather impatient. That is, unless, say, Millie can talk everyone out of trouble; Sarah tends to just go along with the others' plans.- Informed Attribute: For a pyromaniac, she doesn't often light things on fire.
Dr. Ivan Alexandrovich Ekk, Spirit of Faith
Dr. Ekk is a Spirit Centurion of the current generation who fled Russia during the Revolution. During his teen years, he had a vision in which the archangel Michael gave him his angelic sword and commanded him to smite evil—a mission Ekk didn't take well to, since the devout Christian abhorred violence and preferred to stick to his studies and providing medical aid. These days he operates a free clinic in Chicago when he's not busy gallivanting around the world being a hero. When he returned to Russia to retrieve the sword in his late teens, he started getting waking nightmares that have been triggered again by certain melodies. On his most recent trip to Russia, Ekk lost the sword again, this time due to interference by Ordo Corvi.- Being Good Sucks: He wants nothing more than to run his medical clinic, but saving the world gets in the way. Also, he's plagued with guilt over the people he couldn't have.
- The Chosen One: If he really was chosen by Michael.
- Combat Medic: Dr. Ekk, a doctor by trade, is fairly competent with a sword.
- GMPC: Dr. Ivan Alexandrovich Ekk, who was originally created to give Ironeye someone to play when he handed off GMing duties after the first few sessions. That quite clearly never happened due to Ironeye's plot-weaving, leaving Ekk as a canonical party member without a player to control him. Since Dr. Ekk was intended to be a Non-Action Guy in the first place until he got more character development, he is used entirely for the purposes of exposition and providing medical care, if he shows up for a story in the first place. The few times he has had more to do, he has quickly become The Load.
- Improbable Age: He earned his medical doctorate at age 20.
- Non-Action Guy: Dr. Ekk, despite wielding the best known weapon in the setting, doesn't have the personality or training of an action hero: he just wants to run his medical clinic, but can't help jumping in to fight evil or save his friends. This works out well, since his temporary role as GMPC quickly became permanent when the role of Game Master wasn't passed off.
- Refusal of the Call: Ivan's not keen on the whole "smiting" thing, and the one time he tried, he got himself captured by cultists trying to summon an elder god.
Other Centurions of the Current Generation
Der Blitzmann, Shadow of Electricity
Der Blitzmann is a German scientist who stole Nicola Tesla's tech and used it to build a super-charged suit of armor after one of Tesla's experiments went wrong and drove him insane. It is unknown what his long-term goals are, but is the mean time he has been causing chaos all over the globe. He was last seen commanding a giant robot of his own devising in a failed attack on New York City. (The robot was disabled by the Trio, and its current location is unknown, though it is presumably hidden on a military base somewhere.) Der Blitzmann reappeared in Chicago, where he used a stolen government weapon to destroy federal patrol boats on Lake Michigan. Before he was knocked off the buoy weapon and sunk to the bottom of the lake, he also managed to run afoul of Gorilla Khan's minions and break into a garage in Little Italy.- Shock and Awe: He uses Tesla Canons as weapons
The Children of the Night
The Children of the Night are a group of black-cloaked cultists who are trying to discover the secrets of Atlantis in order to prepare for the time of nightmares, whatever that is.
As a Whole:
- Black Cloak: The Weaver, Spiro, and the Mooks.
- In the Hood: The Weaver, Spiro, and the Mooks, again.
- Sixth Ranger Traitor: Vicky and Mandeep. They aren't true members of the cult and clearly have their own agenda, so their betrayal is inevitable.
Trevor Carlile, the Weaver
Trevor Carlile is a masked cultist from the Children of the Night who is Te-Kas' right hand man in his identity as the Weaver. He tangles with the team more often than any other member of the Children of the Night, frequently due to his tendency to act independently of his boss. Before he shot Te-Kas in the back, he revealed himself to be Trevor Carlile, a member of Gray's Raptors who was thought to have been killed when his plane was shot down, but was able to survive his burns. His goal is to bring about the time of nightmares so that everyone will experience his pain and more (with Ian Cook getting a front seat due to Cook taking a tablet that he discovered).- Cool Mask: A nightmarish one, concealing his disfigured face
- Dragon-in-Chief: Without him and his minions, Te-Kas wouldn't even be a threat.
- Dragon with an Agenda: At first, with the twist that he's actually the more evil one.
- Dramatic Unmask: Played with—the Weaver removes his mask to confirm his identity as Trevor Carlile by showing that he doesn't look like Trevor, as Trevor's plane was on-fire when it was found, giving him horrific burns.
- Kick the Dog: Shooting Te-Kas in the back a third time just to punctuate a sentence.
- Revenge: He's out to get revenge on the world for the Great War and out to get Ian Cook for a more personal slight.
- The Starscream: After Te-Kas decides to treat Millie as an ally.
British Universities
Dr. Maximilian Gentle
The rather nerdy Max Gentle is Dr. Rochester's former grad student at Oxford, specializing in the occult, and Millie's fiance. He was kidnapped by the Children of the Night on the day before his wedding, and was kept as a guest by Te-Kas until the Weaver's treachery convinced Te-Kas to free him. Though this choice lead to Te-Kas getting shot, the team was able to rescue Max as a result.- Distressed Dude: He's spent most of the story as a prisoner of the Children of the Night.
See also Dr. Charles Rochester and Millie Diamond.
The League of Nations Applied Sciences Division (formerly the Entente Applied Sciences Project)
The League of Nations Applied Sciences Division arose from the secret wartime Entente Applied Sciences Project, which itself consisted of several independent projects to give the Entente powers an advantage in the Great War. The organization is currently headed by Dr. Savio Bianchi and has its headquarters just outside of Rome.
Dr. Savio Bianchi: project unknown
Dr. Bianchi is an Italian physicist who was on the 1922 Ziggenheim Council and whose work was the basis for Dr. Hibberton's work on the Synthetic Harmonizer. Such is the power of the Bianchi that he makes straight men question their sexuality. These days, he heads the Applied Sciences Division when he's not busy working on his newest project. According to Dr. Bianchi, it was inspired by Sam's adventures in the Alps, but has nothing to do with summoning demons—that's not the realm of science, after all.- Chekhov's Gunman: He was little more than a name during his first appearance.
Dr. Nicola Tesla: project unknown
The brilliant Dr. Tesla attended the 1922 Ziggenheim Symposium to vote—his research getting stolen by Der Blitzmann set his work back considerably and put him in a position where he was unable to enter. The celibate Dr. Tesla is quite popular with the ladies, much to his frustration. Dr. Tesla is notably sexist . . . against men, and has a special hate for jewelry. Rumors put him working on a secret weapon in Britain these days. He and Anton have become close since the Symposium, and Dr. Tesla seems to be preparing Anton for a confrontation with Der Bltizmann.- My Greatest Failure: He is indirectly responsible for Der Blitzmann's insanity.
- My Greatest Second Chance: Acting as a mentor to Anton, who is quite possibly even more brilliant than Der Blitzmann.
See also General Aloysius Falkner, Dr. Giovanni Marino, and Dr. Hutchings.
Cook Enterprises
Ian Cook : Shadow Of Greed
Ian Cook, a Century Club member, is the young head of Cook Enterprises, a Scottish company that seems to have a hand in every major new commercial technology. Though Cook has the potential to be one of the richest men in the world, he's rather frugal when it comes to anything beyond the collection of ancient relics he has on-board his zeppelin, New Atlantis; the rest of the money goes to fund scientists working on technologies that have the potential to change the world. Ian wasn't always so benevolent, though: as a child he worked with the Black Hand. His split with the gang for ideological reasons (he believed in only stealing art being kept away from the public eye) gave him a considerable amount of money to invest and provided the beginnings of his collection of art and artifacts. Ian is currently dating Lilith, but the Weaver claims he's actually in love with Millie—a claim Ian has convincingly denied.- The Atoner: His generosity is his attempt to make up for being a thief in his youth. From a utilitarian point of view, he's already succeeded beyond his wildest dreams.
- Conspicuous Consumption: Does he really need a personal zeppelin? No. On the other hand, that's about the only thing he ever bothered to burn excessive amounts of cash on.
- Fiction 500: Among other things, he personally funded research that produced a dolphin robot, a weather-control device, and a device for reading the minds of dead people. The researchers behind these projects were able to purchase a high-quality yacht from their laboratory budgets without raising any suspicion.
- Non-Idle Rich: He spends his free time researching Atlantis, finding new science projects to fund, and helping action heroes solve mysteries.
- Self-Made Man: Subverted—he initially appears to have become wealthy through incredible business acumen, the real story is that it was through incredible business acumen and a pile of cash made by selling stolen art.
Rikhard Fisk
Rikhard Fisk is Ian Cook's adviser and constant companion. This Finnish lawyer was moderately well-known in his home country before being hired by Cook, but his defense of Cook in an IP lawsuit has made him a minor celebrity. Despite many generous offers, Fisk no longer takes any cases not related to Cook Enterprises, and spends most of his time serving as legal council to either the company or its founder. Rikhard doesn't do much on-screen, but he's a frequent presence in stories that involve his boss.- Satellite Character: Despite having a better-developed backstory than most of the cast, he's entirely defined by his relationships with Ian.
Dr. Jong-Su Baek
Dr. Baek is a short Korean physicist whose selection for the Ziggenheim Council was quite controversial. Unique among the 1922 Council, he was actually just happy to be a part of the whole event. Dr. Baek was secretly working for Ian Cook to build the Aura device, and was publicly recognized for his team's achievement at the first public demonstration, on board the New Atlantis.- Chekhov's Gunman: He was little more than a name during his first appearance.
- Token Minority: Invoked in-universe with his selection for the Ziggenheim Council.
Dr. Oswallt Gwyn
Dr. Gwyn was a nerdy Welsh neurologist who somehow managed to hate the other 1922 Ziggenheim Council members more than they hated each other (though he has since warmed up to Dr. Baek). He made the funeral arrangements for the scientists who died at the 1922 Symposium. He, like Dr. Baek, was revealed to have been hired by Ian Cook for Cook's secret projects. Dr. Gwyn doesn't seem to have any troubles with using his lab for private projects, including pulling memories from the brain of one of Ian's deceased employees and skimming off lab funds to buy a boat to investigate Thule.- Chekhov's Gunman: He was little more than a name during his first appearance.
- For Science!: He won't let silly things like ethics get in the way of him discovering new things.
Dr. Rachel Ulanda Rossum
Dr. Rossum is the third member of Ian Cook's team of genius scientists. Her specialty is the emerging field of robotics. She's generally a bit frosty toward everyone if she bothers to pay attention to them at all. Though Dr. Gwyn clearly has an "appreciation" for her, she seems a bit more focused on Anton.- Improbable Age: One of the best roboticists on the planet is only in her early 20's.
Khan
Dr. Willem De Witt
Dr. De Witt is a stocky Dutch marine biologist on the 1922 Ziggenheim Council who claimed that Dr. Gerald intentionally and maliciously downplayed De Witt's contributions to Gerald's work with dolphins. He left the Symposium with Rox en route to Chicago, but later appeared in Casablanca commanding a trio of well-armed gorillas. Though he was given Henry Gerp's copy of On the Trail of the Lost Continent, Sam and Sarah were able to retrieve it, leaving De Witt with a minor gunshot wound as he escaped.- Chekhov's Gunman: He was little more than a name during his first appearance.
Ziggenheim Scintists
See Also: Dr. Oswalt Gwyn and Dr. Jong-Su Baek under Cook Enterprises, Dr. Willem De Witt under Khan
Doctor Methuselah
The seemingly middle-aged Doctor Methuselah is quite possibly the most intelligent person on the planet. He claims to be nearly one thousand years old, and may even be right, given just how exceptional he is in other respects. Among other things, he seems to be able to perform impossible feats by inscribing inscrutable mathematical equations. A known enemy of the Spirit Centurions, the Doctor is searching for the Eternity Equation-—a piece of perfect mathematics that would make him truly immortal and give him the power to control time itself. Whether or not the Eternity Equation exists is unknown, but he has tangled with Jet Black, Sally Slick, and other Centurions over clues to finding and understanding it, most recently being stopped from manipulating the time streamIn most countries, Doctor Methuselah is a wanted criminal, leaving him with few . . . civilized . . . places to hide. Unfortunately for our main characters, Switzerland is one of them. The grey-clothed, glasses-wearing Doctor arrived at the 1922 Ziggenheim Symposium in his personal ornithopter to enter a paper about the passage of time in a vacuum. At the Symposium, he showed quite a bit of interest in Maxim Komorov's violin performance, imploded a wing of the hotel defending himself from a Grey Man, and observed the Spirit Centurions as they captured Garrison Grayson. The Centurions ran into him again at a New York performance by Maxim Komorov, where he again showed a great interest in Komorov's music.
- The Dreaded: To an extent within the universe, but even moreso for the players, who have a better idea out of character just how ridiculously powerful he is.Ironeye: But yeah, he's gonna go down the tunnel.
Lance: Can I fate point that he's not?
Dr. Rhys Hibberton
Dr. Hibberton is the inventor of the Synthetic Harmonizer. Not a serious contender for the 1922 Ziggenheim Prize due to his work being incomplete, he spent most of his time at the Symposium trailing behind his best friend, Dr. Gerald, apologizing for the outgoing man's behavior. The death of Gerald at the Symposium hit Hibberton hard, but he was able to finish the harmonizer, just in time for Garrison Grayson to steal it and hold him hostage.- Chekhov's Gunman: He was of little importance in his first appearance, but he became important to the plot once Garrison Greyson broke out of prison.
- Satellite Character: In his early appearances, he was defined by his relationship with Michael despite having equal standing in the story at that point.
Dr. Florin Albu
The elderly Dr. Albu is a Romanian geologist with a grandfatherly manner who doesn't seem to be entirely aware of what's going on around him. This former member of the 1922 Ziggenheim Council is also rumored to have gypsy connections. He sleeps like a log. Dr. Albu was last seen on a train to Romania.- Chekhov's Gunman: He was little more than a name during his first appearance.
Dr. Friedrich Zeram
In late 1921, Dr. Zeram got in the papers due to his study of the effects of magnetism on human physiology, with the potential of making a neuro-map of the brain. The front-runner for the Ziggenheim Prize in 1922 (the first time he was up for a major award), Zeram disliked anyone who wouldn't flatter his ego. Garrison Grayson, in particular, earned a bit of his ire. Zeram was killed by one of Grayson's Grey Men using one of Bernhardt's freezing pills as part of Grayson's revenge on the people who had ruined his career.- Asshole Victim: He was the biggest Jerkass of Grayson's victims, and also the last.
Red Russians
Rocket Red
Rocket Red is a rocket pack-wearing mercenary with strong ties to the Red Russians. Though she frequently ends up in fights against club members, she's usually just on the job—it's nothing personal...at least on her end. Jet Black has a bit of a rivalry with her (in part due to rumors that she stole his mentor's tech), and Mack Silver isn't too happy that he let himself get seduced by her when she interfered with one of his smuggling runs in Mack Silver and the Sky-Pirates of Araby.Rocket Red also appeared in Doctor Ekk and the Sword of the Archistrategos, working for Agent Morpheus. She briefly faced off against Millie and Anton before they escaped with Ekk. When the Centurions were in Cairo looking for Te-Kas' ring, they encountered Rocket Red in a bar, where she got involved in a bar fight. Exiting the fight prematurely, she was able to sneak aboard the Sparrowhawk and do...apparently nothing. The team fought her as she was leaving, but she was able to escape.
- Arch-Enemy: To Jet Black, since the Red Rocket is believed to be based on his mentor's research.
Nazis
The Nazi Party is a recently-formed radical political movement in Germany. Their brown-uniformed stormtroopers are feared on the streets of Munich.
Paul Wagner
Paul Wagner is a middle-aged German businessman (one of the wealthiest in his home country) who was a member of the Century Club. He was present at the New York party where Ian Cook was nearly assassinated and was the one to identify the attackers. Wagner was one of the prospective buyers of the annotated copy of "Faust", where he had Nazi stormtroopers as guards, revealing him to be a Nazi ally. He has since left the Century Club.- Chekhov's Gunman: He didn't even have a name for his first appearance.
"Alan"
A huge, hunched, mutated guy who doesn't seem too fond of Sarah and may or may not have a doll fixation. He seems to be working with Bernhardt.- Beta Test Baddie: He knows he's only Bernhardt's favorite because Sarah hasn't come back, and it makes him hate her all the more.
Dr. Egon Bernhardt
Dr. Bernhardt is an unscrupulous biochemist who founded Byberry Mental Hospital in order to get a good supply of test subjects. Sarah eventually escaped his grasp and later returned to retake Byberry, leaving Dr. Bernhardt in a remote cave. In the time since then, Bernhardt was rescued by some of his well-connected friends and was selected as a voting attendee of the 1922 Ziggenheim Symposium. At the Symposium, a grey man broke into his room and stole some of his death pills, one of which was later used to kill Dr. Zeram. Due to Grayson's testimony, Bernhardt was allowed to go free, and returned to Germany with his only friend at the Symposium, Dr. Weiss. Dr. Bernhardt somehow broke into Dr. Bianchi's facility outside of Rome and was able to escape with the research notes for Project Hero.- For Science!: He used inmates in a mental assylum as experimental subjects.
Dr. Simon Weis
Dr. Weis is a a tall German biochemist who was on the 1922 Ziggenheim Council. He has ties of some kind to Dr. Bernhardt. Weis was last seen returning to Germany with Bernhardt after the Symposium.- Chekhov's Gunman: He was little more than a name during his first appearance.
Gray's Raptors
Gray's Raptors were a squadron of mostly non-British pilots who flew for the Royal Flying Corps (and later the Royal Air Force) in the Great War. Many still fly for the RAF or for the air forces of their home countries. The Raptors are notable for flying against Jagdgeschwader 1 (the Red Baron's former unit) with only a single casualty. Note that the ranks listed are those from during the Great War. In the time since then, the RAF has moved to a new rank system that does not feature these ranks. Since Sam hasn't formally been an RAF pilot since the war, the ranks listed are the ranks she knew her squardonmates by.
Captain Harrison Bryant: Gyrfalcon
The physically imposing Boston-born Captain Bryant was very protective of the other members of his squadron, particularly Sam, given her youth and gender. Captain Bryant was on leave when the war drew to a close, and was present at Professor de Faria's victory party when Professor Rochester was shot.- Chekhov's Gunman: Though he's connected to two of the player characters in the backstory, he didn't do much in his first appearance, leaving his true role unknown.
Miscellaneous Characters
Mabel the Maid
Mabel is Millie's hard-working London maid. So far, things have not gone well for her, as agents of the Children of the Night knocked her out and left her tied up in the wine cellar. She's surprisingly friendly with Spiro despite her taking his place in the cellar.- Chekhov's Gunman: She was little more than a name during her first appearance, but her growing connection with Spiro could lead to much more.
Dorthy "Boots" Mills
Dorthy Mills is the elderly landlady of the apartments where Henry Gerp stayed until recently and the widow of Stephen Mills. Her most notable trait is her impressive boots. She has requested that the Centurions retrieve the month's rent that Gerp owes her if they ever get a chance. She also allowed Millie access to Black Lipstick's room after Black Lipstick left in a hurry with her companions.- Chekhov's Gunman: Her importance in the broader story wasn't revealed until Ian Cook identified her husband.
