Expedition

Nicolai Vasnetsov

Young orphan from Nadezhdinks.

Both Sides Have a Point: He frequently runs into situations where he can't pick sides, cause he can't decide which side is actually "right" or "wrong", as both are right in their own way, and yet, both makes some major mistakes.
Character Development: He slowly evolves over the course of the story.
- He comes from reckless, irresponsible child he was to mature, confident and competent veteran on his own right. After Man-eater's (presumed) death, Varyag acknowledges that he essentially took up his mantle in some way.
- At first, he believes that life is is the suffering and making more life is a crime: why make babies if they're gonna grow up in cruel, unfair world, likely would suffer from all kinds of illnesses, if they're gonna be mutants? But, by observing how people keep struggling, e gradually learns to value life and determination to keep going, against all odds — which, on more global scale, means making babies no matter how risky it may sound: where's no risk, there's no victory.
  The life can't stand still and go extinct because the human is scared, doesn't want to feel pain, take responsibility and care for sick child... No. Life should go on. Babies should get born. Babies are the life itself. Either they would get born, against all odds, or humans would die out, and others would take their place. Those who do care about their babies. Even rats care about their ratlings. Even wolves love their cubs. If the humans can't, then lets it be rats and wolves... With their babies... Life must go on...
Disappeared Dad: After a nuclear war, Nicolai's father became a searcher (one of the people who goes into dangerous expeditions in attempt to find useful resources for the colony). After one of them, he went missing and never returned — along with everyone else from that expedition.
Embarrassing Nickname: Nicolai is annoyed by Man-eater calling him "Blissful". However, when Ilya (seemingly) dies, he embraces it, and later says that he's missing Ilya calling him that.
The Friend Nobody Likes: Over the course of the story, because of his antics, he gradually spoils friendship with everyone — except for Ilya. He doesn't come along with other people they meet either.
Humans Are Bastards: The more he sees the life, the harder it becomes for him to justify saving humanity: he starts feeling that perhaps, it deserves finally dying due to its own mistakes.
In-Series Nickname: Man-eater keeps calling him "blissful" (to his annoyance), due to Nicolai's weird or even borderline insane behaviour.
The Millstone: While some of his actions do lead to useful contacts purely by accident (like him going on a walk and running into stalkers), but more often than not he's just useless at best, and actually harmful at worst, if not for the team, then at least to himself. Even Nicolai himself later starts feeling that he's the "fifth wheel" and provides nothing of use, which bothers him. He gradually grows out of it.
The Foreman [about the expedition]]: They should be preserved. Though this Crest guy is rather wild, but I think he understands my motives and harsh conditions of our lives and survival. He's a grew-up man, experienced in life. Same as the others. They don't have illusions, don't wear rose-coloured glasses. But this guy clearly never made important decisions in his life, and always was leaded by others. Always pampered. He only started maturing up during their journey, and yet he's still far from being mature. He's useless.
Missing Mom: His mother got radiation sickness due to radioactive rain early after the nuclear war. She didn't live for long.
No-Sell: After being hit by psi-wolf mental attack once, he got an immunity to further psychic attacks — with exception for Ilya's Compelling Voice.
Open Mouth, Insert Foot: He has the bad habit of not thinking before saying (usually something insensitive and harmful, due to his "all hope is lost" mindset). It starts with relatively innocent things, like him ruining the mood with a song about despair, but later it would cause actual harm more than once. He quits this after Ilya's Heroic Sacrifice, albeit he wouldn't resist trying one more time in Hope City.
Stopped Caring: He's prone to despair (even more than Vyacheslav), believing that nothing can be done and that their struggle for survival is pointless, and doesn't even bother with hiding it, even if it annoys the others; the other characters have to snap him out of it.
Strong Family Resemblance: Two different people in Babylon recognises him as the son of Nicolai Vasnetsov Sr., who had visited Babylon seven years ago, from his eyes alone.
Supporting Protagonist: While he's technically the main character, he himself achieves barely anything useful right until the very end (with very few exception); pretty much everyone else in the expedition is more useful than him.
Third-Person Flashback: He occasionally sees the visions of past events, as if he witnesses them himself, but can't affect or communicate with people in any way. Man-eater later explains it as him seeing "echoes of the past", and considers it to be his morlock ability.
Too Dumb to Live: He's prone to doing really dumb and dangerous things despite being told not to, and only gets out of troubles due to either dumb luck, or someone else's help.

Vyacheslav Skvernoslov

Nicolai's step-brother.

Doesn't Trust Those Guys: Vyacheslav is old enough to remember the nuclear war, even if he was a child back then, and still can't forgive Americans for nuclear strikes; this hatred spreads to other Americans, regardless of whether they have any relation to nuclear strikes or not — to the point that he becomes more of detriment than asset once the expedition reaches Alaska.
Happily Adopted: He was adopted by Nicolai's parents, making him and Nicolai step-brothers.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He often comes up as jerky and too impulsive for his own good, but he does care about his friends and his brother Nicolai, and later always regrets showing his dark side. His jerkiness comes is the most apparent when he ends up in Alaska, as he just can't let the past go; for him, the people there are the same one who nuked his home and caused the deaths of his adoptive family; it's rather clear that it's not so much a genuine hatred, but more a suppressed grief.
Meaningful Name: No one knows whether "Skvernoslov" ("pottymouth") is an actual surname, or nickname which just replaced it, but everyone agrees that it fits perfectly, given his love for swearing.
The Millstone: Once the expedition reaches Alaska, he starts causing constant problems by his inability to keep his mouth shut and not alienate the locals, refusing to shut up even when directly ordered.
Sir Swears-a-Lot: Fitting his surname, he's known for constant swearing.

Yuri Alexeev and Andrey Romanov

The cosmonauts.

Despair Event Horizon: In Moscow, they both reveals that they no longer cares about saving the world, being too devastated by the revelation that their families were dead all along, and they have made it so far in vain. They quickly snaps out of it... or so it seems.
Hero of Another Story: Much of their past (mis)adventures during their fifteen years-long journey remains untold.
Last of His Kind: They both learns, after reaching Moscow, that their families didn't live for long after the catastrophe. Andrey later finds his daughter alive, only for her to kill him, and then die herself almost immediately after.
Mr. Exposition: The greatest contribution to the plot they do is to explain the situation with HAARP and why it must be stopped. Other than that, they barely participates in most conflicts, mostly being busy driving the moon rover.
The Quiet One: They barely interacts with the other characters (and even each other), and in general remains quiet, non-emotional and non-talkative.
Sacrificial Lamb: They're the first members of the expedition to die, showing the dangers represented by humans (Andrey) and morlocks (Yuri).
Took a Level in Jerkass: Yuri becomes noticeably more grumpy and rude after Andrey's death.

Varyag

A searcher from Nadezhdinsk.

Always Know a Pilot: It's revealed early on that Varyag is a former pilot. In the part two, the Brotherhood supplies expedition with a plane to reach Alaska, they only need to reach Ekaterinburg first, where it's stored.
Good Counterpart: Tibbets frequently says that he sees Varyag as his opposite, who, unlike him, is worthy of praise and respect: if Tibbets is a bomber (he was a part of the crew of "Great Inquisitor"), who did his part in the nuclear massacre, Varyag is a fighter, whose role is to shoot down bombers like Tibbets, to defend their home. If Tibbets is an executioner, Varyag is a noble defender. He actually uses this as argument in favour of sparing Varyag and his crew during trial.
Tibbets: Fighter is a noble profession. You don't bomb bridges and schools. Don't blast refugee convoys and hospitals. Don't throw nuclear bombs. You're hunting for other hunters. You're hunting the people like me. You protect the sky instead of burning the earth. You're fighting instead of crushing everyone from out of reach. Sometimes you even fight on equal terms. You're a fighter, and thus, a noble warrior, not a great inquisitor...
His Name Really Is "Barkeep": It may sound like a nickname or callsign, but "Varyag" is his actual first name; his father served at a fleet, and the name likely originates from the namesake cruiser, best known from the famous Soviet-era song.
The Leader: He's the leader of the expedition towards Alaska to destroy HAARP.
Shell-Shocked Veteran: He keeps seeing nightmares about the first days after nuclear war — destroyed cities, the shadows of incinerated people, the horribly burning remains, etc. He says that thick snow covering everything is for the best: it prevents from seeing what's beneath it...

Ilya "Man-eater" Crest

A former saboteur.

The Atoner: Much of his motivation is to fix at least some of the damage which was done during the war, by him included. It's also why he's now so much against using nuclear weaponry for any reason, making sole exception for HAARP, which is world-ending threat.
Berserk Button:
- He absolutely can't stand rapists and doesn't consider them to be human beings at all.
  - When he sees Vyacheslav trying to rape Bee, Varyag actually has to intervene to prevent him from harming Vyacheslav (and Nicolai, who intervenes to protect his brother).
  - He once helped a village against "terminators". Then their elder "rewarded" him with three underage prostitutes (two are orphans, the third one's parents are fine with it; as they're sick, no one cares about their well-being), he broke the elder's nose, beat up several other villagers, and later returned to fight against them, fighting side-by-sdie with terminators. He then found a new home for those girls.
- Reminding him about Irina Listopad is a sure way to make him very angry.
  - When he sees her grave, it's one of the few points when he goes berserk and just smashes the cross on her grave, to everyone's shock.
  - When Nordica accidentally reminds him about Irina, he sheds a single tear, and then snaps and almost chokes her before regaining self-control. He tells her to never bring that topic again.
  - He reacts badly when called "bunny": it seems that it's how she was calling him.
Black Comedy: His favourite helmet with the words "I'm a man-eater! Salt yourself!" written on it.
Blood Knight: He acts a little too enthusiastic during battles.
Brutal Honesty: He rarely tries to sugarcoat what he thinks about you. If he thinks you suck, he says that you suck. He only ever tries to mix things up with Nicolai, seeing that he needs it.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: His weird and eccentric behaviour and choice of clothes (the mix of Russian sea fleet headgear with the symbol of radiation attached to it, Nazi trenchcoat and Japanese katana; sometimes, he alters some details, both in and out of combat) do nothing to diminish his effectiveness as officer and combatant.
Character Filibuster: Ilya is really prone to give long speeches, particularly of "The Reason You Suck" kind.
Choice of Two Weapons: He has two signature weapons which are strongly associated with him — machine gun (of very specific rare model) and Japanese katana; in fact, one character gets mistaken for him precisely because he has the same machine gun, despite being taller than him.
Cursed with Awesome: Some weird psychotronic weapon in metro has gave him certain powers (namely, immunity to mind control by psi-wolves), but may eventually turn him into morlock if he ever gives in to his dark side.
Dark and Troubled Past:
- During the last war, he served on a nuclear submarine (he was assigned there shortly before; his actual specialisation is the sea saboteur). The captain refused to fire missiles, no being willing to further participate in a global massacre — and then one of his subordinates, Ilya Crest, rebelled against "treasonous captain", killed him and fired those missiles on his own. Back then, he thought that it was his duty. Now, it's the reason why he's the Death Seeker, though he still believes that he had no other way, no matter how disgusting it was; but he certainly regrets killing the captain, as it wasn't necessary, and was him succumbing to emotions.
- He certainly was one of the assassins hired by Artel to hunt down and eliminate various people deemed to be dangerous for survival of society after the nuclear war.
Deadpan Snarker: He's prone to make mean sarcastic remarks on everything the other characters do (particularly Nicolai and Vyacheslav).
Death Seeker: One of the officers says that the thing he wants the most is the massive army of enemies rushing on him. The further story goes, the more apparent it becomes that there's a good reason why he seeks the dangers which can end his life. And then we learn about his role in the nuclear war, and what he feels about it.
Determinator: What he witnessed in Pripyat convinced him that nature always finds a way to survive, against all odds. It deeply affected him, and convinced him that humanity should learn from it, and never give up for as long as there's even the smallest chance.
Man-eater: I was there few years before the war. In Pripyat. [...] It creeped me out back then. Dead, abandoned town. [...] But my opinion changed very quickly. I entered one abandoned house. On the fifth floor, through the concrete, grew a young birch. Probably, the seed was carried there by wind, and set up its roots. Those roots steadily, year by year, pushed through invincible reinforced concrete, covering the dead rock with the living web of roots. And that's when I realised that the life would make it at first chance. Wouldn't miss even a small, ghostly chance, unlike the rational human. And that's the power and greatness of the nature. [...] And despite the tragedy that hit the citizens of the town back then, in this feast of nature on the concrete plates, in this grass growing right through asphalt and blooming dandelions was the great optimism of the triumph of life over the death.
Even Evil Has Standards: For all his ruthlessness, he has some lines he's not willing to cross, and some crimes he has zero tolerance to.
- He's completely indifferent towards killing people, but he absolutely despises rapists.
  - When he sees Vyacheslav trying to rape Bee, he goes ballistic and beats him up, forcing Varyag to intervene.
  - He once assisted one village against "terminators"; as a reward, they've tried to give him several of local (underage) girls to "please" him: those are sick, infertile, and would die soon anyway; two are orphans, the third one has parents who are fine with it. Ilya's reaction was to beat up some of villagers, including the mayor, and later show up again, this time fighting for the "terminators", to wipe them out. The girls were then moved to a (benevolent) group of amazons whom Ilya trusts.
  - When in "Three Pigs" artel he hires a prostitute, turns out that he only wanted to interrogate her for information; he refuses to use her, even while she's fine with it, and tells her to just lie and sleep; he would tell her boss that all was fine. In that same scene, he shows that he still can't fully forgive Vyacheslav for what he (almost) did to Bee.
- He reacts very badly when he hears Nicolai suggesting Wind to kill his disabled son (who's essentially vegetable), and calls him fascist.
- Despite — no, because — he was one of the people who sent the nukes which burned the world, he's now vehemently against using them again; even the one intended for HAARP is the last resort, and if they find a way to avoid using even it, he would take it. This puts him at odds with Vyacheslav.
The Friend Nobody Likes: He doesn't come along with anyone in the expedition. He's particularly hated by Varyag, who sees him as a butcher, who kills people just for fun, even in the situations where it's not necessary. This gradually improves over the course of the journey (in particular, he comes along with Nicolai), and people sincerely mourns him when he apparently dies.
Gender Is No Object: He doesn't care what gender or nationality people belongs to — all that matters is whether they're good or evil. If they're evil, they should die.
Man-eater [to Pentisilea]: I don't take women into custody. And don't fight with women. I fight with evil and filth. And filth has neither gender nor nationality nor race. Filth is filth. You're filth.
Hidden Depths: On the surface, he appears as a cynic, sociopath and borderline psycho. But occasionally, his hidden side shows up — that of a dreamer who still believes that the world can become a better place, through their deeds. Even if he has not the best opinion on humanity, he still believes that it has a chance to improve for as long as it continues fighting for survival, and that it should learn to live In Harmony with Nature.
In Harmony with Nature: He believes that the nature, as soon as humans stops abusing it and leaves it alone, starts recovering on its own, "it always finds a way"; he learned that when visiting Pripyat and seeing how it improved years after the catastrophe. Now, he thinks that humanity should learn to stop exploiting the nature, and start coexisting with it, which would give humanity the true immortality, as their physical death would no longer matter.
In-Series Nickname: "Man-eater" isn't a callsign, it's safe-made nickname (quite likely, made up specifically to showcase his dark nature). Before that, he was known under callsign "Achilles".
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He may be rude, angry, cynical and have shady moral, but he's not completely heartless.
- He starts looking... softer near Nordica, as if not everything in his soul is dead yet. And that sympathy is mutual.
- While he constantly provokes conflicts, he always instinctively feels when it's time to stop — and restore the fragile peace in the team. Occasionally, he shows some good even without needing to balance his previous jerkiness.
- He doesn't care that much about humanity, but he wants to give the second chance to the planet; destroying HAARP may allow Earth to recover, which the poor world certainly deserves.
- When everyone gets fed up with Nicolai's cynicism (which he often shows at worst moments possible, he calmly explains to him why his worldview is wrong and that it's because people continues struggling, continuing living, continuing loving, their lives makes sense.
Kill the Ones You Love: He loved Irina Listopad, but had to kill her after meeting her again and learning what she had become.
Knight in Sour Armour: Underneath the cynic and jerk, hides wise and experienced man who still wants to believe that the world can become a better place, and wants people to stop fighting and killing each other for no good reason.
Meaningful Name: His surname, Crest; "crest" means "cross", and there's a saying about "carrying one's cross", which means the burden which one can't put on the others. He was one of those who fired the nuclear missiles during the war, seeing no other way, but hating himself for doing it. The phrase itself actually gets brought up by him in the end of the first novel, so the symbolism is likely intended.
Never Found the Body: His tank gets swept by the wave, then hit by a huge piece of ice and drowned. He's assumed dead, as all attempts to find him during the day fails, and by the night, the flood goes too far away, while river starts icing over again. On another hand, the tank was specifically stated to be amphibious... In the epilogue, he shows up again, alive and well, and even reaches Nadezhdinsk.
The Nicknamer: He consistently addresses Varyag and Vyacheslav by silly nicknames related to their surnames, while Nicolai gets called "blissful".
Nom de Guerre: His original Artel callsign was "Achilles". He discarded it after killing Irina Listopad.
No-Sell: He's completely immune to mental attacks from psi-wolves (later he states that it extends to other types, too). It later gets explained as him technically being a morlock now.
The Sixth Ranger:
- He's not the original member of Confederate forces; he had joined them at some point, and fights "as volunteer". Before that, he was with many other groups, each of which he had abandoned at some points.
- He joins the expedition in Moscow, deciding to go to Alaska rather than stay in Moscow.
Token Evil Teammate: He's not very pleasant to deal with, and he has rather lousy moral standards, like using expansive bullets to ensure that whomever he shoots dies for certain, even if it's cruel (there's a good reason why those bullets are illegal in real life). No one likes his methods, and feels that his self-chosen callsign is quite-deserved. However, over the course of the story he shows his good side, too.
Unscrupulous Hero: They have the goal, and all that matters is whether they fulfil it, or die trying. As such, there are no "too hardcore" methods as long as they work.
Vitriolic Best Buds: Man-eater claims that he and Nordica hates each other. Their actual relationship is closer to two old friends who constantly teases and playfully insults each other.
Why Can't I Hate You?: He tries to suppress all memory of ever feeling love for Irina Listopad (whom he had to kill, due to her becoming a monster), but isn't very successful. It's likely the reason why he instantly explodes when remembered about her.

Other characters

Europe

Nadezhdinsk

Vasily Mikhailovich Guslyakov

An officer from Nadezhdinks.

Parental Substitute: When Nicolai and Vyacheslav had lost their father, he became the closest they have to a parental figure; they were close even before that.
Sacrificial Lamb: His death pretty much serves to demonstrate that yes, the nuclear war had created some really monstrous mutants. His death is also very personal for main characters, given that he's their Parental Substitute.
Secret-Keeper: Vasily Guslyakov had punished Nicolai and Vyacheslav for drinking, but also covered their tracks so no one, including their father, would find out (mainly because said father would be punished, too: it was his flask). He'd warned them that if they gets caught again, he would not cover for them.
We Hardly Knew Ye: He's the first named casualty, before the story even leaves Nadezhdinsk. His backstory actually gets explained after his death.

Professor Mikhail Veniaminovich Tretiakov

A scientist from Nadezhdinsk.

Hobbes Was Right: He believes that without control, any human can easily degenerate into something monstrous. Even himself. He uses the cannibal village of Vislyayevo as an example.
Humans Are Bastards: He has very low opinion on humanity in general, and frequently points that the hell in which humanity now lives is self-inflicted — and that it was inevitable, given that humans are predators and destroyers.
Last of His Kind: His family did not survive the nuclear war.
Mr. Exposition: Most of his role in the plot involves him explaining the setting, from mutants and how two cosmonauts ended up in Nadezhdinsk, to HAARP and why it must be destroyed (he knows about it due to working on a similar object before).
Outliving One's Offspring: His youngest son has went insane and died after the war, while the oldest, along with his children, was in Kaluga, the city which was hit with a nuclear strike; he hopes that they died in the strike, rather than survived, only to live in society like Vislyayevo.

Moscow suburb

Dybetsky

A marauder from Moscow suburb. Unrelated to Mikhail Dybetsky from Moscow.

Asshole Victim: Him being an unrepentant raider with no redeeming qualities, it's hard to feel sorry for him when Varyag slashes his throat. The heroes certainly don't.
In-Series Nickname: Timofei calls him "Dyba" (Rack, as is, "torture rack") multiple times; nickname clearly originates from his surname.
Last-Name Basis: He's consistently called by either his surname or nickname which is based on it.
Pushy Gun-Toting Villain: He's even more unstable than Timofei, and prone to shoot people at slightest provocation, despite them trying to just talk to him peacefully. Timofei has to calm him down.
We Hardly Knew Ye: He dies in the same chapter which introduces him.

Timofei Brazhnik

A marauder from Moscow suburb.

Asshole Victim: Even if his death was avoidable and he wasn't of any real danger, he's still an unrepentant asshole with no redeeming qualities. While Nicolai laments killing Rana, no one regrets Timofei's death when Varyag slashes his head.
Bait the Dog: His introduction scene shows that he's supposedly more adequate than his partner Dybetsky. No, he isn't; he's unrepentant raider, casual racist and has Black Shirt mentality. He also tries to rob the heroes as soon as they tries to disagreeing with him (and likely intended to do that even before they gave him an excuse).
Black Shirt: He dreams about some more "civilised" nation to conquer Russia, so he may live better under them. He doesn't care who would rule, for as long as he has some food to eat, some vodka to drink and some TV to watch.
Meaningful Name: Timofey's surname is "Brazhnik", which is rather symbolic, given his personality:
- "Brazhnik" is the old-fashioned word for alcoholics. He's a moonshiner and heavy drinker.
- "Brazhnik" is the Russian name for hawk moth — dangerous pest; Brazhnik is unrepentant raider.
Starter Villain: He's the first threat the expedition faces (not counting mutant enemies in Nadezhdinsk), and by far the least dangerous, but he sets up what can be expected from the other humans.
We Hardly Knew Ye: He dies in the same chapter which introduces him.

Rana Brazhnik

Timofey's daughter.

Butter Face: She's young, but has a face of very old woman.
Fingore: She's missing two fingers; they were bitten off by rats in her sleep.
Her Name Really Is "Barkeep": Timofey didn't bother with coming with a proper name, and just named her "Rana" (Russian for "Wound").
Imaginary Friend: Real Rana dies early on; but she continues to live in Nicolai's mind, talking with him.
Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Nicolai keeps seeing her in his dreams and talking to her (she's not mute in these dreams), with her giving him advices and motivating him to think about true nature of humanity and whether it truly deserves to be saved (and why). It never gets clear whether it's just his mind playing tricks with him (Man-eater believes that it's just his consciousness visualising things it hears elsewhere), or there's something mystical involved, given that Nicolai does gain some unnatural abilities, like him seeing "echoes of the past".
Meaningful Name: Her name ("Rana" — Russian for "Wound") really says a lot about her.
- Her mother (who suffered from radiation sickness) has died during childbirth, forcing the people to take out the child out of her corpse by themselves, only to see that she's completely silent and motionless. Presuming that she's dead, they tried to bury her, only for her to suddenly scream — the only sound they ever heard from her, as she's mute. Now, she misses two fingers (eaten by rats in her sleep), her face is covered with marks (likely from radiation) and looks prematurely aged, and she has poor blood clotting, including during menstruations.
- Besides Rana herself being disabled, she frequently appears in Nicolai's visions, where she acts as a sort-of avatar of the Earth itself, saying how HAARP "tortures" the planet and gradually tears it apart, as well as convincing Nicolai that Humans Are Bastards not worth saving.
Missing Mom: Her mother died giving birth to her; she was raised by her father.
Never Learned to Read: In one of Nicolai's dreams, she reveals that she wasn't taught how to read: her village believes that knowledge only brings misery.
The Voiceless: She's mute — except in Nicolai's dreams.

Moscow

Axai's group

Stalkers who meets and helps the expedition in the forest.

Embarrassing Nickname:
- Armagen's surname (Hatchikyan) sounds dangerously similar to a popular racial slur for Armenians; naturally, it's what people use to call him in order to mess with him.
- Besides "Subzero", which he likes, Sabitov also frequently gets called by its literal translation, which sounds way less cool and may actually sound somewhat insulting, as if it refers not to temperature, but his own uselessness.
BFG: Subzero is armed with a heavy machine gun (specifically, "Pecheneg").
Fake Danger Gambit: Armagen once helped Snow Leopard (who was too shy to just tell Katia that he's interested in her) to hit on Katia by pretending to harass her, so Snow Leopard could "save" her. The plan was later revealed, but she forgave them, and actually started dating Snow Leopard.
Irony: Snow Leopard was a huge fan of everything metro-related, from metro itself to Metro 2033 novels. Even his girlfriend Katia was working selling books in metro, about (you guess it) metro. Then she died in metro during nuclear war, just before he had a chance to propose to her, and now everything related to metro serves as major Trauma Button to him.
The Leader: Axai is the leader of the group.
Mr. Exposition: Axai's main role in the plot is to explain how things works in Moscow.
Multinational Team: Armagen is Armenian, Subzero is Tatar, and Axai has Terek Cossack heritage.
Shout-Out:
- Snow Leopard was a fan of a popular series of novel about metro, which is all but explicitly stated to be Metro 2033.
- Subzero's nickname is taken from Mortal Kombat, after namesake character.
Trauma Button: Don't let Snow Leopard start talking about metro; he would again descend into memories about his girlfriend Katia — and how she died in the nuclear war, because she was one of those unfortunate souls who rushed to metro hoping for protection, only to find out that it was a death trap. Everyone knows about it, and tries to prevent such situations from happening.
X Called; They Want Their Y Back: Armagen is frequently mocked for wearing a Nazi helmet which he looted somewhere.

Mikhail Dybetsky and his family

A former policeman. Unrelated to marauder Dybetsky from suburb.

Chekhov's Hobby: Inverted; his hobby (he was a fan of everything that has to do with space) allows him to recognise the moon rover and the cosmonauts, but it's how his introduction scene opens. He's quite surprised himself that those ever came out useful.
Death by Irony: He was convinced that if humanity can't save itself, it deserves dying. He and his family gets captured and tortured to death, failing to save themselves.
Eye Scream: His son Boris had lost one eye.
Hard Work Hardly Works: Back when he was still a policeman, he out of principle refused to accept bribes (though, given his rank, no one was gonna offer him large sums anyway); as result, his wife divorced him for being "poor loser", leaving him to care about their son Boris by himself.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: His decision to help the expedition ultimately results in him and his family being captured by bandits and tortured to death to gain information.
Stopped Caring: He used to believe in humanity, in better tomorrow. That was why he became a policeman, and why his sister's husband became a firefighter. But the more he lived with humans, the more he witnessed their disdain, sometimes outright hatred, and utter lack of respect or gratitude, and grew to believe that perhaps humanity deserves everything bad which happens to it, and doesn't worth saving. This belief became only stronger after the nuclear war. That's why he sees no use in expedition to Alaska to stop HAARP: cause there's no point to risk your life for people who don't give a damn. He's fine with helping individual humans when he can, but no longer sees any reason to be a hero, as it changes nothing.

Natalia "Nordica" Rodionova

A stalker. Old friend (sorta) with Man-eater.

Action Girl: She's a skilled stalker and combatant, capable of dealing with a horde of morlocks on her own.
Canine Companion: She has (particularly large) friendly psi-wolf named Achilles as her "pet".
Heel–Face Turn: She was with fascists until she was saved by the leader of (muslim-run) group "Irbis"^note One of the terms for "snow leopard", who convinced her to quit.
Vitriolic Best Buds: Man-eater claims that he and Nordica hates each other, since the long time. Their actual relationship is closer to two old friends who constantly teases and playfully insults each other.

"Leaf Fall" gang

In general

A malevolent amazon gang operating on the outskirts of Moscow.

Egocentric Team Naming: Listopad (Leaf Fall) gang was named after Irina Listopad, the gang founder and original leader, killed by Man Eater. Despite her being long dead, they still carry the name out of respect (though Man-eater calls them out on hypocrisy in that regard, as they don't bother with maintaining their founder's grave).
Straw Feminist: It's unknown how bad it was under Irina Listopad, but under Pentisilea, they acts as blatant radical misandrists and bandits with no redeeming qualities.

Irina Listopad

A founder of the gang, named after her self-invented surname.^note

Do Not Call Me "Paul": He real name is Elena; she changed the name and surname in hope that Ilya Crest wouldn't track her down; he still did, which ended fatally to her.
Off with Her Head!: It's known that she died when Ilya beheaded her.
Posthumous Character: She's long dead by the start of the story.
Predecessor Villain: She's the founder of Leaf Fall gang, but she's long dead, allowing Pentisilea to take over.

Pentisilea / Angela

The current leader of the group.

Arc Villain: She's the leader of a gang which captures the members of expedition on their way out of Moscow, and wants to kill them.
The Corruptor: She's the reason why the rest of Leaf Fall "amazons" are so evil, poisoning their minds with her own hatred.
Dragon Ascendant: She became the leader of the group after Man-eater had killed its founder, Irina Listopad.
Facial Horror: Half of her face is covered with burn scars, and is paralysed because of that.
Meaningful Name: She chose the name after a queen of amazons from one of the mythos about Achilles. Then she dies the same way as her, stubbed in the neck by the man who has "Achilles" as his old callsign.
Psycho Lesbian: When she learns that Andrey is Bee's lost father, she orders Bee, once she kills him to prove her loyalty, to go to her bedroom, where she would spend a night "teaching her" (read: corporal punishment). In combination with her behaviour and characterisation (like accentuating Bee's sexuality to mock prisoners), it's very likely that she's interested in Bee not only as a student (and she's not the kind of person who cares about consent).
Straw Feminist: To even greater degree than the rest of her gang, which she turned into borderline totalitarian cult. She doesn't consider males to even be humans (only fit for reproduction), openly wishes them death, and is very stubborn in defending her ideals. Man-eater actually goes into polemics with her, and counters her arguments, like "the world would be peaceful under the rule of women" (by listing female leaders who started the wars).

Bee / Uliana

Andrey's daughter.

Death Equals Redemption: She gets forgiven posthumously by most characters. Nicolai, in one of his visions, even sees her together with her family.
Fate Worse than Death: She becomes zombified by a psi-wolf; Man-eater finishes her off.
In-Series Nickname: "Bee" isn't her real name; it came from the word "Uley" ("hive"), which, in turn, is based on her real name Uliana.
Not Quite Dead: We learn about her when Andrey gets told that his house was destroyed, and his family murdered. Then we learn that she was found and adopted by the amazon gang Leafs Fall... which would've been good, if not for that particular group taking their hatred towards males to the level of totalitarian cult.
Patricide: Under pressure from Pentisilea, she kills her father Andrey to prove her loyalty to the gang. This signifies her crossing the point of no return, as the other characters notices her now looking almost zombie-like and completely subservient to Pentisilea.
Rape as Backstory: She was captured by bandits and cruelly raped (at the age of four), before she was "saved" by Leaf Fall, only to be indoctrinated by their leader.

Ural

Artel "Three Pigs"

The Elephant

An innkeeper.

Affably Evil: For a cannibal, he's rather friendly.
Asshole Victim: Even if Man-eater killing him was unprovoked, he's still a cannibal and a murderer, so he had it coming.
I'm a Humanitarian: Like his boss Oligarch, he's a cannibal.
Killed Offscreen: He burns alive offscreen when Ilya sets ablaze the artel.
Only Known by Their Nickname: His real name is unknown.

Oligarch

The owner of artel.

Asshole Victim: While he never poses any danger for the expedition, not only he's a cannibal (who chose to become one willingly) and a murderer, but it's known that he was an asshole long before the war; he thoroughly deserves what Man-eater did to him.
Fat Bastard: He's fat (in post-apocalyptic world where food is scarce) and follows sellout "ideology" of "suck up you pride and serve whomever is willing to give your everything". Oh, and he's a leader of cannibal society.
I'm a Humanitarian: He's the leader of cannibal society.
It's All About Me: His "ideology" is entirely self-serving; he doesn't care about things like "moral" or "loyalty", only whether serving someone would pay up. Man-eater sums it up the best:
Man-eater: Slava, don't be a fool. I always hated the ticks like him. The people like him cares about not what's better for society, but only about safety of their own skin. They are like virus. A weed. He, without second thought, would sell his own people into slavery to foreigners and, with sincerely-looking eyes, would say that it's "for the better". In fact, for him, the concept of his people, national identity, homeland, honour or conscience are distilled with watermarks of foreign currency.
Killed Offscreen: Ilya slices his throat offscreen before setting the whole artel ablaze.
Only Known by Their Nickname: His real name is unknown.

The prostitute

A local prostitute.

I'm a Humanitarian: Like her boss Oligarch, she's a cannibal. Unlike him, she never chose that life; she just doesn't know that it's not necessary to be one.
Killed Offscreen: She burns alive offscreen when Ilya sets ablaze the artel.
No Name Given: We never learn her name, only her role in the artel.
Token Good Teammate: Played for Drama. While she belongs to a cannibal society, she's not a villain; she never knew that other life is possible, where it's not necessary to eat human meat, where it's not necessary to serve as a prostitute since your first menstruation as "your duty" for society, or where she may have anyone who truly cares about her (she didn't even know that all people have parents). Because of that, she refuses Nicolai's offer to join them and leave: he wants her to leave people who she thinks are her family and "cares" about her (even if in twisted way), and join the people whom she doesn't know and actually slightly fears.

Babylon

Boar

A barman. Has surprising amount of influence in the town.

Dragon-in-Chief: He's not the most high-ranking man in Babylon, but certainly the most competent. With the actual administrator showing his utter incompetence during siege, he now has a chance to get into power himself.
Only Known by Their Nickname: His real name never gets revealed.
Reasonable Authority Figure: He's one of the most high-authority people with the most authority in Babylon, and for a good reason. When he sees Nicolai having a conflict with patrol officer, he sides with Nicolai, knowing how much he and his friends contributed to defence, and tells the officer (who didn't participate in the defence) to leave, now. Later it turns out that he has some ulterior motives, planning to exploit the new heroes to get into power — by force, if needed; and Wind believes that he's ready to kill his new "friends" if they wouldn't cooperate.
The Starscream: He plans to get into power in the Babylon, either peacefully or violently.

Artyom "Wind"

A stalker. Was a biologist in previous life.

Genius Bruiser: He's not only highly competent stalker, but also a scientist (specifically, biologist) who uses his knowledge to help Babylon.
In-Series Nickname: He was nicknamed "Wind" by his (now dead) girlfriend.
Mr. Exposition: He explains about the raiders and "molochites", as well as vandals.
Sixth Ranger: Subverted; he gets set up as a potential new member of the expedition, and even gets offered to join, but refuses, cause he has to care about his disabled son (who's essentially a vegetable).

Gnat and Shnifer

The stalkers.

Only Known by Their Nickname: Their real name never gets revealed.
Perpetual Poverty: Judging from Boar's comments, they consistently fails to pay up their bills for food, and owes him a lot of money. They don't pay this time, either.
Speech Impediment: Shnifer speaks with a heavy lisp.
Those Two Guys: They always sticks together. The two contrast in their appearance: Gnat is tall and slim, and has very low voice and an eyepatch; Shniffer is short and somewhat fat, and talks with heavy lisp.

Turanchox

Midget pimp with very toxic personality.

Batter Up!: He uses baseball bat as a weapon — including in his last fight.
Dying Moment of Awesome: While he was certainly a jerk, he died like a hero, protecting one of his prostitutes with a baseball bat — and killing four vandals before he was killed himself; she actually tried to recover his corpse, but was shot in a head by sniper.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's very unpleasant, and, well, he's a pimp. But ultimately, he died protecting one of his prostitutes during siege, and she even tried to retrieve his corpse (with fatal consequences) — something you wouldn't do to a guy whom you hate.
Killed Offscreen: After the battle for Babylon, we learn that he was killed during siege.
Multiple Gunshot Death: It took half a magazine from assault riffle to kill him.
The Napoleon: He's short — and equally short-fused.

Gleb Lodzinsky

A scientist who volunteered to act as a guide for Nicola Vasnetsov Sr.

Doesn't Trust Those Guys: After the horrible death of his son during Chechen war, he was unwilling to trust any Caucasians, and had a conflict with his daughter when she married one. Now, he realises that he was bigoted and his sorrow blinded him... though, now he also Hates Everyone Equally.
Evil All Along: He only joined Nicolai Vasnetsov and Dmitri Ermakov in their expedition to "Arkaim" bunker in order to unleash the monstrosities hidden there. As soon as they ceased to be of use, he tried to kill them.
The Fundamentalist: Implied; he uses religious and Biblical motives so often, Nicolai Vasnetsov Sr. even comments on him sounding like preacher. Amongst other things, he explains humanity's downfall with it being "sinful", and lists homosexuality amongst those "sins".
Hates Everyone Equally: He now hates all humanity, regardless of race or nationality, and wishes it extinction, believing it to be deserved.
Lodzinzky: So, you asked why I hate humans? Because even after nuclear war, you somehow managed to not die out! You're resilient like roaches! Like rats! No treat against you, you say?! No, there is one!!!
Jerkass: He's very unpleasant and rude. It quickly becomes apparent why.
Last of His Kind: His entire family has died, long prior to the nuclear war.
The Lost Lenore: His wife was hit on trolleybus stop by some drunk driver; when he stepped out of the car, he didn't try to help her, but instead yelled on her for his car's light being damaged. The asshole wasn't prosecuted, as he was rich and police was afraid to deal with him, while no one bothered to help in any way. The ambulance took an hour and half to make it there (the road was blocked due to some official's cortege), and then failed to deliver her to the hospital in time; Gleb thinks that no one was gonna bother anyway: "no man, no problem". That incident was one of the key events on his path to misanthropy.
Madden Into Misanthropy: His and his family's horrible misfortune is what made him hate humanity, and what convinced him to join the project dedicated to creating new biologic weapons, both mutants and GMO (intended as Sterility Plague).
Mad Scientist: After all the losses he suffered, he started hating humanity so much, he gleefully jumped at opportunity to work on something designated to destroy the other humans, when offered. After the nuclear war, he became only more insane.
Lodzinsky [about giant worms]: [...] We already prepared for testing meter-long subjects on the New Land. Put them on the plane. Sent them in our branch facility in Moscow suburb, but... children of Fermi and Oppenheimer changed all our plans.
Ermakov: You, egg-headed scientists, have everything so lyrical and touching. Children. Atomic bomb... child... Like son, or daughter... Fathers of atomic bomb, pappies of nitrogen one. And those worms are also children? Yes? What other surprises you've prepared for us, common mortals? A? What other children and grandchildren awaits us in this world?
Media Scaremongering: He claims that AIDS doesn't exist and that people misattributes to it countless other immunity-related issues; the ones who truly benefits from it are people who're selling condoms. Given that he's not exactly sane, and that in that same speech he advertises celibacy as the best measure, it's hard to tell whether information coming from him can be trusted at all.
Outliving One's Offspring: Both his children, as well as his granddaughter, have died even before the nuclear war, all because Humans Are Bastards.
- His son served during Chechen war, only to be left to die along with his entire brigade. A politician, passing as "human rights fighter", contacted them, saying that they fought for nothing, and promised that if they surrender now, they would be spared and return home. It was a lie; they were raped, mutilated and finally killed. Gleb only received a severed head of his son, after it spent four years in a fridge.
- His daughter married a man from Caucasus (specific ethnicity isn't stated), over objections of Gleb, who by that point was unwilling to trust anyone from that region. That marriage was happy, but one night, they were attacked by the group of "racial purists", who beaten both to death, leaving their young daughter an orphan. Said girl was adopted by Gleb, until one day she was abducted when returning from school, and killed by some satanic cult which used her as human sacrifice; they were never found, and even the corpse was discovered in abandoned well six months later.
Uncertain Doom: Did he die? Or turned into morlock? We'd never know.

The Brotherhood (aka "the Raiders")

In general

Good All Along: Played With. After all, the rumours about horrible "raiders" turns out to be self-cultivated, and the actual faction is benevolent; they're concentrating on wiping out the evil and dangerous groups (like molochites), while gathering and preserving the art, history and science of the pre-war civilisation while trying to build a new, better society based on companionship and true democracy (as is, when society in its entirety decides what's better, not some lone leader). When they hears about HAARP, they instantly offers their help with resupplying the expedition. That being said, their methods are anything but good, and disgusts the members of the expedition, who barely avoids alienating them.
Good Is Not Nice: While they're amongst the groups trying to restore civilisation and order, their methods are often questionable. They distrusts outsiders, practices slavery, and are okay with using plague as biologic weapon.
A Lighter Shade of Grey: They're better than most other factions in post-nuclear Siberia — if you don't mind them practicing slavery. And then there's their interest to freshly-discovered neo-plague. Vyacheslav openly voices a question whether they did a good thing when sided with them over Chernoviks.
Made a Slave: They're fine with enslaving their captives (or just people who goes too close to their bases). According to them, for many of their slaves, having food, shelter and protection is an improvement over what they'd get with the other factions or on their own; it's impossible to verify whether it's true, and both times their slaves shows up on-screen, they're treated badly (with imprisoned Chenoviks being just shot at any provocation), which main characters clearly dislikes.
Nom de Guerre: Many of them are former "Artel" members, and still uses the old callsigns (like Svyatogor and Peresvet; both are based on Slavic folklore). It's ambiguous with Dietrich and Vainakh, as those may be the real names.
The Spook: InvokedTrope, they intentionally cultivated the reputation of mysterious merciless, ambiguously human faction of "raiders" with futuristic tech, as it keeps people away from them. Some groups, like Chernoviks, outright don't believe that they exists.
True Companions: They set up the "brotherhood" as one of their central ideals.

Svyatogor

The general of the "raiders".

The Leader: He's the general of the "raiders".
Mr. Exposition: He does most of the talking, and provides important pieces of backstory.
Reasonable Authority Figure: As soon as he hears about HAARP, he offers his help with resupplying the expedition; he refuses to provide people or suits, though: both are in highly limited supply, and they're still fighting the war against molochites, which wouldn't end even with HAARP's destruction.

Dietrich

Representative of the "raiders" who works with the expedition.

Mr. Exposition: He explains balance of powers in this region.
Token Minority: Assuming this name is real, and not a nickname based on his "Arian" look (not all Brotherhood members are from "Artel"), he's the only German in the cast.
Unscrupulous Hero: He thinks that it's fine to use plague against Chernoviks.

Chernoviks

In general

An anarchist group, one of the strongest in Siberia. They're named that way after their leaders's surname.

Always Chaotic Evil: They're against any and all loyalty and morality, not just dismissing them, but actively hating them and wanting to destroy — along with those who adhere to those ideals. They don't respect any rule except for the rule of the might, and no right except for the right of the strongest to take whatever they want. Naturally, such "ideology" attracts worst of the worst.
Chernovik messenger: Chernovik cause and our black revolution are invincible! Remind you, assholes and stinky bastards, that for hiding patriots, "golden straps" and other counter-revolutionaries, you would receive a death by hanging! Anyone who're tired of being suckers and living amongst ruins like rats, who're tired of stupid ideals of stupid monarchists, nationalists, commies and followers of dumb religions, can join us in our chernovik cause! To hell with conscience! To hell with morality! To hell with shame! With us, you'd be free from those rotten chimeras! We're the true power on the earth, till the end of the world!
Apocalypse Anarchy: Chernoviks gang (named that after their leaders' surname, not actual word "chernovik", which just means "draft" in English) operates on the "ideology" that any and all sorts of law and government should be destroyed, along with those who follows them, or followed in the past. This automatically puts all former military on their "to kill" list. They on principle never accepts any former military into their ranks, even if they share their views, making exceptions for former conscripts unless they had any rank, and don't accept any former criminal bosses — while happily dealing with murderers, rapists, terrorists, etc. There's absolutely no atrocity they would be unwilling to commit to whomever they capture alive (up to and including cannibalism), but inside their groups, they follow strict discipline, as even they know that it's important.
Baby Factory: What they actually use their women for (whom they're so actively agitating to join) — they rapes them, straps them to the tables, and takes their babies; those who're in more or less acceptable state, gets kept (though many are animalistic), the dead ones gets eaten; women who survives the process, gets re-used. The scientist in charge of it actually gets called "Mengele" by one of his subordinates (a fat cannibal woman who's eating guess what). Seeing this puts Man-eater into Tranquil Fury mode, and makes him determinant to wipe them out.
Deadly Gas: They've obtained chemical weaponry somewhere, and use it against their enemies.
Egocentric Team Naming: The group was named after its founders, Chernov brothers.
Equal-Opportunity Evil: They don't care who joins them, as long as they're not former military (excluding conscripts who never raised above privates, those are welcomed), or had any authority in the past. Specifically, they're notoriously non-racist, as one of their principles requires them to dismiss any forms of patriotism or national identity. That doesn't make them any less evil.
Genuine Human Hide: Amongst other things, they're skinning their victims and use their skin for producing clothes and other things. They're also making leashes from it.
If You're So Evil, Eat This Kitten!: When they recruit someone, they put them near the row of prisoners, and orders to execute several of them; then they lets the rest to run away, spreading the news about what you did, so no one would let you back after that.
I'm a Humanitarian: While not all of them are cannibals, they're perfectly fine with eating human flesh; it's part of their ideology — being free to do whatever evil you want. Man-eater actually kills one cannibal woman during infiltration on their base.
Made a Slave: They're racketing the other factions, and makes whomever they capture into the slaves, whom they brands and puts to work in horrible conditions. Women faces the other kind of slavery.
Rape, Pillage, and Burn: They take whatever they want, whenever they want, from whomever they want. Anyone who disagrees gets put to sword.
Sex Slave: Most women (excluding those too ugly to be of interest) who ends up with them gets gang-raped, and, if they survive this and ends up pregnant, used for reproduction. The Chernoviks refers to place where they keep them as "stall".

Yakov and Lev Chernovs

Brothers, the founders and leaders of Chernoviks faction.

Arc Villain: They and their faction are the main antagonists of the chapters set in Ekaterinburg and near it.
Big Bad Wannabe: It's pretty clear that much of the strength and infamy which Chernoviks have accumulated over the years came from Lev, not Yakov. Nicolai disposes of him extremely easily. Then turns out that Lev isn't much more dangerous when facing any real enemy.
Dirty Coward: When Yakov has no team of armed men by his side, and his enemies aren't tied up, he becomes pathetic coward who can only beg his big brother Lev for aid (who readily points that it was him who asked to let him rule by himself), and then beg for mercy, even agreeing to become slave if needed; too bad, Nicolai wants only his death.
Killed Offscreen: Lev dies when Brotherhood bombarded his position with "Buratinos", offscreen.
Leeroy Jenkins: When Nicolai taunts Lev about killing Yakov over radio, Lev blindly rushes to punish him with all his forces. This directly leads to his death.
Wasteland Warlord: They command the cruel bandit faction in post-nuclear Ekaterinburg, oppressing everyone else for fun and profit.

Far East

Hammer

A local Yakut hunter.

Canine Companion: He has a pet wolf, Ace, whom he found as a cub and raised; he helps him with hunting.
Character Catchphrase: He's tend to remind about him being a hunter, his father being a hunter, and his grandfather being a hunter in any sentence where he can shoehorn it.
Bilingual Bonus: He mixes slightly mangled Russian with the words from his native language; sometimes he explains what they means, sometimes not.
Friendly Sniper: He's very good shot, and provides fire support during the final battle against Gau. At other times, he's friendly and talkative.
Generation Xerox: He's a hunter. His father was a hunter. His grandfather was a hunter. The tradition would end on him, however, given that both his sons are now dead.
It's Personal: While he calls both local leaders "tyrants", he still prefers Foreman over Gau at any time of a day: not only those are blatant fascists and casual racists, they've killed his last remaining son.
Mr. Exposition: He explains how things works on the Far-East.
Outliving One's Offspring: Both his sons have died, one — due to Gau.
Sole Survivor: His entire family has died.

The New Republic

Commissars Yezhov and Nicolai Andreyevich

Two commissars. Yezhov secretly practices torture, while Nicolai relies on psychology and despises violence.

Asshole Victim: Yezhov gets used as a pawn to strike against Gau, at the cost of his life, but given that he's an utter asshole and a torturer (in society which banned tortures, so he does that illegally, despite being requested to stop), it's hard to feel sorry for him. No one in his society certainly wouldn't miss him.
Bald of Evil: Yezhov is described as bald and resembling a butcher.
Decomposite Character: They're based on Nikolai Yezhov, a chief of NKVD under Stalin; one of them takes surname and the role of the infamous torturer... and the other takes the name and influence, without negative traits associated with prototype.
Faux Affably Evil: Ezhov pretends to be friendly, promising that everything would be nice, you just have to confess. If you refuse, he drops the facade and turns violent.
First-Name Basis: We don't learn Nicolai's last name, only first name and patronymic.
Good Cop/Bad Cop: Yezhov is a torture technician who beats you up. Nicolai Andreyevich is a polite commissar who enters to talk to you and learn the info he needs without violence. Subverted in that Nicolai is always like this, and Yezhov wasn't supposed to beat up people, and does it against regulations.
Meaningful Name: Yezhov shares surname with Nikolai Yezhov, a chief of NKVD under Stalin. Just like him, he's a torturer and and interrogator; also like him, he ends up backstabbed by his superiors.
The Lancer: Nicolai is close friend with the Foreman, from even before creation of the New Republic. He's the one on whom the Foreman can rely during his moments of weakness, and the one who can reassure him and keep him motivated to carry on.
Last-Name Basis: "Yezhov" is surname. Hist first name isn't revealed.
Token Evil Teammate: Turns out that Yezhov is practicing torture illegally, and it's not official policy; he would get into serious troubles if it gets reported. Even without that, he's highly unpleasant guy whom even his friend Nicolai barely tolerates. When he gets thrown under the bus to strike against Gau, no one misses him.
Torture Technician: Yezhov is practicing torture to extract data (or confessions) from his subjects. However, as it turns out, he's practicing this illegally, and is already on the brink of downfall because of that.

The Foreman

The founder and ruler of the New Republic.

Benevolent Dictator: It's openly admitted that he is dictator. It's also acknowledged that all alternatives are much worse, and his people genuinely loves him, to the point that they wouldn't accept anyone else, nor they would let him retire if he tries. The Foreman actually gives a speech why nothing but dictatorship works, assuming dictator actually knows what they're doing (if they're dumb or selfish, they would be just as bad as democrats).
Democracy Is Bad: The Foreman believes that democracy is inherently flawed, and uses its creators, Ancient Greeks — who were slavers — as example why. There were free people, who practiced democracy, between themselves, and there were slaves, who had no saying in anything and were only allowed to work and get fed for it (some are relatively fine with it, some are miserable, but they're all slaves). It didn't change in more modern societies: there're still democrats who decides what to do between themselves — and the rest (even if they're no longer called "slaves" officially), who are forced to do what ordered and, for some particularly unlucky ones, suffer to improve the living conditions of the "democrats"; he brings post-USSR countries and post-Hussain Iraq as examples, where "democratisation" brought only poverty and countless ruined lives. That being said, the tyrant in power wouldn't be any better, as they would do exactly the same thing, just openly; only strong, but wise leader who's willing to work, and work hard, can bring their people to prosperity.
Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": He's only known as "the Foreman".
A Father to His Men: Even prior to the war, he bothered to talk with the soldiers, listening to their problems and trying to help them — something the other officers never bothered to do. When the war happened, he talked them out of leaving (likely to their doom), and convinced to stay and work to rebuild anew. Now, when they more or less succeeded, the people genuinely loves and respects him. And then he comes to personally lead them to their final battle against Gau Legion, giving them the Rousing Speech which invigorates them and fills with motivation to fight to the end.
Frontline General: He actually goes to the final battle with his people, over protests of Nicolai Andreyevich. He ends up being wounded, but survives.
Good Counterpart: By the point when we meet him, we learn enough about Gau to know that they're essentially nazi in all but name, complete with "Fuhrer"-like figure and blind worship. The Foreman has sincere loyalty and respect of his people; he's strict, but fair, and actually aims to build the better future. Just to nail it further, when he gives a Rousing Speech to his men, which unites and encourages his people, Nicolai comments on how similar it is in effect to what he witnessed in Gau Legion, but without any mind control involved; turns out, to awake and motivate the best qualities in others, the leader should just stay human against all odds.
Historical Villain Upgrade: Discussed; he believes that humans always seeks an iron-handed leader in the times of troubles, disregarding how harsh they are, but as soon as the peace comes, they condemns them as "tyrants", being only able to judge them from position of their time, safe and sated, not the times of need and danger when those leaders lived. He knows that this would likely happen to him, too, but is fine with it, as no matter how he would be viewed himself, it means that at least his people would have future. He would make his best to preserve the history, but understands that it would be up to their descendants to preserve his legacy, or let it die.
Hobbes Was Right: He believes that humans are inherently flawed, and, when they lives in the era of peace and prosperity, starts planting the seeds of their own downfall, condemning the people who've build that era, and destroying everything created by them, until they end up in a time of chaos again... only to demand that another "tyrant" comes and fixes everything, so they can restart the process anew.
The Foreman: When the sheep are ruled by lions, they becomes lions. When the lions are ruled by sheep, they're doomed to become sheep. The only freedom humans truly want is the freedom from need to make a choice.
I Did What I Had to Do: The harsh times requires harsh methods; if the New Republic would survive and thrive, then it would be not in vain.
The Foreman: Years later they'd call me a tyrant. This would mean that this future would be. And this would be our achievement. How they would preserve our gift would be their problem, their responsibility, their decision. But I keep everything in strict hands, so the people of New Republic would be raised differently. So there would be succession. So they would remember the lessons. And know that they would live at the cost of our sacrifices. But now... We survived to live. And to live, we must survive.
Just the First Citizen: He insists on being continued called by his old rank, the foreman, even though he de-facto now outranks the other officers in the New Republic.
Reasonable Authority Figure: When he learns about the expedition, he insists on talking with them personally. When he learns about their goal, he agrees to cooperate with them to obtain the fuel for the plane from Gau.
Wasteland Warlord: While it's made pretty clear that his regime is authoritarian, he's portrayed as sympathetic, reasonable and competent leader, who aims to be strict, but fair, which his people actually respect. He's perfectly aware that the history would vilify him, but considers it acceptable price to save his people.

Gau Legion

In general

Black Shirt: The Legion was created by people prepared to meet American occupiers in case they would actually invade; they didn't, but Gau "compensated" for it with absurd hatred for "old backward ways".
Foreign Culture Fetish: They're obsessed with dismissing "barbaric and outdated old Slav culture" (dismissing it as "slave"), down to and including names and history. What they replace it with? Obsession with Western culture. They even tries to copy NATO uniform (when they can't obtain genuine one).
More than Mind Control: As pointed by Ilya, even if their leader is a morlock, this mind control only works so well because it interacts with their innate evil; because of that, not even killing Titos would stop the Legion now — most of them would continue fighting to the bitter end.
Nicolai: Me and Crest, together, can put down Titos. Kill them, and that's all. He wouldn't be able to affect the human minds anymore. Ilya! We can do this!
Man-eater: We can do a lot of things, blissful. But we can't change the humans. You think, with Titos' death, they would stop to be the same humans? It wouldn't give us anything. They have their idea. They have their world views. Their truth and their goals. Does that morlock matter all that much? Hitler had died so long ago, yet his cause is still alive. [...] Does anyone even remember Hitler now? But his essence is alive in humans. Yes, every man has both God and devil inside. But whose presence is stronger... Titos is not the only one responsible. All humans are. Everyone. Titos is but a wind which blows the fire. Stopping the wind wouldn't extinguish the fire.
A Nazi by Any Other Name: "With us or against us" mindset; slogan spam ("Gau!"); blatant racism (they calls Hammer, a Yakut, "mutant"); open and shameless enslaving of "lesser human beings"; self-proclaimed "master race"; an evil leader who insists on calling himself "the chief"... The list can go on, there's even the skull measure to determine whether you're the "right" human. However, later turns out that their leader is a morlock, with strong mind control abilities, and few people who don't fall for his propaganda are saner.
Patriotic Fervor: Inverted, they're ridiculously anti-Russian, to the point of dismissing their given name as "slave name", and refusing to acknowledge that Russia exists as a country. They tries to obtain, or, failing that, copy NATO uniform and weaponry, and insists that they're building "new nation".
Propaganda Machine: Gau uses aggressive propaganda, both amongst themselves, and amongst enemies (by spreading agitational fliers).
Stay in the Kitchen: They're blatant Nazis, complete with their infamous breeding programs and "woman is the mother of future soldier" propaganda.

Weynard

A corporal. Secretly works for the New Republic to put down Gau from within.

Death Seeker: He doesn't value his life much after losing his family.
Nicolai: But you would die!
Weynard: I've died long ago! With the last dying breath of my wife!
Defector from Decadence: He willingly cooperates with the New Republic to put down Titos Gau, as his way to avenge his family which died due to his lies.
Weynard: Why?! Because long time ago, my fifteen yeas-old daughter went to the Service of Home and Procreation! No one pressed her! Voluntarily! Because it's how they teach them here! Because my wife knew no other men besides me, her lawful husband! And was accused of being a sympathiser of the Foreman's pseudo-morale! And was sent to do forced labour in soldiers brothel! But chose death over dishonour! Because I was so consumed by grieve that it deafened by mind, making it immune to the hypnosis of this bastard Titos!
It's Personal: He has personal motives to dismantle the Legion: his wife's suicide after being forced to work in the brothel against her will, and daughter joining the breeding program.
The Mole: He's willingly working as the Foreman's agent in the Legion.
No-Sell: His grief over losing daughter and wife made him immune to Titos' Compelling Voice, as no amount of lies can now convince him that it was "for the greater good".
Redemption Equals Death: He stays behind to buy Nicolai time to escape. That was explicitly the part of the plan.

Titos Gau

A founder and leader. "Titos Gau" is not the real name, he made it up.

Arc Villain: He's the main antagonist of the chapters set on Far East.
Compelling Voice: He's a morlock, and has extremely strong ability for mind control (so strong, he single-handedly controls entire Legion). For comparison, Ilya fainted after briefly controlling just Nicolai.
It's All About Me: Behind all these speeches about "greater race" is nothing but his own lust for power and complete disdain for other people.
It's Personal: Coincidentally, he's the son of the crooked colonel who was killed by the Foreman for his betrayal. This gives him extra motive to try to destroy the Republic.
Karma Houdini Warranty: He got away with nuking Moscow, but his luck run out when he met Nicolai.
Man Behind the Man: Nicolai manages to read his mind, and learns that he was the one who hired the guys who installed the bombs in Moscow metro (albeit he wasn't aware that those are gonna be nuclear).
Pride: He's very convinced in being superior to the other people; always was, but it became even worse after he gained his mind control powers.
Wasteland Warlord: Titos Gau essentially tries to create his personal little Fourth Reich right in the middle of Siberia, and rule his puppets like their king and god, and destroying those whom he can't break.

Alaska

Raymon's people

Robert Lazar

A Russian-Jewish immigrant.

Conspiracy Theorist: Robert believes in conspiracy theory about the plan to install microchips into everyone, to keep everyone under absolute control, as those would allow to track down whomever causes you problems, learn everything about them, and terminate them. He believes that this future is so terrible that the nuclear war was actually a blessing, as it prevented it. Varyag outright calls him mad. Subsequent discussion reveals that he has similar opinion about high technology in general (despite supposedly working in the Silicon Valley). Later turns out that he actually worked on those chips, so he may be not as insane as it seems.
The Mole: He knew that the Guardians would shoot, but kept it secret, as that was the order from Lynch... and Hornet, who also wanted the team slaughtered, but for different reasons.
Token Minority: He's a Jew immigrant from Russia, living in Alaska.
Translator Buddy: He acts as translator for Varyag, Nicolai and Vyacheslav.

Tomas and CJ

Two local black guys.

Jive Turkey: Unlike Raymon, they're walking stereotypes about typical slang-tossing black youngsters — despite it being twenty years after the nuclear war. This actually makes them come along with Vyacheslav once the incident about him being Mistaken for Racist gets resolved.
Sacrificial Lamb: They're amongst the casualties of Guardians' attack.
Those Two Guys: They always sticks together.

Morgan Raymon

A former ranger, and one of the leaders of the town.

Defector from Decadence: After seeing the atrocities committed by American army in Iraq, he angrily resigned. He believes that it was the right thing, and that this doesn't make him any less of a patriot: he loves his country, but not its politicians and their ambitions. Naturally, this position comes at odds with Judge Lynch's views.
My Country Tis of Thee That I Sting: His grandfather was lynched for being black. His father was mistreated due to being black, then sent to fight in Vietnam, and then arrested for not wanting to kill the people who did nothing bad to him personally (he was eventually freed due to public uproar). He himself fought in Iraq and while nothing was done to him personally, he saw that other people surrounding him did to the locals, and it leaved him disillusioned with them fighting for the "great cause".
Reasonable Authority Figure: He's one of the two local leaders, who insists on listening to Varyag, and finding out just what he needs here. When he learns about HAARP, he supports him, and he remains his ally even when the civil war starts.

Donald Hornet

Former CIA agent.

Affably Evil: Even when he goes evil, he remains always polite and friendly.
Evil Old Folks: He's described as looking even older than Tibbets, with completely grey hair. But he's also a cunning Manipulative Bastard who's trying to exploit the crisis caused by Varyag's team appearance to get into power and spread that power outside of Hope City, and it's clear that has not the best intentions for his allies.
Face–Heel Turn: He decides that he he wants the technologies and weaponry of Guardians, for which he needs HAARP intact, at least until he manages to recover everything and manage to claim it. For that, he wants to throw his former allies under the bus, though he can't risk attacking Raymon directly until he convinces people that it's the right thing to do, knowing that he has not enough support for it (yet).
Manipulative Bastard: He deliberately alerts the Guardians about the attempt to destroy HAARP, hoping that this would spark a war between them and Hope City, so he may gain access to their equipment. This comes at the cost of lives of John Tibbets, Tomas and CJ.
My Country Tis of Thee That I Sting: He grew up during Red Scare, and joined CIA in hope to protect his nation. Then he learned that CIA was less about protecting the USA, and more about screwing other nations and making them miserable, which leaved him completely disillusioned with this organisation. He still loves America, but no longer gives a damn about what politicians say and think, or their hatred to the other nations.

John Tibbets

Former military pilot and major of air forces; he was a pilot of a nuclear bomber, which still haunts him to this day.

The Atoner: He deeply regrets being a bomber pilot during the war, and now dedicates his time to using radio to gather survivors in the Hope City. When he hears about the plan to destroy HAARP, he volunteers to be a pilot, knowing that it's suicidal, but seeing it as only way to redeem himself.
Death Seeker: He clearly sees not much purpose in continuing living after what he'd done during the war, and jumps at the opportunity to redeem himself by saving the world, at the cost of his life.
Sacrificial Lamb: He's amongst the casualties of Guardians' attack.
Shell-Shocked Veteran: His role in the atomic war still haunts him even twenty years later. This is one of the reasons why he's so glad to see that not all Russians have perished.
Thousand-Yard Stare: It's note that his eyes are cold, emotionless and almost glass-like, as if they froze up. His true sorrow shows up only in his voice.

Lynch's people

Eduard Lynch

A judge. One of the local leaders.

Arc Villain: He's the closest the Alaska chapters have to a main antagonist, being the guy who stubbornly insists on killing the Russians, and preserving HAARP.
Bald of Evil: He's described as bald, ugly and very malicious man. He's also the only openly malicious person in Hope City.
Character Tic: When irritated, he's tend to scratch his bald quite a lot.
Hanging Judge: He's more than willing to kill Varyag and his group without bothering to talk with them; they're Russians, so they're enemies, end of discussion. But not all of the council is on his side.
Holier Than Thou: Whenever he can't prevail by his authority, he tries to appeal to god (which doesn't work either).
Knight Templar: He justifies everything by the USA having some "mission from god". Hornet, naturally, mocks this view.
Meaningful Name: A judge with "kill now, ask questions later" attitude has surname "Lynch". Varyag lampshades how symbolic it is.
Principles Zealot: He stubbornly refuses to do any compromises.

Filippe Deladier

A former Canadian journalist.

He Knows Too Much: Lynch kills him by injecting air into his veins, as Deladier learned too much about Lynch's connections with the Guardians, and turned on him.
Intrepid Reporter: He ended in Alaska due to investigating HAARP shortly before the war, directly risking troubles with CIA over it.
Killed Offscreen: Lynch disposed of him soon after return of the expedition.
Older Than They Look: He's described as looking rather young (as is, younger than forty, which would make him a teenager at the time of the catastrophe), long-haired and somewhat feminine. In the same scene it's acknowledged that it's clearly a false impression; and indeed, he's revealed as being a journalist before the war.
Only Sane Man: The only person in Lynch's team to acknowledge that HAARP may be dangerous.
Properly Paranoid: Not only he immediately sides with Varyag once he hears about the dangers of HAARP, he says that he considered it being dangerous long before the war, but no one listened.
Token Good Teammate: With Lynch being a Hanging Judge, Madlen being Fat Bitch, and both being zealots (in their own way), Deladier is reasonable and willing to give even the former enemy the chance (he would personally supervise them), as he does believe in the danger of HAARP.

Madlen Rakovski

A former figure skating athlete.

The Ditz: She's clearly the dumbest members of the council:
- She mistakes state of Georgia and European country with the same name; according to Hornet's comment, it's not the first and not even the second time it happens.
- She genuinely believes in some "taboo" regarding going to the HAARP, saying it's "blasphemous". She's only character showed doing this (including Lynch).
Fat Bitch: Morbidly obese, extremely unpleasant and entitled.
Formerly Fit: Given that she was a skating athlete, it's safe to assume that she used to be at least somewhat fit before the war. Now, she's extremely obese. Vyacheslav actually comments on it.
Principles Zealot: She stubbornly refuses to do any compromises.
Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Hornet believes that, rather than being elected, she just exploited relationship with Lynch to get into council; no one knows from where she even came there.

Characters / There Would Be No Second Chance

Expedition

Other characters

Europe

Nadezhdinsk

Moscow suburb

Moscow

"Leaf Fall" gang

Ural

Artel "Three Pigs"

Babylon

The Brotherhood (aka "the Raiders")

Chernoviks

Far East

The New Republic

Gau Legion

Alaska

Raymon's people

Lynch's people

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Index

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Characters / There Would Be No Second Chance

Edit Locked

Expedition

Other characters

Europe

Nadezhdinsk

Moscow suburb

Moscow

"Leaf Fall" gang

Ural

Artel "Three Pigs"

Babylon

The Brotherhood (aka "the Raiders")

Chernoviks

Far East

The New Republic

Gau Legion

Alaska

Raymon's people

Lynch's people

Previous

Index

Next