History Characters / Tyranny

* DropTheHammer: His giant gavel (it's as tall as he is, and scarier than it sounds). When it strikes, it makes a [[HellIsThatNoise keening, audio feedback sound effect]] which takes several seconds to die off. It's definitely attention-getting.

* DropTheHammer: He holds a large maul, with an unusual squashed-globe head-- more like a mace than a hammer. [[spoiler:You'll get to see him swing it if discontent arises over the choice of which force will be the vanguard to take Vendrien's Well Citadel.]] Not to mention if you [[spoiler:fight him at Iron Hearth in Act 3]].

* AmbiguousGender: Kyros's gender is not public knowledge. Most men assume that Kyros is a man and most women assume that Kyros is a woman. Only the Archons have met Kyros in person and know Kyros's gender, but when they are asked about it, they always reply with "Kyros is mother and father", avoid the question, or, in Sirin's case, randomly switch gender pronouns [[ItAmusedMe because she thinks it's funny to keep it a secret]]. For the record, Kyros is referred to as a woman more often than not, especially by [[TheDragon Tunon]] (though when pressed, he gets annoyed and refuses to elaborate), probably because the Tiers, where the game takes place, is matriarchal[[note]]strictly women are the sole inheritors of property and own all of the land, but males have completely mastery of sea-based property such as ships[[/note]], though the rest of Kyros' empire [[EqualOpportunityEvil enforces gender equality in all regards]].

* GutturalGrowler: Constantly snarling and growling. Like ''Fallout''[='s=] ghouls and supermutants, a rare female case of this.

->'''Voiced by:''' ''Valerie Arem''

->'''Voiced by:''' ''Debra Wilson''

The eyes of Bleden Mark watch from every shadow. He is Kyros’ executioner, tasked with ending the lives of those Kyros deems dangerous. There is no army that marches behind Bleden Mark, no city hails him as ruler, and no great monument that boasts his name. While the other Archons surround themselves with human trappings, Bleden Mark is cloaked solely in shadow.\\\

* MagicallyIneptFighter: Kills-In-Shadow has Wits 8 when you get her and is absolutely terrible with generic magic, worse then Verse and Barik, with only one spell slot. Yet she somehow manages to invent (or possibly rediscover) a shadow manipulation ability/artifact by reading the Bastard's Wound Oldwalls murals [[spoiler:which imply that the Beastmen and their unique ability to adapt to their environment (growing gills in the case of the Mantaborn) were somehow bred or engineered into them, giving them innate magical powers, despite their inability to read which limits the number of actual spells they can learn.]]

* RoyalWe: In [[AllThereInTheManual supplementary material]], particularly [[TheWikiRule the wiki]], it's possible to read the Edicts in totality, and Kyros self-refers using collective pronouns.

* BadassBaritone: Crossed with EvilSoundsDeep. He speaks with a rumbling baritone that alone commands authority, and is so powerful he was able to split the Bastard City ''in half''.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: "The Strong Lead, The Weak Serve" is one of the Chorus' only laws. There are no formal ranks in the Chorus: If you're stronger than someone, you'll take a superior position to them by force.

* OppositesAttract: Barik, the strong, loyal, honorable, high-spoken Tiers-hating soldier of Kyros covered in head-to-toe armor, admits he's attracted to Eb, the vulgar loud-mouthed oath-breaking [[BareYourMidriff underdressed]] tierswoman mage. She seems to return it but [[TheTease it's hard to tell with her]].

* FantasyCounterpatCulture: Roughly analogous to the city-states of Ionia. An urban, cosmopolitan melting pot and mercantile center that is wedged between their cultural kin on one side and the wider world increasingly ruled by a Hegemonic Empire. And also the first to be conquered. Has some shades of Corinth due to being a mercantile center and proverbial WretchedHive.

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: Physical dominance is central to their culture. Aside from wiping them all out, a number of conflicts with the Stonestalkers can be resolved via trial by combat. If the Fatebinder can best their current Prima Hundred-Blood in battle, the whole tribe will fall in line. Even if Red-Fang and the Beasts under her command were slaughtered [[spoiler:for the Azure Shield Red was carrying]], Hundred-Blood will accept the deaths if the Fatebinder argued that they were exerting dominance.

* DefeatMeansFriendship: See AsskickingEqualsAuthority. It's possible to become leader of the tribe, and doing so can earn you the tribe's approval, given the right dialogue options.

* AnAxeToGrind: The Axe of the First Brother, a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin two-handed greataxe carried by First Brother Raetommon]]. Something of a symbol of office, if the name is anything to go by. Also various other axes carried by the Brotherhood's rank and file.

* EmpathicHealer: [[spoiler:He takes the injuries of his men onto himself and has been suffering countless wounds for centuries.]]

** And finally, ultimately, [[spoiler:subverted. In the Conquest, Ashe sacrificed legions of his troops to try and rescue his daughter, who did not want to be rescued, even running them into an Edict ''you may have warned him was coming''. He never tried to help Barik out of his armor and shows no concern for his well-being once he's in your party. He is content to stay in his tent and ''organize'' attacks while leaving the interactions with his troops to his marshals. Finally, most damningly, he will hide behind his soldiers if you battle him in Act III and only goes in after you've slaughtered waves of them (Nerat, in comparison, ''immediately'' fights you himself). Ashe even acknowledges this as he lays dying, noting that his love for his men turned into a chain somewhere along the way as he became more weary of taking on their burdens and injuries.]]
* FauxAffablyEvil: Ashe is racist, elitist, borderline genocidal against his 'inferiors', prone to DisproportionateRetribution, views everyone who's not a part of his Legion with caution at best and worthy only of extermination otherwise, and serves as the iron fist of an EvilOverlord who is trying to TakeOverTheWorld. On the flip side, he seems like an honest and honourable man who respects those who aids him in return, and AFatherToHisMen who commands UndyingLoyalty from them. [[spoiler:A closer look at his actions, particularly in his backstory, at the Blade Grave and when fighting him in Act III, shows that a lot of his touted love is a lie and his honor is expendable.]]

** Graven Ashe boasts of honor, [[spoiler:but got his position by betraying his king, dooming his homeland in the process, to serve Kyros.]]

* TheMenFirst: Done literally in the form of [[spoiler:his Aegis, as he willingly takes on the pain and suffering of his soldiers]]. The inherent downsides of the trope also comes into effect, with [[spoiler:Ashe even admitting when defeated that he cares so much about his Legion that he has problems sending them to battle, and that he's grown to ''resent'' them on some level for all the burdens they place on him.]]

* NiceHat: Like [[WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse Evil-Lyn's]]. Sirin definitely doesn't think so, however, since it's locked in place and [[ClingyCostume can't be removed]], and [[RestrainingBolt dampens her powers, preventing her from becoming a danger to the empire]]. Before she was fitted with her helmet, she [[spoiler:very nearly managed to topple Kyros herself with her CompellingVoice, having merely been brought before the court to show off her powers. In ''Bastard's Wound'' Sirin can use the knowledge left behind for her by Cairn and in the Oldwalls of the Bastard's Wound to reduce the burden the helmet places on her, freeing more of her true power.]]

* LuminescentBlush: Happens to her fairly often. With high loyalty, she'll do this ''in normal conversation'' with the Fatebinder (such as when she says [[CrushBlush how nice it is being with them]]), and gets turned UpToEleven the moment any sort of sexual innuendo is made by anyone else in earshot of her. The first instance of this is when she's asked for her opinion on Eb while the latter is present. Eb responds to Sirin [[LetsFightLikeGentlemen challenging her to a fight]] by asking if it was a DoubleEntendre, prompting this.

* KnifeNut: He uses throwing knives shaped like quills.

* KnifeNut: In addition to the crescent-shaped punch daggers he wields with both hands, he also wears a number of throwing knives in the bandoliers strapped around his waist.

* ShroudedInMyth: Kyros is probably the most well-known person in the entire world, but very little is known for certain about them. Besides the situation described in AmbiguousGender above, there are even people who believe that Kyros is actually a group of people, a LegacyCharacter, or some kind of giant beast.

* AuthorityInNameOnly: At the beginning of the game despite the fact that their words are backed by Tunon and by extension Kyros, this ultimately means little when it comes to making Graven Ashe or the Voices of Nerat cooperate.

* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Oddly enough, she's this to ''[[NobleDemon Barik]]''. She's outwardly much more bloodthirsty and sadistic than he is, but as she points out, he's just hiding the same level of cruelty behind a facade of righteousness. In addition, while she is only out for herself and doesn't care for the Voices of Nerat's plans, and even despises his wickedness, Barik is blindly loyal to the Disfavored ideals, which include FantasticRacism towards the South peoples and the Beastfolk tribes, and totalitarian control over the kingdoms of Terratus.

* SitcomArchNemesis: Does ''not'' get along with Sirin at all (Sirin thinks Verse is an inhuman barbarian, Verse thinks Sirin is a ManipulativeBastard who's playing the entire party), but neither of them will do anything more than snipe at each other while the Fatebinder is around. Verse is also ''way'' beneath Sirin in both Kyros' hierarchy and on a personal power scale and probably couldn't do anyting about the Archon's disdain even if she wanted to.

* InformedAbility: Supposedly a master strategist and tactician, the fact that his army's elitism means that they would rather indiscriminately destroy all in their path rather than take anything of use as well as the fact that most of his victories seem to simply be due to the quality of his soldiers/equipment seems to indicate otherwise. [[spoiler:There's also the fact that when you actually fight him, he simply sends waves of his men at you]]. It's unclear if this is intentional or just a product of story and gameplay segregation.

* BaldOfAwesome: Doesn't get more intimidating than a guy with the title "Archon of War". The Voices of Nerat claimed that Graven Ashe "had so much hair" before he bowed to Kyros and had to deal with Nerat on a regular basis.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: The Iron Guard are noted in the lore to provide Ashe with advice as well as protection, and he is noted to listen to and treasure your advice. In-game he even comes to appreciate the Fatebinder's perspective and will grant favour even with disagreement if it's voiced reasonably... [[spoiler:[[ButThouMust Despite this, there is no way]] [[ObligatoryWarCrimeScene you can talk him out of blighting Azure.]]]]

!!Archons

The Archon of Justice and creator of the Fatebinders, making him your boss. He is the Eldest of the Archons in service to Kyros, having served the Overlord for over 400 years. Though legends tell of many Archons of Justice in the years before Kyros’ ascension, none have been born to challenge Tunon’s claim to the title in the past centuries. Tunon is a cold and dispassionate figure, devoid of emotion and sentiment. All that moves him is his devotion to Kyros’ law. His true face is hidden behind a metal mask, his Face of Judgment, so that none may see his expression and so determine his feelings about a case before him.\\\