Black's Entourage
In General
Black and his closest companions.- Quirky Miniboss Squad: Called this by name by Black.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Defintely. Even if they are made up entirely of badasses, they aren't really a true team, and have lots of quirks that get in the way of actually working together.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: In spades: owing to the Fantastic Racism that is ever present in Warhammer 40,000, everyone is expecting everyone else to betray the group.
Commander Black
The protagonist of the story. Before being shoved into a Commander by a Random Omnipotent Being, he was a microbiologist.- Always a Bigger Fish: In a first for commander self-inserts, he is usually on the receiving end of this trope: the Warhammer 40,000 universe is one of the few places where Black is, to quote the author himself, "not even remotely the biggest fish in the pond".
- Butt-Monkey: The universe ABSOLUTELY REFUSES TO GIVE HIM A BREAK.
- Cynicism Catalyst: The battle at the Kaurava system. The sheer number of things that go to he there pretty much shatters Black's idealism (or at least what was left of it) and ends up leaving him worse than the Luna Wolves were after the War with the Interex.
- Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of Self-Insert Commanders as a whole: Black may be an incredibly powerful, self-replicating engine of war, but he's never been in combat before against an enemy who takes battles as more than a game, and frequently finds himself outmatched by his foes.
- Didn't Think This Through: Black has a tendency to forget that his minions are solely ranged units and not designed for melee. He therefore tends to lose badly if forced to fight in close range, at least until he actually sits down and addresses said problem.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: Does not view himself as a hero, after all he has done.
- Knight in Sour Armor: Tries to do what is right, but is rather bitter and melancholic about it. It's implied he ended up this way after the battle at the Kaurava system, where his attempts at ending conflict with the Sisters of Battle peacefully ended up making things far worse for the civilians of the system, along with causing several other issues.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: After defeating the Sisters of Battle, he willingly spares them, allowing Stubbs to imprison them in refugee camps. When the Scream hits, the Sisters become corrupted and spread it to the civilians in the camps. It's heavily implied that this contributed to his cynicism.
- Only Sane Man: At times, he feels this way. Considering his company, this is very much a Justified opinion.
- Pragmatic Hero: Black is very aware he cannot fix most of the problems in Warhammer 40,000, so he wants to leave the universe entirely rather than allow himself to go insane. Not that he's good about it.
Wraithseer Orkanis
An Eldar Wraith Construct from the War in Heaven. He's the very first person to join up with Black.- Cool Old Guy: He's over sixty million years old by the time of the story, but is arguably the most well adjusted of Black's companions. Which is saying something.
- Cool Teacher: He steps in to take over Thomas's psyker training after Ozman becomes comatose from the Scream.
- Odd Friendship: With Sekhareth.
- Only Sane Man: He shares this role with Sekhareth: they're only members of Black's entourage that don't actively plan to betray the others. Black trusts them the most because of this.
- Single Specimen Species: The Wraithseer wraith construct has never been mentioned in canon, so its likely this applies to Orkanis for the time being.
- The Undead: Being a wraith construct, he fits the bill, but isn't evil.
Lord Sekhareth
The Necron Lord of Kronus. Black captured him during the final battle for Kronus and, after realizing he was sentient, allowed the Necron Lord to be part of his crew.- Deadpan Snarker
- Explosive Leash: A variant. Black replaces Sekhareth's power source with one he can control, so he can shut the Necron down in an instant if he tries anything Black doesn't like.
- Gilded Cage: Arguably, the Litany of Fury can be considered this for him, though he hardly cares.
- Odd Friendship: With Orkanis.
- Only Sane Man: Or Necron, as it may be, and he shares this role with Orkanis: They're the only members of Black's crew who don't plan to betray each other. Black trusts them the most because of this.
- The Social Expert: He's the best at politics in Black's crew, and Black explicitly calls him a godsend in that field at one point.
- Troll: The minute he sees Taldeer, he immediately starts messing with her, without even speaking. It's clear he enjoyed watching her just comepletely shut down upon seeing him.
Farseer Taldeer
The Eldar commander from Dark Crusade, who has decided to follow Black to guide him toward a mutually beneficial path.- Action Girl: Definitely, but because she spends so much time advising Black, she doesn't really have any time to show how badass she can be.
- Break the Haughty: Goes through this Chapter 30, when she is possessed by a daemon. While Black is ultimately able to exorcise it, her appearance is left permanently altered from the possession.
- Can't Argue with Elves: Tries to invoke this, but Black refuses to listen.
- Heel Realization: Taldeer start to seriously realize how screwed up her people are after realizing why Orkanis chose to stay with Commander Black than with his own people."When he said he'd rather stay with the Commander than return to his own people, I thought that he was delusional or foolish, maybe even a traitor. But he wasn't, wasn't he? Is it really betrayal, turning away from something in disgust? Are we..."
Curon, Larrissa and Mohannis
Taldeer's seer council. They accompany her and are in charge of helping her with her visions.- Freudian Trio: Larrissa is The McCoy, Curon is The Spock, and Mohannis is The Kirk. Unfortunately, this doesn't really help them in Chapter 31, because Mohannis isn't sure who to side with.
- Shout-Out:
- Black: "Curon, Larrissa and Mohannis...Curly, Larry and Mo."
General Lucas Alexander
Leader of the Imperial Guard Forces on Kronus, later becomes the Imperium's envoy to Commander Black- Ambadassador: Is the Imperium's ambassador to Black, and can rip people in half with his lightning claws.
- Heroic RRoD: Falls unconscious for hours after the battle with Kyras, during which he pulled off some seriously impressive feats, such as enduring a direct and painful hit from Warp lightning (and continuing to fight afterwards) and using a Space Marine's thunder hammer.
- Kangaroo Court: Is subjected to one by the Inquisition, due to siding with Black to stop the Blood Ravens from subjecting Kronus to Exterminatus. The Inquisition was actually using it to get him to volunteer himself to be the Imperium's ambassador to Black, because they know they can't beat Black with what they have and need to keep an eye on him. Since this is essentially a suicide mission and Alexander is the only Imperial Black trusts, they needed to get him to volunteer himself to be the ambassador.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: He mourns that what he'll be known for is not that he was willing to fight all of the Imperium's enemies in one star system, not that he fought against impossible odds that others would break under, and certainly not that he saved Kronus. No, he'll instead be known as the guy who used a Baneblade in a boarding action against a Space Marine Battle Barge.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Is willing to work with Black to save Kronus from Exterminatus and is willing to (begrudgingly) put aside his xenophobia when he has to live with Eldar while interacting with Black.
- As a consequence of this, Black is willing to trust him more than the Eldar and will give him privacy when he asks for it.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Due to Black's intervention, he survives the Battle Of Kronus. In fact, he ends up being the winner.
Commissar Anton Gebbit
The commissar in General Alexander's command squad.- Dramatically Missing the Point: He views his actions through the lens of serving the Emperor. This works fine for him when he's trying to comfort Thomas after the boy's parents are killed by a zealous mob, but it backfires when Thomas is grieving over Ozman after the Scream, since he can't properly understand Thomas's resentment towards the Emperor.
- The Political Officer
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He's one as far as Imperial commissars go, viewing execution as a grim necessity rather than something to be done freely, and even recites the names of those he's executed over his career during morning prayers. He also leads by example during combat with the Guard, and is quick to act fatherly towards a traumatized Thomas when Black shows up with the boy.
Magos Vacille
A tech-priest assigned to General Alexander's diplomat group.- Combat Tentacles: Has multiple mechadendrites, but the only time she's tried to use them, Black got involved and rendered her actions unnecessary.
- Gadgeteer Genius: She's a member of the Adeptus Mechanicus. It comes with the territory.
- Machine Worship: A given, being a member of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
- Noodle Incident: Once fought several maintenance servitors, apparently because they had trouble distinguishing Mechanicus acolytes from dust. She only mentions this when Black notes his surprise over how aggressive she was toward his Roombas.
- Only Sane Woman: One of the few Tech-Priests who doesn't view Black as evil. Even when she's doing crazy things - like suspecting that the Roombas are going to rise up and attack them - she has a good reason to think that (see Noodle Incident).
- As a Magos Explorator, Vacille saw a lot of things during her travels, and was constantly forced to improvise. This made her a radical by Mechanicus standards, and the Fabricator-General of her Forge World sent her to Alexander's party partly as a way of getting rid of her before he was forced to do something drastic.
- Stealthy Colossus: Black is surprised by how stealthy she can be in spite of all of her augmentations.
Ozman
The sanctioned psyker attached to Alexander's command squad.- Cool Old Guy
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: Falls victim to this thanks to the Scream, which sends him into a coma he probably won't be waking up from. Thomas doesn't take it well.
- Psychic Powers
- Playing with Fire: He mentions that he's best at pyromancy.
- Shock and Awe: He uses psychic lightning on several Space Marines during the Imperial Guard's boarding action against the Scientia Est Potentia, to deadly effect.
Thomas Servarion
A child native to Kaurava IV. He is adopted by Black after he is orphaned by a horde of flagellants.- The Ace: Big time. He's only six, but has a body appropriate for a 10-year-old, can keep up with Imperial Guard training regimes, is a gifted psyker, and is already capable of solving advanced calculus equations and creating complicated mechanical designs Black can actually use on the battlefield. Considering who he is, this isn't surprising.
- Broken Ace: Oh boy. The story enjoys making his life miserable.
- Child Prodigy
- Conveniently an Orphan: Zigzagged: While him being an orphan is justified, it does make it easy for him to join up with Black.
- The Reveal: He's actually one of the two missing Primarchs, specifically the Primarch of the XI Legion. Word of God reveals he was shot forward in time by a freak Warp storm. It's stated that not finding him contributed to the fall of his legion.
- Word of God also indicates that he's subconsciously impairing his growth rate with his psychic powers to avoid being noticed.
- Wild Mass Guessing: With the reveal of just who he is, many people are now wondering just what part of Big E he embodies. Rationality is one of the biggest guesses.
- Younger Than They Look: Is this thanks to his rapid growth. He looks like a ten-year-old despite only being six and a half.
- In fact, he may be even younger than that. As some forum posters pointed out, Thomas may not have actually been two years old when he was first discovered.
The Imperium
Various Imperial characters. Note that Alexander and company are listed under Black's Entourage, despite their affiliation.
Inquisitor Mordecai Toth
An Inquisitor who takes an interest in Black after the battle at Kronus.- Laughing Mad: Has a brief hysterical fit at the end of his interlude, where he is overwhelmed by everything that happened earlier in the chapter.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: For an Inquisitor. He tries to take a softer approach to Black while reigning in his more hardline peers' attempts at outright destroying the Commander, is willing to have peaceful (if not fully agreeable) discussions with Black and Taldeer where he actually considers their words, and does not like to not waste Imperial lives when he can help it.
Vash
Lucas Alexander's second-in-command, who takes over when Alexander isn't able to fulfill his usual duties for whatever reason. This becomes permanent after Alexander is assigned to Black's diplomatic attaché.- The Chains of Commanding: When Black and Alexander contact him after the Scream to check on Kronus, he's described as looking beyond tired and having giant bags under his eyes from the stress of his job as Governor Militant.
Canoness Selena Agna
A Canoness of the Order of the Sacred Rose, who leads the Sisters of Battle at Kaurava.- Crisis of Faith: Has a big one following the defeat of Saint Anais.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Downplayed. She prefers to think her actions through logically rather than just charging in hoping her faith will protect her (in contrast to her more zealous second-in-command), and is one of the few members of the Ecclesiarchy to not fall to the corruption following the Scream, but is still willing to murder innocents in the name of the Emperor.
- Rejected Apology: At one point, Black mentions that she later very sincerely apologized for her actions, but he still can't bring himself to forgive her.
