History Characters / HonkaiStarRailStellaronHunters

** March 7th vs. Silver Wolf: Both are the (seemingly) youngest members of their teams, the biggest thrillseekers, are rarely separated from their gadgets, and are support units in gameplay. But while Silver Wolf is an EvilGenius who is ambivalent to the mayhem she causes in [[ItAmusesMe her pursuit of entertainment]], March 7th personifies GoodIsDumb, possessing a much stronger moral compass that prevents her mischief from reaching Silver Wolf's levels of harmful.

* CastingGag: This is not the first time Creator/ShinichiroMiki voices an [[Characters/DragonBallZamasu immortal character]]. However the only difference here is that while Zamasu is a god who wished for CompleteImmortality, Blade is a mere mortal who despise immortality and trying to find ways to end himself.

* DrivenToMadness: The main reason he's suffering from mara is due to Jingliu, who tortured him to death thousands of times as punishment for [[spoiler:trying to bring a mutual friend BackFromTheDead]]. The other reason is that he somehow becomes immortal for his past deeds.

* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: His primary color scheme is red and black, and is certainly one of the most dangerous men in the universe.

Kafka stealthily decimates the opposition by manually triggering their damage-over-time debuffs, Shock in particular, which she can impose on all her foes for two turns: automatically in tandem with her allies' Basic Attacks (once in between her turns) through her Talent, ''Gentle but Cruel'', where she quickly fires at the target with a submachine gun; manually upon all enemies through her Technique or Ultimate, respectively ''Mercy is Not Forgiveness'' (where she extends a web of electricity around her) and ''Twilight Trill'' (where she fires her guns to all directions and then triggers a spider-shaped explosion), with the latter also able to manually trigger Shock damage. All these feed into her Skill, ''Caressing Moonlight'', a double sword slash onto her target and adjacent foes that manually triggers all her target's damage-over-time debuffs (including Shock).[[note]]When fully upgraded, she gains additional Energy whenever Shocked enemies are defeated or they take damage from Shock effects she placed; her Talent's follow-up attack now has a high chance to increase the potency of her target's damage-over-time effects for two turns; her Ultimate can now automatically trigger all kinds of damage-over-time effects; and Shock effects she inflicts now last three turns.[[/note]]

** As a boss, all her attacks will trigger Shock damage if any of her targets are Shocked, and if enemy units other than her or Dominated party members attack a Shocked ally, she will perform a follow-up attack onto them (similar to her playable version) once per turn.

A SuperSoldier from the planet Glamoth, created as part of that nation's Iron Cavalry Regiment in an ultimately futile effort to combat the Swarm of Tayzzyronth. Now the sole remnant of her unit, Firefly later discovered that she has a unique disease called Entropy Loss Syndrome due to the genetic modifications that created her and which would eventually erase her from existence. Elio promised her an opportunity to find meaning in her life and defy her fate if, in exchange, she would once again don the Sam armor under the Stellaron Hunters' banner.

* AmbiguousGenderIdentity: As Sam, their PoweredArmor has a tall masculine build and a male voice. They are usually treated as a man by everyone else, including their companions. Firefly's persona in the Dreamscape however is decidedly feminine, making her true self highly ambiguous, especially since the Dreamscape is a lot more flexible than reality and Firefly was undercover. The fact that Sam is an ArtificialHuman muddies the waters further; it's possible Sam has NoBiologicalSex. The "Extraterrestrial Satellite Communication" post, however, refers to Firefly as a young girl, suggesting that her persona in the Dreamscape is her real appearance, which her playable reveal reinforces.

* ArtificialHuman: Firefly was created as part of Glamoth's Iron Cavalry SuperSoldier programme before the planet was destroyed by the Swarm, which explains her inability to dream and lack of skills on things unrelated to combat.

* NoNonsenseNemesis: What little is known about Sam is that "he" prefers a straight-to-the-point style of operation. When talking to Silver Wolf on the Express, she cites Blade and Kafka as preferring to wait for their victim "on the couch, seen as they turn the lights on", while Sam would not even give them the chance to turn on the lights. In the Jepella Rebellion, "he" also states his wish that Kafka would stop "playing with her food".

* PersonOfMassDestruction: Strongly implied even compared to the other Stellaron Hunters, who are painted as this by the IPC already. Silver Wolf says that missions with "him" are a series of explosions before everything is over, Blade compliments "his" ability to create "purgatory", and Kafka outright says that an encounter with her is preferable to encountering Sam. Ironically, she seems to compare herself unfavorably to her fellow members because they have unique capabilities, while all she's good at "only apply to villains who need no mercy".

* ShedArmorGainSpeed: PlayedWith. In Sam's boss battle, "his" Toughness Gauge is protected and can't be reduced, but when "he" activates SuperMode, "he" a massive speed boost in exchange of exposing his Weaknesses. That said, "his" Toughness is also quite durable, which makes Breaking it a daunting task.

* ShipTease: Has some definite moments with the Trailblazer on their tour of the Golden Hour, which includes getting some food together, playing games, and capping it with a tender moment at her secret base where there's a romantic view of a sunset, upon which they take a selfie together. Acheron even teases them on their so-called date, and the description of the secret base warp point points out that the view "will be the generator of romantic memories for countless lovers in the foreseeable future". Later when they investigate her first memory echo after her "death", Firefly refers to the Trailblazer by name when reporting to her collaborator; Acheron and Black Swan note how close they've gotten for Firefly to still think of them even when apart.

* SorryThatImDying: Her (apparent) last words before seeming getting killed by Something Unto Death is "Sorry", the meaning of which the Trailblazer pondered if the player returned to her secret base. After TheReveal, it can be inferred that she apologized for deceiving the Trailblazer with her "death".

* VagueAge: At least as of version 2.1. Firefly looks like a young woman who is, at most, in her early-to-mid 20s... but the fall of Glamoth is implied to have occurred before, or concurrently, with the destruction of Tayzzyronth, and that happened ''thousands'' of years ago. And even if that's not true[[note]]it's equally possible that Glamoth only encountered the Swarm's remnants[[/note]], the events of the fall of Glamoth are still sufficiently removed from the present day, with no text ever clarifying how long ago the wars took place. Her behavior doesn't help, either; prior to TheReveal, "Firefly" acts like how people of her age-appearance would (her slips in the act notwithstanding), while as "Sam", a lot of "his" behavior is more in line with how you'd expect a weary war veteran to act.

** Her initial encounter with them in the Dreamscape Reverie (as Sam) is revealed to have been her trying to separate them from Acheron and Black Swan who she perceives as threats to the Trailblazer. The latter ended up taking the Trailblazer away while "he" was distracted fighting Acheron; later, after their fight, "he" notes "his" failure in trying for more direct ways to get the Astral Express to go after the Watchmaker's Legacy, saying "can't ever go against the script". "He" also sternly says to Acheron that "the Astral Express is no enemy of yours".

* TheWorfEffect: From a backstory perspective, for the Swarm of Tayzzyronth. As far as the game implies, she has the greatest capacity for mass destruction out of the all the Hunters, with her comrades readily acknowledging this. She was part of an entire military unit of similarly-capable individuals who fought against Tayzzyronth The Propagation and THEIR Swarm. Whether they lost to the Swarm, or actually managed to [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu wipe them out]], isn't made clear - nonetheless due to how [[PyrrhicVictory the Glamoth civilization was doomed to fade away regardless]] because the debris of the war blotted out their sun.
* YouCantFightFate: She, as Sam, tells the Trailblazer that she tried to inform some truths to them earlier eleven times, but kept getting thwarted by fate until they reached the point in the "script" where she is supposed to.

* EveryoneHasStandards: Despite having bounties worth billions of credits per member and the IPC wanting them stopped, Topaz notes that the Stellaron Hunters have a good credit record, implying the group pays their debt. Assuming it's played completely straight, it would put their villainy in the same category as ComicBook/TheJoker, who in at least [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries one adaptation]] is noticeably averse to dealing with the consequences of tax evasion despite the scope of his crimes.
* EvilCounterpart: "Neutral Counterpart" depending on who you ask, but they're established to be far more ruthless than the Astral Express, as both groups seek out the Cancer of All Worlds across the universe and contain them before they ruin countless worlds. However, while the Astral Express prefers to secure Stellarons with compromise and diplomacy in worlds affected by these artifacts, the Stellaron Hunters use more direct, forceful methods that more often than not bring disastrous consequences to the worlds they operate in. On a more individual level, each of the Hunters' field agents serves as one of these to one of the Nameless, with only Welt lacking a clear counterpart:
** The Trailblazer vs. Sam/[[spoiler:Firefly]]: Both have Destruction as their default paths, are the most mysterious members of their respective factions, [[spoiler:have silver hair and wear clothes with black color motifs]], and believe firmly in [[ScrewDestiny defying fate]]. However, [[spoiler:Firefly chose to fall in line with the Stellaron Hunters in a desperate bid to save herself from Entropy Loss Syndrome slowly erasing her, while the Trailblazer chose to join the Astral Express (following what was heavily implied to be their Stellaron Hunter days due to their intensive work history with Kafka) to find answers about why they were "born" with a Stellaron for a heart.]]
** March 7th vs. Silver Wolf: Both are the (seemingly) youngest members of their teams, the biggest thrillseekers, are rarely separated from their gadgets, and are support units in gameplay. But while Silver Wolf is an EvilGenius who is ambivalent to the mayhem she causes in her pursuit of entertainment, March 7th personifies GoodIsDumb, possessing a much stronger moral compass that prevents her mischief from reaching Silver Wolf's levels of harmful.
** Dan Heng vs. Blade: Both are the most calm and reserved members of their teams, have black hair, and in gameplay are [=DPSs=] that utilize the Wind element. [[spoiler:They are also both natives of the Xianzhou Luofu and former members of the High-Cloud Quintet who abandoned their past identities, and both have their own form of immortality. However, Blade was driven insane by Jingliu's torture and his complete inability to die, and chose to aid Elio in his machinations in search of a way to finally be free of his curse, while Dan Heng has no memory of his past life at all and joined the Astral Express because he found security and shelter thanks to them.]]

* EvilVersusEvil: One of their biggest adversaries is the IPC, who is not above committing morally dubious acts in the name of carrying out Qlipoth's will, and the Stellaron Hunters are also willing to carry out morally dubious acts to follow Elio's script. The IPC has issued bounties on the Hunters' members, and as shown in Kafka's trailer, they have butted heads several times previously.

** The achievement one gets from beating the Sam boss fight is named "Old Friends, New Friends". While the "New" friends can refer to Acheron and Black Swan, there's seemingly nobody that can be called as Sam's "old friend" until players realize the heavy implications of the Trailblazer being a former Stellaron Hunter who probably has befriended Firefly extensively to the point the latter immediately recognizes their arrival during the start of the Penacony arc.

* HiddenInPlainSight: Because she's better known as the Stellaron Hunter Sam, Firefly was able to go unnoticed in Penacony simply by walking around as herself, spinning a lie about being a member of the Iris Family when needed. Though it gets played with, given that she was almost captured by some Bloodhound Family members for being suspected as a stowaway, only for Gallagher to "correct" them by saying that the stowaway is a "silver haired male".
* IJustWantToBeNormal: Sam has shades of this in "his" discussions with Acheron and the Trailblazer, seeming to express a genuine envy towards both for their ability to choose their lives, while "he" feels trapped as a killing machine. It also recontextualizes Firefly's [[IJustWantToBeSpecial envy towards the Trailblazer for being able to travel the stars with the Astral Express]] as not a desire to see the stars (which she already does as a Stellaron Hunter) but rather the freedom they have to truly explore the universe instead of being a mere weapon that gets sent from place to place.

A SuperSoldier from the eponymous planet of the Republic ([[UnreliableNarrator or Welkin Empire]]) of Glamoth, created as part of that nation's Iron Cavalry Regiment in an ultimately futile effort to combat the Swarm of Tayzzyronth. Now the sole remnant of her unit, Firefly later discovered that she has a unique disease called Entropy Loss Syndrome due to the genetic modifications that created her and which would eventually erase her from existence. Elio promised her an opportunity to find meaning in her life and defy her fate if, in exchange, she would once again don the Sam armor under the Stellaron Hunters' banner.

** As noted directly below, a lot of the extant Glamoth lore which forms the basis of Firefly's backstory is [[UnreliableNarrator deliberately contradictory]], being seemingly drawn from multiple perspectives and sources, the veracity of which is debated in-universe by the Intelligentsia Guild. This is very similar to how ''Warframe'' handles much of its historical lore, with players only getting snippets and individual perspectives, often very personal ones, on how exactly the Orokin Empire functioned, leaving the exact timeline and motivations of major players for the reader to determine for themselves.
** The exact nature of the destruction of Firefly's home world is left deliberately ambiguous, and it's unclear if the Iron Cavalry just outright lost the war, or if they "succeeded" but as a result grew to be a threat to the government and world that spawned them that was ''worse'' than the Swarm. This second possibility has a ton of parallels to how the Tenno (the public name for the Operators and Warframes as a group) succeeded at defeating the Sentients, but then turned upon the Orokin Empire that created them. The only difference is that the Tenno limited their fury to just official Orokin government installations and buildings, not devastating entire planets, while the Iron Cavalry may have laid waste to the entirety of Glamoth.
** One of the few consistent elements in the descriptions of Glamoth's history is that the Iron Cavalry were commanded by an "Empress" named Titania, and that she communicated telepathically with the individual Iron Cavalrymen, directing them via a sort of shared dream, giving them orders and purpose and helping to direct their war against the Swarm. Moreover, toward the end of the war, one of the presented narratives suggests she may have turned on those who created her, bringing the knights of the Iron Cavalry to her side. This is effectively ''identical'' to the backstory of ''Warframe''[='s=] MissionControl character, The Lotus, who was a Sentient turncoat who came to care for and love the Tenno (due to them being basically children) and who, after the Old War against the Sentients concluded, urged them to overthrow the Orokin for the murder of their original "mother", Archimedian Margulis, as well as for the many other crimes the ruling Orokin class commited against the other inhabitants of the Solar System. The Tenno were also kept in a dream-like state, which The Lotus communicates into in order to give the Tenno direction, orders and mission control.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: She tells the Trailblazer that her homeworld was destroyed and she's an interstellar refugee with nowhere else to go. As if that wasn't enough, she has Entropy Loss Syndrome which will not kill her but slowly cause her to fade from existence. To be more precise, Firefly was created as one of the Iron Cavalry super soldiers to protect the planet Glamoth from the Swarm, a task they failed to accomplish ([[UnreliableNarrator or accomplished too well]]), and her Entropy Loss Syndrome is the product of genetic modifications that went into creating the Iron Cavalry.

* VagueAge: At least as of version 2.1. Firefly looks like a young woman who is, at most, in her early-to-mid 20s... but the fall of Glamoth is implied to have occurred before, or concurrently, with the destruction of Tayzzyronth, and that happened ''thousands'' of years ago. And even if that's not true, the events of the fall of Glamoth are still sufficiently removed from the present day that wildly contradictory narratives survive concerning what happened and the matter is subject to major academic debate. How she bridged this likely huge gap in time has not been addressed, and it's unclear how old she "really" is[[note]]even the most "generous" interpretation - Glamoth is a fairly recent disaster, but the war still lasted decades and there's still a time period after Glamoth's fall prior to her encountering Elio and joining the Hunters - would put still put her ''well'' north of 50 years old in real time[[/note]]. Her behavior doesn't help, either; prior to TheReveal, "Firefly" acts in accordance with how most people would expect someone who looks like her "should" act, while as "Sam", a lot of her behavior is more in line with how you'd expect a weary war veteran to act.

* TheWorfEffect: From a backstory perspective, for the Swarm of Tayzzyronth. As far as the game implies, she has the greatest capacity for mass destruction out of the all the Hunters, with her comrades readily acknowledging this. She was part of an entire military unit of similarly-capable individuals who fought against Tayzzyronth The Propagation and THEIR Swarm. The Iron Cavalry [[UnreliableNarrator either]] ''lost'' that war so badly that Firefly is the SoleSurvivor of the Cavalry and one of the only survivors of Glamoth period, or were the only force in the cosmos aside from the Aeons THEMSELVES who could actually halt the Swarm's advance, and the price they paid for that "victory" was the essential, somewhat unclear ruin of their own civilization. Either outcome emphasizes just how dangerous Tayzzyronth and THEIR Swarm was at the height of THEIR power.

* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: In addition to the immediate and obvious similarities between Firefly and a ''[[Franchise/KamenRider Kamen Rider]]'' protagonist, and some of the visual and thematic similarities between Sam and a [[Anime/TekkamanBlade Tekkaman]], the lore and presentation of Firefly and Sam strongly mirror that of a VideoGame/{{Warframe}}.

* TheFakeCutie: Firefly is a beautiful young woman outside of her PoweredArmor, and plays up her innocence and defenselessness around the Trailblazer when in reality, she's hiding behind the persona of Stellaron Hunter Sam, who's ruthless, and pragmatic and admits that brute force is all "he's" good for. Despite this, there's the implication that all the time she spent with the Trailblazer was done of her own volition and not part of the "script".

* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: In addition to the immediate and obvious similarities between Firefly and a ''[[Franchise/KamenRider Kamen Rider]]'' protagonist, and some of the visual and thematic similarities between Sam and a [[Anime/TekkamanBlade Tekkaman]], the lore and presentation of Firefly and Sam strongly mirror that of a VideoGame/{{Warframe}}.

* TheFakeCutie: Firefly is a beautiful young woman outside of her PoweredArmor, and plays up her innocence and defenselessness around the Trailblazer when in reality, she's hiding behind the persona of Stellaron Hunter Sam, who's ruthless, and pragmatic and admits that brute force is all "he's" good for. Despite this, there's the implication that all the time she spent with the Trailblazer was done of her own volition and not part of the "script".

* VagueAge: At least as of version 2.1. Firefly looks like a young woman who is, at most, in her early-to-mid 20s... but the fall of Glamoth occurred before, or concurrently, with the destruction of Tayzzyronth, and that happened ''thousands'' of years ago. How she bridged that huge gap in time has not been addressed, and it's unclear how old she "really" is. Her behavior doesn't help, either; prior to TheReveal, "Firefly" acts in accordance with how most people would expect someone who looks like her "should" act, while as "Sam", a lot of her behavior is more in line with how you'd expect a weary war veteran to act.

* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: In addition to the immediate and obvious similarities between Firefly and a ''[[Franchise/KamenRider Kamen Rider]]'' protagonist, the lore and presentation of Firefly and Sam strongly mirror that of a VideoGame/{{Warframe}}.

** As noted directly below, a lot of the extant Glamoth lore which forms the basis of Firefly's backstory is [[UnreliableNarrator deliberately contradictory]], being seemingly sourced from multiple viewpoints and perspectives. This is very similar to how ''Warframe'' handles much of its historical lore, with players only getting snippets and individual perspectives, often very personal ones, on how exactly the Orokin Empire functioned, leaving the exact timeline and motivations of major players for the reader to determine for themselves.

** The exact nature of the destruction of Firefly's home world is left [[UnreliableNarrator deliberately ambiguous]], and it's unclear if the Iron Cavalry just outright lost the war, or if they "succeeded" but as a result grew to be a threat to the government and world that spawned them that was ''worse'' than the Swarm. This second possibility has a ton of parallels to how the Tenno (the public name for the Operators and Warframes as a group) succeeded at defeating the Sentients, but then turned upon the Orokin Empire that created them. The only difference is that the Tenno limited their fury to just official Orokin government installations and buildings, not devastating entire planets, while the Iron Cavalry may have laid waste to the entirety of Glamoth.
** One of the few consistent elements in the descriptions of Glamoth's history is that the Iron Cavalry was commanded by an "Empress" named Titania, and that she communicated telepathically with the individual Iron Cavalrymen, directing them via a sort of shared dream, giving them orders and purpose and helping to direct their war against the Swarm. Moreover, toward the end of the war, one of the presented narratives suggests she may have turned on those who created her, bringing the knights of the Iron Cavalry to her side. This is effectively ''identical'' to the backstory of ''Warframe''[['s]] MissionControl character, The Lotus, who was a Sentient turncoat who came to care for and love the Tenno (due to them being basically children) and who, after the Old War against the Sentients concluded, urged them to overthrow the Orokin for the murder of their original "mother", Archimedian Margulis, as well as for the many other crimes the ruling Orokin class commited against the other inhabitants of the Solar System. The Tenno were also kept in a dream-like state, which The Lotus communicates into in order to give the Tenno direction, orders and mission control.

** The Iron Cavalry and the Warframes both served served governments that had elements of both a republic ''and'' an empire and were sent to fight a hostile, rapidly multiplying alien force, the [[ZergRush Swarm of Tayzzyronth]] and the [[AIIsACrapshoot Sentients]] respectively. Both enemy factions also have known weaknesses to fire (certain Swarm enemies have Fire weaknesses, while extreme heat is one of the few things a Sentient cannot guard against), and remain active threats in the present day despite past efforts to eliminate them.

A SuperSoldier from the planet Glamoth who was created as part of the Iron Cavalry in an ultimately futile effort to combat the Swarm. Now the sole remnant of her unit, Firefly discovered that she has a unique disease called Entropy Loss Syndrome from the genetic modifications that created her and would eventually erase her from existence. Elio promised her an opportunity to find meaning in her life and defy her fate if, in exchange, she would once again don the Sam armor under the Stellaron Hunters' banner.

* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: In addition to the immediate and obvious similarities between Firefly and a [[Franchise/KamenRider Kamen Rider]] protagonist, the lore and presentation of Firefly and Sam strongly mirror that of a VideoGame/{{Warframe}}.

** The Glamoth Iron Cavalry and the Warframes both served an empire and were sent to fight a hostile, rapidly multiplying alien force, the [[ZergRush Swarm of Tayzzyronth]] and the [[AIIsACrapshoot Sentients]] respectively. Both enemy factions also have known weaknesses to fire (certain Swarm enemies have Fire weaknesses, while extreme heat is one of the few things a Sentient cannot guard against), and remain active threats in the present day despite past efforts to eliminate them.

** The exact nature of the destruction of her home world is left [[UnreliableNarrator deliberately ambiguous]], and it's unclear if the Iron Cavalry just outright lost the war, or if they "succeeded" but as a result grew to be a threat to the government and world that spawned them that was ''worse'' than the Swarm. This second possibility has a ton of parallels to how the Tenno (the public name for the Operators and Warframes as a group) succeeded at defeating the Sentients, but then turned upon the Orokin Empire that created them. The only difference is that the Tenno limited their fury to just official Orokin installations and buildings, not devastating entire planets, while the Iron Cavalry may have devastated the entirety of Glamoth.

!!Firefly of Glamoth, AKA Sam of the Iron Cavalry

* VagueAge: At least as of version 2.1. Firefly looks like a young woman who is, at most, in her early-to-mid 20s... but the fall of Glamoth occurred before, or concurrently, with the destruction of Tayzzyronth, and that happened ''thousands'' of years ago. How she bridged that huge gap in time has not been addressed, and it's unclear how old she "really" is. Her behavior doesn't help, either; prior to TheReveal, "Firefly" acts in accordance with how most people would expect someone who looks like her "should" act, while as "Sam", a lot of her behavior is more in line with how you'd expect a wear war veteran to act.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: She tells the Trailblazer that her homeworld was destroyed and she's an interstellar refugee with nowhere else to go. As if that wasn't enough, she has Entropy Loss Syndrome which will not kill her but slowly cause her to fade from existence. To be more precise, Firefly was created as one of the Iron Cavalry super soldiers to protect the planet Glamoth from the Swarm, a task they failed to accomplish, and her Entropy Loss Syndrome is the product of genetic modifications that went into creating the Iron Cavalry.

* TheWorfEffect: From a backstory perspective, for the Swarm of Tayzzyronth. As far as the game implies, she has the most mass-destruction capabilities out of the group, with her comrades acknowledging it. She was part of an entire military unit of similarly-capable individuals who fought against Tayzzyronth The Propagation and THEIR Swarm. The Iron Cavalry ''lost'' that war, so badly that Firefly is the SoleSurvivor of the Cavalry and one of the only survivors of Glamoth period.

* TokenWholesome: Compared to the majority of the game's female roster, who usually wear clothes that emphasize their legs, breasts, or bare shoulders (sometimes even all three at once), Firefly is very modestly dressed, giving her a cuter and more wholesome vibe; the "worst" her outfit has is a mid-thigh-length skirt that can billow and show a bit of her upper thigh, as demonstrated in her playable splash art. Her other persona as Sam is a completely masculine-looking armor that covers her completely.

* TheFakeCutie: Firefly is a beautiful young woman outside of her PoweredArmor, and plays up her innocence and defenselessness around the Trailblazer when in reality, she's been hiding behind the persona of Stellaron Hunter Sam, who's ruthless, pragmatic and admits that brute force is all "he's" really good for. Despite this, there's the implication that all the time she spent with the Trailblazer was done by her own volition and not part of the "script".
* FightingYourFriend: Sam's battle against the Trailblazer is revealed to be this, as Firefly had befriended them beforehand, and she actually intended to separate them from the suspicious Acheron and Black Swan. Only after "his" fight with Acheron that she convinces "him" that she isn't a threat.
* FlamingMeteor: One of Sam's Extra Actions during his boss fight is DHGDR: Supernova Overload, which sees him blasting into the sky, invoking the image of a meteor and crashing down into the entire party, not unlike [[VideoGame/EldenRing Starscourge Radahn]]. The maneuver is capable of dealing severe damage as is and can outright KO less resistant characters without damage mitigation.

** Within the Penacony storyline, she also acts as one to Sparkle. Both are attractive young ladies who use deception at various points to achieve their goals in the story and act as allies on occasion. However, their personalities are almost opposite to each other, with Sparkle being a [[{{Troll}} cruel trickster]] who wants to cause as much mayhem as possible for her own amusement while Firefly is an AntiVillain who doesn't like being only good at destruction. Their fighting styles also highlight this, with Sparkle being a support character that acts better on the sidelines while Firefly as Sam is a straight-forward fighter with a [[SimpleYetAwesome limited, but effective kit.]]

* EstablishingCharacterMusic: The in-universe song by Robin, "If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking", serves as hers. Played when she opens up to the Trailblazer about her dream and illness, it serves to show her desire to escape the confines her body imposes on her and to reach out for her dream in Penacony. Fittingly, it plays in the same spot as her secret base and after her death. After her reveal as the person beneath Sam, this song actually establishes her bitterness at having a sealed fate while wishing to be something more than a PersonOfMassDestruction.

** She spends most of the story hiding behind the Trailblazer, yet the route to her secret spot is infested with hostile creatures. She's clearly familiar with the area regardless, hinting that [[WillfullyWeak she's not as defenseless as she acts like she is.]] Relatedly, upon their first entry into the dream version of the Reverie, the Trailblazer's reunion with Firefly shows her standing over the wreck of a destroyed Dreamjolt Troupe machine. While it's certainly possible that it was already destroyed by the time Firefly came across it, the reality is that Firefly herself destroyed it, as after her "death" you run into similar wrecks left behind by Sam.

* ShipTease: Has some definite moments with the Trailblazer on their tour of the Golden Hour, which includes getting some food together, playing games, and capping it with a tender moment at her secret base where there's a romantic view of a sunset, upon which they take a selfie together. Acheron even teases them on their so-called date, and the description of the secret base warp point points out that the view "will be the generator of romantic memories for countless lovers in the foreseeable future". Later when they investigate her first memory echo after her death, Firefly refers to the Trailblazer by name when reporting to her collaborator; Acheron and Black Swan note how close they've gotten for Firefly to still think of them even when apart.

** If the Trailblazer refuses to take a selfie with her in her secret base, the game will ask if you're sure; if you still choose to refuse, Firefly will accept your decision despite obviously being saddened by it. Fittingly enough, if the Trailblazer didn't take the selfie, [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration they wouldn't be able to see her phone and the unsent selfie after her death.]]

* VillainousFriendship: Implied. The Stellaron Hunters have something at least approaching trusting and comfortable relationships with each other. Kafka uses her ability to help Blade in check with his consent, and he in turn seems to trust her enough, even [[FriendlyAddressPrivileges allowing her to call him Bladie]] (he threatens the Trailblazer with violence if they try to call him that). Likewise, Silver Wolf's trailer and event imply Kafka and Silver Wolf share a comfortable enough relationship that the former can tease the latter [[MundaneUtility with Elio's prophecy predicting her loss]]. Her light cone, "Before The Tutorial Mission Starts," even has Blade in the background accompanying her and texting Kafka as Silver Wolf plays a crane game. [[spoiler:And despite Firefly being a pretty delicate-looking waif outside of her Iron Cavalry armor, Blade quite openly respects her prowess in combat and determination to see a mission through, with Sam/Firefly reciprocating the respect.]]

* OddlySmallOrganization: For a group that has brought several civilizations to their knees, the Stellaron Hunters are surprisingly few in number, consisting of just five known people. Granted, with each member being implied to be OneManArmy, especially one from the Glamoth Iron Cavalry and another from the High-Cloud Quintet (who is also "blessed" with an Emanator's power) gives them a ''disproportionate'' amount of raw firepower for the group's size.

* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: The lore and presentation of Firefly and Sam strongly mirror that of a VideoGame/{{Warframe}}.

* OddlySmallOrganization: For a group that has brought several civilizations to their knees, the Stellaron Hunters are surprisingly few in number, consisting of just five known people. Granted, with each member being implied to be OneManArmy and especially a former member of the Glamoth Iron Cavalry gives them a ''disproportionate'' amount of raw firepower for the group's size.

* AmbiguouslyEvil: They play villainous roles to make everyone fulfill their proper roles according to Elio, so that heroes like the Astral Express can do their jobs at the right places. The system at large believes they're out-and-out criminals with no redeeming values, but whatever they're after besides their obvious title of "Stellaron Hunters" seems to be part of making sure TheProphecy is fulfilled. So far, their ''onscreen'' actions have largely been no worse than luring the Antimatter Legion to the Herta Space Station to cause a distraction (which, granted, still led to people dying) and Kafka attacking the Astral Express at one point (as a ploy for her getting CapturedOnPurpose), though how serious she was about actually hurting anyone is deliberately ambiguous. Their offscreen actions (as seen in the Jepella Rebellion trailer) are implied to cause mass chaos and destruction, but only as a side effect of their Stellaron hunting. They've otherwise been mostly ''helpful'', and have to date never maliciously intervened in Astral Express' spacefaring journey [[ForTheEvulz for the sake of it]]. [[spoiler:And ''then'' there's the fact that Elio wanted Firefly/Sam to visit Penacony and interact with the Trailblazer in large part so that she could grow and become more whole as a person and learn that there was more to her life than just destroying things, with influencing the Trailblazer almost a secondary goal, which is about as non-villainous a goal as it gets.]]

** March 7th vs. Silver Wolf: Both are the (seemingly) youngest members of their teams, the biggest thrillseekers, are rarely separated from their gadgets, and are support units in gameplay. But while Silver Wolf is an EvilGenius who is ([[ALighterShadeOfBlack mostly]]) ambivalent to the mayhem she causes in her pursuit of entertainment, March 7th personifies GoodIsDumb, possessing a much stronger moral compass that prevents her mischief from reaching Silver Wolf's levels of harmful.

* EvilVersusOblivion: Just like everyone else, they oppose the Antimatter Legion. While the Stellaron Hunters' evil is {{Ambiguous|lyEvil}}, due to the actions they're willing to do in the name of following Elio's script, the Antimatter Legion seeks to carry out Nanook's will to destroy the universe, which Elio's script will supposedly prevent. There's also the implication, especially thanks to [[spoiler:Firefly's backstory]], that they are ''no'' friend to Tayzzyronth The Propagation and would oppose THEIR remnants whenever necessary, and perhaps just because they ''can''; the main thing stopping this is that in the current day of the story, Tayzzy has (ostensibly) been dealt with.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: The Stellaron Hunters are quite possibly the most wanted people in the setting, not only in their home worlds, much like Blade's infamous reputation in Xianzhou Luofu, but by the galaxy at large. Despite this, you can put them in your party, walk around and even talk to people like them with absolutely no consequences and with no one freaking out. [[spoiler:And the player character gets a ''colossal'' amount of ship tease with one of them.]]
* KillTheGod:
** [[spoiler:Heavily implied to be their motivation. Kafka mentions that they've been manipulating events behind the scenes so that the Trailblazers team up with the Luofu, and that at the end of their journey, the Trailblazers have to go up against Nanook, Aeon of Destruction, and will need all the help they can get.]]
** [[spoiler:Additionally, it is ''strongly'' implied that this isn't even Firefly's first trip out into this territory; while the Iron Cavalry ultimately failed to protect Glamoth, it seems all but certain that a "victory" condition for the Cavalry would have had to involve killing Tayzzyronth, since with THEM active, the Swarm would never have stopped propagating.]]

* NotInThisForYourRevolution: Most of the Stellaron Hunters aren't in it because they share Elio's goal of saving the universe from Nanook, but because Elio [[DealWithTheDevil promised them]] things they wanted, ranging from gaining the [[WhatIsThisFeeling ability to feel fear]] for Kafka ([[spoiler:ostensibly, at least]]) to [[DeathSeeker death]] for Blade to "[[TheMeaningOfLife meaning]]" for Sam to [[ItAmusedMe simple amusement]] for Silver Wolf.

* OddlySmallOrganization: For a group that has brought several civilizations to their knees, the Stellaron Hunters are surprisingly few in number, consisting of just five known people. [[spoiler:Granted, having a former member of the Glamothi Iron Cavalry at hand gives them a ''disproportionate'' amount of raw firepower for the group's size.]]

* TheWorfEffect: From a backstory perspective, for the Swarm of Tayzzyronth. So far, she's the one member of the Hunters who's demonstrated ''actual'' strength and capacity at achieving the planetary-scale destruction the IPC pins on the entire group (and she may be the one primarily responsible for that reputation for the Hunters). She was part of an entire '''military unit''' of similarly-capable individuals who fought against Tayzzyronth The Propagation and THEIR Swarm. The Iron Cavalry '''''lost''''' that war, and lost it so badly that Firefly is the SoleSurvivor of the Cavalry and one of the only survivors of Glamoth period. If the Swarm under an intact, living Propagation was capable of ''that'', THEIR power at THEIR peak must have been absolutely mind-shattering.

* TokenWholesome: Compared to the majority of the game's female roster, who usually wear clothes that emphasize their legs, breasts, or bare shoulders (sometimes even all three at once), Firefly is very modestly dressed, giving her a cuter and more wholesome vibe. Her other persona as Sam is a completely masculine-looking armor that covers her completely.

* AmbiguouslyEvil: They play villainous roles to make everyone fulfill their proper roles according to Elio, so that heroes like the Astral Express can do their jobs at the right places. The system at large believes they're out-and-out criminals with no redeeming values, but whatever they're after besides their obvious title of "Stellaron Hunters" seems to be part of making sure TheProphecy is fulfilled. So far, their ''onscreen'' actions have largely been no worse than luring the Antimatter Legion to the Herta Space Station to cause a distraction (which, granted, still led to people dying) and Kafka attacking the Astral Express at one point (as a ploy for her getting CapturedOnPurpose), though how serious she was about actually hurting anyone is deliberately ambiguous. Their offscreen actions (as seen in the Jepella Rebellion trailer) are implied to cause mass chaos and destruction, but only as a side effect of their Stellaron hunting. They've otherwise been mostly ''helpful'', and never maliciously intervened in Astral Express' spacefaring journey [[ForTheEvulz for the sake of it]].

** While the Fatui have no direct conflict with the Abyss Order, with their sights largely set on toppling the Celestia while the Order is a secondary priority, the Stellaron Hunters' overall goal is [[EvilVersusEvil to stop the Anti-Matter Legion]] [[spoiler: by [[KillTheGod killing their Aeon, Nanook.]]]]

* EvilVersusOblivion: Just like everyone else, they oppose the Antimatter Legion. While the Stellaron Hunters' evil is {{Ambiguous|lyEvil}}, due to the actions they're willing to do in the name of following Elio's script, the Antimatter Legion seeks to carry out Nanook's will to destroy the universe, which Elio's script will supposedly prevent. There's also the implication, especially thanks to [[spoiler:Firefly's backstory]], that they are ''no'' friend to Tayzzyronth The Propagation and would oppose its remnants whenever necessary, and perhaps just because they ''can''; the main thing stopping this is that in the current day of the story, Tayzzy has (ostensibly) been dealt with.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: The Stellaron Hunters are quite possibly the most wanted people in the setting, not only in their home worlds, much like Blade's infamous reputation in Xianzhou Luofu, but by the galaxy at large. Despite this, you can put them in your party, walk around and even talk to people like them with absolutely no consequences and with no one freaking out.
* KillTheGod: [[spoiler:Heavily implied to be their motivation. Kafka mentions that they've been manipulating events behind the scenes so that the Trailblazers team up with the Luofu, and that at the end of their journey, the Trailblazers have to go up against Nanook, Aeon of Destruction, and will need all the help they can get.]]

* BadassAdorable: A lovely, upbeat young woman who also happens to be the secret identity of an armored SuperSoldier with the strength to raze planets. And as her playable form indicates, she's fully capable of fighting without the armor.

* VillainousFriendship: Implied. The Stellaron Hunters have something at least approaching trusting and comfortable relationships with each other. Kafka uses her ability to help Blade in check with his consent, and he in turn seems to trust her enough, even [[FriendlyAddressPrivileges allowing her to call him Bladie]] (he threatens the Trailblazer with violence if they try to call him that). Likewise, Silver Wolf's trailer and event imply Kafka and Silver Wolf share a comfortable enough relationship that the former can tease the latter [[MundaneUtility with Elio's prophecy predicting her loss]]. Her light cone, "Before The Tutorial Mission Starts," even has Blade in the background accompanying her and texting Kafka as Silver Wolf plays a crane game. [[spoiler:And despite Firefly being a pretty delicate-looking waif outside of her Iron Cavalry armor, Blade quite openly respects her prowess in combat and determination to see a mission through, in or out of the armor, with Firefly reciprocating the respect.]]

!!Firefly

A SuperSoldier from the planet Glamoth who was created as part of the Iron Cavalry in an ultimately futile effort to combat the Swarm. Now the sole remnant of her unit, Firefly discovered that she has a unique disease called Entropy Loss Syndrome from the genetic modifications that created her and would eventually erase her from existence. Elio promised her an opportunity to find meaning in her life and defy her fate if, in exchange, she donned the Sam armor under the Stellaron Hunters' banner.

** While Sam is presented as male, his fire abilities and the pilot being female bring to mind Ember, the female, flame-themed Warframe. Interestingly, Ember was male during Warframe's closed beta.
** The Glamoth Iron Cavalry and the Warframes both served under an empire and were sent to fight a hostile, rapidly multiplying alien force, the Swarm and the Sentients respectively. Both enemy factions also have known weaknesses to fire (certain Swarm enemies have Fire weaknesses, while extreme heat is one of the few things a Sentient cannot guard against), and remain active threats in the present day despite past efforts to eliminate them.

** Sam, much like the average Warframe, has an in-universe reputation of being TheDreaded that can eliminate swaths of enemy forces without much trouble.
* AmbiguousGenderIdentity: As Sam, their PoweredArmor has a tall masculine build and a male voice. They are usually treated as a man by everyone else, including their companions. Firefly's persona in the Dreamscape however is decidedly feminine, making her true self highly ambiguous, especially since the Dreamscape is a lot more flexible than reality and Firefly was undercover. The fact that Sam is an ArtificialHuman muddies the waters further; it's possible Sam has NoBiologicalSex. The "Extraterrestrial Satellite Communication" post, however, refers to Firefly as a young girl, suggesting that her persona in the Dreamscape is her real appearance.

** The Fatui Harbingers, the high-ranking executives of the organization, [[TeethClenchedTeamwork barely tolerate each other even in the best of times]]. The Stellaron Hunters, on the other hand, have a positive working relationship with each other that approaches, if not is, a VillainousFriendship.
* DealWithTheDevil: It is mentioned that all of the Stellaron Hunters have made a pact with Elio to serve him in return for one of their wishes to be granted. Blade wants to find a way to permanently die, while Kafka is said to "chase after fear" but it's implied that she [[spoiler: wanted to save the Trailblazer's life]]. [[spoiler: Firefly joined the Stellaron Hunters to escape her Entropy Loss Syndrome condition and address her inability to dream.]]
* EveryoneHasStandards: Despite having bounties worth billions of credits per member and the IPC wanting them stopped, Topaz notes that the Stellaron Hunters have a good credit record, implying the group pays their debt. Assuming it's played completely straight, it would put their villainy in the same category as ComicBook/TheJoker, who is at least [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries one adaptation]] noticeably averse to dealing with the consequences of tax evasion despite the scope of his crimes.

** The Trailblazer vs. Sam/[[spoiler:Firefly]]: Both have Destruction as their default paths, are the most mysterious members of their respective factions, [[spoiler:have silver hair and wear clothes with black color motifs]], and believe firmly in [[ScrewDestiny defying fate]]. However, [[spoiler:Firefly chose to fall in line with the Stellaron Hunters in a desperate bid to save herself from the Entropy Loss Syndrome slowly erasing her, while the Trailblazer chose to join the Astral Express (following what was heavily implied to be their Stellaron Hunter days due to their intensive work history with Kafka) to find answers about why they were "born" with a Stellaron for a heart.]]
** March 7th vs. Silver Wolf: Both are the (seemingly) youngest members of their teams, the biggest thrillseekers, are rarely separated from their gadgets, and are support units in gameplay. But while Silver Wolf is an EvilGenius who is ambivalent to the mayhem she causes in her pursuit of entertainment, March 7th personifies GoodIsDumb, possessing a much stronger moral compass that prevents her mischief from reaching Silver Wolf's levels of harmful.

* EvilVersusOblivion: Just like everyone else, they oppose the Antimatter Legion. While the Stellaron Hunters' evil is {{Ambiguous|lyEvil}}, due to the actions they're willing to do in the name of following Elio's script, the Antimatter Legion seeks to carry out Nanook's will to destroy the universe, which Elio's script will supposedly prevent.
* FighterMageThief: The three primary operatives dealt with in the story have this dynamic. Blade is the fighter, being a nigh-unkillable swordsman and a tanky Destruction character who deals high damage by [[CastFromHitpoints draining his HP]] and taking hits; Silver Wolf is the Mage, being a cracker who can interfere within the boundaries of reality itself and a Nihility character who can change enemy weaknesses and inflict stat debuffs; and Kafka is the thief, being a skilled assassin uses her charms and wits to get ahead of the enemy and a Nihility [=DoT=] enabler who will activate them with her attacks.

* FriendlyEnemy: While the Astral Express doesn't think especially highly of the Stellaron Hunters given their reputation and have come to blows with them on numerous occasions, the Stellaron Hunters are generally quite cordial when the stakes aren't nearly as high and tend to drop by once in a while to check in on the Nameless. The Trailblazer even has their personal phone numbers and texts them for small talk on occasion. Kafka in particular is seemingly rather fond of the Trailblazer and has always been unfailingly gentle to them in their interactions together. [[spoiler: And then there's Firefly's extensive ShipTease with them, with the implication (through Sam's claims) that she tried going around Elio's script to get close to them.]]

* NotInThisForYourRevolution: Most of the Stellaron Hunters aren't in it because they share Elio's goal of saving the universe from Nanook, but because Elio [[DealWithTheDevil promised them]] things they wanted, ranging from gaining the [[WhatIsThisFeeling ability to feel fear]] for Kafka to [[DeathSeeker death]] for Blade to "[[TheMeaningOfLife meaning]]" for Sam to [[ItAmusedMe simple amusement]] for Silver Wolf.

* OddlySmallOrganization: For a group that has brought several civilizations to their knees, the Stellaron Hunters are surprisingly few in number, consisting of just five known people.

* PriceOnTheirHead: Propaganda or not, the IPC wants the Hunters ''stopped'', doesn't particularly care how it happens, and is willing to pay coin to see it happen, one way or another. TheStinger to Silver Wolf's trailer gives us an example, with her [[WantedPoster digital wanted notice]] showing she has a ''five '''billion''' credit'' bounty on her head, redeemable dead or alive. Blade has over eight billion on his. Kafka has over a whopping ten billion on hers.

* TownGirls: Kafka the MsFanservice fashionista is the Femme, Silver Wolf the punkish GamerChick is the Butch, and [[spoiler:Firefly, who puts up a front of cuteness and vulnerability but wears the masculine Sam armor for battle and is very destructive, is Neither.]]
* VillainousFriendship: Implied. The Stellaron Hunters have something at least approaching trusting and comfortable relationships with each other. Kafka uses her ability to help Blade in check with his consent, and he in turn seems to trust her enough, even [[FriendlyAddressPrivileges allowing her to call him Bladie]] (he threatens the Trailblazer with violence if they try to call him that). Likewise, Silver Wolf's trailer and event imply Kafka and Silver Wolf share a comfortable enough relationship that the former can tease the latter [[MundaneUtility with Elio's prophecy predicting her loss]]. Her light cone, "Before The Tutorial Mission Starts," even has Blade in the background accompanying her and texting Kafka as Silver Wolf plays a crane game.

* YouCantFightFate: The general mindset of Stellaron Hunters' members, with Elio, Kafka, and Sam being the most prominent examples (albeit with differing attitudes to this trope). Being Elio's steadfast follower, Kafka follows Elio's script to a T with a tendency to express genuine confusion if things don't take place as Elio told her [[spoiler:(as seen in her Companion Mission if players keep refusing to indulge her questions).]] For Sam, he doesn't like that his out-of-the-script attempts to reveal his identity to the Trailblazer for unknown reasons during the Penacony arc keep failing (up until the point Elio scripted him to) and [[spoiler: Firefly herself being painfully aware of [[YourDaysAreNumbered her preordained fate]].]]