History Characters / TheAreal

* CareerEndingInjury: His head trauma made him illegible for continuing serving in "Alpha", and all but ensured that he would end with "desk jokey" job in some low-level company. [[SubvertedTrope Then he was invited to work in "Areal"]], with nearly zero ([[CursedWithAwesome negative]]) side effects, if not couning occasional headache.
* CursedWithAwesome: His head trauma makes him illegible for continuing serving in "Alpha", and causes serious headache from time to time. It also renders him immune to zombification, or anomalies' Call, and allows him to go into the Red zone and Epicentre.

* NoSell: Mist can't be affected by the Call, or zombified, due to his brain trauma. Later it also turned out that he didn't become Addicted, showing that this effect is also related to the Areal's psi-field.
* SixthRanger: When he returns in the penultimate book, he actually becomes the sixth member of the Bear's SOT. It doesn't last for long, because he gets sent on the mission alongside X-Ray.

* TheBeard: Anna's nominally his wife, but it's pretty obvious that they feel nothing towards each other; it's just a cover: harassing one's wife is not the same as harassing "free" woman.

* TheBeard: The Piece is nominally her husband, but it's pretty obvious that they feel nothing towards each other; it's just a cover: harassing one's wife is not the same as harassing "free" woman.

* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: By his alliance with Merkulov, he already betrayed his boss (who isn't part of the scheme and from whom he steals resources he is entrusted with) and committed treason agains hit country. Then he decides to backstab Merkulov -- but realises that his underling Firz can backstab ''him'', and unites with Merkulov to backstab Firz instead. When Firz disappears in the Red zone, Prokopenko immediately switches attention to how he can backstab Merkulov without revealing himself.

* BadassBaritone: Described as having very low voice.

-->'''Bear''': Gleb Zheglov once said, "the thief should be jailed". He was wrong; the thief should be buried. If someone gives themselves the right to rob the other people, then I give myself the right to send them to hell.
* {{BFG}}: Always armed with his favourite [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PKP_Pecheneg_machine_gun "Pecheneg" heavy machine gun]]. He’s the sole person in Areal to have one, and people instantly recognise him by that gun alone.

* {{Troll}}: He just can't resist temptation to make fun at other people, be it his teammates, his enemies, or just random people, sometimes in not very pleasant manner. His favourite topic is the Mist's [[ShipTease relationship]] with Lavender, to the point that Mist chooses words within Bear's earshot ''very'' carefully,

* HotScientist: It was mentioned several times that she looks very attractive, even in a form-concealing uniform.

* UncertainDoom: It was never revealed wether he survived the cataclysm, but considering that everything above the ground was destroyed almost completely, it's highly likely that he didn't.

* KilledOffForReal: Either due to them being irretrievable (they were thrown into an anomaly), or due to them "dying honourably" (they always cared about advancing the science, and never compromised with their conscience), aliens never bothered to resurrect them, making them the only major good characters to not being brought back.

* {{Nepotism}}: How this moron even made it into the Areal, let alone at lieutenant rank? Because he's a son of security service's colonel, and Belov's nephew. It should be noted that even his uncle despises him.

* {{BFG}}: Wears heavy machine gun to every battle.

* WeaponOfChoice: Always armed with his favourite [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PKP_Pecheneg_machine_gun "Pecheneg" machine gun]]. He’s the sole person in Areal to have one, and people instantly recognise him by that gun alone.

* BigBadWannabe: While it's him who set the plot in motion in original three books, he has not exactly much control over things after that. [[DragonInChief Firz is much smarter than him]], and Merkulov is free to dictate his conditions for the deal since Prokopenko isn't exactly in position to refuse. Without them, he is nearly powerless; he can't even rely on other members of Lozinsky's team, since they may assassinate him the moment he becomes a liability. Things never improved for him afterwards, either.

* DirtyCoward: His {{Greed}} can be matched only by his own cowardice. He, like paranoiac, suspects counterintelligence agents in everyone around him, and always suspects that anyone around him would try to assassinate him. Because of this, Merkulov considers him to be a bad ally -- he is too neurotic to keep secrets, and may fail everything just by attracting attention to himself.

* KarmicDeath: He dies just like the countless people who died due to his schemes -- killed by someone who [[HeKnowsTooMuch wants to hide their dirty secrets]].

* AssholeVictim: If anyone deserves becoming a zombie, it's him. Even when he was un-brainwashed to tell the truth about his superiors' crimes, he was leaved with fatal brain tumour (in addition to Itch) and wouldn't live for long. Epilogue to the final book reveals that he indeed died in agony while in custody.
* BenevolentBoss: Zigzagged. He is indeed benevolent to the people loyal to him, organising good salaries for them, vacations, etc. But people he has bad standings with (like Bear) receives most harsh conditions all the times. Bear's team always lacks people, yet they are always the last one to receive fresh recruits. And he is perfectly okay with putting his people in unnecessary danger (not jut Bear) when it serves his own interests (not corporation's ''his'').
* ColonelBadass: While he's certainly isn't a good man, it's undeniable that he still goes into expeditions with his people, putting his own life at risk. This is one of the reasons why everyone (well, almost everyone) respect him so much.
* TheDragon: He is [[BigBad Prokopenko's right-hand man]] within Areal.

!!! Mayor Nikolai "Bear" Pletnyov
Before ""Disinfection"", Bear was one of SOT commanders (alongside Lemur and Ducat). After "Disinfection", his entire squad went rogue. Machine gunner.

* AnimalMotifs: Bears, obviously. He's [[LargeAndInCharge largest and toughest one in the team]], [[BigEater eats like a bear]], and has [[BearsAreBadNews reputation so scary, he can rival actual Areal bears]].

-->'''Bear''': Gleb Zheglov once said, "the thief should rot in prison". He was wrong; the thief should rot in grave. If someone gives themselves the right to rob the other people, then I give myself the right to send them to hell.

* MissingDad: His father fell victim of the Call after coming in contact with the Areal's water. His last act as a human, before becoming a zombie, was to visit his family and gift his son the Spring (met so rare, it's considered to me a myth by most people; it can give its wielder non-ending stream of water just by being worn, which is ''very'' useful while in Areal). Ever since then, Ras takes personally any, no matter how small, chance to cure zombification -- if he can save his father, he ''would''.

* TraumaButton: Just ''don't'' joke about Areal water near him, [[MissingDad it's very personal issue for him]].

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: It was never revealed wether he survived the cataclysm, but considering that everything above the ground was destroyed almost completely, it's highly likely that he didn't.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: His fate after the "Disinfection" remains unknown. His survival pretty much entirely depends on wether he was on vacation at the moment, or not, and it's known that those who were, chose to not return afterwards.

* OnlyKnownBytTheirNickname: His real name never gets revealed.

* KilledOffscreen: Anna was killed by the Veteran's Dog at unknown point during the SOT's LastStand; it gets revealed in beginning of the first book.

* AtrociousAlias: While "Hunter" would usually qualify as AwesomeMcCoolname, it's not the case here: taking pretentious and "cool" callsigns is frowned upon, marking you as immature, badass wannabe or just plain dumbass; Levin is all three.

* BigBad: He's the main antagonist in the several final books, albeit Belov is [[DragonInChief poses more direct danger than him]].
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: He is the one who made "Areal" into the corruption-driven eternal engine it's now. Still, he earns enough money to sustain both himself, his subordinates ''and'' "Areal" itself, without breaking the public image of "Areal" being completely incorruptible.

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Despite being one of the most crooked people out there, he managed to create a reputation of absolutely incorruptible cleanliness for both himself and "Areal" corporation in general.

* DragonInChief: With Lozinsky caring only about the money, it's Belov who causes all the problems to the heroes (whenever they are not caused by Merkulov).

* {{Nepotism}}: He exploits his position to ensure what his dumbass nephew, Hunter, can get away with all his antics, while receiving "experience" which would allow him into prestigious position later on.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: We never learn his fate after Bear cut all ties with him. Considering that at some point between the events of the last book and the epilogue, people started snitching on anyone ever suspected of being tied to the SOT, it's possible that he got in trouble.