Characters / Arknights Military Commission Of Kazdel

Arknights Characters
Operators: Vanguards (A-M | N-Z) | Snipers (A-M | N-Z) | Guards (A-H | I-Q | R-Z) | Defenders (A-M | N-Z) | Casters (A-G | H-M | N-Z) | Medics (A-M | N-Z) | Supporters (A-M | N-Z) | Specialists (A-M | N-Z)
Factions: Rhodes Island | The Reunion Movement | Dublinn | The Military Commission of Kazdel | Allied Factions | Enemy Factions | Miscellaneous factions & characters | Nation States (A-M | N-Z) | Enemy Units Index

The main ruling body of the nation of Kazdel under Theresis, consisting of his highest ranking generals as well as representatives from Kazdel's various Sarkaz tribes. They serve as the primary antagonists of the Shadows of a Dying Sun story arc.

Shared Tropes

• Badass Crew: The Commission consists of Kazdel's most powerful warriors and tribal leaders, with many of them like the Sanguinarch being literal one man armies.
• Batman Gambit: The Military Commission were planning on taking advantage of the Victorian Dukes' greed by luring the majority of their battleships to Norport in hopes of capturing the Commission's new airship, putting them all in one place where they can destroy the entire ducal force in one fell swoop with the Shard. The only reason the plan fails is due to a last second intervention by Ines.
• False Flag Operation: They specialize in these to cripple their enemies, as shown both with supplying the Reunion conflict to reach a boiling point to cause tensions to rise between Yan and Ursus to weaken both, and later secretly operate the rebel faction of Dublinn as a front to destabilize Victoria so it can be turned into a vassal state of Kazdel's.
• Foregone Conclusion: Much like the prior arc, multiple events set after the "Shadow of a Dying Sun​​" arc, as well logs of Operators released during it's run all hint greatly that Theresis and the Military Commission manage to accomplish their goals of upending the status quo of Terra, but suffer a resounding and cataclysmic defeat in Londinium that has far reaching consequences to the Sarkaz as a whole that was not at all what they intended to achieve as they are now even worse off and actively being targeted both for the threat they present and the power they possess. It's implied even Rhine Lab managing to recover technology based around the Shard's Soul Power to help further allow such technologies as Awaken to exist that Ferdinand hijacked to hopefully help Columbia in the global arms race that began in the wake of Theresis's fall. Thus, they are doomed to fail in stopping the oppression of the Sarkaz and their plan to Take Over the World, leaving more on the "how" it all went wrong as the main question of the arc.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Aside from Kashchey's own puppeteering, almost the entirety of the first act of the game's conflict can be attributed to Theresis and his faction under the Military Commission; them secretly supporting Reunion to destabilize the two superpowers of Yan and Ursus by instigating a war between the two, as to make them conquering the already weakened Victoria all the easier, which would leave Kazdel to become the sole superpower left in the aftermath.
• Omnicidal Maniac: "The Whirlwind That is Passion" reveals that the main objective of the Military Commission is revealed to be a genuinely evil act of infecting all life on Terra with Oripathy via the Shard as their ultimate revenge against the Ancient and Elder races stealing what is rightfully theirs, not caring that the act of doing such a deed will doom Terra to becoming a lifeless husk as everyone progressively dies for a cure for Oripathy is still far out of reach, especially as most people are not conditioned to a degree to withstand the decay and deterioration on their own and treatment from places like Rhodes Island are not widespread enough to stem the tide long enough to complete such a cure, thereby leading millions to die in a matter of weeks... but the Military Commission could care less as they feel they deserve it for their constant hostilities against their people. This would also be revealed during "Babel" to be Theresis's solution in aiding the pre-amnesia's Doctor's plan to Mercy Kill the planet after they failed to discover a cure after numerous attempts, meaning that this isn't entirely meant as an act of revenge against a world that has betrayed them, but them earnestly believing the world would be better off dead.
• Praetorian Guard: The Confessarii act as Theresis' elite personal guard and take his security very seriously.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Quite a few of the members of the Commission aren't particularly loyal to Theresis or even believe in his ideals. Most of them only get involved in the battle for Londinium due to their interest in Amiya. "What The Firelight Casts" compounds this further with the reveal that even their puppet Dublinn isn't particular loyal to Theresis either and are really just using the Military Commission in turn, meaning that aside from Manfred and (maybe) Theresa, not a single member of his side is loyal to him.
• Villain Takes an Interest: Most of the Commission is fascinated with Amiya in one way or another due to being Theresa's designated successor and the Lord of Fiends, giving her more legitimacy to the Kazdel throne than Theresis. Some purely want to steal her power for themselves, while others are waiting to see if Amiya proves to be a worthier ruler than Theresis.
• Willfully Weak: How the Military Commission presents itself currently, pretending to the rest of the world that they are barely a shadow of Kazdel's former might as to not give awareness to their activities and exasperate their plans; however, they've not only since reformed after the Civil War tore their country apart, but are seemingly even stronger than ever with industrial strength producing an entire fleet in secret. They have also created the Shard Tower located in Londinium, which has the potential to control Catastrophes from anywhere in the world.

Notable Figures

Theresis

Artist: Liduke

Theresa's brother and the current regent of Kazdel after he staged a coup to usurp her position.

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• Anti-Villain:
  • Type III. Chapter 10 reveals he is actually a Well-Intentioned Extremist who wants to not only reunify Kazdel and bring it back to its former glory, but give the Sarkaz the respect he feels denied to them by every other country on the planet. However, he intends to unleash an enormous blitzkrieg across the entirety of Victoria as his opening move, as well as seizing the Superweapon Shard Tower which will let him control Catastrophes from anywhere in the world as a sort of Fantastic Nuke, killing millions in the process to ensure that no one can threaten the Sarkaz with destruction ever again.
  • Chapter 12 indicates that part of the reason he went off the edge was that Theresis saw firsthand the destruction of Kazdel numerous times over the centuries from either outside parties or civil war, as well as knowiing that their people were once the original, dominant power of the planet. Thus, his journey of conquest ends up being as much a need for Revenge against the world for what they did to the Sarkaz as a desire to restore the power they once had.
  • In "Babel", when the pre-amnesia Doctor presents Theresis with their plan to dismantle Babel from within and disable the landship's defenses to give his assassins an opportunity to target Theresa, Theresis is naturally wary about the plan and isn't all too happy about having to kill his own sister. However, in return for the Doctor taking themselves and Babel out of the war, Theresis promises not to target or hunt down former Babel staff as long as they don't interfere in his plans.
• Badass Normal: Downplayed as "normal" in this case is still a centuries-old superhuman Sarkaz, but Salus notes that both Theresa and Theresis don't have any special bloodline, notable racial traits, royal lineage, or even any remarkable weapon, and he doesn't even have Theresa's power as the Lord of Fiends. He still manages to be the threat that he is just because of his political cunning, willpower, and combat skills. The Confessarius actually likes this about him, noting that only someone "unchained from history" will be able to wield true power and bring change to the Sarkaz. This is especially compounded by "The Whirlwind That Is Passion" where it is revealed much of the Royal Court are virtually unkillable due to their varying methods of immortality, leaving Theresis as one of its only members who is actually able to be fought and beaten traditionally.
  He lacks the thick malice of the Vampire, the proud contempt of the Confessarius, or the fearsome aura of the Nachzehrer. He even lacks the Wendigo's imposing stature. Just one Sarkaz, no army, no servants. He rose from his throne, laid down the authority that he never truly cared for, and walked here. With a cold gaze not seen for two centuries.
• Bequeathed Power: Seemingly has the ability to give others loyal to him unique Arts abilities, having gifted Manfred with his Arts powers specifically while training him.
• Big Bad: Revealed to be the main antagonist of Act II, "Shadow of A Dying Sun" in Chapter 10—seeking to finally realize his vision of a reunified, stronger Kazdel by any means necessary.
• The Chains of Commanding: It's shown during a conversation with Theresa hints that Theresis hasn't been thrilled taking charge of Kazdel after the civil war, wearing him thin the longer it goes on, and doesn't see much of a future for himself in the one he plans to build for his people if his response to the Cyclops representative is anything to go by if he fails in his attempt to Screw Destiny. It's to the point his character design and appearances in PVs showing him with prominent eyebags to signify his exhaustion at having to do what he does.
  Theresis: It is not my want, but the Sarkaz's need.
• Didn't See That Coming: Theresis is completely blindsided by the death of the Damazti, who should be functionally the most immortal of all of the court members and grows both an interest and genuine worry from that point onwards about the success of his plan if Rhodes Island managed to best them.
• The Dreaded: Even Rhodes Island's powerhouses like Logos, Shining, and Ascalon do everything in their power to avoid risking a confrontation with him, much less actually fighting him. It's especially so for the latter, since he trained her and Manfred, the latter of whom is already a major roadblock for all but Rhodes' finest. Their worries are given weight when Theresis ambushes them in Episode 11 and almosts ends their journey right then and there, with it taking Kal'tsit's sacrifice and all of their might just to escape.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Chapter 10 reveals that Theresis genuinely loves his sister Theresa and regrets her prior death; to the point of becoming uncharacteristically furious with anyone who seeks to potentially humiliate her name with the threat of death, and was initially opposed to reviving her until the Confessarius convinced him otherwise.
  • In addition, he doesn't take it well when the Confessarius questions the revived Theresa's loyalty, suggesting that they have contingencies to deal with her if she betrays them. Theresis outright warns the Confessarius that questioning Theresa's loyalty again will result in his immediate death.
  • He also has a parental love towards Ascalon, even after their parting of ways due to the conflict of loyalty, as he regards her compassionately when she comes to try and assassinate him and Manfred in Victoria, and despite being in opposition to each other, he holds no ill will towards her and shows his regret and worry that Ascalon has divorced her own ability to live for herself as she's become chained to his sister's last wishes, and when Ascalon can't bring herself to kill him, Theresis doesn't retaliate and lets Ascalon leave peacefully out of that care for her.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Like many Sarkaz, he has deeply religious and cultural values he personally refuses to cross as he finds them as sacred. Namely, reviving the dead strikes a chord that greatly upsets him and has him nearly kill the Confessarius on the spot for suggesting to bring back his sister Theresa as he feels she deserves her rest. However, he can be convinced to see the practical value of it and forgo his personal beliefs for results.
• Evil Chancellor: He essentially staged a coup to seize control of Kazdel from its rightful ruling family.
• False Flag Operation: He decides to send Sarkaz mercenaries to assist Reunion, as he seeks to use Reunion to sow enough chaos on Terra so that he can seize more political power for himself.
  • Seems to love doing these as his go-to strategy in weakening enemy nations, as Chapter 10 revealed, with him operating Dublinn, unbeknownst to members like Mandragora, to create chaos in Victoria to eventually annex into Kazdel while it's crippled.
• Greater-Scope Villain: While Rhodes Island is busy fighting Reunion, it's revealed that Theresis had a hand in Theresa's death and the disbanding of Babel, and he's currently residing in Victoria to manipulate its politics and seize its throne. He's even taking advantage of Reunion by arming them and reinforcing them with Sarkaz mercenaries to distract his enemies. Not to mention, he's in possession of Theresa's body and is eventually to resurrect her.
• Hero Killer: Grievously wounds Kal'tsit in a single blow of his sword that also seemingly kills Mon3tr, and in his "fight", he will effortlessly kill any Operator (even immortal ones) in a single hit if they block his path.
• I Just Want to Be Free: Says this is his ultimate motivation for not only himself but Sarkaz and Kazdel to the revived Theresa, as he wants them to no longer be a divided people exploited by other nations. He believes this so much that he even wants to defy the prophecy of the Lord of Fiends and find a way to control even it instead of the other way around, as he wants the Sarkaz to decide their own choices instead of being unwilling subjects to an ancestral Hive Mind.
• Long-Lived: Is at least over two-hundred years old, seeing how he was present and actively fought in the war that shattered Kazdel when a more merciless Kal'tsit and her coalition invaded the country, even personally killing her himself back then.
• The Man Behind the Man: Chapter 10 reveals that he is the true power behind Dublinn.
• Monster Brother, Cutie Sister: Downplayed; while he's not needlessly cruel, he's certainly way less nice than Theresa is and notably lacks her capability to soothe entire hordes of enemies in battle despite them being siblings and him being the current ruling monarch of Kazdel. He has shown to desire this power, which might be related as to why he wants to revive Theresa.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: The moment he sees the chance, he personally comes down from the Shard to ambush Amiya after her battle with Manfred and the Sanguinarch, and doesn't even give her a chance to react before instantly going for the throat. Not even Closure or the Doctor were able to detect him in time, and if Kal'tsit hadn't sacrificed herself and Shining held him off afterwards, Amiya would have died before even realizing it.
• Oh, Crap!: Theresis is shocked at suffering a genuine setback to his plans when he finds out that the Damazti Cluster is Killed Off for Real.
• Offered the Crown: "Babel" reveals that as Theresa's twin brother, Theresis also had an equal claim to the Civilight Eterna. However, he decided to cede his claim to Theresa, believing that she was a far better leader than him and content to act as her general.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: Chapter 11 shows him to be no slouch at all in terms of physical power. In fact, his strength is able to overwhelm all of the present forces of Rhodes Island rather easily, and even with the likes of Shining backing them, they're still forced to flee.
• Screw Destiny: The Cyclops representative has long predicted Theresis' end, foreseeing him die alone on the underground throne of the Palace of Westhalag. In addition, she sees the Shard, which Theresis is currently in control of, fall as well. Theresis dismisses this at the start of Chapter 10 as he's invested far too much into his plan to avert what may happen and tells Confessarius to send a note of thanks for her concern.
• Take Over the World: His goal is to reunify the splintered Kazdel and, by force, show the world the respect the Sarkaz deserve as the original inheritors of Terra.
• Unwitting Pawn: "Babel" reveals Theresis has only been able to get as far as he has becoming the ruler of Kazdel because his goals to secure the future of the Sarkaz further the goal of the Precursors to forestall efforts against ending Oripathy as Babel was close to accomplishing, and the pre-amnesia Doctor preyed on his desire of a unified Kazdel to give them the opportunity to get within Babel and kill Theresa themselves to curb Babel's humanitarian efforts.
• The Usurper: He started an entire civil war, just so he could boot his sister Theresa off the throne and claim it for himself. Though it is revealed that he didn't do this out of a sense of entitlement to the throne, but necessity as he felt that Theresa's compassionate views would be doomed to failure and damn the Sarkaz to even further suffering which he refused to condone.
• Visionary Villain: Theresis's main goal is that of a stronger, unified Kazdel and, by extension, the unification of the Sarkaz as a whole... and he doesn't care how many he has to step over to achieve that goal, as long as he fulfills his ambition all the same.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: At least when talking to others, Theresis never refers to the revived Theresa by her name, suggesting that even he deep down realizes she is not like the original Theresa.
• The Worf Effect: Chapter 11 has him take down both Kal'tsit and Mon3tr in a single hit. And it's implied that this isn't even the first time he's defeated Kal'tsit in battle.
• Worthy Opponent:
  • Considers the Doctor to be this after nearly losing the Kazdel Civil War against Babel to them. Even after having secured enormous power, both politically and personally—and is on the verge of completing his ambitious plan of a new world order under a reunified Kazdel—considers the reveal that the Doctor is still alive after three years the only threat to his throne at this point and moves his time table up for all of his plans before they can try to stop him. "Babel" reveals this is partially because Theresis is only ruler of Kazdel in the first place because of the Doctor's ability to play The Chessmaster better than he can, and knew if it came to the two of them coming to blows, he'd have no chance of actually winning.
  • He also considers Kal'tsit one as well during their reunion in Chapter 11, having fought each other in the past and personally killing one of her previous lives, he still holds Villain Respect with her enough to listen to her try and talk him down. But once he's done entertaining Kal'tsit however, he very quickly incapacitates Kal'tsit in a single blow that, while doesn't kill her, leaves her in critical enough of a condition to put her out of his way which, given how aware he is of her immortality, is probably a show of respect by not just outright killing her since she's under the belief that she's nearly Out of Continues herself.
  • Theresis also believes Amiya a threat by virtue of her being the "Lord of Fiends", Theresa's successor and the Apocalypse Maiden that will strip the Sarkaz of their free will if she's ever allowed to mature, and thus takes it upon himself when given the opportunity to physically show up in an attempt to kill her before she has a chance to genuinely oppose him and is spared only because of Kal'tsit's sacrifice in blocking his blow and Shining barely stalling him after.

Confessarius

Qui'sartuštaj

^{Click to see him unmasked.}

One of Theresis' lieutenants who acts as an intermediary between Theresis and Hoederer.

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• Control Freak: A constant sticking point that gets him into quite a bit of trouble with Theresis and Shining is how much control he wants exerted over a situation, such as wanting contingencies in place to deal with Theresa should she betray them, which strikes at a nerve already frayed with Theresis as is when the Confessarius already risked his own life suggesting her revival to begin with. In fact, this is a point of criticism that Shining had towards her father is that he wants to have this absolute control of everything, and thinks that everything will line up one way or another according to his plans eventually due to said control over people.
• Digging Yourself Deeper: Repeatedly tightens the noose around his neck in his dealings with Theresis in regards to Theresa. First he resurrects her against Theresis' personal beliefs and then later on demands to have contingencies placed against her should Theresa try to betray them. Since disrespecting his sister or her memory is a very quick way to rile Theresis up, he immediately draws the line and threatens to kill the Confessarius on the spot if he questions her loyalty or otherwise speaks ill of his sister again. He wisely drops mentioning anything regarding Theresa after the fact.
• The Dragon: Quite obviously Theresis' second in command or at least a very high ranking lieutenant.
• Dragon with an Agenda: Chapter 11 reveals that the Confessarius order are akin to the Bene Gesserit in that they have deliberately been cultivating the bloodlines for Kazdel to produce a fitting messianic figure for their vision of the world through calling upon the power of the Lord of Fiends, and he is no different despite working at Theresis's side, using him to help re-establish their original plan after Theresa disrupted it by passing along her power to Amiya.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Him and the Confessarius clan have been a conspiratorial organization behind the development of the Sarkaz for generations up to the present day, and are the ones actively seeking to fulfill "the prophecy" of the Lord of Fiends's power conquering all of Terra due to careful genetic tampering and splicing souls through the bloodlines of the Sarkaz for ages—as well as seeking ways to negate the drawbacks of Oripathy and gain all of the benefits from it's power, which led to him having a hand in Nightingale's particular condition as part of his plan to empower Theresa further through horrifying means and fulfill his endgame.
• Mad Scientist: It's revealed that not only was the resurrection of Theresa his idea and not Theresis's originally, but the Confessarius are seeking to harness the power of the Lord of Fiends for Theresis by any means necessary and is quite fascinated by wanting to pick apart what makes Amiya special.
• Reincarnation: Chapter 11 confirms he is the elder of the Confessarius clan, Shining's father, reincarnated into Shining's younger brother in a incestuous cycle that's existed for a long enough time to manipulate the genelogy of the Sarkaz, and plans to eventually couple with Shining to continue the bloodline and the cycle for as long as necessary. "The Whirlwind That Is Passion" also confirms he can do the other method, not unlike how Kashchey possessed Talulah, by attempting to have Shining kill him in a Sadistic Choice between either sacrificing her freedom or Nightingale's in response to her worsening condition.
• The Starscream: "The Whirlpool That Is Passion" reveals that Qui'sartušaj, Shining's father and the lead Confessarius, desires to become the eternal King of the Sarkaz as he has been trying for thousands of years, and his gambit with Theresis is little more than just another avenue for him to finally fulfill his ambition of ruling everything as it should have always been.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Physically and clothing wise looks identical to Shining, and when unmasked he looks like a male Shining. Shining's module implies that he is her younger brother, which is confirmed to be the case in Chapter 11, and this seems to be a running thing in their family as their parents were also said to look identical.

Manfred

Artist: Ryuzakiichi

A Sarkaz general trained directly under Theresis, tasked with overseeing and commanding the occupation of Londinium alongside his peers. Serves as the boss of Episode 10.

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• Attack Drones: Wields a special Arts unit gifted to him by Theresis himself, which resembles the drones used by Mech-Accord Casters. It lets him carry out Arts attacks at range, and can charge up the Londinium artillery cannon every time it hits something.
• Berserk Button: Manfred was completely indifferent to dealing with Mandragora for stepping out of line of the plan, and was even willing to forgive her again and let her fall back in her place in Dublinn, but the moment that she dares to insinuate that the Sarkaz are blessed to have Oripathy, he absolutely loses it on her.
  Manfred: You have the nerve... to treat Oripathy as a blessing? Countless Sarkaz are burdened by this curse from birth, of festering bodies, organs oozing—you see us only as pests spreading blight, drive us out from the cities. How many Sarkaz each day become crystals scattering to the wind, cannot even be laid to rest in the soil of their home, simply because they wanted to see another sunrise? Yet you tell me... You envy this power? Is that your place to say, Victorian?
• Defeat Means Friendship: He dished this out on Hoederer about one year prior, beating him in an arduous fight that cost the latter his eye before sparing his life after seeing his worth and recruiting him on the spot. Now, in spite of some rough spots and questions of loyalty among his men, the two are close friends on the court and the general even defers to his friend for advice and sends him to accomplish tasks he trusts him with. Their friendship is close enough that Manfred genuinely regrets taking his friend's eye in their battle and his friend respects Manfred's sentiments in earnest. That said, Hoederer is still The Mole within Theresis's court and is using his friendship with Manfred, earnest as it may be, to undermine Theresis where he can, as Hoederer is still loyal to Theresa's original mission. Episode 13 reveals that Manfred knew about Hoederer's trickery for a long time and just decided to turn a blind eye to it, although it isn't specified if it was out of goodwill or an ulterior motive.
• Dragon with an Agenda: Averted, out of everyone in both the court and the Military Commission's leadership, Manfred is the only member to be genuinely loyal to Theresis (with even the Confessarius clan working behind his back for their own ends) and has no other agenda beyond achieving whatever goal Theresis assigns to him to carry out.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Unlike many of Theresis' servants or even some of his own men, Manfred tends to avoid needless killing, or at least understands the tactical value of not indiscriminately killing civilians that may still be of use. For the same reason, he looks down on the Sanguinarch's insane Horror Hunger and his tendency to depopulate entire areas on a whim just to feed himself, calling it "utterly sickening".
• A Father to His Men: Part of the reason he follows Theresis so loyally, barring the fact he is his teacher, is that he agrees in the vision of seeing a better future for the Sarkaz. This loyalty extends to the treatment of his men, which is noted as unusual by the Sarkaz whom are used to living a mercenary-life working with Bad Bosses in abundance, since Manfred instead speaks to them in earnest and accepts their grievances even when out-of-line. He also values their lives enough to pull all his forces out when the Londinium artillery controls are destroyed by the Doctor rather than to pointlessly hold his ground against an enemy now redoubling their numbers with the only obstacle in their path destroyed.
• Flash Step: How Manfred carries out his attacks in his second phase, dashing at his target and slashing them so fast that only his afterimage is visible.
• Foil: With Ascalon. They were both raised by Theresis and Theresa, but chose opposing allegiances as adults. Manfred is an honorable, knightly and respected general who cares deeply for his people yet allied with the warmonger Theresis, while Ascalon is a quiet, secretive killer who chose to follow the pacifistic Theresa.
• Gathering Steam: His attack speed gradually ramps up as he attacks the same target, up to triple of the original, basically guaranteeing that he'll eventually kill his target and possibly charge up an artillery shot or two in the meantime. Fortunately, this will reset if he changes targets or doesn't attack anything for 5 seconds.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Manfred's ability to rapidly charge the artillery cannon supporting him can let it devastate your units if you aren't careful. However, if he's caught in the blast of the cannon, it'll stun him and temporarily disable the evasion buff he spawns with. Considering that he has a whopping 80% Physical and Arts evade while this passive is up, forcing him to get hit by his own artillery fire and then piling on the damage before the buff recharges is basically required to kill him in a timely manner.
• Immune to Mind Control: In their first bout, Amiya's empath powers don't work on him, because he's so focused and emotionally stable that his mind simply has no opening to disrupt.
  Feist: Can you try and just cram his head with some kind of rubbish?
  Amiya: No. He's too well-defended, and he's too calm. I can feel the edges of his emotions, but... but right now, his heart only thirsts for victory.
• Like Brother and Sister: It's revealed in Babel that he was raised together with Ascalon after the latter was found coming out of a Catastrophe as a child by Theresis and Theresa. Even on opposite sides, he still respects her and is reluctant to fight her even if she isn't seemingly willing to return the sentiment.
• Magic Knight: Was trained in both Arts and swordplay by Theresis. In battle, this is reflected in him using his sword and Arts unit in tandem in his second phase, dealing a mix of physical and Arts damage with each attack.
• Morality Pet: He takes Paprika under his wing, where he seeks to educate her about the true nature of war.
• Named After Somebody Famous: He seems to be named after Manfred von Richthofen, AKA the Trope Namer of the Red Baron. Both men are young, powerful military officers of (at least Fantasy Counterpart Culture in Arknights case) the German Empire who are known to be affable and approachable comrades off the clock. They wear a lot of red and Manfred's Teekaz's Root serves as a mini airplane dogfighting and shooting down other drones.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: Unlike other members of Theresis's court, who all have their own motives and loyalties and thus are willing to stab each other in the back for their own goals, the fact that Manfred does not hold onto the Villain Ball at all is what makes him so dangerous among the others because his competence is what puts Rhodes Island on such a back foot when they first arrive in Londinium to the point he takes it upon himself to eliminate Amiya as soon as humanly possible with all the firepower at his disposal whereas the other Kings (sans Theresis and the Sanguinarch) all want to see how Amiya develops for their own curiosity.
• Noble Top Enforcer: Compared to many in the Sarkaz court, Manfred is a Benevolent Boss and an honorable enemy. At one point, he even decided that he would turn a blind eye on the agreement between Dublinn and the Commission to dispose of Mandragora, at least before Mandragora lit his fuse too much. This is actually discussed; when Manfred expresses his disgust at Sanguinarch's slaughter, Amiya and Feist rebuke him. Both he and the Sanguinarch are both invaders who kill people by dozens; whether its by cannon fire or turning people into blood slushies, those people are still dead. Manfred agrees, and simply ignores their distaste because he considers people having different principles as natural; he can't change people's principles and can only defend his own. Amiya then notes that this is exactly why he's so dangerous.
  Amiya: You're...I can only feel vigilance from you.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Babel would show that Manfred was originally a kind and responsible young man who looked out for other children, deeply admired both Theresis and Theresa, and was idealistic enough to believe both the Military Commission and Babel would work together to help Kazdel. After having followed Theresis for many years, he has become much more ruthless and cold, though it's downplayed as he's still the Token Good Teammate for his side with several Pet the Dog moments.
• Villain Has a Point: He's only speaking from the perspective of the Sarkaz when he says it, and it has dire consequences for the other party, but he's completely correct that Mandragora claiming having Oripathy is in any way a 'blessing' is a very ignorant thing to say after everything shown in the setting.
• The Worf Effect: Delivers a Curb-Stomp Battle to Mandragora when the latter gets ahead of herself, just to prove that even one of the strongest members of Dublinn pale in comparison to the elites Kazdel has at its disposal.
• Worthy Opponent:
  • He has great respect for Horn due to how much a of a sheer Determinator she is, being able to withstand his attacks despite her exhaustion and numerous wounds, of which a lesser person would have already long fallen into a coma or died. He even remarks that if he ever encounters Horn again, he will make sure to grant her an honorable death.
  • He very quickly realizes that between her Arts and her charisma, Amiya is a highly dangerous enemy and thus treats her extremely seriously, bringing his full might upon her the moment he gets the chance.
  • Also towards his adoptive sister, Ascalon. He had a great desire to become stronger than her while they were children, and as adults, he readily admits that she has always been his better in combat.

The Sanguinarch

Duq'arael

Artist: Chuzenji

The leader of the tribe of Vampires serving in Theresis's court. He serves as the Final Boss of Episode 13.

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• 0% Approval Rating: It's abundantly clear that as feared as he is for his incredible power and bloodlust, virtually nobody in the setting genuinely respects him thanks to his incredibly unpleasant demeanor, not even his own allies or his boss.
• Achilles' Heel: True damage will completely ruin his day in his second phase, completely bypassing the 90% damage reduction he puts up on himself without a need to blow him up with bombs.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Despite him being subjected to a Fate Worse than Death by being trapped in a pocket dimension, the Sanguinarch still succeeds in activating his blood ritual, which provides the Shard with enough power to carry out the next step in Theresis' plans. That said, his own plan to remove the black crown and thus the inheritance of the Lord of Fiends by killing Amiya inside the dimension utterly failed, making it a victory, but not for him.
• Badass Boast: When Logos, Ascalon and W make their presences known to the Sanguinarch as he is pursuing Eartha, he taunts Ascalon for thinking she can actually face him, claiming that Ascalon's own mentor Theresis would be hard pressed to fight him head on.
• Blood Knight:
  • In her Operator Record, Warfarin comments to Amiya that even though violence and hunger for blood are almost second nature to Vampires, most of them eventually get tired of killing after a couple of centuries and calm down. However, the Sanguinarch is one of the few exceptions to this.
  • As soon as the Sanguinarch appears in the story itself, he quickly establishes himself as someone who pines for slaughter, and looks down on anyone who claims to be above spilling blood. In Chapter 11, he has developed an intense hatred for Logos during their second interaction for trying to deny the Banshees formerly monstrous heritage and the kinship of their respective tribes at slaughtering their enemies indiscriminately.
• Blood Lust: Has an extremely ravenous appetite for bloodshed, and seeks to satiate it whenever he has the chance. He has depopulated whole buildings of people just to feed himself, leaving not even a scrap of them behind after he's done. Manfred is so repulsed by this that he calls it "utterly sickening".
• Blood Magic: His specialty, to the point he doesn't even need to move a muscle to cast either Arts or Vampire Sarkaz witchcraft, something a scant few Casters can do.
• Bloody Murder: To an absurdly ludicrous degree as he can reduce people to puddles of blood by simply being too close to him, as shown by several whole Eartha teams being dissolved into a sea of blood instanteously by unfortunately running into him.
• Body Horror: His Blood Magic is extremely horrific, as not only can he liquify people instantaneously, but he can repurpose those fresh pools of blood he just made to either purposely attack his enemies by bringing it to life as blood-soaked clumps or to augment his followers by deliberately pumping them full of parasitic blood until they practically morph into horrific Humanoid Abominations with tendrils of blood coming out of every orifice imaginable.
• Disney Villain Death: He is defeated in Chapter 13 thanks to the combined efforts of Amiya, Logos, W, Ines, and Hoederer, who manage to knock him off his airship to his presumed death in the interdimensional sea below.
• The Dreaded: Immensely so. In fact, Closure explicitly warns everyone that if they see another Vampire who isn't herself and Warfarin, they are to just run. Fighting the Vampires is simply not worth the risk running into 'him', as to fight the Sanguinarch would simply be suicide. And seeing what he did to an entire army over two-hundred years ago and does to several teams of Eartha soldiers in Chapter 10, he very much lives up to the threat.
• Dub Name Change: Downplayed. His name in Chinese is best translated into Prince of Blood, and while the English release changes it into Sanguinarch of the Vampires, he is still referred to by the former title infrequently in spoken lines.
• Fantastic Racism: Whenever he is not making clear about how little he thinks of his enemies, he is belittling the culture of his opponents. When Siege thinks he is playing with the Eartha team like a hunter with its prey, he rebukes her by saying "do not misunderstand me with your culture". His later comments make it clear he doesn't think much about Victorian culture of royalty in general.
• Fate Worse than Death: As the Sanguinarch is practically an Invincible Villain despite all of Rhodes Island's efforts, the only way to finally deal with him for good is to use the Vertebra of Life's control of Time Travel to trap him permanently in the flow of time, causing him to fall forever into the interdimensional sea until presumably the end of everything.
• Faux Affably Evil: The Sanguinarch's appearance is regularly compared to a Victorian noble and his normally taciturn attitude outside of combat might make him pass as one. Whenever he speaks, he speaks with refined attitude and etiquette befitting the Lord of an entire tribe. However, his nonchalant attitude only becomes unnerving as he starts liquefying people into puddles of blood and turning them into living tides and blood clumps.
• For the Evulz: Although his actions do consistently align with the goals of his faction, he's also prone to reveling in unnecessary cruelty against his enemies and innocents alike, just because it pleases him.
• Godzilla Threshold: The Sanguinarch is so absurdly powerful that Amiya is forced to break another ring, despite the risk that happened the last time she did it against Talulah, just to match him on even footing in "The Whirlwind That Is Passion".
• Hate Sink: Among the Military Commission, he is one of the only two major figures (the other being the Confessarius) with next to no remotely sympathetic or even admirable qualities, being a completely Ax-Crazy psychopath who sees all other beings as inferior and a Bad Boss who doesn't even think twice about using his own people as fodder. Fittingly, his eventual fate upon his defeat is among the cruelest in the story, being trapped in an eternal loop outside of time without even the possibility of dying, and it was well deserved.
• Hero Killer: The Sanguinarch ends up fatally wounding the Duke of Windemere after luring her into a trap alongside the Damazti that forced her to make a Sadistic Choice to either save her daughter or push the offensive against the Lord.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: He lures Amiya into a pocket dimension created by the Lifebone, with the intention of killing her and trapping the Black Crown inside the pocket dimension, therefore preventing it from passing on to another Sarkaz. However, this plan backfires on him when Amiya, together with Logos and Hoederer's group manage knock the Sanguinarch overboard, resulting in him being trapped for eternity.
• Kill the God: The Sanguinarch once killed a enormous Feranmut known now as the Lifebone, a God that was a genuine Time Master and could freely Time Travel to a degree that its very existence threatened Kazdel in the past. Due to his particular kind of immortal nature, he was able to withstand its ability long enough to slay it.
• Inadequate Inheritor: The Sanguinarch's hatred of Sarkaz Kings, and Amiya in particular, stems from his belief that the Black Crown only chooses weak willed individuals to wear it, resulting in the endless cycle of civil wars and betrayals that have plagued Kazdel.
• Invincible Villain:
  • Even before he shows up, Closure claims the notion of fighting a Vampire is just not worth considering because of the mere possibility of having to fight the Sanguinarch. The second he enters combat, he immediately upturns part of the conflict in Chapter 10 into a Survival Horror as almost everyone in his way has to flee just to survive. He instantly liquefies several Eartha soldiers in the underground tunnel of Victoria, and the only reason he doesn't immediately kill Siege and Clovisia's remaining team is because he is interested by the exotic blood of both individuals. The only reason he leaves them alone is because he senses Logos, Ascalon, and W — some of the most elite and powerful operators in all of Rhodes Island — and the prospect of facing them is more interesting to him than pursuing the Eartha, especially as the tunnel is about to collapse.
  • While the above is happening, Manfred decides to begin indiscriminately bombarding the Sudean Borough with Londinium's defense cannons despite knowing the Sanguinarch is present in the area, because he's certain that even heavy artillery which can punch through mobile city plates like paper won't be able to harm him, much less kill him. The Sanguinarch himself treats the bombardment as an inconvenience because it gets his clothes dirty.
  • In "The Whirlwind That Is Passion", it at first seems like he finally met his match against an empowered Amiya who shattered another one of her Rings and is seemingly killed on the spot after an intense battle, but in reality, he is able to continously reconstruct his body and abilities by reabsorbing his own blood, so the best that can be done is to simply remove him from the conflict by throwing him off his airship into the sea below, which leaves the ambiguity of whether or not that would kill him, but it certainly keeps him out of the remainder of the conflict in Londinium regardless.
• Mighty Glacier: Once he's in his second phase, he moves incredibly slowly even for a boss enemy (at less than half the speed of most bosses) and has a very slow attack interval to match. On the flip side, he has a huge amount of HP and defenses along with his conditional 90% damage reduction unless it's been disabled by a bomb, and his attacks inflict gigantic amounts of Arts damage (almost 3000 per hit at his strongest) along with a ramping Damage Over Time for good measure.
• Mook Maker: Many of the Sarkaz enemies fought throughout Episode 10 such as Sarkaz Heirbearer soldiers will respawn as "Touch of the Sanguinarch" and "Gift of the Sanguinarch" on death: the former being clumps of blood vessels that drag themselves forward, while the latter are full-blown Humanoid Abominations draped in blood vessels. In the enemy's name and description, they're specified to be created by the Sanguinarch himself. He can also directly summon Blood Ambers in his boss fight and revive them into Bloodborn Spawn.
• Motive Rant: He makes one in Chapter 13 in his battle against Amiya, claiming that was once a dutiful member of the Royal Court who served his brother, a past Lord of Fiends, loyally in protecting Kazdel, believing him to be the salvation of their people after countless prior Inadequate Inheritors up until he killed him personally for trying to end their Forever War which he viewed as an act of cowardice, then proceeding to witness the Civilight Eterna continue to choose incompetent leaders and drive Kazdel to ruin over and over again, until he could no longer trust its judgment and decided to put an end to the inheritance of the ‘Lord of Fiends’ title altogether. It could almost qualify as a Freudian Excuse if not for the fact that it does nothing to justify anything he’s done whatsoever.
• Noodle Incident: Kashchey refers to him (alongside the Nachzehrer King) in a negative light back in Chapter 8 when discussing where Amiya's "subjects" are, implying they had a really bad confrontation in the past that has the Deathless Black Snake still being spiteful of them centuries after the fact, especially since his speech drips with venom when referring to Sanguinarch specifically by calling him a "pink-eyed bastard who can't bear the slightest bit of light".
• Oh, Crap!: A very satisfying one occurs when Amiya, Logos, and Hoederer's group defeat him and knock him off of the Lifebone. He cannot comprehend how he lost and curses at Amiya as he falls into the abyss.
• One-Man Army: And how! He not only reduced several whole Eartha squads to blood in an instant without needing to move, but nearly two hundred years ago, the Sanguinarch single-handedly fended off an entire army invading Kazdel all on his own, leaving absolutely nothing behind and making him a frightening legend for centuries to come.
• People Puppets: He can puppeteer people's bodies by forcibly controling their blood. He uses this to force a Victorian nobleman to throw himself into a burning building, seemingly for no other reason than his own amusement. He can even do this to himself to continue fighting far beyond the brink of death.
• Pet the Dog: Despite his monstrous nature, Babel gives him a small one as it shows he did briefly mourn Theresa when she died, finding it uncharacteristic of him considering he is very accustomed to witnessing the deaths of past Lords of Fiends.
• The Pretty Guys Are Stronger: He's a handsome Biseinen, in a group filled with military-trained members with bulkier body types, but he's proven to be the most dangerous of them all. He could take on an entire army by his own, melting them into blood and reanimating it under his control. Most frustratingly, there's no known way to actually kill him. Massive artillery batteries fail to actually hurt him, he could mend his own wounds and revive himself when taken out, and the gang eventually had to resort to just kick him off his ship and into a dimensional rift just to keep him out of the picture. He even claims that Theresis, his boss, would have trouble facing him in combat.
• Puzzle Boss: Although he's initially fairly weak, the Sanguine Throne he protects will constantly spawn minions and endlessly resurrect him each time he dies, making him unbeatable until you blow it up with one of the payload bombs that serve as Chapter 13's central mechanic. If you don't manage his aggro well enough, his area denial and quadruple AoE stun will also open a hole in your defense if you aren't paying attention. In the second phase, he instead has much higher HP and 90% physical/Arts damage reduction unless he's recently been hit by a bomb, making him nearly invincible unless you bomb him in a heavily defended spot and unload all your damage into him during the short vulnerability window. And even then, you have to pay attention to when you use the bombs and what order you send them in, as he'll destroy the bomb dispenser that hit him each time he's struck, giving you a limited number of attempts that can easily be wasted if you don't protect the bombs well, misread their pathing, or just bomb him in a spot without the damage to actually punish him.
• Rage Breaking Point: Logos deliberately pisses him off repeatedly during Chapter 11, talking down to him and scoffs at the former kinship of their tribes to set him off to buy time for Siege's mission. Logos manages to hit it when he says the Sanguinarch, and those who follow him and Theresis, are hapless fools chasing a bygone era, and needs to be brushed aside for new life to grow... which sends the Vampire Lord so far off the edge that he begins indiscriminately killing his allies and thinning his reinforcements, just to get more blood to try and kill Logos for daring to say such sacrilege to his face.
• The Resenter: To a degree. He holds disdain for Theresa, as she chose to listen to Kal'tsit, who was the very person responsible for breaking apart Kazdel more than 200 years ago. The previous Sarkaz King's decision to keep Kal'tsit as an ally is something he considers a betrayal to their people. He also holds Theresa in contempt by proxy for choosing Amiya as her successor, because her inferior nature in his eyes sickens him to the core that he can only hold her in absolute contempt for harboring a power she can barely handle, unlike the other Sarkaz lords within Londinium whom are interested to see Amiya's potential or refuse to underestimate her.
• Screw Destiny: He used to believe in the Civilight Eterna and the Lord of Fiends, but after constantly watching the crown choose "weak" Lords and overall fail to return Kazdel and the Sarkaz to their former glory, he has since decided to reject the Sarkaz tradition by personally killing the Lord of Fiends and destroying the crown.
• Shout-Out: His name, position and title brings to mind Castlevania: Lords of Shadow as a fellow Vampire Monarch who extensively uses blood magic as part of their arsenal, has a reputation as The Dreaded and holds disdain for a messianic figure (God and Theresa respectively). This contrasts nicely with the Witch King's parallels to the Dracula of the Castlevania main series as revealed in "Zwillingstürme Im Herbst".
• Smug Super: Whenever the Sanguinarch actually bothers to address his opponents, he makes it clear he thinks very little of his opponents. Even Siege compares his attitude with them as playing with his prey, and when Logos, Ascalon and W use Arts to make their presence known to him, he only addresses the first two for being a heir of the Banshees and a disciple of Theresis, and doesn't even acknowledge W's existence. Of course, given his power, his confidence is not unwarranted.
• Social Darwinist: Chapter 11 establishes the Sanguinarch has a quite strong belief in this. Namely, only those who are willing to kill, and be killed themselves should they lose their footing, are the only ones deserving existence. It's implied the Sanguinarch and his followers sided with Theresis and not Theresa because the Regent acknowledges it's either kill or be killed and stops at nothing to see his enemies destroyed rather than show weakness. As a result, he holds disdain for the "modern" Sarkaz who reject what he sees as an innate purpose of bloodshed.
• Support Party Member: Ironically considering his insane killing power in the story and Social Darwinist attitude, when fought as a proper boss, the Sanguinarch's skillset mostly focuses on debuffing and debilitating defenses to let his forces exploit the openings, while casting Blood Mists that forcibly revive Blood Ambers and keep endlessly resurrecting them as long as they die in its radius. Once he Turns Red, he starts actually fighting back with dangerous attacks, but is very slow to attack and even slower to move; his threat instead mostly comes from his continued debuffing, now supplemented by directly summoning minions en masse and keeping them alive through constant healing and revival.
• Too Powerful to Live: As his nature as the Lord of Vampires makes him virtually an unkillable and Invincible Villain for all practical purposes by Rhodes Island, coupled with his sheer ruthlessness, Darwinistic philosophy, and his growing hatred for the "Civilight Eterna" and its inability to feed into those beliefs threatening the very future of the Sarkaz themselves; Rhodes Island has little choice but to completely divorce him from the flow of time and trap him in a Fate Worse than Death in a parallel dimension where he falls forever.
• Viler New Villain: He's clearly meant to be the Commission's version of Mephisto, and manages to make the former look like a saint compared to him. Both are the most mentally unstable members of their respective organizations with Mook Maker powers that have horrific effects on their allies, but Mephisto at least had a sympathetic background and is pitiable for just how horrifying and painful his ultimate fate is. By contrast, the Sanguinarch is a horrific monster who just wants violence and destruction to date his Horror Hunger and has no real loyalty to his leader's plans, which further contrasts how sincerely Mephisto believed in Talulah's vision. Tellingly, while Mephisto's fate is, as previously mentioned, treated somberly, the Sanguinarch's defeat is viewed as something he completely deserved.
• Villain Takes an Interest: He finds the fact Clovisia, leader of Eartha, being a Unicorn exotic enough to briefly stop his otherwise merciless assault on the remaining Eartha teams. Upon smelling Siege's blood (whom he identifies as distinct from a Feline's), he decides to take it slow in his pursuit across the underground tunnel. The next chapter reveals he decides not to inform Theresis and the Confessarius about Siege's existence or her true nature.
  • The same cannot be said for Amiya. Unlike the other Sarkaz Lords in Londinium, the Sanguinarch looks down on Amiya for being weak in body and Arts, and unable to truly understand the Sarkaz's hatred and resentment despite holding the power of the Lord of Fiends and the knowledge of generations of the Sarkaz with it.
• We Used to Be Friends: Well, as much as someone like him can be friends with anyone, but he considered his tribe's relationship with the Banshee tribe something beautiful with the carnage which came with their hunts. However, as they transitioned away from that bloodthirsty past due to the changing times and became more moral as a result, the Sanguinarch grew to despise the Banshees in modern day. When Logos chooses to represent the Banshee to speak with the Sanguinarch on their differing ideologies, the conversation drives the Vampire to a Rage Breaking Point.

The Nachzehrer King

Artist: Cenm0

The ancient leader of his enonymous faction of Sarkaz also within Theresis's court—ghoulish creatures that can absorb the "memories and wrath" of the enemies they defeat by consuming their flesh.

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• Badass Boast: In his brief conversation with Kal'tsit, he casually makes claims which easily qualify as this trope. He first tells Warfarin to retract her fangs, claiming even the oldest Vampires are cowards who don't dare to bite him because "my seething anger could cause their fangs to rot" - keep in mind this includes the Sanguinarch. He then reveals he knows Shining has been there the entire time, and while he concedes a sword strike from a Confessarius is something even he would have to dodge, he follows it with, "that is, if you CAN unsheathe your blade", implying he could prevent her from drawing it if she tried. Finally, he asks where is Logos, whom he calls the Great Banshee, claiming if it boils down to a fight, the odds would be "a fair bit higher" against him in that case, suggesting Kal'tsit, Warfarin and Shining together don't really mean much to him. It isn't empty boast either, as Kal'tsit affirms he could kill her and destroy Rhodes Island, had he really wanted to.
• Dragon with an Agenda: Explicitly states his loyalty is not to Theresis himself, but Kazdel and the Sarkaz as a whole. He even reveals directly to Kal'tsit that he is going behind Theresis's back to see if Amiya will bring rebirth or destruction to the Sarkaz.
• The Dreaded: The people who know of him tread around him very carefully. Warfarin questions how many Sarkaz is able to make her lose her composure even for only a moment, to which Kal'tsit replies he is one such example.
• Dub Name Change: In the Chinese script, the Sarkaz subrace he presides over is referred as 食腐者, which literally means rot-eaters and the common word for scavenger creatures. English release names them as Nachzehrer, a reference to a specific type of undead creature in German folklore who is known to devour the living, which is exactly what the Sarkaz subrace is known to do.
• Evil Smells Bad: Has a very rotten, decaying odor on his person. In fact, his proximity can cause Sensory Overload to other Sarkaz such as Warfarin.
• Friendly Enemy: Like many other members of the Sarkaz Court, he calls Kal'tsit dame. What distinguishes him from the others is how he refers himself as an old friend of hers, which she acknowledges despite only ever meeting him twice over ages. Kal'tsit also affirms they had crossed swords before, but due to differing opinions rather than enmity.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Played with. The Nachzehrer King raises his voice every time Kal'tsit makes a statement which even slightly disrespects him, to the point of scaring Warfarin and Mon3ter, but he doesn't actually attack them at all.
• I'm a Humanitarian: His people's hat, the Nachzehrer tribe consume their defeated opponents, feeding off of death and wrath.
• Invincible Villain: Built up as one. Kal'tsit confirms the Nachzehrer King could have killed her and destroyed Rhodes Island by himself if he wanted to.
• Large and in Charge: The leader of his eponymous sect of Sarkaz, and is positively enormous, standing many feet over everyone else in Theresis's court, especially in comparison to the Damazti Cluster in their true form who doesn't even come up to his supposed knees.
• Long-Lived: Has lived for at least a number of centuries, long enough that he considers Kal'tsit an old friend. Kal'tsit also calls him an old Sarkaz hero.
• Make Them Rot: His body is apparently so corrosive, he warns the panicking Warfarin to not attempt to consume his flesh. He plainly states no Vampire has ever tried to bite him because of this.
• My Country, Right or Wrong: He outright declares the Nachzehrer tribe is only loyal to the Sarkaz as people, not the throne or the crown or any ancient culture or witchcraft. Thus, any loyalties he may have at any moment are simply a means to fulfilling his true loyalty.
• Noodle Incident: Kashchey refers to him (alongside the Sanguinarch) in a negative light back in Chapter 8 when discussing where Amiya's "subjects" are, implying they had a really bad confrontation in the past that has the Deathless Black Snake still being spiteful of them centuries after the fact.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: The Sarkaz people in general qualify, but he is notable for how much bloodshed and Sarkaz culture defines his mannerisms. He announces himself as someone who has spent the past few centuries devouring countless people, and he seeks out Kal'tsit because he wants to know what killed the last pure-blood Wendigo, who was also this trope. When Kal'tsit gives a vague answer, he perceives it as an insult to the late Wendigo and demands a clearer answer, which prompts her to clarify how it happened as she was chosen by Buldrokkas'tee as a witness (an old tradition among Sarkaz). Only after he hears this he becomes satisfied, and allows Kal'tsit to question him.
• Threshold Guardians: He and his tribe as this for the secret passages of Londinium on behalf of the Sarkaz Court, as the Victorian dukes already bar the main entrances from being used. He lets Rhodes Island pass into the city without fight after a conversation in part to test them (more specifically Amiya) with the battle ahead.
• Villain Takes an Interest: Has an eye on Amiya due to being Theresa's successor and the potential Lord of Fiends, wishing to see if she will bring "rebirth or destruction" to the Sarkaz when she dons the black crown.
• Worthy Opponent: Implied to see Patriot as this, as the only reason he personally meets with Kal'tsit just outside of Londinium is to ask her what killed Buldrokkas'tee. When Kal'tsit acts in a way which he perceives as insulting to the late warrior's death, he nearly snaps.

The Damazti Cluster

The leader of the Damazti tribe of Sarkaz standing in Theresis's court; who can take on the appearance of any being, living or dead, and pose as them perfectly. They serve as the boss of Episode 12.

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• Ambiguous Gender: It's not stated what their gender is in their true appearance, and given their ability to become anyone, it probably doesn't even matter in the end. However, Chapter 13 specifies that the reincarnated Damazti is considered male.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Poses some very honest questions about Amiya's authority and ability to rule as she's too young and neither does she fight for her position nor does she belong to any noble bloodline to inspire so much charisma in people, and whether the people who follow her are actually looking up to her in the first place or the person whom she inherited her responsibilities from. Amiya deflects the Damazti's curiosity by exposing their disguise instead, but they backfired by returning the question.
  Amiya... Who are you?
• Attack Drone: Their Lifeline Burst ability in their second phase will detonate all present operators to deal AoE Arts damage and summon Deconstructed Distortions on top of their targets. The Distortions are small flying drones that blast their targets for moderate amounts of physical and Corrosion damage, but also lose HP over time.
• Becoming the Mask: Their ability to impersonate others is perfected to the point they assimilate the thoughts and memories of the individual they become, becoming indistinguishable from the real thing. In fact, it's implied in Chapter 11 that this is the primary reason why they complained about impersonating the recently dead is because it becomes more difficult to maintain their own self when in proximity to someone that has died, as with the Sarkaz's seeming affinity with death, the boundaries become so blurred assimilating that knowledge that they can risk completely losing themselves in character as implied with their impersonation of Molly, whom they just captured, causing it to feel maternal feelings towards the school's children which comes in conflict with the group's interests to dispose of loose ends.
• Came Back Strong: A very minor inverted example - while they remain a very powerful entity, it is mentioned a few times during Chapter 13 that the shapeshifting powers of two new Damazti are not as refined as those of the first Damazti, and every time they shapeshift during the chapter, they end up getting recognised.
• Cast as a Mask: One of their special ability in their 2nd phase is to instantly retreat one of your Operators, prioritizing those without allies around it, and turning said Operator into one of their clones, for a total of 4 clones. Lore-wise, it depicts how they have infiltrated your ranks, and that Operator you deployed was really them in disguise.
• Combination Attack: Derivative Iteration, a periodic attack where the Cluster and all its clones simultaneously attack a chosen target from anywhere on the map. When the Cluster is alone, it's basically just an extra global-ranged hit from its moderate ATK stat. When it's not, it can potentially nuke an unlucky target off the map.
• Damage-Sponge Boss: When fought proper, the Damazti has anywhere from 100000 to 180000 HP depending on the map, fairly decent mixed defenses, and - more prominently - takes 20% less damage for every clone that's active, meaning that on the hardest maps where there are three clones active at once, each individual clone will be taking a mere fraction of what it should be. This heavily encourages AoE damage to take advantage of their Shared Life-Meter, as only when hitting multiple of them at once will the damage output be able to overtake their massive damage reduction.
• Death of a Thousand Cuts: The Damazti Cluster's ATK is surprisingly low for a boss, especially a physical damage dealer. To compensate for this, they attack extremely quickly and can rapidly build up Corrosion to weaken the target's DEF until their low ATK doesn't seem so low anymore - and that isn't counting how there can be up to 3 extra clones of the Cluster attacking simultaneously.
• Doppelgänger Spin: As a boss, they can divide themselves into multiple clones at certain HP thresholds. Each one has identical stats and abilities while sharing the same health bar, but all the clones will take less damage the more of them that are currently active.
• Dub Name Change: They, as well as their tribe, is only referred as "变形者" which just means shapeshifter in plural. The English release names them as Damazti (which itself is seemingly derivative of the Hebrew word dmut, which means "likeness", both furthering the Sarkaz's thematic connection to ancient Hebrews/Jewish culture and their shapeshifting powers); in turn, the translation refers to them as the Damazti Cluster, which hammers home their Me's a Crowd nature.
• Graceful Loser: Being a completely immortal Time Abyss who has Seen It All, the Damazti functionally couldn't be beaten in a traditional fight and sure enough, even Eblanna coming in to defy the Court by scorching one of its clones alive barely does anything to faze it. In the end, the only way to end the conflict with the Damazti is just to discuss with it what it even wants, as its desire to emulate others when talking to Logos is turned against itself to realize that in the monotony of it's existence, the only thing it has not experienced is a true death. At which point, the Damazti commends Amiya and the Doctor for their efforts before it voluntarily expires.
• Hate Sink: The Damazti twin that stays loyal to the Military Commission has absolutely none of the Affably Evil traits of the original Cluster more of a wisened figure nor the nobility that convinced their twin to pull a Heel–Face Turn, instead they seemingly revel in being the biggest asshole in the room, which they demonstrate with how callously they rub into Delphine's face their mother's death, all while shapeshifting between her mother and Delphine's own faces as they do so.
• Heel–Face Turn: One of the two Damazti born from their Reincarnation end up voluntarily siding with Rhodes Island of their own volition compared to their twin who ends up staying with the Military Commission and aiding them like their predecessor. Their counterpart, however, is even worse than before, sadistically tormenting Delphine with her mother’s death for no practical reason.
• Humanshifting: The primary usage of their power, as they are constantly requested to impersonate others. It's to the point that in Chapter 10, they are known to be impersonating so many people at once that it's impossible to tell whether someone is the Damazti Cluster or not.
• Hydra Problem: Due to their Me's a Crowd nature, while they can be killed, you would have to kill each and every single Damazti spawned from them to finally put them down due to this trope and each individual clone is as strong as each other and spread all throughout the world, so this would be a massively uphill goal to accomplish under normal circumstances. In the end, the only way to get around this was to convince the shapeshifter that they would rather kill themselves than live another eternity in monotony — and even then, the Damazti just simply reincarnates into two new clean-slates upon doing so.
• Invincible Villain: In a roundabout way, as their bodies can be killed like anything else (albeit with difficulty as shown during their brief fight with Eblanna), but due to their Me's a Crowd nature, they are functionally immortal in every way that counts on a conscious level as they would have to have every single instance of them killed across Terra to kill them properly. By the end of Chapter 12, they only die because they choose too after being convinced it is their true desire all along.
• Kick the Dog: In Chapter 13, when the Sanguinarch assassinates the Duke of Windermere, the reincarnated Damazti who accompanied him taunt Delphine with her mother's death using their shapeshifting powers.
• Kill and Replace: Complains that they always have to impersonate the recently dead, either by their hands or someone elses, and wishes to turn into someone who's a bit more alive—not that this stops them from doing so regardless. During their boss fight, they can weaponize this by targeting an Operator and "replacing" them with a clone of themselves, which will instantly knock them out and render them undeployable for the rest of the operation.
• Lack of Empathy: Due to their nature as an amorphous entity spread across several bodies, they have difficulty comprehending emotion and empathy and are forced to rely on their power of Becoming the Mask to mimic a person's behavior accurately to avoid detection. Unfortunately for them, this trait makes them completely vulnerable to empathy arts like Amiya's or Logos' own, and with enough insight, even others will eventually recognize that the shapeshifter is treating anything of sentimental value to the person they are impersonating as a monotonous task than a truly heartfelt thing like Feist and the Doctor do when confronting Bill.
• Master Actor: Knack. Given how long they have performed espionage work for Theresis and how many faces they've worn, they can seamlessly pretend to be anyone on the fly in rapid succession, making it impossible to know whom they are at any moment.
• Me's a Crowd: They have the Arts ability to create semi-autonomous clones of themselves that are impossible to distinguish from the original, seemingly to no known limit, which allows them to take their Master Actor skills to the next level by impersonating an entire crowd at the same time if need be. Taken to the absurd in Chapter 12 where it discusses with Logos how many copies of exist all across Terra in every nation, with one town of note in Iberia being entirely made up of two-hundred instances of themselves all posing as villagers whom maintain it's day-to-day operations simply because it wanted to see how that'd shake out if it did. As a boss, they manifest up to 3 clones of themselves, all sporting the same attacks and Corrosion buildup.
• Mind Hive: They, as other Damazti are said to be, function as a singular Hive Mind among their collective—however, given they are presumably the original or at the very least currently leading Damazti given they are serving as the representative in Theresis's court, they hold precedence as the lead consciousness among them.
• The Mole: Currently hiding within Eartha to keep tabs on them as well as tracking Amiya's movements for Theresis.
• Time Abyss: Chapter 12 reveals that the Damazti is collectively one of the oldest beings alive on Terra and, at the very least, is the oldest Sarkaz after their original civilization of Teekaz fell, and due to having Seen It All, the Damazti knows many, many truths about the world of Terra that many others have forgotten including their own species.
• No Name Given: At the moment, they are identified only as "Shapeshifter" in Chapter 10, but are established to be the leader of their Sarkaz tribe due to having enough prestige to be among Theresis's inner circle.
• Pet the Dog:
  • While their goal in impersonating Bill is to finally put an end to the Eartha resistance by baiting them into a trap, even after being found out by Amiya and sworn off by everyone around them—Feist still tries to save "Bill" despite being outed as an impostor during the artillery strike, which surprised the shapeshifter and touches them enough to pass along the real Bill's Last Request for Feist and Rockrock to live before sacrificing themselves rather than let them carry them out to give Feist and Rockrock the opportunity to escape despite the fact that contradicts with it's plan for being there in the first place.
  • After they execute their plan to eradicate all Self-Salvation Corps branches in Londinium, the Damazti have a minor moment of kindness when they imply to Golding that they let the real Molly return to Saint-Marsol after they no longer needed to use her form.
  • During Chapter 12, despite their confusion over someone wishing to kill themselves out of guilt, the Damazti still makes time for Golding in her final moments, even obliging her request of shapeshifting into a copy of herself so she can will herself into going through with her decision as part of her atonement. And, due to their own desire in emulating people, makes them realize that the missing component of resolving their own monotonous existence is simply its lack of understanding a true death firsthand when looking back to this moment thanks to it's talk with Logos, even earnestly calling her "brave" to face death of her own choice.
• Reincarnation: After they voluntarily end their own life, the Damazti is reincarnated in the form of two newborn Damazti.
• Royal "We": They address themselves only by "We" in conversation which is fitting to their stature as the lead Damazti, but it's also twofold in reasoning as their tribe has a Hive Mind mentality with the ability to split themselves off into clones at any time, so it also literally correct in referring to them too.
• Spotting the Thread: Even though they possess master shapeshifting and acting skills, not even their disguises are foolproof. For example, when the Damazti Cluster impersonates Old Bill, Amiya quickly catches on because she can't sense the Damazti Cluster's emotions. Even Feist begins to realize it when he sees "Old Bill" doesn't hold any sentiment for a prized metal crab toy the real Old Bill cherished. The Doctor, despite having none of these catches to rely on, is also quick to realize "Old Bill" must be a traitor through pure deduction alone.
• Stone Wall: The Damazti Cluster's damage output is relatively average, but they compensate with rapid Corrosion buildup, multiple invulnerability phases that require compromising their Isomorphic Fragments to remove, and an immense health pool. Each Isomorphic Fragment they split themselves into shares the same health pool but also increases each body's Physical and Arts resistance, which necessitates attacking all three (four in H12 stages) clones at once with focused firepower.
• Villainous Breakdown: Once Amiya exposes the Damazti Cluster for impersonating Old Bill, the Damazti Cluster finds it harder and harder to stay in character as they try to defend themselves and discredit Amiya, to the point where even Rockrock and Feist realize something is off about "Old Bill".
• Villain Takes an Interest: Has an immense fixation on Amiya—barring their orders to already keep tabs on her—wishing to see her full potential by testing her while disguised as a member of Eartha.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Their hat, and are really good at it too.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Their shapeshifting, while virtually flawless to observers and friends alike due to Becoming the Mask, cannot negate empathy arts like Amiya's or Logos, who can see right through their disguise as they do not actually feel any personal emotion due to their Me's a Crowd nature, thus their power is completely useless against them.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: As the Damazti has existed since the days of Teekaz and its fall over ten thousand years ago, and given the uniqueness of their Mind Hive nature, they have seen all Terra has to offer and more in their attempts to emulate the other beings of the planet. As such, they are intensely bored of living and have little personal interest in anything beyond existing for their own sake; they only seem to follow Theresis due to the belief his attempt to restore the former empire of the Sarkaz is enough of a radical enough change that it stirs them into acting with the shifting tides. By end, however, once sufficiently convinced by Logos of their true desire, they gladly expire voluntarily.

The Court Wizard (spoilers)

Theresa

The "Sarkaz King" who was a major player in the Kazdel Civil War and the head of Babel, Rhodes Island's predecessor. She was killed in a coup staged by Theresis, which led to Babel's disbandment, however, she was recently brought Back from the Dead to serve her brother's goals.

For tropes related to her, see the folder Tower of Babel in Arknights Allies.

Salus

A member of the Confessarius and Shining's "sister."

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• All Your Powers Combined: Due to the Confessarius' bloodline experiments, Salus can call upon the racial powers of other Sarkaz races, such as Gargoyles, Liches, Banshees, and Vampires.
• Healing Factor: Thanks to having access to Vampire powers, Salus is able to survive normally fatal wounds with little to no trouble.

Lady Ermengarde

A Lich who acts as the Lich Court's representative to the Military Commission.

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• Crazy-Prepared: She reveals the Lich Court has no interest in Theresis' plans for world conquest, and are instead busy administrating Kazdel since the entire Royal Court has left to fight in Victoria. She also doesn't expect Theresis' plan to succeed, which why she and the Lich Court have also been planning to evacuate the citizens of Kazdel to avoid reprisals from the rest of Terra.
• Hot Witch: She wears a stereotypical witch hat combined with a low cut dress that exposes her shoulders and upper chest.
• True Neutral: Kal'tsit mentions In-Universe that the Liches can be counted on not to take sides in the conflict. Indeed, Ermengarde tells Theresa that even though she gifted special Arts war machines to the Military Commission, the Lich Court has not committed to joining Theresis.
• Reality Warper: Theresa mentions that Liches like Ermengarde specialize in opening extradimensional spaces in order to hide their phylacteries.
• Token Good Teammate: She's actually on friendly terms with Hoederer, and admits that the Liches don't really care for Theresis' plans for world conquest.

The Banshee Queen

The previous lord of Banshees and Logos’s mother.

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• Doting Parent: She loves her son Logos very dearly and isn’t shy about showing her affection to him.
• Good Parents: To Logos. She fully entrusts him with leadership of the Banshees and encourages him to make his own decisions for the best future for their kind.
• Older Than She Looks: As a Banshee, she has an extended lifespan and still looks youthful having lived for centuries.
• Retired Badass: She is one of the six heroes of Kazdel.
• Token Good Teammate: While her fellows are of varying morality and largely serve as antagonists, the Banshee Queen is one of the unambiguously good leaders among the Sarkaz tribes, being one of Theresa’s closest friends and believing in her cause enough to entrust her son to her.

The Revenant (UNMARKED SPOILERS)

An amalgamation of angry Sarkaz souls used to power Theresis' airship

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• Eldritch Abomination: Its very existence is only possible through forbidden Sarkaz witchcraft. Other Sarkaz have very negative reactions to it while in its presence and it will outright delete anybody it doesn't like from existence by swallowing them up with its shadows.
• Hive Mind: The Revenant is an amalgamation of both Sarkaz souls and their memories.
• Inadequate Inheritor: It considers Amiya this, being an "Outblood King" who cannot understand the generations of pain and suffering the Sarkaz experienced.
• Living Shadow: It can only be percieved as a massive shadow that's capable of engulfing and killing whoever falls into its grasp.
• Mind Rape: It is capable of doing this to other Sarkaz by overwhelming them with its collective memories. Even Ascalon is nearly incapacitated when she is exposed to it.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: It provides a scathing one to Amiya, saying it will never respect or acknowledge her as the King of the Sarkaz since she is not a Sarkaz herself, so she can never truly understand the generations of pain and suffering the Sarkaz experienced and therefore cannot be considered one of them.
• Soul Power: It's revealed in Chapter 12 that Theresis' airship powered by the angry souls of deceased Sarkaz, who want to take revenge against their oppressors for the fall of Teekaz.

Ulšulah

The youngest major of the Military Commission who borrowed her codename from a legendary hero of Sarkaz history, and an old compatriot of Hoederer and Ines. She has been placed in charge of protecting the "Lifebone" being used by the Sarkaz.

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• The Alcoholic: She's perpetually seen with a can of Captain Morgan's Wine and drinks so much that the Sanguinarch can literally feel the amount of alcohol in her bloodstream. Apparently she was the opposite of this in her youth.
• Benevolent Boss: She treats those under her employ fairly generously and is well-respected by her men as a result, a stark contrast to some of the other Sarkaz leaders and especially the Sanguinarch. Even when all of them are being sacrificed to the Sanguinarch's ritual, she merely thanks them for their service and prepares to go down with them as a sign of respect.
• Mini-Boss: She shows up twice in Episode 13 and is much stronger than the average enemy, with much more dangerous abilities as well.
• Named After Somebody Famous: An in-universe example. She is named after a legendary Sarkaz hero who could travel time with the use of the Feranmut "Lifebone".
• Rank Up: Unlike the officers of the Royal Court, Ulšulah is a commoner who was promoted to high position in the Military Commission based on Theresis recognizing her merit.
• Unwanted Rescue: Hoederer prevents her from sacrificing all of her blood to the Sanguinarch's blood ritual, narrowly saving her life and resulting in her becoming his prisoner.
• Villainous Valor: She was perfectly willing to sacrifice her own life to complete the Sanguinarch's blood ritual and almost pulls it off.
• We Used to Be Friends: She used to be comrades with Hoederer, Ines, and the original W back in their mercenary days. However, they find themselves on opposites of the war due to Ulšulah throwing her loyalty to the Military Commission.

Standard Units

For a list of non-boss Kazdel units, check under the Enemy Index.

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