Characters / Honkai: Star Rail—Interastral Peace Corporation

Honkai: Star Rail (Main Character Index)
Astral Express
Locations: Herta Space Station | Jarilo-VI | Xianzhou Luofu | Penacony
Factions: Stellaron Hunters | Genius Society | Interastral Peace Corporation
Aeons

Interastral Peace Corporation

"All for the Amber Lord"

The Interastral Peace Corporation (IPC) is the dominant economic entity of the cosmos. Having begun life as a support group to help Qlipoth gather materials in building cosmic fortifications, it eventually expanded into trading goods in order to acquire more resources. The need for a more structured system to support trading led to its reorganization as a corporation, founded by Louis Fleming and Dongfang Qixing, which through the centuries grew to where it is today. Despite their "expansive" business practices and the notoriety that came with it, they have always remembered their original purpose, to give everything to the Preservation, however little THEY care about THEIR worshipers' business or what they do in THEIR name.

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In General

• Ambiguously Evil:
  • The IPC seems to straddle the line between being Only in It for the Money and Well Intentioned Extremists. Topaz believes the IPC to be the latter due to how they saved her planet from destruction. However, when the Nameless fight them on Jarilo-VI, a majority of them seem more concerned about losing their paychecks than actually helping the people.
  • A side mission in Penacony reveals that they oversaw the creation of the Imaginary Implosion Pulse, a powerful superweapon, and used it on the Antimatter Legion when they attacked their supply supply lines. However, the weapon also destroyed 24 planets as collateral damage, some of which were inhabited by millions of people. While Chadwick, the creator of the weapon, did hear that the IPC publicly condemned the attack and that the higher-ups behind said attack had been subjected to internal review, he went on the run, knowing the IPC would want to monopolize the weapon.
  • The rival Avgin (from which Aventurine hailed) and Katican clans of the planet Sigonia were the only two ethnic groups to retain some autonomy while the rest of the planet's population have been assimilated into the IPC's hierarchy. Sigonia's Gaiathra Berth states that through a series of political maneuvers, both clans were deliberately kicked out of the Sigonian Sovereignty by the others and granted "autonomy" forever, thereby legally enabling the Sovereignty to enforce Bystander Syndrome while the blood feuds between both clans eventually led to the near-extermination of the Avgins. Whether or not the IPC's top brass could've prevented the extinction events is not elaborated upon, but judging from the words of Aventurine's sister about the IPC siding with them on the eve of another such extinction event (that eventually resulted in the decimation of the Katicans), it's likely that the IPC may have even subtly encouraged such an outcome.
  • Jade's conversation with Aventurine at his trial after he murdered his abusive master demonstrates that slavery was (and probably still is) not condemned and seems to be perfectly legal in the IPC, pushing the IPC into more morally black territory.
  Jade: "You don't know how many people long for your eyes to be closed forever. As a servant^note She explicitly refers to him as a slave in CN, you should not resist your master... Yet you went and killed that man anyway. No lawyer has the audacity to defend you, perhaps you ought to represent yourself?"
• Dark Is Evil: The IPC is more Ambiguously Evil, but IPC personnel appear to favor darker colors even when not restricted to the standard black business suit with red lapels and highlights. For example, Owlbert wears a black top hat with a navy blue band and a matching cape, while the revealed Stonehearts wear several black pieces of clothing that contrast with their otherwise light colored hair.
• Egocentrically Religious: Implied, at least among the top brass. While their devotion to Qlipoth seems genuine, they're also implied to exploit that fact (i.e., using "protection of the Amber Lord" to justify their actions) to expand their business and do whatever it takes to make more profit. Qlipoth themselves evidently cares little about whatever they're doing.
• Entitled to Have You: "Your home," to be precise. It's implied early on that their stake in the Penacony storyline and the hunt for the Watchmaker's Legacy is that they want to reclaim what was once their Penal Colony.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: They primarily follow the Path of Preservation, but that doesn’t mean they won’t allow people of different faiths and paths into their ranks if it meant carrying out Qlipoth’s will.
• Evil Versus Evil: Against the Stellaron Hunters. They have issued bounties for each of the Hunters' members, and as seen in Kafka's trailer, the two have butted heads against each other in the past. Both organizations are Ambiguously Evil, but for different reasons. The Hunters act in accordance to Elio’s script, while the IPC acts under the belief of carrying out Qlipoth’s will. And while they both share a common enemy in the Antimatter Legion, that doesn’t mean that they will work together against them.
• Evil Versus Oblivion: While the evil part is Ambiguous, due to how they’re willing to resort to unsavory methods to achieve their goal of carrying Qlipoth’s will, their main adversary is the Antimatter Legion, who want to carry out Nanook’s will to destroy the universe.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: Due to their overlapping kits that focus on followup attacks, Aventurine, Topaz, and Dr. Ratio, who are all affiliated with the IPC (indirectly for the latter), form a very effective team with each other.
• Intimidating Revenue Service:
  • One of the Strategic Investment Department's duties is collecting overdue debts. They are so thorough that once Jarilo-VI is reconnected to the galactic trade network, the IPC arrives to collect on a 700-year-old debt Belobog owes them, plus interest.
  • Not even a conman as slippery as Sampo can get away with owing the IPC money. Topaz simply No Sells his explosive "gift" and gives him a beating, taking what he owes them by force.
• I Want Them Alive!: The IPC wants the Stellaron Hunters dealt with, dead or alive for most of them, though they also strictly want their leader Elio alive and well.
• Leonine Contract: The IPC has an entire division dedicated to terraforming devastated worlds, rendering them lush and habitable again. The price? The entirety of the world's population becomes employees of the IPC and all assets can be seized and sold as the IPC sees fit. And these terraforming operations aren't even a guaranteed success, making said contract a gamble that could potentially save a world at the cost of signing away its people's futures.
• MegaCorp: The IPC manufactures just about everything imaginable (complete with various branch companies working under them), and their products are ubiquitous throughout the civilized universe.
• Mêlée à Trois: While both the IPC and the Stellaron Hunters oppose the Antimatter Legion, they are also enemies with each other.
• A Million Is a Statistic: In "The Trees at Peace" Adventure Mission, the IPC official had no qualms whatsoever to destroy 24 inhabited planets to test a superweapon.
• Mundane Utility: The IPC, together with the Intelligentsia Guild, partially copied Punklorde's Reality Warper tech... and used it to create a Phonýmon game.
  Wilder: "We might not be able to manipulate the data of reality as easily as those hackers can, but we're not far behind!"
  March 7th: "I think it'd be better if the IPC avoided it... it sounds pretty dangerous."
• One Nation Under Copyright: The IPC is essentially a MegaCorp that has spread its reach throughout most of the known universe and runs its holdings like a galaxy-wide polity, having entire planetary populations under its employ. They're also the one behind the credit system used by most worlds.
• Only in It for the Money: The vast majority of IPC employees work for the company just for the paycheck.
• Predatory Business:
  • The "Gold Coin of Discord" Curio in the Simulated Universe tells the story of what the IPC would do if some certain planets refuse to "cooperate" with them and accept their credits system: the Company just casually find ways to cause their native currency system(s) to collapse.
  • As shown in "Jolted Awake from a Winter Dream", they can get even more direct than this with their "asset evaluations." When Bronya refuses Topaz's contract to have Jarilo-VI become subservient to the IPC, Topaz is prepared to perform a literal hostile takeover, seizing Belobog by military force as part of an "acquisition." Himeko implies that this is still mild compared to what her Strategic Investment Department is capable of.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: They are more Ambiguously Evil, but the fact that the standard uniform for the IPC Grunts and normal employees such as Velite, as well as the Custom Uniform of Sexy of Topaz, who was the main antagonist in Jolted Awake From A Winter Dream is in those colors doesn't help their image.
• Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Aventurine's late master indirectly implied that he acquired the Sigonian man from the "guys in black," a description commonly attributed to the IPC's staff and grunts, implying that they at least dabbled in human trafficking. After he murdered his master, he only escaped execution because his cunning impressed Jade enough to pardon him to work for the IPC as a proper employee.
• Slogans: "All for the Amber Lord."
• Would Be Rude to Say "Genocide": In the original Chinese, the term 灭绝案件 [simplified] / 滅絕案件 [traditional] (mièjué ànjiàn)^note The proper term for "genocide" in Chinese is 种族灭绝 [simplified] / 種族滅絕 [traditional] (zhǒngzú mièjué, literally "race extinction/extermination") is used in the IPC's news reports about the massacre of the Avgins by the Katicans, which the English and Japanese localizations have literally translated as "extinction event."

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Ten Stonehearts

Officially known as Non-Performing Asset Liquidation Specialists in the IPC, they are an elite team within the Strategic Investment Department under direct management of Diamond, one of IPC's few Emanators of Preservation. Its ever-changing list of members comes from a diverse range of backgrounds and holds a wide variety of responsibilities, and the only thing they have in common is how they were all personally promoted to the role by Diamond and were granted a credential of their identity, known as the Cornerstone.

In General

• Custom Uniform: Most employees of the IPC wear black uniforms. High rankers like themselves are specifically exempted, allowing them to choose how to stand out.
• The Ghost: Aside from Aventurine and Topaz, the remaining eight Stonehearts are not seen by the player as of yet. Another one, Jade, is seen in one of Aventurine's flashbacks and is heard speaking to Topaz at the end of the 2.1 story chapter.
• Magical Incantation: Stonehearts activate their Cornerstones with a line describing how they operate, and end it with an "All for the Amber Lord".
  Aventurine: I'm putting down the bet. I'm taking the gamble. I'm claiming the win. I'll let fate spin the wheel, a daring gamble. Walking the brink of death... for rebirth. All for the Amber Lord!
  Jade: I come for an audience. I come to fill wine, and I come to claim. I bestow poison in the guise of sweet dew. Come the toil of spring and yield of fall, I patiently wait for the branches to be heavy with withered fruits. All for the... Amber Lord.
• Meaningful Name: Twofold:
  • The Ten Stonehearts chiefly take the name of gemstones, as outlined below.
  • Stonehearts, additionally, brings to mind the expression "heart of stone", which is often associated with cold, ruthless, uncaring or emotionless people... and given that even Topaz- the Token Good Teammate of the Ten Stonehearts and arguably the most principled of them- is capable of ruthless and/or underhanded actions (to say nothing of the rest, who are arguably even less scrupled) it also fits the group of IPC high executives.
• Money Mauling: So far, every playable Stoneheart uses some kind of literal or symbolic cash as a weapon - Topaz's gun fires gold coins, and Aventurine attacks with poker chips.
• One-Winged Angel: The Ten Stonehearts can borrow portions of an Emanator of Preservation's power imbued into their Cornerstones, essentially a gem derived from their namesakes, in order to transform themselves into stronger forms. Topaz almost does it against the Nameless in Jarilo-VI after they defeat her minions, but she gets interrupted by Bronya's timely arrival. On the other hand, Aventurine manages to transform himself (even with his own Cornerstone shattered) in Penacony to fight the Nameless and Acheron.
• Rock Theme Naming: The Strategic Investment Department's top executives are named after minerals and gemstones, such as Topaz, Aventurine, and Diamond, hence, the name "Ten Stonehearts.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: While the Ten Stonehearts are capable of working closely together as indicated in True Companions, more often than not they don't have high opinions of each other, or least not of Aventurine, who acknowledges that even if he dies, the other Stonehearts likely won't miss him at all. Even Jade doesn't seem too hung up on the death of the previous Aventurine.
• True Companions: At the very least, Aventurine, Topaz and Jade are shown to be this in 2.1 Trailblaze Mission, with the latter two entrusting their Cornerstones - which are the most treasured possessions a Stoneheart can have - to Aventurine, showing their immense trust in him. Aventurine's "future self" even comments that they are ironically more united than The Family, which outwardly pride themselves on their unity as the representative of Harmony.

Aventurine

Aventurine / Kakavasha

Introduced: April 17, 2024 (v2.1 "Into the Yawning Chasm" [second half])
Voiced by: Yang Chaoran (Chinese), Kengo Kawanishi (Japanese), Ju-seung Lee (Korean), Camden Sutkowski (English)
Young Aventurine voiced by: Pi Xiugang (Chinese), Caitlyn Elizabeth (English)

^{Click to see his full Warp artwork.}

^{Click to see Aventurine as a child}

Rarity: 5★
Path: The Preservation
Type: Imaginary

A Stoneheart hailing from the rundown planet Sigonia, who carries the Cornerstone "Aventurine of Stratagems", who is paying a visit to Penacony as one of the Watchmaker's invitees.

Aventurine goes for broke to protect his allies and punish their enemies in equal measure. His Skill, Cornerstone Deluxe, generates Fortified Wager shields on each ally for as long as three turns (and which stacks with repeated use), with his Talent, Shot Loaded Right, adding an Effect Resistance buff to the shields, as well as negates crowd-control debuffs inflicted upon Aventurine (reactivated after at least two turns); it also allows him to build up to ten stacks of Blind Bet, one at a time whenever protected allies are attacked, twice so for him; once he has at least seven stacks, he consumes that number to drop down a trove of golden chips that hit a random foe seven times. In addition, his Ultimate, Roulette Shark, traps his foe in a roulette that pelts them with golden chips, inflicts the "Unnerved" debuff for three turns that increases their attackers' Critical Damage, and builds between one to seven stacks of Blind Bet, while his Technique, The Red or the Black, gives the party a Defense buff of random potency for the first three turns of combat.^note When fully upgraded, he gains a damage boost proportional to the number of allies with Shields (including those he did not generate) and the ability to grant Fortified Wager, either at the start of battle or upon using his Ultimate; the Fortified Wager can now grant a Critical Damage boost as well as give protected allies the ability to build one stack of Blind Bet, up to thrice in between Aventurine's turns, whenever they launch follow-up attacks; his Talent's follow-up attack can now increase his Defense for two turns and replenish the party's Fortified Wager shields, with heightened potency for the ally with the lowest such resilience, as well as sees its hits extended to ten; and his Basic Attack can now inflict a Resistance Penalty to his target for three turns.

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• Absurdly High-Stakes Game: Deconstructed. He frequently participates in high-stakes games of chance and loves the thrill of gambling with his own life, with his luck often securing him huge wins. However, it's gradually revealed that Aventurine will go out of his way to risk his life even when there are safer options available, as he sees himself as worthless and believes that should he actually die, he will finally be reunited with his family.
• Affably Evil: He is nothing but polite, good natured, and reasonably honest despite the fact that he's a ruthless executive of the Strategic Investment Department.
• All According to Plan:
  • During his meeting with Sunday, Dr. Ratio seemingly betrays him and Sunday curses him with a Geas that will kill him in 17 hours if he doesn't solve Robin's death. What does Aventurine say to Dr. Ratio afterward? That's he's one step away from victory.
  • In the past, in his meeting with Jade, the latter talked about his conning scheme where he claimed that there's a chance the sands in planet Egyhazo contained some high-quality construction material, and it's said to have caused many losses for both IPC and Intelligensia Guild. When she asked why this scheme benefitted no one, including himself, he revealed that his real aim is to be brought before her - for his next gamble. This, along with his ambitious talk, impressed her enough to recruit him to the IPC.
• Amplifier Artifact: By acquiring his Eidolons, you can unlock his third and fifth Eidolon Resonances, Droprate Maxing and Ambiguity Aversion, which will add two levels to his Ultimate and 1 to Basic Attack with the former, and 2 to his Skill and Talent with the latter.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: Aventurine says this word-for-word right before he shows the Trailblazer Robin's dead body.
• And Now for Someone Completely Different: A good chunk of "Cat Among the Pigeons" is played through his perspective, effectively making him the Deuteragonist of the quest as it explores his past and motivations.
• Animal Motifs: He is frequently compared to a peacock in the main quest. Such as Dr. Ratio calling him “peacock-esque” and Sparkle calling him “little peacock”.
• Anti-Debuff: His Talent gives Fortified Wager shields a 25–55% Effect Resistance buff, as well as allows him to negate crowd-control debuffs at least every two turns.
• Arc Words: "All or nothing". Aside from it being his Character Catchphrase, it was also said by the man who bought him as a slave.
• Badass Fingersnap: With a snap of his fingers, Aventurine can summon a die to attack enemies for his Basic Attack, or call down a barrage of poker chips to bombard them for his Talent's follow-up attack.
• Badass Longcoat: In his boss form, he sports a coat with two stunningly long tails resembling peacock feathers. He's also massively powerful while transformed.
• Barrier Warrior: With emphasis on "Warrior" given that much of his offensive kit scales off of his Defense stat (and hence incentivizing players to build him to become even tankier to indirectly enhance his damage output). His Skill generates regenerating Fortified Wager shields onto the party that last as long as three turns and which can be stacked (up to twice the amount of resilience it generates)^note With damage absorption worth (16–25.6%)+(80–356) of his Defense stat through either: 1) repeated use of his Skill, 2) his sixth-ascension Bonus Ability, Bingo!, with twice the potency for the ally with the lowest remaining shield resilience (in addition to allowing his allies' follow-up attacks to build his Blind Bet stacks);^note worth 7.2%+96 of his Defense stat at base form, 14.4%+192 when enhanced or 3) or after using his Ultimate, through his first Eidolon Resonance, Prisoner's Dilemma (worth the same amount generated by his Skill, in addition to a Crit Rate buff for all allies with the shield). In addition, his fourth-ascension Bonus Ability, Hot Hand, allows him to automatically generate his shields at the start of battle.
• Batman Gambit: In order to work around Sunday's meticulousness and paranoia, he intentionally arranges for Dr. Ratio to betray him while smuggling his Cornerstone via alternate means and distracting Sunday with Jade's. Sunday hitting him with a Geas is not something he expected, however.
• Beneath the Mask: On the surface, he's confident and smug, appearing to expect things to always go his way. However, it's revealed that he has an abysmal self-opinion and is far from unshakeable, instead trying very hard to mask the constant fear he feels. Furthermore, some of the step descriptions for All the Sad Tales are notably depressive as they go from actually describing what is happening to reflecting Aventurine's own self-loathing.
  Hallucination!Aventurine: Go on. Tell me I'm right. You know who you really are, Mr. Cavalier Gambler: uptight, overcautious, massive inferiority complex. You've won so much, and you're still so afraid of losing.
• A Birthday, Not a Break: The Second Katica-Avgin Extinction Event happened during Kakava, which is also his birthday, and it is implied that he was close enough to the massacre to witness it firsthand.
• Blessed with Suck: While Aventurine is said to be Born Lucky to the point where he has never lost a bet, Aventurine himself hates it because he feels his own luck comes at the expense of others, especially his loved ones who died protecting him.
• Born Lucky: Deconstructed. He was born on the day it rained, a sign of good luck among Sigonians. As a child, his life was saved several times through sheer luck, which his family attributed to divine intervention, and even as an adult he is said to never lose. Unfortunately for him, none of his family share his good luck and they died because of that, causing Aventurine to despise his own good luck, feeling it always comes at the expense of the people he cares the most.
• Breaking Old Trends: Aventurine is the first character whose offensive abilities entirely scale off of his Defense stat (instead of Attack, though the Trailblazer of Preservation has attacks that scale off of both stats), as well as the first whose Basic Attack is completely reliant on his Defense.
• Brought Down to Badass: It is noted that shattering the Aventurine Cornerstone in order to smuggle it into Penacony undetected robs him of a significant portion of his power. This doesn't stop him from still being able to transform inside the dreamscape and put enough pressure on the Astral Express to force Acheron to intervene.
• Bullying a Dragon: Invoked. Part of Aventurine's plan was to provoke Acheron enough to make her intervene and cut him down hard enough to send him to the unknown area deep in the dreamscape.
• Character Focus: v2.1 is centered around him and his attempt to complete his mission in Penacony. Half of the story is played from his perspective as the player learns about his past and motives and ends with his "death" at hands of Acheron.
• Cleavage Window: His shirt has a cutout shaped like an upside-down heart, or a spade, over his chest.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: He's not above manipulation and using underhanded tactics to get what he wants. He even straight up tells Topaz that kindness is more of a liability in their line of work.
• The Chessmaster: His modus operandi is to use everyone and everything to get what he aims, often comparing people to chips that get traded in a game. He's able to bluff Sunday with a Kansas City Shuffle, and was even able to arrange his own "death" at the hands of Acheron, with a nifty bonus of freeing himself of the Geas Sunday put on him, all to ensure he has a way into the depths of the Dreamscape himself.
• The Chosen One: His clan believed he was blessed by their goddess.
• Code Name: While it's unclear if this applies to all Stonehearts, "Aventurine" is just a codename he gained after joining them. His birth name is Kakavasha, named after an Avgin deity and meaning "Child blessed by Gaiathra."
• Critical Hit Class:
  • His Ultimate inflicts the Unnerved debuff on his target, increasing Critical Damage dealt against them by 9%—16.2% for two turns afterwards.
  • His second-ascension Bonus Ability, Leverage, enhances his Critical Rate by 2% for every 100 points of his Defense past 1,600 (to a maximum of 48%, which he can reach if he has at least 4,000 Defense).
• Damage-Increasing Debuff: His second Eidolon Resonance, Bounded Rationality, allows his Basic Attack, Straight Bet, to inflict a 12% penalty to all of his target's Type Resistances for three turns.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Not only did he have the misfortune of being born on a remote Death World, but his flashbacks hint at a family he dearly loved that died horribly, leaving him as one of the few survivors. He was later sold into slavery and made to test his luck for the amusement of his master, who he eventually killed (and he was lucky to get away with his life after impressing Jade enough to vouch for his admission into the IPC).
• Death from Above: After his boss battle, Aventurine unleashes his trump card out of impatience: an attack best described as Gilgamesh's Gate of Babylon if it fired stacks of poker chips instead of assorted weapons. The attack likely would have killed the party and caused significant destruction if Acheron had not stopped the attack cold with her own powers. He and Acheron later confirm that this was another gamble on his part to see if she would be willing to "kill" him in the dreamscape to prove a point, which she admits he succeeded at.
• Death World: His native Sigonia-IV is said to lie in an unannexed sector between three star systems, where celestial bodies within are in constant assault of stellar winds and stray bodies, creating harsh climate. People who live there became nomads just to survive.
• Dehumanizing Insult: If he wasn't addressed by his assigned number, his slave owner would call him his "hound."
• The Dog Bites Back: The man who bought him as a slave exclusively referred to him as "Number Thirty-Five" and "hound" and treated him as little more than a property to toy with and not caring if he died in the process. Eventually, Aventurine wrapped a chain around his hand and killed the man, only managing to get out of the mess thanks to Jade's help (itself due to his cunning).
• "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: This official post implies that the "White Night" music video is actually his work.
• Dub Name Change: His real name "Kakavasha" was changed to "Akavasha" in the French subtitles, most likely because the repeated syllable "kaka" sounds like the French word for… poop.
• Dub Pronunciation Change: In the original Chinese, his code name is the actual name of the aventurine gem "砂金" (pinyin "Shājīn"), while the Japanese and Korean localizations opt for a transliteration of the international name (respectively, "Abenchurin" [katakana アベンチュリン] in Japanese and "Eobenchyurin" [hangul 어벤츄린] in Korean).
• Dump Stat: None of Aventurine's abilities or upgrades scale off of his Attack stat, so any that he gains from buffs, equipped Light Cone, and Relics is completely useless. While some Blessings in the Simulated Universe may scale off his ATK stat, it's still not worth building it on him.
• Dying to Wake Up: He claims that he committed suicide several times in the Dreamscape to test the Family's capabilities of protecting their guests from dying spiritual deaths, and found himself always forced awake in the Dreampool.
• Early-Bird Cameo: That fellow in a fedora seen next to Topaz in the "Trend of the Universal Market" Light Cone available since the launch of the game? That's Aventurine, albeit he's not identified until the v1.6 livestream shows what he looks like.
• Elemental Hair Colors: He has blond hair, matching his Imaginary element.
• Empty Eyes: His model lacks the typical highlights seen in most characters' eyes. This was not the case when he was a child. It's been gone ever since he witnessed the massacre of his tribe.
• Exact Words: When the Astral Express and Acheron confront him, Aventurine boasts that his bet is that he will "[detonate] an unprecedented explosion to prove that the vow of Harmony is a complete and utter joke." Sure enough, instead of the explosion being a result of detonating the Trailblazer's Stellaron like he claimed, Aventurine causes the explosion by forcing Acheron to use her full power on him, which results in his very public "death" while leaving a huge mark in the sky after the fight, discrediting the Family's guarantee of safety in the Dreamscape. In the "horizon of existence" where he ends up, he admits to Acheron later that he can't actually detonate the Stellaron.
• Exotic Eye Designs: His irises are purple and have bright blue rings encircling his pupils. It is stated that such "pretty eyes" (as Sparkle calls them) are a notable physical trait of Sigonians.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: While he's not clear-cut evil, he is still a ruthless, underhanded IPC high executive. Even so, Aventurine holds his late family in very high regards, and part of his life-threatening attitude is him welcoming death as a way to reunite with them in the afterlife.
• Fantastic Racism: Much is made about the fact that he is from Sigonia, a planet infamous for producing liars, thieves, and manipulators. Both Dr. Ratio and Sparkle look down on Aventurine partly due to his roots.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Sigonia is derived from "Tzigane," the Central and Eastern European exonym for the Romani people. Both groups are stereotyped as untrustworthy criminals and thus face a great amount of racism, and Aventurine refers to his people as "Avgin," which is also a word from the real-life Romani language.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: He has an earring on his left ear that resembles a teardrop with feathers. His right wrist has a golden wristwatch and a pearl bracelet, while his left wrist has a bracelet made of blue gems. His right hand also has several gold rings on his index, middle, and pinky fingers.
• Female Gaze: This official artwork shows him with his guard down, offering quite the good view of his body.
• Foil:
  • At first, Acheron and Aventurine seem like they have nothing in common, with the Galaxy Ranger being a purple-dressed lone Rōnin while the IPC executive is a scheming smooth talker in a sharp-dressed green suit. However, both of them have a similar Dark and Troubled Pasts of struggling with Survivor's Guilt, which is why Aventurine turns to her to ask about the point of living when everyone they have cared for have already passed on. Also in hindsight, his underlying mentality for all of his dangerous gambles comes out of a nihilistic disposition about life, his resentment towards the world, and his self-loathing (even if he does exploit them), and Acheron as an Emanator of Nihility actually encourages him to alter his mindset a bit.
  • Aventurine and Sunday are not only on opposing factions as representatives of the IPC and the Family, they have numerous contrasting traits. Aventurine is The Gambler while Sunday is a Control Freak, Aventurine's room number was the Number of the Beast while Sunday's Halovian heritage gives him an angelic appearance, Aventurine had a beloved older sister while Sunday adores his younger sister Robin. As of Cat Among Pigeons however, they share some similarities such as being deeply anguished over the loss of their sisters and experiencing Uncertain Doom after being killed in the Dreamscape.
• Foreshadowing:
  • During a conversation, Aventurine boasts to Dr. Ratio that all he needs is three chips to win and complete his mission. Later, it's shown that his plot involves the use of three Cornerstones.
  • It's not explicitly stated beforehand, but players with knowledge that aventurine gems are commonly used as counterfeit for jade could be clued in that Aventurine would pull a Bait-and-Switch ploy to present Jade's Cornerstone, which looks almost identical to his, as his own.
  • Aventurine intentionally tries painting Acheron as a suspicious figure to the Nameless and later aggressively taunts her while loudly announcing his plans to destroy Penacony, despite knowing of her status as an Emanator. As it turns out, he wasn't so much trying to turn the Nameless against her as much as her against himself, as his plan was to provoke her into killing him so he could prove the existence of death in the dreamscape.
• The Gambler: Aventurine has a number of Playing Card Motifs across his outfit on top of a roulette wheel on the back of his coat, and his specialty role in the Strategic Investment Department is Non-Performing Asset Liquidation—a long-winded way of saying he cuts losses, not unlike a gambler when a bet goes wrong. Furthermore, he utilizes gambling terms in his voice lines and skills (calling bets, blind bet, all-in, etc.), his Basic Attack has him throwing a die onto his target's head, his Ultimate has him summon a roulette wheel to attack an enemy, while his boss fight has him summon several dice that give random points when hit, which will then confer a beneficial effect to the team or inflict a debuff based on how many points the player get compared to Aventurine.
• Geas: Sunday uses the Path of Harmony to put Aventurine under one, giving him 17 hours to solve Robin's murder or die while unable to leave the Dreamscape. While he does provide Sunday with chaos to take advantage of, rather than fully solving the case, he gets the spell broken by Acheron.
• Given Name Reveal: A flashback to his newborn self reveals that his true name is Kakavasha.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: The "Inherently Unjust Destiny" teaser focuses on the scene in Cat Among Pigeons when Sunday asks him during interrogation whether he "wishes to destroy this world with your own hands", and unlike in the Trailblaze Mission, Aventurine face's is cast in shadow, making his eyes appear much brighter and malevolent as he holds a poker chip between his fingers and gives a Psychotic Smirk and a significantly longer and more concerning answer:
  "Let's assume - just assuming, now - that every time I roll the dice there is a possibility of achieving this particular outcome...Then I would be quite happy to make that wager."
• Gosh Darn It to Heck!: In keeping with his outwardly unshakeable and friendly business persona, Aventurine never uses profanity and opts for milder terms like "darn" or "good heavens". Amusingly, he makes fun of Boothill's involuntary tendency to do this during the version 2.2 livestream. In the Chinese dub however, he does use profanity such as 混蛋 after seemingly being betrayed by Ratio, and when dealing with his "future" self.
• Guest-Star Party Member: He is playable during Penacony's second story arc where we explore the story through his point of view before even becoming available to recruit from the gacha starting from the second half of 2.1, though his stats, Relics, and Light Cone cannot be viewed.
• Hallucinations: After being subjected to the Harmony by Sunday, Aventurine begins having increasingly severe auditory and visual hallucinations, with him also internally complaining that it causes intense pain. It eventually escalates until Aventurine begins seeing visions of his child self and his supposed future self, the latter of whom taunts him over his decisions and insecurities.
• He Knows Too Much: It's implied that Aventurine knowing about Robin's death is partly why Sunday is taking action against him; as a representative of the IPC, the group deemed to be the Family's Arch-Enemy, he can potentially use that knowledge to overturn the status quo in Penacony. Though, as he's not only a high-ranking IPC representative but also is publicly invited by the Watchmaker, Sunday can't do anything direct to him.
• Inspirational Martyr: It's revealed at the end of Cat Among Pigeons that Aventurine was not expected to survive his part of the mission on Penacony, as he, Topaz, and Jade all knew his death inside the Dreamscape would be needed to give the IPC the pretext it needs to intervene on Penacony.
• Invocation:
  (Ultimate activation) "The dice has been cast."
  (Normal speed and ×2 speed) "Bust... or maybe I'll take it all!"
• Interface Screw: When the story POV returns to Aventurine after Sunday uses the power of Harmony to coerce him into investigating Robin's murder, the edges of the screen are tainted by blue blotches and chromatic aberration. As the symptoms get worse, the blotches would turn purple, then has a rainbow tinge added to it. The blotches look rather similar to the glow surrounding Xipe's head. This also serves to interfere with the quest descriptions, too.
• Irony: Aventurine is the first of the IPC's playable members to be on the path of Preservation, which is the path whose Aeon the IPC follows. Despite this, he isn't a fully dedicated follower of Qlipoth, instead following the native faith of Sigonia and having once been invited to join the Masked Fools, only joining the IPC because it suited his goals and out of gratefulness for avenging his family and clan. The end of "Cat Among Pigeons" also suggests that his beliefs may align more closely with the Nihility.
• Kansas City Shuffle: Aventurine's plan to sneak his cornerstone past Sunday is a multilayered bluff to navigate the fine line between the latter's paranoia and overconfidence. First, he locks Topaz's Cornerstone in a box and submits it as "his." It's so blatantly obvious that Sunday naturally questions Dr. Ratio about it, who opens the box to confirm the deception and "reveals" that Aventurine would actually hide his Cornerstone in his bag, promptly producing a green-colored cornerstone to cinch it. Unfortunately for Sunday, he thinks that's all there is to the trick, not knowing that this Cornerstone is actually Jade's; Aventurine's is still hidden among the regular gems in the bag, shattered but usable. The part about Dr. Ratio seemingly betrayed him is part of the plan, too.
• Last of His Kind: He's the last living Avgin, the rest having been slaughtered in a battle against their rival Katica tribe which would eventually be called the Katica-Avgin Extinction Event.
• Let's You and Him Fight: He suspects Acheron to be the "cause" behind Something Unto Death, and he makes a point of making said suspicion in front of the Trailblazer.^note He states that Penacony's Dreamweavers have built a "wall" that blocks the concept of "death" in the Dreamscape, but he suspects that the wall was broken - and he believes that an Emanator like her is capable of such thing. Later, however, he admits to Dr. Ratio that said suspicion to her was just a bluff, meant to remove an "unstable variable" and to pit her against another group so they can focus on their plan without disturbance. The Astral Express come to realize by their own that Aventurine is just pitting them against Acheron for some reason, and they're willing to trust her.
• Light Is Not Good: He has blond hair, dresses in bright colors with a lot of shiny jewelry, and has the Imaginary element. He's also a ruthless and underhanded IPC executive who is noted to have far fewer scruples with his employers' less-than-savory practices than Topaz.
• Luck-Based Mission: His boss gimmick is that he will target a character on the field, stun the rest of the party and then force the targeted character into a minigame where he rolls two dice and the player must roll higher than him. If the player rolls higher, they get a damage bonus and instantly fill their Energy; they tie, nothing happens; and if they roll lower, they take heavy damage and are Imprisoned. The trick is that you get one turn to roll dice^note having an Ultimate ready means that you have a second chance, and if you're lucky, you can use a follow-up attack on that turn as your third chance, and you must hit the dice to roll them, meaning that if a character does not have Blast or AoE damage you can only roll one die. It is possible to beat Aventurine's rolls depending on how unlucky he is and how lucky you are, but there are no guarantees and there's always the chance you take the hit. When he enters Phase 2 he will start targeting the entire party and force all of them to roll four dice, with each individual character being punished if they don't roll high enough.
• Lucky Seven: Befitting a gambler with supernatural luck, his follow-up attack bounces on enemies seven times, which is triggered by accumulating seven Blind Bet points. You can even get an achievement for getting seven Blind Bet points when you have zero prior to using his ultimate.
• Made a Slave: As a youth, he was sold into slavery by what is implied to be IPC staff, and his master used him as a prized champion in bloody "games of luck".
• Made of Iron: His Cornerstone grants him ridiculous durability, even at only a fraction of its full power. None of the Nameless' efforts, including a direct hit from Himeko's Kill Sat, make any meaningful impact against him during their fight, and only Acheron unleashing her full power is enough to take Aventurine down.
• Man of Wealth and Taste: How he presents himself: with a fur-lined black longcoat with roulette wheel symbol on his back, several rings on his right hand, a fedora and tinted sunglasses, and solid gold watch and gem-encrusted bracelets. He's also shown gambling in one promotional art, and talks cordially to anyone he meets. Even his idle animation has him spraying himself with cologne. "Aventurine's Timeline" reveals that the cologne is a limited Penacony special and he bought out the entire supply as well as one of two very expensive and rare watches.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The source of Aventurine's luck. The Avgin worship their own gods instead of the Aeons, but unlike the latter, there has been little evidence to support that Gaiathra Triclops is even real. And yet, Aventurine was said to be blessed by HER via bringing rain to his desolate homeworld. Thus, whether or not his luck is actually a result of divine intervention is up in the air.
• Meaningful Name:
  • "Aventurine" is derived from the Italian phrase "a ventura" ("by chance"), fitting for a gambler such as him.
  • Aventurine stones are also associated with prosperity, which easily reflects Aventurine's almost supernatural luck.
  • Relating to his Romani-inspired culture, the Kakava festival that his people celebrate as well as his namesake is inspired by the Turkish Roma folk holiday celebrating their folk savior figure, similar to how his clan believed that he was blessed by their goddess.
• Mirror Match: If you have Aventurine in your roster and want to have him fight his transformed boss self, go ahead, the game won't stop you.
• Money Mauling: His Talent and Ultimate involve throwing a trove of gold chips/coins onto his enemies, as does some of his attacks in his boss form.
• Mr. Fanservice: Aventurine has good Pretty Boy looks that are emphasised on several times in the story, and presents himself as a Man of Wealth and Taste with a snazzy, well-groomed outfit that even includes a Cleavage Window. A piece of official art even depicts him phoning someone while lying down in bed wearing a partially-unbuttoned shirt.
• My Death Is Only The Beginning: In a rare combination with Thanatos Gambit, Aventurine not only planned to be killed within Penacony to prove that "Death" exists within the Dreamscape and reach its other side, he also made sure that his death could be used by the IPC as an excuse to retake control over Penacony. He admits it was a big gamble since he had no control over Acheron actually doing the deed, but he relied on his good fortune to help him through.
• Mythology Gag: His act at the climax of "Cat Among the Pigeons" subtly references Otto Apocalypse's final plan in Honkai Impact 3rd: Both men goad the heroes into fighting them by claiming that they're about to cause mass destruction, with their real plan relying on a particular hero (Kiana and Acheron) to use their unique power to strike them; they're transported into another realm after said heroes' respective attacks, and their plans are considered successful. The difference is that it's still ambiguous whether Aventurine could be considered "dead" or not, while Otto sacrificed his life to stop the monster that was supposed to kill his beloved Kallen in the new timeline he created.
• Nervous Tics: "Future" Aventurine states that behind the confident, almost cocky demeanour that he uses as his poker face, he always hides a tightly grasped hand to conceal his true apprehension of not winning his bets. Players have noticed that it does seem to be the case.
• Not Afraid to Die: He isn't in a rush to die per se, but he is constantly making wagers involving his own life. This is partially because he is a gambler by nature, partially because he is confident in his luck, and lastly due to his Dark and Troubled Past and his Survivor Guilt, he has a negative view of his own life. So if he does lose, he gets to be reunited with his family in the afterlife. His bravado turns out to be an act, as he's still afraid of possibly running out of luck somehow. As Acheron points out, he never really thought of whether he'd live or die after every life-threatening gamble. After his conversation with her on the other side though, he might have a change of heart about the pointlessness in life as he takes it upon himself to be a person his family would be proud of if the time he meets them again arrives.
• Numerological Motif: Three. Aventurine was born on Sigonia-IV, a planet located at the intersection of three star clusters, and was blessed by Gaiathra Triclops ("three-eyed"), the prayer to whom is recited onscreen thrice. He lost his three family members in the past, his POV in "Cat Among Pigeons" consists of three parts, he claims that three chips are enough for him to win, referring to three Cornerstones, his three selves (past, present, and future) interact in the theme park, before his boss fight he tosses three dice, rolling three spades, and in the end three people (Acheron, Dr. Ratio, and Kakavasha) wish him good luck. The "Final Victor" lightcone description talks about Aventurine playing a game of Russian roulette and firing three blanks to prove his luck, talking to Alley at the reception desk reveals that Aventurine's "lucky room number" is 666 (three sixes), Aventurine's gambling chips have "good luck" written on them in in-universe script three times, and his earring has three feathers. Gameplay-wise, Aventurine's technique has him play slots to get three in a row, with one of three buffs of varying strength being applied based on the result. He also debuts as a playable character in version 2.1 (2+1=3).
• Obfuscating Insanity: His behavior suddenly turns erratic before he faces the Nameless, as he pendulums between rage and excitement while announcing his intentions to murder everyone present and destroy Penacony. In reality, his threats are completely empty and it's all a ploy to ensure Acheron goes through with killing him.
• Odd Name Out: Downplayed. Though Aventurine's codename comes from a type of gem like the other Stonehearts, the other known ones are named for famous or valuable stones, while aventurine is a largely obscure and cheap form of quartz.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Whenever Aventurine loses his cool or expresses anything outside of unnerving friendliness, something big is usually happening.
  • Invoked. Sunday utilizes the Harmony consecration to humiliate Aventurine and foil his plan to retrieve his Cornerstone which Ratio leaked earlier, finishing it off by telling the gambler he has seventeen hours until he is either assimilated into the Family or dies. In response, Aventurine drops his polite facade and becomes visibly angry, loudly insulting both Ratio and Sunday before taking his leave. It's later revealed Aventurine was merely pretending to have been outdone to distract Sunday from his true plan.
  • While speaking with Acheron at the "horizon of existence", Aventurine is calm as usual and smiles despite having just been killed. However, as their talk comes to an end and Acheron turns to leave, Aventurine stops grinning and sadly asks her what the point of living is, honestly expressing his emotions and finally addressing the issues he has been battling for most of his life.
• Out-of-Turn Interaction: His Talent allows him to gather "Blind Bet" points through various means, up to 10; once he gains 7, he'll immediately perform a follow-up attack by dropping huge chips from the sky, hitting random enemies 7 times^note By 25–55% per hit. With his Eidolon Resonance, Unexpected Hanging Paradox, using the follow-up attack will also buff his DEF by 40% for 2 turns, and he'll drop 3 more chips. The methods are:
  • For each ally with his shield that takes hit from attacks, he gains 1 point, and an extra one if he takes the hit.^note This means that AOE attacks that hit shielded party members will grant him 5 points.
  • His Ultimate will make him gain random amounts of Blind Bet points, from 1 to 7.
  • With his 6th Ascension Bonus Ability, when the party (except for him) perform follow-up attacks, he gains 1 point, up to 3 times before his turn starts.
• Painting the Medium: When he hallucinates his past and future selves during "All The Sad Tales", the mission descriptions (which are usually hints or commentary on the story) depict his internal monologue, which starts out brutally self-critical and devolves into Madness Mantra territory.
  Failure discarded selfish useless pointless coward murderer gambler blessed discarded loser chosen-one Mother Goddess's beloved crazy murderer blessed failure discarded loser pointless coward murderer chosen-one selfish ████ blessed discarded loser chosen-one ███ loser discarded pointle██ ██ward mur█████ gambler blessed █isc█████ useless loser ███sen-███ Mother Goddess██ ███████ loser loser loser loser loser loser loser loser loser loser loser loser loser ████ ████ ███████████ ███ ██████ █████ █ ██ ████ █.
• Paranormal Gambling Advantage: He was Born Lucky thanks to his people's goddess blessing him, and boasts before his boss battle that he's never lost a bet. In the past, unfortunately, his luck being the "real deal" amused his former master, who liked pitting him against other slaves in life-threatening games of chance to see if he'd survive.
• Passive-Aggressive Kombat: He's more than able to match Sparkle's venom toe-to-toe, being one of the few that makes her drop her cutesy act to speak seriously.
• Pet the Dog: When he's handing out gems to random people for information about "Death", he gives a few words of advice to two people off their luck separately. One is perpetually drunk on SoulGlad and gets to know that mindlessly imbibing is his way of coping from a crappy life, and for a short moment, a concerned Aventurine suggests that he quit for his health. The other is someone who initially assumed he's just wanted for his parents and doesn't have enough money on his own, to which Aventurine dejectedly tries to encourage him to be optimistic for any future fortune one day. While this is all under the charade of looking pathetic enough to lure Sparkle out, giving them more than a simple bribe despite not getting any concrete clues before his brief consolations doesn't give Aventurine any sort of large benefit, especially under a time pressure.
• Power Echoes: His voice gains an echoing effect when he invokes the power of his Cornerstone.
• Power Floats: He's capable of flight while using the power of his Cornerstone, and spends his boss fight floating a few feet off the ground. After the battle, he soars high into the air while starting a massive assault on Penacony, which also puts him in a good position to force Acheron to kill him.
• Playing Card Motifs: Spades appear throughout Aventurine's outfit, most prominently on his chest. As an (unfortunately) lucky gambler, Aventurine's life is full of danger, strife, and death (sometimes he intentionally walks into them), yet he always makes it out alive somehow. It's also a symbol of intellect in some readings and Aventurine himself is an intelligent person who had to learn how to get by fast even as a kid. In another interpretation, it's seen as a symbol for the cosmic tree, which fits his element, Imaginary.
• Pretender Diss: He dismisses the Trailblazer's Lance of Preservation, itself a relic of Belobog's Architects, as a worthless flawed stone. This is not without reason as the IPC cornerstones allow their users to fight on the level of Emanators. During the fight with the Astral Express crew, Aventurine blocks the Lance with his bare hand, proving the weapon is next-to-useless against him.
• Rags to Riches: He used to be an orphan on a desolate planet and was sold as a slave. Now, he's a rich executive.
• Random Number God: Befitting his gambler aesthetic, the number of stacks of Blind Bet generated by his Ultimate and the Defense buff of his Technique are given randomly.
• Rank Up: According to his talk with Topaz, he got promoted offscreen not long before she gets demoted for agreeing with Bronya to let Jarilo-VI pay off their debts on their own pace.
• Real Men Love Jesus: Like his family, he's a follower of Gaiathra Triclops, goddess of Sigonia, who is believed to have blessed Aventurine with good fortune when he was born. He doesn't seem to be particularly devout as an adult, but he is shown reciting a prayer to HER a few times including while saying goodbye to his past self.
• Refuge in Audacity: He had a pretty daring plan by trying to fool the Family by pretending Topaz's Cornerstone was his while disguising his own as a regular gem. However, the plan is apparently foiled due to Dr. Ratio's betrayal. But it's later revealed that Aventurine arranged for the betrayal, and that his real plan wasn't to involve two Cornerstones, but three, having also used Jade's Cornerstone to camouflage his, which he shattered (something no sane Stoneheart would do given its importance) so it would escape detection. There's also his stunt he pulls after his boss fight, where he summons giant falling poker chips that threaten to cause mass destruction... just to provoke Acheron into striking him. He succeeds, in more ways than one: he manages to "die", and her attack frees him from his Harmony effect put by Sunday.
• Revenge: It's implied many times that Aventurine deeply resents the universe as a whole for the death of his family and his clan while he himself has lived to this day, which fuels his reckless behavior. It's also implied to be the reason why he joined the IPC instead of the Masked Fools, as they avenged his tribe, with which they were allied in Sigonia, by wiping out the Katica tribe in retaliation.
• Slave Brand: The tattoo on his neck is apparently a serial number, with Dr. Ratio pointing it out to mock him as a former "thrall" once sentenced to death by the IPC. Cat Among Pigeons later clarifies that his slave owner inflicted the "commodity code" on him after purchasing him.
• Slave Collar: He was wearing one during his trial/conversation with Jade. It was also the thing he used to murder his former master.
• Sole Survivor: He's the last remaining Avgin, with his family having been wiped out when he was a child.
• Status Buff:
  • His Technique randomly bestows the party a 24%, 36%, or 60% Defense boost at the start of battle, the success rate decreasing the higher the boost (though repeated usage does not overwrite the highest buff).
  • His sixth Eidolon Resonance, Stag Hunt Game, bestows him a 50% damage boost for every other ally protected by his shields (hence a maximum 150%).
• Stepford Smiler: Aventurine can usually be seen wearing a calm smile, and outwardly maintains a self-assured attitude. However, it's noted that his smile makes it hard for others to discern his real feelings and, in truth, serves to conceal his severe depression and self-loathing.
• Stone Wall: Downplayed. Aventurine is a Preservation Pathstrider with a powerful regenerating shield, but he's also capable of decent damage through his Talent's follow-up attack and Ultimate. Additionally, his damage potency and Critical Rate scale entirely off his high Defense stat.
• Suicide by Cop: After his boss fight he launches one more massive attack that starts levelling buildings around them, with the intention of forcing Acheron to draw her sword and kill him. He succeeds.
• Survivor Guilt: Much of his self-loathing is a result of his fortune seemingly being at the cost of the lives of others, including his family. This results in him being incredibly quick to gamble on his life even when it's unnecessary, and it's implied he sometimes wonders if it would have been better if he hadn't been born with his luck so he could have died along with his people.
• Thrill Seeker: Appropriately enough for a gambler. His affinity for thrills and gambles got him an offer to become a Masked Fool, though he decided that the IPC was more suited for his goals. His hallucination notes that he could have accomplished the IPC's objectives in a Boring, but Practical way, and yet chose to gamble his life instead.
• Together in Death: A familial version. He misses his family, but as they died a long time ago, he knows he will only be able to see them once he dies, which also exacerbates his tendency to view his life as a poker chip. While saying goodbye to his past self, he says that he hopes to become someone his family can be proud of before his time comes, however.
• Uncertain Doom: He manages to goad Acheron into striking him with a heavy blow, but it ends up transporting him to a "horizon of existence", a "fleeting dream" that is one of manifestations of IX. She tells him that death isn't guaranteed, and later to wake up from this "dream" and that his "gamble" isn't over yet. Later, when he meets his "younger self" for the last time, he claims that he'd like to go to where his family is, but "not now", because he'd like to prepare first (echoing Acheron's words to him). However, in the scene afterwards, Topaz sees his stone losing its glow, and Jade says that it means he has fulfilled his promise.
• Variable Mix: When Aventurine activates his gambling minigame in his boss battle, the boss theme shifts to a more tense version with a cheering audience in the background.
• Villains Never Lie: Played with. As a high-ranking IPC businessman, he's no stranger to using tricks and deceptions to further his goals, such as lying to Larose (a stranger he just met) about being a tabloid reporter collecting ghost stories, his bluffs about Acheron, and threatening the Express Crew and the whole of Penacony. But he at least doesn't hide that he's scummy and tells Trailblazer that he's at least relatively trustworthy compared to the numerous shady dealers that try to pretend. As Black Swan warns, Aventurine holds to the agreement, but isn't above using lies, Exact Words, deception, sleight of hand, and manipulation to give himself the advantage.
• The Voice: He phones Topaz (without appearing on-screen) in The Stinger of Jolted Awake From a Winter Dream.
• Weapon Specialization: His designated Light Cone is Inherently Unjust Destiny, which boosts the wearer's DEF, provides a Crit DMG buff to the wearer for 2 turns when they're providing shields, and allows the wearer's follow-up attacks to inflict a debuff on affected enemies that increases their damage taken for 2 turns. All of them not only fits his gameplay, but also further empowers his offense.
• Worf Had the Flu: When the Trailblazer engages him in battle, Aventurine uses his Cornerstone to transform into a more powerful form. However, having previously shattered his Cornerstone to smuggle it past Family security, Aventurine is actually only fighting at a fraction of his full power. Despite this, the only trouble he's having is that the Astral Express crew doesn't go down as quickly as he wanted - and his real plan isn't to win, anyway.
• You Are Number 6: He was branded as "Number Thirty-Five" when he was a slave, with his master exclusively addressing him as such.
• Your Days Are Numbered: After Sunday puts Aventurine under a Harmony curse, he casually states that he only has 17 hours to live.
• You Just Told Me: Aventurine calls the Trailblazer "Mr./Miss Stellaron" when speaking one-on-one in the Reverie hotel room. If you choose to respond by asking how he knows that, he grins and says you confirmed it for him, though the other options imply he knew before asking.
• You're Insane!:
  • A number of characters remark on the fact that he's not exactly the sanest, with his penchant for suicidal gambles and willingness to smash up his own Cornerstone to hide it from Sunday.
  • As a slave, he says this word-for-word to his then-master after the man gloats to his face about seeing Kakavasha as a disposable toy to be pitted against other the slaves.

Jade

Jade

Introduced: (v2.3)
Voiced by: Zhang Ruoyu (Chinese), Kotono Mitsuishi (Japanese), Kim Soon-mi (Korean), Faye Mata (English)

Rarity: 5★
Path: The Erudition
Type: Quantum

One of the Ten Stonehearts and the woman who recruited Aventurine into the IPC. Her Cornerstone is called "Jade of Credit".

---

• Animal Motifs: Her Splash Art shows a snake in the background, emphasising her treacherous nature as a high-ranking IPC Loan Shark and doubling as Biblical Motifs.
• Biblical Motifs: The snake in the background of her Splash Art is entwined with a tree and holds an apple in its mouth, clearly alluding to the snake of the Garden of Eden.
• Black Bra and Panties: Her lacy black bra enhances her Fanservice appeal, though whether she has matching underwear has yet to be confirmed.
• Dub Pronunciation Change: The original Chinese uses the actual word for jadeite, 翡翠 (Fěicuì), for her codename.
• A Glass of Chianti: She had a glass of wine beside her while presiding over Aventurine's murder trial, fitting for someone of her position.
• Loan Shark: She's described as a "moneylender" with a hobby she calls "Bonajade Exchange".
  Jade: "Wealth is the recipe to happiness. Giving it to those who desire happiness is making the best use of it. In this way, my job also brings people happiness. Anyone can receive this blessing... They only have to pay an equivalent price."
• Mouth of Sauron: Claims to speak for Diamond, as he's The Ghost.
• Ms. Fanservice: She's a beautiful high-class woman with long pink hair, large breasts, and a Navel-Deep Neckline that shows off her lacy black bra. Her official artwork takes it up a notch by showing her wearing an elegant form-fitting dress that emphasizes her curves and shows off her legs.
• Mystical Jade: Her Cornerstone is this.
• Navel-Deep Neckline: Her dress only closes below her chest just above her navel, revealing enough cleavage to show her bra clearly.
• Number Two: She acts as Diamond's spokesperson and representative in Aventurine's flashback, implying this trope.
• Small Role, Big Impact: In "Cat Among the Pigeons", Jade only appears in two scenes, but she is the woman who placed Aventurine in his current position and also arranges for her Cornerstone to be planted on Penacony, which will serve to be a catalyst to open a path for IPC's retaking of Penacony.
• Stylish Sunhats: She's wearing an enormous, fashionable sunhat in the flashback where she met with Aventurine. It matches the look of a stylish, high-society woman who wields considerable power.

Topaz and Numby

Topaz / Jelena, and Numby

Introduced: October 27, 2023 (v1.4 "Jolted Awake from a Winter Dream" [second half])
Topaz is voiced by: Mace (credited under her birth name Lu Minyue) (Chinese), Yoshino Nanjo (Japanese), Bang Siu (Korean), Sam Slade (English)
Numby is voiced by: Mace (All languages)

^{Click to see her full Warp artwork.}

Rarity: 5★
Path: The Hunt
Type: Fire

Senior Manager of the IPC's Strategic Investment Department, a Stoneheart with the Cornerstone "Topaz of Debt Retrieval", and leader of its Special Debts Picket Team. Alongside her Warp Trotter partner Numby, she travels across the galaxy to collect debts that negatively influence the IPC's commercial ventures.

Topaz sics Numby onto their foes through her Talent, Trotter Market!?, wherein it will periodically perform a rolling attack on a foe marked with Proofs of Debt which also increases follow-up attack damage taken, inflicted one at a time whenever she swings it with her Skill, Trouble Paying?, and which also advances Numby's turn whenever the marked foe is struck by any of their allies' follow-up attacks. In addition, her Ultimate, Turn a Profit!, psyches Numby up into entering the "Windfall Bonanza!" state, which enhances its next two attacks, whether automatic or through her Skill, into an energy tornado with heightened base and Critical damage, as well as allows all their allies' Basic Attacks and offensive Skills and Ultimates on the marked enemy to advance its turn. Finally, her Technique, Explicit Subsidy, summons Numby onto the field to search for treasure chests and Trotters, restores some Energy at the start of her next battle, and increases Credit rewards after battle; in Simulated Universe, the technique lets you gain extra Cosmic Fragments instead, with a chance to earn a random Curio.^note When fully upgraded, she (and Numby) gains increased damage against foes weak to Fire; her turn is slightly advanced, in addition to regaining some Energy, whenever Numby attacks; the Proof of Debt can now additionally inflict the Debtor debuff whenever the marked foe is hit with follow-up attacks, imposing up to two stacks of a Critical Damage intake penalty from subsequent such attacks; and Numby's Windfall Bonanza! state now enhances three attacks as well as enjoys a boost to its Fire Resistance Penalty.

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• The Ace: Topaz is famous in the IPC for her skills, reflected in her 80% success rate in revitalization projects she manages, well above the company-wide average of 63%.
• Action Pet: Numby fights alongside Topaz in combat, performing follow-up attacks at certain intervals. Gameplay-wise, Numby is treated as a separate entity like Jing Yuan's Lightning Lord; unlike the latter, however, Numby can move independently of Topaz and can still act even if she is afflicted with crowd-control debuffs.
• Animal Lover: She herself says she likes little animals. On top of having a Warp Trotter (a very cute pig-like creature) as a partner, her associated Light Cone portrays her surrounded by cats and dogs, playing with them after a long day of overtime.
• Anti-Villain: She genuinely believes that the IPC can improve worlds (as confirmed by Svarog) but is also not above ruthless and underhanded tactics (such as lying via omission about their success rate) to enforce their will and make others sign up with them. It's also stated that worlds under her jurisdiction have an 80% chance of improving.
  Bronya: Miss Topaz... she is very complex. From the letter she gave me, I could sense her sincerity. Yet she would also withhold important information from me, and manipulate us into doing what she desires. However, I can feel that she is sincerely working for the future of this planet from the bottom of her heart, even if not everyone can accept her methods.
• Armor-Piercing Attack: Her sixth Eidolon Resonance, Incentive Mechanism, increases Numby's Fire Resistance Penetration by 10% while it is in the Windfall Bonanza! state.
• Badass Adorable: Numby being a Warp Trotter already makes them adorable (especially considering it is smaller than the average Trotter), but they can pack a mean punch in combat. Topaz herself also qualifies, being a formidable IPC agent who can hold her own in combat, but also a beautiful young woman that adores cute animals. One of her idle animations even has her take a moment to cuddle Numby in her arms.
• The Beastmaster: Most of Topaz's damage output comes come from Numby—her Skill is mostly for marking Numby's primary target and increasing their damage taken from follow-up attacks, in addition to swinging Numby to strike at them,^note with damage worth 75–165% of her Attack stat and her Ultimate is meant for boosting Numby's attacking power and speed. The only instance where she attacks on her own is by shooting at her foe with her Basic Attack, Deficit...
• Beleaguered Boss: As shown in both Jarilo-VI and Penacony, Topaz isn't exactly thrilled with what her henchmen tend to do, with how they threaten the locals of Belobog and drink on the job, respectively.
• Brainy Pig: Numby is a Trotter capable of perceiving where "riches" are located, as well as being able to perform jobs involving security, debt collection, and actuarial sciences. Numby's ability to find riches comes into play in the Technique, wherein it will sniff out treasures and fellow Trotters.
• Breaking Old Trends: Of the playable characters who can visit the Express as a guest, Topaz is the first one who needs a Trailblaze Continuance mission completed instead of a Companion mission so she can visit the Express.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: From the IPC's perspective, to a point. She's incredibly competent at what she does as part of the Strategic Investment Department, with a success rate in planetary revitalization projects well above the IPC-wide average, and a higher position than can be expected for her age. She's also rather kindhearted for such a cutthroat industry, casually eschews the rule against having organic pets in office to keep Numby around, and her only black mark on an otherwise stellar résumé is in business etiquette—she didn't show up to the test at all, because in her words, "I absolutely hate formalism."
• Condescending Compassion: Topaz genuinely wants to help worlds recover from severe environmental damage. The problem comes from her conviction (from her experience) that such worlds are incapable of changing their fates without outside help, and is willing to do whatever it takes to pressure at-risk populations into accepting such help from the IPC. She's convinced that Jarilo-VI is just that sort of world, doubly so considering that many of its original defenses were constructed using investments and loans from the IPC, the source of the very debt that she's there to settle. She only gains some faith in Belobog's potential for self-determination after learning that they never touched any of that IPC material, instead inventing the formidable Engine of Creation without outside help.
• Cooldown Manipulation: Follow-up attacks against enemies marked with the Proof of Debt will advance Numby's turn by 50%, which can be expanded to all other kinds of damage through Topaz's Ultimate (limited to two instances, which can be extended to three with her sixth Eidolon Resonance). Her fourth Eidolon Resonance, Agile Operations, will grant this to Topaz herself, advancing her turn by 20% whenever Numby attacks.
• Critical Hit Class:
  • One of three stats Topaz can upgrade via her Trace tree is her Crit Rate, with her getting a 12% boost once fully unlocked.
  • Her first Eidolon Resonance, Future Market, inflicts the Debtor debuff on an enemy marked with the Proof of Debt whenever they take damage from follow-up attacks, imposing up to two stacks of a Critical Damage intake penalty (hence a maximum of 50%) for as long as the Proof is active.
• Custom Uniform of Sexy: Her outfit is a modification of the standard IPC staff uniform (such as Wilder's), made sexier with short shorts, detached sleeves, and a barely-fitting shirt, not to mention how form-hugging it is, showing off all her curves.
• Cuteness Proximity: Very briefly, but when attempting to negotiate with Topaz while touring the Belobog Museum, she derails the talk when stumbling upon a teddy bear-looking animal on display, marveling at how cute it is and feeling disappointed that, since it's on display in a museum, it's likely extinct. Happily, at the end of the Trailblaze Continuance, she finds a real one in Belobog's wilds, yet another testament to the hardiness of all life on Belobog.
• Damage-Increasing Debuff: Her Skill inflicts her target with the Proof of Debt which, in addition to making them target of Numby's Talent-enhanced auto-attacks, increases the damage of follow-up attacks incurred by 25–55%. Given that almost all of Topaz's attacks count as follow-up attacks (with her Basic Attack upgraded into one through her second-ascension Bonus Ability, Overdraft), this increases her damage output while also bolstering the damage of any allies capable of dishing out follow-ups of their own (i.e., Herta, March 7th, and Clara). Befitting her Path, only one enemy can be marked at a time.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Topaz came from a planet that had such terrible conditions, the people there who didn't leave for other planets were forced to wear ventilators to even move around. The IPC eventually intervened and improved its living conditions, but at the cost of its inhabitants becoming employees of the IPC. Despite being effectively enslaved, Topaz was inspired by the restoration to join the Strategic Investment Department once she got old enough. She actually weaponizes this in an underhanded attempt to push Bronya into signing the contract with the IPC, although she later realizes her folly (in part because her world never had as astute, determined, and forward-thinking leader as Alisa Rand was) and apologizes to Bronya for forcing it.
• Demoted to Extra: After appearing as a major antagonist in Jolted Awake From a Winter Dream, Topaz later shows up partway through the Penacony storyline, but due to The Family's general mistrust of the IPC and Aventurine (who gets in because of Watchmaker's invite) handling matters in her stead, she and her employees are forced to sit in the hotel in reality and wait for Aventurine to finish up. This naturally causes her much frustration as twiddling her thumbs isn't her style, especially with Bloodhound Family goons breathing down her neck. This might be subverted though given that Aventurine's planned "death" also gave her and Jade reason to act in Penacony.
• Early-Bird Cameo: She was featured on the "Trend of the Universal Market" Light Cone before becoming a playable character.
• Elemental Hair Colors: Though her hair is predominantly white, there is a red hair streak on the side and the inner parts of her hair are colored red, both of which matches her Fire damage type.
• Exact Words: Her offer to Bronya is to contract all of Jarilo-VI's economic power to the IPC, manpower included, in exchange for waiving its debts and granting access to the IPC's environmental restoration tech. Despite the heavy price, said assistance would seemingly ensure the future of their planet, allowing Belobog's present populace to see their world restored within their lifetimes as opposed to hoping their descendants will see it done someday. However, Topaz purposefully left the IPC's success rate out; in general, only 63% of such projects succeed, and even Topaz, for whom such restorations are passion projects, can only get that up to 80%. With those numbers, the deal becomes a dangerous gamble, definitely selling Belobog's future to the IPC in return for possibly getting their world restored. Since the math no longer adds up, Bronya ultimately declined the offer.
• Exposed to the Elements: Despite being in the frigid cold of Jarilo-VI with her shoulders and much of her legs exposed, she doesn't seem to be at all bothered by the weather.
• Fluffy Tamer: Downplayed. Topaz's second-in-command and pet partner Numby is a Warp Trotter that is very small for a Trotter, very cute, and very loyal, not to mention Trotters are generally rather harmless. This doesn't change the fact that they're a Warp Trotter, which is a Fragmentum monster, and are very dangerous in combat. When Seele sees Numby for the first time and March mentions they're Topaz's pet, her initial reaction is unmitigated disbelief and some amount of horror.
• Frontline General: Despite her high position within the IPC, Topaz still personally goes out into the field to collect on debts herself.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: Her job in the IPC is, essentially, to "hunt" debts, befitting her Path.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: You can freely use Topaz in the 2.1 Trailblaze Mission, even though storyline-wise she is detained in the Penacony Hotel in the real world and barred from entering the Dreamscape. You can even take her to the boss fight with Aventurine if you so desire.
• Given Name Reveal: Her character story reveals that “Topaz” is a name given to her by the IPC, and her real name is Jelena.
• Good with Numbers: One Express chat shows her as this, casually doing three-digit multiplication and spitting out fifth roots and prime factors without breaking a sweat. She can't, however, quantify the astronomical cuteness values of March 7th and Pom-Pom.
• Hartman Hips: Her lower torso is like an upside down wine glass with just how wide it is.
• Honest Corporate Executive: While she's not above subterfuge and being dodgy with the truth she's stated to be incredibly ethical by IPC standards and does have genuine intentions of improving worlds to the point that she's willing to take a demotion out of her willingness to give Jarilo-VI a chance at remaining independent.
• Hunter of His Own Kind: During exploration, one of Numby's special abilities is to track down and distract other Warp Trotters to make it easier to ambush them.
• Impossible Hourglass Figure: Downplayed case. Her waist is reasonably narrow, but she is still very gifted in the rear and bust.
• Invocation:
  (Ultimate activation) "The market is unpredictable"
  (Normal speed) "Huh? Right! Investing in victory... means playing the long game!"
  (×2 speed) "Right! Investing in victory... means playing the long game!"
• Jack of All Trades: While her primary focus is dealing lots of damage, her skillset acts as a force multiplier for characters with follow-up attacks, making her a pseudo-Support Party Member for characters like Clara who can deal huge damage on their follow-ups.
• Lascivious Beauty Mark: Topaz has a mole quite high up on the inside of her right leg; this just adds to the already-copious amount of male gaze she inevitably receives due to her thighs being on display.
• Missed the Recital: Her final Character Story depicts her unnamed predecessor and mentor, who put up with her antics (like Numby, because pets are against company policy) and guided her, at a retirement party devoid of any wellwishers except for his personal assistant, lamenting that all the hotshot up-and-comers, including Topaz, have gone on to bigger and better things without any time or thought spared for an old fogey on his way out the door. Topaz can't attend due to her job, but sends a heartfelt letter thanking him for all his guidance and wishing him happiness in retirement. He's moved to tears by it.
• Money Mauling: According to Numby in Topaz's "Keeping Up with Star Rail" segment, her gun fires gold coins.
• Money Multiplier: Her Technique increases monetary reward if she's still in the team after defeating an overworld enemy (on top of granting a bonus 60 Energy after Numby acts for the first time in combat)—in the normal overworld, the party receives Credits (to a maximum of 10,000 per calendar day); in the Simulated Universe, Cosmic Fragments (with a small chance to get a Curio).
• More Despicable Minion: She herself isn't, but the IPC grunts under her are. They often act unnecessarily callous towards the Belobog locals, and she herself is aware of this, threatening to shave their pay if they don't behave themselves.
• Ms. Fanservice: Topaz has an Impossible Hourglass Figure and prominently bare thighs that her leotard-like attire shows off, in addition to wearing a buttoned shirt that is barely holding in her breasts. She also has a mole on the inside of her right thigh, drawing more attention to her legs.
• Omniglot: One of her idle animations demonstrates this, cycling through the four voice languages (English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean) while speaking to varying parties on her earpiece and a phone. As an IPC employee who travels worlds to manage projects and collect debts and thus interacts with all sorts of folks who may or may not benefit from the setting's Translator Microbes, this makes sense and leans slightly towards Crazy-Prepared.
• Out-of-Turn Interaction: Numby will periodically attack on its own against a foe marked with the Proof of Debt, whether by her Skill, or automatically at the start of the battle, or after the previously marked enemy died, its power tied to Topaz's Talent.^note With damage worth 75–165% of her Attack stat
• Psychological Projection: Due to her own experiences living on an all-but-uninhabitable planet that lacked strong leadership to help its populace, where anyone with the means to do so jump planets at the first opportunity, and which only saw revitalization through subservience to the IPC, Topaz tends to assume that similarly disadvantaged planets, such as Jarilo-VI, can only survive with the IPC's help and would otherwise collapse completely on their own. While this does instill in her a desire to help such planets, even if her superiors would rather opt for a hostile takeover, it also prompts her to engage in several underhanded tactics, such as Lying by Omission and making preparations to hijack the planet's defenses. It's only after Bronya is able to prove that the people of Belobog can stand on their own without IPC assistance, by showing her the Engine of Creation that past Belobogians built without any assistance from the IPC, that Topaz realizes that she might have misjudged them.
• Punch-Clock Villain:
  • Despite being the antagonist during her Trailblaze Mission, Topaz doesn't hold any hard feelings against the Astral Express and Belobog, even telling them that she's willing to hang out off the clock.
  • In the "Aetherium Wars" event, she's the reigning champion of the tournament and is thrilled that the Trailblazer made it that far in the tournament and can't wait to duel them. When she's defeated, she congratulates them on the win.
  • She apparently likes sharing IPC gossip with Asta, herself a daughter of prominent officials, if their schedules have any free time.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: She specifically orders her men not to interfere with Belobogians, threatening to cut their performance bonuses otherwise. She also decides to call off IPC operations on Jarilo-VI once Bronya convinces her that the people can rebuild on their own, and doesn't seem to mind the resulting demotion and pay cut.
• Regenerating Mana: Her sixth-ascension Bonus Ability, Stonks Market, grants her 10 Energy whenever Numby attacks while Windfall Bonanza! is active, and her second Eidolon Resonance, Bona Fide Acquisition, additionally grants 5 Energy whenever Numby attacks.
• Rolling Attack: Numby's main mode of operation, leaping in and cutting through enemies like a buzzsaw. When in the Windfall Bonanza! state, its attack is upgraded into a Tornado Move, flapping its ears to engulf its target in a whirlwind of Trotter power and gold coins.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: She eventually agrees to hold off on collecting Jarilo-VI's debt because she's convinced that their inhabitants can rebuild on their own eventually, and accepts the demotion and pay dock that comes with it, noting that she's still well off with the money she has. Aventurine warns her that her kindness could become a liability for so cutthroat a job as theirs.
• Situational Sword: Topaz's fourth-ascension Bonus Ability, Financial Turmoil, increases her and Numby's damage by 15% against targets weak to Fire.
• Super Mode: Topaz's Ultimate psyches Numby up into the Windfall Bonanza! state, increasing its raw and Critical Damage output of its next two follow-up attacks (respectively, by 75–165% and 12.5–27.5%), as well as allowing any attack (as opposed to follow-up attacks only) to advance its turn.
• Teleporters and Transporters: As a Warp Trotter, Numby has the ability to teleport people and things toward it. This is perhaps best seen when Topaz receives permission to attack the Astral Express crew. Numby immediately creates a bunch of twisters that warp IPC soldiers and automatons to fight the Nameless.
• Token Good Teammate: Himeko warns that the rest of the executives in charge of the Strategic Investment Department are not nearly as nice or well-intentioned as Topaz, and Belobog was extremely lucky that she was the one that took on their case. Topaz reveals near the end of the storyline that the plan as approved by the IPC's top brass was actually "acquisition", not simply debt collecting for its own sake—it was only because she genuinely cares for Jarilo-VI's future that she chooses to withdraw and try overturning her superiors' plans after she's convinced that the planet's inhabitants can rebuild it by themselves, even at the price of demotion.
• Triple Shifter: Using Penacony's Dreampeek to spy on her dreams reveals that she gets a strict four-and-a-half hours of sleep due to her workload, even with Numby to help out. And she even uses the time while asleep to plan out her work schedule while lucid dreaming.
• The Unfought: You only get to fight her Elite Mooks at the conclusion of the "Future Market" storyline. Afterwards, Bronya steps in at the last second to negotiate.
• Unusual Ears: Numby's stretchy ears are prehensile enough to type on Topaz's behalf. They can also grow large enough to become wings.
• Upgrade Artifact: By getting her Eidolons, you can unlock her third and fifth Eidolon Resonances, Seize the Big and Free the Small and Inflationary Demand, which will add two levels to her Skill and one to Basic Attack with the former, and 2 to her Ultimate and Talent with the latter.
• Villain Override: Jarilo-VI's robots were originally designed by the IPC, and the code was already so refined that future Belobogian engineers saw no reason to change it. Turns out the IPC has a backdoor, so it's no challenge for her to turn their own robots against them. After the mission ends, if you talk to Clara at her usual place, she claims that Topaz gave her said "source code," and believes that it represents Topaz's faith in her.
• Weak, but Skilled: Zig-Zagged. Topaz currently possesses the lowest base Attack stat among 5★ Hunt Pathstriders (and even some 4★ characters), and her ability to build up attack is further hurt by her lacking any Trace nodes that enhance Attack like most other damage dealers. However, she makes up for this with how every attack she's capable of is considered a follow-up attack, with her Proof of Debt inflicting a Damage-Increasing Debuff. This not only allows her to deal good damage despite her low Attack stat, but her ability to advance Numby's actions allow her to strike rapidly, especially while its Windfall Bonanza! state is active. Additionally, her ability to increase follow-up attack damage on enemies makes her an excellent Support Party Member for other follow-up-centric units such as Jing Yuan or Dr. Ratio.
• Weapon Specialization: Topaz's associated Light Cone is "Worrisome, Blissful" (5★), whose "One At A Time" passive increases its wearer's Critical Rate by 18–30% and follow-up attack damage by 30–50%, as well as building up to two stacks of Tame against foes struck with follow-up attacks, increasing its Critical Damage intake by 12–20% per stack (hence a maximum of 24–40%). With just her second-ascension Bonus Ability, all of Topaz's attacks become follow-up attacks, taking full advantage of the inherent damage boosts of the passive while quickly stacking the Tame state to increase her allies' effectiveness.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: She genuinely wants to help planets in need rebuild and prosper. However, she believes that only the IPC with its vast wealth and resources is capable of saving them. Her aim in trying to push her deal onto Bronya is to ensure that Jarilo-VI can get the environmental restoration technology she's certain that Belobog needs, while also settling its debt to the IPC so her more unscrupulous co-workers wouldn't have any grounds to carry out the original plan of "acquisition".

Diamond

Head of Strategic Investment Department, and leader of the Ten Stonehearts. He is an Emanator in the service of the Preservation.

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• The Ghost: While mentioned numerous times, Diamond is a mysterious figure that apparently has very little time for others. Jade fills in as his representative when recruiting Aventurine.
• No One Sees the Boss: When Kakavasha (past Aventurine) asks to speak with Diamond, Jade explains that no-one ever sees Diamond, and that she serves as his spokeswoman in all matters. It's unclear if even the Stonehearts themselves get to see him.
• Semi-Divine: Diamond is an Emanator of Preservation.
• Super-Empowering: He grants a fraction of his power to the other Stonehearts through the Cornerstones.

Other Personnel

IPC's Board of Directors

The heads of the various departments of the IPC. They consist of:

• Oswaldo Schneider, head of Marketing Development Department, responsible for expanding the IPC's coverage to various worlds. Also a former Nameless member.
• Madam Scarred Eye, head of Business Consolidation Department, responsible for consolidating trade networks across various worlds.
• Yabuli, head of Technology Department, responsible for creation and manufacture of numerous new technologies, together with the Intelligensia Guild.
• Taravan Keane, head of Building Material Logistics Department, responsible for supporting Qlipoth's endeavor of building fortifications. This department is said to be among the most ardent followers of their Aeon, but their leader's devotion is questioned.
• Diamond, head of the Strategic Investment Department, responsible for searching opportunities for the company to invest their wealth on, seeking for the greatest amount of return.
• Mtooyin Raj Zazzad and Yan Shiluo, heads of Talent Motivation Department, responsible for seeking new promising talented members and managing them, nurturing their greatest strengths and placing them in suitable positions.
• Arita, head of Traditional Project Department, responsible for managing "long cherished dreams" and assisting those seasoned in their crafts to maintain their work and reach new heights.

Owlbert

Owlbert

Voiced by: Liu Beichen (Chinese), Yukitaro Namura (Japanese), Kang Ho-chul (Korean), Bill Butts (English)

A talking white owl who serves as an anchor for Interastral Peace Media. He hosts Keeping up with Star Rail, a semi-meta show showcasing the abilities and skills of playable characters, as well as the Version Update Special Programmes that don't involve the developers.

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• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Despite being an owl, Owlbert sports a feathered top hat and a cape.
• Butt-Monkey: He and his show are regular targets for comedic threats, ranging from censorship to cancellation to direct harm upon his person.
• Deadpan Snarker: Very much so, often snarkily calling out everything he thinks is ridiculous, both about his guests and the information he has to read for the characters he showcases.
• Dub Name Change: Retaining his bird-themed name, his name is 叽米 (Jí-mǐ,"Chirp") in Chinese, Mister Owl (Misutâ Fukurô ミスターフク郎）in Japanese and Sovastian (combining "sova", Russian word for "owl", and "Sebastian") in Russian.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Similar to Black Swan, Owlbert is an Honkai: Star Rail equivalent for Dainsleif (and occasionally Alice) in his role to narrate the gameplay abilities of characters. Unlike Collected Miscellany which has Dainsleif simply describing their abilities while ignoring the meta-aspect of it all, Owlbert's Keeping up with Star Rail leans on the fourth wall by framing it as a talk show with guests and poking fun at both the characters and the game.
  • He also acts as an equivalent for Traveler as the host of the Version Update Special Programmes, showcasing new content with other characters acting as special guests. It should be noted that unlike the English Genshin programmes and the Hyperion Lounge of Honkai Impact 3rd where the hosts are not part of the universe, Owlbert is explicitedly the only in-universe character in his show instead of being his voice actor playing himself.
• Talking Animal: As a talking owl, he's obviously this.

Skott

An IPC Representative looking to wrest control of Aurum Alley from its Merchant Guild.

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• Big Bad Wannabe: Despite his actions kickstarting the storyline, he's taken care of relatively quickly, losing out in the second act and the rest of the storyline is spent oppossing the Merchant Guild's traditionalist president and later Xiaohan, who turns out to be another IPC representative.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Along with being a massive Jerkass, he's extremely underhanded, trying to sabotage the merchant guild's shipments through bribery.
• Laser-Guided Karma: He makes a bet with Sushang and the Merchant Guild that if they can't revitalise Aurum Alley, they have to publicly apologise and bark like dogs. After they not only manage to make enough to pay back the debts, but also prove that he was trying to sabotage them by damaging their cargo, he ends up being the one who has to apologise and bark like a dog.
• Smug Snake: Despite his arrogance, he does a very poor job covering his tracks when he attempts to sabotage the Merchant Guild's cargo shipments and leaves an extremely easy to find trail of evidence leading back to him.

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Velite

Velite

Voiced by: Joshua Waters (English)

An IPC worker who's rescued by Argenti before the events of his story quest.

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• Vitriolic Best Buds: One-sided. Since their meeting amounted to Argenti only agreeing to rescue him if he swore reverence to Idrilla, Velite often complains about Argenti's eccentrics and at most only appears interested in him as a means of advertising IPC products to climb the corporate ladder. However, it's evident based on his reaction to Argenti deciding to make a Heroic Sacrifice to get the Astral Express out of the True Sting that he does in fact consider him a friend, being quick to try talking him out of it and even tries volunteering to go with him before settling with telling him not to die.

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IPC Grunts

As a galaxy-spanning corporation with lots of business coverage, they inevitably have their own armed forces, fitted with cutting-edge equipment.

They consist of: Grunt: Security Personnel, Grunt: Field Personnel, and Senior Staff: Team Leader (elite).

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• Bad Boss: The Bug version of the Team Leader in the Simulated Universe has the skill "Worst Performer Is Fired" instead of Team Building. It kills a mook that has no Performance Points, summons a maximum of 4 mooks in their place and gives them Performance Points buff.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: Their armour invokes this aesthetic, with suit jacket-like design and ties, fitting their motif as "employees of a MegaCorp".
• Beam Spam: The Team Leader's strongest attack is to call for beam strikes from above, dealing AOE damage multiple times onto your characters.
• Early-Bird Cameo: They first show up in Kafka's trailer, "Dramatic Irony", being mowed down and "dominated" to attack each other by Kafka.
• Flunky Boss: the Team Leader can summon the Grunt mooks to aid them; they will immediately appear with Performance Points active. The Team Leader also has a move that absorbs their grunts' Performance Points for themselves, boosting their next attack considerably.
• Goldfish Poop Gang: in the Aetherium Wars event, some IPC grunts who call themselves "Topaz's Support Squad" repeatedly tries to take the Aether Spirit Trotter from the Trailblazer's hands, using different Aether Spirits each time, only to be thwarted - akin to Pokemon's Team Rocket.
• Just Following Orders: When Seele calls them out for driving the miners out of their workplace, the Team Leader claims that they're simply following orders. After you fight them together with Seele, they receive a word from Topaz that whoever disrupts the local inhabitants' lives will get their year-end bonus reduced, causing them to hotfeet it out of there.
• Laser Blade: The Security Personnels are armed with a laser-tipped spear whose blade can extend, as seen in their attack, which has Blast property (i.e allowing them to hit 3 units at once).
• Lawman Baton: The Team Leader is equipped with one that extends from its right hand, that it can use to whack your characters.
• Mini-Mecha: The Team Leader rides one that looks similar to Automaton Grizzlies. Their Flavor Text says that if their mech sustains any damage, they have to pay out-of-pocket to repair them.
• Shield Bash: One of the Team Leader's attack is to bash your character with a force-field shield in its left hand.
• Status Buff: They have an unique mechanic called "Performance Points": landing an attack will make them gain Performance Points, and their next attack will consume the points to increase its damage. It's possible for your characters to steal this buff from them by Weakness Breaking or killing them.
• Technologically Advanced Foe: Played With: In "Jolted Awake From a Winter Dream", they arrive on Jarilo-VI following Topaz. Various Belobogians note their more advanced technology compared to theirs, and along with their activity of "assets assessment", has caused much unrest among the people. However, they fold easily when Seele and the Nameless decide to attack them in order to ward off their excessive behavior. March lampshades it- for all their status as this trope, they are facing someone who managed to take down far larger threats in the form of the Doomsday Beast, Cocolia and Phantylia, and thus they come across as small fry in comparison to those.
• Underground Monkey: The Security Personnels, Field Personnels and Team Leaders are similar to Silvermane Soldiers, Gunners, and Automaton Grizzlies, respectively. Justified in that the Belobogians' tech are derived from the IPC.
• The Unintelligible: Team Leaders are able to communicate just fine outside of combat, but in combat, they issue orders with unintelligible grunts, similar to Automaton Grizzlies and Frigid Prowlers.

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Dudley (unmarked spoilers)

A representative of the IPC's Technology Department from two Amber Eras ago, he was instrumental in the project that lead to the development of the Imaginary Implosion Pulse. He's featured in the first half of Chadwick's quest.

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• Lack of Empathy: He cared little about the planets and people that would be killed during the frist detonation of the pulse, even after Chadwick tries to convince him that there are cheaper and less destructive ways to deal with the Antimatter Vanguard, he's unmoved because he wants to showcase the destructive power of the weapon Chadwick has created, collateral damage be damned.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Twice. He got the ball rolling on the development of the Imaginary Implosion Pulse by convincing Chadwick to take up the project and he's also the one that gave the order to detonate the pulse, regardless of the consequences.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives one to Chadwick moments before the detonation of the pulse, calling out how for all his moral concerns he still saw through the development of the project to its completion and that he himself knew of the implications of the project but put his own genius and talents over the consequences of his actions.
• Uncertain Doom: Chadwick mentions that the detonation was the last time he ever saw Dudley. After the detonation and his escape, the IPC launched an internal investigation that dealt with the higher-ups involved in the project that ordered the detonation and were never heard of again. Dudley's ultimate fate however went without mention.
• Unwitting Pawn: Invoked, he calls himself and Chadwick mere pawns in the game of power of his higher-ups and embraces his role.
• Villain Has a Point: As Chadwick later notes, Dudley was right that he got into the project knowing what it would entail because he wanted to prove himself to the world rather than any altruistic cause, and thus he bears full responsibility for the lives lost by the weapon he created.
• Walking Spoiler: He is the one that convinced Chadwick to work for the IPC and develop the Imaginary Implosion Pulse, being the first link in the chain of tragedy that would follow.

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