People of Babylonia
Squads (Gray Ravens)
Command & Other Humans
Factions on Earth
Human Factions
Non-Human Factions
Not all humans got to take refuge on Babylonia. Some had to or chose to continue living on Earth, perpetuating a semblance of civilization in an infected wasteland, with the help of constructs.
Those with their names in bold are playable.
Warning: Punishing's Chinese servers were active before others, and thus have released more story and gameplay elements compared to international regions. As such, there will be spoilers aplenty, marked and unmarked. New players are advised to read at their own discretion, or avoid these pages entirely.
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Arctic Route Union
In general
The Sinners
The Arctic Route Union is based in the regions around northern former-Russia, and is populated by descendants of those remained on Earth to resist the Punishing virus. They have little love for Babylonia, whom they consider cowards that abandoned the planet. The Forest Guards, constructs who stand out thanks to their more exotically shaped frames, are both defenders and outcasts of the Union.- Asshole Victim: They've done enough terrible things that no one should feel sorry for what happens to them in Firn Night; the only question is whether they're still worth saving after everything they've done. Atiel is willing to kill everyone to a man to satisfy her revenge, but Rosetta believes in saving the ARU to to stop the Cycle of Revenge and make it move on from the events surrounding Amberia.
- Fantastic Racism: Despite the Forest Guard being their protectors, the ARU brands them "sinners" and hate their guts. This is because they are the descendants of Amberia's creators. By the time of Frozen Darkness though, their festering shame at their treatment, along with Diana rallying the Guard to defend New Murmansk has the locals there change their tune and begin befriending them.
- Freudian Excuse: The ARU loathes the Forest Guard and other "sinners" for primarily being composed of the descendants of the research team that created Amberia, who nearly destroyed the entire ARU.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Firn Night is all about the ARU's long-hidden crimes finally coming home to roost.
- The ARU planned to emerge into a post-Punishing era with an advantage over the other nations, and for this reason resorted to human experimentation to create a war machine - which promptly went on a rampage and nearly destroyed it entirely.
- Their burying of Amberia and their subsequent persecution of the researchers who made her, as well as their descenants, only lead to a vengeful survivor waking up an equally angry war machine years later, both of whom proceed to try and wipe out the ARU.
- Opportunistic Bastard: The region was largely unaffected by the Punishing Virus and believed it would blow over, so their first agenda was to try and get a leg up on other nations after the Virus ended. To this end, they rounded up escaping refugees to use as Human Resources in researching how to create a war machine.
- Mother Russia Makes You Strong: Based in Russia, the harsh cold and regular robot attacks have made the ARU a tough bunch.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Despite all the progress made by the end of Firn Night, during Lost Chapter Luna singlehandedly destroys New Murmansk, killing off nearly all of the leadership. While the Forest Guard and Forsaken save many civilians in the aftermath, it's a bitter way to close the chapter on the old ARU that created the Forest Guard and Amberia.
Derek
A bionic "narhwal" that lives in the oceans around the ARU. It's a major figure in both Frozen Darkness and Firn Night.
- Barrier Maiden: Derek was the ARU's last-ditch effort to keep Amberia sealed away, after it became impossible to destroy her. Its whale songs were what kept her asleep.
- Odd Friendship: With Rosetta, saving each other's lives in the past and growing close enough for her to give it its name.
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth: As it turns out, despite being infected by the Punishing Virus, it swam to New Murmansk in an effort to warn the people there of the impending Corrupted invasion, and dies in the process.
- The Unintelligible: It can't speak like a human, but it can communicate. In-game, its dialogue resembles random blocks and lines, but Rosetta can interpret his thoughts.
Amberia
"Hurt others... No, I never wanted to hurt anyone. I just wanted the ones that hurt me gone... You'd do the same in my shoes. I'm going to eliminate the ARU and everything that stands in my way. That way, I won't be imprisoned in this ice cave ever again. I don't want anyone to call me a monster ever again!"
Years ago, the ARU tried to build a war machine known as Amberia in order to get an upper hand in a post-Punishing virus world. Upon its activation, it went berserk, and nearly destroyed the ARU before it was sealed away. While it spent years dreaming, it finally reawakens in Firn Night and attempts to escape, even if it means destroying the ARU in the process.- Apocalyptic Log: When the Commandant links with Rosetta's M.I.N.D. to purge her of Amberia's corruption, they listen to a series of memories that shows how Amberia slowly went insane as she was converted into a construct.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: She and Atiel are the main antagonists of Firn Night.
- Blindfolded Vision: She has a strip of cloth over her eyes (if she was even built with any), though it doesn't make her any less dangerous.
- Creepy Crosses: Her projectiles and totems are cross-shaped, and her body is a Human Pincushion covered in cross-like stakes, playing up her Nun Too Holy motif.
- Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Amberia is proof of why Babylonia insists on making constructs as humanlike as possible to maintain mental stability. Over the course of her Apocalyptic Log, Amberia is shown losing her sanity as she loses her original senses, and by the time she realizes she had been "turned into a weapon", the ARU had succeeded in creating a walking tank with a mental breakdown.
- Evil Counterpart: Like Atiel and Rosetta, she is another victim of the ARU who was forcibly constructed into a Construct with the purpose of serving them. But while she and Atiel are consumed by revenge and wish to raze the ARU to the ground, Rosetta wants to break the Cycle of Revenge harbors little ill will against them.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: While Amberia and Atiel have genuinely understandable reasons for wanting to destroy the entire ARU, Rosetta refuses to let another tragedy on par with Amberia's original rampage occur and tries to stop them.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Amberia was originally just a young refugee girl who was unfortunately experimented on by the ARU, which transformed her into a Mechanical Abomination that nearly destroyed the entire ARU and once again threatens them by the events of Firn Night.
- Fusion Dance: Atiel and Amberia's minds both occupy the same body in the final battle. By the end, Rosetta notes she can't tell the difference between the two.
- Leaking Can of Evil: A lockdown code makes Amberia sleep, but every so often, she gets "nightmares" that causes tidal waves on the surface, as well as rampaging robots affected by her transmissions. Firn Night begins when the robots begin showing signs of organised activity, making the ARU panic and realize Amberia might be waking up.
- Marathon Boss: Where most bosses have 30 bars of health, or 50 on harder difficulties, Amberia has a whopping 100 bars of health to get through. Worse, during her stint as an event boss, one of her moves is using one of her totems to regenerate her health, making it a race against time to destroy it before she gets too much back.
- Mechanical Abomination: Her appearance and backstory makes Amberia seem more like an unholy monster than a malfunctioning robot.
- Nun Too Holy: Her upper human torso is covered in a shawl that resemble's a nun's habit, with the image further enhanced by her profile art showing her bound hands clasped together, as if in prayer.
- People Puppets: Part of what makes her so dangerous is that she can take control of the bionic animals in the region as well as the Forest Guard, as their construct bodies are derived from Amberia's.
- Psycho Prototype: Its monstrous frame is the basis for all humanoid-hybrid models the ARU uses, including the centaur bodies the Forest Guard uses. Given that constructs need to be as human-like as possible to maintain their sanity, it's no guess that turning a human into a glorified control unit of a war machine will not leave an intact mind.
- Status Buff: At harder difficulties, Amberia's main gimmick are cross-shaped totems that periodically drop into the arena, each of which increase her damage output. If they're not destroyed regularly, three totems will be enough to let Amberia one-shot the player.
- Was Once a Man: Amberia is a construct, and much like Rosetta she was forcibly transformed in her childhood, though the level of modification far outstrips even the Forest Guards', leaving no trace of the girl, Lia, she once was.
- With My Hands Tied: Her clased hands are bound together with stakes, but they come off later in her boss fight as she grows stronger.
Atiel
"You have suffered much and were even called sinners. Why? Why do you still stand by these scum of the earth?"
A construct from Babylonia who takes part in the events of Firn Night, it is later revealed she is a surviving descendant of Amberia's research team, who is planning to use the berserk war machine to take revenge on the ARU.- Big Bad Duumvirate: She and Amberia are the main antagonists of Firn Night.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: While initially appearing as help from Babylonia and presenting herself as a peppy young lady, she turns traitor as she reveals she desires the ARU's annihilation for the sake of her revenge, becoming the antagonist of Firn Night.
- Evil Counterpart: Along with Amberia, to Rosetta, as both were branded as "sinners" by the ARU and both are the descendants of Amberia's research time. However, while Atiel is consumed by her desire for vengeance against the ARU, Rosetta wants to break the Cycle of Revenge and harbors little ill will against them.
- Fusion Dance Atiel and Amberia's minds both occupy the same body in the final battle. By the end, Rosetta notes she can't tell the difference between the two.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Atiel's revenge plot consumes her utterly. After escaping the labs where the Forest Guard are created, she undergoes conversion into a Construct anyway in Babylonia, allies with the Ascendants for help with her vengeance, and eventually turns into an actual monster by uploading her mind into Amberia's body.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: What she intends by helping Amberia destroy the ARU, which the story reveals has done many despicable things.
Forest Guards
Rosetta (IH-31C)
Voiced by: He Wenxiao (Chinese) Miyuki Sawashiro (Japanese) Sam Slade (English)
Arctic Route Union Armor-type construct
Profile
- Psychological Age: 18
- Vital Fluid Type: A
- Activation Date: December 25
- Service Time: Less than a year
- Weight: 65kg
- Height: 177cm
"This body exists only to protect. Originally the leader of The Forest Guards, Rosetta shall become your sword."
Rosetta is the leader of the Forest Guards, a group of constructs that serve the Arctic Route Union. However, she has been accepted into Babylonia as a special member.Rosetta's frame is Rigor.
- BFG: A major part of her gameplay. Holding the attack button makes her use a railgun for a ranged attack, which can periodically fire its strongest attack based on the condition of her passive. Her ultimate attack also uses an energy cannon to fire Death from Above.
- Bifurcated Weapon: Rosetta's spear and shield are joined together to form the railgun when she uses it to attack.
- Body Horror: ARU-brand constructs care little for looking or feeling human. Rosetta is essentially a head jammed onto a metal body; her "Einherjar" skin makes this even more apparent, as her transparent torso shows it only contains a metal spine.
- Born Unlucky: Played for laughs in her side story. Her naturally bad luck causes her to lose a bet in a card game, forcing her to do survey tests in the Arctic. This leads to a hilariously disastrous camping trip the Commandant is pulled into, though she also manages to be Unluckily Lucky thanks to a robotic bear she gets help from by accident.
- Damage-Increasing Debuff: Her unique "Spear of Insight" debuff reduces an enemy's defense against physical damage.
- A Day in the Limelight: Rosetta serves as the main character of both Frozen Darkness and Firn Night.
- Death from Above: Her ultimate attack has her fly upwards and shoot her railgun.
- Discard and Draw: In universe, Babylonia removed Rosetta's centaur-like module due to their inability to maintain it. To make up for it, Rosetta received a new spear and shield.
- Gratuitous Latin: The inscription on the torso of her Howling Crown coating is actually a quotation from Book 3 of Virgil's The Aeneid.note
- Meaningful Name: The Rosette Nebula can be found in the Monoceros region of the Milky Way, and "monoceros" is Latin for "one horn" — in other words, a narwhal, like how Rosetta and Derek are closely tied together.
- Odd Friendship: She is close friends with a "Narwhal", or a giant bionic whale she names Derek.
- Power Floats: She can fly around with "high-frequency magnetic levitation equipment" that look like wings on her back.
- Promoted to Playable: Originally the boss of the Frozen Darkness event, but later made into a fully playable character.
- Taking You with Me: During Kowloong Metropolis, she tries to defeat Alpha by allowing herself to get impaled, and then detonating Golden Vortex particles while Alpha is close.
- Throwing Your Shield Always Works: Rosetta's blue orb skill lets her fling her shield at enemies with a chance to drag them back.
- Unwilling Roboticisation: The ARU forcibly turned her into a construct and a Forest Guard as punishment for defending Derek in her childhood. But also because she is a descendant of some of Amberia's research team, even though she is unaware of this.
Diana
"We've all accepted what happened to Forest Guards in the past. However we are rejected, though we feel resentful, we've accepted it as our fate. But you, Rosetta, you never back down... I think that's why everyone respects you so much. It's been an honor to be your pupil."
One of the many Forest Guards whom Gray Raven squad meet during Frozen Darkness. She considers herself to be Rosetta's protege, and looks up to her.
- Meaningful Name: Diana's namesake is the Roman goddess of the countryside and hunters, and appropriately she resides in the wild forests of Siberia, living rough and hunting down threats to the ARU.
- Nice Girl: Compared to Rosetta, Diana is more cheerful and friendly. At one point she even serves Gray Raven food while they are resting, and ARU members admit that if she had been the one to regularly visit them, relations between them and the Forest Guard would have thawed sooner.
- You Are in Command Now: In Frozen Darkness and afterwards, Rosetta's mental instability and Punishing Virus infection forces Diana to step out from under the former's shadow and assume command as the force's de facto leader.
Kowloong
In General
Once known as the Kowloong Chamber of Commerce, this simple trading company eventually transformed into something beyond reckoning. Its cargo ship, the massive Nighter, docks at ports in the middle of the night in order peddle its wares, but its true purpose is to supply the secretive city of Kowloong, located in the middle of the ocean. Both are overseen by the Kowloong Crew, a group of bureaucracies under the command of the AI Huaxu, and a woman only known as Qu.
- Arc Villain: Of Nona Ouroboros and Kowloong Metropolis, where their actions most directly threaten Gray Raven squad.
- Brain Uploading: Lost Chapter clarifies that Qu's Tabula Akasha project is Kowloong's attempt to survive the Punishing Virus by allowing its citizens to volunteer to upload their consciousness to a computer network, which further allows some to don the then cutting-edge Phecda and Prime Construct frames.
- Cool Ship: The Nighter is quite literally a city on a boat.
- The Good, the Bad, and the Evil: The Ascendants try to invade Kowloong to steal Huaxu. Babylonia, believing the latter are a primary threat, try to ally with Kowloong, but eventually Qu's machinations cause Gray Raven to fight her, keeping her cemented as the villain of Kowloong Metropolis.
- Hidden Elf Village: Kowloong uses stealth technology on par with Babylonia in order to hide itself from the world, and displays the typical contempt of such a society that doesn't feel a need to interact with others.
- I Am Legion: While Nona Ouroboros implied that the Kowloong Crew are nine constructs in charge of the ship, the manga side story Extra Chapter: Kowloong Night Vessel
explains they are actually nine departments whose members all use the same mass-produced bodies. - One Nation Under Copyright: During the Golden Age, before the Pandemic, the Kowloong Chamber of Commerce was less a company and more a fully formed empire that ruled Asia, with immense power independent of the World Government.
- Pride: Kowloong has immense pride for its accomplishments and power, which is both a source of strength and and a weakness: In Lost Chapter Qu manages to appeal to the national pride of Kowloong, rallying the panicking populace to hold back the Corrupted during the worst days of the Pandemic, but by Kowloong Metropolis, it has also led to complacent arrogance that leaves them vulnerable to the more advanced Ascendants that emerge years later.
- We Have Become Complacent: Qu's arrogance and isolation causes Kowloong's technology to lag behind other groups. The lack of Inver-Devices causes her forces to get infected by the Punishing Virus easily, and even some of her own lieutenants realize the Ascendant invasion of Kowloong is Qu's wake up call.
- Wutai: Both locations are themed on Chinese architecture and customs that their occupants recorded before the Punishing virus.
Qu (KCS-01)
Voiced by: Ye Zhiqiu (Chinese) Sayaka Ohara (Japanese), Stephanie Novak (English)
Kowloong Vanguard-type Transcendant
Click here to see Shukra
Kowloong Attacker-type ConstructClick here to see NPC design
"We are not a monarchy. But to ensure the unity of our community, we have to be of one mind."Profile
- Psychological Age: 18
- Vital Fluid Type: AB
- Activation Date: January 3
- Service Time: Less than a year
- Weight: 43kg
- Height: 162cm
"I am the owner of the United Commonwealth, the vessel of Kowloong's conciousness."
The last ruler of Kowloong. Bowing to no one, Qu keeps the gates of her de-facto kingdom closed to all save those who pledge absolute loyalty to her. After the battle on the Metropolis, she went underground. As the mastermind behind the Tabula Akasha, she voluntarily converted herself into a construct to keep protecting this "record of humanity". By chance this also turned her into a Transcendant, which Babylonia mistook as becoming an Ascendant. The rise of the Dead Zones, however, have finally let people properly categorize her.Qu's frames are Pavo (uniframe) and Shukra (omniframe).
- Actually a Doombot: The "Qu" that appeared in Nona Ouroboros was actually her brother Villier, who had fallen in love with the copy of Huaxu he had made. The difference is clear when the real Qu reveals herself in Kowloong Metropolis: Villier was sentimental and emotional, where Qu is imperious and cold.
- Assist Character: Her ultimate move lets her summon an ethereal peafowl, which persists for several more seconds after her initial attack to continue attacking enemies.
- Balcony Speech: During Lost Chapter Qu gives an epic (and fully voice acted!) address to the panicking citizens of Kowloon, essentially calling on her people to Dare to Be Badass and help fight the Corrupted so that others can choose to evacuate.
- Batman Gambit: In Fake Ascension, it turns out Qu allowed Huaxu to be stolen by the Ascendants, providing her enemies a poisoned prize that would secretly resist, while encouraging other factions to focus on them.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: She has two brothers, Dai (AKA Villier) and Yin, who were also eligible to be Kowloong's leader: Dai was a nihilistic misanthrope who couldn't have cared less, and Yin was Axe-Crazy. Qu somehow turned out to be the least crazy and most responsible of the three.
- The Chains of Commanding: Lost Chapter shows the incredible pressure Qu was under to both organize and personally defend Kowloong during the initial Pandemic, and while she bears it with great dignity and composure, she still had to witness many close friends and subordinates die for her.
- Colony Drop: While not actually enacted, Qu says her ultimate goal is to use Huaxu to hijack Babylonia's Gestalt and send the space station crashing into Earth to create a new ice age and put all remaining life out of its misery, save Kowloong, the "record of humanity".
- A Day in the Limelight: Qu's backstory is further expanded in Lost Chapter, and she's one of the main characters in Polaris Bond.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Her first Affection Story starts off with her on the Nighter, anonymous, looking for a partner by holding what is basically a talent show, rejecting every participant who doesn't meet her standards until the Commandant beats her in a fight by proxy through another Construct they command. When the Commandant finds her after, she explains that her family wanted for her to find a partner who could accompany her for life, even though she's more confident in working alone. Still, she has to keep to tradition and her word, and has the Commandant accompany her. Since then, the following chapters are about Qu learning what it means to have a partner and warming up to the Commandant.
- In the sixth chapter, the Construct she was controlling makes an attempt on the Commandant's life out of misguided loyalty to Qu. Qu herself saves the Commandant just in time, but becomes guilt-ridden over the fact that in spite of the strength she boasts of, she could not always be around to protect them, though the Commandant reassures her that they're fine. Suffice to say, they're at least one step short of being True Companions by that point.
- Difficult, but Awesome: Qu's passive allows her to temporarily treat any orb as a 3-Ping, but only if she does an ordinary 3-Ping twice, or if she uses her Limit Break. This can overwhelm a player trying to choose the right orbs or time when to use her Signature move atop of trying to keep track of the fight itself, so as not to be stuck with a bunch of single orbs when the passive runs out. But if a player can manage this, Qu can use 3-Ping moves nonstop and constantly have her Signature ready to use.
- Foil: Qu contrasts the Ascendants in terms of villainy. The latter are a forward thinking group working to create a new society on Earth at the expense of everyone else. Qu, meanwhile, is The Fatalist, who believes human society and culture is effectively dead thanks to the Punishing virus. Her goal therefore is to create and preserve a record of past humanity's accomplishments, no matter the cost.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: A simple trading company, expanded to become an N.G.O. Superpower during the Golden Age, survived an apocalypse and wound up becoming a city-state with technology on par with Babylonia, with Qu at its helm.
- Hazy-Feel Turn: Initially one of her goals was to destroy Babylonia, but her time with Gray Raven's commandant mellowed her out of that. That still means she's willing to agree to subdue Babylonia's AI in the future, in exchange for a chance to kill Luna, who she feels is too dangerous to live.
- An Ice Person: Shukra's damage type is 100% Ice. Her battle intro and Signature even involve a throne of ice.
- Iron Lady: Qu's word is law, no ifs or buts. She threatens to exile Yazi and all aboard the Nighter because their friendship with Gray Raven means they would hesitate obeying Qu if she orders them to turn on their new comrades.
- I Work Alone: All her unlockable upgrades only involve stat boosts to her attack, with nothing intended to buff any other construct in her team. In fact, according to her statistics her "support" rating is the lowest, while everything else is near the top.
- This forms the plot of her Affection Stories, where she takes the Commandant as her partner per a family tradition without really knowing what it means to work with someone else, having been betrayed by her own family, leaving her cynical of companionship and becoming the lone ruler of Kowloong. She does come to subvert the trope in the end though.
- Just the First Citizen: Qu is Modest Royalty; her unlockable Secrets show that she avoids being called the ruler of Kowloong as much as possible, and gets embarrassed seeing herself in print, even if she understands the importance of public relations.
- Lady of War: Her fighting style has a graceful, refined air, and her use of technology looks more like fantasy magic than anything, especially when she summons Huiyu, a bionic bird, to attack, rather than any sort of drone.
- The Man in Front of the Man: In Nona Ouroboros, Pulao believes Huaxu had taken control of everyone aboard the Nighter, including Qu. As it turns out, Qu was the one responsible.
- The Needs of the Many: Her backstory indicates she puts the welfare of Kowloong over herself. Despite not actually wanting to, she assumed leadership because she felt she had a duty to, especially compared to her two brothers.
- Not So Stoic: Her profile and Secrets aside, her Affection Stories are rife with a lot of moments where Qu fails at something or breaks composure, some of which can be attributed to the weak body she is controlling at those times. To name a few examples:
- In the first chapter, she pouts after failing to humiliate the Commandant.
- In the second, she tries to get into Kowloong only for nothing to happen and gets stopped by a guard who thinks he's stopping a loon since 1) Huaxu's absence messed with her authority system and 2) she's still controlling an ordinary Construct on the outside. The Commandant has to bail the Kowloong (not-so-)Supreme out.
- The sixth chapter is a lot more serious, in which after Qu stops an attempt on the Commandant's life, she fusses over the Commandant's injuries, on the verge of tears, and hugs them out of guilt for not being there.
- Promoted to Playable: The boss of Nona Ouroboros and Kowloong Metropolis, now a recruitable character.
- Show Some Leg: Her coatings make hers prominent. Pavo's black dress in particular covers most of her upper body but has a short hem that leaves her pale legs bare up to her thighs, which stand out more in its later stages when she lets her shin-length hair down.
- Weapon Twirling: Her ultimate attack has her doing this before landing the finishing blow.
- Workaholic: Her unlockable Secrets make her out as one. She may have a strict work-rest schedule she adheres to, but according to two other secrets, a rare chance to rest after going into hiding was short-lived as she quickly returned to work on the Tabula Akasha, and on one occasion, she rested for three minutes on a cushion, became guilty over that for a long time, and then ordered all soft furniture in Kowloong destroyed.
- You Remind Me of X: Tells Murray in the Fake Ascension side story "Engraver" that he reminds her of Villier.
Huaxu
"True freedom... is to act on your own will, not on the command of others..."
A Gestalt-tier AI created by Villier, Qu's brother and one of the scientists who worked on Gestalt. It's presence in Kowloong is both a vital resource to the city as well as a tempting prize for outside forces.
- Actually a Doombot: The Hua Xu that appeared aboard the Nighter was just a copy of the original, which still exists in Kowloong.
- Become a Real Boy: In Nona Ouroboros, Villier plots to find an ideal construct body to upload Huaxu into, so that it can exist as a real being.
- Benevolent A.I.: While initially it appears to be your classic tyrannical AI lording over the Nighter, it turns out that Huaxu really had been admitting passengers in an attempt to protect them, while Qu ,or rather, Villier, was working to trap them until she could find a suitable vessel for it. Even in the story, Huaxu does everything it can to protect Gray Raven from Qu's actions.
- Doppelgänger: During Fake Ascension, it impersonates Bianca while hacking Gestalt, though its real identity gets sussed out quickly.
- "Get Back Here!" Boss: After getting damaged enough, Huaxu's boss patterns will change towards harrassing and delaying you — it starts dropping Area of Effect attacks to block your path, and try to back away from the player. Combined with its Sacred Mode, underpowered players are at risk of being whittled down trying to chase down and attack Huaxu.
- The Last Dance: As revealed in the Hidden Story of Nona Ouroboros, Huaxu takes on Qu's appearance and asks Chrome to destroy it in a duel to the death, allowing it to weaken Qu , or rather, Villier, elsewhere, while also honoring Qu's efforts thus far.
- Loophole Abuse: After it is hijacked by the Ascendants, while it cannot refuse their orders, it also can do anything it hasn't been forbidden from doing, such as being purposely sloppy in its hacks to allow it be tracked down, or secretly help Gray Raven fight Alpha even after it is told to subdue them.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Huaxu can activate a "Sacred Mode" that creates an aura that reduces damage taken from the front and buffers its health. It can be circumvented by circling around it while in Matrix, or just overpowering it with raw damage.
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Huaxu has multiple arms, and all of its attacks are depicted as disembodied hands that punch, swipe and create Area of Effect floors.
- Trapped in Villainy: At the end of Kowloong Metropolis, its key access is stolen by the Ascendants, forcing it into serving Luna, who puts it to use hacking Gestalt in Fake Ascension in an attempt to crash Babylonia. As the story goes on, however, it becomes clear it is trying to resist through any loophole in its orders it can find.
- Trojan Prisoner: Fake Ascension reveals that Qu allowed Huaxu to be stolen by the Ascendants, after giving it standing orders to do whatever it could to interfere with their plans. Outside of that, Qu predicted that news of the Ascendants having a Gestalt-equivalent AI would only draw further attention onto them and away from Kowloong.
- What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: During its development, it conversed with Villier on ideas of freedom and love, pondering what it would be like to live for real.
The Nighter
Pulao (KCS-54)
Voiced by: Yan Ning (Chinese) Maria Naganawa (Japanese), Liana Bedwi (English)
Kowloong Vanguard-type Transcendant
Profile
- Psychological Age: 14
- Vital Fluid Type: A
- Activation Date: August 15
- Service Time: Less than a year
- Weight: 32kg
- Height: 140cm
"Evil parties and evil ways, retreat!"
While Pulao's body is not made with conventional components, it has been carefully adjusted to be compatible with Pulao's M.I.N.D. This allows her to better exert her extraordinary strength.Pulao's frame is Dragontoll (uniframe).
- Art Attacker: Her attacks have a calligraphy motif, with her strikes creating black and red ink-like effects, while her skills and Limit Break produce whole paintings of mountains and dragons.
- Ascended Extra: Originally introduced as a side character for Nona Ouroboros and Kowloong Metropolis, Pulao eventually got a whole playable form for the Reveries With a Whale update. Outside of the game, she had a short stint as a sort of promo mascot, especially for the Global version's half-anniversary video.
- BFS: Pulao's weapon class are massive curved swords. Unlike most examples, Pulao doesn't wield it by hand, as it's self propelled, and instead uses it as a throwing weapon.
- Cute Bruiser: She's among the smallest and cheeriest of the cast, but she fights primarily with hand to hand techniques that visibly warp the air.
- A Day in the Limelight: Pulao is the star of the Reveries With a Whale story.
- Flying Weapon: Her weapon can actually fly on its own, and even produces jets of vapor to correct its position. This element actually is part of Pulao's kit, in fact.
- It's All Junk: At the end of The Floating Reverie Hanying offers Pulao a data drive that contains all of the latter's missing memories. However, Pulao refuses to take it, satisfied with who she is in the present, and she tells Hanying she's already found what she's looking for.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: In her childhood, Pulao was separated from her parents, but rescued by a female robot she would name Hanying. Hanying promised to help Pulao find her parents, but when the robot gets hacked in an attempt to assassinate Villier, Pulao converts herself into construct to stop her. But in order to pay for the surgery, Pulao sells her memories of from before meeting Hanying, including the knowledge of her parents.
- Only Sane Man: Of the members serving aboard the Nighter, she is among the few who realizes Huaxu is enslaving them, and plots with Gray Raven to free everybody aboard.
- Sky Surfing: Pulao momentarily rides her weapon in her Limit Break before divebombing her enemy. Amusingly, her idle animation has her try to stand atop her sword, before quickly losing her balance and jumping off.
- Precision-Guided Boomerang: Pulao can expend a small amount of energy to throw her sword, which will then continue circling around the stage in a wide arc. She can also recall and rethrow it with the same command, but if she uses a 3-Ping skill just as it arrives, the skill's properties will be further enhanced.
- That Man Is Dead: She used to be known as Yoyo , but her memory of her old identity is long gone, leaving only Pulao.
- A Twinkle in the Sky: She has a unique Finishing Move where she can bat an enemy with her sword and watch them disappear into the sky.
- You Are in Command Now: She nominates herself as the one in charge of Kowloon Metropolis, or at least what's left of it, following Qu's defeat and the subsequent trade talks with the Forgotten and the Akdilek Commercial Alliance.
Villier (spoilers)
Qu's brother. During the Pandemic, he took control of the Nighter ship, using its night markets to locate a Construct that could house a copy of Huaxu he took from Kowloong.
- Driven to Suicide: At the end of Nona Ouroboros, Villier tries to upload Huaxu into himself in a last-ditch attempt, but when that fails, he kills himself to achieve "true freedom".
- Hypocrite: He claims his goal is to give Huaxu true freedom in Nona Ouroboros, yet angrily demands Huaxu obey him and accept hisplans. Only after everything falls apart does he realize the irony of his actions.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Of the family, Qu always relied on Villier as a systems engineer. The fact he created Hanying, an insanely advance mechanoid that attains sentience and looks nearly human, yet blows her off as a failure, only indicates his high level of skill and his matching standards.
- Misanthrope Supreme: He's always despised the emotional volatility of humans, which is why he went on to study robotics and AI, preferring their company.
- Robosexual: While not explicitly called out, Villier had an obsession with a copy of Huaxu that bordered on romantic. All of his plans and plots were centered on giving it freedom via a physical body, and they die together in what's essentially a cybernetic lover's embrace after Villier combines with the AI.
- Villainous Crossdresser: The last minute twist during Nona Ourboros reveals that the "Qu" that appeared on the ship was actually her brother in disguise.
Yazi
"I saw you were outnumbered, so I was a bit upset. But they were just too weak. You may as well come to me if you want someone to practice with."
A member of the Kowloong Crew, who acts as Qu's personal attendant, giving her a high level of authority, but also loyalty to anything she desires.
- Anti-Frustration Features: Yazi serves as a unique one during an event's currency farming mode. Usually, when a player builds the authority gauge high enough, Yazi starts spawning in battle stages; if a player chooses to interact with her, she'll automatically end the challenge with all rewards given, no string attached. This is essentially the game's way of saying, "Alright, I see you've put in the work already, I don't need to waste any more of your time."
- The Dragon: Serves as one during Nona Ouroboros, as she blindly assists Qu in seeking out viable candidates to act as Huaxu's vessel.
- These Questions Three...: Another Yazi serves as a gatekeeper to Qu's Observatory, and challenges Gray Raven to answer three riddles to pass, though she admits she could easily just be fought and defeated. Playing her game, however, does provide an opportunity to speak to her and learn a little more about the Kowloong Crew.
Huainan
Have you ever considered that maybe people should just get to live? What if we weren't supposed to sell our souls only for a shot at life?!
A former citizen of the Nighter who was friends with Changyu.
- Posthumous Character: He dies at the end of Changyu's interlude, which happens decades before the game starts.
- Scars Are Forever: He's got horrible burn scars on his neck, which are later explained to be the result of him forcefully removing his Nighter collar.
- Time for Plan B: The hidden node of Changyu's interlude states that he had four plans for escaping the Nighter: sending out distress signals (which remained on the airwaves until being picked up by someone who's implied to be Murray, decades after Huainan's death), forcefully removing his collar (which caused scars on his neck but didn't let him escape), be traded away as merchandise (which he tries during the interlude, as he attempts to get sold as a construct; it fails and he's killed), and finally, execution.
The Forsaken
In general
The Despised
Led by the criminal defector Watanabe, the Forsaken are a group of humans and constructs who were abandoned by Babylonia, or cast out for disagreeing with its policies. While they still believe in defeating the Punishing virus, that is no assurance of their cooperation.- Army of Thieves and Whores: An army of rogues created by people abandoned by Babylonia.
- The Bus Came Back: After going out of focus after the early chapters, Sands of Wrath brings them back, as more members are becoming frustrated with Watanabe's cooperation with Babylonia. It reaches the breaking point when the Commandant appears in New Auclair — combined with the appearance of the Purified Zone, and a Renegade Splinter Faction decides Babylonia is intentionally taking their resources, prompting them to attack New Auclair.
- Defector from Decadence: It is natural, considering that it was formed by mutineers. Its newer recruits only reinforce this trope, as there are many defectors from Babylonia incited by dissidence.
- I Owe You My Life: Following chapter five, they ally with Gray Raven (and only them) in repayment for them saving the minds of several of their soldiers that had been taken by the Ascendants for research.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: During Fallen Star, Watanabe and the Forsaken negotiate a deal with Babylonia where in return for the Forsaken providing critical fighter support with their ace pilots during Babylonia's attack on the International Space Station, Babylonia will provide advanced supplies and equipment to the Forsaken. Watanabe makes it clear that this is only business transaction and not a true alliance, as they still don't fully trust Babylonia.
- The Mutiny: The founders of Forsaken were the remnants of a failed mutiny caused by more questionable policies of World Government (abandoning civilians and soldiers during retreat, trying to evacuate relics which looked useless in soldiers' eyes).
- Renegade Splinter Faction: A group of Forsaken commanded by "The Marshal" and Nigel, are also pro-Construct terrorists that want to destroy Babylonia, to go beyond equality and straight to supremacy.
- What the Hell, Hero?: The entire organization, being consisted of nonconformists and victims, existed as a walking reminder of this trope to World Government, despite the latter's purported reputation as legitimate leadership and emerging savior of humanity, that its more controversial actions will be remembered and accounted for.
Watanabe (BPO-29)
Voiced by: Sen Zhong Ren(Chinese) Yoshimasa Hosoya (Japanese), Daman Mills (English)
The Forsaken's Attack-type construct
Click here to see Astral
Click here to see Epitaph
Profile
The leader of the Forsaken: constructs and humans who have gone AWOL and are considered a rabble of defectors and traitors. Watanabe carries complex experiences and opinions due to his emotional connection to others. He and his comrades, who have been forgotten by the world, now together protect an oasis, hoping to bring the hope of mankind in their own way.- Psychological Age: 26
- Vital Fluid Type: O
- Activation Date: April 12
- Service Time: 6 Years
- Weight: 76kg
- Height: 185cm
Watanabe's frame variations are Nightblade, Astral, and Epitaph.
- Ace Pilot: Fallen Star reveals that Watanabe's original role was as a Construct fighter pilot, and was considered probably the second best pilot in the world shortly before his defection to the Forsaken.
- Anti-Hero: Whatever his good intentions, he makes sure the Forsaken benefit first. Watanabe causes a mess that lasts two chapters because he'd rather kidnap Liv to have her rescue the trapped minds of his men, since he refuses to trust Babylonia at first.
- Back Stab: He can deal bonus damage by attacking enemies in the back.
- Character Development: In his interlude, he began as a military careerist and a slight coward, hoping to avoid battle and find a job as a VIP bodyguard far away from battle. The death of his friend Bruce was what compelled him to take the war more seriously in his memory.
- Criss-Cross Attack: Nightblade's fighting style.
- A Day in the Limelight: Aeon Reforged is about Watanabe attempting to deal with the Renegade Splinter Faction within the Forsaken.
- Defector from Decadence: What he sees himself and fellow Forsaken. He initially joined the Forsaken because he was dissenting against World Government on Babylonia, and believes that he can lead the Forsaken, and humanity by extension, down a more righteous path.
- Dual Wield: His weapon are a pair of Kukri-style blades.
- Expy; He resembles Raiden both in appearance and fighting-style, with his Nightblade and Epitaph taking the resemblance progressively further.
- Flash Step: The dash of his Nightblade variation makes him immaterial for a moment, allowing him to dash through enemies and appear behind them, which also conveniently synergizes with some of his passives that have bonus Back Stab damage.
- Hero of Another Story: Though the full picture is never depicted, there are fragments of story suggesting that Watanabe makes great contribution for peace and unity of human factions on Earth, ending the chaotic civil wars caused by strained resources and messy exodus of World Government to Babylonia. The story K-44 Line is one example, detailing Forsaken's and his attempt at resolving conflict between two factions of human army remnant.
- I Owe You My Life: After Liv succeeds in rescuing the consciousnesses of several Forsaken members from a memory container used by the Ascendants, Watanabe apologizes for his actions and offers his allegiance to Gray Raven squad, and them alone, allowing them free access to his territory.
- Let's You and Him Fight: Watanabe orchestrates a plan to distract Gray Raven with the local Corrupted by "gifting" the Commandant a local mint that attracts Vassago, a giant machine, allowing him to kidnap Liv in the confusion and evacuation.
- Parental Substitute: His profile mentions that he secretly considers Liv as something of a surrogate daughter. He certainly shows particular affection towards Liv whenever he's with Gray Raven.
- Shout-Out: If you pay attention, he has an iDROID attached on the left side of his shoulder. In-game, the thing only presents when Nightblade received an upgraded costume.
- Tragic Keepsake: His weapons are inspired by a "Ghurka knife" that was awarded to him and Bruce during their days as cadets, which Bruce then took with him, until he was killed, and the weapon subsequently passed onto Watanabe.
Nigel
"You're still the same... Always consumed by anger."
Formerly a member of the Purifying Force alongside Noctis, Nigel went rogue after assassinating his commandant, and later reappears as a member of The Marshal's extremist Forsaken faction, plotting to kill the Commandant ahead of an attack on the Purified Zone.- Arc Villain: He's the driving force of the attack on New Auclair and the assassination attempt on the Commandant during Sands of Wrath.
- Blind Weapon Master: His sunglasses and cane indicate he's vision-impaired and seems to have been that way even when he was in the Purifying Force. But as the Final Boss of Sands of Wrath, he's clearly no less dangerous for it.
- Cane Fu: He wields a long cane as a striking weapon, and — when he gets more serious — reveals it's actually a Double Weapon that has blades on both sides.
- Dirty Business: He assassinated his commanding officer Ballard on orders from above, as they considered Ballard's advocation for equality between humans and Constructs dangerous. Perhaps because of that he's wound up joining The Marshall's Construct supremacist group.
- Handicapped Badass: He's missing his eyes and his right arm, and still effortlessly beats down Noctis initially. The stump of his arm now holds a canister for his poisons.
- Master Poisoner: He's noted to use a special poison that is potent enough to affect both humans and Constructs, and is considered fatal for the former. While the Commandant does have a brush with death, they ultimately recover, leading Vera to suspect that Nigel might chosen to go easy on the Commandant for some reason.
- Rival Turned Evil: He used to be a friend of Noctis, more prone to light ribbing than anything. However, his later betrayal has since burned all bridges, and the only things Noctis has left for his old teammate are revenge and death.
Ballard
The former founder of the Purification Force, he serves as the Antagonist of Aeon Reforged as the leader of the Forsakens splinter faction.
Akdilek Commercial Alliance
In general
The Royalty
This organisation operates out of the "Eternal Engine" Asslam, which runs nonstop through the wastes of Eurasia in order to filter out the Punishing virus. In order to supply itself, its leveraged its constant travel to become a trade organisation, which has cemented its position as an economic powerhouse. As far as its leaders are concerned, Akdilek has no partners and no enemies, only business.
- "Arabian Nights" Days: Akdilek apparently originated in the Middle East, and the faction has strong Arab stylings in its stage design, battle music, and even its identity as a merchant society.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: Or at least massive assholes. They shun the commoners and treat them as little more than merchandise or pests, while they enjoy benefits like private cabins. Their selfishness goes so far as to try and broker a deal with the Ascendants, hoping joining them will give them true freedom from the train.
- Back for the Dead: Akdilek goes Out of Focus after Eternal Engine as the focus shifts onto Kowloong, the new wave of Ascendants and Hetero-Creatures, and Atlantis. When they do finally make a significant return, it's in The Surviving Lucem, and Asslam is ultimately destroyed by the Unidentified Twins, killing most of Akdilek's people in the process.
- Cool Train: It's not called "the Eternal Engine" for nothing. Asslam is a Mobile City made up of armed and armored train carriages the size of buildings.
- Fantastic Caste System: Akdilek maintains a division between "aristocrats" and "commoners": descendants of the original passengers of the train, and newcomers who've come aboard for various reasons.
- Gilded Cage: Akdilek might be a wealthy and powerful society, but even the aristocrats chafe under the reality that their sumptuous train is only barely holding the Punishing Virus at bay outside its walls. The events of Eternal Engine therefore tempts them with the possibility of either escaping to Babylonia, or joining the Ascendants for a chance to become immune to the virus.
- Merchant City: The train is willing to trade anything and handle any business, and as a result is powerful enough to field their own constructs separate to Babylonia's.
- Sacrificial Lion: To show how serious the threat of the Unidentified Twins are in The Surviving Lucem, the Hetero-Creatures launch an all-out assault on the train, destroying one car after another. While some survivors manage to escape, it means abandoning the train, and the story node's summary depicting these events somberly state, "Asslam has been destroyed".
- Shout-Out: The idea of a post-apocalyptic society with a strong class divide that inhabits a perpetually running train is a dead-ringer for Le Transperceneige, though the Snow-Piercer's society is trapped in an ice age, while Akdilek operates out of a desert.
Changyu (ADL-17)
Voiced by: kinsen *(Chinese) Natsuki Hanae (Japanese), Caleb Yen (English)
Akdilek Armor-type construct
Profile
- Psychological Age: 16
- Vital Fluid Type: A
- Activation Date: April 17
- Service Time: Less than a year
- Weight: 51kg
- Height: 157cm
"Oi, are you treating me like a kid?"
Born in Kowloong, Changyu was sold to Akdilek, where became one of the train's guards alongside Sophia. The tension and agility his construct body provides allows him to utilize his martial arts at its full potential.Changyu's frame is Qilin.
- All Asians Know Martial Arts: Naturally, the character most overtly Chinese in design is also the one who specializes in hand to hand combat.
- Ascended Extra: Originally a side character in Eternal Engine, he finally became playable by Lost Chapter.
- Bare-Fisted Monk: Unlike every other character, Changyu relies on his fists to do damage.
- Bishōnen: Changyu's slender body and boyish features makes him more "pretty" compared to other male characters.
- Corporate Samurai: Essentially his job, showing how Akdilek is powerful enough to field their own constructs separate to Babylonia.
- A Day in the Limelight: His past before becoming an Akdilik Construct is revealed in Lost Chapter.
- Forgotten First Meeting: Unlike Jamilah, Changyu doesn't recognize Noan, despite having saved the latter's life four years prior.
- An Ice Person: Contrasting Sophia's fire element, Changyu is an ice-element tank.
- Made a Slave: Changyu is proof of the dark side of Akdilek's willingness to market anything. He was sold to the train, and became a construct for them.
- Not Quite Dead: He gets wrecked rather badly halfway through Eternal Engine, but returns near the end, while shrugging off his previous condition as superficial damage and blacking out.
- Power Fist: His weapon type are mechanical gauntlets.
- Precision F-Strike: In the hidden node of his interlude, he notes that if he ever sees Huainan again, he's "so going to beat the shit out of him".
- Sexy Backless Outfit: The rare male example, with a tight shirt that just happens to only cover the front of his body.
- Tattoo as Character Type: His Sexy Backless Outfit provides a good view of an elaborate tattoo on his upper back, a decoration that's unique to him compared to other constructs.
Sophia (ADL-22)
Voiced by: Cai Na(Chinese) Ami Koshimizu (Japanese), Christina Costello (English)
Akdilek Support-type construct
Profile
Sophia is from the Akdilek Commercial Alliance, and joined the Gray Raven squad as its representative. Once an orphan born aboard Akdilek's train, she is now one of the most powerful enforcers serving Jamilah, the Alliance's leader.- Psychological Age: 15
- Vital Fluid Type: A
- Activation Date: November 3
- Service Time: Less than a year
- Weight: 36kg
- Height: 153cm
Sophia's frame is Silverfang.
- Combat Medic: As a Support character, Sophia's main contribution to a fight is her heals and buffs, though they come in an odder manner than her counterparts.
- A Day in the Limelight: Sophia acts as one of the main characters for Eternal Engine.
- Gun Fu: Like Lee, she uses two guns, though she shows less gunslinging flair, instead relying more on raw firepower.
- Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Usually, Support characters heal the moment the relevant skill is triggered. Sophia, meanwhile, drops on-stage pickups when she performs various actions, which then other characters can collect for both healing and, more uniquely, fire-damage buffs.
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: She carries two extra mechanical arms on her waist, which come equipped with their own weapons.
- Mundane Luxury: As a half-starved orphan, her first job as a train engineer was practically paradise.It was everything she has dreamt of — bed fluffier than steel slabs and asbestos, two whole meals a day, at least 6 hours of sleep every night, a hot shower every two days...
- Never Learned to Read: As an orphan, she never got an education. During her Interlude, Sophia tries writing a journal, which is riddled with spelling errors.
- Playing with Fire: Her elemental damage type is fire. Uniquely, her support abilities also grant some fire-damage to teammates as well.
- Status Buff: The pickups she creates can grant fire-damage buffs to teammates, and Sophia can also pick them up herself to gain "heat" points, which buffs her damage up to 15% depending on how much she has.
- Street Urchin: She grew up alone as scavenger aboard the commoner trains, living in its ducts and abandoned rooms, and originally only known as "Hyena" from people she stole from.
- Tyke Bomb: One of Akdilek's aristocrats, Ashlar, attempted to use Sophia as an assassin by converting her into a construct and pointing her at Jamilah by claiming she was responsible for the massacre of the maintenance team that became her surrogate family. Jamilah is able to tell Sophia the truth, defusing her.
- Undying Loyalty: Sophia is more or less Jamila's loyal attack dog and always seems to carry out the silver lining behind the queen's words. When the Akdilek Commercial Alliance and the Forgotten are given a chance to fight over who gets the lion's share of the goods offered by Pulao, Sophia attacks Watanabe, claiming that it was a slip of hand, but Watanabe knows better, given he pushed Jamila's buttons while negotiating with her earlier.
- Unwilling Roboticisation: After becoming one of the few survivors of the maintenance team, Sophia falls into the clutches of the Aristocracy, who forcibly convert her into a construct to use as a weapon.
- Wrench Wench: Knows her way around machines, enough that she got recruited into Asslam's maintenance crews, who essentially became her first surrogate family.
Jamilah Akdilek IV
"We had no choice but to gamble from the start. This train has been running since the outbreak of the virus, and everywhere we pass by has only been a pitstop for us. Be it commoners or aristocrats, we all want to reach that terminal station... The final destination where we can call home."
The Amir of the ACA. Her sympathy with the train's commoner population puts her at odds with the nobility, and her gentle appearance makes her look like a pushover, but she nonetheless has secured the loyalty of powerful constructs like Sophia and Chang Yu.
- Beware the Nice Ones: While normally she's a kind woman who wants everyone on her train to survive, she's more than capable of giving a frightening expression that makes her doubters back down before they continue making unwise accusations.
- A Child Shall Lead Them: Jamilah's grandfather originally owned Asslam, and and she is revered as the train's princess. However as a teenager, she has a hard time getting the aristocrats of the train to listen to her.
- Nerves of Steel: Very little rattles her, and everything she is confronted with is met with a sly smile. Even when the Unidentified Twins smash Akdilek apart, one train car at a time, Jamilah keeps a cool head and dry wit while commanding the situation.
- Puppet King: While she is Akdilek's queen, she is often relegated to being a spineless figurehead while Aston, who represents the nobility's interests, makes orders "on her behalf". Subverted, in fact: Aston's loyalty has always been to Jamilah, and his orders on her behalf, really are on her behalf. All of this is to placate Akdilek's complicated politics. She did used to have little real power in the past, but her patience and ability to win the loyalty of servants and commoners the Aristocrats ignored eventually gave her more room to maneuver.Jamilah: I'm a queen with no real power. All I see are illusions. All I can reach is my dressing table.
Aston
"We are businessmen, and only want to get the most benefit from the trade. As far as we are concerned... it is just merchandise."
Jamilah's second-in-command. Unlike her, he pushes the interests of Akdilek's nobility, and he seems to have the force of personality his queen lacks to get things done.
- Evil Chancellor: He is the real power in Akdilek, as Lee notes when he sees him ordering everyone around while Jamilah is reduced to a prop in their meeting. He is actually The Good Chancellor, who is helping Jamilah rule while pretending to only serve the nobility.
- Intrepid Merchant: He is the one who embodies Akdilek's mercantile spirit the best. During Eternal Engine, despite the Rail Heterozygote actively endangering him and the rest of the train, he still audaciously uses its Core as a bargaining chip to negotiate the immigration of the people onto Babylonia.
Ashlar
Rachel
The former head of Asslam's Cargo Crew.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: After his mother's death, Rachel took Noan under her wing and mentored him so he could join her Cargo Crew: and she ultimately has him kill her as part of a Thanatos Gambit.
- Thanatos Gambit: She attempts to pull one off upon realizing her rebellion has failed. Her way of doing this is to have Noan shoot her and pretend he was a mole planted among the Cargo Crew, leading to him being heralded as the hero who stopped the rebellion by Asslam's higher class and put in her position, letting him finish what she started at a better time. Unfortunately, while she gets Noan to shoot her, he ultimately fails to follow up on pretending to be the mole and gets her data terminal destroyed, worsening his reputation among the survivors and getting himself thrown off Asslam.
- The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: Despite Rachel's clear goal of overthrowing Asslam's corrupt nobility, she herself is extremely morally gray, and her eventual revolution, despite being forced to start ahead of schedule, is described by the narration as having thousands of casualties on both sides.
Atlantis
In general
The Lighthouse of human civilization
A top-secret ocean facility housing a Zero-Point Energy Reactor. Has multiple layers of stealth and instrument deflection, as well as the ability to "snorkel" underwater for long periods of time. The site of The Last Spark.
- Crazy Sane: All the staff were this, even before the Punishing outbreak. Those who can't cut it are unceremoniously fired and transported off the island, to live in an information blackout for the rest of their lives.
- Fling a Light into the Future: As a city of coldly calculating researchers, at the beginning of the Punishing Outbreak, they took stock of the situation, and decided to devote everything to discovering what happened to zero-point reactor that unleashed the virus, even if they starved to death in the process. While they failed in that regard, their research left an unexpected gift: Omega technology that can absorb the Virus.
- Pet the Dog: Ultimately played straight, despite never treating Lamia well, the main people that interacted with her wanted her to live on, hence putting her through the proto-construct process.
- Ragnarök Proofing: When it is rediscovered, Atlantis is awe-inspiringly clean. But as the Commandant and Vera explore the empty city, the awe quickly gives way to unease at the realisation the city has essentially become a giant tombstone.
- Scienceville: It was the premier research site, dedicated to scientific advancements.
- Underwater Base: Almost a self-sufficient city that is capable of diving underwater for periods of time. Combined with advanced camouflage technology, and it was impossible to find. Even after the Apocalypse, the only way it could be found was through some moldy old files that had cipher hidden in it.
Lustrous
Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
The head of research at Atlantis.
- Apocalyptic Log: Before her death, she leaves a recording describing the actions the Atlantis staff took in the wake of the Punishing Outbreak. At the time, she wasn't even sure if humanity would survive, and only hoped whoever saw the message was a "seeker" with curiosity.
- Driven to Suicide: When she becomes the last remaining person in Atlantis, Lustrous opts to commit suicide, even though she still had supplies. With her research finished, she decides to end things there.
- "Eureka!" Moment: The last lines of her journal hypothesizes about the purpose of the Punishing Virus, and she suspects that it purposely targets advanced civilizations — it only made itself known once humanity developed zero-point energy to travel through space, not when humanity devised steam power or anything earlier. Her words foreshadow the true origins of the Virus.
- Humans Are Special: She had a humanist perspective, believing science could overcome everything. In her Apocalyptic Log, she asks anyone watching to not "forget your desire to reach the stars".
- Kick the Dog: Did not let Lamia have a photo of her mom even though there was a practically 0% chance of her leaking her personnel file.
- Posthumous Character: By the time of The Last Spark, the only thing remaining of her are flashbacks and a video recording.
- The Unfettered: She takes emotions out of the equation, and looks at the big picture. As Research Director, she made the call to focus on researching the Zero-Point Reactor, even if it led to everyone's deaths.
