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Trainees
Molly Farrel
Molly
A Sheperdess Warrior in training and the protagonist of the story.- Fiery Redhead: Molly has vibrant red hair and is ambitious and brave to the point where she's a bit reckless.
- Important Haircut: Molly starts out with hair down her knees which she puts up in a bun for Sheperdess Warrior training; following the Illbeast rampage, she cuts it short to below her ears, flatly stating that her long hair only got in the way.
- Innocence Lost: Molly initially has rather naive ideas about what it means to be a Sheperdess Warrior, and mainly wants to be a cool and respected badass like Nora or her aunt Jane; the reality of it hits her hard following the encounter with the Illbeast and Tara.
- Waif Prophet: In a way; Molly's close shave with Tara gives her the ability to relive past events through Tara's eyes and find out what actually happened to her.
Liam Mc Gregor
Liam
Molly's best friend.- The One Guy: The only village boy interested in joining the Sheperdess Warriors. While they initially won't let him join because he's a boy, he eventually gets his wish and joins the trainees.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: He attempts to sneak into Sheperdess Warrior training by disguising himself as a girl, but no-one is fooled, least of all Nora. The fact that his "combat goat" Vladimir is very obviously a dog doesn't help.
- Really Royalty Reveal: Liam's father was once the King's royal advisor who was framed for a crime he hadn't committed, forcing his pregnant wife, brother-in-law and two sons to flee the capital.
Erin
Erin
One of Molly's friends and fellow trainees.- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: She has a large family who come and cheer for her on initiation day, much to her embarassment.
- Nervous Wreck
- Reluctant Warrior: Erin didn't initially want to join the order, and would much rather work on her sewing and help out at her mother's shop.
- Shrinking Violet
- Stronger Than They Look: Erin turns out to be pretty good with a warhammer.
Abbie Duncan
Abbie
Another of Molly's friends and chief Nora's daughter.- Brilliant, but Lazy: Abbie is easily the top trainee among the ranks, but she finds the training tedious and would much rather do anything else.
- Hero Worship: Towards Jane, to the point where she occasionally asks Molly if she can trade her out for Nora.
Ellen
Ellen
A trainee with whom Molly does not get along.- Driven by Envy: Ellen admits that this is why she primarily picks on Molly, who among other things has a loving relationship with her mother.
- Lovable Alpha Bitch: Ellen is mean to Molly and frequently tries to either provoke or one-up her in any way she can. They come to much more civil relations after Ellen comforts Molly when she's upset.
Veterans
Jane O'Brien
Jane
Molly's aunt and founder of the Order of the Sheperdess Warriors.- The Ace: Unquestionably the top warrior in the Elite ranks.
- Human Mom Non Human Dad: More or less, given the Ambiguously Human nature of the Druids.
- Muscles Are Meaningless: You couldn't tell from just meeting her that this woman routinely swings heavy axes and warhammers with ease.
Nora Duncan
Nora
Sheperdess Warrior in chief, and Abbie's mother.- Action Mom
- The Captain: She's the closest thing the Sheperdess Warriors have to one.
- Like Mother, Unlike Daughter: Nora is the no-nonsense and inspiring leader of the troops who is also one of the more capable fighters; her daughter Abbie, while no less able than her mother, has little to not interest in her training.
Maria O'Brien
Maria
Molly's grandmother, a senior Elite Sheperdess Warrior.- An Arm and a Leg: Maria loses her right leg to the Illbeast.
- I Was Quite a Looker: Urty certainly thinks so, though he still finds her beautiful.
- Mama Bear: She shoots the Illbeast right as it's about to eat Anna.
- Never Mess with Granny: She's feisty as all hell, and wields a blunderbuss.
- Tsundere: Towards Urty.
Anna Farrel
Anna
Molly's mother.- Generation Xerox: It is noted by several characters that Anna is becoming more like her mother Maria by the day, not that she's particularly thrilled to hear this.
- Mama Bear: Towards Molly, to the point where Anna insists on coming along to the Dead Lands to ensure Molly's safety.
The Elder
The Elder
As her appellation indicates, she's the oldest member of the order and usually presides over the village council.- The Bore: She's considered this by the trainees, who can be seen yawning as she lectures them on the history of the order.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": She's only ever called "the Elder".
- Gonk: The Elder stand out among the rest of the cast due to somewhat resembling a sentient potato. Her son André and her baby granddaughter look exactly like her.
- I Choose to Stay: Having finally reunited with her son and met his wife and children, she elects to stay behind with them while the rest of the expedition sails back home.
- Miniature Senior Citizens: She's tiny, so tiny in fact that her hulking giant of a son can easily lift her up and carry her around on his shoulder.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: She has the final say in all decisions taken by the village council. She acknowledges her part of the blame for Molly and Liam's plight, and comes along for the expedition into the Dead Lands.
Druids
Sarah
Sarah
A young Druid who can speak to and generate birds.- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Which doesn't help the witch allegations one bit.
- I'm a Monster: Gurro has said it enough times that she is actually starting to believe it; it gets worse when she meets Tara.
- Mystical Waif: She mysteriously appears to Molly with an ominous warning before vanishing immediately, and no one else believes Molly when she tells them who she saw.
- Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: Her power is unusual enough by Druid standards that Gurro is scared of her, and treats her like crap because of it.
- Power Incontinence: Sarah generates a truly staggering amount of birds whenever she's emotionally distressed, which you'd think Gurro might have noticed by now but actively worsens by treating her like an outcast.
Carvi
Carvi
Sarah's father and a Druid healer, well-versed in medicinal plants and potion-making.- The Medic: Carvi functions as this during the expedition into the Dead Lands.
Gurro the High Botanist
Gurro
The leader of the Druids.- Abusive Parents: Gurro was afraid of his daughter's unusual power and kept her confined as a means of "containing" her. It's no wonder she ran away.
- Expy: The embittered, isolationist ruler of an elf-like forest clan who adopts an "ignore it and it will go away" philosophy and who happens to have long blonde hair? Thranduil, much?
- Fantastic Ableism: Gurro has low tolerance for Sarah's Power Incontinence and routinely tells Carvi to "control" her. It's revealed that his own daughter Tara suffered from a similar affliction, and that he appeared to treat it with disgust, believing Tara to be cursed.
- Never My Fault: Gurro initially doesn't understand that it was he, and not Adam, who drove Tara to run away. He also doesn't seem to notice that he is actively worsening Sarah's condition by isolating her and treating her like a monster.
Urty
Urty
A Druid and an old friend of Maria's.- The Charmer: Much to Maria's irritation and Molly's disgust, he lays it on pretty thick.
- Doting Parent: To Jane.
- New Old Flame: Urty and Granny Maria had a bit of a thing back in the day, which is how Jane came about. He's seen in the village alongside Maria at the end of the story, implying that they got back together.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Jane takes slightly more after him than she does Maria.
Tara
Tara
Gurro's daughter, whose power over rats is similar to Sarah's.- Amnesiacs are Innocent: Once Tara's mind is freed from the veil of anger and resentment, she comes back to herself but can't remember anything of the last few years and is scared and confused. The village council decide this is punishment enough, and they let Gurro take her home.
- Corrupt the Cutie: What actually happened to her.
- Looks Like Cesare: Tara is unhealthily pallid, very skinny and has what appear to be fangs. She used to look a lot healthier, and quite pretty even.
- Revenge by Proxy: Sought to destroy the village and kill all of its inhabitants to get back at her ex-lover.
- The Runaway: Ran away from home and enlisted for the war to fight by Adam's side.
- The Smurfette Principle: She's the only woman known to have fought in the Great War.
- You Dirty Rat!: More like a Swarm of Rats. Tara's control over and communication with rats even creeped her own father out, to the point where he didn't even try to get to understand her.
The Men
Adam Mc Gregor
Adam
Liam's eldest brother.- Beard of Sorrow: Has grown one of these in between fighting in the war, deserting and trying to go after Tara.
- Practically Different Generations: Adam looked to be in around his mid teens when his little brother Liam was born.
Connor
Connor
Liam's uncle.- My Greatest Failure: Connor is missing a leg and as such wasn't permitted to enlist for the Great War, prompting his nephew Adam to go in his stead. Ten years later, Connor believes it is all his fault that Adam still hasn't come home.
- Tell Me About My Father: There comes a point in the story where Connor decides Liam is old enough now to know who his father was and where their family originally hails from.
