Nic Silver
The unfailingly polite host of TANIS, and lover of mysteries. He sets forth on his quest to discover TANIS due to the feeling that the rise of the internet has killed humanity's sense of wonder and mystery.
- Deadpan Snarker: At least when it comes to speaking with Cameron Ellis, Nic's constantly polite and measured demeanor drops a little as he dryly replies to Cameron's refusal to be straightforward with information.
- Embarrassing First Name: One episode opens with Nic revealing that he was named after Nicodemus the owl from Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, lamenting that there were characters with much cooler names, like Timothy or Dragon, that he could have gotten instead.
- Sanity Slippage: At the beginning of season two, Nic is only just getting things back together following his traumas at the end of season one. However, there are signs he's still not all there, such as things he says making M.K. wonder if he's remembering things correctly or waking up from one of his dreams in the middle of the forest when he'd gone to sleep in his bed, three days later.
Meerkatnip
Sometimes also known as M.K., Meerkatnip is the hacker, or, to use her term, information specialist, Nic employs to find information online that he wouldn't even know where to start looking for.
- Deadpan Snarker: Her general demeanor is dismissive to anything that isn't praise of or a threat to her skills. As a result, a sarcastic tone is a frequent part of any conversation with her.
- Insistent Terminology: It's not 'hacker', it's 'information specialist'.
- Nightmare Fetishist: She becomes quite gleeful when asked to investigate an insane asylum with Nic, claiming she was always fascinated with such places.
- Only in It for the Money: Meerkatnip makes it clear multiple times that she's only helping Nic with the podcast because Nic pays well and regularly. She'll often go along with a request of Nic's with a dismissive "It's your dollar" or similar. That said, she does admit that she's gotten sucked in a little with the search for Tanis and, in her first conversation with Nic following his escape from mortal danger, says she's glad he survived.
Geoff Van Sant
Brother of the late Karl Van Sant. The more sane brother of the two, he and Nic become friends as Nic uses the information his brother gathered to research Tanis.
- Dead Person Impersonation: He's actually Karl Van Sant.
- Odd Friendship: He started out as just the first of many people Nic speaks to in his search for Tanis, but frequent contact and a growing interest in Nic's podcast eventually makes them close that he's one of the people Nic readily trusts and brings along when there's a potential risk to wherever he's going.
- Retired Badass: Used to be in the army. Now spends his time getting Nic out of ridiculous situations, usually involving cultists.
Veronika Pilman
A.K.A. Melanie Nedved. A woman Nic meets during his investigation into a person with the screen name Haidagurl. She introduces Nic to the Grackles and Nic eventually discovers that Veronika is Haidagurl.
Alex Reagan
Host of The Black Tapes and Nic's friend, who occasionally reads out some of the documents and letters Nic uncovers and helps him in Q&A sessions to help him direct his investigation.
Cameron Ellis
An executive of the Tesla Nova corporation who came into the story when it's discovered his daughter tried to publish a book connected to Tanis. Initially hostile towards Nic and his investigation into Tanis, by early season two he seems more interested in recruiting our host, and thus becomes more open with certain information.
- Ambiguously Evil: Nearly everybody warns Nic to be wary of Ellis, and he seems to have plenty of the Corrupt Corporate Executive tropes down. However, he is also one of Nic's best sources of information regarding Tanis, or what Ellis refers to as "the Breach" and, after some initial hostility, is willing to be open with what information he can, even if he only lets it out in cryptic dribs and drabs.
- It's a Long Story: His constant dodging of questions with "It's complicated" or similar gets to the point where even Nic gets annoyed.
