Zeno Clash / Characters

Characters from both Zeno Clash, Zeno Clash 2, as well as Clash: Artifacts of Chaos. Be wary of huge spoilers for Zeno Clash 2.

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Playable Characters

Ghat

The main character of the Zeno Clash series and a member of Father-Mothers "Family" which effectively rules over most of the anarchic city Halstedom. The children of Father Mother are forbidden from ever leaving Halstedom, but Ghat has always been an adventurous black sheep and disobeys this order, earning himself exile. While exiled, he discovers a horrific truth about Father-Mother...

By the time the second game begins, Ghat has been drinking away his sorrows and beating up anyone who looks at him cross in the new Northern Bar. His wallowing has driven away Daedra, and things seem only to be getting worse... Until his sister Rimat arrives and offers him not only reconciliation, but a new purpose: to overthrow Golem and free a certain high profile prisoner.

The Alcoholic: Has taken to drinking copious amounts of moonshine by the time the second game rolls around, presumably because he has been shunned by his family and friends due to his actions in the first game and his wallowing in the interim between the two games. He quickly snaps out of it when he is able to put his face bashing towards a good cause, and he never breaks his sobriety again for the duration of the entire game.
Blood Knight: Ghat hates killing (99% of the time he is knocking people out, not killing them) and is disgusted by sadists. But damn does he love a good fight. He really, really loves a good fight.
Bomb-Throwing Anarchists: Effectivley becomes one in the second game, trying with all his might to keep Zenozoik in a state of pure anarchy.
Character Development: By the end of the second game he seems done with his life of constant conflict, choosing instead to live a quiet existence with Daedra, provided she is still alive.
Deliberate Values Dissonance: Ghat is full-anarchist through and through. That means he is even opposed to keeping unrepentant and actively dangerous individuals off the streets. The player may not think that what he does in the second game is morally right, but he sure as hell does.
Dangerous Forbidden Technique: The "trick with the bomb" as Metamoq called it. Though he always survives provided he performs it properly and the wounds are never anything permanent, it still hurts like hell and puts him out of commission for a while. Early chapters of Zeno Clash 1 have him fading in and out of consciousness, struggling to endure the pain of the shrapnel embedded in his skin.
Genetic Memory: Him having these is proof that Ghat is essentially a pure human (an impossibly huge deal in Zenozoik) as he remembered what a clock, a piano, and a bookshelf were when he saw them on the far border of Endworld, despite the fact that keeping time, writing sheet music, and recording history as concepts have not only never been invented by Zenos but are fundamentally alien to them.
Good Old Fisticuffs: He uses a simple fighting style based mainly on punching.
Idiot Hero: Ghat is... very slow on the uptake when it comes to talking about things besides "Do thing, punch dudes, survive"
Made of Iron: All Zenos are this, according to Word of God (their bone structure is hard as metal), but Ghat especially so. Presumably it has something to do with him being a perfect mixture of Zeno and Human. A super powerful being slamming him with a twenty pound war-hammer is a minor injury to him. It's one of the only reasons he is able to match the Golems in combat. This is enforced through comparison to other playable protagonist Pseudo, who crumples to onslaughts Ghat would endure.
- Required Secondary Powers: Averted. While he is Made of Iron, he is not immune to pain. The Hunter uses this in their fight, exploiting his pressure points to bring him to his knees, and the few times he is forced to use "That Trick With The Bomb" he seems to black out from the pain.
Might Makes Right: Has an interesting take on this as his world philosophy. If someone has an issue with someone else, they should take care of it themselves, through strength or cunning. If they are too weak, physically disabled, or unintelligent to take care of it themselves, they have friends and family who can do it for them. Lacking even that, they could be either charismatic or wealthy enough to convince a stranger to do it. If they can't even do that, then tough luck.
Muscles Are Meaningless: Ghat is a very skinny looking man. Nonetheless, he's strong enough to contend with just about every single being in the game.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Ghat never meant to wake the Golem. He soon wishes he hadn't.
Nietzsche Wannabe: During large parts of the first game he was this, as learning Father Mother's secret shattered his entire worldview. The developers reflected this by making him look generally unhealthy, miserable and sickly. When he has become The Anti-Nihilist by they second game, he looks far more healthy and while not exactly a king of smiles does not look suicidal anymore.
- The Anti-Nihilist: By the end of the second game. Yes his whole life was a lie, yes he gained no answers from the supposedly enlightened Corwids, yes the world is literally founded on an injustice, yes most people hate him for being a pure anarchist, and yes there is no escaping any of those realities. But why should that stop him from fighting for what he thinks is right?
Omniglot: Justified as it's a trait apparently shared by all Zenos. There is a diverse set of fundamentally different languages among the race due to their insanely all-over-the-place genetics (as some have beaks, trunks, or snouts instead of human shaped mouths. One character essentially communicates by gurgling). Despite the myriad of strange Zeno languages Ghat encounters, those he cannot understand can be counted on a single hand.
Straight Man: Compared to Rimat when it comes to what the children of Father-Mother ought to be doing with their lives.
Throw Down the Bomblet: Just like his mentor Metamoq, grenades made from hollowed out skulls. While many Zenos use these "skull bombs", few are as good at their usage as he is. Through use of an advanced technique, he can kill someone by holding a grenade in his hand close to them, and come out of it the explosion with shallow wounds but with his opponent totally obliderated. This is exactly what he does to Father Mother to kick off the first game. This "controlled blast" was the last trick Metamoq ever showed him, quite literally. This is known by both of them, rather simply, as "That trick with the bomb". Gameplay wise, as long as you have the ammo for it, Skull Bombs can be used any time, anywhere which sets them apart from the majority of weapons which you can only pick up as temporary power-ups.

Rimat

Out of all of Father-Mother's children, they shared the closest bond with Rimat. Now that Ghat has killed Father Mother, Rimat is put in charge of The Family and her very first order is to hunt down and kill Ghat for his transgression. Possessed of an iron will, she will not give up until he is brutally torn apart.

In the second game, Rimat is playable and becomes the secondary protagonist. Finding Ghat drinking alone in a bar and getting into pointless fights, she convinces him to aid her in her struggle against Kax Teh and his Enforcers, marking the start of the story.

Action Girl: She's effectively the strongest of all of Ghat's siblings, not out of sheer strength, but out of training. She is perhaps the only equal to Ghat among the family.
Angrish: In the first game some of her taunts are nearly incomprehensible.
The Dragon: In the first game. Father Mother trusts Rimat more than any of the other siblings.
Genetic Memory: Like Ghat, she is as close to a pure human as can exist in Zenozoik, and seeing the piano, clock, and bookshelf stirs memories, not entirely her own, of a quiet life in a civilized world.
Handicapped Badass: Has a bad leg (the art book states that she's proud of her ability to ignore it).
Heel–Face Turn: She stalks Ghat for most of the first game. In the second, she works with him. Her morals haven't changed however, it's just that their goals happen to line up.
Signature Headgear: Her straw hat makes her stand out in a crowd. It can be knocked off with enough force.
Promoted to Playable: In the second game, Player Two plays as her.
Straight Woman: Compared to Ghat when it comes to just about everything not related to Father-Mother.
Undying Loyalty: Had known about Father-Mothers secret for a while before Ghat had even been exiled, and it didn't damage her loyalty to Father Mother at all. This is actually the main reason she is so angry in the first game. She found out the truth and was able to keep quiet for the sake of her siblings, yet Ghat responded to the truth by trying to play hero in an extremely destructive way.

Pseudo

A Zeno hermit, experienced martial artist, and protagonist of the third game, Artifacts of Chaos. He finds himself embroiled in conflict after making the decision to defend a small, helpless creature named The Boy, a decision with unforeseen consequences.

Artificial Zeno: It's implied by Kax-Teh that Pseudo wasn't born but created by him. From the what we see, it's not like a Geppetto-Pinocchio father and son relationship but more like master and servant one.
Contrasting Sequel Protagonist: Ghat and Rimat’s humanity was actually a plot point in the second game. Pseudo is utterly bizarre even by Zeno standards, looking nothing like any other Zeno. Pseudo also seems to have no connection to The Family. And finally, he’s much more levelheaded and friendly than the previous main characters. He is also a Glass Cannon in comparison to Ghat’s Made of Iron level of endurance.
Dream Walker: It’s not clear exactly how it works, but Pseudos consciousness can leave his body, either willingly (by sleeping) or unwillingly (by death). This spirit form exists simultaneously in the real world and the world of dreams, having to fight off both real world assailants as well as nightmares. If, after death, he manages to fight through all that and get back to his body, he is brought back to life.
Face of a Thug: Has a terrifying scowl at almost all times but so far his defining act seems to be one of pure selflessness.
Glass Cannon: Pseudo can deal incredible amounts of damage and is capable of taking down heavyweights with his bare hands, but unlike Ghat he goes down in relatively few hits.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Downplayed in that the gold is barely barely hidden. He’s gruff, capable of violence, and constantly scowls, but it becomes very clear early on that Pseudo is a good and kind person underneath his intimidating exterior.
Knight in Sour Armor: Pseudo may complain and come off as cynical, but he broke his isolation to get The Boy to safety, and is willing to go against Gemini and her mercenaries for no other reason than because it’s the right thing to do. Eo offers him a lot of barter value (Zenozoik is pre-currency) for the Boy and Pseudo doesn’t even remotely consider it.
Meaningful Name: According to Word of God, Pseudo is so named as he is almost a human in shape, but in none of the ways that truly count such as facial structure.
Parental Substitute: After Grandpa is killed in the tutorial fight, Pseudo takes over his role as The Boy’s protector and caretaker. Its revealed in the third game's story that this was Pseudo purpose from the begining, he was meant to serve as the Boy's guardian and mentor. So that the Boy would be more cooprative in using his powers for the Golems' Creators.
Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: Capable of dealing a blindingly fast barrage of punches as a finishing move.
Rule of Symbolism: Pseudo’s very unique upbringing has him feel as though he’s a defective, empty person with no soul. In his dreams, his self image is that of a wooden puppet.
Tranquil Fury: In contrast to Ghat’s rage filled outbursts, Pseudo doesn’t normally raise his voice when angry, even though you can practically feel his anger radiating off of him.
Walking Shirtless Scene: One thing that he has in common with Ghat.

Father Mother's Family

While most of Zenozoik is pure anarchy, the city of Halstedom is actually closer to a chiefdom due to the influence of The Family. Composed entirely of the many, many children of the imposing and cunning Father-Mother, they are fiercely and violently loyal to their parent. As long as you never harm a member of The Family or (god forbid) Father Mother, they will ignore you and let you live how you please. But if you cross them, there is no escape.

Father-Mother

An enigmatic being who can seemingly birth a menagerie of sentient bipedal creatures asexually, Father Mother is the leader of one of the two strongest groups in Halstedom: The Family. Killed by Ghat at the start of the first game for an undisclosed crime, much of Zeno Clash revolves around the lead up and aftermath of the assassination.After surviving the assassination attempt, Father Mother ends up locked in Kax-Teh's jail at the start of Zeno Clash 2, kicking off the events of the game.

Abusive Parents: Averted. By our world's standards, Father-Mother is strict and commandeering, but by the standards of the harsh world of Zenozoik it is about the best parent one could ask for. This is why their secret has such an impact on those who find it out, they can't reconcile the truth with their image of the loving Father-Mother. As it turns out this makes them better than most of the Families birth parents who see their children as nothing but tools or weapons.
The Atoner: After Kax-Teh exposes him as a fraud, he promises to never kidnap children again, and settles down to continue raising the children who found their birth homes too abusive to stay in.
Bird People: Not a straight example, but with their clawed feet, beak like nose, squawking voice, and love of feathers as accessories, they are very obviously supposed to look a lot like one.
Dark Secret: He's actually a male creature that considers himself gender-less after years of failing to find a mate. Since he cannot give birth, he kidnapped children from the countryside outside Halstedom and replaced them with animal changelings, so he can raise the children as if they were his own. This is why their children all look different, and why they forbid them from ever leaving Halstedom: their birth parents might recognise them.
Eye Scream: Ghat damages their left eye when he tried to kill them. It remains bandaged for the rest of the game and in the sequel.
Final Boss: Of the first game.
Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: Ghat and Rimat don’t forget they kidnapped tons of people, or their cowardly actions near the end of the second game. But both forgive Father-Mother in their own way, Rimat more fully.
Heel–Face Turn: After their final fight, where Ghat spares him, their bond is restored.
Heroic BSoD: Was more than capable of breaking out of Golem's jail, but had succumbed to despair over their children abandoning them for their birth parents. When they see Ghat and Rimat still love them, they break out of their slump and easily escape.
I Just Want to Be Normal: They just wanted to find others like himself and to raise a family.
Last of Its Kind: It has tried in vain for centuries, perhaps even millennia, to find another of its kind with which to share it's life. It has failed. However this is later subverted, as it is later elaborated that Father-Mother is racially no different from any other Zeno. Clash mixes things up further by showing their subspecies was already dwindling in the early days of Zenozoik. It may be a cultural barrier that keeps them from reproduction with other Zenos.
Mama Bear: Its mother side is extremely nurturing, and is willing to hold off entire angry mobs to protect its children.
Mother of a Thousand Young: Has this reputation in Zenozoik, though when Daedra brings it up Ghat insists its an exaggeration and that "I have many siblings, but we are not thousands".
Papa Wolf: It's father side is ruthless, and will bring pain to any who would harm their children.
Sinister Schnoz: So large that it is evocative of a bird's beak.
Time Abyss: Is extremely old, and has claimed it has never met anything older than it.
Voice of the Legion: Has three voices: A tired sounding manly voice (father), a grandmotherly voice (mother), and an avian sounding voice. Usually they all talk in unison, but sometimes one voice will grow louder when Father Mother is displaying that voices traits more. When Father-Mother is acting extremely motherly, for example, the grandmother voice will be the loudest. When scolding their children or protecting them from harm, the father voice will be the loudest.

Xetse

An intimidating slab of a man, Xetse fits the caveman look better than anyone else in the series. Along with Henae, he formed the main enforcers of The Family, and for a good reason. As of the second game, he has retired to a life of farming and soul searching since The Family disbanded, but can be coaxed into becoming a party member if Ghat has a high enough leadership stat.

Blood Knight: Enjoys a good fight, and even after finding a stable life in Halstedom (no small feat) he still will gladly (and effectively) bash some heads together when called upon.
Call to Agriculture: The Family disbanding left most of the Children lost, except Xetse, who became some sort of camel creature farmer on the outskirts of Halstedom and seems content with his new life. He still sometimes misses the thrill of bloodshed, however.
'80s Hair: Sports a huge hairdo that would not look out of place in an eighties music video.
Separated at Birth: *Heavily* implied to be Ghat's brother by birth, and therefore Rimat's brother as well.
Strong Family Resemblance: Likely Rimat's genetic brother, and Ghat's as well. All three of them are Blood Knight fighters with black hair and similar physiques

Pott

One of Ghats... stranger... siblings, who wears a metal cooking pot like a helmet. Ultimately good at heart, Pott is brave but not very tough, and only chases Ghat half heartedly.

Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Pott seems to be his birth name, which makes it rather fitting his choice of armor is an upturned cooking pot with a face visor cut out of it.
Creepy Souvenir: Crossed with Tragic Keepsake. Pott keeps the bones of his birthparents in a sack on his back, as a way of always spending time with them, since he never got to do so while they were alive. In our world it would be horrifying, but in the strange and alien land of Zenozoik it comes across as downright heartwarming.
Gonk: His face resembles a melting wax statue, making him ugly even by Zeno standards
The Grotesque: He may look hideous and have creepy habits, but he's a good person.
Meaningful Name: Wears a pot.
You Can't Go Home Again: Leaves Father-Mother to return to his true home in garbage canyon, only to find his birth parents are long dead. He ends up staying with Father Mother and the other loyal siblings in Halstedom, the closest thing to a family he has left.

Gastornis

A bird looking child of Father Mother, he can barely speak the same tongue as his siblings and is rather distant from them and the family as a whole. But he is genuinely loyal to father mother, and joins Rimat as she hunts down Ghat.

Bird People: About as literal as you can get.
Broken Pedestal: Out of all the siblings, it seems like he is the only one who actively hates Father Mother for their actions after he learned the secret.
Hulk Speak: Considering he has a beak instead of a mouth, he can barely form sentences, and usually squawks out disjointed words.

Onpa

One of the siblings Ghat was closest to before his betrayal of The Family, Onpa's tiny brain, tiny muscles, and big heart make him very much out of place in the cruel world of Zenozoik. That's not to say he can't fight, he just can't fight quite as well as the rest of The Family.

Abusive Parents: His birth father is a commandeering thug who takes over the Families old compound. After Ghat obliderate's him and Onpa learns to fend for himself over the course of the game, he goes back to living with Father-Mother.
Broken Pedestal: Was so excited to meet his birth father that he played right into the abusive jerk's hands, becoming a punching bag and a meat shield for the cruel old man on a supposed quest to "become strong". Needless to say he is disillusioned by the time Ghat meets him months after the reunion
Dumb Is Good: Easily the least bright of the siblings, but he’s one of the kindest people in the series besides Deadra.
Nice Guy: He simply doesn’t see the point in violence, and so he fails to train as well or as hard as the other siblings do because his heart isn’t in it. Considering how ludicrously violent Zenozoik is, this attitude practically makes him a pacifist.
You Are Better Than You Think You Are: On the receiving end of this from Ghat and Rimat, who for good measure also beat the stuffing out of his abusive birth father for mistreating him.

Henea

One of strongest fighters The Family has, and also one of the most cunning. Despite her fearsome appearance Henae has a strong moral compass and will only fight to defend her friends and family, though she does so with everything she has. So when Ghat kills Father-Mother at the start of the first game, Henae goes out to seek revenge. She is not as persistent as Rimat, but when she shows up Ghat is in for a hell of a fight.

Action Girl: Like Rimat.
Boss in Mook's Clothing: Henae is not a pushover by any means. She hits hard with a devastating moveset, and has a large pool of health to back it up. Whenever Ghat is attacked by The Family, Henae is not necessarily going to show up. But if she does, he's in trouble.
Broken Pedestal: To say she felt betrayed by Adrance's fall into obsession and insanity is an understatement. When Ghat batters Adrance and leaves him to die among the Tiamte, Henae doesn't even protest.
Bruiser with a Soft Center: Henae may be really good at fighting, but that doesn't mean she enjoys it, it’s merely a way to protect the things she loves. When Deadra goes out to found a village to escape the might-makes-right world of Halstedom, Henae comes along to defend it.
'80s Hair: It's practically her defining feature.
Face of a Thug: Henea looks like a post apocalyptic raider, but after the first game ends up devoting her strength to defending the innocent.

Therium

The largest of father mothers children, Therium is a rodent man who serves as the factions heavyweight fighter. Though at first seems nothing but a hard hitting enforcer, Therium has a soft side to him.

The Big Guy: The heavyweight of The Family faction.
Broken Pedestal: His birth mom is a Corwid. He misunderstands her behavior, thinking that if she completes her focus she would be able to recognize him and they could live as a family. When he finds out she cannot care of anything or anyone except her focus, and that by definition a Corwid focus is never complete, he remorsefully abandons her to the forest.
Lightning Bruiser: Charges more often, and charges faster, than the other two heavyweights.
Meaningful Name: Named after the Chapalmatherium, a species of giant rodent that lived during the Cenozoic period. He looks like a humaoid Chapalmatherium.
Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Hates water to the point he dislikes even being near the shoreline.

Gemini and her Mercenaries

Gemini, a conjoined giantess and warlord, is the biggest threat faced by Pseudo and the Boy. Due to her declining health, she sends a cadre of mercenaries to act her in stead in a desperate chase to get the Boy away from his only protector. Together, they serve as the primary antagonists of Clash: Artifacts of Chaos

Gemini

A conjoined six headed warlord, and ruler of Zenozoik. The power of all artifacts stems from her, and she has used this power to establish the “One Law”, that all are bound by the game known as The Ritual. Despite her massive strength, however, she is dying, and she believes the only cure is the mysterious powers of The Boy.

Big Bad: The primary threat to Pseudo and The Boy, hounding them across Zenozoik.
Conjoined Twins: Gemini is an exaggeration version, being six people fused together at the torso, with elements of Mind Hive. By the time of the game, four heads have gone silent and are essentially dead, and she’s largely motivated by trying to save her remaining two heads.
Due to the Dead: According to Word of God and the artbook, Gemini continues to style and groom her deceased heads in the style they preferred when they were still alive as a way to honor their memory.
Mind Hive: Played With. Gemini does not consider herself six different people conjoined at the torso, but rather one person with six different personalities and heads. Other Zenos refer to her in the singular, so they have this opinion as well.
Orcus on His Throne: Despite still being monstrously strong, Gemini lets her mercenaries and lieutenants handle most of the chasing since her health is failing her.
Pet the Dog: The second largest head is kind, trying to warn Pseudo on several occasions, and seems like it has reservations about the main heads plan.

Moon-sun

A strong warrior, but unlike many in the cynical world of Zenozoik, he believes in what he and Gemini are doing and can articulate his beliefs. He believes they are bringing order to the world; A delusional belief, but genuine. He is one of Gemini’s lieutenants, and her lover.

Ambiguously Human: Despite human proportions and skin color, his face is hidden, making it difficult to tell if he is human or not.
Anti-Villain: Moon-Sun genuinely believes that Gemini's rule will bring peace and order to Zenozoik.

The Dragon: The strongest and most dedicated of Gemini’s warriors, and also her lover.
Lightning Bruiser: Not only is he strong, his attacks are deceptively fast considering how huge his hammer is.

Claw

A mysterious warrior, highly skilled in martial arts, who is almost always silent. He is one of Gemini’s lieutenants.

Animal Motifs: Crabs. He wears armor made from crab shell and his fighting style is named after them.
The Gloves Come Off: After taking enough damage, he will break his armor and start using both hands.
Only Known by Their Nickname: Pseudo will never know his name and the reason why he works for Gemini.
Silent Antagonist: He doesn't say a word, only occasionally snorting and grunting. After he's defeated at Gemini's palace he starts to go into a monologue about why he works for Gemini, Pseudo promptly kicks him unconscious to make him shut up.
Villainous Legacy: Claw is a master of the same martial art that Hunter will later use in Zeno Clash, down to using it with one hand behind his back.
Villains Out Shopping: At the first meeting with Pseudo, he is engaged in fishing.

Wrehgg

A very strong warrior, enormous in size, not terribly intelligent, but not completely animalistic either. His job is crushing things, and he doesn't care very much about what they are. He is one of Gemini’s lieutenants.

Cruel Elephant: Wrehgg's appearance is based on mammoths, and he seems to take a stoic enjoyment out of crushing things and people at Gemini’s command.
The Brute: His job. Gemini sends him to smash things, usually people, who oppose or obstruct her.
Dumb Muscle: Played With. Wrehgg isn't dumb, but he prefers to rely on his size and strength, and in his defense it’s normally more than enough.
Fat Bastard: A giant, mammoth-like Zeno working for Gemini.
Mighty Glacier: Like other giant enemies, Wrehgg can deal and absorb a huge amount of damage, however, he is extremely slow.

Bhlag

An unpleasant bully whose accidental killing of grandpa sets off the plot. Later joins the mercenaries chasing the boy.

Butt-Monkey: One of the first opponents Pseudo encounters. With each new meeting, a new bruise appears on his face.
Fat Bastard: He is a fat thug, and sees no issues challenging a defenseless old man to a fist fight.
Kick the Dog: His targeting of a weak old man is bad enough, how easily he shrugs off his shock at killing that old man is worse, as he shows no remorse.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: He had no clue his targeting of a weak old man would unravel what little societal fabric Zenozoik had.

Tarnas

An arrogant warrior with a Social Darwinist ideology, who worships Nature itself and thinks the weak must be destroyed.

Nightmare Fetishist: Admires the cruelty and wildness of nature.
The Social Darwinist: Tarnas thinks that strength is all that matters, and that if you are weak you deserve to die. He enjoys the chaos of Zenozoik, as it allows him to live true to his warped ideals of crushing the weak underfoot.
Token Human: The only enemy that is unquestionably human.

Kroggo Longtooth

Zenos, who believes in Gemini and the One Law; thinks of himself as hero who will be rewarded for capturing the Boy.

Boulder Bludgeon: Can throw boulders as a ranged attack.
Giant Mook: Second only to Whregg, he remains one of the largest mercenaries working for Gemini.
Glory Hound: He sincerely believes that Gemini and the rest of Zenozoik will see him as a great hero.

Citizens Of The City of Halstedom

A violent chaotic sprawl and the biggest city on the planet. Halstedom was founded an unfathomably long time ago by an advanced group of Zenos now forgotten, and the Zenos of today are nothing but squatters, living and building among its grand stone structures and machines without understanding the significance of any of it. People flock to Halstedom to avoid the dangers of the violent wilds, but often find themselves the victims of just a different kind of violence. The city is home to the Majority of the games cast, including The Family and The Northern Gate Gang, as well as the faction unaffiliated characters below.

Deadra

An idealistic, kind, and somewhat dangerously naive woman who feels trapped in the dog-eat-dog world of Halstedom, but is not strong enough to survive in the wilds on her own. She helps Ghat escape, marking herself for death at the hands of The Family, so that she can tag along with him, and hopefully find a place where life is gentler.

Ace Custom: Carries a sawn-off musket at certain points in the first game.
Broken Bird: Has aspects of this in the first game. She is fully aware she will likely die if she follows Ghat, but doesn't care. She would rather die quickly looking for a better life than die a miserable slow death in Halstedom.
Damsel in Distress: In an optional side-quest in the second game.
Demoted to Extra: In the first game, she follows Ghat for most of the plot and sometimes helps him. In Zeno Clash II, she broke up with Ghat and went off to build a new village.
Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: While there are a few times she will use her fists, her move-set is lacking and she far prefers to use crossbows and firearms to support Ghat from a distance.
Happily Ever After: If saved from the Tiamte, she and Ghat live together in the village she founded
Took a Level in Badass: In the second game, Deadra has actually become stronger than Ghat's weaker siblings, and can hold her own in a fist fight.

Fatface

A portly swine like humanoid, known as the local drunk of the Family Plaza district. Cannot seem to catch a break.

The Alcoholic: Frequently seen in the background of stages set in Halstedom, passed out on a strangers doorstep with mug in hand.
Butt-Monkey: Between being kicked out of houses and bars and trying to pick fights with Ghat, nothing ever seems to go right for the guy.
Fat Bastard: Spends his one "speaking" role throwing a tantrum and yelling in the Northern Gate Bar when they say he's had too much. This may be why he gets thrown out so often.
Gonk: Extremely short and extremely obese, he almost looks like hes entirely made out of rolling folds of fat.
Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Impossible not to feel bad for the guy as he swings his flabby little arms at Ghat and instantly gets obliterated by the counterattack,
The Unintelligible: The one time he speaks all he does is make strange noises, but the bartender at the Northern Gate Bar knows exactly what he is saying.
Videogame Cruelty Potential: Ghat can punch the poor guy in the face at random in the second game while wandering around Halstedom.

Thiloc

A strange...thing.. that fancies himself an artist and berates others for being uncultured. Lives alone in a tiny house near Halstedoms town square. Sends Ghat on a massive quest to collect enough moths for his ultimate masterpiece. Actually a moth addict who stopped being a painter long ago, but keeps up the charade so people will donate moths he can grind and snort

Anything but That!: Pretty much says this word for word. He is really desperate to keep Ghat out of the innermost room of his house whenever Ghat threatens to peek inside. He is willing to give Ghat pretty much all of his belongings to keep him out of there. He thinks Ghat will steal his drugs.
Body Horror: Tired of not being able to carry a palette and a brush at the same time (dude only has one mouth), he had his lower jaw replaced with a palette and his teeth re-attached to the top of it. It needs to be tied back or it will fall out.
Cloudcuckoolander: Though his paintings are traditionally artistic , he acts like a pompous parody of modern art artists, berating others that if they don’t understand his art it’s because they are deficient in understanding it’s deeper meaning.
Cyborg: Through unknown means, he has replaced both his eyes with telescoping lenses.
Disabled Snarker: Has no arms. Is really, really condescending.
Insufferable Genius: Regularly insults Ghat and Rimat's intelligence even as he is asking for their assistance.
Mad Artist: "Unstable" is putting it mildly.
Mood-Swinger: Goes from pompous taunting to angry shouting to pathetic begging in the span of a few sentences.
Mysterious Past: How he has lasted this long in Halstedom, how he got his telescoping lenses, and more are all a mystery. The developers left his backstory intentionally blank, but they are fond of the idea he is an artificial easel holding life-form abandoned by his owner back when Halstedom was an advanced city
Room Full of Crazy: His living space is a pretty accurate metaphor for the inside of his head.
Small Name, Big Ego: Ghat and Rimat say they had never even heard of him. He acts like they must be living under a rock because hes clearly the most famous artist in Halstedom.
Uncertain Doom: If you visit his house after completing his quest and discovering his secret you'll find him lying on the floor, either passed out or having died from an overdose.

The Goat Man

A bartering merchant in The Family plaza who is utterly fed up with the Marauders. Having known Ghat at least in passing due to his proximity to The Family, he hires Ghat to hunt down as many of the Marauders as he can, and bring their masks them to him.

Battle Trophy: Subverted. Collects the masks of marauders, but its always his hired help that do the fighting.
Fauns and Satyrs: Very Saytr like.
Only Known by Their Nickname: Even in the achievements related to his quest, his simply called Goat Man.
Rage Breaking Point: Reached this shortly before the second game began, and is willing to give away most of his possessions to anyone who can beat the crap out of a ton of marauders on his behalf.
Verbal Tic: Any long "a" in his speech inevitably turns into a goat like bleat.

Oorosi

A sadistic pig like Zeno who apparently tortures beggars and the destitute for his own pleasure. Ghat is tasked with hunting him down and teaching him a (non lethal) lesson on behalf of one of his victims, to demonstrate how the Zenos normally handle justice and how the Enforcers have issues of their own.

Cold-Blooded Torture: Enjoys inflicting this on people. One of his victims was so badly damaged by it one leg had to be amputated and the other became useless
The Dreaded: To certain groups. His victims don't bother calling the Enforcers, because all the Enforcers are scared of what he might do to their friends and family.
Fat Bastard: Both obese and an awful individual.
Gonk: Appears to be the same subtype of Zeno as Fatface, but somehow even uglier.
Jerkass: Incapable of picking on anyone other than the weak.

The Cow Man

An odd fellow on the second floor of the bar in the second game. Organizes fights and is absolutely terrifying.

Body Horror: The screaming face of the person who was turned into his cloak is still visible.
Camp Gay: Not him, but his "champions", buff men who wear nothing but pink speedos and cow masks.
Genuine Zeno Hide: Has killed a humanoid Zeno and wears a cloak made from their skin.
Nothing Is Scarier: We never learn anything about this guy. Not his name, origin, motivation, why he wears the skin of a murdered man like it's clothing.. nothing. Though its blatantly obvious that he is a very dangerous person.
Only Known by Their Nickname: Related achievements only call him The Cow Man.
Revenge by Proxy: His aforementioned Zeno skin cloak is most likely out of vengeance for all the cows Zenos kill for leather.
Speaking Simlish: Speaks a made up language that sounds like a frog with pneumonia.

The Enforcers

The Zenozoik's first police force, established by the Northern Golem after The Family disbanded. Based out of the Golem jail that now sits in the center of the city. Their repuation is mixed, partly because portions of the organization are corrupt or incompetent, and partially because Zenos have never actually had any experience with legally granted authority before.

Corrupt Cop: Some parts of the organization are this, as inherent power over others is a new concept to many Zenos and one that is easy to abuse.
Dirty Coward: According to the populace of Halstedom, Enforcers are just as like to run away from calls for help as to run towards them.
Faceless Goons: All Enforcers wear a black/grey bag over their faces, much like medieval executioners.
Once Done, Never Forgotten: Disliked by the average Halstedom citizen, even if they agree with the concept of law, for causing the marauders to form with their heavy handed tactics. Made even worse because Enforcers cannot legally act outside of Halstedom yet, so a marauder can attack and retreat across the bridge to safety and all they can do is watch.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Rather than slowly and delicately pick apart the criminal rings of Halstedom, they went into it with everything they had from the get go, letting countless thugs escape in the turmoil and without gathering intelligence first. These thugs eventually formed the Marauders, the worst criminal group Zenozoik has ever seen.

The Northern Gate Gang

Northern Gate Gang in General

A crime syndicate which operates in the northern end of Halstedom. Thriving off the anarchy, they maintain an iron fist on the towns Northern Gate (hence the name) and therefore the markets. Unsurprisingly, they use their power over Halstedoms barter economy to rob the populace. While The Family is not exactly made out of angels, they are disgusted by the Northern Gate Gang's behavior. They trade with The Family, but only through Father Mother themselves. The children of Father Mother are explicitly prohibited from doing any direct transactions with them, due to the danger involved. It turns out they have been helping Father Mother with their kidnapping scheme, which is why Father Mother prohibits any of the children from going near them; they might discover the truth.

Army of Thieves and Whores: Prostitutes, bouncers, pickpockets, drunks, murderers, and more all form the backbone of their fighting force whenever Ghat clashes with them. Notably, they are the dirtiest fighters in the game, and their main strategy is to wear Ghat down with distant marksmen fire while close fighters slap him around in stunlock to prevent him from disarming said marksmen.
Bad Guy Bar: They run one, filled with thuggish rejects and monsters of all kinds.
Demoted to Extra: As Halstedom is no longer in a state of anarchy by the second game, they have faded into the background despite being a major threat in the first game.
Drunk on Milk: Taken in horrifying new directions. The gang and the bar patrons drink blood drained from the crushed corpses of Roosters, which is alcoholic in the Zeno Clash universe. Blood spatter is everywhere, and the machine used to grind the poor birds sits in the middle of the bar, stained with blood. Made even worse because, as the second games drunken Ghat intro shows, regular moonshine exists.
Took a Level in Kindness: Seeing the writing on the wall, those who did not join the marauders seem to have willingly submitted to Golems rule and stopped harming the populace. Former members can be encountered as neutral civilians in the second game who only attack when provoked. Some even became enforcers, though that caused a whole new problem

Jsaj

An overconfident gang member who defected from the Northern Gate Gang. The leader thought that he wasn't worth the effort of chasing down, until she found he had stolen her best hookah as he was leaving.

Bullying a Dragon: Tried to mug Ghat. Ghat made him regret it.
Calling Your Attacks: "Heheh, gonna shoot ya!"
Lean and Mean: A wiry little man who bullies travelers.
Oh, Crap!: You can see his snide smirk evaporate into anger and then fear as Ghat nears victory.
Shame If Something Happened: "Need some help? You wouldn't want some thief to know your not from around!"
Smug Smiler: While his health is above 30%, he always sports a cocky grin.
That Wasn't a Request: Calmly asks Ghat to show him everything he's carrying. When Ghat just shrugs, he demands Ghat hand over his valuables.

Hecuecba

A higher up in the Northern Gate Gang, always seen with a hookah in hand. Lounging in her personal quarters within the bar's antechamber, she keeps an eye on the door: both to protect the gang from prying eyes, and to set those the gang has taken an interest in down the path towards getting the password.

Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Had she been patient enough, she could have gotten some members of the gang itself to deal with Jsaj. Instead she recruited a child of The Family, and rewarded him with access to the one secret they were supposed to keep from the Family children.
Non Action Zeno: Even when the entire bar spots Ghat and goes ballistic, she never joins the fray. Perhaps because his presence is her fault in the first place.
Orcus on His Throne: One of the leaders of Halstedoms major factions, but never leaves her hookah lounge. She prefers getting people to do her dirty work for her.
Revenge Before Reason: Is willing to break part of the gangs contract with The Family (That the children are not allowed to get involved any Northern Gate operations) to get back at Jsaj for betraying her.
What Happened to the Mouse?: She is never seen outside her initial appearance, leaving her fate ambigious.

The "Mechanic"

Hulking brutish man who tries to rob Ghat while he is running errands for the gang. Responsible for the upkeep of the gang's machinery, though you wouldn't think so based on his appearance or his mannerisms.

Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Presumably why he was spared.
Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The subtitles and even the Versus Character Splash just refer to him as "Mechanic."
Easily Forgiven: Despite betraying the gang to follow Jsaj, he seems to be the only person who knows how the gate works and how to fix it, so he's not punished like Jsaj is. Three months later he is still a member when Ghat has to fight the gang again, so its pretty obvious they forgave him.
Genius Ditz: Maintains electric lights and a sentient talking door in what is a Stone Punk universe. If not for the game explicitly mentioning that he is the gangs mechanic, you would have no idea.
Gonk: Ugly as sin, and that's not even taking the swollen bruises into account.
The Pig-Pen: Covered in filth, and apparently gladly picks through the sewers for trinkets to trade for food and rooster blood.
Simpleton Voice: Sounds like he ate nothing but paint chips his entire childhood. Turns out he's way better with machines than he is with words.
Southern-Fried Genius: A fantasy equivalent. Seems to also know how to keep the fans, lights, and talking doors left in parts of Halstedom by the Precursors running, which you only see in functional condition around the gangs territory.

Tsekung

Metal clad gang member who defected along with Jsaj and the Mechanic. Not much is known about him, other than he is friends with the mechanic.

The Alcoholic : When we meet him, he has just been kicked out of all the bars within reach for drinking too much, yet hes in the process of trying to find yet another place to drink away his day.
Calling Your Attacks: "Gonna shoot now!"
Goggles Do Nothing
Post-Apunkalyptic Armor: Has a suit welded together out of bits of scrap metal.
Spikes of Villainy: His scaveneged armor has pointy spikes on the helmet.

Bartender

"Be warned, stranger.Halstedom is not a good place to find friends"
—The Bartender giving Ghat some good advice.

The barkeep at the Northern Gate Gangs very own Bad Guy Bar. Somehow she manages to keep the bar under control, despite the lowlifes who frequent it.

Deep South: Has the accent and mannerisms to match, even though she lives in a Stone Punk fantasy universe.
Early-Bird Cameo: Can be seen during the first level, where she is among the crowd in the barter market watching Ghat and Rimat fight.
Inexplicable Cultural Ties: See Deep South above. It's especially odd since everything else in Zenozoik is so alien.
Non Action Girl: Does not join in on fights even when every other member of the gang is involved.
Reimagining the Artifact: She was created and even voice acted back when the game was a High Fantasy game about fighting a wizard. As the game evolved, she was kept but was changed slightly to fit in with the other elements. Many of her lines scolding Fatface were actually recycled lines from the original Zenozoik prototype, supposed to be directed at the player if they caused a ruckus in her bar.
Repeating So the Audience Can Hear: Does this with both Fatface and Entelo.
Token Good Teammate: She shows genuine concern when Ghat is about to walk into what seems like an obvious trap set by her fellow gang members, and she uses the quote above.
Tattooed Crook: Sports some tattoos on her arms and is a gang member.

Entelo

Goggled boar like Zeno who allows Ghat into the off limits section of the Norther Gate hideout. Due to his non human features and unintelligible language, its hard to tell if he was leading Ghat into a trap or was just really, really dumb. The Bartender seems to think the former, and Deinother thinks the latter.

Didn't Think This Through: If he was indeed leading Ghat into a trap, he did so in a way that revealed to Ghat the secret they were specifically tasked to hide from Father Mothers children. So really he's stupid even if it was a trap.
Dumb Muscle: Not the brightest the Northern Gate Gang has to offer.
Meaningful Name: "Entelo" comes from the scientific name for the Hell Pig, the Entelodontidae. He is a humanoid hell pig, so it fits.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: If he hadn't let Ghat into the inner parts of the hideout, Ghat never would have found out why Father Mother spent so much time trading with the gang.
Pig Man: Is a humanoid hell pig.
The Unintelligible: One of the few Zenos who Ghat cannot understand and therefore is not subtitled. The bartender has to do all the translating.

Those In The Wilderness

There are those who live outside of Halstedom but do not call themselves Corwids. Life is extremely hard for these Zenos, even harder than the lives lead by the citizens of Halstedom. A superstitious and near insane lot, their harsh lives mean they are often the most dangerous Zenos Ghat faces.

The Hunter

In the land of Zenozoik, firearms are more comparable to rubber bullet riot guns than to tools of killing. It takes a special kind of skill to take down the terrors that stalk the wilds, and very often those Skills are for sale. While normally against killing Zenos, this particular hunter was so disgusted with the idea that Ghat would kill his own parent for seemingly no reason that he agreed to hunt Ghat down. Despite being totally blind in both eyes, he is easily the most dangerous Zeno Ghat ever fights.

Blind Weaponmaster: The best marksman encountered in the entire series, and also totally blind.
Blood Knight: Almost as much as Ghat. The only reason he even gives Ghat any chance at all during their fist fight is because he doesn't want the hunt to end so anti-climatically.
Cool Mask: Wears some kind of occult mask crafted from a crab shell and covered in wooden eyes.
Hero Antagonist: While more morally gray than white, he really only wants to dispense justice and save Daedra from following Ghat to certain doom. If he had known the full story he almost certainly would have rejected the contract presented to him by The Family.
Hopeless Boss Fight: Once he starts using both hands to fight you, his fight becomes this.
Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: Subverted. Hunter is not going after Ghat for the thrill, challenge, or money, but because he believes that the only way Ghat can atone for his combined patri/matricide is with his life.
Locked Out of the Loop: Hunter is only an antagonist because he knows a heck of a lot less than he thinks he does.
Logical Weakness: His entire fighting style is about pressure points and inflicting pain to make his opponent helpless, as he lacks the physique to use brute force. Golem has no pressure points, so Hunter gets absolutely wrecked by him.
Ominous Walk: During the second half of the last fight with him, he is notable for being the only enemy who never runs regardless of the distance between the two of you.
Only Known by Their Nickname: We never learn his name.
Professional Killer: Subverted. The code of hunters can apparently be paraphrased as "if it is smart enough to talk, you cannot be hired to kill it" but they make exceptions for the absolute worst villains.
Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: As close as you can get in a literally anarchist world. The few in The Family who knew Father Mother's secret never told Hunter *why* Ghat killed Father Mother while they were hiring him, and Ghat never tries to explain himself because Rimat is in earshot (and he wants Father Mother's secret to die with them). So from Hunters viewpoint, he is chasing after an insane killer who murdered his own parent(s) and wants to drag his apparently Stockholm Syndrome afflicted girlfriend to the literal end of the world where she will likely die.
Tough Act to Follow: Explicitly stated by Word of God to be the only reason he did not appear in the second game: He was too cool and they didn't want to risk sullying his legacy.
With My Hands Tied: Keeps one hand behind his back for the second half of his last fight and still manages to be the hardest one-on-one fight Ghat has with a Zeno other than Father Mother.

The Wu-Muhm Marauders

When a legal system was introduced to Halstedom before the start of Zeno Clash 2, the cities absolute worst individuals fled for the hills so they could continue to maim, rob, and kill to their hearts content. Many are in fact former Northern Gate Gang members, who were disgusted when the gang "went legit" to avoid Golem's wrath. Cutting off their own feet in a ritualistic initiation, they don strange straw helmets and prey on those foolish enough to venture on the roads out of the city.

Always Chaotic Evil: Marauders are motivated only by blood-lust and greed.
Evil Laugh: Laugh at Ghat while fighting him. Serves as a game play mechanic, as it indicates when they will try a hay-maker or a special move.
Faceless Goons: Their strange straw and cloth masks totally hide any facial features.
From Badto Worse: The previous criminal empire, The Northern Gate Gang, allowed trade in return for a cut of the profits and the right to bully the occasional merchant. The Marauders take everything, and kill anyone who gets in their way. Some citizens in the second game hate the enforcers, not because of the laws or the jail, but simply because their actions against the Northern Gate Gang indirectly led to the Marauders existing in the first place. That's how bad these guys are.
Handicapped Badass: Must remove their own feet to join. Still give Ghat something of a fight, which is saying something when he can knock out many a Zeno in one hit.
Mooks: Fill this role in the second game.
Rape, Pillage, and Burn: It was in the best interest of the Northern Gate Gang not to kill or take too much, as it would scare away travelers and be bad for business. The Marauders have no such qualms. Nothing is beneath them.
The Unintelligible: Their masks muffle their speech, making them incapable of vocalizing outside of muffled laughs and screams, yet the foot collector can seemingly communicate with them.

The Foot Collector

A rogue hunter hired by the Enforcers to do their dirty work outside of Halstedom, he has forged an alliance of desperation with the Marauders in the hopes of catching Ghat. He is so named because he severs the feet of his victims and attaches them to hooks on his back. Unlike other hunters, he not only willingly hunts Zenos, he only hunts Zenos.

Ax-Crazy: Hunter was mentally unstable but ultimately not a psycho. This guy is completely, violently, insane. Oddly, if you don't have any feet left, he will leave you alone. Aparently he is only interested in killing as a means of adding to his collection.
Battle Trophy: How he got his name. He keeps them on hooks on his back, in various states of decay.
Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Has a reputation for this, and steals his former allies feet after he is done with them. Since the marauders already have cut their own feet off in their initiation rites, he will not betray them; he has nothing to gain.
Dirty Coward: Almost always smokebombs out just as he's about to lose, abandoning any allies he had, so he can return later with reinforcements.

Adrance

A researcher (an extremely rare occupation in Zenozoik) who has dedicated his life to watching the Tiamte since no one else seems to care enough to keep an eye on them. He is absolutely terrified of what he sees. The birth father of Henae

Abusive Parents: His head is so high in the clouds he forgets that his expeditions are lethally dangerous to those around him. And that's before he went insane and tried the "giving your daughter up as a sacrifice to lobster people" plan.
Admiring the Abomination: is a little too excited about the Tiamte and their progress.
Cassandra Truth: Zenos cannot fully grasp the concepts of a racial war or even race in general, and Adrance is having a very hard time trying to get them to take the Tiamte threat seriously as a result.
Going Native: Betrays Ghat and Co. with the belief that if he dresses and acts like a Tiamte and sacrifices some Zenos to them, they will let him in and spare him when they start their Bug War. He was even willing to have his own daughter killed in a Tiamte ritual in order to appease them
My Greatest Failure: Saddened that his neglect caused Henae and Daedra to be captured. Though he quickly gets over it when his insanity causes him to conclude if he treats the two like a gift to the Tiamte they will let him join.

Tutterja

The terrifying matriarch of a bird clan that rules over the Rathbird fields, Tutterja has a personal beef with Father Mother and their children, more than willing to kill any that come too close. Birth parent of Gastornis.

Bird People: Is a bird-like Zeno just like her son Gastornis.
Hulk Speak: Struggles to use her beak to communicate with Zenos who have mouths. She'd much rather kill Zenos than talk to them, anyway.
It's Personal: Anyone who supports Father Mother is her sworn enemy, due to how father mother crossed her.

The Tiamte

Lobster like humanoids who live in the northern desert. Unlike the thousands of other races that inhabit Zenozoik, they actually can have racists thoughts. This has caused them to hide in the deserts from the "lesser" races, and await a time when they can overpower them and take what they see as theirs. They have a minor role in the first game, but become a huge part of Zeno Clash 2. Oddly, The North Golem has ignored their villages, having installed no Beholders or any other law enforcement equipment despite them being right on the border to his fortress at Endworld. Who are these mysterious beings who seek to retain racial purity in a world where any distinction between race has long since vanished? Why does Golem let them live on his doorstep with no supervision? What could they want with the Zenos?

Bug War: Are the Zenozoik equivalent, as an apparently unstoppable caste-based society that breeds like crazy and wishes to overrun the Zenos.
E.T. Gave Us Wi-Fi: Humans Gave Us Societal Concepts, actually. The humans who constructed Zenozoik forgot to remove the old factories and quarries from the canyon that would be the Tiamte's home, and so the Tiamte's are culturally and mentally ahead of the Zenos by centuries. And they only keep getting more advanced as the years go on... while the other Zenos stagnate.
Fantastic Caste System: Tiamte who prove themselves are allowed to grow to the next caste through unknown means. The weakest castes are the tiny naked Tiamte, followed by the normal size naked Tiamte. Once they prove themselves in combat or in intelligence they are given clothing, allowed to grow even further, and become a jacket wearer. Once a Tiamte owns a jacket of his own, his ranks from there are determined by how many masks he wears. The top castes of their societies are literally covered in masks and are hulking yet intelligent brutes.
Genius Bruiser: By the standards of Zenozoik, the Chieftains are this.
Hidden Depths: In the first game they appear to be little more than crazy desert shrimp men who throw rocks and holler while Ghat shoots at them. Then the second game rolls around and you discover they already have concepts of military rank, power structure, personal property, combat tactics, and more due to evolving near human ruins. Henae's father says that in the decades he has been watching them they have been continuously growing more and more advanced right before his eyes.. Oh yeah and they despise all other Zenos and will absolutely use those things to their advantage.
It's Personal: Kidnap Daedra in the second game for some kind of ritual. Big, big mistake. Their societal advances can't save them from Ghat.
The Unfavorite: Implied. Tiamte have been ignored by the North Golem for some reason, despite the fact they would be far easier to uplift than the Zenos and they are literally on his doorstep.
Zerg Rush: Individually weak, their tactics involve mobs of lower caste Tiamte swarming Ghat while a higher caste Tiamte dishes out pain.

Director

An arrogant man who believes that reality is a narrative. He thinks the world has gone off-script and only he can restore the proper story.

Allfor Nothing: After being defeated by Pseudo, the Director loses followers and beliefs, realizing that all his actions were in vain.
Believing Their Own Lies: Hearing the Melody of the Spheres as a child, he thought he knew the true narrative. Unfortunately for him, he is wrong.
Manipulative Bastard: Persuasive enough to gather a group of loyal followers and lure Voota-Yan, Boy's brother, to his side.
Smug Snake: The Director is convinced that he knows the true story, which is why he behaves very self-confidently. After Pseudo's defeat, his beliefs and arrogance crumble.

Outcast

Once an ally of Gemini who helped her collect artifacts. After Gemini's rise, he made a deal with her, going into self-imposed exile with no way to return.

The Fatalist: Despite his grotesque appearance, this powerful warrior has a deeply melancholic side. He feels that nothing in the world really makes any sense, and doesn't know why he does what he does.
Outcast: "I'll obey the law. I'll fight you for the artifact. But why? I don't know."
The Nameless: His real name is never revealed.
The Paranoiac: After his exile, he prepared for the Gemini attack. Seeing Pseudo, he sets Pontoteraton on him.
Unperson: After he left, Gemini forbade everyone to even speak his name.

The Corwids

The Corwid Of The Free

Anarchy taken to it's logical conclusion Corwids are forest dwellers who focus their lives onto a single defining trait to the detriment of everything else and in violation of anything that would try to stop them. To the inhabitants of Zenozoik, they are treated with a mixture of disgust, mocking humor, and fear. The defining traits of a Corwid are a "focus" (what you dedicate your life to), a mask to symbolize your new identity, and the will to hurt yourself severely in the pursuit of that focus. Ghat was briefly a Corwid, during which he learned how to fight from fellow Corwid Metamoq. If you can think of a certain brand of insanity, there is probably a Corwid who has it as their focus.

Ax-Crazy: Averted. Ghat makes it clear that the only reason he is always attacked when he enters Corwid territory is because they remember that he used to beat the crap out of them for their armor when he himself was a Corwid. If you do not attack or attempt to interrupt a Corwid who is acting out their focus, they will not hurt you... unless their focus involves hurting you.
Barefoot Loon: 99.99% of all Corwids encountered, except for Ghat (back when he was one, of course).
Blue-and-Orange Morality: Ghat, who was a Corwid for a short while, says that this is how Corwids think, and that it is essentially impossible for normal Zenos to even try to understand what a Corwid is thinking or feeling at any given moment.
Body Horror: While all Corwids have this, since they don't respect the laws of mortality enough to try to patch their own wounds, one Corwid stands out as he has punctured both his eardrums with metal rods so sound will not distract him from his focus. he hasn't removed the rods yet and its been more than three months minimum.
Clawing at Own Throat: A habit of several Corwids.
Dissonant Laughter: Corwid fights are punctuated throughout by mad laughter and screaming.
Doesn't Like Guns: None of the Corwids carry firearms, nor do they ever think to pick up dropped firearms unlike the rest of the enemies.
The Dreaded: They're viewed across the whole series with a mixture of disgust and fear. This especially comes into play in Clash: Artifacts of Chaos, as they're among the strongest fighters Pseudo encounters and their erratic combat styles make them difficult to counter.
Friend to All Living Things: One Corwid named Akatat in the second game wants nothing more to be a good tree that animals can live happy lives in. Though technically a subversion since there is one person he isn't friends with: Ghat.
Full-Frontal Assault: If Ace Team could have gotten away with it, they probably would have done this. As it stands the Corwids barely wear much beyond some tattered rags that cover the saucy bits. Note that this is not supposed to be "sexy", but to emphasize how little they care about their own health or even notice their surroundings (try going naked or even nearly naked in a forest with football sized biting insects).
Idiosyncrazy: Pretty much the basis of all Corwids. They pick something and intentionally let it overtake every part of their being with the belief that it is how you achieve true happiness. It could be pretending to be a tree, it could be peeing on yourself until you die of dehydration (no really), or it could be eating other Zenos.
Infectious Insanity: While its never stated if its true or not, this quality is ascribed to the Corwids by Zenos, and those who spend time with them are almost always shunned by the people of Halstedom if they ever try to return to normal society.
Mad Oracle: The singing Corwids of the second game are centered around an Oracle. Supposedly if they all sing in harmony, they can see the future. We never get to find out, because Ghat interrupts their song and beats the crap out of them.
Madden Into Misanthropy: Living in the harsh world of Zenozoik broke them. They went into the forest seeking answers to life's hardest questions and never came back out, or at least were never the same.
Pyromaniac: Several Corwids. In particular, the Corwid Jaro, who dies during the second game while trying to romantically embrace a burning tree.
Tragic Monster: While they're viewed as somewhat pitiable curiosities in the first two games, Clash: Artifacts of Chaos makes them into this. The Boy laments that their pursuit of "freedom" has left them completely alone and incapable of change, while the Outcast implies that the monomaniacal pursuit of their Focus isn't any less arbitrary or binding than the society they've tried to escape.

Metamoq The Fighter

"If you are satisfied and do what you feel you must do,
no matter what that is,
then you have reached perfection."
—Metamoq, explaining Corwid philosophy.

A notable Corwid, who taught Ghat everything he knows about fighting. Little is known about his past. Metamoq was training for some unknown end. Perhaps he never had any end goal in mind, and the training was his Corwid focus. Either way, he had a profound impact, good and bad, on Ghat.He died before the series even began, but plays an important role nonetheless.

Cool Helmet: Wears a metal helmet that can be knocked off when he's low on health.
Crazy Survivalist: Metamoq was this, having retreated into the forest to learn how to fight and kill anything. Including himself if need be.
Cynical Mentor: His only (apparent) motivation for teaching Ghat anything was so his punching bag could at least put up a fight. Though it seems there were hints of genuine fondness in his behavior, he was a Corwid so we will probably never know.
Dangerous Forbidden Technique: The result of all his training, and the last thing he passes onto Ghat, and named in true Corwid fashion is "The Trick With the Bomb". It can kill just about any Zeno opponent and turn around any fight, but leaves the user badly injured.
Dead Person Conversation: In times of great stress, Ghat has visions of the forest in which Metamoq trained him, and the now dead mentor gives him advice and reminds him of advanced techniques.
Disproportionate Retribution: During one training session, Ghat scores a few too many hits. Metamoq then tries to kill both of them with a live grenade. If Ghat was not Made of Iron, they both would have died. Instead only Metamoq died, leaving Ghat alone and lost.
Justified Tutorial: Ghat's dreams are the tutorials, with him remembering his fighting training.
Mentor Occupational Hazard: Self inflicted, but still.

Oxameter, Who Walks In a Straight Line

A Corwid whose focus is to walk in a straight line and let nothing stop him. Encased in impenitrible armor, trying to stop him with violence is like trying to bring a train to a halt by pelting it with stones. Since no one can interrupt his Corwid focus, he is totally harmless, provided you don't stand in his way and get accidentally crushed.

Determinator: He will walk in a straight line. This is ultimately his undoing, as he's found dead in the desert later on, having ran into a tree and unable to walk through it, but refusing to go around.
Gameplay and Story Segregation: Even if Ghat is knocked to the ground in front of Oxameter, he will be pushed aside harmlessly instead of being crushed underneath the Corwids solid steel "boots"
Post-Apunkalyptic Armor: Wears some bizarre mishmash of old metal welded and lashed together into a suit of armor. It is unfathomably heavy, but prevents anyone from stopping him.
Unflinching Walk: Encased himself in metal so he would be capable of this. And it worked; During fights with him in the background, not even skullbombs can make him flinch.

Gabel The People Eater

A rotund hooved Corwid who gained infamy in the woods for kidnapping and eating other Corwids. During his time in the forest, Ghat was captured by him.

The Big Guy: The heavyweight of the Corwid faction.
The Butcher: Seen in his intro cutscene cutting... something unseen... with a butcher knife.
Fat Bastard: Has grown obese from all the Zenos he has killed and eaten.
The Faceless: Like many Corwids, we never get a look under his mask. Perhaps its for the best.
Gonk: Hideously engorged, covered in caked blood and filth and surrounded by flies.
Horror Hunger: His craving for Zeno flesh has totally consumed him.
I'm A Zenotarian: His Corwid focus is to eat people.
Kevlard: Like all heavyweights, he is so resilient can only be harmed with hammers and clubs.
The Pig-Pen: If one looks closely, there is a cloud of flies that follows him everywhere he goes.

Helim The Eyestealer

A bird like Zeno who stalks the forest. Helims Corwid focus was to be invisible, a feat he attempts to achieve using rather... unconventional methods.

Bird People: literally.
The Dreaded: Losing their eyes would prevent them from indulging in their Corwid focus, so when Helim shows up, they run.
Eye Poke: His favorite technique, and actually his special move. It has a long windup but does incredible amounts of damage if you let it connect.
Eye Scream: Inflicts this on everyone he meets, including wildlife.
Foreboding Fleeing Flock: Even the wildlife (At least the ones who still have eyes) can see that Helim is trouble.
Insane Troll Logic: Being invisible means nobody can see you. People and animals need eyes in order to see. Therefore, if one wanted to become invisible...
Non-Malicious Monster: Seen comforting and caring for the animals whose eyes he has gouged out, and he seems oblivious to their desperate attempts to escape his grip.
The Pig-Pen: His feathers are matted and coated in muck, and a cloud of flies surrounds him.

Chneero The Musician

A tall bird looking Corwid whose focus is playing music. Most of the Corwids leave him alone, even ones who have a focus based on harming others, as his music has a healing and morale raising effect on them,

Achievements in Ignorance: Is so bad at dancing he ends up being one of the hardest to take down foes in the game. And hes not even really trying to hurt Ghat. His music is also so bad that Corwids are able to enjoy it.
Dance Battler: By virtue of his entire moveset being based around accidentally hitting people while trying to dance.
Dissonant Serenity: Hitting him only temporarily breaks him out of his trance, and he cries in pain once before forgetting that Ghat is attacking him and goes right back to happily playing.
Dreadful Musician: There does not seem to be any structure to his music, just loud clashing noises and blaring horns.
Giftedly Bad: His Corwid focus is music, and he doesn't let the fact it sounds like a marching band being beaten to death stop him from playing even louder.
Handicapped Badass: Is missing a leg, and hobbles and dances around on a peg leg.
Lethal Klutz: Chneero doesn't mean to hurt Ghat, he just accidentally smacks him with his backpack while dancing. It's also one of the hardest hitting single hit attacks in the game.
Magic Music: His music drives Corwids into a frenzied trance, making them even more dangerous and causing their cuts and bruises to mend themselves. In gameplay terms, Corwids act far more aggressive, hit harder, and regenerate health while Chneero is still standing. Since Ghat was a Corwid once too, it even affects him.
Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: His music has effects that are either Mind over Matter or straight magic.
Non-Malicious Monster: Chneero only wants to make people happy with his music, unfortunately he is so far gone that the only people who benefit from it are Corwids.

Axylon

Axylon is obsessed with the Ritual, and just like any other Corwid he plays by his own rules... even if those rules do not make sense to anyone else.

Gameplayand Story Integration: Corwids are too insane to recognize the One Law, and so it is skipped when you encounter them; the fight starts right away. Axylon accepts the challenge, but immediately after eats some of the dice and declares himself the victor. The way he vomits up even more dice during his fight says he's being doing so for a while.
Insane Troll Logic: Claims that he does not treasure the Great Shield Artifact that he stole from his father because he is free. However, he refuses to hand over the artifact to Pseudo because without it, he will lose his freedom.
Axylon: "No! No. I need it. If I don't have it, I cannot not treasure it, and then I will not be free."
Oxymoronic Being: Corwids follow their Focus as a way to be free, but Axylon's focus is to be free — that is, free even from the Corwids' ideas of freedom. This has left him utterly insane even by Corwid standards, as he's stuck randomly following and subverting the customs of both them and ordinary Zenos.
Sore Loser: After Pseudo's fair remark about breaking the rules, Axylon goes berserk and attacks him.
Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Periodically regurgitates swallowed dices.

Mataki the Beholder

A giant Corwid obsessed with hide-and-seek.

Dumb Muscle: Mataki is huge, very strong and, like other Corwids, stupid and insane.
Pig Man: He looks like a giant pig man..
Psychopathic Manchild: Obsessed with the game of hide and seek and perceives the fight with Pseudo as another game.
Mataki: "Everybody always hiding. Hiding but I find. I find, I break, I win. Win good. More win, more good."

The Golems (Big Spoilers!)

Mysterious beings who guard the four sides of the world, ostensibly to prevent travellers from falling over the edge. But as it turns out, the Golems are actually hiding something sinister, something linked to the very origins of Zenozoik itself....

Super-humanly strong and possessing an array of powers that might as well be called magic, it seems the only Zenos who can match one in a fight are Ghat and Rimat. Watching and interferring from the sidelines during the first game, they take the center stage for much of the second, revealing that for supposedly perfect lifeforms they sure have a lot of grudges with each-other. Every Golem also has a game that they play in their spare time, which they have spent centuries mastering.

Northern Golem - Real Name: Kax-Teh

"Suprised I know your name?
I know everything about you..."
—Golem introduces himself.

A mysterious figure who guards the gate at the edge of the world, which he says he was tasked to do to prevent travelers from falling over the edge. Seemingly all knowing, he claims he can resolve Ghat's familial conflict without any more bloodshed. Following the orders of his long departed creators, he begins to intertwine himself in the lives of Zenos, both figuratively and literally (with his Synchronization powers).

Powerful and intelligent but egotistical beyond measure, he greatly underestimates how tangled and complex the life of a Zeno is, and how much effort is required to undo those knots...

Much of the second game revolves around the question "Who is the Golem"?

His Golem Game is a what appears to be a Rubik's Cube.

Big Damn Heroes: Saves Ghat from Hunter near the end of the first game. He also saves Ghat from Father-Mother.
Blind Obedience: When forced to choose between his morals and following the laws his creators laid out for him, he will always choose the law.
Hypocrisy: Killed one of the other Golems for interfering. Eventually did so himself.
Heroic Sacrifice: At the end of the second game he allows himself and Xotl-Teh to be crushed by a giant bell, so (now that they're all dead) four new golems will be assigned (and hopefully do a better job).
Innocent Blue Eyes: Invoked.
Jerkass Has a Point: In our own world, we would certainly want to imprison someone who went around kidnapping kids and raising them as his own.
Late-Arrival Spoiler: his Easter-egg appearance in Abyss Odyssey called him by his full name, and its not a particularly well hidden Easter Egg either.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Despite Kax-Teh's insistance that he seeks to bring order to Zenozoik, his dismisal of the One Law and actions against Pseudo in the prequel game lead directly to the state of barbaric anarchy in Zenozoik. He may even recognize his part at fault once he returned as the Golem. As he takes direct responsible rule of Zenozoik at the end of the first game, and he decides against the genocide of the Zenos when speaking with Xotl-Teh.
Precursors: Is one himself, being one of the last remnants of Zenozoik's long dead previous society.
Rule of Symbolism: According to Word of God, his design and the design of his Shadows is supposed to bring to mind the great empires of the Greeks and Romans, and his lair is meant to evoke images of a court or legal building. Much like the Romans he mixes art into everything he builds as well, even his weaponized robots.
Sealed Badass in a Can: Golem has been inactive for a very long time, pondering and preparing mentally for when he would introduce society to the Zenos. Ghat accidentally wakes him a bit too soon, and while he unleashes absolute whoopass against those chasing Ghat things don't go exactly according to plan.
Sculpted Physique: It's to the point of obsession, really. Not only is his Golem body designed this way, but so are his servants, his drones, the statues in his lair...
Serious Business: The North Golem is obsessed, much like the Greeks, with the "perfect bodily form" and cannot seem to stop thinking about it. All of his machines look like they were cobbled together out of spare renaissance era statue parts and are usually found flexing to show off their rippling synthetic muscle. A fan translated some of the glowing text on one of the machines the Northern Golem had built, and found it was a song Kax Teh wrote about himself and how well proportioned his limbs were.
''I will sing the song of the man of battle. I will sing
the song of the lord Kax Teh, the man of protection.
I will sing the song of him with the well
proportioned limbs, the man of wisdom. (repeat)''
Synchronization: An ability most Golems have, but that Kax-Teh is especially good at. While the West Golem is only able to synchronize a handful of things at a time, and the South Golem cannot use it at all, Kax Teh can keep a whole city linked to him indefinitely. He also weaponizes it near the end of the first game to stop Father-Mother from killing Ghat by dislocating his own hand, which does the same to Rimat, Ghat and Father-Mother. Much of the second game revolves around trying to break his link with the people of Halstedom, so Ghat can fight him without hurting innocents in the process.
Undying Loyalty: to humans, having once been a human himself. He never once questions his orders, and is more than willing to wipe out the population of Halstedom and himself in the process to stop a single Zeno from setting foot in the "civilized" world.
Warrior Poet: Inscribes poems on everything he builds, including his combat robots. We can assume his poems are well written for whatever the language of Golems is, but boy are the poems narcissistic (see above).
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Kax-Teh's plan of civilizing the Zenos is not a bad one, but he seems to forget you can't instantly force a code of laws onto a people who have lived in anarchy for centuries and then act upset when they show some resistance. Especially not when he's directly responsible for the abolishion of the One Law they actually had.

Western Golem - Real Name: Samoro-Teh

A Golem Father-Mother met on their travels an untold amount of centuries ago. Apparently sympathetic towards Zenos, his tendency towards non interference drove him to set his fortress up on an island far to the west, near the edge of the world. Ghat seeks out his consul on his quest to find a weapon that can override the North Golems synchronicity powers.

His Golem Game is something that resembles Go.

The Fog of Ages: went insane and died shortly after from the sheer amount of time he had spent alone on his island. With no Zenos to interact with, he had no way of coping. May have even already been dead, rather than inactive, when Father Mother discovered him.
Go Mad from the Isolation: Poor guy just wanted subjects to play Go with.
Precursors: Is one himself, being one of the last remnants of Zenozoik's long dead previous society
Rule of Symbolism: His lair and design are based around a mix of ancient Mesoamerican and Pacific Islander aesthetics, which fits well for a Precursor considering that Zenozoik is Chile
Who Wants to Live Forever?: Got hit by this far harder than any of the other Golems. The others had something to keep them busy, he did not.

Eastern Golem - Real Name: Nahuatl-Teh

Said to lurk in the mountains to the East. Some time before the series began, the mountains gained a reputation as a place no one ever returned from. Once dangerous creatures began to come out from the pass and attack the lowlands, the Zenos, in a rare act of coordination and possibly guided by the North Golem, constructed a great stone door to cut off his lands from the rest of Zenozoik. Nothing has been heard from the area since, and many Zenos consider it a cursed land no one should ever enter As it turns out, Kax-Teh murdered him for his disgusting experiments an unspecified amount of time ago, and Ghat must salvage his corpse for a replacement needed to keep the North Golem alive.

His Golem Game is what appears to be chess.

Cold-Blooded Torture: We see his surgery apparatus near his lair. Patient comfort was not the priority.
Mad Scientist: Created twisted abominations out of Zenos and animals he captured The first Zeno War and the founding of Zenozoik was apparently not enough of a lesson for him that genetics should not be messed with. Thankfully The North Golem killed him before things got really bad.
Moral Myopia: Shares the same worldview about Zenos that the Southern Golem has.
Precursors: Is one himself, and an abusive one at that.
Rule of Symbolism: His lair has a medical/ mad science theme, with the statues in his area being representations of body parts.
Time Abyss: Shares this trait with all Golems.
Villainous Friendship: Very close with the Southern Golem, presumably they bonded over similar hobbies (read: Torture)

Southern Golem - Real Name: Xotl-Teh

"Kax-Teh is an open book for me
I'm no longer interested in him. But you still have a role to play,
you may still surprise me. Please survive so that I may see it."
—Southern Golem summing up his worldview.

A strange figure, who is clearly of the same species as the Golem but looks radically different. Dressed in fine clothing and always seen with a deck of Tarot cards in hand, he both helps and hinders Ghat and his family on a whim all throughout the second game. But as it turns out, catching his attention is not a good thing, and he has a habit of taking away from people far more than he ever gave them.

His Golem Game is a deck of Tarot cards, which he uses to guide his actions.

Batman Gambit: He knows the North Golem takes his mission extremely seriously. In fact, he is counting on it.
But for Me, It Was Tuesday: His attitude towards pretty much everything, except the fates of Golems.
Catchphrase: "I need to see where this goes"
The Chessmaster: The main source of his smugness is that none of his plans have ever gone wrong before.
Didn't See That Coming: Happens only once, and its enough to ruin him. Ghat betraying his expectations and teaming up with his sworn enemy Kax Teh is what finally causes his plan to come undone.
For the Evulz: Xotl-Teh enjoys cruelly toying with the lives of the people of Zenozoik, including setting the events of the game in motion, solely to create amusing scenarios. He does this because otherwise, he would literally die from boredom, having lived for an unfathomable long period of time.
Friendly Enemy: Regularly chats with The North Golem remotely, despite the fact they greatly dislike each-other.
Hannibal Lecture: Most of his dialogue is this, expressing disappointment in the Zenos and other Golems.
Man of Wealth and Taste: According to Word of God, his design's silhouette is supposed to specifically evoke images of a robber baron, and he has a personality to match.
Moral Myopia: Condones torture and killing of Zenos, but is disgusted by the idea of killing another Golem.
Precursors: Is one himself, being one of the last remnants of Zenozoik's long dead previous society... which means...
- Abusive Precursors: Treats the new inhabitants of Zenozoik as somewhat smelly toys at best and cockroaches at worst. In an early cutscenes he even suggests to The North Golem that they should wipe every last Zeno out "to see if something more worthwhile spawns".
Rule of Symbolism: According to Word of God, his symbols are supposed to evoke European royalty and American robber barons.
Smug Super: Considers the Golems the ultimate form of life in Zenozoik, who should have the right to play with its primitive inhabitants as they please.
Soft-Spoken Sadist: Has a deep, calming, almost grandfatherly voice. Is the only golem who hurts Zenos for the sake of hurting Zenos (even for the East Golem the suffering of Zenos was merely a greatly enjoyed side effect rather than the intended result)
Tarot Motifs: Explicitly compares people to Tarot cards, with Rimat being The Moon and Ghat being a reversed Moon, both seeking the truth that lays beyond their understanding but with different motivations.
Telekinesis: "Don't worry, I don't have the linking power...isn't it more beautiful to make things fly?"
Time Abyss: Older than even Father Mother. Perhaps the only person older than he is the leader of the Historians called Word.
Who Wants to Live Forever?: Zig-zagged - he admits the boredom of living for so long would be enough to literally kill him. "Luckily", he found an hobby: ruining the lives of Zenos.

Word, The Lexicon, and the Golems Creator (MASSIVE SPOILERS)

Those involved in the Chimera war which led to the events of both games. Their screen-time is short, since most of them are dead or out of reach, but their actions are solely responsible for the sad state of Zenozoik and for the suffering of those within.

Word

Word is one of the original Chimeras, the mutated humans who would eventually become the Zenos. Exiled to the reservation of Zenozoik, and subsequently kicked out of his tribe, he has taken a vow of silence. Millenia later, he has still not forgiven the outside world, and when he learns of Ghat and his quest against the Golems, he can be recruited. By far the strongest party member in the game, and perhaps the strongest being within the reservation (including the Golems).

Fantastic Racism: Hates all humans. Ghat has to have a maxed out leadership skill to convince Word to follow him.
I Fight for the Strongest Side!: If Ghat can prove he is strong, Word will follow him. Until then, since no one else has ever proven themselves, word follows himself.
Meaningful Name: Chose to call himself Word out of contempt for the Zenos who cannot read and have forgotten the crimes committed against them.
The Power of Hate: Word is immune to the boredom that has taken the other ageless beings of Zenozoik, presumably because his absolute hatred of humanity keeps him motivated.
Time Abyss: One of the few beings who predates the Golems, who themselves are so old they are dying of boredom.
Who Wants to Live Forever?: Averted Trope, and one of the only aversions in the series. His righteous hatred apparently keeps him sane.

The Lexicon

The last remnants of the chimeras exiled to Zenozoik. The Golems were deployed to keep them under control, as they regularly attacked the wall in an attempt to escape. Eventually their spirits broke, they retreated underground, and it was only then that the Golems realized just how quiet and long their vigil would be. Now they hide beneath the desert in "The Last Tomb", to live out the rest of their unfathomably long lives in misery.

Despair Event Horizon: The Field of Blades surrounding the northern wall shows they once had a strong desire to escape even though the Golems had superior weaponry, but now they have resigned themselves to a slow and quiet death in their cave hideouts.
Don't Look At Me: Hate their chimera forms and wear masks apparently inspired by Michelangelo's David to try to look like their ideal of beauty: a human.
Precursors:
Wacky Wayside Tribe: Word is the most important (now former) member of the Lexicon. The rests are Mooks in an optional dungeon buried in the desert.

The Chimeras

The progenitors of all Zenos, they were a subset of humanity created by accident. Far smarter than the Zenos their children eventually evolved into, or at least more focused, they were banished to the Chimera Reservation "Zenozoik" in order to prevent them from destabilizing the world peace mankind had finally achieved. They were not given a choice in the matter.

The Ageless: Chimeras from before the war are still alive, and are still in peak physical form. They can even outlive Golems.
No Biochemical Barriers: Chimeras can survive anywhere and can breed with anything, yes anything. The result was always a Chimera with mixed traits of both parents. This terrified humanity, who feared they would soon be overrun.
Precursors: Originally settled Halstedom after the exile. Their electric lights, ventilation fans, statues and temples still stand, slowly built around by Zenos ignorant of their origins.
Revenge by Proxy: It's said that many humans were banished with them. Likely sympathizers, whose banishement was merely a way to hurt the chimeras even more considering Golems society is supposed to have a hyper advanced legal system with zero blindspots more than capable of handling human dissidents.

The Golems Creator: Humanity

Simply put, us. A hyper advanced race called mankind, they had long enjoyed their position as the only sentient race on Earth, until the chimeras were born. Having achieved world peace through a complex system of laws, they reacted with horror at the rise of these beings for whom their laws technically did not apply. Rather than risk any instability whatsoever, they fenced off Chile, encased it in a weather control dome, and proclaimed it Zenozoik. But do they even remember the Zenos?

AirstripOne: Chile is now Chimera Reservation "Zenozoik".
Bad Boss: Towards the Golems. Despite heaping praise and honour on them, the fact they haven't sent or requested any status updates in at least decades if not centuries implies they've either managed to totally forget about them or simply do not care, especially since the ending of the second game shows they are alive and well not even a few miles outside the border of the reservation.
Fantastic Racism: Take how the early settlers treated the Native Americans and magnify it to Science Fiction levels.
Humans Are Cthulhu: To those inside Zenozoik, humans are a sinister uncaring force with incomprehensible motives and powers that greatly outnumbers the Zenos. According to Kax-Teh, they could cook up a new Golem, a near immortal cybernetic super-being with Ragnarök Proofing in a handful of days. Most Zenos can't even read. If they wanted to, they could almost certainty level Zenozoik to make room for something else.
Neglectful Precursors: Judging by the messages they left behind and the occasional gifts they would give Zenos (like the giant egg of the rathbird fields) they originally had some interest in Zenozoik and seeing if the Chimeras could adapt to human laws. But they either grew bored or forgot about the millions trapped inside, as the Golems have not only stopped receiving regularly scheduled reports, they haven't heard anything from mankind for centuries if not millennia. Out of sight, out of mind.
Transhuman: Happened an unspecified time after Zenozoik was founded. According to Word of God, Ghat would be unable to recognize modern humans as being a member of the same species.
- Transhuman Treachery: We were not nice to our new neighbors, to put it mildly.
Zeerust: The one city of theirs we see looks like something off the cover of a pulp 70s scifi novel, complete with glass pyramids, tons of concrete, and flying cars.

Characters / Zeno Clash aka: Zeno Clash 2

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