There are many characters in the anachronauts realm; this page will cover as many as time pertains and be expanded later.
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Main Protagonists: First Age
Emily Moonthistle
The central character of the First Age, she is the last true (read: sane) witch, or human user of Fae magic. Kinda. It's a long story.- Blessed with Suck: It's due to her grandmother's blessing that Emily can't remember spells; she has to copy each spell by hand for each time she wants to use it. This is because reading a spell burns the surface it's written on. If written on human brain... With Great Power Comes Great Insanity hits the human very, very hard.
- The Chosen One: Her grandmother singled Emily out with Blessed with Suck for a reason. Eventually, the Faerie Queens choose her to be the new Queen of Faeusa, and the bearer of both crowns.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Combines with Walking Disaster Area.Emily: It never ends well. I see trouble, I've got two options. I can poke my pointy little hat in the ring and try to help, and then everything goes sideways. Or I can keep my pointy little hat down, ignore it, and then everything goes sideways again. I try to help a pixie glade from being bulldozed by a human settlement, and all that happens is the Animate bulldozers go out of control and level everything in sight. I try to whip up some potions to tidy up a contaminated well at an independent village, and it works great... until I accidentally unmask a conspiracy by a rival village to wipe those poor farmers out and take their land. Triggers a hot war out of a cold one, and I'm lucky to get out alive. And now, I spot something that should not be possible, an organized army of ogres bearing down on an Eastusa settlement... and in thanks for warning them of the dire peril, I'm going to be burned at the stake. Hence. Trying to do the right thing never ends well.
- Doomed Hometown/Where I Was Born and Razed: As part of her background, we discover that her witching class's final exam was to destroy her hometown. As she refused, her fellow classmates beat her and left her for dead as they destroyed her hometown for her.
- Fiery Redhead: If by "fiery" you mean "snarktastic," sure.
- Flying Broomstick/Robe and Wizard Hat: The hat is actually her Nana's, and brooms were given to humans kind of as a joke; it's not a preferred mode of transportation but handy in a pinch.
- Groin Attack: Her preferred form of physical attack.Emily: I don't care how fancy and shiny their energy guns are, a kick in the junk is a kick in the junk.
- The Snark Knight: Not as much world-weary as the only one who can be counted at to do what needs to be done, and do it right.
- Terror Hero: She once handled a Mauve Shirt baddie using naught but some strategically placed blood, a suitably scary illusion and lots of bloody-minded attitude.
- Thou Shall Not Kill: Snarks about it, but she really would prefer the sentients of the world to just get along already.
- Vancian Magic: Due to her memory issue, Emily needs to manually copy spells onto binder pages in advance. Each spell has a specific purpose - but Emily is good at finding unconventional uses for them.
- Utility Magic: She prefers these spells, mocked by more combat-oriented witches. Serves them right when she almost kills someone with a tea-making spell.
- Willfully Weak: Prefers Utility Magic and headology, even after becoming a Physical Goddess.
Scout
Scout is of military stock, preferring to be referred to by his position rather than his actual name, as he feels his position is more important. After being killed in the Battle of Austin, Lady Winter made him one of her Winterhounds, undead soldiers who are subject to her bidding; however, she has other plans for him...- Afraid of Their Own Strength: Specifically, the strength that comes from Lady Winter. He has tremendous amounts of moral fear.
- The Champion: What Lady Winter is grooming him up to be. He despises the thought until it turns out he's supposed to be the Champion for Emily.
- Cold Sniper: In so many ways.
- Doomed Hometown: Scout was the last remaining human to survive when Lady Winter assaulted Austin. But, despite his efforts, even he eventually fell.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": "Scout" is the Frontliner position he was trained for. His first and last names are revealed in a04 and a06, respectively. Or you can highlight that spoiler text below.
- Excellent Judge of Character: Stated to be one in Forsaken Shores by his wife, who might not be completely objective about that. Nevertheless, she trusts his judgement on Jesse and it turns out right.
- The Fettered: What he really is, despite all his worries about slipping into the Hunt.
- First-Episode Twist: Scout's connection with Lady Winter and his undeath are revealed at the end of a01.
- Good Thing You Can Heal: Bloody good. Part of the Winterhound package.
- Happily Married: To Emily after the events of the First Age.
- I Am a Monster: Emily sets out to help him become a person again.
- Meaningful Name: Coincidentally, "Scott" sounds almost like "Scout." This is lampshaded by Emily in a04. "Reinhold" is also an apt description of his service to Lady Winter.
- Mr. Fanservice: Frequently shirtless. Horribly traumatized into moral fears-fueled emotional insecurity. In short, a girly fantasy personified.
- Our Zombies Are Different: Type R (for Revenant). Scout is, for all intents and purposes, a person. He looks, talks, and acts like one (if a bit antisocial and The Needless). However, he IS a Winterhound, thanks to Lady Winter's ... affections. Ekhm.
- Real Men Cook: A mean steak, to be exact, but that's what you get when Texas raised you.
- Shadow Walker: Part of the Winterhound power package, but it is limited to shadows within visible range.
- Superpowered Evil Side: His Winterhound self is a pretty close description, but it's given a thorough discussion in a04.
- The Wild Hunt: It drives the Winterhounds. When Scout gives in to the Wild Hunt in him, he gets scary.
- Yawn and Reach: Taught this as part of "how to pick up girls" crash course from Yavain. Decides to experiment, and it works!
Una Point Zero One
A member of the Orbitals, described by her as "aliens from outer space." A natural born daughter of an Optimist/Pragmatist couple, she has long dreamed of visiting Earth. Now her father takes her on a trip, along with a dour colleague of his, and after encountering Emily and Scout, Una is given leave to determine how Orbital technology made it planetside, with the two natives' help.- Desperately Craves Affection: Hence her Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places for the first book and a half.
- Expospeak Gag: All the Orbitals keep doing this, more or less unconsciously.
- Fan of the Past: Gives the vibe, in love as she is with the "primitive" world though she's not actually from the future.
- Free-Love Future: Comes from such a world, which causes some tension between her and prim and proper Emily ("You mean you want to sleep BESIDE him, not WITH him?").
- Genre Savvy: An avid consumer of "Earth media," Una is familiar with many tropes.
- Jetpack: Doubles as a Bag of Holding.Una: It doesn't really use jets; it uses a quantum gravity coil powered by a mass capacitor to achieve a flight effect. But from watching your films, I assumed you'd understand "jetpack" more.
- Loving a Shadow: Una is very starved for romantic love, but looking for it in very wrong places. Even her mirror-copy can see Nel's feelings for her.
- Missing Mom: As revealed in a04, her mother committed suicide. It is subsequently revealed later in the same chapter that it was murder.
- The Pollyanna: Her Optimist side tends to win out in the decision process. She actually starts out as The Ingenue, but evolves into a Pollyanna.
- Space Clothes: Very shiny. She loves dressing-up in everything not silver-and-shiny, though.
Main Protagonists: Forsaken Shores
Nelliwyn "Nel" Myfanwy
A slave of the House of the Rising Sun and Lady Morgana's glamour specialist, she is subsequently released from her duties and uses her skills to assist her teammates. Likely due to her upbringing, Nel starts out incredibly dependent on whomever she's "serving," but continues to try and find herself outside of her relationships to others.- 11th-Hour Ranger/Last Episode, New Character: Introduced in a06 and used sparingly in the First Age, before becoming one of the party members of Forsaken Shores.
- Glamour: She uses glamour as defined on the trope page, but on Lady Morgana, rather than herself. Most of the time, her preferred use of illusions is blending into the background.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Feels guilty about her glee caused by the sudden appearance of plot that will prevent Una from going on a date, but the glee is very much there.
- Made a Slave: Her father sold her into Lady Morgana's service after falling prey to the bottle. The bottle also happens to be the death of him.
- Master of Illusion: While already very good at glamour in the beginning, she improves incredibly rapidly after being freed, and eventually becomes the best illusionist in Faeusa.
- Missing Mom: The same person who reveals Nel's dad's fate has no idea where Nel's mother is, other than that she's alive. She's the head of the Braid of Dawn, and they meet toward the end of a07.
- The Reliable One: During Una's more scatterbrained moments.
- Rescue Romance/Single-Target Sexuality: After being freed from her duties to Lady Morgana, Nel holds a candle for Una, who is completely oblivious to it.
- Satellite Love Interest: Arguably, Nel's two defining traits are her talents with glamour (as noted above) and her endless devotion to Una.
- Shrinking Violet: She starts out as one (especially noticeable in the First Age), but develops into her own proper character as FS progresses.
- Straight Man: Nel's standard role outside of her relationships with the main characters.
Lady Jesse Runeblade
Emily's childhood friend who followed her to Archmagus Lilith's Witching Academy. Unlike Emily, who was gifted with an inability to memorize spells, Jesse was the Alpha Bitch of her class, excelling in combat and earning Lilith's favor. During their graduation ceremony, she participated in Emily's beating, but refused to participate in the destruction of her and Emily's home village. In order to try to regain favor with Lilith, she launched an assault on Olney, causing the events of a01.- Bridezilla: In lf1. Not helped by Suzie's heaps of flowers.
- Brains and Brawn: Jesse is the Action Girl to Gilbert's Gentleman and a Scholar.
- The Cynic: With deeply hidden romantic longings.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Unless, of course, you like getting (attempted) Hannibal Lectures and Death Glares.
- Doomed Hometown/Where I Was Born and Razed: She and Emily come from the same village. You can do the math from there.
- Heel–Face Turn: She starts out as the Warmup Boss in a01, and is subsequently cured of all the damage caused to her brain over the Time Skip before FS.
- Lady of War / Magic Knight: In addition to being a gifted spellcaster, she's a master fencer.
- Pride: She has Inferiority Superiority Complex, mainly over "disappointing" Lilith and covers it up with Straw Nihilist attitude (that Scout sees right through). The crux of her Character Development is learning that life isn't one great test she must ace.
- Road Trip Romance: With Gilbert in FS. In the next book they go on their honeymoon trip.
- Sarcastic Devotee: To the mission in FS, although her version of "sensible action" involves much more Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique than Emily is comfortable with.
- Tsundere: Towards Gilbert.
- Quasquipedalian Loquaciousness: As noted, in London's Fog, she has the tendency to describe things in "medium scoring" words, which aren't INSANELY lengthy but still usually more than is really necessary.
- Vancian Magic: After her brain gets cleaned up of the magic-related damage, she feels she's reduced to this - but it's a standard treatment for all witches now, so she has to cope.
Gilbert Gearhaus
A runaway from the British Empire (consisting in this case of (at least) all of Western Europe), Gilbert worked as an Honored Calculator for Gearhaus Industries. After designing a device which would allow one to navigate across the ocean without disturbing the kraken, he realized it would be used to further the Empire's expansions, and promptly decided he'd had enough of his servitude and left for the Americas, taking the prototype device with him so the Empire couldn't abuse it.- Brains and Brawn: While he can hold his own in battle, he tends to be the strategist to Jesse's more straightforward Action Girl. Not to mention, he can actually formulate new spells.
- Cursed with Awesome/My Skull Runneth Over: The aetheric steam treatments given to Gilbert in his youth allow him to do humanly impossible math in his head, at the expense of overtaxing his brain. Thus, his days are numbered, and the number gets smaller the more complex the equations he has to solve.
- Doctor Whomage: Sooo... a British-accented, frightfully smart, quite self-assured, eternally curious traveller who nicked a Cool Ship to escape the strict, stiff-necked Decadent Court society of his birth and explore the world? Also gains an Action Girl companion, although in a more romantic way than the Doctor tends to.
- Fish out of Water/Separated by a Common Language: How Gilbert is discovered amongst the crowd at the Florida Rock Show, in the middle of defining the word "chips" with a snack vendor.
- Gentleman Adventurer: Perhaps not what he originally meant to be, but certainly what he becomes.
- Good with Numbers: Preternaturally so, as this is what Honored Calculators do.
- Love at First Punch/I Love You Because I Can't Control You: He seems to have taken an interest with Jesse the moment she stepped into his life... in a bathroom, ready to subdue him to complete her mission.
- Like You Were Dying: Part of the reason Gilbert is exploring America in the first place. (See Cursed with Awesome above.)
- Mr. Fanservice: More British and understated that Scout, but he's an absolute sweetie with infinite patience. Cute, too, if you count the Pirate Girls and such who give him longing looks - but always faithful to his chosen lady.
- Muggle with a Degree in Magic: Functions as one, since, while unable to cast spells, he's Good with Numbers enough to formulate new ones.
- Separated by a Common Language: We see him first encountering this problem - he's trying to buy "chips", and completely unable to fathom this word means a different food in American English than in his native British.Gilbert, to an uncomprehending saleswoman: No, these are crisps. Maybe you're not understanding me; I want some chips. Chiiiipppss. Look, you've got some back there, haven't you? I can smell them from here...
- Road Trip Romance: With Jesse in FS. In the next book they go on their honeymoon trip.
The J-33 Valet and Equerry System ("Jeeves")
Gilbert's companion automaton. One of the few automata in the Empire that can perform a variety of tasks, Jeeves tends to the day-to-day worries of his master, as well as any side tasks given to him.- Battle Butler: Jeeves doesn't fight much, but he's large and heavy enough that he can handle himself in a fight as need be. Being powered by a rogue angel doesn't hurt when fighting the infernal, either.
- Fun with Acronyms: See his name.
- High-Class Glass: His single eye is in the form of a classy monocle.
- The Jeeves
- Ridiculously Human Robots: Jeeves seems to have proper sentience, in that he can feel emotions disgust, worry, and regret.
- Separated by a Common Language: Occasionally his single word doesn't make any sense in American English.
- Steampunk: Jeeves runs off of aetheric steam.
- Terse Talker: Jeeves can only speak one-word sentences, but his vocabulary is expansive enough that he can make each word-sentence count.
- Undying Loyalty: Jeeves considers Gilbert his master, and will go to any length to protect him.
Main Protagonists: London's Fog
Benny the Broker
A demonic broker who can and will trade anything. Originally working for The Mister (in theory), after his one charge was fulfilled and his obligations released, he continued his trade in...well, trading.- Bag of Holding: His jacket links to Pocket Dimensions that only he can access.
- Big Brother Instinct: Despises the fact that he will do anything to keep Chloe from danger (what sort of a demon does that?).
- Fallen Angel: Not one of the higher ranking members of the choir, but he was an angel named Ben'ai before he sauntered vaguely downwards.
- Impossible Task: As the underground's most highly-regarded broker, Benny has managed to trade things like forbidden spellbooks and an authentic Shroud of Turin.
- Insistent Terminology: He will correct people when they call him a smuggler, regardless of the language being used.
- Man of Wealth and Taste: With the exception of his overcoat, it's rare to find Benny in anything other than a three-piece suit.
- Only Sane Man: Sees himself as one, and has a point - when Vehicular Sabotage occurs, and everyone is squabbling and accusing him, Benny just goes and gets the missing part, all the time fuming with Tranquil Fury.
- Refusal of the Call: It's established in his first appearance (sa01) that he's deathly afraid of touching the Key of Iron. We learn in FS that doing so would oblige him to release The Mister from Los Angeles.
- Teleportation with Drawbacks: Benny can instatravel, but it depends on flames.
- Trapped in Villainy: In FS. When freed from his boss, strives to be a
True Neutral trader, but ends up in the role of Boxed Crook of sorts, partly because he can't let Chloe go into danger on her own. - Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Only joins the mission in LF to keep Chloe safe. Does not appreciate being seen as the potential turncoat.
Chloe Manchester
Introduced as an Ordinary High-School Student who crosses paths with Benny at the wrong time, she reappears as an Eastusa agent with the government's Anachronism Task Force (the human equivalent to the anachronauts), and joins the expedition by request of Eastusa President Petersen. In lf03, it turns out that Chloe is actually the reincarnation of Cha'ai, who Ben'ai views like a little sister, and that she is a Guardian Angel, whose primary purpose is to go to London and release the angel Raphael.- Chronic Hero Syndrome/Knight in Sour Armor: While she may not walk the Earth trying to right wrongs, she tries to lend a hand as much as she possibly can. As stated in lf01, she was "the gloomiest Girl Scout ever."
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life
- I Am Who?: An angel. A literal angel.
- Like Brother and Sister: Argues with Benny thusly. For good reasons.
- Red Pill, Blue Pill: She takes the red pill in sa01, and swallows it hard. It goes down smoothly enough.
- Spider-Sense: Chloe has an uncanny knack for knowing when something's about to go wrong, and how to defuse situations before they get too out of hand.
Recurring Protagonists: Second Age
Agent Elisa Morales
Protagonist of sa04 and sa06. Originally part of the FBI's FACT (Faerie Artifact Control Team) Team and then subsequently the Anachronism Task Force, Morales doesn't consider any mission with casualties a success, which is why she has the third-lowest success rate of missions on the FACT (91%).- Action Girl: She prefers avoiding violence where necessary, but can still kick ass with the rest of them. By the end of sa04, she also becomes a de facto Action Mom.
- Determinator: One of her more notable qualities.Petersen: You get the job done right — meaning if someone does slip your net, they don't slip twice. The bad guys DON'T win, not in the long run. Every smuggler you've gone after, you eventually got, and the final takedowns were flawless. You're tenacious, but thoughtful.
- Final Girl: Of sa04.
Carrie "Astro Gal" Lane
Protagonist of sa09, introduced in sa06. "Astro Gal" was part of a dimension of superheroes. She and her mother Starwoman were in the middle of battling her father/nemesis Doctor Mindmelter in Hawaii when the Pandora Event occurred, and the three of them were transported to this dimension. Thanks to the resulting disorientation, Starwoman was able to destroy Doctor Mindmelter's corporeal form, but also sacrificed herself in the process. Eventually, Astro Gal was found by the first Welcome Wagon team and taken into Una and Nel's care.- Daddy's Girl/Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter: It appears part of the reason Carrie's father became Doctor Mindmelter was because he didn't want her to grow up or become attracted to boys.
- Deconstruction: Of superheroes. She had to learn a lot of physics to attempt to compensate for most of her abilities, as well as govern the effectiveness of her super-senses. Being physically and hormonally locked at age fifteen and the consequences thereof are also discussed.
- Kirby Dots: Apparently manifest when Astro Gal uses her powers. In fact, it's referred to as a form of Kirby Radiation, which she emits whether her powers are in use or not.
- Really 700 Years Old: Invincible and physically/hormonally locked at fifteen, but been around for at least two hundred years (the Pandora Event).
- Shout-Out: Astro Gal and family are defined by references to Golden and Silver Age comic books. Her powers (invincibility, flying, and super-senses) are directly taken from Superman, the origin story is more or less that of the Fantastic Four, the combination teenage angst and high-schooler disguise recalls Spider-Man. Various other superhero signature lines are bandied about in the prose and dialogue, and other similar superheroes appear in flashback or are mentioned in dialogue.
Supporting characters
