Characters / Armored Core: For Answer

Main Characters

Strayed

The Player Character of Armored Core For Answer. They are a Lynx Pilot, accepting tasks from various different companies during the Economic War before eventually being forced to choose a side.

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• The Ace: To either ORCA or The League. Their skills are undisputed, and it's fair to assume that the endings of the League and ORCA routes never would have succeeded without their help.
• Awesome, but Impractical: If Strayed acts independently at the start of the game instead of aligning themselves with an organization, the first NEXT they pilot is a 03-ALLIYAH. It's one of the most powerful units in the game, but it uses up energy like no one's business, requiring a particularly skilled player to use it properly.
• Determinator: No matter the circumstances, be it fighting to defeat rebels, kill miilions to save the few or just outright take on the whole damn world, Strayed can and will fight until the mission is complete.
• The Dreaded: Slowly becomes this as they progress through the story, first beginning at the climax of Chapter 2 after the mission involving White Glint, regardless of whether or not you defeated Anatolia's Mercenary or aided them in defending Line Ark.
• Enemy Mine: On the receiving end of this trope on the Destruction Path. Realizing that Oldking and Strayed have to be stopped, the League and ORCA effectively put their battle on hold in order to deal with them.
• Face–Heel Turn: It's debatable whether or not they could be considered to be a good character, depending on how you play the game. Almost every faction in the game is a case of Gray-and-Gray Morality. By siding with Oldking, who is a Omnicidal Maniac, Strayed becomes a monster who kills innocent civilians, numbering in the millions. Lampshaded by Serene Haze shortly after you begin the story route.
  Serene Haze: Just know how to kill, huh? Nothing else? That's too bad. It's time for you and I to go our separate ways.
• The Faceless: Like all other characters in the game, Strayed's face is never shown. The closest Strayed has to a face is the custom emblem their NEXT bears.
• Hero Killer: It's never confirmed whether or not you actually killed Anatolia's Mercenary, but the fact remains that you defeated the protagonist of the previous game - and that they were the only reason why Line Ark was even still functioning at this point.
• I Work Alone: Can possibly start out as this in the beginning of the game, if players decided that Strayed should be independent and side only with whoever is employing him at the moment. Once Chapter 2 passes, Strayed is forced to pick a side.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Initially, they start off as a mere average joe. As they progress through the story, however, they take on some of the most powerful Lynx pilots in the Economic War, such as the Rank 1 Stasis, piloted by Otsdarva, and optionally Collard's Rank 9, White Glint, the latter of which requires the enemy forces to fight him with multiple units. Strayed defeats White Glint by himself after the latter takes down Otsdarva. Bonus points if players fought White Glint on Hard Mode, meaning they had to be take him down twice over.
  Serene Haze: You... you're more than I dared hope for.
  • The Destruction Path takes this to the extreme by having them side with Oldking and destroy the Cradles. In said route's ending, the narrator outright refers to Strayed as the worst monster humanity has ever known.
• Only in It for the Money: Like all Lynx Pilots in the Economic War, Strayed pilots a NEXT and takes on missions in order to get paid. It's only until things get kicked up a notch between Orca and the League that they have to decide what's more important: getting paid, or doing the right thing.
• Omnicidal Maniac: Alongside Oldking. The destruction of Cradle 03 highlights this in spades:
  Oldking: One hundred million...!
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Of two different variants.
  • ORCA Path: As the sole surviving member of ORCA, Strayed is tasked with opening the way for humans to enter space, but in order to do so, they have to sacrifice the millions of lives inside the Cradles.
  • Destruction Path: In the Japanese version of the game, its stated that the Oldking and Strayed knew that ORCA's actions weren't having much of an effect, leading them to decide to do as much damage to the League as they possibly could before they are inevitably killed.
• Villain Protagonist: In the Destruction Path when you start the mission "Destroy Cradle 03".

Serene Haze

"You've chosen your Answer. Now see it through."

Rank (formerly) : 16

Craft : NEXT Ciliegio

Fought In: Occupation of Arteria Carpals (Hard Mode)

A former NEXT pilot who fought in the Lynx War, now serving as Strayed's operator.

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• Ascended Extra: She was just another Order Match opponent in the previous game, now promoted to secondary character and fully voiced.
• Cherry Blossoms: Her insignia has these as a motif, and "Ciliegio" is Italian for "cherry tree."
• Meaningful Rename: Her true name is Kasumi Sumika, and Serene Haze is a literal translation.
• Mentor Archetype: She takes on this role for Strayed, offering advice and remarking on their progress as the story progresses.
• Mission Control: She keeps you informed of the situation as your operator. Until you side with the Old King.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: At the start of "Destroy Cradle 03" (i.e. the Destruction path), Haze will leave you in disgust, leaving Old King in charge of her duties. The next time you meet her (on Hard Mode), it's as an enemy.
• Retired Badass: The first^*(or second if you count Lana Nielsen/Nine-Ball) operator in the series to have been a combatant herself once. On Hard Mode, joining Old King to destroy the Cradles is enough to bring her back to the battlefield to kill you.

The League of Ruling Companies

The League

After the National Dismantlement War, Six major defense and tech companies came together to form The League, who put the Cradles into the atmosphere, brought the Lynx under Collared, and brought about world peace. But things change over time, and the League is now a shadow of it's former self, and war has risen again under their watch as their members begin vying for resources.

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• All Your Powers Combined: Together, they toppled all world governments and ensured most of the populace works for them now.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: All the companies qualify, but Omer tends to stick out above the rest.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: At the height of the conflict with ORCA over Arteria Cranium, the League forces suddenly retreat, its leadership having struck an agreement with ORCA to allow the Closed Plan to proceed in exchange for ORCA sparing their lives and keeping their secrets. BFF Lynx Wong Shao-Lung attempts to browbeat Wynne D. Fanchon into complying, but she instead goes rogue.
• Motive Decay: Used to exist to keep the peace after the National Dismantlement War and the Lynx War, but since then has been little more than a front for Omer.
• One World Order: Crushed all the world's governments under their boot heels and set themselves to be the functioning powers.
• Skeleton Government: Since everyone works for one of the corporations in the league, it barely has to do much. Which is also the problem, because now there isn't anyone balancing this out.

Algebra

Algebra

The numbers don't lie. Neither do the results.

Formerly known as Eqbal back in AC4, The Middle East/South Asia based Algebra rebranded when it joined the League and has been lauded for it's strong production line, and enormous line of NEXTs, the most of any company in the game.

Algebra likes light, fast, and close range NEXT designs, such as their newest model EKHAZAR, preferring shotguns, lazer blades, and being impossible to hit to anything long-range. Their affiliated Lynx are 14th Ranked Irbis Ornstein, and 15th Ranked Shamir RaviRavi, who take Algebra's fighting style to heart.

Their signature arms fort is Cabracan.

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• Ax-Crazy: Shamir is nuts.
• Chicken Walker: SAUBEES is their lead aerial fighter with a nice pair of reverse legs.
• Close-Range Combatant: Their parts can be useful for blade focused builds.
• Good Old Robot: The SOLUH class is getting up there in years, but it's parts are widely used across multiple Lynx pilots looking to lighten the load on their NEXT and can be quite the powerhouse in close-combat fights
• "Get Back Here!" Boss: Shamir's NEXT, Red Rum, is one of the fastest NEXTs in the game and has an AI based on using the environment to her advantage, even in the Ordered matches. Combine that with the AI having next to unlimited energy and Shamir becomes one of the most annoying fights in the game.
• Fragile Speedster: Amongst the lightest gear and NEXT parts you can get in the game and then some, it also tends to fold pretty quickly. The catch is that you have to catch them first.
• War for Fun and Profit: Algebra got to where they were by extensive testing in the middle east.
• Worf Effect: Irbis on the battlefield has been said to be a fantastic combatant that has turned the tide many a time. In ordered matches on the other hand, he's been less successful and is far from the hardest match you'll have.
• Zerg Rush: Cabracan's ace in the hole. Once it's immobilized, it opens to reveal itself as a drone platform filled to burst with drones that pelt you with shotgun blasts.

BFF

BFF - Bernard and Felix Foundation

Precise, in all things...except Arms Fort manufacturing

If there was any company in For Answer that got hit the hardest by Pax Economica, it was BFF. Formerly the most powerful company in Europe, BFF was destroyed and then rebuilt by GA, and has rebuilt much of it's capital as a Naval power, cornering the market on ships. However, as the years went on, it's clear that the hasty rebuild has dampened the effectiveness of their weapons and NEXTs.

BFF specializes long-range, precise, and accurate parts that can take out opponents before you even see them, and everything from their Normals to their NEXTs reflect this. Their signature NEXTs are the -AN models, with the 063AN being their flagship mech in For Answer. Their affiliated Lynx is Lilium Wilcott, who is ranked 2nd.

Their signature arms fort is the Spirit of Motherwill.

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• Achilles' Heel: Spirit of Motherwill's flawed design has the guns and missile platforms wired to major systems, and destroying enough of them can destroy Motherwill.
• Badass Decay: While they still make pretty good weapons, the 067AN is arguably less useful than it's predecessor in general NEXT fights, and much of their mechs are considerably more fragile than their contemporaries.
• Badass Normal: One of their Normals can withstand Kojima Radiation that would melt most other NEXTs, which is used usually to deal with Kojima Particles and Kojima based gear.
• Cold Sniper: Silent Avalanche, their ace team of Normals, returns again as this, this time actually in a cold place.
• Defeat Equals Friendship: BFF were almost obliterated by GA back in the National Dismantlement War, but have since been rebuilt largely through their help.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: In-story, it's said that BFF are leaders in the field of Kojima Radiation. In-game, BFF don't offer Kojima weapons, though they do own a research facility.
• Lightning Bruiser: Wolcott's NEXT, AMBIENT, is ludicrously fast and aggressive.
• Ludicrous Precision: Much of their NEXT parts when combined can turn many seemingly inaccurate weapons deadly accurate from long distance, and their best team of Normals can easily pick off an unwary NEXT from range. Hell, Spirit of Motherwill, which is the size of several city blocks, can possibly pick NEXTs flying at Mach 2 out of the air with it's cannons.
• Long-Range Fighter: BFF NEXTs and their gear are best used in this capacity.
• Numerical Theme Naming: All BFF gear is designated by a series of numbers, usually followed by AN, then another number to designate which in the series it is.
• Quality over Quantity: Their calling card in terms of NEXT design, though time hasn't been kind to this approach.
• Silk Hiding Steel: Wolcott's biography describes her as wealthy or at the very least prestigious.
• Yamato Nadeshiko: Lilium has shades of this, being unflinchingly polite and graceful even when she's tasked with killing you in the Destruction Path

GA America

GA - Global Armaments America

More Dakka; The Company

Once the largest and most dominant corporation on the planet based in the Rim of the Pacific, the GA of For Answer has taken a significant hit in terms of power as OMER eclipsed them in the Economic Wars era. Since then, they've spent their time acting independently of the League, and are normally causing skirmishes with rival company TORUS and Interior Union.

GA is known for big, boxy, heavyweight NEXTs like their signature SUNSHINE model that use ballistic munitions to shred opponents to scrap metal and withstand whatever gets thrown back at them. Their subsidiaries are Cougar, a company based on building Boosters for your NEXT, and MSAC International, who make primarily Missile-based parts. They are also affiliated with Arisawa Heavy Industries, who make tank-variations of GA NEXTs. Their affiliated Lynx are 18th-Ranked May Greenfield, a friendly if slightly reckless pilot, and Roadie, who survived all the way from AC4 and is ranked 4th in Collared.

Their signature Arms Fort is Great Wall.

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• A-Team Firing: Many of their builds focus on blanketing the opponent in missiles and gunfire and so locking on doesn't have to be entirely exact for GA NEXTs to do their job.
• Arch-Enemy: TORUS, as they used to be a branch of GA that broke off and declared themselves independent, and now receive funding from Interior Union. 90% of missions involving GA will also involve TORUS in some way.
• Badass Decay: While they're still one of the premiere powers and command a shockingly large amount of NEXTs, they are slowly beginning to lose their sole position on the world stage, as other companies, notably Omer, wage their own power struggles and begin to advance enough to rival GA.
• The Big Guy: None of their parts dip below medium weight classification, and several of them are specialized for heavier NEXTs.
• Cool Train: AF Great Wall is a colossal, heavily armed land train that's proudly boasted as the "greatest land weapon". It's practically loaded for bear from all sides!
• Eagle Land: Their name says it all, really. They also have colors strikingly similar to that of the US Army.
• Macross Missile Massacre: Their non-bullet throwing parts love this.
• Mighty Glacier: Their NEXTs are built with this in mind.
• More Dakka: The general idea of their non-missile based weapons. Loads and loads of lead headed the way of anyone on the receiving end.
• Sliding Scale of Shiny Versus Gritty: Firmly on the gritty side, GA's units tend to look fairly utilitarian and older models have noticeable paint wearing and damage on corners.
• Superior Successor: For Answer introduces the NEW-SUNSHINE NEXT, which is much better than SUNSHINE in most respects, and is considered the pinnacle of GA's design-work.

Interior Union

Interior Union

Beam Spam; the company.

Formed from LeoneMeccanica and Melies merging, the Europe-based Interior Union is the number one in high-tech gear for NEXT pilots, and are famous for their laser technology, as well as cornering the market on fossil fuels. They took the remnants of Global Armaments-Europe and Akvavit, and helped them rebuild as TORUS, which has riled up GA something fierce. They are also unique in that all of their affiliated Lynx are Women, and all of whom can put Strayed through a lot of trouble.

The Union's NEXT's, like TELLUS, RIGEL, and LATONA are primarily laser based mechs that have fantastic energy effiency, but tend to be a lot heavier than they look. Their affiliated Lynx are 20th ranked Ay-Pool, running a support craft build, 16th ranked Kasumi Sumika AKA "Serene Haze", who also happens to be Mission Control for the player, 6th-ranked Stiletto, running a high damage tank build, and 3rd Ranked Wynne D. Fanchon, running a speed-based build.

Their signature Arms Fort is a massive oceanic boat called Stigro

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• Arch-Enemy: GA. They revived GA-E as TORUS, and have in general been sparring with them over the resources in the pacific ocean.
• Amazon Brigade: All of their affiliated Lynx are women, and even the Strayed who used to be affiliated with them are women, and every single one of them can kick your ass quickly.
• Beam Spam: Their development focus.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: The Union controls most of the fossil fuel on the planet, which means that while GA is usually in direct competition with them, they can't do too much direct damage to their interests.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: They have a tendency to withhold important information during briefings and in the Hard mode of some of their mission requests will outright sabotage or betray Strayed, such as when Stigro turns hostile when it's teamed up with the player. The mission Occupation of Arteria Carpals is issued to Strayed by the Union, and it ends up being an ambush.
• Cool Boat: Stigro is a giant battleship that rams it's targets at shocking speeds with an enormous lazer blade on it's hull.
• Glacier Waif: Interior Union's NEXTs tend to run a lot heavier than other models of the same weight class, and many of their affiliated Lynx have high AP as a result.
• Lightning Bruiser: LATONA, and Wynne D.'s NEXT especially.
• Sliding Scale of Shiny Versus Gritty: Compared with GA, their stuff comes off as a lot less industrial looking and more slick and clean, like an airplane.
• Support Party Member: Ay-Pool's TELLUS is kitted out predominantly as a support craft.

LYNX Wynne D. Fanchon

Wynne's NEXT, Reiterpallasch

Rank: 3

Craft: NEXT Reiterpallasch

Fought In: Attack Arteria Cranium, Occupation of Arteria Carpals

Allied In: Defeat ORCA Main Forces, Defend Arteria Cranium

"To treasure a life...is that something to laugh at?"

Interior Union's champion LYNX, who rose to prominence after the end of the LYNX War. Her strong record and impeccable piloting skills have given her the Red Baron's of "GA's Disaster" or the "Brass Maiden" by many frontline soldiers, depending on who you ask. She is a no-nonsense woman with high expectations for her fellow LYNX, but does occasionally show a softer side.

She serves as a major ally in the League path and a major enemy in the other paths.

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• The Ace: She's considered one of the best of the best in the world, takes pride in her work as a Lynx and holds other Lynx to the same standard, and has a pair of nicknames depending on which side you're on; "GA's Disaster", and "Brass Maiden."
• Anti-Mutiny: She leads one in the League path when Collared orders their LYNX to stand down and let ORCA complete the Closed Plan.
• Armor-Piercing Response / Bond One-Liner: She gives one to Thermidor in Defend Arteria Cranium when he claims that her "cowardly ideals" (read: keeping the Cradles in operation) will doom humanity.
  "Humanity? I don't see humanity anywhere, Otsdarva."
• Big Good: In Defend Arteria Cranium, she works with you to defeat ORCA's attack force.
• Final Boss: In the other paths besides the League path.
• Lightning Bruiser: Reiterpallasch takes the LATONA frame, which as noted above is already this trope, and improves it further.
• Noble Top Enforcer: She works for Interior Union and the League by proxy, but she has a strong sense of justice independent of the Corporations, which for a LYNX is quite rare. She opposes ORCA and the Closed Plan not just because the League does, but because of how many innocent lives it would put at risk.

Omer

Omer Science Technology

Air Superiority, Corporate Superiority...and they'll enforce it if necessary.

The most powerful of the companies in the League, though it cannot keep track of some of it's members. Based in West Asia, Omer took an enormous boost in capital after they took down Akva Vit in Armored Core 4, and for a time were the sole power that could develop Kojima Particles. Now, they seek to consolidate power, and to also eliminate TORUS, who took on Akva Vit engineers.

Omer NEXTs have high PA Rectification, prefer aerial combat, and are pretty well balanced. Their newest model, LAHIRE, exemplifies this, and both of their affiliated lynx use it. Their affiliated lynx are 12th Ranked Risaia, who runs a close combat-based build, and 1st Ranked Otsdarva, who previously worked for Rayleonard.

Their signature Arms Fort is the experimental Answerer.

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• Close-Range Combatant: In For Answer, much of Omer's gear and NEXT design suggests this as a preferable tactic. They even sell boosters in place of back and shoulder weapons that can improve your mobility.
• Death from Above: Both of their arms forts are airborne.
• Enemy Mine: Led the charge in stamping out RayLeonard back in the Lynx War, but made sure to hire on almost all of their researchers and designers.
• Lightning Bruiser: Both of Omer's affiliated Lynx are fast and difficult to keep track of during fights.
• The Man Behind the Man: The League is essentially a proxy for Omer's needs, though actually getting things to go through without GA or the IU helping them is much harder than it seems.
• Serial Numbers Filed Off: LAHIRE's dirty secret is that it's basically a Rayleonard design under the hood. A lot of their designs in general seem to ape from other companies.
• Uriah Gambit: Omer has financially supported ORCA, with presumably the idea being that they will destroy enough of the satellites keeping humanity grounded so they can take the credit.
• Walking Wasteland: As a Kojima particle specializing company, they are only company to have ever created a melee-based Kojima weapon, they made one of the most obviously dangerous kojima weapons in the game, and Answerer is packed to the brim with Kojima technology to the point that it actually hums from all of the particles it's outputting. In hard-mode, it actually starts eroding your NEXT from all the radiation it's putting off.

LYNX Otsdarva

Otsdarva's NEXT, Stasis

Rank: 1

Craft: NEXT Stasis

Fought In: Defend Line Ark, Attack on Arteria Cranium (Hard Mode), Occupation of Arteria Carpals

Allied In: Defeat White Glint

"Those slimy politicians, with all of their empty calls to arms. 'In the name of liberty.' I'll sink the whole lot of you to the bottom of the ocean."

The Rank 1 LYNX of Collared and Omer's champion, who formerly worked for Rayleonard during the Lynx War. He's sent to defeat White Glint and destroy Line Ark in both versions of the mission.

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• Always Someone Better: He seems to have this sentiment towards White Glint, giving a rant about how much better he is during their fight. The reality is... much different.
  "White Glint... all those silly legends. They die today. I've surpassed you, and now I'll prove it."
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: This is his attitude when taken on missions as a consort, dismissing the enemy forces as beneath him and acting like he's got better things to do the whole time.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: He splits from the corporations to found ORCA as Thermidor, then when it looks like Strayed is about to win the war for ORCA, he betrays them and rejoins the League under his previous name. Even if it was his plan all along, that's still pretty devious.
• Faking the Dead: The reason he goes down so easily against White Glint is to set himself up as ORCA's leader, Thermidor. Then he does it again just before Attack on Arteria Cranium, only to appear during the mission under his old name and NEXT on Hard Mode.
• Irony: For all his talk of hating politicians, as Thermidor he plays a pretty convincing revolutionary leader himself.
• That Man Is Dead: When Haze accuses him of betraying ORCA, he claims that "Thermidor" has already passed before reintroducing himself as Otsdarva.
• Undignified Death: White Glint shoots out his main booster when they fight in both "Defeat White Glint" and "Defend Line Ark," leaving Otsdarva to sink helplessly into the ocean. Or at least that's what we're led to believe. While Otsdarva probably could have faked his death in a more respectable way, at least this way explains why he escaped so easily.
  Serene Haze: Is he sinking into the ocean? Just like that? Unbelievable!

Rosenthal

Rosenthal

Jack of All Stats never looked so good.

A defense corporation affiliated with the league, with an enormous amount of capital to it's name. They're well known for high quality, general purpose parts, designs and NEXTs, with two high ranked Lynx to their name that are very well balanced, but they tend to be overshadowed by Omer.

Rosenthal is somewhat unique in the League in that they're the only company that doesn't have any Arms Forts, preferring to rely on their generally well-designed NEXTs like the LANCEL and HOGIRE models. Their affiliated Lynx are 11th-Ranked Dario Empio, running a LANCEL, and 5th-ranked Gerald Gendlin, who inherits the "Noblesse Oblige" NEXT and title.

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• Affably Evil: Rosenthal doesn't cause any problems for any of the other league members, and rarely posts missions that cause any problems for Line Ark or ORCA that aren't based in defending the League's interests.
• Ambition Is Evil: Dario is openly seeking power, and comes across as a power hungry jerk in missions you can bring him along.
• Boring Yet Practical: Rosenthal doesn't have any super unique weapon designs, but they all tend to work pretty well. Also applies to their NEXT design, as LANCEL is very visually and performance-wise similar to it's predecessor.
• Idle Rich: Rosenthal commands a tremendous amount of capital, and only spends it making NEXT equipment
• Jack of All Stats: Rosenthal's gear is balanced, and fairly strong.
• Symbolic Wings: Rosenthal's special weapon is a powerful, back-mounted tri-laser cannon that fans out like wings when not in use.

LYNX Gerald Gendlin

the NEXT Noblesse Oblige, back to bring you down.

Rank : 5

Craft : NEXT Noblesse Oblige

Fought In: Attack Arteria Carpals

Allied In: Defend Arteria Carpals

"Sorry to crash the party. Little hit-and-run bandits like you know no honor. I envy your simple life. Void of responsibility."

The successor of Leonhardt from Armored Core 4, Gerald inherits his predecessor's NEXT, his position as Rosenthal's champion, and his personal sense of honor that makes him widely respected, even among other Corporation-based LYNX. When ORCA attacks Arteria Carpals, Gerald is sent to intercept the attackers in both versions of the mission; the only difference is whether the player assists him or is the enemy awaiting him.

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• Evil Counterpart: "Evil" is a bit of a stretch, but he's basically a pro-League White Glint, having inherited a NEXT from a previous-generation LYNX and assumed that pilot's title and role. They even visually resemble each other, as they both use an all-white paint job and Symbolic Wings on the shoulders, and Noblesse uses the same HOGIRE head as the original White Glint (which the current one has since customized).
• I Want Them Alive!: If you get shot down during Attack Arteria Carpals, he states he's going to bring you in for questioning, rather than let your character die.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Noblesse Oblige is designed with this aesthetic, and Gerald's emblem depicts a knight in armor, using Leonhardt's emblem from the previous game as his shield.
• Legacy Character: Gerald is the second person to carry the "Noblesse Oblige" title, complete with Leonhardt's emblem being incorporated into Gerald's.
• Light Is Good: What he's going for, though if you're allied with ORCA it's the other trope. Gerald's NEXT is all-white and carries an angelic air, but he's a faithful servant of the League, and if you're in the ORCA path, is one of the more dangerous NEXTs in the game.
• Symbolic Wings: Just like his predecessor, he uses Rosenthal's wing-like laser cannons on both shoulders.

TORUS

TORUS

Everything through technology...including the apocalypse.

TORUS is the revived Global Armaments Europe with engineers picked up from the former Akva Vit/RayLeonard that was brought into existence thanks to the Interior Union getting them up and running. TORUS specializes in dangerous, experimental, cutting-edge Kojima Particle weapons that can do a lot of damage very quickly at the cost of one's PA bar. Because of the combined histories, rampant creation and use of Kojima weapons, and support from the IU, TORUS is constantly getting into skirmishes with GA and Omer. Their only LYNX of note is 2nd-Ranked Neo Nidus, who pilots a powerful, Kojima-weapon based NEXT.

TORUS only has one official NEXT with a variant attached: the ARGYROS naturally takes full advantage of the Kojima technology on display. The HYDOR-ARGYROS model has dedicated Kojima Cannon arm parts that can easily tear through most NEXTs. Unofficially, they have no Arms Forts, but it's all but made clear the special Sol Dios Orbit Land Crab that one fights in a mission is probably a TORUS weapon.

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• Arch-Enemy: GA by far, due to their long, long history going back to Armored Core 4. Almost all missions sponsored by TORUS feature you fighting GA or GA arms forts.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Their ace in the hole weapon is called LETHALDOSE
• Serial Numbers Filed Off: The Sol Dios Orbit Land Crab is just a GA Land Crab with the special sol dios weapons attached.
• Theme Naming: All of TORUS' weapons are named after harmful chemicals or elements.
• Walking Wasteland: Far and away the most dedicated makers of Kojima tech in the game, up to and including an enormous assault cannon that can tear through most nexts with a giant ball of radiation. Even their support weapons give this power to non-kojima weapons.

Anti-League Factions

Line Ark

Line Ark

The dream still lives.

The largest ground based power at the start of the game, the only democracy left in the world, and intensely critical of the League. It has little of a military to speak of, with the only thing keeping it from being demolished by the League is their trump card: 9th ranked White Glint, a mysterious yet powerful NEXT.

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• A Lighter Shade of Grey: They're the closest thing the game (and most of the series) has to a clear-cut "good guy" faction, and their lead fighter is the previous game's player character, a Defector from Decadence who has since become so feared that none of the League's LYNX are willing to fight him solo.
• Downer Ending: Line Ark goes down whether or not you want to help them, the loss of White Glint is too much for them. The destruction of Megalis at Strayed's hands, should they accept Omer's request in Chapter 3, is the final nail in the coffin.
• Everyone Has Standards: They usually accept help from anyone willing to offer it, but even they won't deal with Old King, which says a lot about ORCA when the latter does accept his assistance.
• Last Bastion: Democracy's last stand against the Corporations, defended by a lone NEXT nobody can read or get a bead on.
• Motive Decay: It's dreams and ideals have been eroded over time as more and more unsavory characters join Line Ark.
• My Death Is Just the Beginning: The game pretty strongly implies Line Ark's fall, however indirectly, causes ORCA's ranks to expand, allowing the recently-returned Maximillian Thermidor to enact the Closed Plan. After all, those "unsavory characters" had to go somewhere...
• Uncertain Doom: White Glint's fall dramatically reduces Line Ark's military capabilities, and Serene Haze predicts the end of Line Ark if you destroy Megalis for Omer, but Fiona Jarnefeldt claims in A New Order of NEXT that the League's conflict with ORCA has taken pressure off of Line Ark.

LYNX White Glint (spoilers for Armored Core 4)

The legacy of Anatolia and Joshua O'Brien lives on.

Rank : 9

Craft : NEXT White Glint

Fought In: Defeat White Glint

Allied In: Defend Line Ark

Once known as Anatolia's Mercenary, White Glint currently serves as the bulwark of Line Ark's military (and their only LYNX if Strayed doesn't join them). He is the protagonist of AC4.

For trope examples regarding White Glint during Armored Core 4, see here.

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• Ace Custom: Even more than most NEXTs typically are. While the Armored Core 4 version of White Glint was made of standard parts, this incarnation has a unique set of parts all to itself.
• Almighty Janitor: He's only Rank 9 but he's the one thing holding Line Ark together, and none of Collared's LYNX are willing to go against him solo (both missions featuring him are either 2-on-2 or 2-on-1).
• Arc Number: His rank is a reference to Nine-ball, and while they're not related, it's a good hint to any Armored Core veteran to take him more seriously than his rank suggests.
• Doomed Hometown: Anatolia was destroyed at the end of AC4.
• The Dreaded: To the League. Attack Line Ark's briefing explicitly says that White Glint won't be in the area as if to reassure you that you're not being sent to die on your first mission. Later, when the League decides they do want White Glint taken out, they always send two LYNX (Otsdarva and either Strayed or CUBE), because alone, well...
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": His real name is lost to history, so "White Glint" is both his own name and the name of his craft (though he goes by "Unknown" in Order Matches). Even Fiona calls him by it.
• Face on the Cover: Just like Berlioz's NEXT in the previous game, White Glint is featured in the intro and on the game's box art.
• Legacy Character: Suffice to say he's not the original White Glint. That was Joshua O'Brien in the previous game. Anatolia's Mercenary inherited the name and the NEXT after O'Brien was blackmailed into destroying Anatolia.
• Lightning Bruiser: Part of the reason Otsdarva loses so quickly to him is because White Glint is basically Otsdarva's own build but without sacrificing firepower or durability like the latter did.
• Hero Antagonist: In Defeat White Glint.
• Heroic Second Wind: In the Hard Mode version of Defeat White Glint, he'll reactivate after supposedly being defeated the first time.
• Rogue Protagonist: In Defeat White Glint. In Defend Line Ark you fight alongside him instead, making him simply a Previous Player-Character Cameo.
• The Scapegoat: If Otsdarva's line is anything to go by, the League blames him and Fiona for Anatolia's destruction, when in fact they were trying to defend Anatolia from the 00-ARETHA in the final battle of the previous game.
  Otsdarva: What right have you to speak, you who brought down Anatolia?
• Uncertain Doom: It's not confirmed whether White Glint (the pilot) was killed in either Defeat White Glint or Defend Line Ark, though in either case the NEXT White Glint is done for and so is Line Ark. Most non-Arena fights in Armored Core are to the death due to the Core's Armored Coffins nature, but there's at least one counter-example (Otsdarva, from the same missions, even), and in Defend Line Ark, Fiona's dialogue implies that White Glint may be alive, but unable to keep fighting. The post-mission Collared cutscene also implies that White Glint was heavily damaged rather than destroyed, but they say the same thing about Fragile, whose pilot is definitely dead.
  • In a A New Order of NEXT, Fiona confirms that while the NEXT White Glint cannot be replaced due to its uniqueness and stresses the need to acquire a new NEXT for Line Ark post-haste, she also states that there are no problems related to the Lynx, which neither confirms nor denies the pilot's survival but does heavily imply it.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: White Glint is much faster than any other NEXT you've seen up to that point, and he carries two strong assault rifles alongside the deadly SALINE tracking missles. His NEXT is a true Ace Custom, boasting huge EN output, extremely fast QB ability, and a large amount of AP. Even with Otsdarva backing you up, White Glint is more than a match for the both of you and will require a lot of skill to effectively take down.
• Walking Spoiler: As you can see, it's hard to discuss almost anything about him without spoiling the end of AC4.

Fiona Jarnefeldt (spoilers for Armored Core 4)

Daughter of renowned scientist and inventor of Kojima technology, Professor Jarnefeldt of Anatolia. She currently works for Line Ark as White Glint's operator, just like she did in the previous game.

For trope examples regarding Fiona during AC4, see here.

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• Arc Words: Her speech in Defeat White Glint is implied to be the question that the game's titular "Answer" is for.
  "You're the same as we once were. Think. What are you fighting for?"
• Doomed Hometown: Anatolia was destroyed at the end of AC4.
• Took a Level in Cynic: While she's still an idealist at heart, she's not as naive as she was in AC4, having no qualms about threatening Otsdarva and Strayed with lethal force when they approach in Defeat White Glint.
• Voice for the Voiceless: She speaks for White Glint in both missions featuring them.

ORCA

ORCA

Give the League your answer.

The other ground based power, that only reveals itself at the end of Chapter 3. An extremist group of 12 powerful and dangerous NEXT pilots led by the charismatic and complicated Maximilian Thermidor. Their aims are to enact The Closed Plan, bring the Cradles down, and open the way to space for humanity. By any means possible.

ORCA is comprised of 12 Lynx (or 13, should the player join), all of whom are ne'er do wells and willing to do anything to see this succeed. They also have specialized, Jet-Black Arms Forts called Jets.

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• A Lighter Shade of Black: ORCA is a bunch of terrorists that are willing to directly attack League holdings and Cradles, but the League put everything into this mess and ensured they stayed there.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Some of their lower-ranking Lynx, including Luster 18, Buppa Zu Gan, and PQ, can be fought and killed during Chapter 2, before ORCA reveals itself. Other characters, including Serene Haze and Wynne D. Fanchon should you choose her as a consort in "Defeat Unknown NEXT + No Count", call them Irregulars and wonder about their motives and employers.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Unlike Line Ark, ORCA is willing to accept Old King's assistance, but it's clear that this is an alliance of convenience at best. Thermidor will turn on him (and you) if you choose the Destruction path.
• Evil Counterpart: To Line Ark, with Thermidor as their answer to White Glint. While Line Ark challenged the hegemony of the League and corporations over the surface, they never posed a threat to the Cradle system and were too busy playing defense most of the time to have much of an effect. ORCA on the other hand has a long-term plan for humanity's survival that runs directly counter to the Cradles, and doesn't care what human cost it will take or who they have to ally with to carry it out.
• The Mole: The 10th Ranked Hari is this on The League, acting for ORCA's interests.
• The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: ORCA is willing to force the Cradles to land on Earth's surface, which will expose millions of people to potentially deadly pollution, just so that even a fraction of humanity has a chance of escaping off-world.
• The Smurfette Principle: 3rd Ranked Julius Emery is the only Female Lynx in ORCA
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Rayleonard from the previous game, as an antagonistic faction who bides their time until the mid-game to reveal themselves. Both Thermidor and Shinkai have a history with Rayleonard, and they both use the AALIYAH frame (though Unsung uses ALICIA reverse-joint legs instead of the standard bipeds), making them similar to Rayleonard's champions Berlioz and Anjou, respectively. They've also gotten ahold of the Ehrenberg Anti-Satellite Cannons, one of which the player was tasked with destroying in the previous game, and which end up proving instrumental to the Closed Plan.
• 13 Is Unlucky: If the player joins ORCA they become its thirteenth member, and storyline-wise they certainly catch everyone off-guard.

LYNX Maximilian Thermidor

ORCA Rank: 1

Craft: NEXT Unsung

Fought In: Defend Arteria Cranium

"We are the ORCA brigade, the most dangerous reactionary force in existence. And this is our grand entrance! Let's put on a show, gentlemen!"

The mysterious revolutionary leader of ORCA, who appears in Chapter 3 shortly after Line Ark's fall. He is ORCA's Rank 1 LYNX and pilots a modified Rayleonard craft, but little is known about him.

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• Final Boss: Of the League route, along with Shinkai. He's also one of the bosses of the Destruction Path on all difficulties, and of the ORCA path on Hard Mode, making him the only LYNX who can be fought on all three routes after they diverge.
• Large Ham: He's prone to dramatizing his announcements. Ironic, since as Otsdarva he used to say that he hated politicians and their "empty calls to arms." It's possible this is all part of his cover.
• Meaningful Name: Both his first and last name come from the French Revolution, specifically Maximilian Robespierre. Considering it's an alias, Otsdarva probably picked this name on purpose. Fittingly, Robespierre was a victim of the revolution he was instrumental to, just as Thermidor can potentially meet his end at the hands of his newest recruit.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: It doesn't take a lot of connecting the dots to figure out he's Otsdarva well before the intended reveal. For starters, not only do they have the same voice actor, but while Thermidor tries to mask his voice in the English dub, he doesn't in Japanese, making it obvious who he really is the moment he speaks. Even in-universe, it doesn't seem to fool Wynne D. Fanchon, who casually pegs him as Otsdarva at the end of the League path.

LYNX Malzel

ORCA Rank: 7

Craft: NEXT Opening

Fought In: Defeat the Main ORCA Forces

"The old guard are quick to panic when what seemed certain changes. Especially those whose past successes have made them complacent..."

Thermidor's right-hand man, who handles the strategy behind ORCA's operations.

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• Blackmail: Malzel's plan relies on this and the threat of death at the hands of ORCA's Lynx to force the leaders of the League to allow the Closed Plan to proceed, in exchange for keeping their secrets.
• Chess Motifs: Pawns. His emblem is a white pawn, and the name of his NEXT, Opening, references the opening move made by a white pawn. If your AP falls below 70%, he will disdainfully refer to you as a pawn. His name is also a phonetic reference of Johann Nepomuk Maelzel, the exhibitor of the The Mechanical Turk, a fradulent chess playing automaton that allegedly beat Napoleon Bonaparte and Benjamin Franklin but was actually just a puppet operated by a chess player hiding in a box.
• Decoy Leader: He is set up as an important member of ORCA but in truth he is little more than a sacrificial pawn who is propped up by the elite members of the League of Corporations to die at ORCA's stronghold at Big Box to send a public message.
• Face Death with Dignity: He accepts his death with little complaint, giving up his life for "mankind's golden age."
• Number Two: He is Thermidor's second-in-command, and runs ORCA while he is away. Even with Thermidor present, he is responsible for strategy and for recruiting Normals to fight for ORCA, as seen in "Attack Anti-Satellite Cannons."
• Smug Snake: He holds his subordinates in little regard. If Vaoh, his bodyguard, should die before him in "Defeat the Main ORCA Forces," he writes him off as a fool, despite being the one to discover him in the first place. He is also implied to have sent Hari to attack an Arteria facility in Chapter 1, resulting in Hari's possible death, despite recruiting him as a double-agent inside Collared.
• Villainous Friendship: He and Thermidor are close friends, and his stand at Big Box is meant to buy time for him to attack Arteria Cranium so that the Closed Plan may be carried out.
• Weak, but Skilled: Malzel's AMS aptitude is very poor, but Thermidor trusts him with running the war against the League, with or without him present.

Liliana

Liliana

ORCA has been too lenient for too long.
In a revolution, blood must be spilled...

A terrorist organization directly threatening the Cradles and everyone living inside them (as opposed to ORCA, which is trying to bring them down to Earth intact). You may end up fighting them in several missions as they attack the Cradles. By Chapter 3, though the group has been mostly absorbed by ORCA, their leader Old King has an agenda of his own, which the player can help him accomplish on the Destruction path.

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• Attack Drone: In addition to the Normals which make up the vast majority of their ranks, Liliana also has access to 002-B drone NEXTs from Rayleonard. They are encountered in "Take Back Cradle 21" on Hard mode and in "Defend Cradle 03" on both difficulties.
• Evil Versus Oblivion: They're the "oblivion" faction, regardless of whether you consider the League or ORCA (or both) to be the "evil" one.
• The Extremist Was Right: Out of all three anti-League factions, they're the only ones to (potentially) deal any lasting damage to the corporate system itself (i.e. the ones responsible for the Kojima pollution killing the planet and causing the game's main conflict in the first place); Line Ark is too idealistic and too busy playing defense, and ORCA is a front for Omer Science to whitewash their involvement and play savior at the last minute. The question is whether exacting vengeance on the corporations is worth dooming the rest of humanity along with them in the process.
• The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: Just look at the page quote. Old King considers ORCA to be too civilized for his taste.

LYNX Old King

ORCA Rank : 4

Craft : NEXT Lisa

Fought In: Defend Cradle 03

Allied In: Destroy Cradle 03 (off-screen), Occupation of Arteria Carpals

"Good, you came. How obedient of you. Fell the Cradles. All of them. Millions will die. Exciting, don't you think?"

The leader of the Liliana terrorist group. He joins ORCA after chapter 3, but has his own agenda.

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• Affectionate Nickname: He refers to Strayed as a "lap dog" if they join him, but his dying words in "Occupation of Arteria Carpals" shows that he regards them as an equal and a friend.
  Old King: Sorry, friend, I can't help you any more. I'm glad we got to know each other better.
• Dissonant Serenity: Has the audacity to hum a little tune while you're slaughtering millions wholesale in "Destroy Cradle 03."
• Four Is Death: Old King holds rank #4 in ORCA, and his methods are far more brutal than the others, Thermidor included. He himself dies on the Occupation of Arteria Carpals
• The Friend Nobody Likes: The rest of ORCA is not on board with his plan to attack the Cradles. When he makes his move in "Defend Cradle 03", he is accompanied only by the 002-B drone NEXTs that he brought over from Liliana. The feeling is mutual, with him isolating himself from the rest of ORCA to maintain his "outsider" status.
• Mission Control: In Destroy Cradle 03, he takes over for Serene Haze after she leaves you in disgust.
• Omnicidal Maniac: Since the Cradles are the only livable habitat left for humanity, destroying them would likely cause humanity's extinction. Old King has no problem with this, ordering the deaths of 100 million people in a single mission with the expectation of more.