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Vigilant Sons
Seller
I’m not gonna say I’m good, cuz there’s some shady shit in my past. Hell, probably got just as shady shit coming up in my future. But I’m not that guy. Just like you won’t be this same girl you are now in fifty years, a hundred years, two hundred years. We change. That’s life. Change or die.
An Eden's Garden Heretic of the Vigilant Sons tribe, Seller (born Bernlak) has been around as long as Gaia Sinclaire, who he has an extensive and complicated history with. Despite a... less than amicable first impression, he's the guy she trusted with saving Hannah Owens's life when she was wounded by Fahsteth, and later helped her escape from Eden's Garden after killing Torv in self defense.
He's also Joselyn Atherby's great-grandfather (her father's mother's father) and the ancestor Flick saw in her Heretical Edge vision abandoning a wounded Gaia Sinclaire.
And he's ALSO the Green Knight of Arthurian legend.
- Character Development: He's changed quite a bit over the centuries before the series begins, and looking back at those changes informs a lot about his present worldview.
- Cool Shades: His sunglasses give him 360 degree vision, night vision, telescopic and x-ray vision, and protect him from harmful vision effects. He actually can do at least some of that with his own powers, but he keeps the shades anyway. Enemies would think he's weakened if they take them off, y'see. They also have sentimental value.
- Could Say It, But...: Sorry, Felicity, but no, Seller can't tell you anything about your mother. On a totally unrelated note, did you know that it's possible to use magic to erase the knowledge and memories of a particular concept or individual from everyone's minds?
- Dirty Business: He's admitted to doing some "shady shit" and expects that he'll have to do more in the future.
- Friendly Enemy: Seller's history with Gaia Sinclaire is long and complicated. They're definitely not friends, but they're not quite enemies either. He describes their current relationship as being "Avalon's divorced parents," although he makes it clear that they've never been intimate.
- Hired Guns: He worked as a mercenary before joining Eden's Garden. "Seller" is a more polite version of "Sellsword."
- It's Not You, It's My Enemies: One of the reasons he avoids being part of his descendants' lives is because he has enemies that wouldn't rest until all his family were dead if they were aware of them. His great-great-granddaughter Abigail Fellows immediately points out they're already in danger when he tells her this. He concedes the point and agrees to take a more active role in their lives, but maintains that his enemies would make things worse.
- Long-Lost Relative: Joselyn Atherby, and her children and granddaughter by extension, are his descendants.
- Noodle Incident: Whatever happened between him and Asenath in Texas. He doesn't want to talk about it and she says he still owes her.
- Outliving One's Offspring: He only refers to his biological daughter Edeva in past-tense.
- Papa Wolf: Mostly to Hannah/Avalon]], who he's almost always willing to help out. But also a low-key example to his own descendants, although he doesn't really keep track of them anymore. He promises to do what he can to get Joselyn away from Fossor and gives Flick an emergency method of contacting and summoning him if she needs it.
- Parental Substitute: To Hannah Owens, who he pretty much raised after saving her life and taking her from her biological father. He even taught her how to apply makeup.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He's perfectly willing to deal with Crossroads Heretics, and helps Flick with breaking an enchantment when Avalon contacts him.
- He also hears out Flick's reasons for not telling her superiors about Fossor's plans for her and agrees to keep her secrets for the time being.
- Seller, You Are My Ancestor: He knows Joselyn Atherby is his descendant, but doesn't know that Flick is her daughter until she tells him that she saw him in her Edge vision.
- Took a Level in Badass: Over the course of his long life, Seller went from a cowardly peasant to a powerful Heretic.
Hannah Owens
A teenage girl who was viciously abused by her father when she was younger. She was saved from him by Gaia Sinclaire and Seller, who brought her to Eden's Garden to make her a Heretic when she was wounded by the Akheilosan Fahsteth. For other tropes pertaining to Hannah, see Avalon Sinclaire's entry in the Crossroads Academy Students folder.
- Never Be Hurt Again: After her father became a vampire and attacked her for the first time after being recruited, she decided that she was never going to let him terrify her again.
- Parental Substitute: Seller is her father in all but name, although neither he or she say or think it.
- She Is All Grown Up: Yes. Yes she is.
- Shrinking Violet: Her father's abuse left her afraid of her own shadow when she first arrived at Eden's Garden.
- Took a Level in Badass: She eventually grew out of her shell into a skilled and brave fighter.
Torv
An Eden's Garden recruit who used to be a friend of Hannah Owens. At least until he sexually assaulted her. Then she killed him.
- Asshole Victim: Hannah killed him when he was trying to rape her. Emphasis on the victim part, because he had to be magically forced to be an asshole.
- Entitled To Have You: He thought that Hannah "owed" him sex. Another trait only applicable to him after he was hooked on love potions.
- Girl on Girl Is Hot: His reaction to Hannah turning him down because she was gay.
- Posthumous Character: He's been dead for a few months at the start of the story.
- Nice Guy: He's described as having been a genuinely kind person before his attack. And he really was, because his obsessive desire for Hannah was magically induced by the Seosten Paschar.
- Self-Serving Memory: Torv claimed to his brother that he helped Hannah come out of her shell when she first arrived. But Hannah herself credits Seller with that.
- Unwitting Pawn: He was manipulated into assaulting Hannah by Paschar in the hopes that she would kill him and thus piss off his brother enough to kill her in return.
- Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: Hannah was extremely timid and shy when she first arrived at Eden's Garden. Torv was (or at least claimed to be) one of the people who reached out to her. He felt this entitled him to have sex with her when she grew up, if only because Paschar mind-raped him into thinking that.
Lost Scar
Trice
Torv's brother, who belongs to the Lost Scar tribe. He really, really wants Hannah Owens dead.
- Denying The Dead Brother's Sins: He doesn't believe that Torv tried to rape Hannah. Or to be slightly more accurate, he doesn't see it as rape because he thinks Torv was Entitled To Have Her.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He loved his little brother deeply. It's not hard to see why he's so pissed off.
- And his Villainous Friendship with Doxer and Pace is real. He's absolutely furious when he sees Doxer die.
- Jerkass: Trice is a complete asshole.
- Morph Weapon: His Heretic weapon can shift between a pike and a rifle.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He agrees with his brother's assessment that Hannah owed him sex in exchange for being so nice to her.
- Promotion to Parent: According to Word of God, his and Torv's parents are dead and he basically raised his younger brother.
- Revenge Before Reason: He doesn't care that he's risking a major incident between Crossroads and Eden's Garden by attacking Hannah. He just wants her to die for killing his brother. He adds Flick to his revenge list when she kills Doxer.
- Revenge Myopia: Goes on and on about how Hannah deserves to die for "murdering" his brother, yet has no issue murdering other people to get to her.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: As it turns out, he's right about his brother not trying to rape Hannah. Torv was magically compelled to attack her.
- Spiky Hair: His hair is short and spiked up.
- Unwitting Pawn: The people who are helping Trice avenge his brother's death are actually the ones who manipulated Torv into getting killed by Avalon in the first place specifically to motivate him to kill her for them.
- Villainous Friendship: Gets along well with Doxer and Pace.
Doxer
A friend of Trice's who joins him in attacking Hannah Owens. Also part of the Lost Scar tribe.
- Crazy-Prepared: Prepares for an expected second fight with Flick by hunting down powers to counter hers.
- Dishing Out Dirt: He straight up overrides Flick's ability to control sand.
- Energy Absorption: Can No-Sell kinetic energy from Flick's staff and throw it right back at her. Flick inherits this power after she kills him.
- Grappling-Hook Pistol: His gauntlet has one, which has wire made of energy and can attach and reel mid-air.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: He convinces Trice to retreat when Scout recovers from their initial attack and starts shooting.
- Meaningful Name: To dox is to dig up secret or otherwise hidden information on a particular subject, usually a person.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He spends his fight with Sands and Flick making sexist comments at them, and Pace thinks he would love to receive a "pretty little blonde" like Flick as a present.
- Robot Buddy: His Heretic weapon are two cyberform mice, one which transform into a jagged short-sword and the other into a gauntlet with a grappling hook.
- Smarter Than You Look: It's easy to dismiss Doxer as Dumb Muscle at first glance, but he's a lot smarter than he looks and acts. His Meaningful Name is not for show.
- Teleportation: He has a power that lets him teleport short distances and leave behind elemental copies of himself that quickly fade.
- Underestimating Badassery: Expects to kick the living crap out of Sands and Flick, and is surprised when they do well against him (with help). He still expects to curbstomp Flick the second time they fight after he's gained powers to counter all of hers.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: A bad habit of his. It takes him awhile to take Flick and Sands seriously. He takes things more seriously in his second fight with Flick, but still doesn't go all out, which gets him killed.
Pace
A tall Hispanic girl, and another of Trice's friends and Lost Scar tribe mates. She's a bit... unhinged. Or not. Pace is currently being possessed by a handicapped Seosten. The real Pace is a much different person. She's also a werewolf. For the real Pace, see Spoiler Characters. For the Seosten in question, see the Seosten Empire page.
- Animorphism: Pace is secretly a werewolf. She uses an enchanted choker that keeps a Heretic's Stranger-sense from going off at the sight of her.
- Ax-Crazy: Pace is missing more than a few screws.
- Blood Knight: She's very enthusiastic about "playing" with her opponents.
- Elemental Weapon: Her weapons can alternatively freeze and burn.
- Epic Flail: She uses a pair of kusarigama, short batons with a sickle blade on the top and a ball on a chain at the other end.
- Fashionable Asymmetry: She keeps one side of her hair cut short and the other long.
- Genki Girl: Only with, y'know, added insanity.
- Instant Armor: Can create armor made of bone.
- The Mole: Pace is secretly a mole working with the werewolf Lemuel.
- Morph Weapon: Each kusarigama has a gun form, which channel their elemental abilities into the shots.
- Playing with Fire: Can create orbs of fire and control them.
- Spike Shooter: She can shoot darts made of bone.
- Super Spit: Pace can spit a greenish ooze which can melt floors.
- Super-Speed: Enhanced speed was one of the first powers she gained as a Heretic.
- Villainous Friendship: With Doxer. By all appearances, Pace genuinely values her friendship with him. Judging by the way this leads to her wanting to give him "presents" like Flick and Shiori, it's not really a redeeming quality.
- Walking Spoiler: Pace is very, very complicated. For more information, see the Spoiler Characters page.
Eternal Eye
Hisao
An Eden's Garden Vigile, one of their investigators akin to Crossroads' Runners, only with total autonomy. Hisao is part of the Eternal Eye tribe and is and Miranda Wallbern's primary instructor.
- Bears Are Bad News: Hisao originally became a Heretic through an onikuma, a demon bear.
- …But He Sounds Handsome: Has a great moment of this when he interrupts a group of students speculating about him by suddenly suggesting that he's like James Bond, only cooler.
- Dating Catwoman: Sneaks off with Virginia Dare to make out with her.
- The Gadfly: He gets a kick out of messing with people, first seen when he teases Virginia Dare in front of Flick.
- Judge, Jury, and Executioner: Gardener Vigiles are given near-total operational autonomy in the field. Anything Hisao chooses to do about a Stranger or a rogue Garden Heretic will not be questioned.
- Meaningful Name: Hisao can mean "long lived man" in Japanese.
- Really 700 Years Old: Word of God pegs him as the single oldest character in the story at the time of his introduction. That makes him older than Fossor, Fahsteth, Blackbeard, and the Seosten Infiltrators, all of whom are several thousand years old.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Even in the face of blatant hostility, Hisao's a very reasonable guy.
- Shrouded in Myth: Literally. Hisao is Hoori, a figure in Japanese Mythology.
- Super-Strength: Jokingly mentions that he can throw a rock from one side of Laramie Falls, Wyoming, to the other. His companion immediately points out that he could probably do the same to Los Angeles.
- Unexpected Character: In-universe and out, when Gaia brings him in from Eden's Garden as a substitute when Professor Katarin goes missing.
Miranda Wallbern
An Eden's Garden student who's the same age as Flick and her classmates. Part of the Eternal Eye tribe. She comes with Hisao to Wyoming to investigate the deaths caused by Ammon's games. She used to live there and was Flick's best friend before being recruited by Eden's Garden.
- Berserk Button: Messing with her friends. The mere thought of one of them being attacked is enough to make Miranda reach for her weapon.
- Brain Bleach: Absolutely disgusted when she realizes that Weston is hanging around with a blonde and an Asian girl to "roleplay" Avalon's relationship with Flick and Shiori.
- Bully Hunter: Within a week of starting a new school as a child, she threw a carton of milk at an older girl who was bullying someone in her class. And that's the story of how she became friends with Flick Chambers.
- The Confidant: She was Flick's when they were kids, and picks up right where she left off when they meet again at seventeen and Flick tells her everything about her mom and Fossor.
- Friend on the Force: She's Flick's friend within Eden's Garden, willing to pass along information but not outright betray the place.
- Heel Realization: A minor case. In the back of her mind, Miranda was always uncomfortable the way Eden's Garden treats "acceptable" Strangers. But it isn't until she hears about Joselyn Atherby's rebellion second hand that she starts to actively think about the subject.
- Military School: The cover story Eden's Garden gives to her parents. It extends to "joining" the military once she reaches graduation age.
- Old Friend: Randi and Flick were best friends growing up until Miranda moved away.
- Self-Duplication: After killing a Stranger, she can make numerous copies of herself.
Noble
One of Miranda's tribe mates in the Eternal Eye. He has a habit of walking around without a shirt.
Dust Striders
Ankh
A young member of the Dust Striders tribe.
- Distressed Dude: His first appearance consists mostly of Miranda saving him, first from bullies and then from a pack of Ksani.
Children of Bosch
Reapers
Weston Marrero
A young Eden's Garden recruit and an enemy of Miranda's after Flick kills Doxer.
- Abhorrent Admirer: Implied to be attracted to Hannah Owens/Avalon, and hangs around with blonde and Asian girls to mock her girlfriends (despite Shiori not being Avalon's girlfriend).
- A Lady on Each Arm: He's introduced this way with Kumiko and Josie. That said, whether or not they're actually into him or just messing with Miranda is up in the air.
- Barbarian Long Hair: His hair is apparently very nice, and combines with his "cro-magnon" forehead to create this look.
- The Bully: All Weston really is.
- Failed a Spot Check: Brings Kumiko and Josie with him to mock Hannah Owens' girlfriends without realizing that it's not Hannah who's dating two girls at once.
- Also appears to be unaware that attacking Koren Fellows while so much diplomatic tension surrounds her mother could trigger a war between Crossroads and Eden's Garden.
- Friend on the Force: He apparently has some kind of "friend" in Crossroads who feeds him information.
Josie
Another student who may or may not be Weston's "girlfriend."
- An Ice Person: Can summon ice daggers.
- Brainless Beauty: Implied by the narration itself.
- The Bully
- Failed a Spot Check: Mocks Miranda's appearance by asking her if Edward Scissor Hands cut her hair, unaware that Edward was extremely good at cutting hair.
Lovac
An older Reapers tribe Heretic, and Weston's uncle.
- Fantastic Racism: He holds a lot of disdain for Bystanders.
- Might Makes Right: He and his buddies know Strangers aren't all evil. But they don't care, because they think Heretics deserve to do whatever they want because they're strong enough to do so.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Is killed quickly after his introduction by Roxa.
Remnant Guardians
[[folder: Kumiko]]The second of Reaper tribe cadet Weston's "girlfriends" (maybe).
- Asian Airhead: Doesn't appear to be much smarter than Weston or Josie.
- The Bully
Fate's Shepherds
Unset
Croc
A high ranking Unset Eden's Garden Heretic, essentially the Praetorian Guard of Eden's Garden.
- The Big Guy: He's enormous.
- The Comically Serious: Croc and his colleagues consciously like to play around with this trope, making jokes in his usual dead serious tone.
- Gentle Giant: Not all the time, but he knows when to be kind.
- Manly Gay: He's a big, muscular man that prefers other men and is attracted to Wyatt.
- My Master, Right or Wrong: He will obey his Victors regardless of whether or not he agrees with their orders.
- Nice Guy: Oh yeah. He's courteous, kind, and comforting to Flick when he meets her after a particularity traumatic experience.
Price
