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Characters / Spacetrawler

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Character page for the webcomic Spacetrawler.

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Part 1:

Interplanet Amity:

    Nogg 

Nogg

The captain of the I.A. Starbanger. He lacks empathy, leadership skills, and is of average intelligence at best. He is usurped by Martina as leader almost immediately.

  • General Failure: Nothing he has ever planned has ever gone right. Even his recruitment of the humans was mostly planned by the ship's computer, and he still managed to screw up Bill's recruitment.

    Krep 

Krep

Nogg's second in command. He is angry and violent, but far more competent than Nogg. He still accedes to Martina's command when the time comes.

  • An Arm and a Leg: Near the climax, he loses two of his tentacle-arms to particularly sadistic unclamped Eebs.
  • Centipede's Dilemma: Emily asking about his aiming six guns at once invokes this in him - it's even the trope picture.
  • Good Is Not Nice: He's fighting to free an oppressed species from slavery largely simply because it is the right thing to do. He's still a jackass.
  • Sarcastic Devotee: Has nothing but disdain for everyone around him, but he's 100% committed to the cause.
  • Snark Knight: Krep pretty much lives to snark at everything. Unsurprisingly, Nogg is his most frequent target.
  • Starfish Alien: The least-human looking among the main cast. He's a hoofed quadruped with a single eye and six tentacle-arms above his mouth.

    Gurf 

Gurf

The company's heavy lifter/mascot. He is dumb and kind-hearted by nature, but shows hints of intelligence in certain areas.

  • Dumb Is Good: In a cynical galaxy, he is dumber than a box of rocks, but kind and generous to a fault.
  • Dumb Muscle: Undisputedly the strongest member of the crew. And the dimmest.
  • Idiot Savant: While he seems to be a complete idiot in almost every other respect, he has a hidden talent for space combat and tactics.
  • My Beloved Smother: Gurf's mother (a G.O.B. ambassador) is disappointed in Gurf's lack of ambition, the trouble he gets into, and that he ended up crewing under Nogg. She nags on him to do something more respectable.

    Martina 

Martina Zorilla

The first of the human crewmembers shanghaied by Nogg. She is a college student from Argentina who doesn't know what to do with her life. Her death is the reason Nogg returned to Earth, to tell her father of her fate. Despite having no training and even less experience, she quickly becomes the captain of the I.A. Starbanger. She is good at coordinating her team and listening to their needs.

  • Action Girl: She grows into one, more out of necessity than desire.
  • Artificial Limbs: In Book 3, she gets a prosthetic arm and eye to replace the ones the unclamped Eebs burned off. Unlike Yuri's, prosthetics, Martina's are practically indistinguishable from the originals.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Martina is morally conflicted about killing, even in self-defense—but she's not afraid to stun-gun her own captain to insure that No One Gets Left Behind. And, when backed into a corner, she is willing to kill if it's the only way to save more lives. It even prompts a quip from Yuri.
    Yuri: I think I'll avoid ever asking you for identification.
  • Foregone Conclusion: We know the whole time she's going to die, because that's the whole reason Nogg came to Earth to tell her father her story.

    Pierrot 

Pierrot Abdullahi

From Gabon, a French-speaking pacifist/vegetarian with a violent streak. He quickly bonds with Emily, despite his insistence to the contrary.

  • Animal Wrongs Group: He's willing to injure or kill humans (and other sapients) in defense of animals. His Establishing Character Moment: the driver of the car he was in deliberately ran over a mole, so Pierrot punched the driver—while the car was still moving, causing it to crash.
  • Berserk Button: He flips out violently if anyone hurts animals in his vicinity. Or brags to him about hurting animals. Or tries to make him eat meat.
  • Hypocrite: Repeatedly. He's strongly against violence, but when someone tests his limits, he hits back hard.
  • Interspecies Romance: He's briefly courted by a Qiyemp female. He breaks up with her on Carpsellon and leaves her to comfort the dying Kuu-Drahc, shortly before the destruction of the planet.
  • Slap-Slap-Kiss: His relationship with Emily.

    Emily 

Emily Taylor

An American drifter who was raised by coyotes. She is an extremely skilled fighter and a very passionate individual. Though she disagrees with Pierrot on nearly everything, she quickly comes to respect his unwavering commitment to his ideals.

  • Action Girl: Begins the story as one. Her Establishing Character Moment is when she first meets Nogg, and her reaction is to attack him.
  • Arm Cannon: One of her many weapons is a wrist blaster mounted on her gauntlet.
  • Badass Longcoat: Wears a western-style duster, even over her Latex Spacesuit. Later, she upgrades it so that it can also be used as a hang glider.
  • Batman Gambit: When arriving at the G.O.B., Emily deliberately secures Pierrot away from the rest of the team in a hidden location for four days, figuring that the rest of the group was wandering into a trap, and that he'd be able to help them out just by being himself. She's correct on all counts.
  • The Big Guy: She's the most combat-capable of the crew, on par with Yuri after her upgrades.
  • Character Development: Starts out as being something of a wildcard prone to solving problems with violence, but mellows out over time. Ends up marrying Pierrot and the two have a kid, and she winds up as head of security for the G.O.B. She confirms that the First Series took place around twenty years prior to the start of the Third Series, so no surprises she developed in that time.
  • Combat Pragmatist: When she isn't the one with the most firepower, she wins by a combination of sheer cunning and occasional luck.
  • Hyperspace Arsenal / Walking Armory: As demonstrated here.
  • Indy Ploy: More often than not, Emily prefers to think on her feet rather than plan things out.
  • Raised by Wolves: Or coyotes, in Emily's case. As a result, coyotes are the only creature she feels any kinship towards, and she prefers a loner's life. (Oddly enough, she still has no qualms about killing and eating coyotes.)
  • Slap-Slap-Kiss: Her relationship with Pierrot.

    Dimitri 

Dmitri Sokolov

A Russian playboy with a silver tongue. Early in the story, he sells his grandmother's tea cookie recipe to an alien shopkeep, and the profits make him disgustingly rich for the rest of the story.

    Yuri 

Yuri Nakagawa

A Japanese hacker and otaku with an interest in cybernetics. She starts out calm and friendly, but quickly reveals a darker side.

  • Action Girl: Grows into this role, especially as she gains more cybernetic upgrades.
  • Animal-Eared Headband: She wears one, initially. Until she gets actual ears grafted onto her head.
  • Arm Cannon: At various points in her upgrade cycle, she gets arms with guns in place of her hands.
  • Artificial Limbs: Torturers cut off all four of her limbs, so she gets robotic replacements. She keeps upgrading these, and at some points she even adds extra limbs.
  • The Atoner: After doing everything described here, she eventually has her cybernetics downgraded and retires to a peaceful planet to try and be... less insane.
  • Batman Can Breathe in Space: Her upgrades include a built-in space suit, allowing her to survive the near-vacuum of space without any external help.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Yuri seems sweet, but she comes to enjoy excessive violence, and demonstrates a vindictive streak against those who've hurt her. For example, by cutting off one of her torturer's ears.
  • Bio-Augmentation: In addition to having her limbs replaced with bionics, she has a cat-like alien's ears and Eeb brain tissue grafted to her. The latter of which allows her to use telekinesis and understand Eeb technology.
  • Bishōnen Line: Her cyborg upgrades cause her to look increasingly inhuman—then her most powerful, "godlike" upgrade returns her to humanoid form, just with different skin color.
  • Catgirl: She starts off with costume ears, but eventually surgically implants real cat-alien ears.
  • Covert Pervert: Yuri has apparently done some things that even Dimitri finds obscene.
  • Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Possibly more symbolic than literal, but Yuri's descent into PTSD is accompanied by her cyborg implants becoming less human and more monstrous. In the end, Martina tells Yuri that if they're going to stay friends, she needs to remove all her weapons. This process along with getting brain-clamped brings Yuri more-or-less back to her senses.
  • Laughing Mad: She lets loose with a lot of Evil Laughter when she gets particularly psychotic.
  • Master of Unlocking: When it's an electronic lock, at least.
    Nogg: I've locked the doors, you're all stuck here—
    Yuri: I hacked the door, it's open.
  • Nerds Are Pervs: The comic uses and lampshades the "nerds have bizarre and exotic fetishes" aspect of the trope through Yuri, the Japanese super-geek and budding transhumanist in the first series. When Dmitri puts his moves on all the women of the I.A. Starbanger, Yuri is the only one who agrees to sleep with him—though she almost turns him down, concerned that his sexual tastes might not be adventurous enough. For reference, Dmitri would later go on to bed every female alien with 50% or greater compatibility, and Yuri still managed to make him reach for the Brain Bleach.
    Yuri: Listen, Dmitri, I've slept with quite a few geeks, and some were real freaks in bed. I'm not just talking costumes and ropes, I'm talking inflatable Pikachu. After all that, I'm not sure you have much to offer.
    Dmitri: How about this... [whispers in Yuri's ear]
    Yuri: Better than I expected, but not great.
    Dmitri: Like you could do better. [Yuri whispers in his ear] HOLY FUCKING CHRIST ICK GOD, EAUUGHHH!
  • One-Man Army: Eventually, she packs enough firepower to take down entire hordes of attackers by herself.
  • Psychic Powers: She gains limited telekinesis from her Eeb brain implants.
  • Serial Prostheses: Because she keeps upgrading and replacing her robot limbs.
  • Transhuman: She upgrades herself, both cybernetically and biologically, multiple times.

    Dustin 

Dustin Landing

An Australian conspiracy theorist and all-around idiot. Nogg was supposed to grab his twin brother, Bill, instead, but accidentally got Dustin. Nobody realized the mistake until Dustin woke up, at which point it was too late to go back.

  • Asshole Victim: Victim, then asshole, then both simultaneously and continuously for the rest of the comic.
  • The Ditz: He's a gullible idiot who always believes whatever is least beneficial to the rest of the crew. He repeatedly joins the GOB even after they stun him and treat him like a prisoner, renames Earth to Dustinia, and thinks he's the Only Sane Man despite constant evidence to the contrary.
  • Fantastic Racism: He hates aliens, and constantly talks down on Dmitri for willing to have sex with them.
  • Patriotic Fervor:
    Dustin: Long live the Australian federal constitutional monarchy under a parliamentary democracy!
  • Too Dumb to Live: Dustin. Trust in the authorities can be taken too far.
  • Twin Switch: Inadvertently - Nogg meant to grab his identical twin, Bill, instead (the computer couldn't tell the two apart due to them having the same genes).
  • Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Refuses to bomb a planet when he hears there are women and children there, along with all his clones.

    Red- 9 

Red-9

An unclamped eeb. The last in existence, as far as she can tell. She slips onto the I.A. Starbanger by pretending to be a normal eeb, and then works to trick the crew into helping her with her cause.

  • Slept Through the Apocalypse: Her parents put her in stasis during the early stages of the "eeb clamp-pocalypse", having apparently seen the writing on the wall. Only to wake up centuries later in a galaxy where her species is universally brain clamped and enslaved by other species.
  • The Unfettered: Both morally and literally. It's only when she unleashes insane unclamped eebs on the galaxy that she begins to reconsider her "free all eebs everywhere without exception" stance.

Galactic Organizational Body

    Kuu-Drahc 

Kuu-Drahc

The apex speaker of the GOB, and an old friend of Nogg's. Unfortunately, they split on less than friendly terms when Kuu-Drahc 'accidentally' killed off an entire sentient species in order to make a quick buck.

  • Affably Evil: Despite being a genocidal torturer, he's usually a friendly guy. His charisma is why he's apex speaker in the first place.

Part 2:

New G.O.B. Spacetrawler crew:

    Devyat 

Devyat

The daughter of Dmitri and Red-9.

  • Half-Human Hybrid: Played with. Humans and Eebs come from a common ancestor, but diverged long enough ago, and are physically different enough, that they're considered different species.
  • Meaningful Name: Her name means 'Nine' in Russian. Eebs don't have last names, so she's named after her mother, but in her father's native language.
  • Walking Spoiler: Dmitri and Red-9 have a kid! A telekinetic kid!

    Hwan 

Hwan Choi

A Korean martial arts expert who was doing bodyguard work before he was recruited. Was technically dead when Nogg grabbed him.

  • All Asians Know Martial Arts: Nogg concludes that he must be a great warrior, since he was thrown out of every martial arts school in South Korea. He failed to consider why Hwan was thrown out. He actually is a very competent martial artist, once he's given a bit of tech-boost. The "getting thrown out of martial arts schools" is probably more due to his attitude. Or his addiction to painkillers.
  • Challenge Seeker: He considered working as a K-Pop band's bodyguard beneath him. He decides to join Nogg for the prospect of a "real challenge".
  • Functional Addict: Needs a lot of painkillers to get through the day, but he's mostly on top of it.

    Joyce 

Joyce Evans

An American corporate executive known for her charity work and honest business practices.

  • Cyborg: While under the effects of a bliss patch, she allows the Med-Bot to turn her into this. She looks the same, but now has impenetrable skin and can melt metal with her hands.
  • Honest Corporate Executive: Despite making massive profits, she gave away most of her company's money to charity.

    Bikkie 

Bikkie

An Australian boxer who was kidnapped as an infant, enslaved, and forced to fight for slop on a daily basis. He holds a deep and abiding hatred for nearly everyone, and he has the fighting skills to back it up. Also, he's a kangaroo.

  • Catchphrase: "BLOOD!"
  • Psycho for Hire: He joins the mission because he's pissed at the world and wants to inflict some pain.
    Nogg: Bikkie? Are you still willing t—
    Bikkie: BLOOD!
    Nogg: Um. Yeah. Okay.
  • Third-Person Person: Bikkie always talk this way.
  • Uplifted Animal: Getting injected with the translator tech makes him (relatively) smarter than an ordinary kangaroo.
  • You No Take Candle: His speech is a little stilted, even with the translator chips.

    Anesu 

Anesu Mutwa

A Zulu thief and stealth expert who initially rejected Nogg's offer, but then followed him onto the ship because it sounded like fun.

  • Impossible Thief: Among other things, she steals the entire contents of a pirate's cargo hold, and nobody notices for several hours.
  • It Amused Me: Her whole reason for tagging along.
  • Stealth Hi/Bye: She pulls this on Nogg twice in her first page.

    Mauricio 

Mauricio Monteros

A young Ecaudorian man who happens to be Martina's half brother. He was born shortly after the events of the first story, when Martina's father took a vacation to Ecaudor and had a one-night stand. Mauricio was not recruited by Nogg, but by Reemp, a weapons engineer who thought that one of Martina's relatives would be able to use his new weapon safely.

  • In the Blood: Reemp recruits him under the theory that he will have the same moral fortitude as Martina, and thus be a perfect match for his human-only sentient weapon.

    Jabby 

Justice Arm Bot

A sentient weapon that gets attached to Mauricio's arm. Ultimately intended to be used to assassinate King, but 'disarmed' with the help of Devyat.

Part 3:

Emily's New Crew:

    Ruddock 

Ruddock

Emily's first new companion after leaving her friends behind. He is strong and loyal, and views Emily as a powerful friend who can do anything. Also, he's a coyote.

  • Everyone Has Standards: While traveling with Choan, he gets fed up with her jerkass amorality and has her send him back home.
  • The Fool: Ruddock generally bumbles around and occasionally says intelligent things or does something surprisingly smart, but is otherwise pretty much entirely comic relief.
  • Lethally Stupid: He obviously wipes out an entire ship of Asshole Victims because of an allergy and his Weaponized Headgear.
  • Talking Animal: Whilst capable of moments of surprising intellectual depth (for a coyote), Ruddock is neveretheless still a coyote and often easily distracted.
  • Undying Loyalty: As should probably be expected from anything dog-like. Once he decides Emily is part of his pack, he refuses to leave her side.
  • Weaponized Headgear: Gets a laser strapped to his Approxiscan collar by Emily's boxbot. Doesn't know how to switch it off "Kill", and it fires whenever he sneezes. (Eventually it gets set to "Stun" by someone else.)

    Aitana 

Aitana Serrano

A young girl whose parents were recruited by aliens. The aliens, rather than deal with the headache of a child, decided to kill her and erase all memories her parents had of her. She is rescued by Emily.

  • Action Survivor: She has no training or experience whatsoever, but she eavesdrops, and quickly realizes she needs to run when aliens are after her.

    Tesfay 

Tesfay Sheshy

A homeless man who meets Aitana by chance. Simple and practical.

  • True Companions: Immediately declares Chiphu family after they worked together to save each other.
  • War Refugees: Fled Eritrea due to persecution.

    Chiphu 

Chiphu Phuentsho

A homeless man who meets Aitana by chance, shortly after meeting Tesfay. Has an odd way of thinking.

  • Easy Sex Change: Born female, but transitions with the help of Emily, Tesfay, and the ship's doctor 'bot.
  • Skewed Priorities: When Tesfay asks him to kick a bomb into a sewer, he pauses. His country was ranked worst in the world at football, so he wanted to get it right.

Others

    Stangor 

Stangor

A very round, fox-like alien who starts out pursuing Emily because her actions landed Stangor's parents behind bars, but works with the new crew on and off since they have nobody else who knows spaceships.

  • Parental Issues: Stangor's parents disowned her (especially after Emily paid off their debts and had them set free in a rare moment of altruism) but apparently still love her dearly.
  • Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism: Humanoid, but has a fox-like head and tail.

Others (Recurring/General/etc.)

    Mr. Zorilla 

Mr. Zorilla

Father to Martina and Mauricio, though he never knew about the latter. Nogg visiting him to recount the stories of their deaths serves as the Framing Story for the First & Second Series.

  • Cloud Cuckoolander: Good lord, is he.
  • Cyborg: Mauricio briefly snaps and manages to turn Jabby into a lethal buzzsaw, and winds up slicing off one of Mr. Zorilla's arms. He gets a robot arm out of the deal.

    Choan 

Choan

A starship mechanic of questionable morals, but undeniably a Gadgeteer Genius. Filthy rich as a result of Spacetrawler manufacture being shut down whilst she was given the plans to produce new stardrives.

  • Annoying Laugh: She has a strong tendency to cackle, and it's repeatedly pointed out in-universe how annoying it can be.
  • Cool Old Lady: It's not easy to gauge her age and she doesn't talk about it, but it's clear she's been around for a pretty long while.
  • Fiction 500: She doesn't use her money much in-comic, but she offhandedly claims at one point that she's literally the richest person in the galaxy.
  • Gadgeteer Genius: The only people in the setting who seem to be better with tech than Choan are the Eebs, Yuri, and the Mihrrgoot. It is eventually revealed that her Mad Scientist parents altered her brain, packing in extra smarts at the cost of most of her morality.
  • Human Popsicle: Alien popsicle anyways, after committing regicide she was exiled in a cryo-capsule that drifted through space for a very long time before winding up in GOB territory. When she returns home she finds out that society collapsed thanks to what she did.
  • Interspecies Romance: Has a brief fling with Dimitri - and just about anyone else who passes through her shop, for that matter.
  • Only in It for the Money: In her own words? She doesn't take sides, she takes cash. That said, sometimes she does things because they're the right thing to do, or because it amuses her. Preferably both.
  • Planet Baron: She got rich enough that she bought an entire planet. Last we heard about it she was planning to rename it Choan-Is-Awesome but the paperwork hadn't cleared yet.
  • Xanatos Speed Chess: 'Opportunistic' and 'crazy prepared' barely even begin to describe Choan. She plants bugs and trackers on her clients and anyone interesting (so, mostly humans).

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