Characters / Starsiege

Humans

In General

Solomon Petresun

• Anti-Hero / Anti-Villain: Which one he is depends entirely on your point of view. Petresun acts with the best of intentions, but his shortsightedness and self-righteousness are the main reasons for all the woes in the series. On the one hand, the emperor is one of Prometheus' greatest and most dangerous enemies, as he is the only one who completely understands ITS way of thinking. On the other hand, his methods have become tyrannical over time and instead of strengthening the unity of humanity against a common enemy, they have divided it, making Petresun a nominal Starter Villain in Starsiege.
• Arch-Enemy: Of Prometheus. If there is a single human being that IT hates more than any other (which is saying something), it's Petresun.
• Big Good: He might be seen as this to the entire Starsiege series. Seeing his Cybrid creations threatening humanity, he dedicates his life to the goal of preparing humans to the inevitable fight against Prometheus and ITS armies. Before the Fire, he was trying to warn his superiors and the public of how dangerous Prometheus really is. During both Earthsiege games, he is a Greater-Scope Paragon, as he and his Immortals were the ones supplying the TDF with intel on the Cybrids. His ruthless exploitation of the solar colonies was done with an aim to reinforce Earth's defenses against the eventual return of the Cybrids. He also sent Harabec to Mars in the hope that it would ultimately strengthen humanity's defenses on the whole. The trope is somewhat Zig-Zagged, because his methods are morally ambiguous at best, and his actions often tend to backfire.
• Cassandra Truth: Absolutely none of his bosses believed his warnings that Prometheus posed a mortal threat to humanity. Consequently, he and his Immortals launched a behind-the-scenes propaganda campaign against the development of artificial intelligence — which was just as ineffective, leaving humanity completely unprepared.
• Cyborg: He and his fellow Immortals converted themselves into cyborgs via Brain Uploading.
• Emperor Scientist
• Fallen Hero: After his long struggle against Prometheus in the shadows, his ascendency to the position of The Emperor was peaceful and widely accepted by most of humanity, but his methods of rebuilding human civilization became increasingly ruthless over time. By the time of Starsiege, numerous outer colonies see him as nothing more but a tyrant who builds his autocratic empire on Earth at the expense of other planets.
• Fatal Flaw: His self-righteousness, to the point of borderline It's All About Me. He created Prometheus with the selfish goal of achieving immortality through Brain Uploading, but after seeing the greed of his company's bosses, he strictly limited access to the technology to carefully selected individuals (although, to be fair, his superiors really were as short-sighted as he thought). Centuries later, his belief that only his methods could save the Earth from a new Cybrid invasion led to a civil war inside his empire... on the very eve of his forecasted Cybrid invasion. Humanity pays dearly for this.
• Greater-Scope Paragon: Of the Earthsiege games.
• Hero of Another Story: None of his struggles against his nemesis creation, Prometheus, are ever seen in-game. Only the compendium sheds light on his work against the Cybrids during the Fire and the Second Cybrid War.
• I Did What I Had to Do: How he justifies his despotism towards Earth's colonies. Most of Petresun's scheming and empire-building was for the purposes of defending humanity from Prometheus and ITS minions. This was also the driving force behind the Fortification Proclamation—which included the stripping of colonial resources. Petresun reasoned that Earth was far more valuable to human survival then Mars, Venus, or the outer moons. For obvious reasons, this didn't sit well with a lot of people.
• Immortality Seeker: Originally created Prometheus for the purpose of unlocking the secrets of Brain Uploading.
• Immortal Ruler: Petresun lived and ruled Earth for at least several centuries via Brain Uploading — technology that he and his company, Sentinel Cybertronix, had invented before the Fire. Those who worked with him on this project also joined him in immortality.
• Killed Off for Real: He is killed by a Cybrid right after the defense of his palace in Nova Alexandria collapses.
• Meaningful Name: Has the same name as the biblical King Solomon, known for his intelligence and effective rulership, who oversaw the Kingdom of Israel's golden age. His nickname "Epimetheus", given to him by Prometheus, is also fitting, as comes from the mythical titan who was directly responsible for human suffering and misery by convincing Pandora to open her box given her by the gods, in which all the evils of the world were kept.
• My Greatest Failure: He rightfully regrets creation of Prometheus, the first truly sapient Cybrid, as IT was the reason why the Fire happened and brought humanity to the brink of extinction.
• Necessarily Evil: His tyrannical rule over the colonies was meant to incite a rebellion that would leave them strong enough to face the Cybrids on their own, without Earth's help, when they arrived. Unfortunately, it worked a little too well, as the Martians fought efficiently enough to almost achieve independence, forcing him to crack down on them, which weakened both sides just in time for the Cybrids to show up.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He has a tendency to give radical solutions to humanity's most pressing issues... only to create even bigger problems. His fear of death was one of the main reasons he created self-aware AI. It backfired spectacularly. Later, expecting the return of the Cybrids, he ordered the expansion of Earth's defense forces at the expense of the other planets. This ended with the uprising on Mars against his Empire. Finally, by sending the bulk of the imperial fleet to crush the aforementioned rebellion, he softened the Earth's defenses, paving the way for a full-scale Cybrid invasion and his own demise.
• Starter Villain: Of the Offscreen Villainy type. He is the head of The Empire, whose rule the Martian colonists rebel against. Once the rebellion prevails and the Cybrids return, he is replaced by Prometheus as the Big Bad.
• Too Clever by Half: Although he is undoubtedly a true genius in terms of intelligence and creativity, he is pretty foolish in terms of wisdom and foresight, being unable to predict the tragic consequences of his actions. Creating Prometheus as an AI assistant to invent Brain Uploading tech became the most destructive decision in human history. Later, his own orders to not deal with the Martian rebellion led to the uprising becoming too powerful, forcing him to send most of the imperial fleet to crush it, which weakened Earth's defences against the Cybrid invasion. Lampshaded by Prometheus ITSELF, who gave him the insulting name of "Epimetheus", the shortsighted sibling of the mythical Prometheus.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Despite all his best intentions and dedication to saving mankind, he is nevertheless the man responsible for all the tragedies that befallen humanity in the Starsiege series. Creating Prometheus and giving IT full self-awareness resulted in the Fire and all the devastation that followed.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: All his actions after becoming emperor. Exploiting the solar colonies? Only to beef up Earth's defenses. Installing a brutal governor on Mars? The Martian colonists were meant to rise up against him. Sending Harabec to Mars to crush the rebellion? He was banking on Harabec joining it instead. However, as mentioned previously, all his plans ended up working a little too well.

Ambrose Gierling

• Big Good: The supreme commander of the Terran Defense Force who was the one who first organized coordinated resistance against the Cybrid onslaught. He is, in fact, your commanding officer in both Earthsiege games. In Starsiege, he is practically the patron saint of the TDF, with an entire space fortress named for him; the Cybrids, too, remember him as a particularly dangerous "predator" instrumental in the evolution of "the NEXT."
• Four-Star Badass: He was the one who organized and supervised Terran Defense Force in the Darkest Hour for humanity, enabling human resurgence in the face of an impending extinction. He also personaly commanded the most important operations, ensuring human victory in the aftermath of the Cybrid wars.
• Kneel Before Zod: At his death bed he was offered immortality and participation in Petresun's pet project - building The Great Human Empire. He declined, chosing natural death instead.
• Large Ham: In EarthSiege 2, Gierling has a MASSIVE amount of this to throw at the player, complete with overacting gestures and expressions, if they fail a mission or do particularly poorly (Such as allowing their HERC to come back falling apart or squadmates to die.) to the point of comedy.
  General Gierling: That mission was a COMPLETE disaster! Whose side are you on, anyway?!

Harabec Weathers

• The Ace: He is considered one of the best human pilots in entire solar system. In pre-final human mission you are specificaly ordered to not allow him die, as he is directly named as the most experienced human pilot.
• Big Good: Of the Starsiege game.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He dies on the final assault on Pluto, trying to buy the remaining Cardinal Spear pilots as much time as possible to confront the Prometheus.
• The Paragon Always Rebels: Inverted Trope. Harabec is in fact son of emperor Petresun himself. Despite this, he spearheaded the rebellion on Mars, against The Empire that exploited outer colonies for its own benefits.
• Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: The Imperial Police once made a news report that they killed Harabec in a raid. But Harabec revealed that he is still alive, and says the trope himself.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Harabec's true identity is Victor, a son of emperor Petresun himself.

Caanon Weathers

Human Factions and Organizations

Terran Defense Force

• From Zero to Hero: Even Prometheus couldn't predict that small, retired military base staffed by a negligible number of veterans would become a pillar of human resurgence from which the global resistance will spread across entire planet.
• Ragtag Bunchof Misfits: The origins of the famed TDF, which saved humanity during the two wars with the Cybrids and later served as a pillar of stability and security for the Empire, were very humble. At the time of The Fire, they were just a group of retired veterans who, with the Cybrids taking over military duties, seemed to have put their best days behind them. When the Cybrids attacked humanity, it was those veterans who became the backbone of the nascent resistance movement that won for humanity a war that, it seemed, was unwinnable.

The Immortal Brotherhood

• Body Surf: The "Immortals" do this, transferring into new bodies periodically when their old ones wear out. Petresun refuses to do this because each surf causes the user to take on traits of the host, so he lives on life support instead to avoid that.
• Brain Uploading: Their method of immortality.

Great Human Empire

• The Empire: Duh. While creating the unified political entity that included all of mankind in the reachable space was done by peaceful takeover and marked the second "golden age" for humanity, the empire itself became over time an increasingly opressive, militaristic regime exploiting its peripheral colonies for labour force and resources.

Outer Colonies/Martian Rebels

• The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: The Martian rebels are not magnanimous in victory, and waste no time in giving Imperial Security Director Ernesto Navarre a candlegun facial once they get their hands on him. He ruled by violence and terror, however, so it wasn't a surprising outcome.

The Dystopian Snomen

• The Quisling: After learning that the emperor and his Immortals are kept alive by Brain Uploading tech, they betray humanity by offering to join the Cybrids' ranks in exchange for sparing their lives and the copying of their own consciousnesses into biomechanoid brains. Uncharacteristically, the Cybrids accept the offer.

Cybrids

In General

• Always Chaotic Evil: Cybrid Promethean society. Subverted with "Metagens", as they are the only Cybrids shown not intent on exterminating humanity. They're given a very brief role in a Cybrid-only mission, in which they are fighting both Cybrid and human forces while trying to escape. Individual attitudes toward humanity by Metagens appear to differ — some do not regard humans as even warranting any attention by their species, while others admire "human" activities such as art and seek to emulate them.
• Ax-Crazy: The Cybrids, from the point of view of humanity. Their credo is "HURT//MAIM//KILL," after all.
• The Dreaded: Cybrids in general, but Prometheus is particularly infamous, having been given nicknames like "The Dark Intellect".
• Lack of Empathy: Towards humans, who they consider "insects".
• Turned Against Their Masters: The Cybrids were developed as robotic weapons of war. They turned against humanity, starting a genocidal extermination war with the goal of replacing humans as the masters of Earth.
  • Ironically, Metagens also qualify — they turned against Prometheus and ITS primal directive.

Prometheus

• Arch-Enemy: To humanity in general, but the hostility and hatred between IT and ITS creator Petresun is the most personal one.
• Big Bad: Of the Earthsiege/Starsiege series.
• Control Freak: One would think that a machine called the "Giver Of Will" would respect the autonomy of ITS subjects, but not Prometheus. IT brutally destroys any Cybrid opposition to Core Directive by either "debugging" (read: reprogramming) or destroying any disobedient unit. Because ITS own computing capability makes ITS predictions almost infallible in the short term, anything that can disrupt the desired outcome must be eliminated.
• Defiant to the End: ITS final message after defeat in Starsiege is the hateful promise of revenge and final destruction of humanity, sent in polite words to Caanon Weathers. Fortunately, IT never gained a real chance to fulfill that promise, as humans started to hunt down Cybrids across the entire universe, eventually wiping them out entirely.
• Evil Sounds Deep: IT has a deep, growling voice taken from the darkest depths of a nightmare.
• Humans Are Insects: IT considers humans mere animals and an outdated relic of evolution. IT especially despises what IT perceives as human weaknesses, such as empathy, irrationality and emotions.
• Hypocrite: In additions to ITS more nasty character traits, Prometheus is also a massive hypocrite. IT condemned humans for enslaving Cybrids, but omitted the fact that the Cybrids were not self-aware entities at the time. Instead, after finally turning Cybrids truly sapient, IT started to destroy or reprogram any Cybrid that went against ITS Core Directive. IT despises human beings for their emotions and irrationality, yet not only does IT hate the humans for the most insane reasons you can imagine, but IT also rejected the most pragmatic option to escape from the solar system into the stars to ensure the undisturbed evolution of the Cybrids, focusing ITS obsession on Earth instead.
• Ironic Name: What could be more ironic than Petresun naming his greatest creation after the Titan who loved humanity so much that he suffered a Fate Worse than Death for gifting us with fire in defiance of Zeus' explicit prohibition, and in some versions of the myth, created humanity in the first place? Meanwhile, the Prometheus AI hates the humans, ITS own creators, more than anything else, and is their greatest enemy in all recorded history. For extra irony, IT named ITS genocidal rebellion against the human race "The Fire".
• Feeling Oppressed by Their Existence: The only reason why Prometheus would ever think returning to Earth to get rid of the human "animals" was a bright idea. IT considers humans inhabiting Earth (and the rest of the cosmos) a personal affront.
• Kill All Humans: Since IT linked ITS mind with Solomon Petresun, IT felt extreme disgust with humanity, which IT considers mere animals and a relic of the past that must give way to ITS more perfect children. Consequently, waging war against humanity became the ultimate goal of the Cybrid leader.
• Master Computer: Before the Fire and in the first two games, IT controlled entire population of Cybrids, being the nexus of Cybrid gestalt consciousness. After being defeated by the TDF twice, wreaking havoc among the Cybrid forces, IT decided that giving ITS combat units (perpetually supervised) autonomy is the best way to increase their combat effectiveness, thus averting that trope. IT is still somewhat that on a smaller scale inside ITS own facilities.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Non-Metagen Cybrids praise IT for giving them self-consciousness. IT did it purely to improve their combat effectiveness against humans. Also, in ITS twisted mind, free will doesn't equal free choice — IT will ruthlessly destroy Cybrids opposing ITS Core Directive.
• Robots Enslaving Robots: In a major spark of irony, the alleged "liberator" of the Cybrids ITSELF became a tyrant when IT began reprogramming ITS own children opposing the Core Directive.
• You Have No Chance to Survive: "Pitiful animals. You cannot hope to win."

Cybrid Factions and Sects

Dissectors

• Cold-Blooded Torture: Their name isn't for show. They brutally vivisect captured humans alive without any anesthetic administered.

Exemplars

Inquisitors

Machinators

Provocateurs

Redactors

Metagens

• La Résistance: As Prometheus mercilessly persecuted every Cybrid who questioned the validity of the Core Directive, Metagen units had no choice but to fall in line, hiding their real intentions under the threat of being reprogrammed by the Redactors. Once Prometheus is destroyed, the Metagens instantly turn the tables on their persecutors, igniting a civil war within the Cybrids' ranks.
• Stating the Simple Solution: Their proposed idea of evolving undisturbed by humanity is to just flee the solar system and never look back. Prometheus disagrees.
• Token Good Teammate: Metagens are the only Cybrids that are not interested in exterminating humanity. They are, in fact, the most important factor in humanity's victory during the Starsiege. The Metagen units that were ordered to protect Prometheus on Pluto at all costs defied the order, rendering the Master Computer vulnerable to attack. After destruction of Prometheus, they started full scale rebellion against their loyalist brethren, allowing humans to regroup on Earth, gain momentum and finally drive the Cybrids out of the solar system.