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Captain Jolie Rouge
A Privateer in the service of the Merchant Guild of Istanbull.
- Action Girl
- Badass Adorable: No larger than a foal, she's still a successful privateer captain.
- Insistent Terminology: She's a privateer, not a pirate. To be fair, it is a relevant distinction.
- Interspecies Romance: With Gratin.
- Privateer: With a particular mandate to hunt slavers.
- Sky Pirate
Gratin
Captain Rouge's bodyguard, currently in a relationship with her.
- Bodyguard Crush: In a relationship with Jolie.
- Interspecies Romance: In one with Jolie Rouge. He and Blackbird bond over their mutual love of ponies.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Jolie Rouge is tiny even for a pony, and griffons tend to tower over all but the largest ponies anyway.
- Rescue Romance: Was rescued from an alchemist's block by Jolie.
Eerie Dark
A Dark who has taken up residence in Istanbull, and is essentially running the place alongside some of her friends.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: Subverted. She once participated in her family's evil activities, but after she gained a moral compass, she left home in an attempt to atone for her heinous actions. Even after obtaining a high place in Istanbull society as a chancellor, she still does good things.
- The Atoner: Has committed many crimes against sanity and reality that she wishes to atone for, notably including assisting with the experiments on other Darks. She also wanted Dim to be this because it'll serve as proof that she's not entirely lost as she believes herself to be.
- Blue Blood: As a (former) member of the House of Dark, she is one.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Pun aside, she's one of the few members of her family that are not evil. Like Dim, she believes she can't be redeemed, however, and was counting on Dim becoming The Atoner so she'll have proof that all is not lost with her.
- Defector from Decadence: Like Dim, she abandoned the Dark's decadence and insane evil to pursue a different way.
- Does Not Like Men: Was fearful of males after fleeing the Dark Tower, but ultimately overcame her fear.
- Foil: To Dim Dark, being another Dark who has abandoned the family philosophy to draw her own path and who also wishes to purge herself of weakness, but contrasts him in many ways, most notably being
Lawful Neutral to his Chaotic. - Geas: Uses them to help keep her underlings in line.
- The Good Chancellor: To Prince Modesto.
- Interspecies Adoption: Essentially adopted the orphan minotaurs Mars and Modesto, and achieved a happy family, despite the potential problems.
- Lady Looks Like a Dude: As a result of Dark inbreeding, she's rather androgynous, and appears to be a stallion at first glance. Her relative, Dim, is the inversion.
- Make an Example of Them: What she did to King Majid, the previous ruler of the Palace of the White Hand.
- Mark of the Supernatural: Has the Dark heterochromia and strong magic.
- Nice to the Waiter: Like Dim, she believes herself above everyone else, but she will not tolerate abuse of anyone, having grown up in a family that encouraged abusive and insane behaviors.
- Parental Incest: Departed the Dark Tower due to her father and uncle's nightly visitsnote .
- Parental Substitute: Becomes one to the orphan minotaurs Mars and Modesto, who she adopted as her sons.
- Playing with Syringes: Assisted in the experiments on Dim, and was the subject of some herself, attempting to awaken Psychic Powers.
- Psychic Powers: Invoked by her House, who wanted to awake these kind of powers in her as an experiment. As a result, she gained involuntary precognition.
- Seers: Occasionally, and without warning, drops into a vision trance.
- The Spymaster: One of her duties in Istanbull.
- Walking Spoiler: Being an extant nonevil Dark other than Dim makes her this.
Pâté au Poulet/"Bard"
A pony living in Istanbull whom Dim and Blackbird befriend. Also related to the Pies (his name translates as "Chicken Pot Pie").
- The Alcoholic: The apartment he shares with Bombay is filled with wine bottles.
- Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Bombay's music helps his brooding somewhat, particularly as it's as close as he can get to his destiny.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: The explosion that kills him is caused by barrels of black powder he ordered thrown.
- The Muse: He was this, until a part of his soul was taken, breaking his talent, although he retains his ability to inspire others, he cannot inspire himself.
- Rescue Romance: Met Bombay when he rescued her from slavery.
- Sacrificial Lion: Killed at the Fancy cultist compound to demonstrate the threat of the Ascendancy.
- The Storyteller: Again, only until his soul was damaged.
- Your Soul Is Mine!: Much like Dim, he was a backup Celestial (in this case, for Cadance), and had a portion of his soul stolen by Grogar for this reason.
Bombay Sable
An Abyssinian musician in Istanbull and one of Eerie's allies. She's in a relationship with Bard.
- The Alcoholic: She and Bard share an apartment filled with empty bottles.
- Berserk Button: Due to having been raped in the past, she very quickly gets violent when it looks like someone's heading in that direction.
- Brainwashed: When she was an assassin, she's still struggling to put together the parts of herself.
- Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: She's much nicer than Bard, who, to be fair, has good reason to brood.
- Cat Folk
- Groin Attack: Has a tendency to shoot enemies in the dick.
- Made a Slave: Until Bard rescued her.
- My Greatest Failure: It's hinted that she considers the damage to Bard's soul as this, due to a failure to protect him. It's probably not entirely reasonable, given the opposition.
- Rescue Romance: Bard rescued her from slavery, and now they're a couple.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Her relationship with Yuny comes across as this, with their meeting apparently involving death threats, and she still frequently snarks at his ineptitude with women.
- Walking Armoury: Carries around a sword, dagger, pistol and wand, earning some respect from Dim for her combat versatility.
Yuny
A jasper jackal, he works for the Royal Guard of Istanbull and is an ally of Eerie.
- Socially Awkward Hero: Often tactless and blunt, which gets him some teasing from Bombay.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Has this kind of dynamic with Bombay, who enjoys teasing the uptight Yuny.
- Workaholic: Is very rarely seen not dashing around on some errand or another.
Munro
A valet assigned to Dim Dark.
- Battle Butler: Although not his primary skill-set, he has some combat training.
- These Hands Have Killed: He does not take his first kill well, despite it being a Mercy Kill on a slaver.
Motte & Bailey
Two ponies with an ability to manipulate earth, they work for Eerie.
- Alternate Self: They are this to each other, with Bailey originating in a now-dead world.
- Alternate Universe: Bailey is from one, now destroyed.
- Chess Motifs: They're rooksnote .
- Dishing Out Dirt: They have an ability to manipulate earth and stone.
- The Dividual: Rarely, if ever, seen apart. Justified as they're the same pony from different existences.
- Mundane Utility: Use their Dishing Out Dirt to flatten a road surface to walk on.
Modesto
One of the rulers of Istanbull, and adopted son of Eerie.
- Artificial Limbs: He and his brother's hands were removed, part of Minotaur culture being to take a limb from those defeated or guilty of a crime. Eerie secured prosthetics for them.
- Dirty Business: Vocally disapproves of their dealings with Dim Dark once he's actually met the vizard.
- Happily Adopted: Was orphaned, but later picked up by Eerie.
- Our Minotaurs Are Different: Like his brother, he's a minotaur.
- Token Good Teammate:The most moral of the three leaders of Istanbull, resolving To Be Lawful or Good firmly on the side of "good".
Mars
One of the rulers of Istanbull, and adopted son of Eerie.
- Artificial Limbs: He and his brother's hands were removed, part of Minotaur culture being to take a limb from those defeated or guilty of a crime. Eerie secured prosthetics for them.
- Cultured Badass: He's unable to play due to his prosthetic hands, but can compose, and is good at it.
- Our Minotaurs Are Different: Like his brother, he's a minotaur.
- Rightful King Returns: The firstborn heir of the Black Hand territory, he and his mother are planning to return him to his rightful place, and he'll be a better king than Masoud.
- To Be Lawful or Good: The balance point between his mother's Lawful Neutral and his brother's Neutral Good.
Commodore Guillemot
A sea-captain from Liverypool, he was sent to Istanbull to open trade relations, and is still there as the Grittish Isles' government collapse.
- Berserk Button: When a slaver claims to be Just Following Orders, Guillemot, observing the court, interrupts with a "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
- The Brigadier: Holds the appropriate rank and is competent and a better man than Dim (in Dim's estimation, admittedly).
- Fascinating Eyebrow: His response to Dim giving Captain Hoarfrost a brutal case of the bends.
- Foil: Is contrasted with Captain Hoarfrost, another Grittish captain who was left in the cold by the collapse of the Empire. Hoarfrost turned to slavery in despair, and was willing to press-gang a cub while Guillemot considers the current problems a temporary situation, and certainly not an excuse for trading in flesh, and does what he can to save said cub from the worst of Istanbull's justice for slavers.
- The Good Captain: Inverted, he's a better man than his Foil, Captain Hoarfrost.
- Officer and a Gentleman: Fits the archetype, being an educated Grittish officer, he fortunately is the competent version.
