History Characters / AgeOfWonders

* BossBattle: Appears with the "Demon Prince" map presence trait, where he starts with a large throne city, two extra cities, and the [[BigRedDevil Demonkin and [[EvilIsBigger Supergrowth]] racial transformations. Defeating Karavar becomes a special victory condition for the match.

* CastingAShadow: Specializies into the Shadow affinity, and upon being defeated she makes her escape from the caldera through a portal of darkness before the player can properly banish her to the void. [[spoiler:A hint that she's no mere wizard, as the demonic Khir Uranon is the only other opponent able to to pull a similar escape.]]

[[folder:Khir Uranon]]
The name Khir Uranon has often been spoken in dread whisper. Those that know his name know him to be a demonic manipulator, whose mastery of the forge is fueled by a callous disregard for the souls he infuses his creations with.\\

The Blackfurred Forgelings are known for their prodigious strength and merciless cruelty, both aspects forged in the fires of their masters' ancient crucibles. Here, they help him utilize the souls of those that fall before them to power demonic artifacts\\

Khir is a Champion armed with the Tome of the Horde, leading an Industrious culture named "Blackfurred Forgelings".

* CatsAreMean: His people have the Feline form and the Scions of Evil society trait, which gravitates them towards evil.
* NonPlayerCharacter: Is not part of the library of playable pre-set characters, and only takes to the field as an NPC in the third story realm.

[[folder:Kruul Blightlord]]
Kruul embodies the prowess of his kin, despising any lies propagated against his people. He especially hates the one regarding his origins that suggests they were the results of a Godir's experimentation crossbreeding rodents and humans, and that in a moment of bloodlust they ate their own creator. Any hint of that story will drive him into a murderous frenzy.\\

The Fiendish Rodents strive to embody their master's best qualities. As such, they are driven by an insatiable bloodlust and almost gleeful addiction to malevolence and pain.\\

Kruul is a Champion armed with the Tome of the Horde, and leads a Barbarian culture named "Fiendish Rodents".

* PoisonousPerson: Kruul Blightlord's starting weapon is a poison orb, and the Savage Strike trait of all Barbarian units gives them [[PoisonedWeapons bonus blight damage]] each time they score a CriticalHit in battle.
* ZergRush: With the Overwhelm Tactics mind trait, the [[ExplosiveBreeder Prolific Swarmers]] society trait and the Tome of the Horde, Kruul's basic strategy is to bury his enemies with masses of cheap, but deceptively hard-hitting, tier-I units.

[[folder:Lithyl Nightweaver]]
[[quoteright:325:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ageofwonderslithylnightweaver.png]]
%%[[caption-width-right:325:some caption text]]
Rumors surround the origins of enigmatic Lithyl Nightweaver, the half-masked wizard who seemed to appear from the Astral Void itself. Shortly after her arrival on Magehaven she joined the Shad'rai on their quest for power over others. Charming and conniving, she seems to be one of many mad Godir, haunted by her Torment of Shadows. But Lithyl specifically stands out for her talent of appearing and disappearing at opportune times.\\

Not all who wander the astral sea are godir. Many mortals find themselves lost in its depths, forgotten, with no divine power to save them. One godir has taken it upon herself to save these lost souls. Lithyl Nightweaver reaches out an eldritch hand to pull the Forgotten Ones from the void, no matter how haunted and scarred it has left them. Whatever her ulterior motives may be, Lithyl has won her people's undying devotion.\\

Lithyl is a Wizard King armed with the Tome of Cryomancy, leading a Mystic culture named "Forgotten Ones".

* HeroAntagonist: In Story Realm V. [[spoiler:He's a heroic champion of the Archons fighting side by side with members of the Covenant to protect Grexolis from an invasion by the Shad'rai, a villainous faction of evil Wizard Kings.]]
* NonStandardCharacterDesign: Turiel's people, the Onmar, are one of only two in ''Age of Wonders 4'' to have a distinct name, as opposed to the usual pattern of "adjective nouns".

* NonStandardCharacterDesign: Turiel's people, the Onmar, are the only ones in ''Age of Wonders 4'' to have a distinct name, as opposed to the usual pattern of "adjective nouns".

* PoisonousPerson: Kruul Blightlord's starting weapon is a poison orb, and the Primal Strike trait of all Barbarian units gives them [[PoisonedWeapons bonus blight damage]] the first time they attack during a battle.

* WellDoneSonGuy: Decimus and his people have already been cast aside by [[TheMaker their creator]], Nimue, but the Crusading Croakers are convinced that they can somehow regain her favor, even if they aren't sure why she rejected them to begin with. It takes a little push from the player before Decimus is willing to betray Nimue.

* BossBattle: In ''Age of Wonders 4'', Artica can appear on maps with the presence trait "Domain of the Frost Queen", where she begins with an established empire and minions augmented with ''frostling transformation''. Defeating Artica becomes an alternate win condition for the match.

* TheGhost: She is mentioned in the FlavorText in the Tomes of Beasts, Cycles, Nature's Wrath and the Goddess of Nature in ''4'', but she herself doesn't appear.

* DarkIsNotEvil: She's a cruel temptress who leads a faction of orcs, who are considered an "evil" race by the game, but she's strongly loyal to Gabriel and joins Merlin after learning he is the former's chosen successor. In ''Age of Wonders 4'', she's introduced as a bloodthirsty antagonist in the third chapter of "Rise of the Godir". Later, in the second chapter of "Ashes of the Past", she makes a surprise reappearance at the Sahrian Trial -- an event that Meandor set up so that groups of wizards could hopefully resolve an ownership dispute peacefully, with the implication that the participants (including her) were hand-picked for being fairly level-headed [[spoiler:despite the HatePlague currently raging on Magehaven]]. While she's unapologetic about her behavior, mocks the other participants to their faces, and openly hopes for diplomacy to break down, she won't voice any complaint if the player chooses to befriend everyone.

* DarkIsNotEvil: She's a cruel temptress who leads a faction of orcs, who are considered an "evil" race by the game, but she's strongly loyal to Gabriel and joins Merlin after learning he is the former's chosen successor.
** In ''Age of Wonders 4'', she's introduced as a bloodthirsty antagonist in the third chapter of "Rise of the Godir". Later, in the second chapter of "Ashes of the Past", she makes a surprise reappearance at the Sahrian Trial -- an event that Meandor set up so that groups of wizards could hopefully resolve an ownership dispute peacefully, with the implication that the participants (including her) were hand-picked for being fairly level-headed [[spoiler:despite the HatePlague currently raging on Magehaven]]. While she's unapologetic about her behavior, mocks the other participants to their faces, and openly hopes for diplomacy to break down, she won't voice any complaint if the player chooses to befriend everyone.

* PutOnABus: Joined the crusade across TheMultiverse between ''Shadow Magic'' and ''3'', along with most of the other wizards, and was stranded out there by Meandor and Merlin when they destroyed the last shadowgate.
** TheBusCameBack: ...only to return in ''Age of Wonders 4'', after the Shadow Realm is reopened.
* TenMinuteRetirement: When the Shadow Demons attack Athla, Merlin tells Julia to enlist Fangir's aid. When she meets him and his dwarves, however, he claims that he's no longer interested in fighting. He eventually relents, on the condition that Julia recovers his magic vault and destroys a Shadow Demon city.

A Tigran Arch Druid. The return of the Tigrans and the rise of the Cult of Yaka led the race to the frozen plains of Brisska with the goal of melting the ice and turning it into a burned desert. As an Arch Druid, Rowlar knows this plan would have dire consequences on Athla's ecosystem. He defects and travels to the north, where he warns Arvik and Sanhild of the Cult's ploy and asks them for help in stopping the Cult.

Knowledgable and gifted in the arcane, the Krazura still resemble their distant ancestors in many ways. However, agess of isolation within Grexolis have dulled their astral instincts and eroded their civilization, to a point that only a minority of Manuhari's inhabitants still call themselves Krazura.

* AbsoluteXenophobe: She has little tolerance for anyone intruding on Manuhari, only made worse by the aggression of the Commonwealth that arrived shortly before you did. Her faction will be at war with yours automatically, siccing the robotic defenders of the vault after you, until you prove your trustworthiness by destroying the Commonwealth intruders or by passing a sacred trial.
* HiddenElfVillage: Xandera's faction demonstrates the "Hermit Kingdom" society trait, which provides research and happiness bonuses for cities whose domains don't touch any foreign borders, and doubles the grievances recieved when other empires expand into her claimed regions without permission.

!!Other
[[folder:Urrath]]
The greatest nemesis of the Archons, Urrath is an eldritch being widely believed to be the source of all evil in the cosmos.

* TheAntiGod: Presented as the opposite counterpart of the Allfather, blamed for the creation of eldritch monsters and [[GodOfEvil evil itself]].
* EarlyBirdCameo: First mentioned in the FlavorText for [[TheUndead the Necropolis subfaction]] in ''Age of Wonders 3'', where a cult dedicated to Urrath is responsible for [[WrongContextMagic animating dead Archons as bloodthirsty mummies]], providing a low-key CosmicHorrorReveal. However, ''what'' Urrath is isn't established properly until ''Age of Wonders 4''.
* GodOfEvil: Blamed in FlavorText for the existence of astral sea monsters and all mortal evil. They're also implied (through the background of the Necropolis dwelling in ''3'') to be the [[CosmicHorrorReveal ultimate source]] of TheUndead.
* GreaterScopeVillain: In ''Age of Wonders 3'', Urrath's power created the psychotic undead archons of the Necropolis dwelling. The Rise of the Godir storyline of ''4'' also implies that Urrath is the mysterious cosmic threat that the Archons are waging their multiversal crusade against.

[[folder:The Endailon]]
A group of cosmic beings who waged war against the Archons and Krazura in ages past.

* ElementalEmbodiment: Of the six magic affinities as described in ''Age of Wonders 4'': Order, Chaos, Materium, Astral, Nature and Shadow. In-universe scholars are unsure whether the Endailon are merely MadeOfMagic or [[SentientCosmicForce the very source of magic itself]].
* EldritchAbomination: The straightest example in a series that is no stranger to sanity-damaging eldritch beings. The Endailon are unfanthomably ancient {{Elemental Embodiment}}s of the different forms of magic. Their very existence slowly warps mortal minds across the cosmos, and in their heyday they went around annihilating entire worlds and civilizations.
* EmotionBomb: The Endailon of [[ChaosIsEvil Chaos]] is able to inspire [[HatePlague reckless, warmongering aggression]] in mortals. Its influence turns Edward Portsmith and his troops into wizard-hating {{Knight Templar}}s, and sows discord and infighting among the rest of the godir that even Magehaven's TruceZone magic struggles to contain.
* SealedEvilInACan: The Endailon were sealed (alongside a good chunk of TheMultiverse as collateral damage) inside the world-vault of Grexolis by [[{{Precursors}} the Krazura and Archons]] to stop their rampage across the whole of creation. [[spoiler:Sundren]] lets them out, as a way to cross the GodzillaThreshold.
* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: Implied. The Endailon are rendered as indistinct humanoid shadows backlit with the color of their related affinity, and their dialogue comes across more like a surge of thought and emotion than coherent speech. In the Sahrian Trials mission, the player gets a suggestion from Meandor to try psychically contacting the force responsible for the HatePlague overtaking all the wizards, which turns out to be the Endailon of Chaos. It works in identifying the threat, but the player's ruler is [[HPToOne immediately reduced to one hit point]].
* WalkingSpoiler: They are what the Grexolis world vault was built to contain.

In ''Age of Wonders II'', he still rules over the Dark Elves and becomes Wizard of Death, and in ''Shadow Magic'' he, Julia, and a few other wizards defeat the Shadow Demons with Merlin's help. Meandor also returns in ''Age of Wonders 4'' as a Wizard King armed with the Tome of Souls, leading a Dark culture.

* {{Necromancer}}: Employs necromancy in ''Age of Wonders'' to [[spoiler:bring King Inioch back from the dead, which [[MonsterFromBeyondTheVeil backfires horribly]]]]. In ''Age of Wonders 2'', Meandor is a wizard of the Death sphere. In ''4'' he starts with the Tome of Souls, and is introduced ruling a realm overrun with the undead.

She returns in ''Age of Wonders 3: The Eternal Lords'' as a High Elf Necromancer, [[spoiler:having returned from the dead using the Oscellator Gem, which is actually her SoulJar.]] She also returns in ''Age of Wonders 4'' as a Champion armed with the Tome of Souls, leading a Dark culture named "Undead Lichbringers".

* {{Necromancer}}: A master of the Death sphere. She's single-handedly responsible for the existence of the Undead in the world by activating the Horn of the Dead. Her return in ''3'' coincides with the rise of new necromancer-lords on the Blessed Continent, as she adopts a cabal of students to further her schemes. In ''4'', she starts the game with the Tome of Souls, the basic necromancy SpellBook.

Gloom is a Champion armed with the Tome of Souls, leading a Dark culture named "Corrupted Goblins".

* {{Necromancer}}: Starts with the Tome of Souls, the most basic necromancy tome.

Noctus is a Wizard King armed with the Tome of Souls, leading a Mystic culture named "Erudite Orcs".

* {{Necromancer}}: Noctus starts with the Tome of Souls, and his scholarly people employ necromancy to obtain first-hand accounts of ancient civilizations from the spirits of the dead.

Skogan is a Champion armed with the Tome of Souls, leading a Dark culture named "Skogan's Fanatics".

* {{Necromancer}}: Skogan starts with the Tome of Souls, the most basic necromancy tome.

Kralicavir is a Dragon Lord armed with the Tome of Souls, leading a Dark culture named "Collected".

* {{Necromancer}}: Melenis taught him necromancy, which he uses to win against the other suitors competing for Sanhild's favor and restore his clan to its former glory.

Wizard of Air and one of the leaders of the Draconians.

A Tigran Arch Druid. The return of the Tigrans and the rise of the Cult of Yaka led the race to the frozen plains of Brisska with the goal of melting the ice and turning it into a burned desert. As an Arch Druid Rowlar knows this plan would have dire consequences on Athla's ecosystem. He defects and travels to the north, where he warns Arvik and Sanhild of the Cult's ploy and asks them for help in stopping the Cult.

* GeneralRipper: Inverted in ''4''. While she's found prosecuting a war against the Krazura's HiddenElfVillage on [[RogueProtagonist Edward's orders]], the "
"reconcile both sides" path sees Valery admit that she's barely in control of her troops, and she asks the player to take out some of the more influential rogue officers so she can restore order and sue for peace. [[spoiler:It quickly becomes apparent that there's a HatePlague involved in making the Commonwealth troops so aggressive.]]

* RogueProtagonist: Becomes this during the "Ashes from the Past" storyline in ''4''. Being cast adrift in the astral void (which has a built-in PsychologicalTormentZone) causes his anger and despair over the fall of Athla to grow into [[KnightTemplar an obsessive hatred of the Wizard Kings]]. He and his men embark on a campaign to "liberate" realms, destroying anyone who would [[CategoryTraitor support or even tolerate]] the rule of a Wizard King. [[spoiler:It's later revealed that Edward's aggression is being [[EmotionBomb magnified]] by an EldritchAbomination that embodies the warmongering [[ChaosIsEvil Chaos]] affinity. Defeating him or sealing off the realm from the astral sea causes Edward to return to his senses and be horrified by his previous actions.]]