Characters
A wide range of colorful characters inhabit the Stygian Abyss. Those whose identities are known, and who are not classed as Monsters, are described here. Note: By its nature, any character list will inevitably contain spoilers.
The Ascendant
One of the first characters you are likely to encounter is of course your own. You play as the game's eponymous character, the Ascendant, who is transported from Earth to the Stygian Abyss, and through actions in the game, "ascends" to the ranks of the heroes of legend, uniting the factions of the Underworld in opposition to Typhon.
Speaking NPCs
Some characters will speak to you in-game, imparting words of wisdom, foolishness or deceit. While you cannot speak to any of them, some may be interacted with in other ways, such as trading.
The number of "Lines: listed for speech is only approximate, taken from text descriptions in the game's data files. The number may be greater, or may be smaller as some lines may have been skipped or obsoleted.
Name | Job | Race | Lines | Location | Interaction | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aelita | Trader | Human | 298 | Marcaul | Trading | As the quest text to meet her says: "The outcast Aelita runs the Midnight Forum, where goods are bought and sold, and contracts acquired."[1]. Cabirus adds: "Aelita brokers the contracts for the factions outside The Abyss, those unable or unwilling to enter, fearing the one-way journey."[2]. The game's trader, she also gives you various advice on adventuring in the Underworld, and allows you to take on contracts that she has brokered and normally offers to the Outcasts[3]... including herself[4]. Four feats are associated with her: making big or huge purchases or sales[5][6][7][8]. She has a limited amount of money, but it restocks each mission. |
Bertha | Housewife | Undead | 21 | Marcaul | None? | Bart and Bertha were Kickstarter pledge tier rewards, originally designed as companions. They can be found in a non-mappable, teleport-only area of Marcaul, through the portcullis opposite the Midnight Forums. |
Cabirus | Narrator | Undead | 977 | Everywhere | None | A note for voice actors in the data files says: "(‘Cab-eye-rus’- rhymes with ‘virus’)"[9]. He is the narrator of the tale, apparently the ghost of Sir Cabirus, founder of the ill-fated and arguably foolishly-thought-out colony in Underworld 1. There are many rumors of his death (he claims to have been stabbed[10], others say poison, strange magicks[11], or even a natural death), and his aim is to guide the Ascendant to heroism in the same way he has previously helped Ishtass and Pir Tama[12], in order to defeat Typhon[13]. It is he who brings you from Earth to the Stygian Abyss, as his insistence that the [Factions] address the threat of Typhon have merely alienated them, considering him suspicious[14], aggressively foolish[15] and demanding[16]. |
Chattering Bart | Between Jobs | Undead | 23 | Marcaul | None? | Bart died in a vat of mead[17][18], and has never stopped telling anyone who will listen all about it. He is Bertha's soul mate, though she claims this is only "only in like an extremely literal sense."[19] |
Haprukala | Main Mediator | Saurian | 176 | Marcaul | Rewards | Haprukala's main task in the game is to give you quest rewards, and to guide you towards non-posted quests after the training level. |
Khosnak | Shambler Mediator | Saurian | 28 | Marcaul center | None | Only 4 lines of speech appear to be used. It seems that Khosnak was originally designed to be the only mediator that you would speak to at length, as he spoke for the Shamblers, while the other faction leaders would communicate with you directly. However, they were removed and Khosnak's in-game role was scaled back to meditating and reciting a few lines of greeting, and the faction leaders were replaced with other mediators. Like the Faction leaders' lines, Khosnak's lines are now encountered in Memora. |
Resherak | Trainer | Saurian | 64 | Marcaul, Training levels | Training | Resherak's task is to allow you to convert the memora you gain from performing feats into skills.[20] |
Sabok | Expedition Mediator | Saurian | 3 | Marcaul center | None | A Saurian Meditator, except with three custom lines about the Expedition faction. |
Saurian Meditator | Meditator | Saurian | 21 | Marcaul, Training levels | None | Not to be confused with mediAtors, mediTAtors serve up lines of wisdom about adventuring in the Abyss while hovering in the air and meditating. |
Točatehala | Deep Elves' Mediator | Saurian | 3 | Marcaul center | None | A Saurian Meditator, except with three custom lines about the Deep Elves' faction. |
Tybal | Minion of Typhon | Arch Lich | 20 | Endgame | Defeating | Tybal was a powerful Arch-mage of history, who died in battle in Tyball's Folly long ago[21], before the rise of Typhon[22]. Reading about his power inspired Draupnir to learn the dark arts[23] and go off on a quest to raise him and learn his arcane secrets[24][25][26], but this goal was stymied when Typhon summoned his spirit to his side[27][28]. Typhon then raised him[29] as an Arch Lich[30][31], more powerful than before[32] as the vessel of Typhon's power[33], making him Typhon's "most dangerous servant"[34]. |
Typhon | Global genocide | Undead | 117 | Voice only | None | The ascendant's goal through the game is to gain enough power to defeat Typhon, whose awakening will otherwise bring an end to all life. While slumbering, though, he heats the underworld, heating the lava that brings life to the factions of the Abyss.[35] |
Mentioned Characters
Some characters were mentioned by others, or otherwise left their mark around the Abyss. It should be remembered that narrators are not always reliable, and you should only trust that which you have seen with your eyes, or had confirmed from multiple sources.
Name | Notes |
---|---|
Arch Lich Rillith | Mentioned in a single piece of graffiti, "Arch Lich Rillith waits below". |
Baldred | The Expedition's Executioner, most likely a headsman[36]. Executor Rubric records in a Memora that "I suppose I should call Baldred, Expedition executioner, to sharpen his axe."[37] |
Dahlia | Sister of Draupnir, she is an Outcast and one of the Abyss' graffiti writers. She wrote only 15 of them, being far more single-mindedly focused on her quest to hunt down her brother and bring him to justice for the murder of the Outcast Elder Sven. |
Draupnir | An outcast mage, and probably the Abyss' most prolific graffiti-ist, with 81 graffiti (well, 68, as 3 were removed and marked as "[cut graffiti]", and the 9 runes shouldn't really count as separate from their descriptive text). He signed only 46 of them, but others were internally marked as "Note from Draupnir". The story of Draupnir is a sad one. Discovering the power of magic, and reading of the power of the arch-mage Tybal, he set out on a quest to raise Tybal and learn what Tybal could teach. However, before leaving for this quest, he slew the Outcast elder Sven. The guilt for this murder was, by Outcast law, shared by his family, unless they brought him to justice. So his sister Dahlia set out after him. Through his magic, he saw her hunting him, and left her messages scrawled on the walls, to help her survive in the Abyss, and to try to share with her his delight in his newfound art. But as he delved deeper into the arts, and she continued to hunt without sharing his interest, the power seemed to twist him - his love and care for her changed to irritation, impatience, and finally murderous anger. |
Elder Sven | Outcast murdered by Draupnir.[38][39][40] By Outcast law, after he fled, the responsibility for the murder fell to Draupnir's sister, Dahlia, who hunted him down in order to enact justice and lift the stain of the crime from the family.[41][42] |
Galdwain | A chef of the Expedition. One of Executor Rubric's Memora includes the line "My compliments to Chef Galdwain!"[43]. However, the chef brought trouble to the Expedition by serving up part of a Shambler, causing a quest for the player to resolve.[44] |
Garamon | Possibly dropped from the game, and intended to be a talking skull, this was referred to as "The Skull of Garamon", adjacent "The Skull of Rawstag" in the game data. Likely also related to the item Garamon's Robe of Power[45]. Garamon was the brother of Tyball in Underworld 1 |
Garuth | Expedition engineer whose clumsiness in mistaking a quarter stone of sulphur for salt is cause for a quest[46], and is mentioned in one of Executor Rubric's Memora as being punished for it.[47] |
Hig Harkens | A swordsman of the Expedition, who left graffiti around the Abyss, recording a solo quest to "reclaim The Abyss in the name of The Expedition" and "rekindle the forges"[48]. In the eleven graffiti messages of his quest, we see his character develop from a brash and jingoistic swordsman, though humbling experiences, to become an egalitarian, and ultimately a nobly self-sacrificing fighter. He is also the author of the "HH Theory" graffiti, of which the 14 entries 2, 3, 11, 15, 17, 19, 27, 41, 48, 54, 63, 65, 87, 88 exist. |
Ishtass | The discoverer of Memora, and inadvertent founder of Saurian society, though he did not live to see it prosper.[49][50] Through him, the Saureans learned the human language[51], and the tenets of his teaching (growth, enrichment, and survival) are followed by the Saureans[52] to this day, finding their echo in the Challenge of Ishtass, where the quest incites the player to "Explore. Experiment. Escape."[53] |
Mogwawg | A troublesome troll, beaten by the Exhibition, a victory they commemorate [54] in a celebration they called The Feast of Mogwawg, including a dish called "Mogwawg’s entrails".[55]/ |
Pir Tama | Pronounced (‘Peer Tah-mah’)[56] Guided by Cabirus[57], she wielded a dagger, Pir Tama's Ire[58] to lead the rebellion of the Disenthralled Elves[59] from their enthrallment to their wizard master, one of the Obsidian sorcerers who had formed their race to be their slaves[60]. She died young, but lived long enough to teach her people diplomacy and unity with the factions of the Underworld, welcoming their aid[61]. She died some years after their arrival[62], sealing the portal through which they had escaped to the Underworld.[63] |
Praxor | An agitator in the Deep Elves, Praxor accused the Expedition of cowardice in the belief that the resulting conflict would present a trial worthy of Pir Tama, resulting in a player quest to calm the sutuation[64]. Xefreyani records in a Memora that he "sowed conflict where there was none. He sought challenge as a means of enlightenment. Instead he enraged our Expedition allies".[65] |
Slasher of Veils | Mentioned by Cabirus[66] and a Hig Harkens graffiti[67], as being in the Underworld before Typhon. |
Xela | Mentioned in a single piece of graffiti, "Xela was too good for this place", and the name of a place, "Xela's Gorge", the implication is that the gorge is named after someone who killed themselves by leaping into the gorge. Alternatively, Xela and Xelva could be two spellings of the same name. |
Xelva | A generalist Disenthralled elf of unknown gender, Xelva left graffiti around the Abyss, recording a solo quest to "liberate The Abyss for The Disenthralled"[68], though the quest seems to have ended unsuccessfully after 39 days and five graffiti messages.[69] |
Zeus | Zeus was a descendant of the Titans, who he slew, after which the earth begat Typhon, who Zeus fought for centuries before imprisoning in a volcano. Not outright slaying Typhon is seen by some as a failure on Zeus' part, which is causing problems in your current time. Cabirus also claims that it is Zeus' command that prevents him from directly helping the Ascendant through the tutorial level challenges. Electrical protection items were named after Zeus (Sandals, Chain, Helm and Tunic of Zeus, as well as "Cuirass of the Sky God") but were removed from the game before release, and marked as "DEPRECATED". |
Removed Characters
While many characters were initially planned, not all who were initially designed made the final cut... though they might be found in future DLCs! Perhaps these characters do exist in the game, and have not yet been found. Perhaps they were never intended to be more than voiced memora, or perhaps they were removed for game-play reasons, time constraints, or because of the prohibitive cost of the voice acting. Regardless of the reasons, these were listed as "characters" in the game's data files, and for some of them, information about the voice-over text still remains, including what appear to be instructions on tone for voice actors. Lines from their speech have found their way instead into Memora that can be found around the game.
Name | Speech | Notes |
---|---|---|
Ceširu | 0 lines | |
Executor Rubric of the Expedition | 23 lines | Expedition faction leader. Authored many memora, and mentioned in others. |
Graag | 0 lines | |
Isilis | 0 lines | |
Issillro | 0 lines | |
Kuþiši | 0 lines | |
Paśizutolk | 0 lines | |
Rawstag | 33 lines | Possibly only a talking troll skull, this appears to be the same Rawstag that the Avatar met in Underworld I and II. He still calls you Rodriguez. |
Rešili | 0 lines | |
Sseetharee | 0 lines | |
Tuprešalaśś | 0 lines | |
Xefreyani of the Deep Elves | 18 lines | Dark Elf faction leader. Also written as Zefreyani, though this seems to be an older form. This was most likely an Elf, and was The Disenthralled's leader. Authored many memora, and mentioned in others. |
Xenith | 0 lines | Shambler faction leader. It seems Xenith was never planned to speak to the player directly, and all conversation was to take place through Khosnak, the Saurean Mediator of the Shamblers. |
Zucurik | 0 lines |
References
- ↑ resources.assets:QuestDescription/Quest_Marcaul_003
- ↑ resources.assets:VOSubtitles/vo_narrator_aelitabrokersthecontractsfor
- ↑ resources.assets:VOSubtitles/vo_narrator_butfirstseekoutaelitashearranges
- ↑ resources.assets:VOSubtitles/vo_aelita_idescendregularlyintothestygian
- ↑ resources.assets:FeatDesc/TradeBuyBig
- ↑ resources.assets:FeatDesc/TradeBuyMed
- ↑ resources.assets:FeatDesc/TradeSaleBig
- ↑ resources.assets:FeatDesc/TradeSaleMed
- ↑ resources.assets:VOSubtitles/vo_zefreyani_whilereadingancientwritings
- ↑ resources.assets:Logs/CABIRUS_PAST
- ↑ resources.assets:Logs/Memora_Swamp1_Intrigue_009
- ↑ resources.assets:Logs/CABIRUS_HEROES
- ↑ resources.assets:Logs/CABIRUS_TYPHON_2
- ↑ resources.assets:Logs/Memora_Swamp1_Intrigue_009
- ↑ resources.assets:Logs/Memora_dwarf_007
- ↑ resources.assets:Logs/Memora_elf_002
- ↑ resources.assets:VOSubtitles/vo_barttheskull_yesididperishinavatofmead
- ↑ resources.assets:VOSubtitles/vo_bertha_funnystoryaboutthatbart
- ↑ resources.assets:VOSubtitles/vo_bertha_peopleseemtothinkbartoverthere
- ↑ resources.assets:LoadScreenTips/tip33
- ↑ resources.assets:QuestDescription/Fort1_Explore_001
- ↑ resources.assets:QuestDescription/Main_Expel_001
- ↑ resources.assets:Signage/Outcast_008
- ↑ resources.assets:Signage/Outcast_010
- ↑ resources.assets:Signage/Outcast_014
- ↑ resources.assets:Signage/Outcast_024
- ↑ resources.assets:Signage/Outcast_041
- ↑ resources.assets:Signage/Outcast_042
- ↑ resources.assets:VOSubtitles/vo_haprukala_typhonhasexpendedsignificant
- ↑ resources.assets:QuestDescription/VaultofNyx
- ↑ resources.assets:VOSubtitles/vo_haprukala_typhonhasraisedthedreadmage
- ↑ resources.assets:VOSubtitles/vo_narrator_tyballnowmorepowerful
- ↑ resources.assets:VOSubtitles/vo_typhon_tyballistheveselofmypower
- ↑ resources.assets:VOSubtitles/vo_narrator_typhonhassenthismostdangerous
- ↑ resources.assets:Logs/Memora_elf_005
- ↑ resources.assets:QuestDescription/Fort1_Intrigue_010
- ↑ resources.assets:Logs/Memora_Fort1_Intrigue_005
- ↑ resources.assets:Signage/Outcast_006b
- ↑ resources.assets:Signage/Outcast_042
- ↑ resources.assets:Signage/Outcast_043
- ↑ resources.assets:Signage/Outcast_009
- ↑ resources.assets:Signage/Outcast_048
- ↑ resources.assets:Logs/Memora_Swamp1_Intrigue_007
- ↑ resources.assets:QuestDescription/Swamp1_Intrigue_007
- ↑ resources.assets:Items/PR_Garamon_Robe_of_Power
- ↑ resources.assets:QuestDescription/Swamp1_Intrigue_004
- ↑ resources.assets:Logs/Memora_Swamp1_Intrigue_004
- ↑ resources.assets:Signage/Expedition_01
- ↑ resources.assets:Logs/CABIRUS_ISHTASS
- ↑ resources.assets:VOSubtitles/vo_narrator_thatstatuedepictscannyishtass
- ↑ resources.assets:VOSubtitles/vo_resherak_wehaveishtasstothank
- ↑ resources.assets:VOSubtitles/vo_haprukala_wesauriansfollowthepath
- ↑ resources.assets:QuestDescription/ChallengeOfIshtass
- ↑ resources.assets:QuestDescription/Swamp1_Intrigue_007
- ↑ resources.assets:Logs/Memora_Swamp1_Intrigue_007
- ↑ resources.assets:VOSubtitles/vo_zefreyani_wepassedthroughtheportal
- ↑ resources.assets:Logs/Memora_elf_007
- ↑ resources.assets:QuestDescription/Volc1_Gather_002
- ↑ resources.assets:Signage/DeepElf_01
- ↑ resources.assets:Logs/Memora_elf_009
- ↑ resources.assets:Logs/Memora_Fort1_Intrigue_009
- ↑ resources.assets:Logs/Memora_elf_004
- ↑ resources.assets:Logs/Memora_elf_001
- ↑ resources.assets:QuestDescription/Fort1_Intrigue_003
- ↑ resources.assets:Logs/Memora_Fort1_Intrigue_003
- ↑ resources.assets:Logs/CABIRUS_TYPHON_1
- ↑ resources.assets:Signage/slasher
- ↑ resources.assets:Signage/DeepElf_01
- ↑ resources.assets:Signage/DeepElf_05