The crystal world is blessed with crystaline formations that contain energy the inhabitants have been mining for ages. Jules, Vy, Pierre, and Laugo were close friends who together made an eerie discovery. Deep within layers of earth, the four friends found a second type of crystal that hold an even greater power. Unlike a normal crystal which is red and warm to the touch, this second type is dark blue, cold, and flickers as if housing a blue-hot flame ("frozen fire"). Each quickly recognize the guidy and focused raw power of the dark crystal, but have different ideas what to do with it. Laugo wishes to use the power to free the Hinter people from their age-old curse, but to do that, overthrow the current ruler, a vampiric enchantment well guarded by brutal and haunting reputation. Sharing loyalty to the kingship, Jules and Pierre wish to study the crystal back in the safety of the himmendal laboratories. Vy, having loyalty to her Greyrock brethren and also to Jules, wants to save the dark crystal for themselves. Though Jules and Pierre take a stance of caution, they also distrust each other despite sharing the same goal.
Golem is a sentient robot whose origin is known to only a few. The wand he weilds was inherited from a scientist, better known for his magic performances at the time, Sebastian of Willam. Sebastian created the robot to incorporate him in his act. The title for the great unveiling read "come ye and meet the Golem of Willam." However, the act was a fiasco. Because Golem was so far beyond anything people had seen before, the crowd was frightened. So the magician and his wife (who is the magician's assistant) raised Golem like a kid. And, of course, taught him magic. Since Golem is a robot and never ages, he outlives the magician and his wife. Years and years pass, Golem stays in hiding because he's afraid of what the world would think of him. Eventually, technology evolves enough that sentient robots are everywhere. Now Golem can come out of hiding, but he's a relic from a much earlier time. He's like nothing that anyone has ever seen. He resists upgrading himself with new technology because in the early days (when people were afraid of him), the magician and his wife told Golem to always be proud of who and what he is. Golem stayed out of trouble until trouble found him. He rescued a wounded Tama during a scuffle, and they were friends at first sight. Golem is driven by the words of the magician that tell him to be a champion of good, and to lessen the suffering of others. He battles other (evil) robots that are far superior technologically, but they have never seen Golem and his magic, so they don't know how to handle him. The magic is Golem's weapon. And, with Tama's help he learns more and more magic from the magician's book that he could never figure out on his own...
Tama is a space alien who is the only survivor of her kind. When Golem found Tama wounded, he nursed her back to health but the remainder of her planet was ravaged by space pirates and left in ruins. Tama was greatful for Golem and in need of companionship, so they were since an inseperable pair. Because Golem is slow and never learned to read, Tama helps Golem decipher the magician's spellbook to wield the great wand with more power. Tama's quick wits also find herself speaking on his behalf in dire situations and diverting the duo from certain danger.
Weeble fairies are the oldest intelligent beings on the crystal planet. The weebles are peaceful creatures that don't speak a language understandable by humans, but the weebles gather information over the centuries and present it in the form of art: sculptures and hieroglyphics. Humans on the crystal planet have stumbled upon some of the weeble's creations, and ponder their meaning. The items can only be found in weeble secret lairs that are peppered throughout the landscape. The weeble fairies are the main characters' only connection to the ancient war, of which the weebles were the only known survivors. To the main characters, weeble historians are cute and fun, but their meaning starts to show through, and as time progresses, knowledge gained from the weebles sets a critical course of action to prevent history from repeating itself.
Himmendal is the heart of civilization on the Crystal World, and Jules is a Himmendal native. He is a technician who dropped out of academia to work in the field of aeronautics at a young age. Over time, his thorough foresight and skilled problem solving let him report special projects to the King's council. After earning much trust from the King, he took on a special task as part of a vetting to eventually join the council. His task was to perform reconnaissance on the remote mining town of Kirito after a legion unit that had been dispatched there dropped out of communication. Jules runs into Golem in the remote mining town after Golem and Tama crash land in the surrounding mountains. Sensing Golem and Tama's good nature, he saves them from the approaching Kirtio guards and escorts them to the governor where the three are recruited for a special mission.
At the end of the 3rd Act, the group learn that truth is stranger than fiction when Jules turns his back on a dime and decides to go back to Vy. He became charmed by the passage through the frozen orchard - a place fraught with nostalgia of Jules and Vy's time together. He is with Vy up through the completion of the game and therefore plays no more role in the groups progress.
Pierre is captain of the legion unit originally dispatched to Kirito and which fell out of communication. His proper education and innate talents in phylosophy and business make him a natural leader. Cautious and thoughtful, he is often referred to amongst his battalion as `the voice of reason.` Pierre and Jules were childhood friends but this is known to only a few. Up to the end, it isn't clear why Pierre and Jules do not cooperate well as they once did. Pierre is an unwaveringly loyal person. He is loyal to the himmendal king and the himmendal legion's motto of ruling the land in peace. But twisted by the same loyalty are his undying affections for his friend Laugo, almost regardless of Laugo's growing insidiousness. Pierre's reservation, ommission of opinion, and periodic times of mysterious disappearance throughout the game cloud his real intentions. From first appearance until the end, it is never quite clear which `side` Pierre is on.
The king of Himmendal is without blood heirs to the throne and is faced with the difficult decision whether to give the crown to Jules or to Pierre. Jules's quick gravitation toward just decisions versus Pierre's hesitation makes the king favor Jules. Pierre senses this, and while Jules is out on a dire mission, decides to inact plans to prevent Jules from returning to the kingdom.
Later in the game and around the same time that Jules flabbergasts the group by returning to Vy's side, Pierre returns revealing that he's studied the ways of the illyite and shows that he's transformed his rank (and being) into a Paladin (a warrior of light).
Revealed mid game to be the older brother of Jules. Witchy smart scholar Laugo was a prodigy alchemy student until a laboratory accident left him bed ridden. In a long road to recovery, Laugo bathed in the toils of his mind while watching his closest friends continue a normal life. He wrestled with his logical self to find forgiveness in the alchemy teacher, Professor K, who was resposible for the accident. During his years in the bed Laugo fell out of touch with his family, but he would eventually receive his warm welcome. After his recovery, the sense of abandonment drove Laugo into the upper hinter land regions of the Crystal World where his oratory skills won him a high seat amongst outsider clan known as the Pale Circius. Clad in burn scars from the accident, Laugo found that these features were not a hinderance amongst the group of rabscalions, but rather, embued him with a sense of immortallity and strengthened bond that together, filled all his spaces and made him forget his pain. Mostly. But one incling that Laugo could not shake, however, was his resentment due to the lost affections of his childhood best friend, Pierre. In the years that followed, Laugo would ammass power in the clan and the ability to mobilize them in a way never before seen by prior leadership. By chance, Laugo runs into Pat and the party within the Kirito mines ...
After Laugo wins the party's trust during the battle of hinter regions, he deceives the group by killing the Gem King and taking his glove. Haunted by the loss of his best friend's attention while recovering from his injury, he was threatened by Patt's growing bond with Gem King and jealous to attain the Gem King's power and wisdom. The glove being a spoil of war and enchanted relic that packs a powerful punch, it also comes at a cost. Before The Gem King won the item and donned it, a witch lay upon it a curse such that it would be impossible to remove. The curse also embued the item with all the sorrow of those who had fallen victim to it in the past. With great strength, the Gem King could bare its heavy weight, but Laugo could not. With the Gem King's final breath, he condemns Laugo by saying, "... you fool, it will consume you."
Vy is Jules's ex-lover and childhood sweetheart. A master scholar with freakish skills in quick understanding and application of new knowledge. Jules fled under her wings at a young age much like a naive bee to an orchid, and fly to a trap. Over the years, Jules, who is a relentless seeker of truth and justice began to see Vy's darker side with her willingless to cut corners in her easy ascension to power. It became clear that all of Vy's sympathy and love for humanity were saved for Jules alone, and yet, this made her companionship unmatchingly seductive. Jules's choice to separate from Vy threw her off the deep end and a spiral of depression set her on a relentless, vengeful course. The poem "Frozen Hearts, Frozen Fire" is given throughout the peppering of Jules and Vy's story and embodies the love they could not make work, nor fully let go of.
Once a nefarious pirate, the Gem King retreat deep within the crystalin formations of the planet for which the Crystal World is named. One of a few of the ancient stoneyoid race who live thousands of years. Later in life he grew wise and changed his agendas for the good of humanity. His cave is laden with riches and enchanted relics of ancient civilizations - the spoils of past pilages - and though he would prefer the treasures be returned to their rightful heirs, he had grown weak in his elder state. With the company of the other stoneyoid people, his realm is a secret Crystal Kingdom of which only folk lore speaks of among the cultures on the surface. The Weewoo people have mined crystals in the Kirito mountains over centuries, feeding off of their energy. Little did they know that the crystals are actually infants of the stoneyoid race. By accident, their web of mine shafts opened up passage to the legendary Crystal Kingdom. ... But they would be stopped before finding it.
A phantom amongst the Light dimmension, it is unclear how the Dark Oracle came to be. As an apparition, he can only project his dark prophecy with the intention of openning the dark portal and to once again free those locked behind it. A war eons ego between two races, illuminites and daerites, had set the fulcrum on which the universe balances. Illuminites were warriors of humanity, paladins of justice, and the daerites, a race of parasitic nature and pestulance. Born of the universe's first iteration of organic matter, the illuminites evolved to have Godlike capabilities, however were not immortal, as was proven in their ultimate loss of the great war. Shortly before falling into extinction, the illuminites succeeded in casting the daerites to an another universe, sealing them behind a portal closed by perpetual magic. Meanwhile, life prevailed and organic matter restarted. Born of the rudimentary civilations of the modern day, young philosephers study the cosmos and hints that are left behind by the ancient civilization. The prophets predict the existance of the dark portal and refer to it as the Blood Mirror.
A Kirito native amongst the crystal mining Weewoo people, sneaky knife and thievery specialist, Sally stole Jules's heart while he was stationed at Kirito for his reconnaissance mission. With a heart of gold and slightly vulnerable nature, she provided Jules all of the pieces previously missing from the instinctual puzzle.
Kirito native Sweet Lou Dunbar is a sharp observer who figured out that Jules is a spy from neighboring Himmendal. Valuing pranks and humor, he decided to befriend Jules rather than expose him. His brutish strength allows him to weild an axe and barrel through areas that might otherwise be inpentrable.
In the great war, all remote civilization across the universe watched in awe, the match of eons: Illuminites versus Daerites in a battle that would decide the fate living creatures. When the tides turned in a clear direction, the illimunites effected a last resort before succumbing to the overwhelming dark presence. As a final trick of epic magery, they opened a portal to a dark universe and cast the Daerites behind it. Daerites would live to see another day, but as victors behind prison walls that were sealed by perpetual magic.
illuminites could not expel all of the remnant dark energy, they managed to encapsulate it, but this left a key behind that could be used to open it. The remaining dark matter was funneled into host crystals, sent deep within caverns of the crystal earth, where for eons, the secret cache lie dormant. Snow, rain, and geological events would push up adamant mountainous regions of crystal, and yet, the dark ones remain safe underneath.
These crystalline regions of the earth were also where the stonyoid race dwell; in addition to masterful hiding, the illuminites had chosen great keepers. The dark crystals beckoned the stonyoids from the energy trapped within, whispering unintelligible tongues, and shimmering incessant lure, but the stonyoids bore the burden of the secret well, and kept it safe amongst themselves.
But the stonyoids knew that this was a temporary solution. The moment had been long since imminent, perhaps not today or tomorrow, but the upper world should eventually find dark energy. And when they do, shall it be used for the good or evil of man? The answer lies in the heart of the beholder. The promise and draw a ticking hour glass that streams anticipation for the predicament that will define a new age: the inevitable dark renaissance where dark meets light once again in showdown.
The Gem King is actually an imposter and nefarious pirate named Bon`shaladin. His false connection with the ancient stonyoids is explained later, but we learn the former through interaction with his old companion, Bo Jangles. Both the gem king and Bo Jangles are empowered by enchanted relics, Bon - the power glove, and Bo - the power amulet. As it happened, retreating pirates deep into the caverns of the earth were the first to discover the dark gems, and their awesome power. This treasure was even more tantalizing than those of the upper world that they seeked to hide. When the (faux) king joins the main party and heads to the surface at treasure cove, he knows that his return bodes ill. But, being accompanied by his new, strong companions, Bon'shaladin feels encouraged to face his haunts of the past. As the group approach the cove, they are in turn, met by the enchanted spirit of Bo Jangles, who was stirred by the Gem King's return to the surface. Having been double-crossed by Bon', and damned to a cursed, undead life, he has more than a simple qualm with the faux king.
[pre-battle monologue:]
"Bon`shaladin, one gem was supposed to be yours, one mine, you kept both for yourself. Overrun with greed, you broke a promise with your closest mate. Mutiny in the fullest, but you gave up the crew in favor of spending 1000 years holed-off in your impervious kingdom. Not a day passed without wonder if you cared that I was left to rot in these infinite, and cursed tides. Never bein' able to live, never bein' able to die. Seeing your pretty flesh before mine undead eyes, makes clear the full breadth of your deceit. Now it's time for you to pay your debt. Have at you!"
