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Meji Hinadori

A seventeen year old half-elf mage, though she ages more slowly than a normal human would making her look more in the area of twelve. While she starts out irresponsible, selfish, power-hungry, and a bit sadistic she slowly matures over the course story, to the point where she actually feels somewhat compelled to help fix up the mistakes she has made. She is somewhat Genre Savvy, lampshading or invoking several of the tropes on this page by name. She had a crush on Ian, though after he went off the deep end and embarked on a genocidal campaign to exterminate the elves she (mostly) got over it. However, recent events have almost certainly set the two of them back on a collision course (assuming there was a time when they weren't on one, anyway), as she's absorbed the essence of the elven god Senilis.

Tropes associated with Meji:

• A God Am I: Funny story, actually. this was the plan Meji had for her final project to graduate from her magic academy. And she actually did it...and still ended up failing the class.
• Badass Boast that doubles as a Kirk Summation:

"There are exactly 763 elves still alive inside this mountain. Some are scared, some are injured, some are buried under the wreckage and will soon die without aid. But 763 are alive. At least for the moment. I can tell because I can feel their heartbeats... every single one... and yours too. I want you to remember that... and remember that I am not the half elf that attacked you today. I'm not Ian because if you do something to make me or any half elf angry... I won't show up here to kick up some dust and make a mess like he would. You will simply stop... fall down dead as I end those heartbeats. And that will be that! Now that we have established that... I suggest you stop bothering me and go save the elves trapped in there while there's still time.

• Character Development: See that Badass Boast above? That was in response to an elf who had just told her that he and his would hunt her to the ends of the earth if she didn't give up her godly powers. Imagine this Meji showing that kind of restraint.
• Decoy Protagonist: Jon and Sarine are the main characters, although Meji is still very important.
• Detached Sleeves: after her mid-series costume change. Her mother is also a fan of this trope.
• Disappeared Dad: Meji's father, the elven ambassador to Tsuiraku, only visits the city about once every two decades. On his previous trip he fathered Meji and he remains unseen until he returns 17 years later. He turns out to be a bit of a dick.
• Genre Savvy
• Half-Human Hybrid: Half-elf, to be precise.
• Lolicon: According to Ellis, these were the only people interested in Meji in Tsuiraku, since being a half-elf makes her look younger than she is.
• Older Than They Look: She's 17 but looks 12 because she's a half-elf. This leads to all kinds of angsting and insecurities.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: She is a powerful mage despite appearing to be 12.
• Vain Sorceress: Meji's mom.
  • Unusually, played sympathetically later in the story; Meji's mother is desperately trying to retain her beauty mostly so she can still be desirable to the dashing, immortal elf lord who serves as ambassador to her city every seventeen years. He turns out to be a complete dick who is perfectly fine with the idea of killing his own daughter as a way of maintaining his reputation and apparently was rather vicious in brushing off Meji's mom when they met again after she had carried the torch for seventeen years.
  • Meji mentions that there's a bit of a Double Standard involved here. Then Ellis points out that she might qualify herself, given her reasons for studying polymorph magic.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: with Ellis.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: sort of. She never knew her father, and wants to see him at least once to know why he left her. Given that he considers her an abomination as a Half-Elf, this isn't the best idea.
• Yaoi Fangirl with a little Comedic Sociopathy: http://errantstory.com/2003-02-21

Ellis

Meji's familiar and proof that Cats Are Mean, Ellis is a loud, obnoxious, winged cat who is (unfortunately) also Made of Iron.

Tropes associated with Ellis:

• Cats Are Mean
• Petting Zoo People - eventually.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Made of Iron
• Snarky Non-Human Sidekick
• Vitriolic Best Buds: with Meji
• Sacrificial Lion Cat: By Cessation of Existence. Uncertain yet if Ellis is also a Schrödinger's Cat.

Jon Amraphel

A Hitman with a Heart, he starts out trying to maintain an image as a stoic assassin, but that quickly fades as he shows his true colors. The resident Badass Normal, among a cast of magic users he is the only one without a spark of magical talent in him yet is able to defeat most enemies with a combination of creativity, luck, and sharpshooting. Though on the surface he can appear to be rude, crude, and a bit dim, he can be quite clever at times and is something of a Deadpan Snarker, especially around Sarine. He also never hesitates to tell any of the several thousand year old elves exactly what he thinks of them.

Tropes associated with Jon:

• Badass Longcoat: at least until the group goes to see the elven ruling council
• Badass Normal: He's killed elves, fucked one, shot a tiny demigod, beaten magic lightsaber-wielding warrior-monks, and generally survived countless situations where by all rights he should have been toast. All without a spark of magical talent.
  • Maybe...
• Combat Pragmatist: One of the main reasons he can go toe-to-toe with sorcerers and time-ninjas.
• Deadpan Snarker: Especially when dealing with Sarine.
• Disappeared Dad: Sara and Jon's father was killed many years before the main story takes place.
• The Gunslinger: His weapon of choice is a revolver, though he's not averse to sniper rifles.
• Guns Akimbo: Jon has been known to use two revolvers in a pinch.
• Hitman with a Heart: Jon has a soft spot for anything with ovaries Mentioned by name by Meji.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: He keeps his skills sharp by shooting leaves as they fall from trees.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Jon is a master of this. He plays it up when meeting anyone new, generally causing them to severely underestimate him.
• Professional Killer: Jon is a member of the Gewehr Wraiths, an assassins' guild.
• Strong Family Resemblance: with Sara, Lampshaded by Sarine here.

Sara: (with a puzzled expression) What? Sarine: Please don't do that again. You were just beard stubble away from looking exactly like your brother does when I confuse him.

• • An elven Mook also points out the similarity here.
• Talk to the Fist: Done here, after he provokes the other man into arguing with him face to face so that he won't notice the revolver suddenly being drawn and aimed at his midsection.
• The Stoic: tried to be one, but failed miserably.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: With Sarine. Even actual sex doesn't resolve it.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: with Sarine, to an extent.

Ian Samael

A forty year old half-elf mage looking for a way to heal his ailing sister. He starts out as an all around nice guy (if a bit Wangsty) who constantly worries over the very real possibility of the elves finding and killing him and his loved ones. It doesn't last. Soon after he gets separated from the group he absorbs the powers of the goddess Anilis and becomes a Physical God, albeit a very insane one. After he fails to bring back his now dead sister from the grave he proceeds to blame the elves for all the world's problems and sets out to exterminate the elven race.

Tropes associated with Ian:

• Big Bad
• Dead Little Sister: In this case dead big sister.
• Death Seeker: made worse by the fact that he possesses god-like powers, is Made of Iron, and has a Healing Factor. So far his attempts to get himself killed have only ended up killing hundreds of innocent people.
• Drunk with Power: after absorbing the power of the goddess Anilis.
• Evil Feels Good: When he attacks the elven city, Ian realizes that he enjoys killing people. Though he's a little disturbed by that at first, he quickly gets past that and embraces his genocidal tendencies.
• Face Heel Turn: after failing to resurrect his dead sister, he embarks on a campaign of genocide.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: when channeling the power of the goddess Anilis.
• A God Am I: Ian literally absorbs the goddess Anilis, one of the two elven creator gods.
• Half-Human Hybrid: A half-elf like Meji.
• Healing Factor: Ian seems to gain one after absorbing the powers of Anilis.
• Heroic Sociopath: until he absorbs the goddess Anilis and loses the 'heroic' part.
• I Cannot Self-Terminate: primarily because he's simply too cowardly. He tries Suicide by Cop, only to end up killing hundreds of innocent people in the process. And it doesn't work.
• Ignored Epiphany: "Oh, dear Lord, I actually have zombie minions. Yep, I guess I really am evil."
• Ill Girl: Ian's sister and his reason for leaving home.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Ian, after he tries and fails to bring his sister back from the dead, ends up blaming the elves for all of the world's problems and embarks on a campaign of extermination. After that he pretty much commits genocide wherever he goes.
• Moral Event Horizon: destroying Emerylon and killing hundreds of innocent people because he was too cowardly to take his own life. Considered an in universe example, as well.
• Mugged for Disguise: Ian sucker-punches a priest and steals his robes so that he can get into a restricted library. He later mugs another man for his travel ticket. He even lampshades this:

Ian: ... and I'm mugging another old man... I really need to stop making a habit of this. At least it's not a priest this time.

• Older Than They Look: like all half-elves.
• Pay Evil Unto Evil: Ian's goal. He believes he's justified in trying to kill every elf in the world because some of them tried (and are still trying) to kill all the half-elves. Like most things, the moral quandaries inherent in the situation are lost on him.
• Person of Mass Destruction: once he gets his hands on the powers of the elven creator goddess Anilis.
• Physical God: See above.
• Suicide by Cop: Ian's reason for destroying Emerylon. The fact that he failed, and instead ended up killing hundreds of innocent people for nothing was the first part of his Face Heel Turn. His final attempt at this, however, succeeded. His attempt at exterminating the elves forced a response from Meji, likely the only being on earth capable of stopping him.
• Villainous Breakdown: during his final fight with Meji, after she interrupts his slaughter of the Elves. "I was just trying to help!"
• Wangst: Ian pretty much has a monopoly on this. Other characters have gotten angsty in a scene or two for completely legitimate reasons, but destroying a city and killing hundreds in a failed attempt at Suicide by Cop and then trying to exterminate an entire race of people all because of the deaths of two people, one of which wasn't even really his fault? That takes the cake.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: He wants to make sure that the half-elves of the world won't have to live in fear of elven aggression. Unfortunately, his method of making this happen involves killing off all of the elves. Of course, he looses the "well intentioned" bit when it's revealed that he blew up the city of Emerylon and killed hundreds if not thousands of innocent people in an attempt to provoke the defending Veracians into killing him because he wanted to die and was to much of a coward to kill himself. And on top of that it didn't work, he killed all the Veracians who tried to stop him, including their artificial god, destroying the city in the process.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds
• Your Head Asplode: One of his preferred methods of killing individual people, when he isn't destroying cities in one go.

Sarine Elle

A three thousand year old elven ranger who fought in the Errant War that heralded the end of the elven empire, she walks the earth killing any errants (half-elves who have gone insane) left over from the war. She has a lot of emotional baggage but rarely shows it and was, in fact, rather emotionless for most of her early appearances. Being forced into new and bizarre situations for the first time in a thousand years has defrosted her a bit, though. She's revealed herself to be something of a Deadpan Snarker, particularly when around Jon.

Tropes associated with Sarine:

• Action Girl
• Badass Longcoat: after her midseries change in wardrobe.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Sarine, who has opened up and shown her inner Deadpan Snarker more and more over the course of the story, especially around Jon.
• If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Sarine delivered such a speech to former Ambassador Rarune regarding Rarune's half-elf daughter Meji.

Sarine: If something happens to her, whether or not it was your fault, I'll come back and kill you.

• Innocent Fanservice Girl: Played with. Jon interrupts Sarine while she's taking a bath, but although she doesn't get freaked out or try to cover herself, she's obviously annoyed and finds the interruption rude. So basically, fanservice yes, innocent no. Also subverted later: "Having no cultural nudity taboo doesn't work that way."
• In the Hood: Sarine wears one to conceal her telltale elven ears, though one of her fellow elves points out that it's not particularly subtle.
• Jedi Mind Trick: Sarine makes extensive use of this, including deleting a portion of Jon's memory when, out of emotional distress, she sleeps with him and to control a bandit they find in the woods in Farrel.
• Letting Her Hair Down: Sarine's mid series outfit change, giving up her armor (which had been rather useless up to that point) in favor of something lighter (and more flattering). It coincides with her starting to defy her elven superiors and open up a bit more to the other main characters.
• Mayfly-December Romance: She was once married to a human. She marries Jon after the story is over, and outlives him too.
• Only Sane Man: She seems to be the only reasonable elf we meet, and often acts as the voice of reason with her companions.
• Really Seven Hundred Years Old: More like 3000.
• Unequal Pairing: Sarine was once a Viradior married to an Ensigerum warrior-monk, who originally were human guards trained by the Viradior to fight as champions for the elves.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: With Jon. Apparently, she really doesn't want it resolved, since the one time they actually have sex, she wipes his memory of it.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: with Jon, to an extent. Also with Sarna for the past two millennia, if their final, fatal dialogue is any indication.

Sara Amraphel

Jon's estranged sister and a relatively new addition to the group, she was a warrior-monk trained in The Spartan Way to ridiculous extremes. Between her intense physical training and magical abilities she can move faster than the human eye can track, dodge bullets, and is generally the group's physical powerhouse. She rarely speaks, more often than not communicating through looks and ellipses. She speaks a little elvish, though her training as a warrior-monk has left her with atrocious people skills.

Tropes associated with Sara:

• Action Girl
  • Dark Action Girl: before her Heel Face Turn
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Like Sarine, Sara has warmed a little bit, though she's been a bit slower and more awkward about it.
• Disappeared Dad: Sara and Jon's father was killed many years before the main story takes place.
• Distracted by the Sexy: A Tsuiraku battle-mage named Jiro ends up distracted by Sara of all people.
• Apparently, Sara made quite the impression on Jiro. Enough so that he actually asked after her later. Like Bani, the rest of us wonder what kind of freaky ninja sex technique she used on him.
• Double Weapon: Sara and Anita both make use of a double bladed Dolon style Durus Flamma, though other Ensigerum monks such as Warrel and Paul utilize a more practical Lancea (spear) form while still others such as Sarine's late husband used the more compact Spatha version. Sarine, during a fight with Sara, Lampshades this, stating that it is a poor weapon that was designed mainly for show and combines the weaknesses of a short sword and a spear into one crappy package. Despite this, Sara and Anita are skilled enough to overcome this handicap in most cases.
• Emotionless Girl: a homicidal 'raised as a soldier' version.
• Full-Contact Magic: Ensigerum warrior-monks makes extensive use of this, when they aren't just beating the living crap out of people normally that is.
• Heel Face Turn
• Jobber: in one chapter. Mentioned by name here.
• Off with His Head: to an elf named Rainae.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: she is a deadly warrior-monk despite still being relatively young.
• Strong Family Resemblance: with Jon
• The Stoic: though she's started to talk more as of late.
• The Worf Effect: Lampshaded, with a Shout-Out to TV Tropes, here.

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