The Order of the Stick/Characters/Azure City

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Azure City

Elan: Did you guys know that Azure City is the largest trading port in Southern lands?
Thousands of ships come from all around the world to barter for fine Southern goods like silk, spices, and video games.
The average temperature for this season is 63° F, with average yearly precipitation of 26.43 inches.
Roy: Ladies and gentlemen, I give you a successful Bardic Knowledge check.

Miko Miyazaki

"By the Twelve Gods and in the name of Lord Shojo, I demand to know: Who removed the tag from this mattress?!?"

A dutiful and powerful paladin of the Sapphire Guard whose conviction is, perhaps, too great. Reared in a monastery, she'd taken a few levels of monk before becoming a paladin.

Roy Greenhilt: It's like she has that monk class ability that lets you jump as far as you want, only to her, it applies to conclusions.

Vaarsuvius: As the shrew has perished, we are no longer bound by the anchor that has hung around our neck for weeks! Let her death ring in a new era of freedom for the "Order of the Stick".
(pause)
She is, naturally, directly behind me.
Miko: Naturally.


Lord Shojo

"Paranoia? I rule a city where I have to fake senility just to avoid being assassinated. I took Improved Paranoia like 5 levels ago."

  • Race: Human
  • Gender: Male
  • Class: Aristocrat
  • Alignment: Chaotic Good

Former ruler of Azure City; Shojo's father was the first ruler of Azure to be commander of Soon Kim's Sapphire Guard. Shojo inherited this role, but is in no way a paladin himself (instead, he is an aristocrat, a NPC class). He faked senility to keep the nobility from assassinating him while keeping them in check, and devised complex schemes to get what he wanted done without ticking off the paladins and violating their code of honor.

Shojo: Hey! Who's the wizened old man dispensing valuable plot point here? You? Didn't think so. Now pipe down!


Hinjo

"I certainly can, provided the Twelve Gods agree."

  • Race: Human
  • Gender: Male
  • Class: Paladin
  • Alignment: Lawful Good

Current ruler of Azure City, now in exile. He is the nephew of Lord Shojo and the heir to the throne, as well as the current leader of the now nearly-nonexistent Sapphire Guard. A powerful paladin, he is significantly more at-ease than Miko and prefers mounted front-line combat with his wolf, Argent.


O-Chul

"Your life is much like this Go board, my friend. You have allowed yourself to be surrounded by enemy pieces -- people who wish to bend you to their will, to remove your unique voice from the board and replace it with one of... of mindless subservience.
 But as you correctly point out, you are still holding on two empty places in the center.
They are your heart, and your mind. They are the places that make you what you really are."

  • Race: Human
  • Gender: Male
  • Class: Fighter/Paladin
  • Alignment: Lawful Good

A high-ranking and incredibly tough paladin of the Sapphire Guard, O-Chul was taken as a prisoner of war after the fall of Azure City.

Xykon: He's like the Energizer Bunny, a Rollex watch, and Jackie Chan mixed together!

  • Did We Just Have Tea with the Monster in the Darkness? Yes, repeatedly.
  • The Dog Bites Back: Nearly kills Redcloak, and puts out his right eye.
  • Dramatic Necklace Removal: With Redcloak's holy symbol.
  • Dump Stat: Charisma. This comes back to bite him when he tries to dupe Redcloak.
  • Genius Bruiser
  • Go: Play it with the MitD, to whom he taught the rules.
  • Guile Hero: Extremely adaptable. When captured, O-Chul takes advantage of the situation to get Xykon's spell list, nudge the Monster in the Darkness away from evil a bit, and when released, is in position to try to break Xykon's phylactery (but is stopped at the last second). Also capable of using Exact Words when necessary, though usually not for manipulative reasons.
  • Half Truth: He engages in some very specific wordplay when Hinjo asks him if he destroyed the Sapphire Gate because he would Never Speak Ill of the Dead.
  • Healing Hands
  • I Gave My Word
  • Improvised Weapon: He can and will use anything, from a broken cage bar to bare fists, highly effectively. Often powered-up with Smite Evil.
  • Interrogated for Nothing: Redcloak suspected he was telling the truth even before their session on the tower, but wanted to keep Xykon in the city so the hobgoblins could solidify their position.
  • Knight in Shining Armor: All the Sapphire Guards are, but O-Chul even more so. The Giant describes him as "everything right about the paladin".
  • Made of Iron: He survives a Castle-Shattering Kaboom, a tank of acid with a shark in it (multiple times, it's implied), being trapped in a cage filled with rabid dire wallabies, a staring contest with a basilisk (which he won, technically; he never blinked), along with months of torture. Some would argue that he borders on Implacable Man. According to Word of the Giant, he has a Constitution score in the mid-twenties.[1] Even better, when O-Chul breaks out, he charges Redcloak with a metal bar ripped from his cage. Redcloak nails him in the forehead with a Disintegrate, showing off O-Chul's skeleton. Not only does O-Chul shake off the hit like it was nothing, if you look closely, his skeleton has the same scar as his flesh does. The goblins tortured him so much that they forced a cut in his raw skull.
  • Never Speak Ill of the Dead
  • Not a Game: He explains to Haley that war isn't like a dungeon.
  • Odd Friendship: He and the Monster in the Darkness are quite friendly. He refers to the Monster as "Monster-san". The Monster calls him Mr. Stiffly.
  • Paladin
  • Reconstructed Trope: Reconstructs paladins as a follow-up to Miko's deconstruction of the class.
  • Samurai
  • Scars Are Forever: Despite receiving healing magic regularly, he's been tortured for so long that his body is literally covered in scars.
  • Smite Evil
  • Stock Yuck: Squid (and babies).
  • Weapon of Choice: A katana.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Sharks? Though in actuality he does not fear them, since being a paladin makes him immune to fear. It's more like they just make him oddly uncomfortable. The acid-breathing shark may have had something to do with this.


Lien

"It was pretty easy for me to put two and two together. Contrary to popular opinion, Good is not always dumb."

  • Race: Human
  • Gender: Female
  • Class: Paladin
  • Alignment: Lawful Good

Along with Hinjo and O-Chul, a paladin and one of the only surviving Sapphire Guard officers. As daughter of fishermen, her weapon and celestial mount keep a connection with the sea.

Lien: My parents were fishermen. When I was a little girl, I stood right here and learned how to clean the fish that they caught. I'm telling you this so that you know that when I say that if you take one more step, I will gut you like the catch of the day -- IT IS Not Hyperbole!


Thanh

"Let us make hasty our escape, that we might live to fight the forces of Evil another day."

  • Race: Human
  • Gender: Male
  • Class: Paladin
  • Alignment: Lawful Good

A low-ranking Sapphire Guard member who was out of town the day of the battle. Took over leadership of La Résistance after Haley left.


Daigo & Kazumi Kato

Daigo: (dying) Kazumi... is a pretty name...
Kazumi: (crying) Thank you. What's yours?
Daigo: ... ... Daigo.
(no longer dying) ... Uh? I, uh... I think I'm OK, now.
Kazumi: Wow. I guess having a name really DOES matter.

  • Race: Humans
  • Gender: Male & Female (respectively)
  • Class: Fighters
  • Alignment: Lawful Good

Regular soldiers in the Azure City army, Daigo and Kazumi refuse to be nameless Red Shirts like the rest of the army -- literally, by mentioning their names. They managed to escape Azure along with Elan, Vaarsuvius and Durkon. Daigo and Kazumi are now married, with Kazumi pregnant, and have been given the status of nobility by Hinjo. The fact that their names are known also makes them significantly more competent than regular Azurite soldiers.

Kazumi: I'm a goddamn baby-making, life-taking MACHINE!

  • Mauve Shirt: They even seem to be elevating themselves to recurring characters, near the same level as Hinjo.
  • Playing with a Trope: The purpose of their existences, as noted below:
    • Defied Trope: Red Shirt. They defied this trope, and saved Daigo's life, by mentioning their names. Daigo keeps his last name a secret in case of an emergency.
    • Lampshade Hanging: Their entire existence lampoons the concept of the Red Shirt, and Belkar refers to them as such by name.
    • Nominal Importance: Deliberately invoked by Kazumi so she can save her own life and Daigo's in this strip.
    • Subverted Trope: Red Shirt again, naturally, along with Redshirt Army. Even before that, their class is fighter, a character class. The majority of the NPCs are warrior (which is basically the same class without the feats), making them Elite Mook by default.
  • Pregnant Badass: Kazumi, of course. Heck, she's the one pictured on the trope's page.

Kazumi: You stupid pieces of @#!%. I was in the army, too, and I didn't forget four years of training the moment my egg's perimeter was breached. You think just because I can't see my feet right now that I can't put one of them up your cowardly ninja asses? Please.


Daimyo Kubota

"Well done, Therkla. You managed to weasel your way out of responsibility for your own actions like a seasoned veteran. I couldn't be prouder if you were my own flesh and blood."

A scheming aristocrat and Therkla's employer, intent on assassinating Hinjo and taking over after Shojo's death.


Therkla

"Actually, it's completely true. Our master DID order us to lure you here and kill you. I was just hoping... I was hoping you could be my boyfriend instead."

Half-orc ninja, under the employ of Daimyo Kubota. Poisoned by Kubota so he could escape, she dies in Elan's arms.


Niu

"Yeah, what was I thinking, not advertising [I multiclassed to rogue] to the team's paladin."

  • Race: Human
  • Gender: Female
  • Class: Fighter/Rogue
  • Alignment: Neutral Good (probably)

A low-rank soldier seconding Haley and later Thanh in the Azure City Resistance.

Niu: ... You're the bravest man I've ever met.
Thanh: And you're the slowest woman! RUN!

Niu: So, wait, when you said that the prison would be guarded by a skeleton crew during the speech, you didn't literally mean a--


General Chang

"Prepare to hold this breach at all cost, men"

  • Race: Human
  • Gender: Male
  • Class: Warrior
  • Alignment: Lawful Good (presumably)

The General of the Azure City Soldiers.

  • Commander Contrarian: Criticizes V's plan to put only 13 guards at the wall opening, but soon withdraws his complaint.
  • Famous Last Words: "You'll never take this city while I'm alive, monster!"
  • Good Counterpart: To the Hobgoblin General. Both are commanding officers, the Hobgoblin General follows orders without question, but Chang questions orders that could result in casualties.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Courtesy of the Death Knight.


Sangwaan

"In the few hours since we learned of the threat, we diviners have done our best to scry the invading army."

  • Race: Human
  • Gender: Female
  • Class: Wizard (diviner)
  • Alignment: Lawful Good (presumably)

A blind seer who serves as an adviser to Shojo and later Hinjo. Aside from Shojo, the only known member of the Sapphire Guard who is not a Paladin. Apparently killed when Xykon's zombie dragon threw her off the ramparts of Azure City's outer wall.


That Guy with a Halberd

"Wait -- was that oil hot?"

  • Race: Human
  • Gender: Male
  • Class: Warrior
  • Alignment: Lawful Good (presumably)

Another soldier in the Azure City army. Shows up in one strip ordering boiling oil poured on the attacking hobgoblins. It turns out to be room-temperature coconut oil instead, but it drives the attackers off anyway. Turned into a Memetic Bystander by this forum thread.


Captain Axe

"It's my job to protect everyone aboard -- especially Hinjo. And that means getting him far away from situations where he can die heroically."

  • Race: Human
  • Gender: Male
  • Class: Unknown
  • Alignment: Lawful Good

The captain of Hinjo's junk. Very loyal to his lord, but knows when to disobey too.

  1. ↑ For those unfamiliar with the system: The average Constitution (health) score is ten. 18 is the normal human maximum. This means he probably has the Hit Points of an average character twice his level. Also, paladins are traditionally loaded down with class features and abilities that make them rather hard to kill -- but O-Chul has mostly fighter levels. Hinjo even remarks that he is the "toughest" Sapphire guardsman.
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