🧩 Character Retrospectives – Echoes from the Underground
A spoiler-free look into the figures who shaped the tunnels, each scarred by purpose, loss, or mystery
🔥 Altor
Faction: Phoenix Guard
Role: Ranger and survivor of multiple conflicts
Core Traits: Altor is resilient, observant, emotionally complex, and quietly brave.
Motivation: He is driven by an urge to protect the innocent and unravel the weight of his visions, which often show glimpses of grim futures he feels powerless to stop.
Narrative Purpose: As a central perspective character, Altor acts as the emotional and ethical compass of the story, caught between harsh reality and haunting foresight.
Unique Tidbit: He often experiences vivid, dreamlike episodes tied to real events—moments that blur the line between prophecy and trauma.
⚙️ Baren Volkov
Faction: Redline (formerly), status complicated
Role: Hardened soldier with a fractured past
Core Traits: Baren is stoic, introspective, calculated, yet capable of deep empathy.
Motivation: He seeks clarity about the events he’s survived and redemption for the choices that still haunt him.
Narrative Purpose: Baren offers a layered contrast to Altor—representing what happens when belief in the system erodes and a soldier begins questioning everything.
Unique Tidbit: He once believed discipline and loyalty were all that mattered, until truth and memory shattered that belief.
🛡️ Gage
Faction: Phoenix Guard
Role: Field officer and interrogator
Core Traits: Gage is pragmatic, grounded, and protective of his men, often using dark humor as a coping mechanism.
Motivation: His focus lies in defending what remains of the metro’s safe zones, while trying to interpret the true scale of the Redline threat.
Narrative Purpose: Gage bridges command and camaraderie, acting as a steady mentor figure to Altor and others.
Unique Tidbit: Despite his gruff exterior, Gage shows surprising emotional intelligence—especially in high-pressure moments.
🎖️ Captain Mirov
Faction: Phoenix Guard (formerly of the Greater Eastern Alliance)
Role: Commanding officer and veteran tactician
Core Traits: Mirov is commanding, courageous, and principled, with a deep sense of duty.
Motivation: He is determined to protect what remains of civilization and atone for past decisions that continue to weigh on him.
Narrative Purpose: Mirov serves as a symbol of old-world leadership—stern yet inspiring, a bridge between the collapse and what little order remains.
Unique Tidbit: Mirov once fought alongside Redline forces before their split, making him one of the few who understands their strategies and mindset.
🩺 Tallen
Faction: Phoenix Guard (Station Medical Division)
Role: Lead doctor at Ratza station
Core Traits: Tallen is compassionate, overworked, and composed under pressure.
Motivation: His goal is simple but vital—preserve life in a world designed to extinguish it.
Narrative Purpose: Tallen grounds the chaos with his calm presence, providing moments of humanity and healing.
Unique Tidbit: Despite constant danger, Tallen refuses to carry a weapon unless absolutely necessary.
🧊 Colonel Holler
Faction: Redline
Role: Senior officer involved in underground logistics and covert operations
Core Traits: Cold, tactical, and commanding
Motivation: Holler seeks control through ruthless efficiency, aligning closely with Redline’s militaristic doctrine.
Narrative Purpose: A representation of the Redline’s more faceless, authoritarian branch, Holler’s methods showcase the ideology's extremes.
Unique Tidbit: Holler is rarely seen directly, but his orders carry weight even in his absence—his presence is often felt through consequence rather than words.
🕷️ Petrov Einik
Faction: Tunnel Stalkers
Role: Recon expert and elite scout
Core Traits: Elusive, resilient, and sharp-minded
Motivation: Petrov pursued the forgotten paths of the metro in search of purpose—and possibly redemption.
Narrative Purpose: His legacy reveals truths about the underbelly of the metro and the hidden dangers few dare to confront.
Unique Tidbit: Petrov’s existence blurs myth and reality—many don’t believe Tunnel Stalkers are real until it’s far too late.
🔧 Olskin
Faction: Tunnel Stalkers
Role: Mechanic and engineer
Core Traits: Quiet, obsessive, and oddly insightful
Motivation: Survival through repair and adaptation, with a potential fixation on something deeper buried in the metro.
Narrative Purpose: Olskin provides eerie insight into the psychological toll of isolation and obsession, especially in long-lost zones.
Unique Tidbit: Some believe Olskin chose to remain underground long after he could’ve escaped.
🦠 General Nox
Faction: Redline (Experimental Division)
Role: High-ranking commander and ideological architect
Core Traits: Visionary, manipulative, unwavering
Motivation: Nox believes in forcing human evolution through ruthless experimentation and control—progress at any cost.
Narrative Purpose: He represents the antagonist ideology: salvation through control, transformation through terror.
Unique Tidbit: Nox never lies—he simply speaks truths from a perspective most can’t stomach.
🚂 Captain Lenan
Faction: Venatores Mortis
Role: Squad leader and NEXUS Ally
Core Traits: Tactical, efficient, professional
Motivation: Duty to his unit and a belief in Neutrality—though the cracks in that belief may run deeper.
Narrative Purpose: Lenan showcases the structured brutality of elite Hunters, but also the human cost behind it.
Unique Tidbit: Known for leading successful but high-risk missions hunting Ravagers—some consider his survival rate unnatural.
🎭 Choriski
Faction: Venatores Mortis
Role: Mechanic and tactician aboard the Monolith
Core Traits: Witty, grounded, experienced
Motivation: To keep moving forward, surviving and helping others stay alive in the process.
Narrative Purpose: Choriski is a rare source of levity and wisdom, showing that even in the metro, humanity persists.
Unique Tidbit: He treats his train—the Monolith—as if it’s a living being, often speaking to it like an old friend.
🎓 The Rookie
Faction: Redline (New Recruit)
Role: Junior soldier under Redline command
Core Traits: Naive, obedient, visibly shaken under pressure
Motivation: To serve and survive, though doubt clearly brews beneath the surface.
Narrative Purpose: Represents the malleable new generation shaped by fear and indoctrination.
Unique Tidbit: Despite limited exposure, the rookie’s subtle hesitations hint at potential for future disillusionment—or transformation.
🪖 The Sergeant
Faction: Redline
Role: Mid-level prison enforcer
Core Traits: Brutal, aggressive, blindly loyal
Motivation: To dominate prisoners and assert Redline authority through fear.
Narrative Purpose: The sergeant embodies the everyday cruelty of the system—less about ideology, more about power.
Unique Tidbit: His intimidation tactics often backfire when faced with resilience and unity.
Chronicles
Explore my post-apocalyptic trilogy of novels.
Saga
© 2025 W.M. DarkLight. All rights reserved.
The Subterranean Saga and all associated content, including but not limited to text, images, characters, and lore, are the exclusive intellectual property of W.M. DarkLight. Unauthorized use, reproduction, or distribution of any material from this website is strictly prohibited without prior written consent from the author. For permissions or inquiries, please contact wmdarklight@gmail.com