Characters

The story has a number of major characters, but ultimately a few of them can be seen as the most important. This is my opportunity to talk about them and what I was going for with them directly, and I'm pretty excited about that, so the primary quartet of significant characters are:

 

Gabriel/Duck (Duck-as-Gabriel)

The actual isekaied character. In his original life as Duck, he was a normal college student, but now he has been dropped into the world of Empirica Sin. This world seemed glamorous and romantic in the webnovel, but once he's actually face to face with the reality of living in the world described therein - without the filter of an author glossing over the fridge horror elements - that world is not nearly so glamorous or romantic... or rather, the glamour has a sharp underbelly. Gabriel will be the audience's eyes in this new world as he discovers what it means to live there and investigates secrets and stories while navigating the treacherous Blood Game.

As Duck, his appearance was fairly typical for a slightly-better-than-average looking 20 year old American college student. As Gabriel, his appearance echoes androgynous characters that are a stable of, especially, shoujo comics such as Oscar from Rose of Versailles.

If properly portrayed (I hope I hope), Gabriel should be an effective window into the world as he shares the experiences and values common to modernity. Because he is aware of how things "will" turn out, he is also the one most capable of changing outcomes.

Samael Asther

The Demon King from the title of A Certain Webnovel. Samael is an extraordinarily powerful demon king known for his self-indulgent debauchery, his tyranical ruling style, and his unrepentent ruthlessness. While not really evil, Samael is certainly brutal and, generally speaking, amoral bordering on nonmoral. Much of Amaya's society revolves around keeping oneself either in Samael's favor or, at least, beneath Samael's notice, as his whims can make or break a person's life and fortunes. Unfortunately, this can be quite challenging, as he is erratic and, despite his cold and aloof exterior, extremely emotionally-driven.

Samael is not a protagonist, but is primarily perceived from the outside. He is charismatic but terrifying, and his dangerous and predatory presence cannot be overlooked; to be near him should feel like being in the presence of a massive carnivorous beast that may ignore, devour, or demand pets from you, dependent entirely on its moods or whims.

Physically, Samael was designed to resemble the sexy demon king in any supernatural romance... since, inworld, that's what he is. That said, he has an unmistakably bestial quality to him, as well.

Dante Savoy

Dante was the protagonist of A Certain Webnovel. Designed to echo the protagonists in asian, particularly korean, webnovels and webcomics, Dante is a bit of a Gary Stu on the face of it - broody and powerful and a bit of a bad boy, put into an awkward situation while pursuing vengeance. He is a former soldier and a former bounty hunter, and also an orphan and also he has a special hair color, and also... you get the point. He has that overpowered badass main character vibe.

Dante is a somewhat mysterious presence, and an object of fascination for many, but particularly for Gabriel. Being a badass served Dante well in the fiction of the Webnovel... the question is whether it will continue to serve him well in a world being changed by Gabriel's presence and actions.

His look is reminiscent of the protagonist of Devil May Cry - and it is kind of subconsciously inspired by him - but I'm making an effort to differentiate them before I show his face in public, because I'd rather not get sued and would also rather not change his name.

Cain Amortus

Despite having been a minor character in A Certain Webnovel, in the "real" world of Empirica Sin, a great many roads run through Cain. As Samael's former consort of over three hundred years, Cain probably knows him better than anyone, but that hasn't helped him puzzle out the mystery of why Samael ended their relationship abruptly around two hundred years ago...or why, despite that break, Samael still refuses to let him go.

In the novel, Cain was mostly a motivator for his close friend, Grigorius Bieloskytes. He becomes more prominent when Gabriel arrives as he recognizes his younger self in Gabriel (or, rather, in Duck but no one knows that). He serves as something of a mentor for Gabriel, as well as a connecting piece between social webs, as his long-term involvement with Samael has given him an endless number of contacts and acquaintances. To date, he is also the only person Samael has ever truly loved, and the question of what, exactly, caused the sudden breakdown of their relationship is relevant to many of the other moving parts in the story.

Cain's design resembles a victorian gentleman in mourning. He is also very monochrome - his hair is grey, his eyes are grey, he has pale skin and he primarily wears black and grey. While he is less flash than other characters, his toned down appearance sometimes makes him stand out more because it's so different than what he's surrounded by.