Characters of the Order of the Stick
This is a list of characters from the webcomic The Order of the Stick.
The Order of the Stick
The Order is said by Rich Burlew, the author of the strip, to be roughly 7th to 9th
level (though fans have noted, based on the capabilities they have displayed in the comic strip, that they seem to have
advanced to around 13th level since he made that statement), and seem to be mostly book-legal
Many characters in the story relate to common stereotypes in fantasy literature and role-playing games, such as Haley being a sneaky, thieving, and secretive Rogue. However, some are opposites; Roy Greenhilt, for example, may be a fighter, but he is extremely intelligent (and thus counter to the "dumb fighter" stereotype), especially compared to other members of the Order.
Its members are:
Recurring characters
Xykon
Redcloak
Monster in the Darkness
Every evil overlord needs a big vicious monster to reveal at the last moment to thwart the heroes. Since Xykon never had the chance to call the monster out of the darkness in his first battle with the Order of the Stick and refuses to reveal it until the ultimate evil climax, it remains hidden in magical darkness visible only as two glowing yellow eyes. By all accounts though, it isn't really that vicious, possibly due to so much time in the shadows waiting for its grand entrance - Redcloak called it "as scary as musty styrofoam." It's rather timid, has low self-esteem, is prone to inane observations, displays childish behaviour (e.g. throwing a tea party with a stuffed dragon, the dead Roy and paralyzed O-Chul), seems to suffer from nyctophobia and appears to be completely oblivious about most things around it. As of yet, exactly what type of creature the monster is remains unknown.
When outside, the monster is forced by Xykon and Redcloak to hide under a pink Hello Kitty umbrella that spreads magical darkness . However, it desires to come out of the shadow, or be otherwise illuminated, even going as far as to beg a group of lantern archons to attack it with their damaging light rays in order to light it up.
Possibly due to the fact that it is constantly kept in darkness, it was unable to recognize Dorukan's Gate, even though it was in front of it. This has become a recurring joke in the strip - every time one of the evil characters mentions the gates, the monster is ignorant of what the gate means or even its existence.
Despite calling it a "bozo", Xykon has implied that it is very powerful, a suggestion which was verified in its "battle" against Miko Miyazaki where she hit the Monster with a full round of attacks. While both Roy and Hinjo were previously severely injured by such attacks, the Monster merely giggled and said it tickled, implying a massive damage reduction. It then challenged her to a game of "Who Can Hit the Lightest", but subsequently lost said game by knocking Miko and her mount Windstriker clear through the wall of the tower they were "playing" in, with her and her mount landing several miles away, implying a colossal strength on its part. That the monster actually was trying to hit her lightly seems to be confirmed by its disappointment at having "lost." Its damage reduction was showcased again when Belkar attempted to attack it, and it was not only unaffected, but it didn't notice that it was even being attacked. When angered, its shout produces a shockwave loud enough to intimidate both Haley and Belkar into making a trade of stew for the bodies of Roy and O-Chul instead of taking them away from the Monster's tea party. Said shockwave was also powerful enough to blow the two off their feet. Shortly afterward, as Haley and Belkar were escaping with Roy's corpse and O-Chul, the Monster stomped the ground absently at the direction of one of the Demon Cockroaches, which resulted in a massive, ground-cracking earthquake. Despite the fact that the Monster caused the earthquake without any acknowledged effort on its part, it stated that it felt tired and hungry after having done so. This may indicate that although the Monster has great powers, its reserves of energy are considerably more limited.
According to the expansion book Start of Darkness, The Monster comes originally from the "deep rainforest", but was trapped by explorer Jenkins and brought back to civilization, where it was exhibited at a circus. Redcloak stole it away (without releasing it from its box) and Xykon afterwards took charge of it, charming it to eat Redcloak and spit out the phylactery on the chance that Redcloak betrays him.
The Linear Guild
Miko Miyazaki
Hinjo
Celia
Celia, a sylph, was first seen guarding the air sigil in Dorukan's tower. Celia lost all loyalty to her job when her old boss "disappeared" and Xykon moved in (at which point she started "making personal calls and swiping office supplies"). She was transformed to stone by the Linear Guild but cured by Vaarsuvius, and repaid the Order by taking Nale and Thog to jail and opening a magical portal to allow them to skip two levels of the dungeon. In an attempt to move on to a more satisfying career, she then started attending night classes in law, and has appeared representing the Order of the Stick as a paralegal, successfully defending them in their trial for weakening the fabric of the universe. Elan then hinted at an attraction[1] between Roy and Celia, and Celia is subsequently seen shopping for clothes[2] to "get his attention" (presumably referring to Roy). She then asked[3] Roy to join her at a dinner for two in one of the nicer dining establishments (ironically following a conversation between Roy and Durkon as to whether the phallic nature of his sword in any way causes women to develop stronger physical attractions to him). They enjoyed a candlelit dinner and a romantic walk/flight, leading up to a kiss at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve. The next morning [4], Celia was seen in Roy's hotel room, presumably after having slept with him. She has also given Roy a talisman to summon her should their battles get too rough, though warning him that it's not a 'Booty Talisman'. However the talisman proved to be too difficult to break for Roy to prevent his own death, and was later recovered by Haley during her search for Roy's body. She gets on well with the members of the Order, with the exception of Belkar.
Minor characters
The Assassins
A pair of unnamed assassins encountered by the Order during their brief stay at an inn while being escorted by Miko back to Azure City. One of the assassins is an amorous dwarf armed with an arquebus and has a penchant for explosives, while the other is a skilled Shadowdancer, who only after spending many years in his prestige class realized that the world of the stick figure comic lacked any shadows in the first place.
Due to a misunderstanding with the hotel staff, Roy was treated as the King of the country of "Nowhere," who was meeting with other nations at the hotel to discuss a peace treaty. The two assassins mistook Roy for the King of Nowhere and attacked him, wounding Elan in the process and forcing Roy to use the Belt of Gender Changing to get the bard to safety. Once he escaped, Roy returned with Haley and Vaarsuviuus to confront the assassins. In the chaos, a passing Belkar accidentally set off one of the dwarven assassin's barrels of explosives, destroying the inn. In the resulting explosion, the Shadowdancer finally found a shadow he could teleport through, and he and the dwarven assassin escaped. Whether they will make another appearance later on in the course of the webcomic is unknown.
The pair of assassins also appear as monster cards in The Order of the Stick Adventure Game. 'The Shadowdancer', as the game refers to him as, remains anonymous, whereas the dwarfs card is titled: 'Kaboom' Redaxe.
The Bandit Clan of the Wooden Forest
The Order of the Stick encountered an unnamed clan of bandits in the Wooden Forest during their "sidequest" for starmetal. The clan consisted of mostly low-level adventurers (one admitted[5] he was 2nd level) who used bows. The leader of the clan when the Order showed up was a girl named Samantha, a sorceress who defeated her father (who has only been referred to as "The Bandit King") in solo combat to claim leadership. Her sole use of the bandits was to kidnap adventurers she found attractive, and hence, Elan became the object of her lust (much to Haley's chagrin).
After two botched rescue missions, the Order finally clashed with the bandit clan in battle. The bandits were soundly defeated except Samantha, who was able to defeat the heroes, albeit severely wounded and without spell slots at battle's end. Her father took advantage of this and knocked her out to reclaim leadership of the bandits again. However, he was inadvertently knocked out by Durkon, who hence became the clan leader. After healing up his party members, Durkon disbanded[6] the clan, telling the kids to return to their families.
Samantha and her father were tied up together and left in the forest, forced to endure the "cruel and unusual punishment" of being physically compelled to spend time with each other. They stayed this way until Miko Miyazaki discovered[7] them and freed them, seeking information on the Order. Samantha instead attempted to magically force Miko into servitude, and was subsequently killed. Her father was killed next after pulling out his swords and attacking Miko, intent on avenging his daughter's death.
General Chang
Chang is the leader of the Azure City military. He is first introduced when he leads the tactical planning of the defense of Azure City. He is later killed by the Death Knight while defending the breach in the south wall of Azure City.
Cliffport Police Department
The Cliffport Police Department or CPPD are a parody of a real-world police department, or perhaps more accurately, of a real-life police department as depicted in TV-series. These characters protect the city of Cliffport to the best of their ability, which is difficult when clever, strong, and/or magical beings (such as the Linear Guild) show up to cause trouble. The CPPD Chief was the most-commonly seen member, while his unnamed squad members include a man with ginger hair, who the chief called "Rookie" and regarded as the one member of the team with any sense, a female with light brown hair, a bearded blonde man who's losing his hair and a dark-skinned, dark-haired man. The last of these was charged with delivering Pompey to prison, but it turns out that the real officer had been knocked out and replaced by a shapeshifted Sabine. The Chief was recently decapitated by Nale in a surprise attack - the rookie appears to have taken charge of the group since his demise; it's been implied that he may not be as inexperienced as his nickname would suggest. At least one other member has subsequently been slain trying to subdue Thog.
The CPPD had Elan, who they believed to be Nale, and Thog under arrest for 417 charges of murder and one charge of intent to summon a demon (this last offense was made up by Nale after he was "freed" by Rookie), although their imprisonment ultimately only lasted forty minutes before they broke out. Leeky Windstaff, who was subdued by the Order, was also in custody before being freed by his friend Pompey. The local laws forbid the use of magic to determine guilt, due to the fact that the result can readily be faked using illusions. As such, the CPPD expect their investigation into these crimes to take at least six months. With Elan, Thog and Leeky all now escaped, it remains to be seen whether the CPPD will attempt to track them down.
Daimyo Kubota
Kubota is a nobleman of Azure City, first seen attending Hinjo's inauguration. At the tactical discussion[8] for the defense of Azure City, he challenged Hinjo's leadership skills since the latter would not even consider attempting to negotiate with Xykon, and suggested that he should be placed in charge instead. After Roy intervened, attempting to explain the futility of negotiation, Kubota and a number of other nobles abandoned Azure City along with their armies. Shortly afterward, Hinjo was attacked by ninjas presumably hired by the nobles.
It is later revealed that Kubota had hired a convict to assassinate Hinjo with a poison-tipped arrow during the battle. The assassination was foiled[9] at the last second by Belkar. Another such attempt[10] occurred shortly after the hobgoblin army charged the breach in the city wall en masse, when two ninja assaulted Hinjo whilst he was battling the 'decoy-Xykon' huecuva. This attempt on Hinjo's life was also thwarted, first by the huecuva (who didn't want the ninjas snagging 'his' kill), and then by Durkon, who wiped out the remaining ninja and the huecuva using Thor's Might to enhance his size and power to deliver the killing blow. Kubota is later seen with what seems to be an orcish ninja and an unseen individual planning the death of Hinjo and the rest of the Order.
Hinjo has described Kubota as the kind of man who would not care whether all of Azure City fell to the forces of evil, just so long as he came out of it with his power intact. His tendency to use assassins as a means to rise in society seems to validate Hinjo's judgment.
Demon Cockroaches
Brought out by the Creature in the Darkness leaving a bowl of popcorn out in the living room as opposed to taking it back to the kitchen like he was supposed to, these tiny red cockroaches follow Redcloak and Xykon around. They enjoy watching the carnage and destruction that Xykon brings with him, though Xykon and Redcloak usually ignore their existence (beyond Redcloak's annoyance and setting of Roach Motels, and Xykon betting with one). They often make sarcastic comments at the seemingly absurd actions of Xykon and Redcloak a la Mystery Science Theater 3000. In one strip, their good counterparts, the Angel Cockroaches, appeared. In another strip, Miko used one of the roaches to escape a (moderately escapable) forcecage. She did this by forcing the roach to breathe fire and light a molotov cocktail made from her cloak and a bottle of dwarven brandy. Another cockroach is seen riding on a raccoon as Redcloak gives the order for a final charge on the breach in Azure City's walls from atop a fiendish mammoth he summoned. More recently one has been used by Belkar to cook stew, and later got revenge by giving the Monster in the Darkness advice on how to beat Belkar and Haley.
Sara Greenhilt
Mother of Roy and Julia Greenhilt, wife of Eugene Greenhilt, who appears to have died three years before the formation of the Order of the Stick, while Roy was still at Bash College. During her life, Roy describes her as having a 'grey bun hairdo and osteoporosis'. Flashback scenes show her as being a kind and attentive parent during her life; after death, she apparently still cares deeply for her son. When Roy encounters her in the afterlife, her appearance has reverted to how she looked at age nineteen, before she had ever met Eugene Greenhilt. Like her husband, Sara appears to have taken the 'until death do us part'-section of her vows seriously, engaging in a new relationship in the afterlife. She notes that she had a good life with Eugene while he was focused on her, but that he was merely 'stuck with her because they'd had children' when his attention wandered back to other interests.
Eugene Greenhilt
Despite having died three years before the Order of the Stick was created, Roy's father, Eugene Greenhilt, visits him from time to time to give foreshadowing clues. Eugene had begun dating the ghost of a woman named Violet, since his wedding vows were only "till death do us part." This relationship ended rather abruptly when Violet's own family Blood Oath was fulfilled and she was allowed to proceed to the Celestial Realms. She even asked Eugene not to visit her if he ever made it in, so she would not have to explain about their relationship to her husband. Eugene has often expressed disappointment in Roy's chosen career path, wishing his son had become a wizard instead and berates and insults him in every conversation they have. Eugene trained under Fyron the wizard of Cliffport, who was slain and zombified by Xykon in front of Eugene (who was trapped in a magical bubble and forced to watch). During a drunken evening, Eugene vowed a Blood Oath of Vengeance against Xykon for this, a vow that was transferred to Roy as eldest child when he died (and now transferred to Julia after Roy's death), since Eugene proved to be incapable of even finding the lich, let alone taking his revenge.
Eugene seems to have the ability to prophesy future events and made one prediction that aided Roy and Haley in defeating Nale. In On the Origin of PCs we learn that Roy's father has no confidence in Roy's ability to defeat Xykon - he's counting on Roy's sister Julia for that. Roy confronted his father after discovering that Eugene (who was apparently an Illusionist in life) was responsible for the phony charge that the Sapphire Guard brought the party in on. Roy said that he would still go after Xykon because of the great threat he poses to the world, but if it weren't for that he'd tell his father to stick his blood oath against Xykon up his "wrinkled, incorporeal ass". Eugene is later shown berating Roy in the afterlife for his failure to defeat Xykon, as well as blaming him for the destruction of Azure City. It is revealed that Eugene's Blood Oath prevents him from ascending to the afterlife as governed by the gods of the North; ever since his death, he has been stuck in an intermediate dimension from where he can see the prime material plane, his only hope of release being that the Blood Oath will be fulfilled by his descendants. He is extremely upset when his son Roy is given permission to ascend to the true afterlife, the deva in charge of Roy's case assuring him that the Blood Oath poses no impediment to Roy at all. The Deva told Eugene that Roy earned permission to enter the Celestial Realms due to the fact that while Eugene abandoned his oath years before his own death, Roy died attempting to fulfill the oath that Eugene burdened him with and thus Eugene's punishment is to wander the clouds until his descendants (in this case Julia) fulfills the oath.
One of the common running gags of the comic is that whenever Roy mentions his father, another member of the Order of the Stick (Haley, Belkar, and Durkon have done it thus far) will say "Isn't your father dead?" or some similar phrase, which may or may not show their ignorance of ghosts in the world of the Order (although Vaarsuvius accepts Roy's story of his father giving him the occasional visit without hesitation). Eugene is a manipulative, self-righteous, selfish and unpleasant character. His continued attempts to have events go the way he wants, not to mention his acts of gross deceit (notably his impersonation of a being of pure Law and Good in Azure City) and his bad attitude, have apparently made him rather unpopular with at least one of the Celestials with which he interacts in his current plane of residence. Eugene's wife Sara claims that since people in the afterlife appear as the ideal versions of themselves, Eugene appears as an old man (despite Sara having the appearances she had at age nineteen) due to the fact that he has always been an old man at heart.
Flumphs
Two representatives of the only lawful good monster in the original Fiend Folio were introduced as inhabitants of Dorukan's Pit, which was full of monsters that were never updated to 3rd Edition. They have since broken the falls of characters on several occasions. One of them sought counselling in Cliffport for the feeling that it was just a minor character in someone else's story, when Haley landed on it. Another got the feeling he was supposed to be somewhere while Roy was falling to his death outside Azure City.
Julia Greenhilt
Julia Greenhilt is Roy's 16-year-old sister and a third level Wizard according to Roy. Following her father's wish for his children to become wizards (unlike Roy, who took his own path), she attended Warthog's School of Wizardry and Sorcery, the same school attended by Pompey of the Linear Guild, where she is considered to be the most popular girl in school. She was kidnapped by the Linear Guild as a pawn to lure the Order of the Stick to Cliffport so that Nale could carry out his plan to replace Elan. Freed by the Order, she has returned to her studies.
It was hinted in On the Origin of PCs that Roy may harbor feelings of jealousy against her because he thought of her as being their father's favorite child. ("I can tell because you almost never use the phrase, 'crushing depression' when talking about her.") She does seem to be her father's favorite child (probably because she became a wizard while Roy went to Fighter College) due to the fact that her father is counting on her to finish off Xykon.
So far, Julia is portrayed as the stereotypical Valley Girl i.e. an unapologetically spoiled, superficial brat much more concerned with her kidnappers' lack of coolness than with the mortal peril she and her brother were in. She has revealed herself to be of True Neutral alignment, as opposed to Roy's Lawful Good. She is also a flirt who uses her natural endowments (which she seems to get from her mother) to get the attention of her teachers, a ploy that fails on Durkon. She actually ends up a bit in awe of him, dropping the "cool girl"-attitude, boasting about knowing him, and insisting (correctly) that he did most of the fighting in this encounter with the Linear Guild. She replies "yes, sir" when he lectures her for immodesty twice. It seems highly unlikely that she will actually heed his advice, but not talking back or responding with a wisecrack is unusual for Julia, as evidenced by her behaviour towards both Roy and the Linear Guild. Though she and her brother squabble a lot, which is normal considering their differences, they do actually love each other, something that the disguised Nale found hard to comprehend due to his hate of Elan. Sabine explains that "some families are just different."
Julio Scoundrél
The dashing sky pirate and captain of the airship Mechane, Julio Scoundrél is a famous action star and listed as the thirty-second out of the one hundred greatest swordsmen of the century. His proficiency is due to taking ten levels in the obscure prestige class Dashing Swordsman, allowing him to apply his incredibly high Charisma bonus to attacks with a rapier. Elan encountered Julio while attempting to get transport from Cliffport to Azure City; the air pirate agreed to help Elan because the bard reminded him of himself. While traveling to Azure City, Julio also agreed to train Elan in the ways of the Dashing Swordsman so he could defeat Nale once he arrived. Much like Elan, Julio is extremely well-versed in the ways of Genre Conventions and follows such rules. He is also a wanted criminal in Azure City, which is the reason that he is immediately attacked by the local militia upon approaching the city. Before parting ways he gave Elan the +3 Keen Rapier that he used when he was a Level 1 Dashing Swordsman (claiming that since he has managed to father children in every port on the continent he doesn't know who to give it to). He also told him that he wished never to cross paths with Elan again because, due to genre conventions and the demands of stories, he would most likely be killed by a random enemy of Elan's the next time they meet so that Elan could swear vengeance on his killer.
Kazumi Kato and Daigo
Kazumi and Daigo are Azure City soldiers who help the Order of the Stick during their time in the city. They fought side by side with the party on the walls of Azure City and took refuge with them in a guard tower. Both soldiers journeyed with the party to Hinjo's junk and are waiting to escape the city. They seem to have a potential romance brewing, as Kazumi asked Daigo if he'd like to "go out for a cup of- "(Daigo answering in the affirmative before Kazumi finished the sentence) after seeing Elan and Haley making out. It is a running gag that whenever one of them is about to reveal what drink they would be getting, they are interrupted.
For a long time neither was named in the strip, as they were considered unimportant NPCs, but Kazumi revealed her name as the pair fought off hobgoblins, not wanting to die without a name. She asked Daigo what his name was, when he was struck with what was apparently a mortal blow. As Kazumi held him in her arms saying they still had to get that cup of-, Daigo told her his name and his wounds seemed to instantly heal, prompting her to say, "Wow. I guess having a name really DOES matter." He also chose not to reveal his last name, so as to save it for an emergency.
The Lawyers
Mr. Jones and Mr. Phil Rodriguez are two lawyers that appear in the world of the Order of the Stick. Their main purpose is ensure that no copyright infringements occur. Mr. Jones is highly professional and educated, though arrogant, while Mr. Rodriguez has a relatively childish demeanour, prefers to role-play when around the adventurers, and is prone to odd tricks such as producing a giant boot as a distraction. They were sent by the Spooky Wizard who lives by the Coast. They have appeared several times, once to drag away the "Squid-Thingy" (or Mind Flayer), and once when Vaarsuvius called them out against Zz'dtri for being a copyright infringement on Drizzt Do'Urden.
Mr. Jones appeared at Belkar's request, claiming that Miko's use of Detect Evil "clearly constitutes an illegal search" employing "harmful radiation" (on the basis that many of the creatures Miko has scanned are currently dead, and that the scan is blocked by a lead sheet in a manner consistent with the properties of ionizing radiation). Miko's horse Windstriker then attempted to hire Mr. Rodriguez to put a restraining order on Belkar, but Belkar simply informed Mr. Rodriguez that he was of Chaotic Alignment and chased him out of the stables (Windstriker having been returned to the Celestial Realms so Miko didn't have to pay for him as well). Most recently they were summoned to Azure City by Lord Shojo to act as the prosecution at the Order's trial on the charge of 'weakening the fabric of the universe', though they lost the case due to the whole thing being a sham perpetuated by Shojo and Eugene Greenhilt. Due to Jones' skill at converting trial transcripts, his record is 5-0 while Mr. Rodriguez shoulders the defeats at 0-147.
Lien
Lien is a paladin of Azure City. It is unclear what her official position is among the paladins, but it is hinted that she may be one of the leaders, as she is present at Hinjo's inauguration, is assigned to transport Miko to her prison alongside O-Chul, and is placed in charge of the Azure City evacuation, partially due to the fact that her paladin mount (a shark) would be useful in defending the docks. In strip #473, it is revealed that she is of commoner descent (her parents were fishermen) and that she and Hinjo are apparently the last living members of the Sapphire Guard (with the exception of the paralyzed O-Chul and any paladins that might have been out of the city at that time). Her paladin mount is a shark named Razor.
Loki
Loki is Thor's evil half-brother and the patron deity of Hilgya, who was once the cleric for the Linear Guild. While Thor and Loki have been shown to be enemies in recent OotS history, they cooperated in the distant past when the gods created a new world to contain the Snarl. Loki is apparently more sensitive than Thor to bizarre events occurring in the mortal world, as he noticed the liaison between Durkon and Hilgya first (the discovery made both deities ill). He also seems to have more common sense than Thor, as he is renowned for saying, "Dude, don't taunt the god-killing abomination". Loki is also an apparent ally of The Dark One.
O-Chul
O-Chul is the leader of the paladins of Azure City. He is characterized by his bald head, full beard (as opposed to a
goatee, the most common form of facial hair in the comic), and scar. O-Chul is first introduced when he is guarding the throne room just prior to
Shojo's assassination. Along with Lien, he is charged with the duty of transporting Miko to her prison cell. During the planning for the
defense of Azure City, he agrees to guard Soon's Gate with his life, stating that he and his paladins "will gladly lay down
[their] lives in the defense of the tower." On the night before the battle, he reprimands Haley for treating the oncoming assault flippantly, prompting
her to spend the time she has left before the battle with Elan. When Xykon enters the throne room he is immediately met by and set upon by nearly the
entire Sapphire Guard, led by O-Chul. However, Xykon had inscribed a symbol of insanity, which drove nearly the entire Sapphire
Guard to set upon each other. O-chul then realized that to prevent Xykon from taking control of Soon's gate, he would have to
destroy it. However, just as he raised his blade to strike, Xykon paralyzed him, just as the last of the Guard regained her
sanity - and committed
A paladin similar in appearance to O-Chul (minus his scar) has appeared several times, once investigating the remnants of Lirian's Gate and once encountering a disguised Belkar on the street. It is unknown if this is O-Chul, and he got his scar later, or if this is a completely separate paladin.
"The Order of the Scribble"
Nicknamed The Order of the Rift (or OotR) by fans, this group does not have an official name (though the title of the strip in which they were introduced was "The Order of the Scribble", referring to the crayon-drawn style of that arc). They are old adventurers (some confirmed as deceased, some perhaps still alive) who created 'Gates' to keep The Snarl, a god-killing universe-destroying monster locked inside the planet. After arguments between them, they each chose to guard one gate closest to their homeland. The Order consists of:
- Soon Kim, the apparent leader, a Paladin from Azure City. He was the founder of the Sapphire Guard, which he created to guard the gate, a sapphire located on the back of the throne of Azure City. He passed on the leadership of the Guard to the Lord Shojo's father shortly before his death. Even in death, Soon's honor and dedication are unbreakable; his spirit is tied to the Gate itself, guarding it constantly, and possesses the power to awaken the souls of other slain members of the Sapphire Guard to fight alongside him. Unfortunately, despite his defeat of Xykon and Redcloak (whom he recognizes as the bearer of the Crimson Mantle), when they tried to take control of the Gate, Soon was unable to prevent Miko Miyazaki from destroying it. With the gate destroyed, Soon's link to the Material Plane disappeared, allowing him to stay only for a short while and confront and guide Miko.
- Lirian, a female elven
druid and apparently the second in command. According to her diary, she was romantically involved with Dorukan. She defeated and imprisoned Xykon when he tried to harness her Gate, but he broke free after his transformation into a lich and killed her. Her gate was accidentally destroyed by Redcloak in the battle. After her death, Xykon trapped her soul inside a gemstone; what has happened to this is unknown. - Serini Toormuck, a halfling rogue and a well-meaning woman. After the dissolution of the team she built a tomb for Kraagor filled with monsters to protect the Gate named in his memory. She recorded the locations of all the other Gates in her diary, and it was by finding it that Xykon has managed to locate them.
- Kraagor, a male dwarf
barbarian . His death precipitated the group's dissolution. The Gate that bears his name is in the north, protected by the most powerful monsters that Serini could find, to commemorate Kraagor's belief in physical prowess. He was slain by the Snarl itself when the Order of the Scribble were sealing one of the five rifts. - Dorukan, a male human wizard who worked alongside Lirian to lock the gates and guarded one in the Redmountain Hills. Years later, Xykon killed him in a duel and seized his castle. His gate was accidentally destroyed by Elan. After his death, Xykon sealed his soul in the gemstone with Lirian's, whom he loved.
- Girard Draketooth, a roguish illusionist and tracker with high charisma. His gate, located in the desert, is hidden behind a series of magical illusions. The prophesy of the Oracle of Sunken Valley indicated that Xykon will be within a 1000-foot radius of Girard's gate before Kraagor's, these being the last two gates remaining.
Sangwaan
An oracle in the employ of Lord Hinjo. She is a black haired woman in a blue robe who wears a blindfold of the same blue material over her eyes. She seems mostly unaffected by being apparently blind though occasionally she needs to be turned around to face whoever she thinks she is talking to. Her class is as yet unstated; her post as a top ranking aide to Lord Hinjo could indicate that she is either a cleric or (given her lack of armour and the generally oriental theme prevalent in Azure City) shugenja, most likely with the Oracle prestige class. She possesses some ability in the divination school, as she was at one point asked to perform the spell True Seeing. Despite her substantial power as an oracle, however, she proved unable to predict what miniatures were in a package before they are opened.
During the assault on Azure City, she was able to use her True Seeing spell to determine Xykon's true location after Haley figured out that none of the three that they could see was the real lich. She was immediately attacked by the undead dragon that serves as Xykon's steed and flung from the walls of the city, presumably killing her almost instantly.
Shojo
Lord Shojo was the leader of the Sapphire Guard of Paladins and secular ruler of Azure City. As his father was given the position by Soon Kim, this makes him the third leader in its history. He is the uncle of Hinjo, who was heir apparent to Azure City prior to Shojo's death. He has admitted to being a 14th level Aristocrat (an NPC class) and to be of a non-Lawful alignment (Belkar believes it to be Chaotic Good). Because of this he has little problems with bending the laws if he sees fit, believing that the end justifies the means. To avoid assassination attempts by the nobles of Azure City, he pretends to be senile and easily swayed (especially by his cat, Mr. Scruffy) to make them feel that all his policies are due to other nobles' manipulations.
In return for Roy's cooperation in defeating Xykon, Lord Shojo agreed to grant each member of the Order one favour, with the exception of Belkar Bitterleaf, who, having murdered his guard, was released on bail in lieu of specific assistance, as well as general aid. Although he is willing to lie to them he does not appreciate Roy insulting or otherwise criticizing his paladins and wizards, such as the one who accidentally sent the Order (and Nale) to a Roc's nest instead of back to Azure City due to the fact that the wizard was drunk at the time.
Lord Shojo does not consider himself bound by Soon Kim's edict that the other Gates must be left alone, believing that the morality of Soon Kim is obsolete. However he recognises that the oath is very important to the paladins of the Guard and, as such, outwardly does his best to follow the terms of that agreement. Covertly, however, he considers it extremely foolish to risk universal destruction on an oath made to people that he'd never met, and thus he does what he considers necessary to protect the world and the people of Azure City, even if this means lying to the paladins under his command, or recruiting others, like the Order, behind their backs. He was not remotely above threatening his paladins with mundane but unpleasant tasks, such as having to clean out Mr. Scruffy's litter box, in order to get his own way. This attitude made him one of the rare people that Belkar actually showed a degree of admiration for.
Unfortunately, during a conversation with Roy Greenhilt when his actions with regard to the Order and his opinions on the validity of the oath were discussed, Shojo was unaware that Hinjo and Miko Miyazaki were just outside the door and apparently heard the whole thing. Miko immediately jumped to the conclusion that Shojo was working with Xykon, as she considered the Order of the Stick to be the lich's minions. After summarily judging him guilty of treason, she drew her sword and executed him, though this action caused her to lose her paladinhood. Despite the Clerics casting Resurrect on his body, the spirit of Shojo is apparently unwilling to return to life, which Belkar reasons it being the fact that Shojo was close to natural death already and facing a trial for treason.
The Snarl
The Snarl is an embodiment of deific frustration and wrath. It was created when the first world was created by the gods, as the Gods of the West, East, North, and South, analogues to historical pantheons, argued about how to create the world. As they argued and pulled on the threads of reality in an attempt to get their way, snags began to develop in the fabric of the world. As the snags grew and combined, the Snarl was created, gradually growing ever more intelligent and malevolent. Finally, it revealed itself to its unwitting creators, slaying the entire pantheon of the Gods of the East with ease, then devouring every soul on the newly created world. It took just twenty-seven minutes to undo the entirety of creation.
Hidden away in their realms among the Outer Planes, the leaders of the three remaining pantheons met in secret and hatched a plan. Agreeing in advance which pantheons would be responsible for which parts of a new creation, they began to weave a new world out of the remaining threads of reality. With few arguments to slow them down, the gods weaved the new world as quickly as possible. The Snarl, born of chaos and unable to comprehend things of order and purpose, failed to realise what the gods were attempting. Finally, the final threads were pulled into place and a new world formed around the Snarl, imprisoning it in a small demi-plane, with the world itself acting to keep the Snarl firmly in place.
Over a thousand years passed, until, sixty-six years prior to the start of the Order's adventures, the Snarl nearly escaped through holes in its prison, only to be defeated, with the rifts in reality sealed behind five gates by the Order of the Scribble. The recent destruction of three of these gates, and Xykon's apparent interest in the remaining two, has led to a fear that the Snarl would be released and serves as the plot hook for the protagonists' campaign.
Thor
Durkon's patron deity and member of the Gods of the North, Thor is roughly equivalent to the real Thor in Norse mythology. However, in the strip Thor acts as comic relief, a drunken buffoon but with a good heart. His less wise acts have included taunting the Snarl, abandoning a village to the fire giant Surt while being hassled by Durkon, and creating a portentous storm while drunk. W.W.T.D?, or What Would Thor Do? is a running joke, as Durkon occasionally considers what Thor would do for guidance; unfortunately, since Thor would simply crush his enemies with his divine power, return to Asgard, woo women, and drink, the W.W.T.D. is never as applicable to Durkon's situation as it's supposed to be. He appeared to grant Durkon a casting of Control Weather via a scroll, which Durkon used to generate a thunderclap of such force that Leeky Windstaff's animated trees (and staff) were blown to pieces (as the Druid had failed to protect them against Sonic damage). After intimidating a Celestial who tried to point out the Control Weather spell couldn't be used like that, Thor wandered off to "get tanked and paw Sif", telling the Celestial to report on whether Durkon lived or died. He most recently appeared telling Tiger of the 12 Gods of the South to relax after he had intervened to assist Durkon in Azure City.
The Oracle of Sunken Valley
The Oracle of the Sunken Valley was sought out by Roy and Durkon to locate Xykon's lair prior to the formation of the Order of the Stick, then subsequently in order to determine where the lich is headed next. In order to keep out pesky adventurers, the Oracle hired QuestGuard to establish a series of moderately challenging tests, including a heart test to prevent him from getting sued for health reasons. Once the Order actually encountered the Oracle, it turned out to be a sarcastic, rambling, and irritating kobold, who proceeded to give the group a series of prophecies laden heavily with multiple meanings and ambiguous language. However, when Roy worded his question carefully to keep the Oracle from being too ambiguous, he ended up making it too precise, eliminating Xykon's actual next target from consideration. Despite the kobold's attempts to hint that the question was too specific, Roy insisted that the Oracle had to answer the question as stated, and thus the Order was mistakenly led to believe that Girard's Gate was Xykon's next destination. This mistake was corrected when Miko Miyazaki arrived in Azure City a day ahead of Xykon's army, informing them in an angry tirade of Xykon's impending invasion.
While Roy did figure out where he went wrong before leaving the valley, the magic associated with the Oracle causes all visitors to forget everything about their visit except the answer to their question, so his realization of the truth was quickly lost. This magic effect means that nobody is able to remember the nature of the Oracle, so Roy was surprised to find out that he was a kobold, despite his previous visit.
The Oracle worships Tiamat and uses her powers to grant him his visions of the future.
Tsukiko
A female native of Azure City with glowing heterochromatic blue and purple eyes, Tsukiko was first seen in the Azure City jail where she had been imprisoned for 'unnatural acts of wizardry'. Along with Belkar and a thief accused of grand larceny, she agreed to help defend Azure City against Xykon in exchange for a reduced sentence. During the fight, she sided with Xykon, healing him and attacking Azure City soldiers. She later attempted to drop off her paperwork with Redcloak, who rudely dismissed her, leaving her in the courtyard with a chlorine elemental who was ordered to kill all humans. However, she killed the elemental (as well as a prisoner who had been watching) with a Shout spell. She later rejoined Xykon and Redcloak in the ruins of the castle, where she attempted to blame Redcloak for trying to kill her - a fact Xykon simply found hilarious. She then came up upon Miko's remains and considered animating her as a free-willed, evil undead(mainly to get even with Redcloak), then dismissed the notion, thinking the creature wouldn't have been all that powerful anyways. (The fact that Miko's body was severed in two also put a crimp in those plans, as apparently Tsukiko needs a 'whole' corpse.) She was last seen complimenting 'Lord' Xykon for a headband he found in a cereal box.
She has levels as a mystic theurge, which means she has access to both a divine and arcane spellcasting class. She is assumed to be minimum of Level 10 (likely Cleric 3/Wizard 3/Mystic Theurge 4) to be able cast Shout and Inflict Critical Wounds (both 4th level Arcane and Cleric spells respectively). It is also implied that she is attracted to undead, a fact which seemed to mildly disturb Xykon, who comments that he's not a "Biophiliac" and is uninterested in the living (though this was possibly a strategy to get Xykon to hire her).
Roy's Brother
In Comic 496[11], another character is introduced to Roy while he is in heaven. The character is apparantley Roy's brother, who was born between his brother Roy and sister Julia and died as a young child 18 years before the strip's taking place. As of comic 496, he is not named. Roy's brother first appears in comic 113[12] (panel 7) wearing the same orange shirt he wears in comic 496, with his head appearing from behind the chair on which his mother is sitting.
References
- ^ http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0296.html
- ^ http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0298.html
- ^ http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0308.html
- ^ http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0318.html
- ^ http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0151.html
- ^ http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0170.html
- ^ http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0189.html
- ^ http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0414.html
- ^ http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0435.html
- ^ http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0453.html
- ^ http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0496.html
- ^ http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0113.html
| The Order of the Stick by Rich Burlew | |
|---|---|
| Main characters | Roy Greenhilt • Durkon Thundershield • Haley Starshine • Elan • Vaarsuvius • Belkar Bitterleaf |
| Other characters | General list • Linear Guild • Xykon • Redcloak • Miko Miyazaki • Hinjo |
| Locations | General list |
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