(Cate Blanchett)

History : Gretchen Molry was one of the top programmers for the Defense Department, and was quickly given the task of creating the digital world of Harsh Realm. Because of the need for dedication to the project, she had to put her marriage to John Donovan on hold for a time. She was one of its first people to test the realism of the program out, and remained in there for a long time. Finally, when Santiago took control, she was trapped, away from home, away from her fiancee. Inside the realm, she worked for a time under Santiago in a project to create a perfect soldier from the code found in both VCs and real people, which after a few flops (like a protoype named Mordred) spawned the Guardians, a group of powerful VCs who quickly turned against Santiago and formed a resistance movement in South America. Disgusted with the tyranny of Santiago's regime, she left, become a one-woman rebellion. In fact, the bounty levied on her rivalled Tom Hobbes' price. She created a game space called The Glitch that she used to hide refugees in, and also may have had something to do with the Underworld, a game space where dead VCs are sent after their demise from the game. Frequently helping Tom Hobbes in his fight for freedom, she met her demise when she reentered the Real World and was murdered by the very men who were her superiors.

History : Not much is known about the enigmatic figure known as Ruby before her appearance in Harsh Realm. It seems that she is certainly real, has no ties to Santiago but may has close alliances to numerous groups within the game. She refers to Florence as "her daughter", which may signify her creation of the Sisterhood as a whole, but Florence in particular. It was she who helped Pinocchio escape from Santiago along with Florence. It is likely she has ties to Gretchen Molry, as she had often been seen around the Guardians (Gretchen's creations), and she may have had a hand in the formation of the Prophecy, as she was also encountered with the Brothers of the Oraculum, a religious group that had a book containing the complete prophecy. Unfortunately, it was lost in a fiery attack by Santiago's men. Ruby's life was taken when she absorbed a deadly artificial intelligence that was possessing Florence, saving her life.

Key episodes: Leviathan, Alptraum, Simulacra, My Struggle.

Key episodes: Simulacra, Malo Tiempo, Codejacked

Key episodes: Simulacra, Malo Tiempo, Sisterhood, My Struggle

Key episodes: Sisterhood, My Struggle

History : The story of warrior Takashi Yoshimori picks up in 1997, with the Republican invasion of the Maine Frontier which was originally the home of the Yoshimori family. Yoshimori and his family, Hanako and Shiori, ran into a platoon of Republican Guards. As they attempted to escape, Hanako was fatally shot by the leader of the soldiers in front of both her husband and daughter. Yoshimori and Shiori escaped, but not without deep emotional scars. They wandered through Harsh Realm's fragmented territories, coming across a wandering group of refugees from New York City's now bombed Little Tokyo. The refugees were led by a man named Minamoto. Yoshimori and Shiori joined them, and eventually settled with the refugees in the Michigan territory, far from the Republican empire for a time. Minamoto trained Yoshimori in the ways of bushido, the code of the samurai. How or why Minamoto would have imparted such ancient knowledge is unknown. Eventually, he passed away, leaving Yoshimori as guardian of the Japanese settlement in Michigan. By then Yoshimori had become a solemn, spiritual, sword-wielding equivalent of a modern samurai. It was years later that the Republican invasion had finally come to the Michigan Territory, the man who killed Hanako resurfaced - Mel Waters - and Yoshimori faced his hardest challenge yet.

History : Shiori's history is deeply intertwined with her father's. Refer to Yoshimori's history. However, it is important to note exactly the depth of the differences between father and daughter. While Yoshimori is a warrior at heart, Shiori, having witnessed her mother's death at a young age, loathes merciless killing - which is what her father is capable of in a vengeful hatred for his wife's murder.

History : Not much is known about Eric Avery Rommel. Rommel first appeared on the scene of Harsh Realm as a civilian-clothed Councilman in Santiago City during the events of the failed Michigan Expedition led by Mel Waters. He was later sent to evaluate the productivity a labor camp for the Republican Department of Labor, where he secretly gave a Palm Pilot owned by Gretchen Molry to Dorothy, one of the last three remaining Sisters. From that point, it was evident he was working with his own agenda, against the Republican Empire. He left the camp a few days later after concluding a positive evalutation, disgusted with the inhumanities. He surfaced again in front of Tom Hobbes, giving him vital information about the workings of the conspiracy surrounding Santiago's plans. Finally, he appeared in the Real World, working under the Man In Charge but against the Leader of the conspiracy.

History : A hit man working in New York City for mostly Mafia kingpins, Vic Vega was caught and sentenced to twenty years in a federal prison for an attempted assassination on an FBI assistant director. The Defense Department approached him with a deal; enter a digital environment and take out a high-ranking virtual character. Upon entering and not really trying to complete his mission, Vic Vega became a freelance assassin in Harsh Realm, working assassinations for anyone who'd pay him in goods. Finally, he was approached by Mike Pinocchio to help them execute "the Big Hit" - a hit on Santiago himself.

Key episodes: Revelator

Key episodes: Palingenesy, Malo Tiempo

Key episode: Thanatopsis

Key episode: La Morte...

Key episodes: Simulacra

Key episodes: Kein Ausgang

Key episodes: Goliath