Whether alien, animal or human, Argent Starr — Tales From The Archives features a cast of original and memorable characters. Learn more about the principal characters currently featured in the story Quest for the Cardinal Stone.
CAUTION READ CHAPTERS 1 & 2 FIRST: CONTAINS SPOILERS
Argent Starr
| Aliases: | Argent Sevenson, A+ |
| Origins: | Earth |
| Species: | Kohntrarian/Human |
♦ Secret guardian of Earth, super-scientist, genius inventor, explorer, amateur magician, true of heart, analytical, adventurous, fastidious, sardonic. Known off-world as a Teklok, a technological sorcerer.
♦ Father: BoB:7, a rogue alien warrior-scientist, agent of The Code. Mother: Earth-born Dr. Celia Starr, herself a descendant of healers, psychics and witches.
♦ He inherited his massive intellect and scientific curiosity from his father who augmented him from birth with nanites to strengthen his cross-species nervous and immune systems. As an unintended result he gained the technopathic ability to subvert electronic systems, control nearby machines and computers remotely with little more than a thought.
♦ From his mother’s family he inherited a slight psychic ability and can sense dimensional “thin spots” that cause phenomena which sometimes resemble the supernatural. His maternal grandfather, a professional magician, taught him about illusion, misdirection and showmanship.
♦ Has the physical attributes of someone late-30s but is actually 95 year’s old, demonstrating his half-breed longevity. He has a distinctive showy style, including a multi-spectral eyepiece (verter) worn on his right eye, which overlays his viewpoint with scavenaged real-time data read-outs. His right arm is covered with what look like tattooed symbols, actually an imprinted, bio-engineered control interface.
| Aliases: | Jaxon Thorne, Jax, Sergeant Thorne |
| Origins: | Earth/New York |
| Species: | Human |
♦ Argent’s bodyguard and friend, ex-military weapons and demolition specialist, nanite enhanced by Argent for endurance and strength.
♦ Loyal, prideful, inquisitive, hot-tempered, very bright, cusses too much and is prone to violence but exhibits focused presence of mind and intelligence under extreme pressure.
♦ Employs a suite of incredibly advanced high-tech weapons, invented for her by Argent.
♦ An equal mix of tomboy, bookworm and hell-cat, she’s a native Manhattanite of mixed heritage
♦ Has never accepted her status as widow, after her husband, US Delta Force master sergeant J.C. Thorne, was classified MIA. Her life’s mission—find him.
Specter
| Aliases: | X679, “The Cat”, Gata Loca |
| Origins: | Earth |
| Species: | Feline, Domestic shorthair |
♦ Argent’s cat and familiar, both companion and scientific experiment.
♦ Fierce, adventurous, curious, loyal, intuitive, impulsive, silly.
♦ A nearly dead stray found by Mrs. Thorne, who implored Argent to save her. He implanted the not quite brain-dead animal with a chip that not only saved her, but increased her mental abilities to that of a six-year-old human, and then wirelessly linked her to his brain to monitor the results.
♦ Speaks a bit of rough Spanish, and is given to coarse language under stress since her vocabulary words mostly come from Mrs. Thorne and Mexican wrestling TV shows.
♦ Affectionate, but devoted only to ‘Señorrr’ Argent and ‘Señorrra’ Thorne. Like most six-year-olds, she has no “filter”, and will blast out a string of foul curses in Spanish at anyone she’s got a beef with.
Lazarus Stern
| Aliases: | Stern has an alias for every situation, too many to count. Only a handful have been unearthed including; Simon Maccabee, Ezra Bloom, and Aaron Lopez. |
| Origins: | Earth |
| Species: | Human |
♦ g_Division intelligence operative, patriotic, hyper-observant, charismatic, secretive, seductive, cool, confidant, brave, ready for anything.
♦ Multi-lingual, highly decorated and supremely trained US counter-intelligence spy. Born in the US to a couple in the diplomatic service of Israel.
♦ This former Mossad agent, disillusioned by what he sees as the failures of both his governments, has gone rogue. He now needs to secure his freedom, fortune and anonymity to support his own agenda.
♦ He’s ‘acquired’ what he needs to fund his ops, and bought himself some time before his bosses find out what he’s actually up to, by leaving an excruciatingly clever trail of misinformation.
Rey Zyten
| Aliases: | Lucky Blue Bastard, Mr. Z, and countless undocumented, one for every shape |
| Origin: | Unverified |
| Species: | Shape Shifter |
♦ Gambler, mining developer, high-end grifter, felon-at-large.
♦ Ego-maniacal, incestuous, hyper-competitive, homicidal, conniving, ruthless, obsessive, foul-mouthed, unpredictable, amoral, vindictive, rapacious, impulsive. Possibly psychotic.
♦ Thought to be the last of his kind, a Gamma ray and radiation-loving, shape-shifting alien from a planet obliterated by fearful neighbors over a century ago.
♦ His actual appearance is unknown but his preferred or default form is that of a blue bipedal anthropoid male of wealth and taste. Eyelashes and brows are the only hair he manifests.
♦ In order to shape shift he needs to sample something or someone by physically touching them and storing this sample in a special gland.
♦ Has an excellent ear for sounds and voices, and wears a small ear cuff that is actually a powerful computer for tracking the quirks, voice patterns and bits of stray data on each of his many samples.
♦ Travels in his fearsome and beloved living ship Sister, his only other companions being his indentured slave and info-scout Reeno the Lupetin and a rage to win.
Reeno (the Lupetin)
| Aliases:: | The Lupetin, Gilly |
| Origin: | Lupis Prime |
| Species: | Lupetin |
♦ Rey Zyten’s info-scout, investigator and bodyguard
♦ Highly capable, tireless, dedicated, quiet, loyal, secretive, a survivor.
♦ From a planet with a rarefied gas atmosphere, he wears a face plate or ‘Fraah’ to control air-filtration as well as communication, and to aid his natural defense systems.
♦ Indentured to professional gambler and con-man, Rey Zyten, as his advance operative and intelligence agent. Rumor is that Zyten won the Lupetin’s contract via a game of paKAR in the sub-level of a Fireball X-L 5 space cruiser.
♦ The irises of his eyes visibly change when his body goes into defensive mode and produces his bio-weapons; tiny flexible glassy darts. He uses the slits on the sides of his Fraah for their enhanced control and extended range.
♦ Raised in the great communal scouting clans of Lupis Prime, Reeno has completed the punishing and physically oppressive trials of the Lupenese Scout Clan, 10th level.
BoB:62
| Aliases: | Sixtwo, Dr. Sextoo, Bumpy |
| Origin: | Latara-Paratha 3 |
| Species: | Parathite |
♦ An alien with a life-span of well over 250 Earth years, trained from birth to become a high officer serving The Code. Raised and educated at a Code Sanctuary, indoctrinated in it’s ways and beliefs, upon graduation granted the title of ‘BoB’ and given a number based on his rank within his assignment sector.
♦ Due to irregularities during his previous two assignments his rank was lowered and he was placed on probation. In 2037 (TD) he was sent to Earth to report activities or violations of The Code quarantine, to accumulate planetary wealth and influence and manage the long-term planetary pacification program.
♦ He often wears a long spinach-green dreadlock wig to cushion his ‘lootahs’ (skull nodes). He requires a gelatin-based conductor applied to these skull nodes in order to get the most out of the many earthgirls he hires for sex, so he keeps a whole rainbow of Jell-O dessert cups on hand.
♦ Though highly intelligent and dangerously skilled, what little discipline he had is now shot, and he’s totally fried. He’s deviled by allergies to our atmosphere and 25 years on Earth have not treated him well. He hallucinates, has a highly addictive personality, is over-sexed and egotistical. Also prone to fits of irrational behavior and displays of histrionic regret.
BoB:7
| Aliases:: | On Earth: Robert Seven, Bob Goodyear. During his various galaxy-wide missions in service of The Code he’s had multiple ranks, titles and aliases: Gralth Mohult, BoB 46, BoB 197, bit 274337. |
| Origin: | Kohntra |
| Species: | Kohntrarian |
♦ An alien with a life-span of nearly 400 Earth years, trained and indoctrinated from childhood to become a BoB, a high officer serving The Code. Taken from an old Kohantra family, the Tey, when he was six, the youngest of three brilliant sons.
♦ Focused, highly capable and intelligent, fastidious and precise in all things, steadfast, dedicated to The Code which raised him, and interested in philosophy (forbidden by the Code), mathematics, and mythology.
♦ In 2021 Robert Seven, and his ailing 85 year-old Earth-born wife, quietly departed so he could extend and improve her quality of life off planet. His current location and status are unknown — but sometimes Argent gets a feeling there’s someone out there watching out for him.
Dado Chang
| Aliases: | Chango, The Big Man, The Lieutenant |
| Origin: | Earth, New York City |
| Species: | Human |
♦ Born in New York City to parents of Brazilian and Chinese decent. Owner of Chang’s Empire Casino in NYC, gambler; businessman, ex Lieutenant in the US Rangers, security consultant, mercenary soldier. Maintains private security force, Chang’s No.1.
♦ Focused, keen strategist, a leader, risk taker, demands loyalty, likes collecting precious rarities, illegal fightclubs, deep-sea diving and showgirls.
♦ As an anchor tenant for the newly designated ‘Empire District’ in New York City, he was allowed by city government to be responsible for staffing and overseeing the new BID-34 Militia, now referred to as the Empire Militia, a local municipal security service that patrols the former 34th Street Business Improvement District.
Queeng Soodoh
| Aliases: | My Queeng |
| Origin: | Unknown |
| Species: | ‘Gardener’ [informal] |
♦ Steady, charismatic, enigmatic, possessing the patience of a deity, exceedingly tall androgyny, willowy, seductive.
♦ Gender-switching alien with a languid, amiable, yet mysterious persona. Can change it’s sex, either at whim, or in response to the pressure and presence of male and female energy auras.
♦ The Queeng is personally involved in operating Soodoh’s Casino Resort, built on and into a small private asteroid in stationary orbit just past the iris of the vastly developed and busy TransGate:19. He/she makes the rounds and keeps everything running smoothly at the casino while maintaining an attitude of indolent detachment.
♦ The Queeng employs numerous agents and means to elicit intel on the possible location of the lost orb. Also established and lavishly funds an exhibition hall that features many legendary artifacts from across the Galaxy, as an attraction for the resort, and to lure in more traders of rare mythical items.
The Airlock Assassins (Ferr’s Gang)
| Aliases: | Ferr (leader), Rax (muscle), Stifin and Pluggy (accomplices) |
| Origins: | Shakhbazia, Fornax Cluster, TG:19, and Soompf |
| Species: | Various |
♦ A crew of young multiple-substance abusers addicted to ‘Drill’ who work freelance at the Lucky 19 outer-ring docks stackin’ and rackin’ cargo containers. Often unemployed, and under the delusion that they’ve put together a killer arena band, despite a lack of talent, songs or brains. Meantime, they supplement their income on drug deals and larceny.
Ferr (leader)
♦ Mother of three kits, left behind at the age of 17 when she enlisted with the ground forces of Caracal. After distinguishing herself during two hellish tours in the battle for Setorus she received an honorable discharge from the military.
♦ Various skills include; heavy weapons, sharpshooting, entrapping suckers with her luscious looks so the gang can roll them, and a knack for songwriting. During those rare moments when she’s partially straight, she becomes sentimental remembering her old life, and the litter of kits she left behind.