The Player Character, who moved to Sandrock from Highwind after the former city put out an ad calling for Builders.

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• The Ace: Firmly establishes themselves as such throughout the course of the game. Past a certain point in the story, they will have racked up so many incredible feats that the rest of the town will regard them with outright awe.
• Big Eater: Based on Nia's account as revealed in a letter being sent by her, the Builder had a voracious appetite back in the days of living in Highwind.
  "I swear, you always managed to finish your food before I'd even started."
• The Beastmaster: They can befriend most of the animals around town and have them undertake various tasks like digging for minerals or hunting monsters. The Monster Whisperer DLC extends this capability to nearly any of the monsters and creatures found in and around Sandrock, and allows the Builder to form a team that can assist them in their tasks.
• Catchphrase: "Got too much on my plate now..." if you have to put a sidequest on hold. Some people even take note of this.
• City Mouse: They moved from a city in Highwind to work in the rural desert town of Sandrock.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: They differ from the Builder from My Time at Portia in a few ways.
  • While the Portia Builder inherited their workshop from their father, the Sandrock Builder takes over the workshop of Mason, a total stranger.
  • The Portia Builder's mother died when they were young, and as such was raised by their aunt Kendra in Barnarock. The Sandrock Builder has both parents alive and was raised by them in Highwind.
  • The Portia Builder arrives at their new workshop in Spring, while the Sandrock Builder arrives in Summer, one season further into the year.
  • The Portia Builder is completely new to building and has to earn their license upon arriving in Portia. The Sandrock Builder is already licensed and is implied to have had some level of formal education in building.
• Deadpan Snarker: Sometimes they'll be given the chance to answer in a really snarky way in side quests. They can also be this towards Nia, their childhood friend, in a more teasing way.
• Didn't Think This Through: In trying to stop Larry the Geegler from attacking Sandrock, the Builder tries to punch Larry’s stomach, never mind the fact that Larry is easily taller and larger than them. Larry simply swats the Builder away, nearly sending them tumbling off the runaway train. It is only because Justice catches them that the Builder escapes serious injury or even death, especially after Larry supposedly falls to his demise down a canyon when the compromised Shonash bridge collapses under the combined weight of both him and the train.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": While their name can be customized and is used in the subtitles, everyone in town calls them "Builder" in their spoken dialogues, or leaves their name out.
• Giver of Lame Names: Nia refuses to let the Builder name anything, recalling the time they named Nia's chicken "Doggy" and her cat "Ducky." During The Six Star Commission, the player can also name the town's new airship the "S.S. Shippy McShipface" or "Ultimo Neo-prime Echo Yonekins Epoch%" which the NPCs are less than enthusiastic about.
• Good Stepparent:
  • If the Builder marries either Catori or Logan, they'll become a step parent to Alo or Andy respectively, with both already greatly looking up the Builder even before the marriage and being ecstatic to call them family.
  • Regardless of whom the Builder marries, getting a child — up to two — via adoption is a possible option.
• Hello, [Insert Name Here]: Their default names are Max and Lucy, but you can change them during the character creation.
• Heroic Mime: For the most part. Although some of the dialogue of the townsfolk indicates they are indeed talking. Furthermore, depending on the angle, the Builder’s mouth can be seen moving in line with any inner dialogue they have.
• Hope Bringer: They pretty much single-handedly turn Sandrock from a Dying Town into a center of commerce for the continent.
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: The Builder basically serves this role after being enlisted by Bronco the Kid, a Clueless Detective with a much more massive ego than his nominal status. Should the Builder talk to Bronco when he's Back for the Finale, he'll offer to get the Builder into his rank as his official assistant in his chat statement.
• Informed Attractiveness: The Magic Mirror considers the Builder a 10/10 no matter what you make them look like.
• Made of Iron: On top of being the town's builder, they're also one of the best fighters in the entire town. As an honorary member of the Civil Corps, they're incredibly tough and able to take on mutated monsters, armies of Duvos soldiers and herds of vicious automatons without hardly a scratch.
• The Musketeer: They can handle melee weapons and even a few guns, but not both at the same time.
• New Job as the Plot Demands: As they befriend the townsfolk, they receive several other job offers: working as a rancher for Cooper, Mabel and Elsie, working at Eufaula Salvage with Rocky and the boys, and even Pablo asks "how committed they are to the idea of being a Builder". They also later become an honorary member of the Civil Corps.
• Not So Above It All:
  • Most of the time, the Builder’s dialogue options range from nice to neutral, but when they have the choice of letting Bronco the bounty hunter suffer one of Cooper's legendary boring ramblings, they can do so with a hint of pride, knowing very well what Bronco walked himself into it and getting a kick out of his suffering.
  • After Yan's arrest there's a scene in which they can mess with him by pretending that they're going to let him out of the cell and then comically struggling with the keys as they purposefully play into his perception of them as a gullible idiot, capped off with the option to stand by and watch Pen kick him repeatedly.
• Patient Childhood Love Interest: If they choose to romance Nia, their Childhood Friend.
• The Reliable One: As you progress in the main story, you are often taken as the go-to person to fix anything outside the town.
• Renaissance Man: They can go from a fledgling Builder to the Builder of the Year, deep ruins-explorer, Civil Corp. honorary member, farmer, and then some during their stay in Sandrock.
• Shipper on Deck: Possibly for X and CoCo, hilariously enough.
• Stronger Than They Look: The Builder's game model is consistently skinny and lean, something which earns them the nickname "Skinny Arms" from Pen at the start of the game. But even from the beginning of the game, and especially they progress through their time in Sandrock, the Builder is always able to carry things over their head that, in real life, would be all but impossible to even lift. Furthermore, they can easily defeat opponents in spars that may be twice their size and height. This gets some In-Universe mention as well.
  Rocky: Hey, Builder! What's your deal? You're so small and yet you can lift giant things. It's really impressive!
  • An in-game example of just how strong the Builder is comes when, after the water theft conspiracy involving Miguel and Pen is uncovered and the pair are imprisoned and interrogated, one of Pen’s possessions, a dumbbell weighing 500 kilograms is presented for the Builder to examine in the search for more clues. The player has the option to try lifting it, and should they choose it and their level is 45 at least, the Builder proceeds to effortlessly lift the dumbbell over their head, which impresses Grace immensely.
• Unskilled, but Strong: They can use most weapons, but the 2-handed swords in particular has them swinging the weapon rather clumsily but dealing devastating blows. While they can use Pen's Hand of Light, the item description makes it clear they cannot use it to its full extent either.
• Wealthy Philanthropist: The Builder exhibits this on a few occasions, notably when they can offer to cover the entire cost (5000 Gols) of the electric pottery kiln blueprint for Amirah if they have the means, and not even ask for repayment at the end. Another instance is when they unconditionally support Catori through her failed business ventures, eventually helping to build the Free Cities' first theme park, Catori World, and finally, footing the bill for Nia and Mi-an's gardening and floral business to get off the ground near the end of the game.

A resident from Sandrock and owner of Ceramic Gate, a shop selling pottery and sculptures. She and her brother were originally from Barnarock, but recently arrived in Sandrock.

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• Alliterative Family: Everybody in her family has a name that starts with "A": Arthur (father), Agatha (mother), Amirah herself, and Arvio.
• Berserk Button: Making little of her job gets her very upset, and so does people whoonly complimenting her for her appearance.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Very soft-spoken, but she has very little patience for immature people. She initially has a bit of trouble expressing her frustration towards them, but learns quickly. Arvio, her brother, is very afraid of getting on her bad side, and he mentions a day when they were younger when he used her kiln to bake pizza and this made her really mad.
• Broken Bird: Downplayed. She had a tough life and is a bit cynical about it, but keeps her chin up. Amirah does tell the Builder to leave Sandrock if they get a better offer, since she knows how living in the desert isn't all that rewarding.
• Debt Detester: Whenever someone helps her financially, she makes sure to repay them, even if they say she doesn't have to. Likewise, she doesn't like people doing anything that would make her feel indebted to them.
• Foil: Amirah and Arvio compare and contrast with each other in several ways.
  • As siblings, they form a "Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling" dynamic: Amirah is more down-to-earth, whereas Arvio is more carefree.
  • Their behaviors also differ: Amirah is soft-spoken, while Arvio is more lively.
  • In business, Amirah runs a pottery-and-sculpture shop and isn't very obsessed with promoting her business. Arvio, on the other hand, runs the local general store and is quick to pour out his charm and promote his shop to get his targeted audience to make purchases from him.
  • The locations of their respective businesses also serve to illustrate their different attitudes: By the Stairs, Arvio's general store, is on the main street (directly across the main street from the City Hall, even), further showcasing Arvio's quick-to-promote nature. Amirah's pottery shop is slightly out of the way from the main street (behind the City Hall, but close enough to allow for shorter walking distance when one of them decides to visit the other), further symbolizing Amirah's more reserved attitude.
  • Amirah proves Good Is Not Soft and that one should Beware the Nice Ones by lashing out at those who earn her ire, but she shows no combat capability (in fact, she's one of the townspeople the Builder can never spar against and never participates in the "Showdown at High Noon" sparring tournament). Arvio is a Nice Guy who's almost never seen angry while possessing combat capability (he can both be challenged to a spar and participate in the "Showdown at High Noon" sparring tournament).
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Amirah is much more down to earth than Arvio and takes her business very seriously, although Arvio says she's too serious about it for her own good.
• Good Is Not Soft: She's very sociable and amicable, but she does hold grudges if you pester her enough. The Mysterious Man learns of this the hard way once he mockingly criticises her work, and Amirah makes him eat his words after getting an electric kiln, which allows her to work much more efficiently. Amirah agrees to sell her pottery after the Mysterious Man begs her to, and even then, with no discount— "Take it or leave it".
• Instantly Proven Wrong: Befriending her may cause her to think of the Builder as a source of inspiration and ask the latter to tell her something he/she has in mind for her next project, for which the Builder apparently obliges. Whatever the Builder tells her is not revealed, but her reaction makes it clear it won't work for her.
  Amirah: I'd say you've become a great source of inspiration for me, a muse, if you will. I've grown to love the way you think. Quick: tell me the first thing that comes to your mind. It'll be the basis for my next project. Mhm...? Ah... well, I can't use that. We'll try again later.
• So Proud of You: Once Arvio stops being so rash, she's the first to notice it and is very proud of him.
• World's Most Beautiful Woman: Recognized in-game as the most beautiful woman in Sandrock, earning her the nickname "Desert Rose." She's SO beautiful that Sandrock actually gets a bit of a tourist boom when a picture featuring her is posted in another city's newspaper and admirers travel to Sandrock to see her in person!

Runs the local gaming center and museum, hoping to use them to attract tourists to Sandrock.

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• Butt-Monkey: She's had a fairly bad luck in life and even in Sandrock she doesn't catch a break. She develops a new activity, sand sledding, but right before the inauguration, Logan bombs Water World's water tower, frightening the population and basically killing any interest they might have had in Catori's new activity, much to her dismay.
• Determinator: Two business failures did little to diminish her will. She's in Sandrock in charge of the entertainment alley and is always cooking up newer ideas to attract more tourists to the town.
• Family Versus Career: The crux of Catori's friendship missions is her conflicts with being absent from the life of her son, Alo, as she tries to pursue her fortune in Sandrock and afford a better life for all of them. With the Builder's help, she can make her dreams come true and reunite the two of them in Sandrock, culminating in finally constructing her dream theme park, Catori World.
• Forgets to Eat: When the Builder completes a food-related commission request made by Catori, she thanks the Builder for delivering the food she requested due to sometimes having forgotten to eat.
  Catori: Ah, thanks, [Builder]. You're always stepping up to the plate. I get so distracted I kinda forget to eat sometimes... it's tough, y'know?
• The Ghost: Not Catori herself given her plot relevance, but two people Catori talks about are entirely unseen (not even by proxy, such as in a picture): Her mother (and Alo's grandmother), who takes care of Alo while Catori herself is working in Sandrock; and her ex-husband (and Alo's father), who left his family "before the ink in the divorce paper was even dry", according to Catori's words.
• Money Fetish: In a similar vein to Arvio, Catori is a very enthusiastic businesswoman who's always looking to strike gold in the desert, even though Sandrock's ruins are mostly depleted. Best exemplified in her special commissions for Catori World regarding the snack bar, when she says she will totally overcharge for snacks since her park-goers are a captive audience with nowhere else to go. If her own statement is anything to go by, she was already a seller even during her younger years.
  Catori: I guess I got my start on the playground; I used to get candy from my uncle at the wholesale price, then sneak it into school and sell it to the other kids going through sugar withdrawals, haha! Nobody had more trading buttons than me that year, you better believe it.
• Saying Too Much: Played with for comedy with regard to what she donated as presents for the Day of the Bright Sun festival, though her presents aren't too different from others' — for starters, tokens are not among her potential presents.
  Catori: What did I give as a gift? Well, I can't tell you that! I will tell you you can use them to win amazing prizes... Wait, maybe I've said too much...
• Signature Headgear: Complimenting her appearance while the Builder hangs out with her may cause her to talk about the hairpin she wears that nobody else is seen wearing. According to Catori herself, it's a family heirloom.
  Catori: Ah, this old thing? This hairpin was my mother's and my grandmother's before that, it's been in the family so long we can't even remember where it came from. You know. Age of Darkness and all that. I'm... glad you like it.
• Struggling Single Mother: She has a teenage-age son, Alo, who she left in Atara in the care of her mother (Alo's grandmother) after her swift and messy divorce with her ex-husband, and her wanting to try and pursue her fortune in Sandrock due to what she feels is an untapped market for entertainment there.
• Third Time's the Charm: Said verbatim after Catori mentions, rather sheepishly, that her previous business venture ended badly, and the one before that ended even more poorly.
  Catori: I'd like to think I have a nose for business. Now my last venture didn't really work out and... the one before that was even worse. But... this is the time! Third time's the charm, right?

A Sandrock native, she is the daughter of Cooper and Mabel. She works as a rancher at her father's farm.

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• Adrenaline Makeover: The option to romance Elsie doesn't become available until after she becomes The Beastmaster and doesn't look so much like a child.
• Animal Lover: She has a way with animals and monsters and doesn't like hurting them. During the mission to clear out the tunnel to Portia she insists in trying to find a non-violent way to get rid of the monsters infesting it, but Logan makes it clear there's no other way this time.
• The Beastmaster: She becomes a 'monster whisperer' during her brief stint running away from home and returns with the giant duck that broke her mother's arm fully tamed.
• Book Dumb: She isn't very big on all that reading thing and anything that requires a lot of thinking.
  • Later subverted: when she eventually runs away from home, she actually learns how to study animals from reading Howlett's (Logan's dad) books on monster hunting. From there, she adapts that knowledge into being able to tame monsters, gaining her the nickname "Monster Whisperer."
• Brutal Honesty: She isn't one for beating around the bush. Be nice to her and she'll be nice to you, annoy or piss her off and she won't be subtle on calling you out for it. If you get in a relationship with her she can ask how your day was and she'll quickly get bored of all the Builder talk and earnestly say she didn't fall in love with you because of your profession.
• Daddy's Girl: Elsie gets her father, the very stubborn Cooper, to let you rent a horse free of charge so you can practice it with what amounts to puppy eyes.
• Fanservice Pack: She gets a considerably more flattering and form-fitting outfit when she returns from her journey with Daisy the Giant Duck.
• Foil: Elsie and Mi-an compare and contrast each other in some ways.
  • Both of them are cheerful and energetic girls who are friendly to each other (they're seen hanging out at the Blue Moon Saloon on Sunday afternoons) and the Builder and whom the Builder can romance/marry if the Builder desires so, close in age appearance to one another, have similar body build, and use Daggers and Knives as their weaponry of choice.
  • Lifestyle choices are among their differences: Elsie works as a ranchhand, likes to play in the game center, doesn't care for horticulture, and is such an Animal Lover that she becomes a monster whisperer after her Adrenaline Makeover. Mi-an works as a builder, has little to no interest in playing games, is a Caring Gardener by hobby, and isn't into animal husbandry.
  • Elsie, having been born and raised in Sandrock through her life, suffers from Small Town Boredom until she runs away from home temporarily. Mi-an comes from a family of Builders in Tallsky but is rather well-adjusted in Sandrock.
• The Gadfly: She likes teasing people close to her, especially if she feels they need to relax a bit. You and Mi-an are not safe from her pranks. At all. She does have a limit and realizes if she goes too far with her pranks, however.
• Genki Girl: She's very cheerful and never stops for a moment.
• Hidden Depths: In one of the main story missions, she basically begs for you and Mi-an to help her investigate Logan and Haru's home because she already did it once and couldn't come up with any clues, admitting her Book Dumb tendencies and that both are much smarter than she is.
• Hypocritical Humor: As shown in the "Takin' It Easy" side mission, she actually plays a game in the game center and ends up enjoying the experience despite initially claiming the stuff in the game center are for children instead of more mature people like herself.
• In-Series Nickname: Two of them. She gets called "Elle" by Mi-an and Logan refers to her as "Else."
• Like Parent, Like Child:
  • She can be very, very, stubborn. Mabel dryly notes how she doesn't have to wonder whom she gets it from...
  • Her dad is also a bit of a gadfly.
• Mythology Gag: Her second outfit and accompanying look is actually what she was presented in the early Kickstarter previews. This suggests that the developers either repurposed this look as an easy visual indicator of her character development, or that it was the plan all along.
• The Runaway: A temporary and vagrant example. After her first attempt at befriending a giant Martle duck went badly awry and caused Cooper to lash out at her, she decides that she needs to go away for a while to clear her mind and find her true calling. She returns about one in-game week later, having accomplished her intended goal and gotten herself an Adrenaline Makeover.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: She changes into a noticeably less childlike outfit after her temporary leave of Sandrock, alluding to how she's come into her own during the time she was away.
• Small Town Boredom: Suffers from this, living in Sandrock. She's been saving up money in secret so one day she can move away.
• We Used to Be Friends: She's a staunch supporter of Logan, no matter what people say about him. She starts losing heart after she witnesses him kidnapping Matilda and feels conflicted about how she should feel. A sidequest reveals Logan is her childhood friend and even saved her from a monster attack when she was 6.

A young woman working as a waitress in the Blue Moon Saloon. She's saving up to finish her studies and find a better job at Atara.

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• Action Girl: Can be challenged to spar with you. One of her sidequests has her trying to enter the Hazardous Ruins, and she has to be stopped by Justice.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Grace is very nice and friendly, but she can be very stubborn and has learned tricks to deal with child troublemakers like Andy. Turns out she didn't threaten Andy at all, she just asked him to act scared since Grace and Logan were working together.
• Death Faked for You: After her mission thwarting Duvos at the Northern Development Plan succeeds, Grace and her fellow agents were given the chance to retire from the ACI in exchange for their identities being "killed" in action. This allows Grace to return to Sandrock for good, her life as a spy behind her.
• Dumb Blonde: Averted. She's an archeology student and is even working on a thesis. And even more averted when you realize she's actually a spy sent to investigate a possible conspiracy in Sandrock.
• Hidden Depths: Befriending her unlocks conversations, showing that she is much more observant of her surroundings and people than anyone thinks. Turns out she's an undercover agent for the Alliance Central Intelligence.
• Lethal Chef: Her cooking is, er, rather known around Sandrock. Mi-an even says her omelets "tastes funny". Grace herself is well aware of this and is somewhat frustrated with it, since no matter how close she follows the instructions, she never gets it right. Even with Owen coaching her, she hasn't seen much progress. She does, however, prove to be a talented mixologist, as she applied her technique of shaking her grenades to the drinks she mixes up.
• Metaphorgotten: After the player gives her the Insulated Backpack.
  Grace: Certainly, if necessity is the mother of all invention... laziness is the father. Or... uncle? Daughter? Because necessity comes first? Cousin?
• Mundane Utility: One of the things Grace did in her work with the ACI was to shake her grenades before throwing them during combat missions. She later uses the same technique with drinks she mixes up at the Blue Moon, which leads Owen to realize she should set up her own drinks station.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: She's far from being a Dumb Blonde, being an archeology student working on a thesis and all, but she's also not above playing dumb for her own ends, as one of her chat statements proves.
  Grace: Remember when we first met, I told you I was into star signs? Well, it wasn't true. I actually think they're nonsense. I just like to come off as vapid when meeting people. Helps me fade into the background better.
• Pen Pals: Becomes one to the Builder in order to keep contact with them. Being a spy and all that she has to be careful with her words.
• Put on a Bus: She leaves after the Duvos invasion in order to make a proper report on her activities as a spy on Sandrock. She returns later, however, and how she reacts depends on how flirty you were in the letters you send to her.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: Her commissions always have her asking for something, saying it wasn't her fault that she needs said item. Considering some of her usual requests are Soup and Copper Pots with her Lethal Chef tendencies... yeah.

A woman who's an Architect and owner of Construction Junction. When she has free time, she also moonlights as the writer for the Tumbleweed Standard.

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• Almighty Janitor: Unlike Qi, Matilda or Trudy, Heidi doesn't have a status of authority, but she has a lot more influence and importance in Sandrock's re-development. Heidi's the one who usually comes up with the bigger projects for Sandrock's improvement and her opinion on them is crucial before anything is given the green light.
• Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: The sensible foil to Qi's eccentricities.
• Cool Big Sis: To Jasmine, whom her grandmother watches over when Mayor Trudy is away.
• Hidden Depths: She can throw one mean punch. She's the "Super Girl" who literally breaks the Punch-o-Tron in Golden Goose and Catori is forced to commission something far stronger in order to withstand her punches. Fittingly enough Heidi will always have the top score there, if you beat it, she'll have topped it by the next day.
• Kent Brockman News: Heidi's articles in the Tumbleweed Standard can get unprofessionally snarky.
  "Sorry to alarm all you folks out there with such unfounded scare tactics, but we did some numbers and found out that we sell a lot more papers if we do."
• The Reliable One: One of Sandrock's few residents to have all of her shit together, and while the Builder might do most of the physical building, Heidi's the one planning and coordinating all the big infrastructure projects they work on.
• The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: Hugo isn't "ugly" per se, but he's burly and certainly not gorgeous, whereas Heidi is a looker. Based on the pictures and portraits (and Heidi's hand-drawn mural) the Builder can find in town, Heidi most likely got her looks from her deceased mother, who's also Hugo's late wife. Hugo himself is aware enough to say so outright in a chat statement.
  Hugo: It's a good thing Heidi takes more after her mother. Can't imagine her walkin' around with a mug like mine, heh heh!

A woman who answered the town's call for a schoolteacher. She has a unique way of teaching the children in the school, largely based on her history in the Performing Arts. However, Sandrock's just-recovering population and the pressure of restarting the school on the right foot weighs on her.

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• Enthusiastic Newbie Teacher: She's very new to the teaching profession, and is Sandrock's first professional educator in so long since the population decline and the forced retirement of the original, Ms. Bliss, due to old age. While she's eager to put forward her lesson plans that incorporate elements of dramatization such as roleplay and live performances, and has a strong drive to improve her students' education, she can't help but be nervous when parents question her methods or she is faced with the harsh realities of being a new teacher.
• Friend to All Children: As befitting a kindergarten teacher who moved to a just-recently-revived Dying Town with an initial class size of 3, Jane is very fond of young kids and does her best to make her classroom a fun, creative, and colorful environment that will stimulate their love of learning.
• Last Girl Wins: If romanced. She only enters the story well into Act 3, meaning that if the player wants to romance her they'll have to prioritize maximizing her Relationship Values. Fortunately, her personal side quests increase her friendship substantially, making it somewhat easier to achieve.
• Tragic Dream: Jane used to devote herself to acting and went to Walnut Groove in the hope of making it big as a thespian, but she never managed to achieve stardom. Eventually she switched from acting to teaching, which ultimately led to her arriving in Sandrock as an Enthusiastic Newbie Teacher. That being said, it ends up being balanced out in that she enjoys her job as a teacher since she's a Friend to All Children, as indicated by a chat statement of hers.
  Jane: My dream of becoming an actor has changed, but my love for theater remains. I help my students put on school plays now, and it's just as enjoyable as being on stage myself!

A resident and builder of Sandrock. Originally from Tallsky, she arrived in Sandrock shortly before the player.

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• Action Girl: Being a Builder like you means she can handle herself against monsters. She's also very eager to explore a new Old World Hazardous Ruins.
• Always Second Best: To the Builder. Due to how easy it is to raise your workshop reputation, Mi-an will always be the second best builder in Sandrock. She's perfectly okay with it and will always congratulate the Builder if/when they win Workshop of the Year.
• Caring Gardener: Her hobby is botany, and one of Catori's sidequests has her sheepishly admitting she's been spending a lot of her money in the Moisture Farm.
• Contrasting Replacement Character: She's the complete opposite of Higgins. Mi-an is openly friendly from the start and actively seeks to work with you together for the betterment of Sandrock never thinking about payment of favors.
• Developers' Desired Date: She's one of four characters who get expanded romance interactions in the Love Chronicles DLC alongside Fang, Nia and Logan.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • A generic chat statement from her reveals that she turned down a commission request from Elsie for the sake of professionalism despite her interest in the potential results.
    Mi-an: Elsie wants me to build her a whoopee-cushion so she can play tricks on her dad... Although personally I enjoy the prospect, professionally, I had to decline.
  • Her unique chat statement on the day(s) of Tour de Rock has her express disappointment that participants aren't allowed to bring their own custom-made boards for the competition before following up with the understanding that it's probably for the best.
    Mi-an: I wish we'd been allowed to bring our own boards! I wanted to modify mine juuuust a little... some suspension, hydraulic brakes... but that wouldn't be fair to everyone else. Fairness first!
• First Girl Wins: Should you romance her. She's the first person to greet you upon arriving in Sandrock. In one of her post-marriage quests she shows the little signboard she was holding when she first greeted you.
• Foil:
  • Elsie and Mi-an compare and contrast each other in some ways.
    • Both of them are cheerful and energetic girls who are friendly to each other (they're seen hanging out at the Blue Moon Saloon on Sunday afternoons) and the Builder and whom the Builder can romance/marry if the Builder desires so, close in age appearance to one another, have similar body build, and use Daggers and Knives as their weaponry of choice.
    • Lifestyle choices are among their differences: Elsie works as a ranch-hand, likes to play in the game center, doesn't care for horticulture, and is such an Animal Lover that she becomes a monster whisperer after her Adrenaline Makeover. Mi-an works as a builder, has little to no interest in playing games, is a Caring Gardener by hobby, and isn't into animal husbandry.
    • Elsie, having been born and raised in Sandrock through her life, suffers from Small Town Boredom until she runs away from home temporarily. Mi-an comes from a family of Builders in Tallsky but is rather well-adjusted in Sandrock.
  • Mi-an also compares and contrasts Nia in some ways.
    • Both are young girls with a similar body build, are Caring Gardener (such that they eventually become co-owners of a flower shop named Mi-ni Botanica after discussing about this business venture between themselves and with the Builder), and are also potential romance/marriage candidates for the Builder.
    • They're also the "first" for the Builder's social life, if for different reasons: Mi-an is the first girl the Builder meets upon reaching Sandrock, while Nia is the first girl among the female cast members in this game the Builder was acquainted with, as Childhood Friends.
    • Speaking of being a Caring Gardener, Mi-an takes up gardening as her hobby that eventually becomes a side job, but Nia is into horticulture by default since she spends much of the game studying the subject before entering Sandrock the second time around to apply her knowledge in a(n in-universe) real-life setting.
    • Mi-an is a professional Bulder by default and doesn't show any capability in textile work, whereas Nia is shown being proficient enough on textile work (since some of the presents she gifts the Builder as Pen Pals are handmade textile accessories) but not in Builder work.
    • Finally, Mi-an's Weapon Specialization is daggers, whereas Nia is a Long-Range Fighter due to using explosives that she throws at her targets.
• Genki Girl: Less so than Elsie, but Mi-an can get fired up just as much as the former.
• Go-Getter Girl: Due to being born into a family of highly respected Builders of Tallsky she strives to become a great one.
• Goggles Do Nothing: Averted. She uses them to protect her eyes during sandstorms.
• Good Is Not Dumb: One of her conversation has her mentioning a time where she was offered to be paid in "exposure" and how she didn't take any of it.
• Hypocritical Humor: One of her chat statements reveals that she takes a break from working as a builder by... working in the garden.
  Mi-an: Sometimes I take a break from commissions and do some work in the garden. Wait a sec... I take a break by doing some "work" in the garden? ...Am I a work-a-holic!? C'mon, you can tell it to me straight!
• Immediate Self-Contradiction: When the Builder hangs out with her and compliments her personality, she might stress the importance of a positive attitude... before dissing Mason in passing.
  Mi-an: A positive attitude is everything! If you don't find a way to look on the bright side of things, you might end up like Mason! Oops, that wasn't very positive of me...
• In the Blood: She follows the tradition of her family, who are Builders as well.
  Mi-an: Well, ever since I was a kid I've had to deal with high expectations. Practically everyone in my family is a Builder, and we're even pretty well known in Tallsky. But even as far as I am from home, I still feel like they're watching me sometimes...
• Meaningful Gift: She's a Builder just like you, so any tools like Pickhammers or Axes, or the more difficult materials and stuff machine-refined make for good gifts for Mi-an.
• Ms. Fixit: Comes naturally with being a Builder. She sees something broken, she feels the need to fix it. This can get her into some trouble, like when she repairs the gate to Paradise Lost without permission, all while Justice is explaining to the player Builder that the place is off-limits and likely won't be cleared to be reopened anytime soon. Justice ultimately decides to just let it slide, though Mi-an is legitimately regretful after learning the issue.
• Nice Girl: Mi-an is a cheerful girl who's very proud of her job and makes sure to put her skills to aid others as much as she can. She also takes most things in stride, and it takes a lot to upset her. One of her early sidequests has her repairing things and building benches for Sandrock even without being asked for.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Drool with Joy Noodles. It's actually one of the few foods that aren't neutral gifts to her.
• Wealthy Philanthropist: She donates her 500,000 Gols backpay, money Yan stole from her, to help pay for the new Sandrock school.
• Weapon Specialization: She wields Daggers to fight.
• Workaholic: She's very hardworking to the point it worries Elsie. Later on, Elsie even steals her Builder License to get her to stop working a bit, but all it does is throw Mi-an into a funk.

The player's childhood friend, currently residing in Highwind. She communicates with the player using letters.

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• Action Girl: Capable of fighting and accompanies you during a certain mission. Befriending her gives you more proficiency with Spears.
• Best Friend: Proudly declares to be your best friend.
• Beware the Nice Ones: She's very polite and cheerful, if a bit mischievous towards you. But she's not a pushover. Whatever she does to Yan when he tries to get her to join the Commerce Guild, in a very slimy way, makes the "president" deeply regret it and beg you to keep her away from him calling Nia a "devil".
• Caring Gardener: She's studying botany and during her visit to Sandrock she learns more of the desert cultivation and gives Zeke Raspberry Seeds which you can grow later. She returns alongside Professor Luo to help with Project Greenland, and after she chooses to stay at Sandrock she sets up a gardening business with the help of Mi-an and the Builder.
• Childhood Friend Romance: Should you choose to romance her, their years-long friendship turns into a romantic relationship. Potentially subverted in her wedding congratulation letter if you propose to anyone else, where the Builder can mention they had a crush on her, but it's too late to act on it now.
• Childhood Friends: She's one with you, oftentimes referencing past events growing up in Highwind like her the Builder's misadventures with construction, painting, and birthday parties.
• Developers' Desired Date: She's one of four characters who get expanded romance interactions in the Love Chronicles DLC alongside Fang, Mi-an and Logan.
• Foil: Nia compares and contrasts with Mi-an in some ways.
  • Both are young girls with a similar body build, are Caring Gardener (such that they eventually become co-owners of a flower shop named Mi-ni Botanica after discussing about this business venture between themselves and with the Builder), and are also potential romance/marriage candidates for the Builder.
  • They're also the "first" for the Builder's social life, if for different reasons: Mi-an is the first girl the Builder meets upon reaching Sandrock, while Nia is the first girl among the female cast members in this game the Builder was acquainted with, as Childhood Friends.
  • Speaking of being a Caring Gardener, Mi-an takes up gardening as her hobby that eventually becomes a side job, but Nia is into horticulture by default since she spends much of the game studying the subject before entering Sandrock the second time around to apply her knowledge in a(n in-universe) real-life setting.
  • Mi-an is a professional Bulder by default and doesn't show any capability in textile work, whereas Nia is shown being proficient enough on textile work (since some of the presents she gifts the Builder as Pen Pals are handmade textile accessories) but not in Builder work.
  • Finally, Mi-an's Weapon Specialization is daggers, whereas Nia is a Long-Range Fighter due to using explosives that she throws at her targets.
• Friendship Trinket: Nia will mail you a scarf and a satchel, both handmade.
• Gameplay and Story Integration:
  • When she's added to your Social Handbook she starts off with considerably more friendship, at 3 full hearts, instead of zero.
  • Her letters talk about celebrating birthdays with the Builder as kids. She's the only character whose birthday is automatically known, without having to be told.
• I Choose to Stay: She:chooses to stay behind in Sandrock after the Outback Forest is successfully planted, instead of accompanying Professor Luo back to Highwind.
• Long-Range Fighter: Nia's Weapon Specialization is in throwing explosives at her targets while lacking close-range combat options and is unique in being the only person among all NPCs in this game who fights this way.
• Pen Pals: She regularly writes letters to you after you move to Sandrock, often talking about her studies and things you used to do together. After Logan destroys the water tower, she visits Sandrock for 3 days out of worry, to see if you're really safe and well.
• Put on a Bus: Train actually. She visits Sandrock for a few days to make sure you're OK after a huge incident happens in the town. Nia only returns much later after the whole Duvos conspiracy mess is cleared and some bad weeds are rooted out from Sandrock.
• Sailor Fuku: Her regular attire is pretty much stylized after one.
• Textile Work Is Feminine: She gifts you a red scarf and a bunny satchel hand made by her.

One of Rocky's workers at Eufaula Salvage, who becomes fascinated with the Builder.

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• Aesop Amnesia: A chat statement from Venti has her recall a time when she sneaked into lectures at the University just for fun that ended with her getting kicked out by the security guard, which happened before her arrival at Sandrock (since Sandrock has no university at all). Apparently she has not learned that sneaking into a place without properly authorized access, whether the person without said access is her or someone she brings along (the Builder in the case of this game's events), could get herself in trouble, for her friendship-building missions are all about her taking the Builder into the Eufaula Salvage co. scrapyard by sneaking into it late at night when the scrapyard is officially closed for the night, which end up with her and the Builder getting caught and her being severely scolded by Rocky for her stunts as the result^note  (assuming the player agrees to her suggestion instead of nipping it in the bud by declining it).
  Venti: I used to sneak into lectures at the University. I didn't really understand much, but it was super interesting! One day the security guard found me and kicked me out... he asked for my student number, and I just went blank.
• Line-of-Sight Name: Venti named herself after the writing on an Old World cup she found as a child while living in a junkyard. She mentions a childhood friend of hers named Grande.
• Minor Major Character: Doesn't get much main story focus compared to the other marriage candidates.
• Nice, Mean, and In-Between: Among the three Eufaula Salvage employees who are present from start to finish, Venti is the "nice" example since she has a cheerful demeanor despite her rough past and is quite friendly to the Builder, such that she can be romanced if the player desires so.
• The Nondescript: Has the same face as several other female side characters within the game; she'll lampshade it if you mention it during a conversation in one of her friendship quests.
  Venti: I often see people on the street who look like me, but there are still differences. Venti is one of a kind, so my good friend, you'll remember me, won't you?
• Obsessively Organized:
  • She discloses her dislike of disorganization in an early-game chat statement.
    Venti: Don't be like some Builders I know and put all your materials into Storage Boxes with reckless abandon. Just thinking about that kind of disorganization keeps me up at night...
  • She expresses interest in reorganizing her possessions when the Builder talks to her while a sandstorm is raging through the town.
    Venti: Wow, looks like we've got the day off. The perfect opportunity to reorganize! All my things are already in alphabetical order around the room, counter-clockwise. How about... reverse alphabetical order, clockwise? Woohoo!
• The Pollyanna: Venti has had a pretty rough past living without a roof under her head and, quite literally, scrapping by until working at Eufaula Salvage. Despite this, she remains one of the more cheerful characters of Sandrock, never letting anything get her down for too long. Even the Duvos invasion and occupation of Sandrock is apparently not as bad as that one time she got buried under a mountain of garbage and had to chew her way out to safety!

A resident of Sandrock and the general store owner of By the Stairs. He is Amirah's brother.

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• Alliterative Family: Everybody in his family has a name that starts with "A": Arthur (father), Agatha (mother), Amirah, and Arvio himself.
• And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt: His money-making Zany Scheme in the wake of the Geegler attack on the Moisture Farm has him consider making and selling T-shirts that capitalize on the incident, though nothing comes of it in the end.
  Arvio: How about I make some T-shirts that say "I survived the Geegler attack and all I got was this stupid T-shirt." Think that'll sell? You know, assuming we survive.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: Arvio is much more brash and carefree than Amirah. Whenever she has to deal with Arvio's antics, she does with an exasperated tone.
• Big Brother Instinct: An inverted example as he's the younger sibling. He's always ready to help or defend Amirah. When he messes up in the "Desert Rose" sidequest wherein he accidentally involves his sister, he owns up to his mistake and does his best to fix it.
• Character Development: Arvio goes from a well-intended but foolhardy salesman to someone with maturity and business knowledge enough to catch the attention of Musa, the richest man in the Alliance of Free Cities. Even people of Sandrock take note of this when this happens.
• The Charmer: Being a shopkeeper, Arvio is pretty good with words and often butters you up in hopes you'll buy something or he can convince you to help. Amirah notices this, too.
• Dogged Nice Guy: Arvio has been trying to catch the "devilishly handsome" Fang's attention for ages (obstinately just to 'befriend' him, but given that he's also responsible for Fang's confused understanding of what the word "date" implies...) and has so far only earned blank stares and the ire of his pet raven. Eventually, he ropes the Builder into a questionable Engineered Heroics scheme to win Fang over, which winds up far more effective for the Builder than for Arvio.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: It takes some research on his part and help from the Builder and Amirah, but eventually everything pays off once his successful effort in promoting Amirah's high-quality ceramic products garners Musa's attention, such that Musa agrees to invest in his business as the main story is near its end, much to his delight.
• Everyone Has Standards: For all the Money Fetish he harbors, there are some sales opportunities he'd be willing to forego if someone he cares about might be negatively affected as a result.
  • The sidequest "Product Recall", in which he requests the Builder's help in retrieving the "Desert Rose" pictures he had sold, kicks off because he realizes after the fact that Amirah becomes the unwilling target of some tourists' unwanted attention — the result of Arvio including her in the photo he took of the Sandrock landscape without realizing it until it's too late — and lashes out at him for it.
  • His considers drumming up some sales at the High Noon Arena when the "Showdown at High Noon" tournament is in place, but the thought of some potential impact it might have on Fang causes him to dump the idea.
    Arvio: I heard that Hammer Time is really busy just before this festival! Hey... maybe he's onto something... maybe if I start selling bandages... No, no... I couldn't do that to Fang.
• Foil: Amirah and Arvio compare and contrast with each other in several ways.
  • As siblings, they form a "Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling" dynamic: Amirah is more down-to-earth, whereas Arvio is more carefree.
  • Their behaviors also differ: Amirah is soft-spoken, while Arvio is more lively.
  • In business, Amirah runs a pottery-and-sculpture shop and isn't very obsessed with promoting her business. Arvio, on the other hand, runs the local general store and is quick to pour out his charm and promote his shop to get his targeted audience to make purchases from him.
  • The locations of their respective businesses also serve to illustrate their different attitudes: By the Stairs, Arvio's general store, is on the main street (directly across the main street from the City Hall, even), further showcasing Arvio's quick-to-promote nature. Amirah's pottery shop is slightly out of the way from the main street (behind the City Hall, but close enough to allow for shorter walking distance when one of them decides to visit the other), further symbolizing Amirah's more reserved attitude.
  • Amirah proves Good Is Not Soft and that one should Beware the Nice Ones by lashing out at those who earn her ire, but she shows no combat capability (in fact, she's one of the townspeople the Builder can never spar against and never participates in the "Showdown at High Noon" sparring tournament). Arvio is a Nice Guy who's almost never seen angry while possessing combat capability (he can both be challenged to a spar and participate in the "Showdown at High Noon" sparring tournament).
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Foolish compared to his sister Amirah. Arvio has good intentions and a rather keen business sense but usually doesn't think things through, which often irritates Amirah.
• Lethal Chef: The sidequest "Fragrant Memories" is kick-started because Arvio's attempt at cooking a dish for Fang proves disastrous, especially since he used toothpaste as an ingredient, and X, having test-tasted Arvio's culinary work, is not impressed and makes his dissatisfaction explicitly clear to Arvio.
• Lies to Children: On the receiving end of it. As Arvio himself discloses to the Builder should the player ask about his past while hanging out with him, his mother used to tell him a lie whenever he acted up in his childhood years to keep him in check.
  Arvio: My mother used to tell me anytime I was acting up that naughty children were prime targets for kidnapping by sand pirates! Which made sense to me at the time; it seemed like naughty children would make for better candidates as sand pirates than nice children... Only thing is, there's no such thing as sand pirates! Right? You've never seen one have you? Exactly! Think of all the mischief I missed out believing such lies...
• Mad Libs Catchphrase: When quoting from some source (oftentimes somebody he knew back home in Barnarock), he'd say "As ___ used to say" or something similar before uttering said quote.
• Money Fetish: He's almost always focused on making money in one way or another.
• Nice Guy: Whether he's trying to push you something to buy or not, he always greets you with the biggest smile he can. Arvio is also impressed if you visit him during a sandstorm, but gets worried if you do so after befriending him, saying you should also be careful.
• The Pollyanna: Despite having been through hard times, he's kept a cheerful disposition towards life.
• Pretty Boy: He's almost as pretty as his sister.
• Proud Beauty: He's quite proud of his looks and puts his face in ads and in gift boxes as a main method of selling them. However, when he pitches it to Musa, a very successful businessman, it's all he can do, and he gets a severe lesson in branding and business decisions.
• Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: He's not exactly rich, but becoming so is his driving motivator. Unfortunately, his "business sense", such as it is, isn't particularly great. When advertising for his shop, he thinks that people will be more interested in seeing him than any of the products he sells, and he's always looking for the next big thing to appeal to tourists. This bites him in the ass when he tries to sell Musa on his marketing schemes. Musa correctly points out that, best case scenario, Sandrock's tourism is about 200 people a year, and Arvio's profit margin is about 1000 gols a month. If Arvio successfully markets his store to those tourists and doubles his profit margin, which is already a big supposition, that means his profit margin will be 2000 gols a month, hardly anything for Musa to get excited about. Arvio actually takes this to heart and works on getting his sister more exposure and business, which, considering her works are of extremely high quality and wanted all over the Free Cities but she's terrible at marketing them, is fantastically effective.
• What the Hell Is That Accent??: Speaks in a bizarre and inconsistent Australian-New Zealand-English hybrid accent.
• Zany Scheme: He's notorious for them, a couple of which the Builder will get roped into.

A member of the Church of Light, and primary overseer of the town's water supply.

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• Affectionate Nickname: Dan-bi calls him "Burgy-boy".
• Borrowed Catchphrase: A chat statement from Burgess utilizes Arvio's Mad Libs Catchphrase.
  Burgess: When the prices of water are reaching a high point, you have to try and spread out and conserve what you already have. I know how hard you're working, and it's not easy to make money! As Arvio's grandfather says, "remember to buy, buy, buy when the prices are low, low, low!"
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: Burgess attempts to make one such argument against his appointment as the new minister in Sandrock.
  Burgess: One: I'm bad at everything. Two: I can't do it. Three: ...See options one and two!
• Friendless Background: Befriending him has Burgess casually mentioning the Builder is the only other person that has faith in him, with the other one being his mother.
  Burgess: Wow... you really believe in me, don't you [Builder]? If you believe in me, and my Ma believes in me... that makes two people! A new record!
• Foil:
  • Burgess and Miguel compare and contrast each other.
    • On one hand, the fact that both are fellow members of the Church of Light helps to ensure that they interact with each other regularly, and they're also bachelors the Builder can romance/marry.
    • For starters as far as their differences go, Burgess is on the burly side while Miguel is more slender.
    • Though they're both devout Church of Light members, Burgess has a more idealistic outlook as a Kindhearted Simpleton, whereas Miguel is more jaded due to his Dark and Troubled Past.
    • The same "idealism vs. cynicism" contrast also appears in their different speech patterns. Burgess speaks in more emotive and lively ways, but Miguel's tone is more morose and subdued.
    • Both Burgess and Miguel are devout members of the Church of Light, but their top priorities differ a bit. Burgess focuses on the Martle Oasis and the overall water supply in Sandrock so much that his residence is within Water World (his office), which is only a stone's throw away from the oasis itself. Miguel also looks after the water supply in town, but his residence is within the dormitory that church members take up, which is located next to the temple.
  • Burgess and Unsuur provide some interesting parallels, not only as fellow residents but bachelors that the Builder can befriend (and then romance and marry if the player desires so) as well, even though they're not seen interacting with each other a lot.
    • On first glance, their contrasts are plain to see: Burgess is heavyset/rotund, while Unsuur is more slender-looking.
    • Their speech patterns also differ a bit: Burgess is as expressive as the next person and may raise his voice whenever he feels inclined, whereas Unsuur is a Mellow Fellow who nearly never raises his tone.
    • Familial relationship is another point of contrast between them: Burgess grew up with a mother (no mention is made about his father or whether he has any siblings); Unsuur's family history is part of his Mysterious Past because he never reveals anything about it.
    • They keep a watchful eye in their respective lines of work: Burgess concerns himself with water supply in town, but Unsuur looks after safety in the streets due to being a Civil Corps member.
    • Both of them have a Friendless Background: Burgess confesses that the Builder is his second confidant (the first one is his mother); Unsuur's best friend prior to befriending the Builder is a rock named "Wilson".
    • They also have some unusual interests: Burgess loves watching grass grow, whereas Unsuur finds it fun to stack rocks and pile sand. For a shared interest, both of them like watching paint dry — Burgess claims watching grass grow is one of his favorite things to do, "right up there with watching paint dry"^note  (Burgess may say so while hanging out with the Builder); one of the friendship-building side missions with Unsuur is literally named "Watching Paint Dry", where he talks to the Builder about doing so with mellow satisfaction.
    • Finally, each of them is a follower of sorts in their respective association before moving up in rank: Burgess is a devout member in the Church of Light^note (and one of two such members in Sandrock without some ulterior motive from the get-go) and eventually becomes the new minister in Sandrock. Unsuur follows Justice in his line of work^note (unlike the people Burgess is following, however, Justice is on the up-and-up from start to finish) and eventually becomes a deputy.
    • On the occasion where Burgess and Unsuur join together to protest against the officially-sanctioned use of industrial explosives for the Portia-Sandrock tunnel construction, they do so under different reasons, even if the resultant action is the same (namely, the protest): Burgess opposes the use of Old World-type explosives as is under the guideline of the Church of the Light, but Unsuur's opposition comes from his fascination with rocks, which the explosives would destroy in said construction work.
  • Burgess also compares and contrasts with Zeke, though in this case their similarities are easier to spot.
    • For starters, both Burgess and Zeke are on the burly side and utilize their physical strength more than some others, as they rely on Good Old Fisticuffs when challenged in a spar and participating in the "Showdown at High Noon" contest. Zeke also gets the bonus points of using his physical strength to not only throw invading Geeglers out of the Moisture Farm but help the Builder, Mi-an, and Trudy in reaching the at-the-time-inaccessible Shipwreck Ruins entrance by literally tossing them to it as well.
    • Their contrasts mostly come from personality. Burgess is more outgoing, whereas Zeke is more reclusive.
    • Burgess yearns for close friendship, values the companionship the Builder provides him, and can be romanced if the player desires so. Zeke gets along with people well enough but isn't on a friendship-seeking quest due to his more reclusive nature and is among the townspeople the Builder can never romance despite being single himself.
    • In terms of family and itinerary history, Burgess grew up with his biological mother (no mention of any other family member(s) is made) in some unnamed village and, later on, studied as seminary in Meidi before the Church assigned him to Sandrock. Zeke is Happily Adopted by Mort and Martle when he got separated from the group of people he was with as a child and there's been no mention of him being anywhere else since then.
    • Burgess is more proactive in what he sets his mind for, whether it's for the Church or for watching over the oasis or water regulation/sales, and isn't shy with making himself known to others if it helps achieve his goals. Zeke primarily works behind the scenes in the Moisture Farm and doesn't actively seek publicity, such that Musa has to personally visit him at work to gain more insight about what he does.
    • Speaking of the Church, Burgess has been a devout follower since childhood, eventually becomes the new minister in Sandrock, and proves to be effective in this role after a helpful nudge from Dan-bi and the Builder. Zeke tried to take up the role of the minister in the past following Martle's disappearance, but sadly it didn't work out for him because his sermons failed to mobilize or motivate listeners, which Mort reveals to the Builder, and he's also among the townspeople who (almost) never attend church sermons, oftentimes spending the Sunday morning hours either interacting with Mort, a non-attendant for church sermons himself for the most part, or working in the Moisture Farm instead.
    • Finally, Burgess and Zeke complement each other in their respective areas (Burgess watches over the oasis and the water supply in town, and enforces tree wood regulation; Zeke focuses on horticulture), both of which are integral to crop production.
    • Even their respective work areas are indicative of the two people's differing attitudes: Both the Water World (where Burgess is stationed) and the Moisture Farm (Zeke's area) sell straws, fertilizer, and seeds, but the Water World is off the main street (if near the end of it), symbolizing Burgess's rather outgoing ways; the Moisture Farm, on the other hand, is in the northeastern outskirt of the town, where most people don't bother visiting unless they want to do so (in fact, the Builder can't enter it until the plot gives them an explicit mission for it), which, if anything, epitomizes Zeke's reclusive nature.
    • Their personality contrast is further illustrated when the Builder witnesses their interaction early in the "Operation: Flowergate" mission, wherein Burgess, alongside Dan-bi, enlist Zeke's help in getting the Builder to participate in the planting quest in Sandrock. In this scenario, Burgess hypes up the mission like a salesperson without providing a lot of finer details, whereas Zeke explains the details for the mission without showing as much enthusiasm for it.
• Good Is Not Soft:
  • At Logan's trial, Burgess is the only one to argue that Logan should face the full force of the law for his crimes, rather than receive a reduced sentence. He states that, while he's sympathetic to Logan's motives, Logan still broke the law and shouldn't receive special treatment. Notably, the person who agrees the most with Burgess is Logan himself.
  • In his only in-person interaction with Yan right as the latter is on the verge of being Put on a Prison Bus, his reaction to Yan mouthing off to him, once he gets over his initial shock at Yan's attitude, is to repay him in kind, even if his words are a tad garbled.
    Burgess: ...Bake him away, toys.
• Good Shepherd: After Miguel and Matilda are outed as Duvos agents and defeated, Burgess becomes the new minister for Sandrock. With a little help from his friends and a new hat from the Builder, he proves to be a good speaker and replacement.
• Guilt Complex: Whenever something that Burgess is even remotely related to goes wrong, he feels terribly guilty.
• Immediate Self-Contradiction: Should the Builder complete a commission being requested by Burgess that involves cooked foodstuff, he may claim that he'd ration the stuff before confessing he'd be doing something to the opposite effect.
  Burgess: I'll try to ration things a bit better in the future. Oh, heck. You know me, I'm already thinking about who to give this away to...!
• Kindhearted Simpleton: He's very kind and always trying his best to spread "telesis", but some people worries that he's too naive and can be easily fooled.
• Magic Feather: After he takes over as Sandrock's minister after the Duvos invasion, he commissions a hat to help him gain confidence in himself to speak in front of the townsfolk. Unfortunately, the hat flies off his head during his sermon, but he continues on speaking without it as if nothing happened. This makes him realize with Dan-bi's help that he had the gift to inspire people within him all along.
• Misspelling Out Loud: Happens in his unique chat statement after Trudy's desert planting Fireside Meeting is over.
  Burgess: Give me a T! Give me an R! Give me an E! What's that spell? Tre-...! Oops, wait, let me try that again...
• Odd Friendship: With Pen. Burgess and Pen get along fairly well, despite their wildly different personalities. It's later subverted when Pen, after being outed as a knight of Duvos and arrested, says he was never a true friend to Burgess.
• Spoonerism: The last statement Burgess gives to Yan have the initial letters of the first and the last words mixed up due to him having just recovered from the shock from Yan mouthing off to him, though it still serves as a proof that Good Is Not Soft.
  Burgess: ...Bake him away, toys.
• Token Good Teammate: One of only two members of the Church of Light who aren't secretly with Duvos.
• Too Dumb to Fool: Downplayed. Miguel's attempts at passing off Duvos propaganda as Church teachings not only fly over his head, he even laments it as a case of "fan-fiction" altering one of the world's most important texts after the fact.

A writer from Atara. He moved to Sandrock to learn more about Logan's story.

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• Embarrassing Tattoo: He has a tramp stamp, which the player can see if they make him wear the DLC swimwear
• I Should Write a Book About This: He mentions wanting to write one about Logan, but has enough sense to not use his name or image, fearing what Logan could do to him if he didn't like how he was portrayed.
• Meta Guy: He's here to write a book about the events, which means he tends to comment on events as though they were as fictional to him as they are to the player.
  Ernest: We seem to be entering the final chapters of our battle against Duvos... Please, Builder, be careful. I want you to be around for the epilogue... And ideally, a sequel...
• Not a Morning Person: Played with. He claims to like waking up late, but he's still likely to be up as early as most other people, if for the sake of continuing to write and come up with new ideas and materials.
  Ernest: I like to sleep in. Getting up early ruins my day.
• Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: Ernest comes from a wealthy family and had people to do menial chores for him. This makes it harder for him to get accustomed with life in Sandrock for a while.
  • His chat statement early on makes it clear he's stuggling to do everything on his own.
    Ernest: Living alone is harder than I thought it would be. Do you guys really not have anyone to hire for cleaning services around here?
  • He prepares a party to introduce himself to the Sandrockers, but only you show up... because he forgot to deliver the invites, as he was so used to someone doing this for him when he needed.
• Rooting for the Empire: He starts doing this In-Universe, because he thinks Logan makes for a cool Anti-Hero or Villain Protagonist, and he often has to append disclaimers to his gushing to assure the Builder he doesn't really want Logan to keep evading capture in new and exciting ways, honest! When it turns out Logan was Good All Along, he mentions with some disappointment that he'll have to give him a Historical Villain Upgrade in his novel to keep the narrative interesting.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: Ernest prepares a party to introduce himself to the Sandrockers, but only the Builder shows up... because he forgot to deliver the invites, since he was so used to someone doing menial chores like this for him when he needed.
• Writers Suck: Just because he's a popular writer doesn't necessarily mean he's a good one, and several of the characters who've read his stuff aren't terribly impressed. He even gets torn apart by a prepubescent child.
  Jasmine: I'm not finished: the characters are paper thin, and if you've even been paying half attention, you can see every twist coming from a league away... I think you've weally been writing it in lately... your old stuff was way better...
  ⁠Ernest⁠: Ahaha, well, little kid, with all due respect, you're a little kid and you don't know anything...
  ⁠Jasmine⁠: I'm your pwimawy demogwaphic!
• Write What You Know: In-Universe.
  • Ernest wants to write a book about Logan and actually goes through the trouble of interviewing him once he has an opportunity for it.
  • In addition, he considers constructing a fictional character in his next novel with the Builder in mind, as he discloses in one chat statement after being befriended.
    Ernest: I'm thinking of adding a new character in my next Detective Ed novel! A loyal and resourceful Builder, who can create powerful gadgets, and isn't too shabby with a blade, either!

The local doctor. He runs the Sandrock clinic alongside his raven, X.

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• Affair? Blame the Bastard: Fang is the son from a Seesai noble's Secret Other Family, and when his father obtained custody of him after his mother's death, the legitimate wife and her son took their anger out on Fang whenever his father wasn't around to witness it, which was often.
• Animal Motif: Birds of all kinds, but especially broken ones.
• Berserk Button: He really doesn't like it when X uses a specific male voice in his mimicry. When X does, it's one of the few times that Fang shows emotion before coming out of his shell, angrily telling X to never use that voice. Because it's the voice of Fang's hated father.
• Broken Bird: He even says so, comparing himself to the orphaned eagle in his favorite childhood fairy-tale, The Eagle in the Valley.
• Calling the Old Man Out: When Fang's father comes to Sandrock to 'rescue' him from the backwater town he's run off to, Fang and the Builder tell him off so thoroughly that he develops takotsubo cardiomyopathy from the shock of it.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Fang comes to love the Builder in the romance route, but his insecurities, his difficulty communicating, and him not fully understanding Sandrock's culture (specifically what a Heart Knot means) make it very difficult for Fang to admit his love.
• The Comically Serious: Fang approaches buying milk with the same grim sobriety he reserves for treating heart disease.
• Dark and Troubled Past: His mother died when he was young, his father obtained custody of him but paid no attention to him and turned a blind eye to the abuse Fang suffered at the hands of his stepmother and half-brother, who hurt him whenever he said anything, which contributed to his Dumb Struck speech capacity in the present, and he coped by running away, during which he was forced to kill moles that he'd feed on to survive (an experience that still haunts him to this day due to his Virtuous Vegetarianism), before he got caught and taken back home because his father believed Fang to be a valuable asset in an Altar Diplomacy later on. Afterwards, none of his escape attempts succeeded until he became a doctor and ran away from home and settled in Sandrock, in his latest effort to leave his unhappy home life behind.
• Deceased Parents Are the Best: His mother died when he was very young. He remembers her very fondly, misses her terribly, and probably idealizes her quite a lot. But it's not difficult to understand since his time with her seemed like paradise compared to what came next.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: For bonus points, one of the quickest ways to his heart after he starts accepting gifts is Anti-Cold Medicine used to treat his secondary hypothermia.
• Delicate and Sickly: He suffers regular bouts of secondary hypothermia,^note hypothermia caused by the failure of the body's thermoregulatory abilities rather than external temperatures which can get bad enough to render him unconscious even in midday desert heat. The Relapse sidequest tasks the Builder with gathering the ingredients for and making the Anti-Cold Medicine he typically uses to keep it under control when he's too ill to make it himself.
• Developers' Desired Date: Fang has an extensive Romance Sidequest that heavily dissuades the player from dumping, divorcing, or cheating on him once you've finished his marriage-gated events and missions. Ironically, rather than pushing him on the player, Fang is the most difficult and time-consuming character to pursue or even merely befriend, as he's written as someone to earn, not choose. He's also one of four characters who get expanded romance interactions in the Love Chronicles DLC alongside Mi-an, Nia and Logan.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Larry mistakes him for a woman, referring to him as the "quiet lady with bird."
• Dude, Not Funny!: Fang will react to the Builder making an "I've come down with a broken heart, doctor!" joke as though they were making light of cancer, because his mother died of takotsubo cardiomyopathy—or, as it's more colloquially known, broken heart syndrome.
• Dumb Struck: According to X, Fang's stepmother and half-brother would hurt him whenever he said anything, and thus he now finds the mere act of speaking painful. One sidequest involves helping him transfer the association of speaking to the much more pleasant memory of reading his favorite book aloud with his mother, after which he starts taking "conversation classes" to regain his ability to speak coherently.
• Frontier Doctor: He's the lone doctor in a Dying Town who makes his remedies from the local plant and wildlife.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: Fang is just as unapproachable mechanically as he is physically, as every standard means of earning relationship points with him is gated by a sidequest, one of which takes a minimum of an in-game month to complete.
• Hospital Hottie: Complete with jokes about giving patients heart troubles, to which he responds very poorly.
• I Can't Believe a Guy Like You Would Notice Me: Fang says this almost word for word if the Builder pursues a romance with him, saying that the Builder deserves someone better who isn't broken. The Builder can disagree, and his father would argue the opposite.
• The Illegible: To make his communication issues worse, Fang writes like a doctor — which is to say, terribly.
• Inscrutable Oriental: He hails from the game's analogue of China, Seesai, and is Sandrock's most unreadable resident, though most of that is a product of Dark and Troubled Past rather than culture.
• King Incognito: Even if he's technically a bastard, Fang is nonetheless considered legitimate Seesai nobility and would be quite valuable in Altar Diplomacy, which is why he fears his father or stepmother may still be searching for him.
• Last-Name Basis: Fang is actually his (mother's) family name. His given one, Shimiao, only appears in the Budding Brooch's Flavor Text.
• Like Parent, Like Spouse: Regardless of gender, the player reminds Fang of his mother.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: A prime example. Fang is not only "devilishly handsome", as described by Arvio, but also comes equipped with a romantic cascade of long hair.
• Master of the Mixed Message: As he's unfamiliar with the Alliance of Free Cities dating customs and has No Social Skills in general, Fang mistakes romantic overtures as platonic and asks the player out without realizing how his actions might be interpreted as romantic, only to hastily shut the player down when they respond to his apparent romantic advances as actual romantic advances. Give him a Heart Knot, and he'll accept it with no fanfare... only to mail it back the next day, apologizing for taking it without knowing its implications. Complicating this is the fact that he actually is in love with the Builder, but thinks he's too broken for a relationship.
• Missing Mom: Fang's mother passed away when he was young.
• Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: Thanks to his silence, reclusivity, and unconventional medical practices, Fang can sometimes give people the impression of a cold, uncaring Snake Oil Salesman or Mad Scientist. But he proves to be a compassionate, selfless Determined Doctor even with his walls up, and very affectionate to those who can knock them down.
• Oblivious to Love: Most marriage candidates will recognize at least some of the dialogue options marked with hearts as flirting, and picking enough will give several characters enough of a hint that they'll make the first move rather than wait for a Heart Knot. Fang has more of these dialogue options available across his sidequests than any other character in the game, and he will completely miss all of them before the one at the end of "What's 'Hanging Out?'" Even that one takes him longer than it should, and he'll still mistake the Heart Knot for a platonic gift afterward.
• Open Heart Dentistry: He specializes in plant-derived medicinal remedies, has no engineering background, and doesn't make use of much in the way of complex medical equipment. However, when a patient's treatment requires an oxygen concentrator, Fang hands the Builder a diagram of one he back-engineered from texts on Old World medical equipment and tells them to give it to Qi to make the necessary corrections. Qi's only note is "I... I have no notes."
• Parental Neglect: His father was mostly absent during the first years of his life, mainly because he was married to another woman and had another family. After the death of Fang's mother, his father decided to take care of the boy but paid no attention to him and turned a blind eye to the abuse Fang suffered at the hands of his stepmother and half-brother.
• Parrot Pet Position: X frequently is positioned on Fang's shoulder and acts as the Voice for the Voiceless.
• Playing with Syringes: Fang runs clinical trials for his untested remedies by offering free treatment on Wednesdays and Fridays on the condition that he cannot be held legally or morally liable for whatever result the mystery concoction produces. Successful trials result in a temporary status buff, a new item to buy at Fang's clinic, and a recipe for the player to make it themselves. Unsuccessful trials result in debuffs, blurry vision, passing out for an hour, farting, or turning blue.
• The Quiet One: He's selectively mute and relies heavily on X to speak for him when forced to converse. One sidequest has the Builder take X's role when Fang has to run errands, as X is out on a date with CoCo the owl.
• Reduced to Ratburgers: As Fang himself discloses, there was a period of time after he ran away and lived on the streets and, being Too Desperate to Be Picky at the time, subsisted on moles, which he makes clear tasted bad.
• The Runaway: After his mother's death, Fang ran away and lived on the streets, to avoid moving in with his father, stepmother and their son. He was caught, however. Later, he tried to escape again, but he never succeeded. After he grew up and became a doctor, he left his home country of Seesai and moved to Sandrock, hoping that his family won't ever find him again.
• Scar Survey: Fang has several prominent scars on his back, each of which the Builder can learn the story behind in the romance-specific sidequest "Between the Lines."
• Speech-Impeded Love Interest: Fang struggles to get any words out, making him a Terse Talker who pauses between nearly every word. He gets slightly better at speaking to the Builder as their relationship progresses, but he never stops being The Quiet One.
• Spice Rack Panacea: Fang always makes sure the medicine he sells is both safe and effective—the key word being sells, as he goes about testing their efficacy and safety by handing free samples out to random passersby and seeing if they turn blue.
• Terse Talker: Even when he does become more "social," he usually reserves complete sentences for the Builder, or for telling his father off when he finally shows up.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Mapo Tofu, particularly the Builder's, since it's just like how his mother used to make it.
• Trophy Child: His father treated him as one, being insistent on maintaining custody over him yet never willing to be more than a Disneyland Dad for him. And should Fang marry the Builder, Talon will finally make his way to Sandrock and try to bribe the Builder into divorcing him, insisting that "Fang's hand in marriage is far too valuable to be wasted" on the Builder.
• Unaffected by Spice: His tastes are so spicy that making a sufficiently spicy sauce for his mapo tofu is a side mission. The Mysterious Man even struggles to help you as he did not stop by Seesai first, where he could have gotten that sauce off the shelf, and thus can only task the Builder with buying or growing the necessary ingredients.
• Unusual Pets for Unusual People: He's a mysterious, tall, dark and handsome loner. Of course, he's got a talking raven as a pet.
• Virtuous Vegetarianism: Played with. Cooper gets super defensive after learning Fang's a vegetarian, launching into an extensive rant justifying his own meat-heavy diet, only to be completely off guard when Fang says (with much difficulty) that he's vegetarian simply because he doesn't like meat. However, Fang will tell the Builder in a later sidequest that he often had to hunt vermin for food as The Runaway, and the experience of killing animals, even if only to survive, has haunted him since.
• Wicked Stepmother: After the death of his biological mother, Fang was raised by his father and his legal wife. Fang's stepmother (and half-brother) abused him so cruelly, he never really recovered from the trauma.

Head of the local Civil Corps, making him Sandrock's town sheriff.

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• Bash Brothers: Justice will be at the Builder's side for most dungeons and any time there's a mission with heavy combat involved.
• Catchphrase: "Let's roll out!"
• Cool and Unusual Punishment: Justice's method in dealing with unruly prisoners is to play a song by Luna in the jukebox, over and over, until said prisoners calm down and behave themselves.
  Justice: Am I gonna have to get the jukebox out again?
• The Gunslinger: He's often seeing packing a Vintage Pistol and in "Belly of the Beast" he will fight alongside you, blasting anything that gets in his way.
• Hey, That's My Line!: This is his reaction when the Builder says "Let's roll out!" at the start of a mission in his earshot.
• It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: One particularly lengthy chat statement from him has him telling a story that starts with this trope.
  Justice: It was a dark and stormy night... three mutants was lookin' at me down the barrel of a... whatever those freaky mutant guns they got... my trigger finger started to get the itch. I shot a glare right back at 'em, and I could tell that right then and there, they knew their days were numbered! BLAM! I fired a round at the first one. BLAM! Another round at the second... Funny thing is, the calamity of all these transpirings attracted a whole 'nother gaggle of mutants onto my position... and that's when I got mad.
• Meaningful Gift: Most townsfolk dislike weapons, but not Justice, since his job constantly gets him to deal with dangerous people and monsters.
• Meaningful Rename: As the local sheriff and member of the Civil Corps, Justice came up with a name that - at least in his own eyes - directly reflects his role. His real first name is Maurice, which is revealed by Vivi during the quest "Thief!".
• Mighty Glacier: His attacks are very telegraphed, but it will hurt if he hits you, even if he doesn't break your defense.
• The Musketeer: He's capable of using a gun and a melee weapon (a hammer, in his case) but, just like the Builder, can't use both of them at the same time.
• Not So Above It All: In a hidden dialogue after he appoints Captain the cat as deputy, if the player makes another deputy hat and puts it on the Builder, Justice initially reacts as if he is affronted by the apparent disrespect the Builder has for his authority as sheriff, before jovially commending the Builder for their “wildcard” attitude and even makes them an “honorary” deputy.
• Reasonable Authority Figure:
  • After "Belly of the Beast," he realizes the Builder can handle themselves in a fight and will become progressively more reliant on them if he needs someone to help him with a dangerous situation.
  • He lets things slide when Mi-an repairs the entryway into Paradise Lost despite the dangerous nature of the ruins and it being closed off for safety reasons, recognising the fact that Mi-an was merely doing what a builder would do, and didn't have the full context of the situation to know that she did something she wasn’t supposed to do.
• The Sheriff: Addressed as such, and the primary person in charge of ensuring the town's safety.
• Terrible Artist:
  • He was apparently responsible for drawing the Logan Wanted posters seen in Portia, which is why they look nothing like him.
  • If the Builder and Unsuur engage in sand painting^note  (an activity in which two people walk/run on the lines that shape a sketch form within a time limit) and manage to successfully complete it while they hang out, Unsuur will remark on the result and takes a jab at Justice's subpar sketch skill.
    Unsuur: Woah, you draw better than the Sheriff. Oh. Don't tell him I said that...
• The Triple:
  • While he's hanging out with the Builder, he may share three slogans he has in mind for naming his tactics, with Captain the cat being the inspiration for the last one.
    Justice: Couple of my favorites: "Justice strikes back!" "Two steps forward one step back!" The ol' Statue of Peach play. And of course, "Death by scratches!" That one involves some coordination with Captain.
  • As he tells the Builder about his love for spicy foods (again, while hanging out with the Builder), he claims three benefits of spicy foods.
    Justice: I take just about every meal I eat with a little extra spice; I recommend it to everyone! Keeps you alert, on your toes, puts hair on your chest! Er, if you're into that sorta thing...

A Pastor of the Church of the Light who helps Matilda in Sandrock.

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• Beware the Quiet Ones: He usually speaks with a firm and stern voice that commands respect, but rarely speaks with a tone that's little above a whisper, which makes all the more shocking when he raises his voice. He does get angry when he realizes Trudy, someone in a position of authority, does something reckless that could've put Sandrock in an even worse situation. Miguel becomes downright furious after Logan kidnaps Matilda, demanding escalation to bring him to justice for his crimes.
• Dark and Troubled Past: His hometown of Doss was destroyed by a giant AI monster while he was at seminary in Meidi, resulting in the deaths of Miguel's entire family. What's worse is that the town was left to rot by the Alliance, so their bodies were never recovered. This is why he's so adamantly anti-technology.
• Foil: Burgess and Miguel compare and contrast each other.
  • On one hand, the fact that both are fellow members of the Church of Light helps to ensure that they interact with each other regularly, and they're also bachelors the Builder can romance/marry.
  • For starters as far as their differences go, Burgess is on the burly side while Miguel is more slender.
  • Though they're both devout Church of Light members, Burgess has a more idealistic outlook as a Kindhearted Simpleton, whereas Miguel is more jaded due to his Dark and Troubled Past.
  • The same "idealism vs. cynicism" contrast also appears in their different speech patterns. Burgess speaks in more emotive and lively ways, but Miguel's tone is more morose and subdued.
  • Both Burgess and Miguel are devout members of the Church of Light, but their top priorities differ a bit. Burgess focuses on the Martle Oasis and the overall water supply in Sandrock so much that his residence is within Water World (his office), which is only a stone's throw away from the oasis itself. Miguel also looks after the water supply in town, but his residence is within the dormitory that church members take up, which is located next to the temple.
• Good Is Not Nice: He's far more jaded than Burgess and has very strong opinions, though, unlike Cooper, he knows when to talk and when to relent.
• Hypocrite: Cites the Free Cities' widening adoption of old world technologies - in particular weapons - as the main reason for helping Duvos. Despite this, when his back is up against the wall, he draws a pistol and tries to shoot his way out, and Duvos later shows itself also to covet old world technology.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Miguel thought he was the mastermind behind the scheme to depopulate Sandrock and was using Duvos for his own ends. Once the real conspirators kick off their own plan, Miguel is summarily dumped by them as a stooge, to the point that, when Duvos temporarily occupies Sandrock, they don't even bother letting Miguel out of jail.
• Motive Rant: He goes on one after being outed as part of the water theft conspiracy, citing how the Free Cities' adoption of Old World technology puts them on the path to a second Day of Calamity.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Time in jail causes Miguel to eventually regret his role in the water theft conspiracy, especially since Duvos used him for their own ends, and he recognized his own hypocrisy in trying to control the town. He willingly accepts being transferred to prison, though Burgess and the Builder can convince him to serve community service instead. He will be immensely grateful for the second chance.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: During Haru's trial he accuses the Builder of being in cahoots with Logan's gang. While he is right that by that point the Builder had become allies with Logan, his reasoning being that Logan's attacks intensified just as the Builder arrived in town just to benefit from it falls way off the mark.
• Technophobia: Miguel is more vocal and disapproving about using Old World technology than Matilda.
• Unwitting Pawn: He turns out to be one for Duvos. While he admires their methods in bringing order to the Free Cities to the point where he declares allegiance to them, he's ultimately being used as a patsy by the actual Duvos agents, Pen and Matilda. He's even unaware of the latter's status as Tiger until she reveals herself.
• Was It All a Lie?: He comes to wonder this about Matilda after he learns her true colors, wondering whether she was ever really his friend or was manipulating him the whole time in service of Duvos.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Miguel justifies all of his machinations as an attempt to save lives by weakening the Free Cities to the point that they would be ultimately forced to surrender to their militant neighbor Duvos rather than mounting a bloody resistance, and by averting a second calamity by quashing the Free Cities' growing use of old world technology.
• You Can't Go Home Again: This is a big part of his Dark and Troubled Past. His hometown of Doss was destroyed by a giant AI monster while he was at seminary in Meidi, resulting in the deaths of Miguel's entire family. Afterwards, the Alliance has made no attempt to have it rebuilt, meaning that Miguel has no hometown, much less a home, to go back to at all.

Owner of the Blue Moon Saloon restaurant and hotel, Owen is a friendly man who welcomes the pair of new Builders with open arms.

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• Borrowed Catchphrase: Owen tries to use/paraphrase the Builder's "Got too much on my plate now..." when his business at the Blue Moon is picking up near the end of the game, though the result is not quite clear-cut.
  Owen: Would love to chat, but... still a ton of food prep to be done! A lot on my plate, as you sometimes say? A lot of plates on my plate...? Eh, well, you get the idea. Talk later!
• Chef of Iron: An excellent cook who can handle himself in a fight.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: If married to he can be asked to cook, but unlike most spouses he will never cook a bad versions of the meals you choose.
• The Ghost: Not Owen himself, but his parents, who used to run and manage the Blue Moon Saloon before retiring in Atara, handing over the ownership of the place and its responsibilities to Owen, and are not seen throughout the game at all, though they are given some passing mentions when the appropriate occasions crop up.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: When challenged to spar, he goes barehanded.
• Heroic Build: He's about as ripped as Pen.
• I Always Wanted to Say That: Outright stated before boarding a passenger train during the "Flavor on the Sandrock Express" mission^note  (one of the missions that are accessible only when he's the Builder's romantic partner).
  Owen: Let's check out this dining car. All abooaard! ...Always wanted to say that.
• Mellow Fellow: Owen is very soft-spoken and is always friendly, even when some of his sidequests require you to be in a hurry.
• Nice Guy: You'd really need to search to find something to hold against Owen. He's a cheerful fellow who gives you, one of the new Builders, a warm welcome and a free meal to tell you some of the basic, common knowledge about Sandrock and even when the population trashes his saloon after a bickering of catastrophic proportions happen while trying to impress Musa, he doesn't hold it against anyone.
• Shipper on Deck: Owen is basically your wingman for a relationship with Mi-an. In "Once in a Blue Moon," he offers a couple's discount you can take and help you get closer to her, and in Mi-an's romance sidequest "Classic Projection," he gives snacks and a blanket so you two can enjoy the date.
• The Storyteller: On Saturday nights, Owen will tell stories and fables in the Blue Moon Saloon.
• Supreme Chef: Everyone praises the food of the Blue Moon Saloon, and for good reason.
• Uncle Pennybags: Downplayed.
  • Some sidequests, like Amirah and Catori's, imply Owen is pretty well-off, but he does not ridiculously rich like, say, Musa. In Amirah's case, he can afford to loan 2000 Gols and Catori is ecstatic when Owen agrees to invest in her "Catori World" plan to attract more tourists to Sandrock.
  • If the player talks to him while low on money in the early game, he'll lend them 500 Gols without being overly concerned about them paying him back.

A hairdresser that runs the local hairdresser salon, Pablo's Parlor. He's out of town when the game starts, but comes back after a certain event happens.

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• Chatty Hairdresser: Though he isn't seen while actually giving the player a haircut, he's quite the gossip and knows quite a bit about everyone. He also acknowledges this in the game, stating that hairdressers are akin to therapists in small towns like Sandrock.
• The Fashionista: He's very plugged in to the latest fashion trends of the Alliance and very quick to comment on people's appearances. He's also the in-universe designer of the DLC costumes.
• Immediate Self-Contradiction: A chat statement made by him should the Builder ask about his past while they're hanging out has Pablo claiming not to dewll on the past before bringing one past incident up unprompted.
  Pablo: Hm, I don't dewll on the past. Have I made mistakes? Sure, we all do! I find it's better to forget rather than to, say, relive all my worst moments over and over again just before going to bed, like that one time in school when I called the teacher 'Ma-' Oh no! It's happening again...!

Pen is a member of the town's branch of the Church of Light, and he serves as its sole Enforcer. He is Sandrock's self-proclaimed protector, while also being a bit of a narcissist.

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• Beware the Silly Ones: Pen does have his limits. At one point, he has enough of Bronco's antics (and general stupidity) so much, he outright abandons him after he thinks he's been roped up in another "pet detective" case. He's also a dangerous Duvosian Knight and capable of using the Hand of Light, a powerful weapon to fire potent laser blasts, and there's still the fact he's a very capable fighter.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: The guy looks like something straight out of a comic book. Still, Pen can back up all his bravado and boasting quite handily— he is by far the toughest opponent in the town of Sandrock you can challenge to spar.
• Confirmed Bachelor: Should the Builder date him, Pen says upfront that marriage is absolutely not on the table, and he'll laugh off any proposals as a joke.
• Do Wrong, Right: He may be a violent Narcissist psycho and one of the most virulently evil characters in the game, but Yan's abject stupidity still manages to deeply offend him and results in a brutal beatdown of the latter when they're stuck together in a cell.
• The Dreaded: Andy reveals that even Logan and Haru are wary of fighting him directly. When Logan kidnaps Matilda and Pen catches up to him, he puts a very good fight (after Logan basically curbstomped the Builder, Justice, and Unsuur), forcing him to retreat. Pen was also suffering from a bellyache due to having a Duvos Pepper meal the day before.
• Evil Costume Switch: He switches to a black outfit and a green cape soon after he's revealed to be a knight of Duvos and regroups with the rest of the empire's army after they occupy Sandrock.
• False Friend: To Burgess and the Builder. After he's arrested, Pen outright says to their faces that he never liked them and was never a true friend to them.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: He doesn't use weapons to fight and, given his strength, he doesn't need to.
• Intentional Heart Breaker: Pen admits that the only part of marriage that might appeal to him is divorce because he wants to know if sucker punching someone emotionally feels even better than sucker punching them physically. He also casually admits during his interrogation that he's presently stringing along twelve lovers, all convinced they're his only partner.
• Megaton Punch: His dash punch and Space Punch attacks will instantly cause Break, shattering your defenses and throwing you away.
• Muscles Are Meaningful: All those muscles aren't just for show. Pen is very strong.
• Narcissist: He's pretty full of himself and isn't shy about saying how awesome he is. In one of his events, he gets so mesmerized by his own physique staring at his image in a mirror you have to break the mirror to "free" him. This later comes back to bite him in the ass when the Builder distracts him by throwing a reflective piece of glass at him, causing him to marvel at his own reflection that Justice and Logan get the jump on him.
• The Nicknamer: Gives you a rather condescending one: "Skinny Arms" due to your stature and lack of strength compared to him. He later shortens it to just "Skinny," and it becomes more of a teasing between friends instead.
  • If you manage to beat him in a spar, he will have a long conversation with himself about whether or not to keep calling you Skinny Arms, since, you know, you did beat him in a fight. He eventually decides that he can't give you a different nickname, so he'll keep calling you Skinny Arms ironically.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Pen looks like a Dumb Muscle boastful buffoon, but he's actually much smarter and observant than anyone gives him credit, and he does not like taking orders from anyone. Later in the story it becomes even clearer that his Dumb Muscle is just a facade he puts on to fool people.
• Put on a Prison Bus: He gets carted away to prison for his crimes after Act 2 winds down.
• Red Herring: Due to the literal meaning of Hǔ, Pen's first name in the Chinese version, and what the player eventually learns about his encounter with Logan, the player is initially led to believe that Pen is the one codenamed Tiger, a Duvos agent in contact with the rest of the Duvos army while helping maintain the conspiracy regarding the town's water supply. However, while he is a knight of Duvos, Tiger turns out to be Matilda instead.
• Romantic False Lead: The revelation of his true nature and origins in the game's second Act indirectly sets him up as this, should the players choose to date him beforehand. He can't actually be married, as he will reject any attempts to do so, and the relationship ends entirely when he is taken away from Sandrock to be punished for his crimes.
• The Sociopath: After his true self is revealed, it becomes clear he's devoid of empathy and feels no connection with anyone but himself.
• What Could Have Been: While nobody actually quite feels sorry for him, after it's announced Pen will be spending life in prison for his numerous crimes several of the villagers lament that Pen could have done a whole lot of good if he'd actually chosen to be the hero he was pretending to be.
• Willfully Weak: Until he reveals his true colors, it turns out he's been holding back and not showing his true strength during spars. He fights you for real in his Boss Battle making full extent of his skills and the Hand of Light.
• World's Best Warrior: Easily the toughest opponent to beat in a spar in Sandrock. Not only does he start at Level 30, he also has unique attacks that deal far more damage than anyone else in town as well. If he participates in the Spring Martial Arts tournament, it's very, very likely he'll end up in the finals or winning if you don't fight him.
• Worthy Opponent: He's shocked, but pleased, if the Builder manages to defeat him in a sparring match. He says it's the first true fight he's had in a long time.
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: If the player gets engaged to another character while still dating Pen, Pen will send them a letter commending them for the power move of cheating on him before he got bored enough to start cheating on them.

Sandrock's head researcher and Director of the Research Center. Qi prefers to stay indoors with his projects and can be quite abrupt, but he is invaluable in acquiring the many blueprints the Builder needs throughout the game.

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• Absent-Minded Professor: He's brilliant and comes up with many inventions, but he isn't called "space case" by Mint for no reason.
  Qi: Builder! What year is it!? ... Oh. I see. Still in this timeline. Unfortunate.
• Blatant Lies: Contrasted with his Brutal Honesty towards others' failings, he's a little less ready to acknowledge his own...
  Qi: Someone accidentally installed a killswitch on the mobile suit just before the party due to... research, but luckily it's gone now, and unfortunately, the identity of the person responsible for the malfunction will never be uncovered. Ever.
• Brutal Honesty: For better or for worse, Qi is very blunt when it comes to something that does or doesn't pique his interest.
  • In a more Played for Laughs example, there is a Running Gag of Qi disparaging the Civil Corps for their supposed ineptitude and incapability of following instructions.
    Qi: Remember, I'm not interested in simply fragments of an old relic. I want the whole device in one piece, ideally working. The Civil Corps keep bringing me rubbish. Once they even confused an actuator for a transistor! Can you believe that!?
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Qi may be poor at socializing, a total space nerd, and very unconventional, but he gets the job done.
• Captain Crash: Anytime he attempts to drive the Mobile Suit, it always ends in him horribly crashing it and then the Builder having to repair the Suit.
• Closet Geek: Definitely not a superfan of the Gungam series and he wants the Mini-Mecha suit just to test its performance, not because he's so eager to pilot it.
• For Science!: Along with the usual Mad Scientist usage, Qi also uses this as a Wild Card Excuse whenever he's too embarrassed to admit his real motivations.
• Geeky Turn-On: The easiest way to his heart is gifts of space-related relics and Old World technology.
• Genius Bruiser: He can be challenged to spar and his weapon is a Motivational Hammer.
• Hipster: Qi is very eager to tell anyone that whatever he's working on is very obscure and that they've probably never heard about it.
• Immediate Self-Contradiction: One of Qi's ordinary statements towards the Builder has him dismissing the accusation an old colleague of his made about constantly bringing up conversation topics no one else seems to care, only to bring up one such topic without prior external prompting.
  Qi: My old colleague from Vega 5, Bugs, accused me of constantly bringing up topics of conversation that no one has any opinion on. How baseless. Anyway, I'm glad you're here: I need to tell you about what really happens when you divide by zero...
• Insistent Terminology: It's not Mr., Professor, or Doctor. It's Director Qi, thank you.
• Insufferable Genius: Qi is very smart and often comes across as rude or condescending due to his lack of social skills. He considers every diagram handed to him as if it were drawn by a child, and, whenever he mails you a new diagram you've paid with Data Discs, he also says that you can look for errors... but you'd be wasting your time.
• Let Us Never Speak of This Again: When the Builder speaks to him after the latter requests from Heidi the chance to use the Mobile Suit again after it's busted from its wear and tear, both during the Shonash Bridge reconstruction work and from his piloting mishap in the opening ceremony, he'll ask the Builder to never mention his mishap.
  Qi: Certain details about the opening ceremony would best be forgotten. I take it you understand?
• Like Father, Unlike Son: One of Qi's statements has him disclosing that he was born of a fisherman and caretaker of a small aquarium. Qi, meanwhile, is a researcher and Director of the Research Center and harbors no interest in the line of work of his parents.
  Qi: The apple has indeed fallen far from the proverbial tree.
• Ludicrous Precision: Becoming friends with Qi will get him to say he predicted that you'd meet him with 99 percent of certainty.
  Qi: There you are. I had predicted this encounter within a one percent margin of error. Hm? Yes, I have charted your routines and mannerisms. What's so strange about that?
• Mad Scientist: He would be inventing all kinds of weapons of mass destruction, solely because he thinks they'd be cool, if Trudy hadn't put expressly forbade him from it. And he secretly designed a Hyper Compressed Air Canon out of boredom anyways, which he reveals only after Trudy promises to absolve him of "any technological crimes I hypothetically may or may not have committed in the last... let's say six—no, seven—years."
  Qi: Do you remember that discussion we had on the subject of turning Sandrock into a battle fortress, just in case and also for science?
• Nature Versus Nurture: Qi's opinion on this trope goes that, while biological attributes may help to predict one's future, it doesn't always happen that way. To prove his point, he discloses that he's the son of a fisherman and caretaker of an aquarium but isn't interested in the line of work of his parents.
  Qi: Genetics and hereditary traits are predictors for one's future, but these measures are far from perfect. I, for example, am the son of a fisherman and the caretaker of a small aquarium.
• Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: He's one of Sandrock's smartest citizens, but Grace mentions there are many other people just as smart, if not smarter, than him in Atara.
  Grace: Qi likes to act like he's some kind of super genius, but there are actually quite a few people on his level or higher in the Free Cities' science community. Er, no offense to the good Director...
• No Social Skills: He's almost incapable of having a normal conversation that doesn't involve his research or anything scientific.
• Obsessively Organized: Unsurprisingly, he's very neat and tidy with his research and notes. With his workplace... not so much.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Always expect explanations done in the most scientific, wordy, way possible.
• You Didn't Ask: After the Starship Ruins are discovered, he never bothers to tell anyone that the ruins almost certainly contain an Atmospheric Water Generator, which would permanently solve Sandrock's water shortage problems. He merely assumed everybody already knew.

A resident of Sandrock and a member of the Civil Corps. He loves to collect rocks as a hobby.

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• Brutal Honesty: Unsuur says what he thinks, for better or worse.
  Justice: When were you gonna us the princess has a thing for Logan?
  Ged: Hm, just a minor detail that slipped my mind...
  Unsuur: You love her, don't you?
  Ged: Is it so wrong? For a lowly mole and a royal Prin-
  Unsuur: Yes.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: His hobbies and habit of counting grass and sand grains might make him look like a Cloudcuckoolander, but he's a(n in-training) member of Sandrock's Civil Corps and often fights alongside Justice to protect it from the many dangers surrounding the town.
• Chef of Iron: He's a handy cook, much to Justice's surprise.
• The Collector: Of rocks. Many, many rocks. It's his hobby. He also has "tiers" for them, too.
• The Comically Serious: He leads an "investigation" (against himself no less) in his own house, all without ever breaking his usual and casual, calm demeanor.
• Companion Cube: He has a rock that he names "Wilson" and carries around like a pet at all times.
• Cuckoosnarker: Unsuur's deadpan delivery and frequent Leaning on the Fourth Wall can make it hard to tell if he's sincerely a bit dim or a huge Deadpan Snarker.
• Disaster Dominoes: The sidequest "Becoming Deputy" gets kick-started with Unsuur slipping on a piece of trash in the street near the oasis that leads to his beloved rock that he named "Wilson" flying out of his possession and into the oasis water, Unsuur diving into the water to have said rock back into his possession in his moment of panic, and him turning himself in and incarcerating himself for violating the regulation against bodily entering the oasis water after retrieving his rock.
• Felony Misdemeanor: The sidequest "Becoming Deputy" starts with Unsuur slipping on a piece of trash in the street near the oasis that leads to his beloved rock that he named "Wilson" flying out of his possession and into the oasis water, Unsuur diving into the water to have said rock back into his possession in his moment of panic, and him turning himself in and incarcerating himself for violating the regulation against bodily entering the oasis water after retrieving his rock.
• Foil: Burgess and Unsuur provide some interesting parallels, not only as fellow residents but bachelors that the Builder can befriend (and then romance and marry if the player desires so) as well, even though they're not seen interacting with each other a lot.
  • On first glance, their contrasts are plain to see: Burgess is heavyset/rotund, while Unsuur is more slender-looking.
  • Their speech patterns also differ a bit: Burgess is as expressive as the next person and may raise his voice whenever he feels inclined, whereas Unsuur is a Mellow Fellow who nearly never raises his tone.
  • Familial relationship is another point of contrast between them: Burgess grew up with a mother (no mention is made about his father or whether he has any siblings); Unsuur's family history is part of his Mysterious Past because he never reveals anything about it.
  • They keep a watchful eye in their respective lines of work: Burgess concerns himself with water supply in town, but Unsuur looks after safety in the streets due to being a Civil Corps member.
  • Both of them have a Friendless Background: Burgess confesses that the Builder is his second confidant (the first one is his mother); Unsuur's best friend prior to befriending the Builder is a rock named "Wilson".
  • They also have some unusual interests: Burgess loves watching grass grow, whereas Unsuur finds it fun to stack rocks and pile sand. For a shared interest, both of them like watching paint dry — Burgess claims watching grass grow is one of his favorite things to do, "right up there with watching paint dry"^note  (Burgess may say so while hanging out with the Builder); one of the friendship-building side missions with Unsuur is literally named "Watching Paint Dry", where he talks to the Builder about doing so with mellow satisfaction.
  • Finally, each of them is a follower of sorts in their respective association before moving up in rank: Burgess is a devout member in the Church of Light^note (and one of two such members in Sandrock without some ulterior motive from the get-go) and eventually becomes the new minister in Sandrock. Unsuur follows Justice in his line of work^note (unlike the people Burgess is following, however, Justice is on the up-and-up from start to finish) and eventually becomes a deputy.
  • On the occasion where Burgess and Unsuur join together to protest against the officially-sanctioned use of industrial explosives for the Portia-Sandrock tunnel construction, they do so under different reasons, even if the resultant action is the same (namely, the protest): Burgess opposes the use of Old World-type explosives as is under the guideline of the Church of the Light, but Unsuur's opposition comes from his fascination with rocks, which the explosives would destroy in said construction work.
• Friendless Background: Hinted at. Becoming friends with him has Unsuur mentioning his only friend back then was a rock he named "Wilson".
  Unsuur: When I was little, my best friend was a rock named "Wilson." Can you believe that? I'm glad I have a real human being as my best friend now.
• Heh Heh, You Said "X": Should Unsuur be the Builder's unmarried romantic partner, a chat statement from him implies that he has tricked the Builder into saying "let's get married".
  Unsuur: Hey, what rhymes with "let's get buried," but is a million times better than getting buried and also makes a lot more contextual sense given our current relationship status? Yep. Well. I didn't say it, you did.
• Humble Goal: The one goal Unsuur has since staying in Sandrock is to be deputy, which is fulfilled after the "Becoming Deputy" mission concludes. Apparently he has no other goals in mind, as he has a brief episode of "So What Do We Do Now?" crisis some time after he does become deputy.
• Literal-Minded: Doesn't always understand metaphors, such as when Justice says they have a "window" (as in "window of opportunity") and Unsuur tries to one-up by declaring that he has five windows.
• Meaningful Gift: Any sort of rock or mineral will make him happy. Diamonds, Gold, Rosestones and Opals are his favorite ones, though.
• Mellow Fellow: Despite the danger of his job, Unsuur is one of the chillest dudes in Sandrock. Even when he gets positively embarrassed, he doesn't raise his voice. He's so chill that some of his favorite hobbies include stacking rocks (of different sizes and shapes) and watching paint dry.
• Mysterious Past: Downplayed. He does provide some — though not all — tidbits of his past in some of his missions. For example, he discloses that he came to Sandrock by accident because he got lost while trying to reach Atara, but not where he grew up in his younger years.
• No Social Skills: Between his bluntness, generally quiet nature, and weird hobbies, he's pretty difficult to have any kind of conversation with.
• OOC Is Serious Business:
  • As a soft-spoken Mellow Fellow, his default demeanor is calm, and so the occasion where he raises his voice and loses his cool in his moment of panic upon seeing his Companion Cube falling into the oasis water early in the "Becoming Deputy" sidequest stands out.
  • He's fond of rocks in general, so it takes someone he takes a lot of liking to for him to think about a person more than he thinks abour rocks, as a chat statement from him indicates if he's the Builder's Love Interest with high enough Relationship Values.
    Unsuur: Lately I've been thinking about you even more than I've been thinking about rocks. I guess I really love you.
• Open Mouth, Insert Foot: Once he gets caught sending letters to the Builder. Then he shoves himself in the closet of his house and keeps digging himself so deep he could probably get a rock from the world's core.
• Punny Name: His name came from the word "unsure" as the devs often respond with "unsure" on the name of "the other person in the Civil Corps" during development.
• Terse Talker: He has no issue chatting daily with you, but he's stiff as a board near Justice. If one of his requests appears on the Commission Board, it'll also be straight to the point.
• Unrequited Love: A big part of his character arc revolves around having a one-sided admiration towards the Builder, initially through sending questionable secret admirer letters to them. And depending on the Builder's choices Unsuur can either be rejected, will happily accept being your friend/best friend, or start a romantic relationship with him. Either way, Unsuur does deeply love the Builder to the very end no matter how the Builder sees him.
• Wrong Turn at Albuquerque: According to Unsuur himself, this is how he ended up in Sandrock in the first place. He had originally intended to reach Atara (which is northwest of the Eufaula Desert, where Sandrock is located) — on foot, at that — but got lost along the way. After a while, he found himself wandering into Sandrock, saw the sign on the Civil Corp door asking for recruits, applied for the job, got hired by Justice, and has stayed since then.

The town's minister for the Church of Light, she initially serves as the stand-in mayor while Trudy is away from town on a mission in the desert.

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• Anything but That!: She cries out this trope word-by-word right before she's subjected to Andy's Tickle Torture while still being held hostage.
  Matilda: No! Not that! Anything but that! Please! Someone help me!
• Beneath Suspicion: Of course, who would suspect the local minister of the Church of Light to be a high-ranking Duvos agent?
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Her kind and reasonable nature is just a facade. She's actually a cold-hearted enemy agent who's deliberately manipulating the people of Sandrock in preparation for a Duvos invasion.
• Climax Boss: Her defeat marks the end of the Duvos invasion arc, and while there's a third or so of the game left, none of the remaining bosses are as pivotal to the story.
• Contrasting Replacement Character: Unlike Lee from the previous game, Matilda has far fewer qualms with the use of Old World technology, given that Sandrock is largely reliant on such technologies to even survive, let alone thrive. Lee, while a technophobic Knight Templar, also ultimately has the best intentions for Portia, if a bit misguided, while Matilda is a Duvos agent who ultimately only uses the town as an end to retrieve Lost Technology for the empire.
• Evil Costume Switch: Like Pen, she trades her usual church outfit for a black variant after she reveals herself to be an agent for Duvos, her first time wearing it being when she serves as the boss for the story in the Northern Plateau.
• Mole in Charge: It turns out she, the Minister for Sandrock, is actually Tiger, a high placed Duvos mole.
• Put on a Bus to Hell: Her boss fight ends with her mech suit ejecting her into space. She's still alive, but without a way to return. The game ends with a note saying she's trapped there with nothing to do but watch Sandrock prosper without her.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Acts as the mayor while Trudy is away and busy with her research. She usually puts the need of Sandrock first and is willing to accept certain liberties if it will aid the town.
• Taking the Bullet: She decides to get in Miguel's way when he attempts to shoot Logan after he reveals the water theft conspiracy, leaving her out of commission for a while. It's implied she did this to throw suspicion off of herself and prevent her from being outed as Tiger.
• A Twinkle in the Sky: Her escape pod twinkles as such after she's ejected into space.
• Walking Spoiler: Everything about her apart from being Sandrock's minister and temporary leader in Trudy's absence is tied to major plot events in the second part of the game onward.

The youngest member of Sandrock's Church of Light. An earnest and hardworking woman, she does her best to help Sandrock and often assists Zeke in the Moisture Farm.

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• Affectionate Nickname: She's called "Dan-Dan" by her husband.
• Caring Gardener: She often works in the Moisture Farm and worries a lot about Sandrock's ecology.
• Florence Nightingale Effect: As disclosed by Rian himself, Dan-bi taking care of him when he got sick one day was the start of their romantic relationship that would eventually blossom into their Happily Married status.
  Rian: When I first met my wife, we didn't think much of each other. But one day, I got really sick and she was the one who volunteered to take care of me. She worked so hard to help me recover, and, I dunno, something kind of just happened between us...
• Happily Married: To Rian.
• Only Sane Woman: Feels like she's one, and it's not unjustified. After having to see things happening all the time in Sandrock, like Logan's constant attacks, the Geeglers, and the toxic gas incident, she decides just to leave the town since there's always something dangerous happening. Trudy manages to convince her to stay, but just barely.
  • Not So Above It All: On the other hand, Dan-bi does have her moments of weirdness: using Sovereign Citizen rhetoric when the real Bronco the Kid tries to interrogate her and Rian outside their home, for example.
    Dan-bi: What have we done that's illegal? We are simply traveling, sir! We do not consent to your laws!
• Opposites Attract: Dan-bi is an early bird that never stops from morning until sunset. Rian, on the other hand, works very slowly and wakes up very late compared to his wife.
• Orphan's Ordeal: She reveals in a chat statement that she spent her younger years worrying about keeping herself well-fed due to losing her parents early in life.
  Dan-bi: I lost my parents at a young age; oftentimes I never knew where my next meal was coming from. My whole life was in fast motion until I had Ri-ri chasing after me.
• Over-Enthusiastic Parents: Dan-bi doesn't even wait for her kid to be born before she becomes a Concerned PTA Mom.
• Surrounded by Idiots: She's not amused by how nearly everyone in Sandrock was fooled by Andy, a child, disguised as Bronco the Kid.

Yan is the commissioner of the Sandrock Commerce Guild. Or, as he himself prefers, its "President," though it is by no means his official title.

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• All for Nothing: All the scamming schemes he utilizes in the name of greed ends up coming undone when he is taken away to a maximum security prison and all of his assets are frozen, leaving him completely broke on top of being incarcerated.
• Anti-Role Model: There's nothing even remotely positive about Yan. As a Builder, he's a lazy braggart; as a Commissioner, he's a corrupt, insufferable, smug prick who gets a kick out of bossing you and Mi-an; and, as a person, he's a nasty piece of work, saying to your face he'd only try to "betray you less" if he had to — that's if you somehow managed to stomach becoming his friend.
• Bad Boss: The game goes out of its way to portray him as one, from his dismissive downplaying of the other Builders' efforts regardless of how they're actually performing (while hyping up his own alleged work) to his openly vocal encouragement of a more hostile work relationship in lieu of the friendly and cooperative one they actually have, all while he spends much of his own time lounging at his desk in the Commerce Guild.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Yan may come across as an ineffectual prick, but he admits he has scammed his own brother out of his money and the only reason he doesn't do anything in Sandrock is because he's content with his position as "president" of the Commerce Guild.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He can put a pleasant and polite face if he smells money or an opportunity to inflate his ego, but it all falls apart if things don't go his way and, sometimes, even if they do.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: His management style and his prioritization of Guild profits over improving the town land him well on his way to this role. He even admits to cheating on his ranking in the Builder charts. It's also heavily implied he pockets any surplus of money from commissions made by the City Hall.
• Dirty Coward: Zigzagged. He's not afraid of shifting blame or throwing anyone under the bus to save his skin. Even in spars, he's the only one to use shields, which he "fights" by cowardly hiding himself and ineffectively charging at you as his attack. Still, Yan does join the mob rallied to save Matilda when she gets kidnapped by Logan. And later into the game he defects to Duvos side once the defense plan fails due to a traitor, but he still fights you when things starts to go south for the invaders.
• Fair-Weather Friend: He's pretty chummy with his Builders if things are going well, but all that veiled friendliness disappears faster than a drop of water in the Eufaula Desert the moment a problem arises.
• Foil: Rocky and Yan serve mainly to contrast each other.
  • Both of them are in charge of a commercial venue in Sandrock (Rocky runs the Eufaula Salvage Co., while Yan is the boss — ahem, "president" — of the Commerce Guild), but their similarity ends here. Rocky is rough around the edges, doesn't really care for appearances, has a muscular physique, and is a somewhat tough but very fair Benevolent Boss who personally works alongside his employees at times. Yan keeps up a fancy appearance, puts on a thin facade of politeness, is a squalid, foppish mop-stick, and a lazy and horribly exploitative boss who would rather leave the others to do his dirty work and then steal their credit and profit for himself afterwards.
  • Their stark contrasts are observable in Rocky's debut appearance scene, which occurs early in the story, where the Builder and Mi-an enter the Commerce Guild office just in time to witness Rocky being outraged over Yan repeatedly putting off the commission for a lift for months and making life difficult for Rocky's employees as the result, such that Rocky is about to deck Yan for it, before Yan, upon spotting the Builder and Mi-an in the office, quickly pawns off the commission he should have done long ago to the Builder and Mi-an in order to get Rocky off his back.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Yan is the Commissioner of Sandrock, but the sole reason people (barely) tolerate him is that there's nobody else to replace him. Any time something gets done, he's never acknowledged, and the people of Sandrock thankfully know that only you and Mi-an are building and fixing things up.
• Glory Hound: Yan will never shy away from ever getting credit for your, or Mi-an's, work. He'll chide you if you bungle up a job, but will seek to get all credit for anything you do well, saying you only did it because of his ability to "motivate" you.
• Greed: His raison d'etre.
• HA HA HA—No: This is his response to the Builder suggesting that they should help Catori's entertainment project after he shoos her away due to her lack of funding.
  Yan: Hahaha.... No! If you learn one thing from me newbie, learn this: never, and I mean, never take a job if you don't know where the money's coming from! Hahaha... "I'll pay you after I succeed and you do all the work." Yeah, right!
• Hoarding the Profits: As to be expected from a Bad Boss who operates under greed. When Wei takes over the post following Yan's incarceration, all members of the Commerce Guild receive back pay as compensation for what Yan took from them, with Mi-an being the most extreme example since Yan took 500,000 Gols from her in commission profits.
• Insistent Terminology: One that no one else but him takes seriously. He prefers to be called the "president" of the guild over his actual title of commissioner. His award plaque for "Builder of the Decade" even has the latter terms scratched out to be replaced with the former.
• Lazy Bum: He likes to spend his time in the office with his feet on his desk while patting himself on the back saying how much his "managerial skills" are doing for Sandrock. Early on, he gets a bit roughed up by Rocky due to his laziness, as he put a valuable commission on hold for months with a string of excuses. Yan also never misses the opportunity to shove his responsibilities to you or Mi-an.
• Les Collaborateurs: He's part of a conspiracy to weaken Sandrock in preparation for a Duvos invasion. After Sandrock is occupied, Yan smugly and openly works for the Duvos forces.
• Miles Gloriosus: He always brags about how he faces dangers... Or at least how he would face them if he hadn't some sort of ridiculous excuse.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain!:
  • After Duvos takes over Sandrock he's freed as he's willing to cooperate and work with them. Had Yan been smarter it would have ended then and there, but his laziness leads him to have the Builder freed to do construction work for the occupying forces, albeit under overwatch by a soldier named Stev. This results in a chain of events where the Builder makes contact with Logan, and the two manage to successfully free the townsfolk and drive out the Duvos forces.
  • His role in the water theft conspiracy where he helped set up piping to divert oasis water to the auxiliary tank comes in handy as it provided a base infrastructure for the new water source from the Northern Plateau to connect to, reducing the work needed to bring water to Sandrock.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: Yan may be treated as a pathetic joke and an incompetent professional most of the time, but he wouldn't have been made Commissioner of the Commerce Guild if he didn't have at least some skills, it's just that he misuses and abuses them. For examples:
  • He's in cahoots with the people behind the water theft of Sandrock and is still a somewhat competent Builder despite his mile-long list of flaws. He manages to build a safe door lock that Grace, a skilled spy, wasn't able to lockpick, requiring your help to create an Antilock.
  • He was also at least cooperative enough with Matilda and Pen to hide its existence from the Commerce Guild and Trudy, and he knew how to commit countless embezzlement scams and unfair labor practices without being caught for what could have been years. Just Mi-an's stolen wages alone were 500,000 GOLS, which the Builder could struggle to earn through commissions alone, and Yan was scared enough of them to give them their full wages past the 1st month.
• Only in It for the Money: The more he speaks throughout the main story, the more it becomes clear that he prioritizes the Commerce Guild's profits over the town's welfare. He'll complain about the player taking on unofficial work like with the building of the Hydrogel since it doesn't benefit the Guild, encourage the player to cut corners on a bridge so that the Guild can pocket the leftover donation funds, and be the very first one to mention the bill when it comes to expensive projects for the town.
• Professional Butt-Kisser: Yan is good at "telling people whatever he thinks they want to hear". That's not us, it's the game describing what kind of person Yan is. This usually gets him into trouble from time to time, and, in one of his conversations, Yan even gives you advice on "how to act when you're about to get punched in the face" because this happened so many times to him. This act makes him easily defect to Duvos's side when things go bad for Sandrock.
• Put on a Prison Bus: He gets taken away for rehabilitation. As Wei discloses to the Builder later on, Yan is placed in a maximum security prison with no hope of escaping anytime soon.
• Sarcasm-Blind: Yan is either really bad at detecting the Builder's sarcasm, or thinks responding as though it were sincere might trick the Builder into changing their mind.
• The Shameless: Attempts to embarrass Yan don't deter him as long as he gets paid, as one unique chat statement from him following his attempt to swindle more money out of Musa in the upcoming Portia-Sandrock commissions proves.
  Yan: I tried to organize a meeting with Musa, try to squeeze every last dime out of all the commissions we'll be doing in the coming days and... He offered me 100 Gols per day just to stay away from him! Score! Easiest buck I ever made in my life!
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: As much of a foppish prick Yan is, the worst he does is cheat his own score on the leaderboard and twist your arm into picking up his own slack. At least he doesn't point guns at people, nor freaking bombs the water supply of Sandrock unlike Logan. Yan is involved in a water theft scheme, but is completely oblivious (or just doesn't care) to the more nefarious intentions behind it, only wanting money, like the greedy little weasel he is.
• Small Name, Big Ego: To put it mildly. "President" Yan thinks he's the most important person in Sandrock, but his track record as a Builder is less than stellar, to say the least.
• Smug Snake: Oh my dear goodness is he ever. He cannot go on about without saying something condescending towards someone or to inflate his ego, thinking he's far too clever for Sandrock.
• The Sociopath: Yan meets all the textbook criteria of a sociopath: he's manipulative, incapable of forming social connections or friendships, cheats the system, etc. In fact, his role in the story ends with him being shipped off to prison because the Alliance doctors want the opportunity to study a "textbook narcissistic sociopath."
• Sore Loser: Yan doesn't take losing lightly. Should the player outrank him during the annual workshop rankings (a somewhat tall order, given how Yan manipulates the rankings), he'll refuse to give up the trophy at first before the Builder wrests it from his hands and celebrates as Yan lands face-first on the floor.
• Stealing from the Till: It's pretty much implied that he tries to use his status as Commissioner in whatever ways he can to fill his wallet. The full extent of his embezzlement of the Commerce Guild is later exposed once he's ousted from his position, including melting down commissioned items to their base resources for extra money and stealing credited work and pay from the other Builders.
• Stealing the Credit: This is how Yan routinely ends up at or near the top of the Workshop rankings despite being almost never seen at his actual workshop. He basically steals the credit for commissions other builders do, though the player is somehow exempt from this.

A resident of Sandrock and works as a carpenter, selling his furniture through Arvio's By the Stairs store. He is married to Dan-bi, who affectionately calls him Ri-ri.

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• Affectionate Nickname: Dan-bi calls him "Ri-ri".
• All for Nothing: When it appears that Duvos is on the verge of invading Sandrock, Rian volunteers to ride for Highwind to get help from the Alliance. Unfortunately, by the time he arrives and convinces anyone to believe him, the battle for Sandrock is already over. It does at least impress Dan-bi that he was willing to be so brave.
• Character Development: A subtle example. The experience of riding for Highwind to call for help against Duvos as well as the birth of his daughter Linden make Rian more self-reflective, indicating an improvement in his maturity a a result.
• Florence Nightingale Effect: As disclosed by Rian himself, Dan-bi taking care of him when he got sick one day was the start of their romantic relationship that would eventually blossom into their Happily Married status.
  Rian: When I first met my wife, we didn't think much of each other. But one day, I got really sick and she was the one who volunteered to take care of me. She worked so hard to help me recover, and, I dunno, something kind of just happened between us...
• Follow in My Footsteps: Downplayed. A chat statement from Rian indicates that he'll likely teach his offspring about carpentry work, if only because that's all he knows.
  Rian: I'll probably teach my kids to be carpenters one day. Kinda cuz... that's all I really know much about.[...]
• Happily Married: To Dan-bi.
• Humble Goal: If a chat statement of his is anything to go by, his greatest aspiration amounts to a comfortable-enough mundane life.
  Rian: I don't wanna be king of the world or nothin'. Good food, good friends, a little space in the yard for the kids to run around in... if I got that, there's nothin' that could get me down.
• Insult Backfire: A chat statement from him early in the game discloses that his mother used to compare him with wood and quip that at least wood was good for something. Rian ended up interpreting the words as her wanting him to become a carpenter, which became his occupation later in life and has been the case right up to the present day.
  Rian: My Ma always used to say, "Rian, you're like a piece of wood. But at least you can make somethin' out of wood." I took that to mean that she wanted me to become a carpenter.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Rian may be a slacker carpenter for the most part, but he, of all people, volunteers to ride for Highwind to call for aid against the forthcoming Duvos invasion.
• Not a Morning Person: He wakes up very late compared to everyone in Sandrock.
• "Not So Different" Remark: For all the differences between himself and his wife, there is one thing they have in common, as he claims in his chat statement.
  Rian: Everybody thinks we're like night and day, but me and Dan-dan do have one thing in common: we both like fixer-uppers.
• Opposites Attract: Rian works very slowly and wakes up very late, whereas Dan-bi is an early bird that never stops from morning until sunset.
• The Slacker: Works very slowly and admits to taking weeks to finish his carpentry jobs.

Mason is Sandrock's resident builder who the player and Mi-an were sent to replace. He's none too sociable and has seemingly lost much of his passion and drive for his profession over the years due to Sandrock's struggles. Once he leaves town for good, he moves to Portia to retire and paint, lining up with his appearance in My Time at Portia's endgame.

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• Butt-Monkey:
  • A sandstorm hits Sandrock delaying his farewell party and delaying his long-awaited departure. "One last kick in the pants", as Mason himself puts it.
  • If the Tumbleweed Standard news reports are anything to go by, no one has anything genuinely nice to say about him, both while he's still around and after he's gone away for good.
  • Just about everybody in town has an opinion about Mason when the Builder talks to them after Mason is permanently gone, but very few of those statements are genuinely nice: Grace compliments his punctual attitude as a customer at the Blue Moon Saloon, and Rian claims he got along rather well with Mason due to their compatible beliefs in work ethics, but they're in the minority in this regard.
• Jaded Professional: Years of being the sole Builder in the struggling town of Sandrock, especially with someone like "President" Yan as his boss, weren't kind to his psyche. By the time you arrive in Sandrock, Mason is a thoroughly exhausted man, more than done with everything and barely able to keep a conversation going on, he just wants out of town to retire. Of course, his role in the water theft conspiracy may also add to why he has lost passion for his job by the time the player arrives in town...
• My God, What Have I Done?: Mason was part of the water theft conspiracy in Sandrock and in a letter he expresses his regret, stating "every man has a price".
• Small Role, Big Impact: Mason leaves Sandrock not long after the game starts, but his anticipated departure necessitates the "help wanted" ad for builders, which led to the Builder (and Mi-an by extension) coming to Sandrock, resulting in the story taking shape the way it does.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Leaves town not long after your and Mi-an's arrival to succeed him, and he makes sure to let you know he has less than zero interest in getting to know his successors.

The town's resident Yakmel Rancher, he's known for being quite talkative and outspoken, with a well-known reputation for his strength and toughness.

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• Bad Liar: A strange variantion. He can make up stuff like say some random thing he thinks it's true or embelish a story he's taken part in, but will always back down if someone actually calls his BS.
• Berserk Button: He takes poorly to being interrupted. Given he never shuts up, basically most people push this button eventually.
• Commander Contrarian: Cooper adopts opinions primarily as an excuse to talk, not because he sincerely believes them. And when he's wrong, he'll insist he secretly agreed with everyone or Knew It All Along.
  Cooper: Alright, how about this angle: uhh... My incessant contrarian bickerin' inspired y'all to go an' prove me wrong!
• Conspiracy Theorist: Believes in the Reptilian Conspiracy and suspects Larry the gleeger is an agent of the secret lizard rulers of Atara.
• Conversation Hog: Anyone unlucky enough to trigger one of his rants will find themselves completely unable to reply or remove themselves from the conversation. Fang finds interactions with him downright traumatizing.
• Family Man: Married to Mabel and father of Elsie. Both are among the few people that can get him to cooperate, despite his stubborness, with very little effort.
• Friendly Rival: With Penny when she comes to visit Sandrock. He's happy to have a musical competition with her and doesn't seem all that bothered when it ends in a tie.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: No one looks forward to talking to Cooper. They know he's got a good heart, but it's his habit of never shutting his trap that gets on people's nerve.
• Genius Ditz: Ditz might be an exaggeration, but Cooper is good at what he does: taking care of The Wandering Y Ranch and being a musician. A late game quest has him almost immediately noticing several mistakes on a music sheet the Builder can hand over to him.
• Good Ol' Boy: Of the "loveably insufferable" variety.
• Grumpy Old Man: He even gets his own Old Man Yells Cloud article, since he "aggressively made himself available for an interview."
• Happily Married: To Mabel. He feels that he got very lucky that she chose him over many other suitors.
• Henpecked Husband: Downplayed, but Mabel is one of the few people in Sandrock that can shut him up very quickly if he tries to pass some yakmel-manure as truth.
• Hypocritical Humor:
  • In "Citrus Infusion Avenue", he gives Owen a lecture about the importance of not giving out handouts to random people... all while he gleefully partakes in the free food Owen had just offered him.^note  That being said, he ends up not enjoying it since the free food is a homemade experiment from Grace.
  • When he asks the Builder to give him something as a friendship-building favor, it's under the accusation that the Builder is loafing, but there's a chance he may be standing still or sitting down in relaxation himself instead of working at the very moment he's giving the spiel.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Pretty rough around the edges and not afraid of speaking his mind, but Cooper respects hardworking people and is very protective of his family.
• Mistaken for Profound: While Cooper does have good advice every once in a while, you'd need to filter it from the sheer amount of rambling he does.
• Motor Mouth: Once he starts rambling, it's all but impossible to make him stop. In one of his sidequests, he can ramble enough for the Builder to spout some Angrish in sheer frustration.
• Never Learned to Read:
  • He can't read, and this is a point of worry in his relationship with Elsie, since he's afraid his daughter would respect him less for that reason. He can, however, read sheet music just fine, justifying it as only needing to keep seven letters in mind rather than 26.
    Cooper: Do you think Elsie thinks less of me? Because I can't read good...?
  • A more explicit example comes on the Day of the Bright Sun: Should you receive a present that comes from him, the note that's attached to said present lacks any description and is signed with "KOOPRR".
  • This is exploited for comedy in all letters the Builder gets from Cooper and articles in the Tumbleweed Standard that involve him, where somebody else — most often Elsie — transcribes his statement. This tends to end with his statement getting cut short and replaced by whatever the transcriber decides to write down instead, knowing that, since he can't read, he won't know the stunt said transcriber pulled (and nobody else would tell him since he's a Grumpy Old Man and a Conversation Hog that people in general wouldn't fancy talking to anyway).
• OOC Is Serious Business: He's a notorious Conversation Hog with a Motor Mouth by default, so the occasions where he claims he's not in the mood for talking (e.g. the incident that causes Mabel to get hurt trying to protect Elsie and become bedridden at Fang's clinic) are quite noticeable.
• Red Baron: Fang refers to him solely as the Milkman with a terrified respect more appropriate for dragons.
• Shout-Out: He's a milk-selling conspiracy theorist named Cooper. One of Fang's sidequests confirms that this is no coincidence.
  Fang: He is the Milkman. His milk is delicious.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: To Fang, who approaches interactions with the Milkman as horrible onslaughts he most likely will not survive. The Builder agrees and, during one rant, even speculates that Cooper is some eldritch being who can manipulate time, boring his victims into insanity.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Cooper has a tendency to increase the importance of his role in the events of Sandrock. But he's quick to step back if someone who was actually there calls him on it.
• Wall of Text: Think you're safe from his unvoiced lines? No, you're not. Chatting with him casually most of times ends up with him having a scrolling bar to read the entire thing.

A resident of Sandrock and the wife of Cooper. She is also the owner of the Ranch Store.

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• Good Parents: She's far more understanding of Elsie than Cooper. She quickly realizes that the incident with Daisy the Giant Duck, in which Mabel's arm got broken, was a misunderstanding. When Elsie later runs away, while Mabel is understandably worried, she also accepts that it's just something Elsie needs to do to fully grow up.
• Happily Married: To Cooper.
• Love at First Sight: Mabel herself outright states this trope word by word as the reason she fell in love and eventually became Happily Married with Cooper, which left many others wondering "What Does She See in Him?".
  Mabel: I had many fine suitors chasing my hand as a youth, but when I met Cooper for the first time, why, I forgot all about those fellas! It was love at first sight.
• Parenting the Husband: Downplayed. Mabel sometimes has to remind Cooper he has the bad habit of talking first and hearing never and she isn't afraid to call Cooper out when he tries to spout some old-fashioned value as "wise" instead of "lesson that can be learned from past dumb mistakes".
• What Does She See in Him?: As both Cooper and Mable say to the Builder in their respective chat conversations, many people were baffled when Mabel started falling in love with Cooper. Cooper couldn't figure out how it happened and just chalks it up to being lucky himself, and Mabel herself states that it was Love at First Sight.
  Cooper: Lotta folks wonder how an old farmhand like me could land a prize like Mabel; can't say I've figured it out myself, neither! Some folks just get lucky, I guess!

The resident blacksmith and owner of Hammer Time. Known to be blunt and somewhat rough with his remarks and opinions, but he is good at his trade and cares for the survival of the town.

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• Afro Asskicker: Sports one and can be challenged to spar.
• Blacksmith Upgrade Service: He's Sandrock's blacksmith and sells weapons, sharpening stones and other materials.
• Friendly Rival: As with Cooper, Hugo is one to Penny when she visits Sandrock. He's quite happy to compete against her in the musical competition, and unfazed when it ends in a tie.

A resident of Sandrock and the proprietor of Tailor Made, a clothing shop on Main street. Hugo is her son and Heidi is her granddaughter.

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• Humble Goal: When Arvio comes to her about trying to expand her business beyond Sandrock, Vivi says she's perfectly happy with the devoted clientele she has and is uninterested in doing anything more. She's comfortable as it is with her family, and that's all that matters to her.
• Like a Son to Me: "Grandchild" in this case. Vivi addresses the Builder like they're her own grandkid and considers herself a surrogate grandmother to the latter, outright saying so herself, especially after the Builder befriends her.
• Textile Work Is Feminine: Vivi owns and runs "Tailer Made", the clothing shop in Sandrock. Among the things inside her house are fabrics and inanimate dummies for clothing-fitting test runs.

The current mayor of Sandrock. She isn't present when the game starts, only arriving after certain events have passed.

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• The Alleged Boss: Trudy spends a lot of time away from Sandrock, delegating the mayoral responsibilities to Matilda. Whenever she returns, she always finds it difficult to talk in firesides. To make things worse, she usually doesn't bring any good news regarding the desert cultivation. This later becomes subverted as the game goes on.
• Character Development: Trudy goes from a rather skittish woman that has trouble speaking her mind to a War time Mayor that helps rally and organize the people of Sandrock from Duvos. After that she becomes much more confident in herself to the point even Logan stutters when talking to her about their projects.
• Contrasting Replacement Character: While Gale and Trudy are both widowed mayors of towns in the Free Cities, Gale is the father to two adult children while Trudy is the mother of a young daughter. While Gale was a war veteran and is clearly in charge from the get-go, Trudy starts off absent from the story, only returning midway through, and becomes a wartime mayor when Duvos invades.
• Grew a Spine: She eventually develops the assertiveness expected from her job as mayor, especially during the Duvos occupation.
• The Gunslinger: In "Shipwreck Confidential" she will help you explore the place alongside Mi-an and will fight armed with a Vintage Pistol.
• Long-Range Fighter: As demonstrated in "Shipwreck Confidential", she fights with a Vintage Pistol and wields no melee-range weaponry.
• No Longer with Us: When Jasmine tells Ernest that her mother is "in the desert," he assumes she's just too young to understand what death is until Trudy actually shows back up from her research journey.
• Parents as People: Her personal side quest "Trudy and Jasmine's Big Day" has her find time in her busy schedule to have a day out with her daughter Jasmine, as she tries to balance her professional life as mayor and her personal life.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Even before her Character Development Trudy is always listening to what other people have to say and consider their suggestions no matter how outlandish they sound. And after the Duvos incident she grows to be a respectable mayor that is not easily pushed around as she was when Matilda was around. She also flat out refuses to take ALL of Mi-an's 500,000 Gol donation for the school project asking Heidi for a proper budget so she won't take a single Gol more than Sandrock needs.

The daughter of Mayor Trudy, she is also the delivery girl. Her father, Theodore, is deceased and also served as mayor.

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• Companion Cube: She has a stuffed teddy bear named "Mr. Teddy" that she carries around her all the time.
• Cheerful Child: Despite her mother having to leave for periods of time, she remains bubbly and cheerful.
• Comic-Book Time: Lampshaded in her unique chat statement when the Builder talks to her after the credits roll.
  Jasmine: Do I look older to you? I feel like I'm still the same age as when you first came to town!
• Courier: She delivers mail across Sandrock.
• Genki Girl: Proudly says nobody can keep up with her.
• Missing Mom: Her mother, Trudy, goes often on excursions to the desert in order to find a way to find a way to counter the desertification. She does return to Sandrock eventually.
• Positive Friend Influence: She has this effect on Andy, saying how much fun he could have in Sandrock pushing him away from his so-called bandit life.
• Skip of Innocence: Whenever she's not running at full speed, she's joyfully skipping around Sandrock.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Downplayed. Jasmine is still a young child, but she likes to read and has some solid, if harsh, criticism towards Ernest's latest book which leaves him with nothing but a "you're just a kid" as retort.

A miner and the boss of Eufaula Salvage, a mining company located in the desert.

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• Benevolent Boss:
  • Rocky's the big boss of Eufaula Salvage junkyard, and he's a pretty swell guy. He gives his employees space to work, isn't pushy beyond what the point he must be, and gives them free days during sandstorms. When Banma, one of his employees, decides to leave Sandrock due to the town having very little to offer, he lets them go, understanding their decision. And while he isn't very well-versed into Builder stuff, he gladly accepts the suggestion of his other employees to get a machine that will ease their workload and increase their productivity.
    Fei: Our boss is really good to us employees. You know we always get the day off during a sandstorm, but our salary is always covered. [...]
  • During Venti's side quests he eventually catches her letting you enter the scrapyard for free which gets him very upset at her and Venti gets an (deservedly so) earful from him. However, the next day he asks the Builder to go talk to her since he felt it was unfair of him to have chastised her so severely for it, especially since Venti felt horrible about dragging you into the whole mess.
• Berserk Button: Rocky has a few, which are exacerbated from his anger management issues.
  • He doesn't appreciate feeling exploited.
    • Early in the story, he feels fed up with Yan putting off the commission work he had requested for months, such that he's mere seconds away from decking Yan before the Builder and Mi-an's sudden appearance gives Yan the idea of pawning the work off to them to get Rocky off his back.
    • Should the Builder agree to Venti's proposal of entering the scrapyard for free, Venti will also incur his ire and be severely scolded for it.
    • Finally, his unique chat statement after Mason has permanently left Sandrock is to express outrage that Mason hasn't repaid him the debt he is owed before leaving town.
      Rocky: Mason left already? What the- That mop-stick owed me five Gols! Why I oughtta...
  • Mocking his profession or his name is also an effective way to tick him off, as his chat statements make it clear.
    Rocky: Some people around the Free Cities call us garbage men; I resent that! In fact, last person who called me that ended up in a trash can themselves! Just so you know.
    
    Rocky: Y'know, in all the time you've known me, ain't not one person ever made a comment about my name. Oh, you know what I'm talkin' about. "Rocky, the guy who smashes rocks." Ha ha ha... Guess everybody finally learned what's good for 'em!
  • People with Small Name, Big Ego can set him off. This is another reason Rocky nearly punches Yan early in the game before actually doing the deed later on, and Bronco the Kid getting condescending towards him once too many causes him to fly into a rage that scares the former off.
• Blunt "Yes": When Bronco recklessly grills Rocky and annoys him, Bronco makes a smart aleck remark about Rocky probably being one of those people who would go "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry." Rocky calmly replies, yes, he is that kind of person, before he goes into a violent rage against Bronco that promptly scares him off.
• Clap Your Hands If You Believe: Rocky claims in a chat statement that he makes the employees at his company shout self-assuring words until they actually believe those words in order to motivate them into working harder.
  Rocky: Somethin' you might not know about me, Builder, I'm actually a master motivator. Every day I make my boys shout out at the top of their lungs, "WE ARE NUMBER ONE" over and over until they believe it! Try it yourself sometime.
• Contrived Coincidence: His accosting of Yan on the train after the latter attempted to flee Sandrock has nothing to do with the water theft conspiracy at all.
• Foil: Rocky and Yan serve mainly to contrast each other.
  • Both of them are in charge of a commercial venue in Sandrock (Rocky runs the Eufaula Salvage Co., while Yan is the boss — ahem, "president" — of the Commerce Guild), but their similarity ends here. Rocky is rough around the edges, doesn't really care for appearances, has a muscular physique, and is a somewhat tough but very fair Benevolent Boss who personally works alongside his employees at times. Yan keeps up a fancy appearance, puts on a thin facade of politeness, is a squalid, foppish mop-stick, and a lazy and horribly exploitative boss who would rather leave the others to do his dirty work and then steal their credit and profit for himself afterwards.
  • Their stark contrasts are observable in Rocky's debut appearance scene, which occurs early in the story, where the Builder and Mi-an enter the Commerce Guild office just in time to witness Rocky being outraged over Yan repeatedly putting off the commission for a lift for months and making life difficult for Rocky's employees as the result, such that Rocky is about to deck Yan for it, before Yan, upon spotting the Builder and Mi-an in the office, quickly pawns off the commission he should have done long ago to the Builder and Mi-an in order to get Rocky off his back.
• Freudian Couch: Lampshaded in one of his chat conversations to the Builder after the Builder befriends him.
  Rocky: [...] Ever think about gettin' into therapy? I'd come lie down on ya couch anytime. Lemme tell ya about my childhood!
• Good Old Fisticuffs: When challenged to spar, he goes barehanded.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Downplayed. He has some anger management issues that's reined by his wife Krystal, but beyond him wanting to punch Yan really badly, he's never openly aggressive towards anyone else. After he confronts Yan on the train and actually punches the sleazebag for real, whatever anger he had inside him practically drains away.
• Happily Married: To Krystal, they have a son named Pebbles.
• Heroic Build: Pretty dang ripped. Unsurprising given his line of work.
• Large and in Charge: He is one of the largest people in all of Sandrock, even having his own unique model from all the other normal townsfolk, and again, is the boss of Eufaula Salvage.
• Noodle Incident: He wants to get back at Yan due to the latter lying about something regarding turtles, which is never elaborated upon.
• Rock Theme Naming: Like the rest of his family, Rocky has a geological motif to his name.
• Spanner in the Works: He serves as one to Yan after the latter attempts to skip town due to being outed as part of the water theft conspiracy, boarding the train and accosting him for something entirely unrelated.

A resident of Sandrock and the wife of Rocky. She is apparently the second in command of the Eufaula Salvage Company.

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• Beware the Nice Ones: Similar to Rocky, she's very polite and pleasant. Also like Rocky, she's absurdly strong, as during the Showdown at High Noon Festival, she uses a Motivational Hammer and can knock you out if you're not careful. Rocky is still the better fighter overall, but she's no slouch.
• Exiled to the Couch: Not "couch" per se but the method is there whenever Rocky upsets Krystal, as she states.
  Krystal: Me 'an Rocky got a real stable relationship. As in, whenever he ticks me off, I make him sleep in a stable!
• Foolish Husband, Responsible Wife: Downplayed. Krystal is the one who helps Rocky reign his worst anger, but besides that both are always on the same page.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She has blonde hair and is incredibly sweet and kind.
• Happily Married: To Rocky and they have Pebbles.
• Rock Theme Naming: Like the rest of her family, Krystal has a geological motif to her name.

The son of Rocky and Krystal. Normally seen following his mother.

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• The Baby of the Bunch: The youngest citizen of Sandrock. He's even younger than Jasmine or Andy. He becomes second youngest after Linden, Rian and Dan-bi's daughter, is born.
• It Runs in the Family: Little Pebbles is a chip off the big Rocky after all.
  • One of Rocky's commissions is asking for Fish Porridge, because Pebbles is rapidly gaining a massive appetite and on track to consume as much as Rocky does. Rocky is quite proud of it.
  • During the Duvos occupation, Pebbles tries to punch a soldier's leg and fight him and tries to say "Mopstick," much like how Rocky punches out people who seriously anger him and calls Yan (who is a frequent instigator of that anger) a "Mopstick."
• Rock Theme Naming: Like the rest of his family, Pebbles has a geological motif to his name.

Catori's son. He spends most of the game living with his grandmother in Atara, until Catori decides to bring him home to Sandrock.

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• The Apprentice: While it doesn't officially happen, Alo came to idolize the Builder after learning about how much they helped his mom and expressed interest in becoming a Builder himself one day (ideally with the player as his mentor). One quest even has the Builder teach him how to build a model train using their workbench and tools.
• Raised by Grandparents: For a long time (both before and during the game's events), Alo has been under the care of his grandmother in Atara. It's only late in the game that Catori gets him brought to Sandrock.
• Shipper on Deck: Soon after moving in, he'll ask the Builder why they haven't proposed to Catori yet if they're dating her (Catori will turn down any proposals before he moves in). He then helps the player to set up a special, extra romantic proposal.

The train conductor of Sandrock. He can be found at the train station most of the time waiting for the Atara Express to arrive.

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• Analogy Backfire: Jensen's attempt at equating the Builder with a fast train requires him to elaborate further for the recipient to make sense of his words. It's also a Compliment Backfire because he meant it as a praise.
  Jensen: Why, you look as sharp as an ART-787 barreling out of the station at the start of the day!... That's... that's the fastest one...!
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: His unique chat statement in light of Andy being ousted as the fake Bronco the Kid discloses his refusal to Andy asking for his permission to drive the train for this type of reasoning.
  Jensen: Andy in disguise asked me if he could drive the train. It's a good thing I refused; allowing him to do so would've been illegal! And incredibly dangerous! As I think about it, it's probably illegal because it's so incredibly dangerous!
• Cassandra Truth: Played for Laughs regarding his one-time prediction of the "Showdown at High Noon" winner in the past. Nobody believed him, but his prediction ended up coming true.
  Jensen: One year I just had a feeling Pablo would be the winner, and no one trusted me. Turns out I was right on the money!
• Everyone Has Standards: Despite being a Rail Enthusiast, there are things Jensen acknowledges that would be too dangerous if trains are added into the mix, as evidenced by his unique chat statement on the day the Running of the Yakmel takes place.
  Jensen: Of course you know what I'm thinking: "What if we did the Running of the Yakmel, but with trains!?" It'd be the wildest event in the history of the Free Cities! 'Course, it'll never happen... Way too dangerous and destructive.
• Hypocritical Humor: His passion as a Rail Enthusiast may cause him to talk about trains too much... after he's already expressed concern that he might be guilty of talking about trains too much.
  Jensen: Is it possible that I talk about trains too much...? Oh, no! I just remembered, I forgot to wax my P-52 model engine last night! Oh no! And I talked about trains again! Oh no!
• Married to the Job: As revealed in his in-game bio.
  "He has never married but instead regards his train as his significant other."
• Rail Enthusiast: It's his passion for trains that led him to become a train conductor. One of his favorite gifts is the Train Model relic.

Rian and Dan-bi's daughter, born during Act 3.

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• Affectionate Nickname: In line with her parents, she has the nickname Lin-Lin.
• The Baby of the Bunch: She replaces Pebbles as the town's youngest inhabitant partway through Act 3.
• Cousin Oliver: She's introduced partway through Act 3 due to Dan-bi giving birth to her.
• Living Prop: Linden's role is basically to help further cement Rian and Dan-bi's residency in Sandrock. Otherwise, she's limited to staying inside their house and neither has speaking lines nor is seen physically interacting with anyone at all — this applies to the player's attempt(s) at interacting with her as well, as doing so only results in her responding with "..." and nothing else.
• Meaningful Name: Her name is a reference to a tree species, fitting for the daughter of a carpenter and a gardener.
• The Quiet One: Exaggerated. Not only is she seen interacting with nobody, she doesn't even have a single line of speech — and this applies to any attempt from the player to interact with her as well, for doing so only results in her responding with "..." and nothing else.

He is the graveyard keeper of Sandrock. He was married to Martle, the founder of Sandrock, and he introduced the concept of the straw grid, a technique used to keep sand from blowing onto the seeds.

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• Determined Homesteader: Mort refuses to leave Sandrock out of memory of both Martle and the promise he and the older townsfolk made to keep Sandrock alive after the death of the town's children to a sandstorm. When Mr. Musa offers to evacuate everyone to the Northern Development region, Mort is the one who explains why they don't want to leave and provides the Arc Words for the rest of the game: "I believe in Sandrock."
• I Was Quite a Looker: When finding Mort's old photographs throughout the course of the game, it is shown that he was quite a handsome man when he was younger.
• Meaningful Name: He's a graveyard keeper named Mort (from the Latin mortis meaning death).
• Not Dead, Just Asleep: After the Mama Tree is successfully revived Mort goes to rest underneath its boughs, and at first Zeke thinks he's finally passed on... when it turns out Mort was simply sleeping.

The manager and sole worker of Sandrock's Moisture Farm and its Farm store. A hardworking and diligent man, outside of work he is rather quiet and reserved. Adopted by Mort and Martle when he was little and under Mort's wing, he developed a passion for botany.

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• Beware the Nice Ones: Zeke is a gentle guy and avoids confrontations and the limelight. But he has no problems throwing Geeglers through the roof of the moisture farm when they attack it. He's also one of the fiercest fighters during the Showdown at High Noon celebration.
• Foil: Burgess and Zeke serve to compare and contrast each other in several ways.
  • For starters, both Burgess and Zeke are on the burly side and utilize their physical strength more than some others, as they rely on Good Old Fisticuffs when challenged in a spar and participating in the "Showdown at High Noon" contest. Zeke also gets the bonus points of using his physical strength to not only throw invading Geeglers out of the Moisture Farm but help the Builder, Mi-an, and Trudy in reaching the at-the-time-inaccessible Shipwreck Ruins entrance by literally tossing them to it as well.
  • Their contrasts mostly come from personality. Burgess is more outgoing, whereas Zeke is more reclusive.
  • Burgess yearns for close friendship, values the companionship the Builder provides him, and can be romanced if the player desires so. Zeke gets along with people well enough but isn't on a friendship-seeking quest due to his more reclusive nature and is among the townspeople the Builder can never romance despite being single himself.
  • In terms of family and itinerary history, Burgess grew up with his biological mother (no mention of any other family member(s) is made) in some unnamed village and, later on, studied as seminary in Meidi before the Church assigned him to Sandrock. Zeke is Happily Adopted by Mort and Martle when he got separated from the group of people he was with as a child and there's been no mention of him being anywhere else since then.
  • Burgess is more proactive in what he sets his mind for, whether it's for the Church or for watching over the oasis or water regulation/sales, and isn't shy with making himself known to others if it helps achieve his goals. Zeke primarily works behind the scenes in the Moisture Farm and doesn't actively seek publicity, such that Musa has to personally visit him at work to gain more insight about what he does.
  • Speaking of the Church, Burgess has been a devout follower since childhood, eventually becomes the new minister in Sandrock, and proves to be effective in this role after a helpful nudge from Dan-bi and the Builder. Zeke tried to take up the role of the minister in the past following Martle's disappearance, but sadly it didn't work out for him because his sermons failed to mobilize or motivate listeners, which Mort reveals to the Builder, and he's also among the townspeople who (almost) never attend church sermons, oftentimes spending the Sunday morning hours either interacting with Mort, a non-attendant for church sermons himself for the most part, or working in the Moisture Farm instead.
  • Finally, Burgess and Zeke complement each other in their respective areas (Burgess watches over the oasis and the water supply in town, and enforces tree wood regulation; Zeke focuses on horticulture), both of which are integral to crop production.
  • Even their respective work areas are indicative of the two people's differing attitudes: Both the Water World (where Burgess is stationed) and the Moisture Farm (Zeke's area) sell straws, fertilizer, and seeds, but the Water World is off the main street (if near the end of it), symbolizing Burgess's rather outgoing ways; the Moisture Farm, on the other hand, is in the northeastern outskirt of the town, where most people don't bother visiting unless they want to do so (in fact, the Builder can't enter it until the plot gives them an explicit mission for it), which, if anything, epitomizes Zeke's reclusive nature.
  • Their personality contrast is further illustrated when the Builder witnesses their interaction early in the "Operation: Flowergate" mission, wherein Burgess, alongside Dan-bi, enlist Zeke's help in getting the Builder to participate in the planting quest in Sandrock. In this scenario, Burgess hypes up the mission like a salesperson without providing a lot of finer details, whereas Zeke explains the details for the mission without showing as much enthusiasm for it.
• Gentle Giant: He's one of the biggest townsfolk, and he wants nothing more than to grow plants in peace.
• Good Shepherd: According to Mort, Zeke tried to be one, as he was Sandrock's previous pastor before Miguel. Unfortunately, Zeke just wasn't very good at giving sermons and inspiring people, so he was replaced.
• Happily Adopted: He was adopted by Mort and Martle as a child and has a loving relationship with his parents.
• Irony: As Mort tells the Builder, Zeke couldn't manage to muster much of an audience when he tried to be a Good Shepherd by giving sermons on stage, but nowadays he's gaining more listeners (such as Nia) who seek his knowledge on botany and horticulture in his more-reclusive state.
  Mort: Funny how to have his voice heard, it helped to step off the stage...
• Married to the Job: Much of Zeke's time is spent working within the Moisture Farm, which is justifiable, considering the essential nature of Moisture Farm in Sandrock, though he does receive part-time volunteer help from some others such as Dan-bi. That being said, he's not concerned about his social status given his reserved attitude and retains a healthy familial relationship with Mort as his Happily Adopted surrogate son^note  (and the same can be said with regard to Martle before the latter's disappearance).
• Muscles Are Meaningful: His size isn't just for show.
  • His introductory scene involves him literally throwing the bodies of defeated invading Geeglers out of the Moisture Farm — not an easy feat due to the large size of the place.
  • During "Shipwreck Confidential", he makes a "shortcut" instead of waiting for an iron ladder to be installed... and, by shortcut, we mean he chucks you, Trudy, and Mi-an into the shipwreck ruins, which is higher than small buildings, with little effort, even though this was apparently not his best, given his advancing age.
  • Additionally, he can participate in the Showdown at High Noon and will fight barehanded.

The other people who are at work for Eufaula Salvage when the Builder arrives at the start of the game, they're Venti's coworkers. Among the three of them, Bamna is a young woman with orange hair, Fei is a bespectabled man with a mustache, and Peck is a red-haired guy.

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• Insult Backfire: Peck discloses in a chat statement that he's too shameless for Rocky to get him to be on time for work more.
  Peck: The boss publicly announces who's late the most at the end of the month... little does he know, I'm honored by the recognition.
• Nice, Mean, and In-Between: Among the three Eufaula Salvage employees who are present from start to finish, Peck and Fei share this dynamic with Venti, with Venti being the nice one.
  • Peck is the "mean" one, being a shameless slacker who gets by with as little effort as he can get away with whenever possible.
  • Fei is the "in-between", as he's neither as cheerful as Venti nor as lazy as Peck (most of Fei's chat statements involve him looking for potential new hires for Eufaula Salvage or coming up with new game design ideas to make money).
• The Shameless: Through a chat statement, Peck makes it clear that Rocky's attempt to embarrass him for being late the most often doesn't work.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Downplayed with Fei since the "impact" he causes isn't very big, but he is the one who finds Banjo the stray cat in the ruins and hands him over to Rocky in the first place, leading to the events involving getting Banjo better-adjusted into Sandrock, which, in turn, gives the player access to adopting stray animals in town as pets that can help the Builder out (whether as an Attack Animal or to gather materials to ease the Builder's work, especially water, considering the arid setting of the game). It's not much, but still something, considering that Fei is an NPC that has little to no plot relevance otherwise.
• Smelly Feet Gag:
  • Peck reveals in a chat statement that his foot odor is foul.
    Peck: I went to Venti's apartment for dinner and she asked me to take off my shoes when I came in. My socks smelled so bad, now her whole house stinks. That'll teach her not to tell me what to do.
  • Venti also mentions this particular trait about Peck in a conversation she has with Amirah.
    Venti: The other day, our company sent out a hazard warning about a weird smell in the office. We looked for ages, it turned out to be Peck's shoes!
• The Slacker: Peck is the least hard-workiing employee in Eufaula Salvage. One chat statement early in the game says it all.
  Peck: My strategy in the mines is to never learn how to do anything, that way someone else has to do it for me. Like Venti, for example.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Bamna leaves Sandrock after feeling disillusioned with the Dying Town status of Sandrock too much for her to stay any longer, especially from its perpetual water shortage, though she stays longer than Mason has. Following her departure, Rocky requests the Builder to construct a machine to serve the role that she used to fulfill.

Members of the three families that take up residency in vacant buildings in Sandrock in the main-story mission "Newcomers to Sandrock". The first family comprised of a married couple, Chen and Kira, with their daughter Calli in tow; the second family has Petrov and his father, Hernandez; and the third family has an elderly lady, Lupita, and her two grandchildren, Jyn and Ann.

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• Ambiguously Absent Parent: Two maternal examples.
  • Petrov lives with his father Hernandez, whereas Petrov's mother doesn't get so much as a mention.
  • According to Lupita, Jyn and Ann's father works with Rangers up north, which explains why they're currently Raised by Grandparents, but Jyn and Ann's mother is entirely unaccounted for at all.
• Caring Gardener: Lupita becomes the latest addition in the Moisture Farm crew after moving into Sandrock.
• Cousin Oliver: Calli, Jyn, and Ann are children who arrive partway through Act 3 once their respective families move into Sandrock.
• Living Prop: Their plot relevance is limited to showcasing Sandrock's growing status. As the result, they contribute nothing to the plotline once they settle into Sandrock and interacting with them doesn't boost the Relationship Values for the player, either.
• Raised by Grandparents: Jyn and Ann are under Lupita's care due to their father working with Rangers up north and their mother being an Ambiguously Absent Parent.

Initially found in the mines by the Eufaula Salvage crew, Banjo is a cat with behavioral issues stemming from his time on his own as a stray, putting him at odds with anyone that attempts to adopt him.

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• Foil: Banjo and Macchiato are feline variants of this trope. Both of them are stray cats with similar ginger-and-white coloration that the Builder can adopt, and they're seen together from time to time (for instance, they're next to each other inside the apartment building when a Deadly Dust Storm is blowing through Sandrock if the player adopts neither of them), but Banjo is a male cat with behavioral issues until the in-game events involving him mellow him out enough to become better-adjusted, whereas Macchiato is an already-well-adjusted female feline right at the start of the game.
• Spanner in the Works: A minor example, but Banjo interrupts Hugo just before he can read out who the deciding vote in the Battle of the Bands is between Coogo (him and Cooper) and the visiting Penny. The ballot containing the final vote gets thrown midair, but everyone ultimately decides it was for the best; everyone won that day.

Captain is a black and white cat that serves as a member/Mascot of Sandrock's Civil Corps.

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• Chekhov's Gunman: Surprisingly enough. When Logan blindsides Pen and the Civil Corps and kidnaps Minister Matilda, it's Captain that finds them due to Justice being smart and quick on his feet, hitting Logan with catnip.
• Fluffy the Terrible: Just a rather rotund cute cat that's the Civil Corps mascot, right? Well, just read the rest of the entries about him. When Justice says Unsuur may not be able to control him if goes on a rampage he's probably not exaggerating.
• Killer Rabbit: It turns out that, when Justice says Captain's job is catching mice, he means Bandirats. The Rat Queen is absolutely terrified of him due to his success decimating her scouts' numbers, and merely showing up prompts her surrender.
• Powersuit Monkey: He managed to make it to Deputy before Unsuur. He also turns out to be surprisingly essential in a number of missions despite being a completely ordinary house cat.

CoCo is an adoptable stray owl that can be found flying around the outskirts of town.

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• Ambiguously Gay: He and X are referred to by other characters as friends, and they are both male birds, but X's behaviour towards Coco come across as downright romantic most of the time. CoCo himself is more reserved, but he does seem to come to enjoy X's company.
• Feather Flechettes: "Featherstorm" has him flapping his wings, releasing sharp feathers toward his target to inflict damage.
• Gender-Blender Name: Despite having a name that sounds feminine to an English speaking ear, CoCo is a male owl.
• Inconsistent Spelling: It's CoCo, not Coco.
• Tsundere: Towards X, at first.

This adoptable fennec fox can be found wandering throughout town as an exclusive to high-tier Kickstarter backers.

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• A Dog Named "Dog": The name for this fennec fox is... "Fennec Fox".

A cutesy-looking gecko that becomes available for adoption after the player purchases the "Lil Gecko" DLC.

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• Bubble Gun: Should Gecko accompany the Builder in battle, his attack of choice is "Bubble Blast", in which it spits out bubbles that burst upon contact, dealing damage and possibly knocking targets back. His other special attack, "Super Bubble Blast", is a stronger variant.
• A Dog Named "Dog": It's a gecko whose name is... "Gecko".
• Long-Range Fighter: Both of Gecko's special moves are Bubble Gun variant of projectile attacks and he lacks any close-range attacks.
• Lovable Lizard: This is a gecko with large beady eyes and a gentle demeanor, making it endearing.

A stray cat that was already living in Sandrock by the time the story begins.

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• Foil: Banjo and Macchiato are feline variants of this trope. Both of them are stray cats with similar ginger-and-white coloration that the Builder can adopt, and they're seen together from time to time (for instance, they're next to each other inside the apartment building when a Deadly Dust Storm is blowing through Sandrock if the player adopts neither of them), but Banjo is a male cat with behavioral issues until the in-game events involving him mellow him out enough to become better adjusted, whereas Macchiato is an already-well-adjusted female feline right at the start of the game.

A meerkat that the Builder and Elsie befriend during the latter's personal quest "Big Game Hunter".

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• A Dog Named "Dog": It's a meerkat whose name is, well, Meerkat.
• Perpetual Smiler: Zigzagged. The in-game profile states "this cute little animal always looks like it's got a permanent smile on its face", but it's just as likely to frown or look sad in-game.
• Weaponized Headgear: Its special attack Hat Trick allows it to throw its straw hat like a boomerang, dealing damage from range.

A dog that lives in the streets of Sandrock.

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• Black Bead Eyes: Nemo's eyes appear like black, round, and sparkling beads.
• Healing Hands: "Cuddle" instead of "hands" in this case, for Nemo restores health to the Builder and all nearby animal companions, if any, via the move "Puppy Love", which involves him coming to the Builder for a cuddle.

A camel that resides in Sandrock, Sandy is often seen with a bull-horn loudspeaker that hangs around its neck that plays out announcements of promotions for commercial shops or holiday events in town or gives out environmental advice.

X is Fang's pet raven. Capable of mimicking human speech, he's often the one voicing aloud his owner's thoughts.

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• Ambiguously Gay: He and the male owl CoCo are referred to as friends, but X's attempts to get CoCo to like him make him seem absolutely smitten. The Builder can potentially lampshade this during one one scene in which they explain X's absence by saying that he and CoCo went on a date.
• The Caretaker: X serves as Fang's informal service animal, speaking on Fang's behalf in professional settings, running errands he struggles with, and seeking help when Fang suffers one of his fainting spells, and it becomes clear after X befriends and starts spending time with CoCo that Fang can't really get by without him. X's solution is to prompt a Mental Health Recovery Arc so Fang can better take care of himself, as well as set him up with the Builder to support Fang where he still needs help.
• Clever Crows: He makes smarter plans than Arvio, at least.
• Nearly Normal Animal: He has a far tighter grasp on human language than real-life ravens, but otherwise is largely an ordinary raven—which is to say, still much smarter than the average bird.
• Polly Wants a Microphone: Though he speaks entirely in borrowed (and often misapplied) words, his cobbled-together speech is coherent enough that Fang would rather let X speak for him than say anything himself.
• Shipper on Deck: X is fully on board with Fang hooking up with the Builder, with him unsubtly stating Fang's unspoken feelings. It's implied X used his voice mimicry to make Fang think the Builder was moving away from Sandrock to get Fang to finally confess his love.
• Strange-Syntax Speaker: X speaks by stitching together things he's heard to him, to Fang, or by Fang. Additionally, while he can understand the meaning of individual words fairly well, compositional semantics are far beyond him, resulting in a disjointed mix of Hulk Speak, non-sequiturs, insults, and parantese.
• Thieving Magpie: He doesn't steal deliberately; he just doesn't realize feathers are not legal tender.
• Voice for the Voiceless: Fang finds speaking hard enough that he'd rather let X do the talking for him, even if X's statements are, er, not always appropriate.

Sandrock's previous commissioner before Yan, who succeeded the post from her sometime before the main game. Her portrait can still be found on the second floor of the Commerce Guild.

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• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: A chat statement from Trudy reveals that Email up and left Sandrock one day and went back home some time after serving as head of the Commerce Guild. Her reason for doing so is never confirmed in-game, though Trudy speculates that the harsh condition of a Dying Town in a Thirsty Desert became too much for her to remain.
  Trudy: Before Yan, the Commissioner was a uhh... headstrong woman named Email. She was really kind and capable. Then for some reason she just up and quit; headed on back home. Probably because of the environment here.
• Small Role, Big Impact: She left Sandrock before the Builder's arrival, but her departure led to Yan's takeover of the Commerce Guild.

Logan's father, who was a ruins diver and monster hunter for Sandrock. His death while being quarantined by the Church is allegedly the start of Logan's turn to banditry.

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• Cruel and Unusual Death: He's said to have died of an Old World disease that he contracted while exploring ruins, dying while the Church kept him in quarantine. In reality, he died of a disease injected into him by Pen, since Howlett had managed to uncover Duvos' encroachment on the Northern Plateau.
• Deceased Parents Are the Best: Not a single person in town has anything bad to say about the man.
• Family Theme Naming: Both Logan and his father Howlett's names are a reference to Wolverine, whose birth name was James Howlett and later went by the alias Logan.
• He Knows Too Much: He ends up being murdered by Pen because he found out about the Duvosian plan to extract the Olympia rockets from the Northern Plateau. His dying words prove to be a cryptic clue that his son Logan uses as a lead to eventually uncover The Conspiracy.
• Hunter of Monsters: His profession.

The founder of Sandrock and Mort's deceased wife.

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• Break the Believer: After years of watching Sandrock fall into disrepair and all of their efforts to reverse the desertifcation fail, as well as losing the town's children to a sandstorm, Martle finally gave up on Sandrock. In her final letter to Mort, which he doesn't open until twenty years after her death, Martle urged Mort to abandon the town and take Zeke to live in Highwind. Mort notes that if he'd opened it before, he would have followed her wishes.
• Death by Despair: It's implied this is what really happened to Martle. While the physical cause of her death was a sandstorm, it's implied that, having given up on Sandrock, Martle went off into the desert with the intention of dying.
• Never Found the Body: She was killed by a sandstorm while out in the desert, so her remains were unable to be recovered. As a result, Mort continually denies her death.

Justice's predecessor as the sheriff of Sandrock.

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• Blasting It Out of Their Hands: As Justice tells Unsuur and the Builder during the "Rager at Unsuur's" side mission, B3 was such a crack shot that he managed to disarm the criminal who tried to shoot him after robbing the Sandrock Hotel (where the Blue Moon Saloon would eventually be located) by shooting the gun out of the robber's hand before tackling and apprehending said criminal, ending with the criminal in question being taken away and incarcerated in a prison in Atara.
• The Ghost: He's only mentioned and never seen. According to Justice's account, he left Sandrock one day to see the world and hasn't been back since then.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: His official name is "William Bullwinkle Beauregard, Sr., III", but he's more often referred to as "B3" instead.
• The Sheriff: Served as one back when he was living in Sandrock. Justice became the sheriff only after B3 left.

Logan is a notorious outlaw in Sandrock, his renown already spread outside to the other territories by the time the player arrives. A former resident of the town, he turned to crime after an incident revolving around his father's death. His motives for causing trouble throughout the region are a mystery.

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• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Ernest has learned through his coverage of Logan's train jacking for the Atara Times that Logan is The Most Wanted in more ways than one.
  Ernest: Oh no! He's hot! Ugh, why does everyone keep saying that?
• Badass Cape: A pale blue half-cape with white patterns on the trim.
• Developers' Desired Date: He's one of four characters who get expanded romance interactions in the Love Chronicles DLC alongside Fang, Mi-an and Nia.
• Dramatic Irony: He kidnaps Matilda unaware of her true status as the Duvos agent named Tiger, only intending on asking her what she knows about the water theft conspiracy. At that point Logan had gotten far closer than anyone else had to dismantling The Conspiracy, only to be foiled when the Builder, Justice and Unsuur come to rescue the minister.
• Easily Forgiven: After the Battle between Sandrock and the invaders from Duvos ends with Sandrock's victory, with Pen and Yan locked up in the Civil Corps jail awaiting transfer, the citizen's of Sandrock hold a fireside meeting to vote on what to do with Logan. They list everything that Logan had done and then call a vote: to forgive him or arrest him. The majority vote to forgive him, even Cooper, who, in the beginning, was adamant on having him punished to the full extent of the law. It is Logan himself who insists on being punished, with Justice giving out a sentence that is essentially a slap on the wrist: 5 days in jail, a fine of 20k Gols, and court-ordered community service while on probation.
• Family Theme Naming: Both Logan and his father Howlett's names are a reference to Wolverine, whose birth name was James Howlett and later went by the alias Logan.
• Fanservice Pack: Logan's wanted poster back in My Time at Portia turns out to have been extremely inaccurate.
• Friend to All Children: A trait that sticks around even after he went off the rails.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: He and the Builder get to know each other through the climax of Act 2 and both express a desire for proper friendship - or more, in the Builder's case - once the fighting is done. When he's formally added to the Social Handbook after his trial, his base relationship points are high enough to net him almost a full five hearts.
• Good All Along: So much so that Ernest complains that he's going to have to give a Historical Villain Upgrade to Logan's expy in his novel because "it was so obvious [Logan] was in the right that it just doesn't make for much of a narrative."
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Logan is said to be pretty hot-headed and impulsive, getting hit with descriptions ranging from "ornery" to "crazy." Losing his dad in the Church explosion probably didn't help. This is ultimately subverted, the "crazy bandit" fame is something he keeps up, so people won't get needlessly involved with him and once the Builder meets him face-to-face, he's as far as he can be from the rumors.
• Head-Turning Beauty: There's a Running Gag of Logan being The Most Wanted not just for his criminality. Ernest expresses annoyance that the closest he's gotten to a physical description of Logan from other witnesses is "he's hot," only to immediately wax poetic about his Icy Blue Eyes himself. Lumi has repurposed his Wanted posters as heartthrob pinups. Andy can't stop calling him a Hunk when posing as Bronco. And even the Builder isn't immune.
• Hot-Blooded: Although he has a calm exterior, he's much more prone to taking action with plans that are loud than acting subtlety.
• Hunter of Monsters: His profession before he became an outlaw, as well as after.
• Intimate Healing: Invoked in "Cornered Beast" if the Builder flirts with him enough. Instead of dressing his wounds (and himself) with Andy's help before the Builder checks in on him, he'll delay changing his bandages and greet the Builder shirtless, asking if they can help apply Fang's medicine to a spot he can't quite reach. Once they're finished, he kisses them and follows with his confession.
• It's All My Fault: It was his idea to explode the church's walls to rescue his father, but something went awry, the bomb was either too powerful or he and Haru accidentally blew up a structural pillar and caused much more damage than they were supposed to which ended up causing the death of Howlett, Logan's father. Either way, Logan shoulders all the guilt, never letting Haru take an ounce of blame. Much later, Pen outright admits he's the one who caused the explosion that claimed Howlett's life.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Logan's first solution for any problem is usually just to charge in, guns blazing. His second is to blow it up.
• Lethal Chef: His idea of 'cooking' is to grab a chunk of monster meat and roast it until it's black, much to Andy's chagrin.
• Mirror Boss: Battling him face-to-face has him using a dagger almost like a sword and a gun to fight from a distance, not unlike how most players would fight.
• The Most Wanted: He's got thousands of Gols on his head and dozens of posters around town.
• Noble Demon: For all the destruction and problems he's caused to Sandrock and its populace, people note he's never targeted its citizens directly. Not until he kidnaps Matilda, that is, but he does it under the suspicion someone's been holding a massive stash of water.
• Parental Substitute: To Andy, an orphan he found lost in the desert after his caravan disappeared, and though he's hoping to hand him off to someone who has actually has any business raising a child (and "kicks Andy out of the gang" to dissuade him from chasing him into danger after Sandrock's people take him in), he cares enough about the kid that he set up his main base of operations in a pre-Calamity indoor playground to make him happy. Once Logan serves his time in jail gets released on parole, he adopts Andy permanently.
• Perma-Stubble: Made even weirder by the fact that the player can decide whether he keeps it or loses it (provided the Builder is romancing him) by helping him shave one morning.
• Retired Outlaw: Once Sandrock is safe from Duvos, Logan turns himself in, serves out his brief sentence, and returns to the monster-hunting job he held before becoming a highwayman.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Andy notes he looks a whole lot like his Missing Mom after seeing his parents' wedding photo.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: After the disastrous operation to rescue his father, people, especially Miguel, condemned him. Logan decided to make the most of this situation to operate under the guise of being a bandit, as far from Sandrock as he could and away from the eyes of the Church.
• Time-Limit Boss: Downplayed. The second battle against him has a timer of three minutes but the game continues anyway if the time limit runs out. The only real difference is whether the Builder (if the battle was won) or Logan (if the timer ran out) has the upper hand in the following cutscene.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: The most upsetting thing about Logan's spree for many Sandrockers is that he was actually a pretty decent, likable guy before he apparently went off the deep end.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Everything he does ends up being for the benefit of Sandrock. The most morally ambiguous thing he does is hijacking the train, and even then, he harms no one and keeps the threats to a minimum—all done to get the attention of local authorities to where Duvos is intending to make their move.
• White Hair, Black Heart: Ultimately subverted. White hair and terrible reputation aside, Logan turns out to be both well-intentioned and pretty personable at that.
• Wrongful Accusation Insurance: Discussed. After Logan exposes the water theft conspiracy, reclaims Sandrock from Duvos occupation, and helps defeat the big bad, the people of Sandrock have to deal with the awkward fact of all the robberies their new town hero and his accomplice, Haru, committed while they were on the run, even if he didn't actually blow up the water tower and his kidnapping of Matilda was done in collaboration with an undercover Alliance Central Intelligence investigation into Duvos infiltration. While most residents (including Sheriff Justice) would like to just give him a blanket pardon and get back to the status quo, Burgess points out that his robberies had consequences for people outside of Sandrock's borders and that pardoning Logan would set a nasty precedent of determining guilt by how much a culprit's hometown likes them rather than what they actually did. City Hall rules him guilty of all crimes besides the water tower's destruction and Matilda's kidnapping, but also gives him and Haru such a slap on the wrist for them that even several characters who argued for a reduced sentence feel ambivalent about the message it sends.
• Younger Than He Looks: Due to his gravely voice and white hair, Logan gives the impression of a middle-aged man. However, he's actually only in his mid-20s. This actually commented on by some Duvos soldiers.

Haru is a member of Logan's gang, serving as his right-hand man while using his skills in chemistry to produce bombs. Like Logan, he is a former resident of Sandrock.

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• Demolitions Expert: His chemistry know-how makes him really, really good at making bombs.
• Mundane Utility: Inverted. He first used his chemistry skills to go into business with Arvio, with him developing beauty products and Arvio handling sales. After he joins up with Logan, he puts his skills to use creating bombs and explosives.
• Put on a Bus: After he serves his sentence in jail and returns to normal life, Haru decides to return to Atara to continue his formal studies.
• Taught by Experience: Once he returns to town, you eventually learn that part of the foundation of his chemical knowledge is self-taught via trial-and-error. He even acknowledges that Howlett's death could have been avoided had the bomb Logan used to break him out of the Church basement not been too strong, though its later revealed that Howlett's death was entirely unrelated to the bomb used to free him.

A young boy around Jasmine's age who was taken in by Logan's gang. After his attempt at deceiving the townsfolk fails, he is taken in by Miguel and the Church with the intention of rehabilitating him.

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• Bavarian Fire Drill: How he actually managed to fool the Sandrockers into believing he was "Bronco the Kid". He also has fairly good excuses when you confront him before his unmasking, the only reason he fails and gives in is due to his lack of maturity and inability to keep cool under pressure.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: He's fiercely loyal to Logan since he rescued him when he was lost in the desert.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Living a life mostly without adult supervision caused him to become very rambunctious. Miguel decides to take him under his wing after his stint as "Bronco the Kid". Later on, he stubbornly refuses to help Justice and Unsuur even if you convince him. It takes Grace, who had experience babysitting troublemakers like Andy (specifically Andy himself, as she's been collaborating with Logan from the start), scaring him straight to confirm that he was telling them the truth.
• Happily Adopted:
  • His backstory is why he's fiercely loyal to Logan in the first place. Originally he was traveling with a different clan, but he got separated from them as they were passing through the Eufaula Desert in a sandstorm and couldn't find them afterwards. Logan found him wandering by his lonesome in the desert and rescued him, and the rest is history.
  • After Logan is released from jail he formally adopts Andy. This can also extend to the Builder if they marry Logan, as Andy will move into the Workshop alongside him and be listed among their children.
• I Have This Friend: Andy asks Ernest in their initial meeting to sign the copy of the book he has that Ernest penned in this fashion due to being in his Bronco the Kid disguise at the time.
  Andy: [in his Bronco the Kid disguise] Well, my friend Andy is an even bigger fan than I am! So... make it out to him, p-p-please...!
• Love at First Sight: Andy develops a pretty blatant crush on Jasmine the moment he first sees her, and attempts to charm her by giving her candy. Unfortunately for him, he was still in his Bronco the Kid disguise when he did so, and only prompted her to yell out Stranger Danger.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Played with. It's initially obvious to everyone in town that the "Bronco" who shows up is really a kid in a bad costume. But later the real Bronco arrives, and it turns out that Andy's disguise wasn't actually that far off from the real thing...
• Precocious Crush: Andy doesn't just think Logan is the coolest, but also ridiculously attractive, to the point that "Bronco"'s very first Suspiciously Specific Denial is that Logan's "ravishing good looks" totally won't distract him from doing his job.
• Shipper on Deck: If the Builder dates Logan then Andy becomes very eager to see the two of them get married.
• Sweet Tooth: He loves candies, which is no surprise, given how young he is.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Thinking bandit life is cool isn't too unchildlike, but being eager to torture people? Yeeep. It's Tickle Torture, but still...

A bounty hunter eventually hired by Trudy to capture Logan after several of his schemes throughout the main story. He's infamous for his incompetence, and is only hired because he's all Sandrock could really afford. First appearing as a disguise for Andy, the real Bronco arrives soon after, quickly showing that his poor reputation for his job is quite justified as he bumbles his way through the job while roping in the help of the Builder.

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• Accidental Misnaming: He can't get Burgess's name right while scrutinizing him, even seconds after Burgess already tells Bronco his name — twice.
  Bronco the Kid: Start talking now, Bur... Bernard... Berry...? ...Bingo! And maybe we can get you off with an insanity plea!
• Back for the Finale: During the Alliance Summit, he—along with several minor/one-off NPCs—can be found in his former room at the Blue Moon Saloon. He makes the rather dubious claim that after learning that the Builder did not, in fact, die, he doubled back and discovered the truth about Logan on his own while out in the desert, supposedly learning it not much longer after the town did.
• Butt-Monkey: He gets a lot of crap in the time he spends at Sandrock, and it's not entirely undeserved given how abhorrent he is. Examples include:
  • Cooper puts him to sleep with one of his endless monologues.
  • Grace tricks him into slathering his omelet with Blazing Inferno Hellfire Sauce.
  • Arvio cons him into paying a "Bounty Hunter tax".
  • Dan-Bi messes with him by launching into a Sovereign Citizen tirade.
  • Pen puts him in a headlock for a solid hour.
  • Jasmine (who is 11-ish) beats him up and runs away when he tries to take her teddy.
  • Zeke literally throws him out of the Moisture Farm for stomping on a berry while "investigating" Zeke.
• Closest Thing We Got: Trudy admits that all the other bounty hunters she solicited laughed in her face and told her the only bounty hunter who would even think of taking an offer so low was Bronco. So she hired Bronco.
• Clueless Detective: Bronco is as useless as a fifth wheel in a wagon. If you don't agree with his stupid theories, and even if you do, he thinks you're in cahoots with Logan, either being part of his gang or aiding them. Needless to say, he gains the collective disdain and hatred of most of Sandrock in short order. He somehow does manage to find Logan, most likely out of sheer luck, and finds someone: Ged, who helps track Logan's hideout.
• The Cuckoolander Was Right: He comes up with a seemingly insane plan to use Sandrock's pets to track down Logan's mole in town. Everyone scoffs at the idea, but it turns out to work. Banjo sniffs out Grace as Logan's spy.
• Drunk with Power: He's very obnoxious, flaunting the authority given to him, going as far as to pester Jasmine for running too fast. He threatens to throw basically anyone in jail, including the Builder, and treats everyone with contempt and suspicion.
• Embarrassing Nickname: He received "The Kid" not because he's a hardened bounty hunter, but because he's bumbling and has the maturity of a kid.
• The Napoleon: Fits the trope to a T. He's small, pushy, and very annoying.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: He's convinced that there's a mole in Sandrock and shanghais the Builder into an extremely stupid plan to root them out. Turns out he's very right about there being multiple moles in town, albeit by complete accident.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Once the plan to find Logan's hideout goes kaput with the Builder seemingly falling to their death, he decides to just vanish from Sandrock. Not that Justice cares at all, and he's the only person who even seems to notice, much less mention, Bronco's now-permanent departure from Sandrock.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Bronco thinks he's hotter than your furnace's fires, but he's treated as a complete joke by the bounty hunter community, and it's well justified once you see how abrasive and incompetent he is.

An old acquaintance of Dr. Qi, Mint is an engineer from Vega 5 currently making his home in Portia. He first visits Sandrock to inspect the rebuilt bridge across Shonash Canyon.

See also his entry in My Time at Portia.

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• Affectionate Nickname: He's called "Sleepyhead" by his old friend Dr. Qi. In turn, he calls Qi "Spacecase".
• Establishing Character Moment: He's first introduced dozing off on a bench at the train station. This nearly gets him killed when he rolls off said bench and right on to the path of an approaching train, only to be saved by the Builder/Unsuur depending on whether the player succeeds at the quick-time event.
• Sleepyhead: Just as much of one as he was/is in Portia. His Establishing Character Moment in this game involves him dozing off on a bench at the train station, rolling off said bench and onto the rail tracks right as a train is approaching, with nearly fatal results if it weren't for the Builder or Unsuur saving him Just in Time. There's a good reason Qi's Affectionate Nickname for him is "Sleepyhead".

A masked peddler who visits the town from time to time, selling things like rare crafting diagrams.

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• Bazaar of the Bizarre: Downplayed since he's a merchant rather than a bazaar and most of his wares are conventional, if rare, but the ones that come with unusual properties (e.g. Pet Brand^note , which allows the Builder to rename an adopted pet and Goodbye Meatball^note , which allows the Builder to abandon an adopted pet) do stand out, and he's rather boastful of this.
  Mysterious Man: Some of my wares, the effects can be quite... profound. Unnatural, even. But let me assure you, everything is on the level, Builder! Everything is on the level...
• His Name Really Is "Barkeep": It's somewhat implied that "Mysterious Man" is the official name he gave himself.
• Luck-Based Mission: He appears for two days — the 20th and the 21th — in each month/season, and there are five possible locations for him to be when he does show up. As the result, it's possible for him to be right where the Builder happens to be without trying to find him or to suddenly relocate right as the player is about to reach him.
• Mysterious Stranger: Befitting of his moniker "Mysterious Man", no one seems to know anything about him other than him being a Traveling Salesman.
• Traveling Salesman: He's as much a nomad in this game as in Portia and is more than willing to admit it.
  Mysterious Man: Where do I get my rare goods? Step one: travel everywhere. Step two: that's a secret. Step three: profit!

Yan's twin brother, who arrives in town to replace him as Commissioner when he gets arrested for the water conspiracy and his cooperation with Duvos. Wei's the polar opposite of his brother in just about every way, and quickly proves himself to be a much better and fairer boss than Yan ever was when he takes over.

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• The Ace: He is a highly accomplished professional with an expansive skillset just like the Builder, having managed to survive several years out in the desert subsiding on grass and monster meat, and returning to work as a Commissioner with ease and a track record that is the envy of all other region's guilds. It's not hard to think that the Builder could become them, with several more years of experience. When he meets with the Builder shortly after arriving in town, he's quick to tell the Builder that they're a lot like him, only younger.
• Always Identical Twins: He's basically Yan with no moustache, a different haircut, and better physical fitness. This does not go unnoticed by a lot of people and he nearly gets thrown into jail upon arriving in Sandrock since Justice mistakes him for Yan at first.
• Benevolent Boss: He's a far better commissioner than his brother. He's constantly praising his builders, encouraging them, and ensuring they're well paid for their work. One of his first actions when taking over the guild is to go back through Yan's records and correct them, making sure that the builders Yan scammed receive the recognition and backpay they're entitled to.
• Contrasting Replacement Character: Wei is Yan's twin brother who takes over as Commissioner of the Commerce Guild after the town is liberated from Duvos. Wei is everything his brother isn't — hard-working, fair, and more interested in the quality of his work than his financial compensation.
• Evil Twin: Wei's the good twin to Yan's evil twin.
• Foil: An obvious one to his sleazy brother, Yan. Wei is a self-made man with years of experience and regarded as a legendary Builder. He's very competent, hardworking, honest and a fair boss. One of the first things he does is get rid of the ridiculous made-up "President" label Yan strapped to Sandrock's Commissioner position.
• Gameplay and Story Integration:
  • Wei is very appreciative of receiving certain artifacts, because Yan sold off his old collection after leaving him for dead in the desert.
  • Unlike Mi-an, your fellow builder, Wei does not like tools and weapons below late-game tiers such as Titanium and Aluminum. This is because, unlike you and Mi-an, he's an experienced, seasoned builder, and the town's commissioner, which demands he work with the highest tier commissions and have the highest standards possible. He's years behind using bronze and steel tools, all the jobs he has to help with needs something much better. Similarly, he only appreciates mid-to-late game gems, which are what he needs to refine the high-grade tools and machines he creates. He also does not appreciate being given refined materials, likely because he already can make them himself or simply commission them in much greater numbers from other builders using his authority.
  • Giving Wei gemstones generally increases his Relationship Values, with the exception of gold and diamonds, which decrease them instead. He appreciates gems for their practical value, and unlike Yan isn't so easily swayed by the promise of wealth.
• Got Me Doing It: Having been around Slack and exposed to his Rhymes on a Dime speech habit apparently has rubbed off on Wei, if one of his chat statements is any indication.
  Wei: Since I gave a little workshop on your methods, even ol' Slack is cleaning up his act- er, I didn't mean for that to rhyme...
• Lesser of Two Evils: A chat statement from him indicates that, as bad as the Deadly Dust Storm in Sandrock may be, he'd still take them over the severe storms in the Peripheries because the latter is worse, though he'd also caution the Builder to watch out when venturing out in the sandstorm all the same.
  Wei: These sandstorms are rough, but I'll still take them over hurricane winds from back in the Periphs! However, one must never underestimate their opponent! Always check and double-check your preparations before venturing out into a sandstorm, [Builder]!
• The Pollyanna: Nothing ever seems to get this man down, even when he alludes to the horrific, traumatic things he went through over the past 5 years or so, like being stuck in the peripheries, having to learn countless skill sets just to survive, and subsisting only on grass and monster meat so any meal of Owen's at the Blue Moon tastes like gourmet to him.
• Walking Spoiler: Due to the circumstances of his arrival, talking about Wei is difficult without revealing everything about Yan and his role in the main plot.

Residents from Barnarock and Amirah and Arvio's parents.

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• Alliterative Family: Everybody in their family has a name that starts with "A": Arthur (father), Agatha (mother), Amirah (daughter), and Arvio (son).
• The Ghost: Unless the Builder marries either Amirah or Arvio and completes the post-marriage mission "The Sandrocker Dream", they're only talked about but never seen in person.
• Unseen No More: They actually can appear in the game, but only by the Builder marrying either Amirah or Arvio and then completing the post-marriage mission "The Sandrocker Dream", which results in Amirah and Arvio getting them moved from Barnarock to settle down in Sandrock.

A Seesai noble and Fang's much beloathed father, still searching for his son after all these years and completely baffled as to why his son hates him.

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• Disneyland Dad: His idea of parenting is to throw money at his kids until they're happy. When realizing how badly he's screwed up, he can only offer material wealth to buy Fang's forgiveness, which Fang has no interest in.
• Disowned Parent: Fang refuses to call him his father, only calling Talon "him" when he must acknowledge him at all. And it stays that way, though Fang lets him think otherwise for a few seconds.
  Fang: I don't hate you. My whole life, I felt like I was growing up without a father. And, having met you again... I feel exactly the same. I didn't need you to find my profession, I didn't need you to find success, and I didn't need you to find happiness. So... No, I don't hate you. You're just another patient to me.
• The Ghost: Unless the player decides to have the Builder romance and marry Fang, Talon remains unseen throughout the game.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: While Fang saves his life, Talon remains a Disowned Parent to the very end, and Fang even refuses his attempt to atone by producing and distributing the treatment Fang just created en masse.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Talon is genuinely horrified when he hears the Builder describe the scars on his son's back and his security guard corroborate Fang's abuse, and the realization that his son hates him and is perfectly justified in doing so is shocking enough that it induces the very stress-triggered cardiac event that led to the death of Fang's mother. It's only by the virtue of Fang's Hippocratic oath and need to test the heart treatment he's been developing his whole career on someone that Talon doesn't die from it.
• Obliviously Evil: If you ask Talon, Fang's life under his care was positively idyllic, and he has no idea why someone would run away from such luxury to some Dying Town in the middle of nowhere.
• Parental Obliviousness: He spent Fang's childhood completely in denial of the abuse his wife and other son were abusing Fang in his absence, insisting Fang had to be lying.
• Secret Other Family: He established another family with Fang's mother, who had no idea he already had a wife and son. It's the second crime Fang holds against his father, since her heartbreak induced takotsubo cardiomyopathy, a condition which eventually killed her.
• Unseen No More: He appears if the Builder marries Fang. Otherwise, he remains barely mentioned if necessary but otherwise completely unseen.

A professor of botany from Atara and Nia's mentor. He visits Sandrock in Act 3 to help with getting Project Greenland back on track after a sandstorm destroyed the first attempt.

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• Commonality Connection: He develops a bond with Director Qi over their fandom of the Gungam series.

The commander of the invasion force that occupies Sandrock late in Act 2.

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• Do Wrong, Right: He fully supports the Builder beating up his soldiers who were bathing in the Oasis...because that's a privilege reserved for officers, not common grunts.
• The Faceless: Unlike his subordinates Lefu is shown wearing a full face mask, concealing his identity.

A Duvos soldier tasked to watch over the Builder as they're press-ganged into doing construction work for the occupying forces.

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• Ascended Extra: After his appearance in this game, he's confirmed to have a more significant role in the sequel, My Time at Evershine.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: After the Builder defeats Commander Lefu, Stev leads the other remaining Duvos soldiers in surrendering.
• Punch-Clock Villain: He's shown to have nothing personal against the Builder or Sandrock, and doesn't actively participate in the Kick the Dog moments other Duvos soldiers have such as dipping their feet into Martle's Oasis. This makes him more sympathetic to the point where the Builder can hope he has a more lenient sentence after the Duvos soldiers are driven away.

The commander of a group of Alliance forces who help drive back Duvos.

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• Ascended Extra: Like with Stev, he has a bigger role in My Time at Evershine after making a brief appearance in this game.
• Not So Above It All: For all the no-nonsense, security-focused professionalism he exhibits, he is still capable of expressing laid-back joy, as proven by his chat statement while on board a ship that could have been used as a military-grade weapon but isn't.
  Avery: Standing atop a ship like this with no intention of riding it into a battle... it's a soothing feeling.

Initially, the unnamed President of Geegle Co. during the Gecko Station arc, after being thwarted by the Builder and Justice and ending up falling down a ravine to his supposed death, Larry is unexpectedly saved by the Civil Corps and Fang. Despite the town's justified wariness of the Geeglers due to that incident, Trudy and Burgess decide to give him a second chance, especially after he is taught the truth that the "holy book" the Geegles subscribed to was a damaged copy of an Old World corporate handbook. He eventually manages to find new employment as a chef at the Blue Moon Saloon, and a caretaker for Sandrock's reforestation efforts.

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• Break the Believer: He does not take it well when Qi casually proves all of the Geegler's beliefs were based on misinterprations of a damaged copy of the Geegle Co. handbook. He eventually gets better, wanting to face the painful truth than live a sweet lie, to the point where he does this to his own kind after defeating Gary, leading most of them to peacefully living with the humans.
• Deaf Composer: Geegler palates and biology are so vastly different, Larry couldn't taste or enjoy his delicious meals at the Blue Moon even if he wanted to. To emphasize the point, he and the Geeglers consider the bionutrient algae that the humans only use for growing food, as food in itself, and in many delicious varieties, at that.
• Defeat Means Friendship: There's a delay of about a couple of months in-game, but he goes from a Story Boss to a friendly resident of the town, and even gets to speak during the Alliance Summit about the merits of peace between the humans and mutants.
• Formerly Fat: In his initial appearance, he's about as large as the train engine that he stole and modified to use as a war machine. After he survives falling into the ravine and presumably going for what could have been months without reliable access to food or water, he's lost almost all of that weight and is now about as tall as Owen and no heavier than the other male human residents.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: Post-revenge on Gary, Larry mentions that he performed a Break the Believer on his fellow Geeglers, and most of them were despondent but chose to believe him and ceased hostilities with the humans. However, several of them went off to form corporations of their own and continue their "religion," which is why the Builder still encounters hostile Geeglers.
• Happily Married: To his wife, Xena, which is why he's especially distraught when he learns she'd allegedly died during the hostile takeover that ended with him left for dead in the Shonash Canyon. Once he learns she's alive and his traitorous cousin Gary is overthrown, they happily get back to being lovebirds and try to raise a family in Sandrock.
• Starfish Language: A lot of the Geegler language consist of hissing. He ends up teaching you some real nasty words and Larry says you should throw only at your worst enemy, although he's very embarrassed since children are nearby. Sure enough, when you fight against Gary you can opt to say it and, whatever it was, it gets Gary furious.
• Supreme Chef: He eventually becomes quite the skilled chef, despite never having or needing to prepare human food before.
• The Lost Lenore: His wife, Xena, was tragically killed during the hostile takeover of his cousin, Gary. Subverted when it turns out she's alive, Gary was just leading them both to believe the other had perished to prevent any challenges to Gary's rule and to try and take Xena for himself.

Larry's cousin, who takes over the Geeglers after Larry's apparent demise.

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• Entitled to Have You: He believes that with Larry gone he's entitled to everything his cousin had, including his wife Xena. Xena doesn't reciprocate his feelings, so he resorts to separating her from Larry and making the both of them assume their partner is dead.
• The Starscream: He takes the power vacuum left in the wake of Larry's seeming death to take over Geegle Co.

A Mole Man who leads a band of his fellow moles to support and protect Princess Lumi, whom they have sworn fealty to.

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• Earn Your Happy Ending: After the repeated failures in love affairs, he finally succeeds near the end of the game by becoming a couple with Gedina, a fellow mutated mole who's introduced right as the main story is near its end.
• Hopeless Suitor: Like his liege Princess Lumi, Ged falls hopelessly in love with others FAR above his station or his means. This is averted in his Last-Minute Hookup, though.
• Last-Minute Hookup: With Gedina, who shows up right before the final main-story mission.
• The Mole: Parodied. Bronco's incompetence leads the Builder and the Civil Corps to believe that Ged is a subordinate of Logan's who's willing to sell out the gang in exchange for something. It turns out that Bronco was speaking literally in that Ged is a mole, but he does, indeed, know how to find Logan, thanks to Princess Lumi's obsession with him.
• Mole Men: He and his compatriots are all mutated moles who have gained sentience, the ability to speak, and also have some human-like traits, such as the miner's hats they all wear for safety reasons.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Gender-Inverted. Ged laments that he always instantly falls for virtuous, principled women of power, but due to his lowly status as a mere mole man, he can never hope to have a relationship with them. The first example is Princess Lumi, whom he bitterly notes is too blue-blooded for him and he can only ever dream of being with her, and the second is Trudy, who is uninterested in a new relationship after the death of her husband and a bit put-off by the comings-on of a mutant. It's only near the end of the game that he finally manages to succeed, via a Last-Minute Hookup.
• Worthless Yellow Rocks: Initially, he believes he and his fellow mutant moles have nothing of value to offer Sandrock in trade, mentioning that the mole men can only produce ores, rare metals, and relic pieces, all of which are highly valuable to Sandrock's economy. Thankfully, Trudy quickly disavows him of the notion of trade relations being impossible and the Builder can help Ged and the other moles set up a mineral delivery service that frees up precious time and stamina trying to mine them.

Princess of the Bandirats, attended to by her seven mole attendants. She is completely smitten with Logan, who helped her hide from her Wicked Stepmother, the Rat Queen.

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• All Girls Want Bad Boys: She's head over heels for Logan, much to the consternation of Ged. She figures she can fix the whole "notorious criminal" thing, though in her defense, Logan hasn't been anything but kind to her and her retinue, which is a pretty big clue that he has been Good All Along. Notably, at the Alliance Summit, she declares she's lost all interest after Logan's been proven innocent.
• Expy: She's a pastiche of Snow White, dwarves (or moles, rather) and all.
• Hopeless Suitor: Ged is quick to point out to Lumi that has no chance with Logan, especially if the Builder decides to hook up with him.
• Fairest of Them All: By Bandirat standards, at least.

The Queen of the Bandirats and Lumi's Wicked Stepmother.

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• Charm Person: More "Bandirat" than "person" technically, but she qualifies otherwise. She causes any and all companions that fight alongside the Builder, be they human or not, to attack the Builder when her health gets low enough.
• Continuity Nod: After her defeat in the story mission "Mission Unpossible" she makes a reference to her husband and son, the Bandirat King and Bandirat Prince respectively. Both of them appeared in My Time at Portia as bosses.
• Expy: She's one to the Evil Queen, given that Lumi is one to Snow White.
• Flunky Boss: Will occasionally summon her Bandirat minions to harass you during her boss battle.
• Green-Eyed Monster: She's motivated by her desire to be "fairest of them all", and is angered that the Magic Mirror finds her stepdaughter to be considered such by the Magic Mirror. When the Mirror decides the Builder is the "fairest of them all", she redirects her ire to them instead.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: She's terrified of Captain, the Civil Corps cat, and will turn tail the moment she sees him.
• Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: She tends to add an -eth to every other word she utters.