Armin: a girl despite the masculine name, and the main protag! she's a footsoldier in the royal army and super loyal to her kingdom and her cause. good at taking orders but also really good at coming up with plans; she's a natural-born leader but doesn't realize it or really think of herself as much of one.
Ines: name pending??? princess of the kingdom!! sheltered but not as much as her parents think she is. huuuuugely empathetic, enough that it often manages to become a drawback by preventing her from functioning logically or at all, but determined to do right for her people as a ruler.
Garroway: one of the kingdom's highest-ranking nights as Ines's personal protector. he is intensely passionate about floral arranging and would totally dedicate his life to it if he wasn't staunchly determined to protect and take care of Ines. he's just kind of an intensely passionate and emotional man in general. dude's like nearly seven feet tall but he's a gentle giant and a big crybaby and everyone's dad/big brother (read: mostly Ines's and Armin's).
aaand less solidified characters without any kind of role in this vague plot-ish thing i have down who i would like to find a way to incorporate
Ethne: fire mage who loooooves setting things on fire. everything. callous, not so much because they dislike people because they don't care about them? they're the actual worst at social interaction because they just can't relate to people. what's a friendship??? no, only fire. heh
unnamed fighter girl from a village/tribe not necessarily of warriors, but where warriors are highly honored. she solves her problems by punching them (or just going straight through them—her answers to things are of the "that's so stupid it just might work" variety). she's super prideful, impulsive, crass, and very blunt—she doesn't really care about being offensive or disgusting. she wants to become a powerful warrior so she can learn what other ways there are to be strong and prove herself to everyone around her, and herself too. she's binary mtf and wears a sarashi kind of thing in a way that she can pad boobs into them
a priest & priestess brother and sister; the priestess is ~magic~ in a way that allows her access to certain things (like. magically locked doors or w/e) and her brother (who's older) is kind of her ~keeper~ as long as they're in the temple. the details are vague to the point of nonexistence rn tbh.
the boy is very well-read but lacks a lot of common sense, and acts in a sort of superior and condescending way without actually intending to? he's very determined to dismiss his faults and failures and get rid of them entirely because he thinks the worst thing he can be is a failure and a burden on others so he holds himself to absurdly high standards and refuses to ask anyone for help because he thinks that's relying on them.
the girl's much more of a loose cannon and is much more willing to break the rules to get stuff done than her stringent brother is. she's a good liar and faker. she's super stubborn and always thinks through problems instead of around them, then gets very mad and insistent when they don't work. she'll sooner go off and do her own thing than go with a plan she doesn't approve of, but usually when she disapproves of a plan it's because she thinks it's dumb rather than having any moral opposition to it. she crumbles completely under pressure especially if it's something she has to go through alone.
unnamed archer boy who used to be part of a super sketchy group of revolutionaries and while he isn't entirely happy about the ideals he supported and isn't super sketchy himself, he doesn't regret having been a part of it because he gained a lot of skills and a stable, surrogate family and a home from it. still kind of an asshole. just a very nervous, twitchy asshole.
a MASSIVE CHUNK of information about a pair of fictional girlfriend OCs that will have proper existence if The RPG I One Day Aspire To Create comes to fruition that i sent to the lovely kafrin who is, apparently, a fan
i am very likely to change Ines's name (among other things; this was all a stream-of-consciousness articulation of concept) but I'm pretty set on Armin
anyway
[10:17:10 PM] Courtney: and she is the lovely little princess of said kingdom. she is a little bit naive because her parents are relatively incompetent and try to shelter the heck outta her, but she *does* know a lot more than they seem to assume? she's v concerned about other people—their wants and worries and welfare and all, and tries to look at everybody as individuals! she doesn't like the idea of the people in her kingdom just kind of blending into this vague blob of "the kingdom" because she doesn't think she can do the right thing for anybody if she only looks at EVERYBODY. ofc part of her naivety is that she thinks she can effectively /do that/ but hey
[10:21:17 PM] Courtney: the kingdom kind of amazes her tbh? that there are so many people doing so many things in it to keep it going. she thinks that's stunning! and growing up her parents would point of amazement home by showing her stuff as a kid like people doing farm stuff and even the soldiers in their training and went "they do this all for you, their princess" and while at this point she's sort of expanded her understanding, to a certain extent there's truth in that, and she's totally amazed by how she's treated and loved by so many people, so she's determined to do everything she can to live up to those efforts
[10:25:57 PM] Courtney: armin meanwhile is a soldier in the royal army. she doesn't really have a commanding position or anything but she's well-regarded among everyone and high up at least among the Standard Footsoldiers—basically the only thing keeping her from rising up from the ranks is that she's not so great at straightforward logical strategizing, but she's /excellent/ at perceiving and understanding people so she works well /with/ plans (and also with people. she's good at working with them). like "here is how we are going to do this invasion" "okay, you should put these three people on this position and she can go either here or here but definitely not there, and he will do best if you put him here but he should go with him"
[10:29:25 PM] Courtney: or "these are her strengths, these are his strengths, these are their weaknesses, these two make a good team, they would be ideal for this kind of offense, but this guy is best-suited for defensive positions especially when etc etc etc and he wouldn't tell you if you tortured him but he's afraid of heights so don't put him in anything like that. now make a plan"
[10:30:16 PM] Courtney: anyway. she doesn't know Ines at all really because she is just Soldier but she idly admires her prettiness from afar as many people do. and that's about it. she's not really in the spotlight
[10:33:47 PM | Edited 10:37:45 PM] Courtney: but then Plot Shit Goes Down and because Armin is v close friends with the princess's personal knight/protector, Garroway (gentle giant. likes floral arranging. everybody's big brother/father figure, by which i mean mostly Ines's and usually Armin's), and because she is also in v close proximity (and because Armin has a REALLY INTENSE sense of duty and loyalty to her kingdom and position), he just kinda grabs her and runs and drags her off to be involved in a Great Rescue Mission after, as noted, Plot Shit Goes Down and Ines is kidnapped. oh no
[10:34:29 PM] Courtney: shit occurs and continues occurring. i don't know what kind of shit but it occurs
[10:35:31 PM] Courtney: basically it turns out that the king and queen are evil and while they didn't mean for Ines to get wrapped up and put in danger, they aren't really doing anything about it either, and she struggles a lot to deal with that
[10:40:35 PM] Courtney: when she gets rescued she's alone with Armin for a bit while they try to regroup with the others. Ines bawls all over Armin for a bit and she feels v awkward. Ines laments about how she feels like she's never been able to cry and be comforted for it because everyone expects a lot of her but because of that and her position, people sort of fear and revere her so there's no one all that close to her—her parents and even Garroway have lots of duties out and around so that's. that. she's lonely
[10:45:41 PM] Courtney: plot stuff blah blah blah plot stuff blah. Armin promises Ines that she'll protect her and make sure she is loved and cared for and surrounded by friends. blah blah plot stuff blah blah blah. Garroway knows how TOTALLY IN LOVE with Ines Armin is bc Ines is so caring and works so hard to be wise and be good to her kingdom and she's bright and friendly and preserveres like WHOA and laughs at her and makes a big deal out of how he'd trust her over every other suitor in the land if Ines loved her too and he won't tell and Armin is just kind of like ooOOOOooohHh MY GOD PLEASE DO NO T YOURE SO EMBARRASSING I LOVE YOU FRIEND BUT
[10:47:33 PM] Courtney: plot stuff blah blah etc. i don't know hwat i'm doing. Ines loves Armin bc she is brave and determined and loyal and doesn't just see her as a princess but as a girl with feelings and needs and this really obnoxious snorting noise in her laugh that Armin thinks is WAY CUTE and she's a badass who gives good hugs and good comfort and saves her from phantoms and stuff. i dont know who she has this conversation with but it happens
[10:49:41 PM] Courtney: somewhere along the lines they (as in the eventually full party) have to get Ines disguised for safety's sake and she has very very long hair and they figure they should cut it?? Armin does it with her sword (Garroway won't let anyone else that close to her neck with one lmao) (he tries to take Armin's sword at first and she's like "hahah how about i cut your nose off. i'll do it what do you know about lady hair anyway") and keeps fretting about how choppy and short it is and Ines idly comments about how the weirdest part isn't the length but not having anything in or on it?? Ines gives her a flower accessory to wear
[10:50:07 PM] Courtney: in the good end after everything is fixed and they return to the kingdom, Ines's hair has grown out a little more—enough to stick in a high ponytail which she can wear in her flower accessory
[10:51:12 PM] Courtney: there is a cutscene in which Armin is officially knighted by Ines, fancy kneeling and sword shoulder tap and all, and when she stands up, Ines skips down from her steps and jumps up and kisses her!!!! they smooch. they have reached official girlfriend territory. garroway cries (he's a v emotional man)
[10:52:46 PM] Courtney: there are probably going to be epilogues a la fire emblem and theirs mentions that Armin becomes an instructor to new soldiers as well as the queen's (bc by then Ines is queen. good end involves killing the bad guys that's just how games work) personal knight alongside Garroway. neither of these positions are dropped after the wedding and she is the first Knight Queen in history but not the last; others follow in her footsteps, including the little girl that they adopt
