Protagonists

Holden Kimoni

Kimoni is a former PIG officer and the Head of Security for the XIAN Corporation in the city of Proxima. He is a survivor of the catastrophic “XIAN incident,” which left him physically and psychologically scarred and grafted with a fused cybernetic arm. Kimoni’s driving purpose is to uncover the truth behind the attack that claimed the lives of his colleagues and to find the “strategist” responsible, a quest that becomes entwined with the hunt for a lethal variant of the drug Vitalis. He is a man of sharp perception and procedural rigor, but his trauma and enhanced senses leave him isolated, oscillating between detached professionalism and profound vulnerability. His investigation is both a mission for justice and a personal penance, as he navigates the decaying layers of Proxima, from its corporate towers to its criminal underbelly.

Creo-Pow

Creo-Pow is a former yuanyang vendor and father from the Kowloon district of Proxima. After a desperate, violent confrontation at the XIAN headquarters over the disappearance of his daughter, Jing-Pow, he is convicted and fitted with a Con-Cuff—a lethal monitoring device—and exiled to the Lantern District. His journey is one of rapid descent from grief-stricken father to branded inmate in Proxima’s subterranean prison system. Creo’s will to survive is driven by his love for his daughter and wife, but he is systematically broken by the institutional cruelty of the Froth underworld, chemical pacification, and forced labor. His story is a visceral exploration of paternal despair, systemic dehumanisation, and the fragile search for dignity in a city designed to erase the unwanted.

Himari

Himari is a Skin—a user of the drug Vitalis, marked by its physical effects and the Insig tattoo on her neck, which she calls her “mark of sin.” Operating in the liminal spaces between Blue Slide Park and the Lantern District, she becomes Kimoni’s guide and reluctant ally in his hunt for a lethal drug variant. Street-smart, perceptive, and resilient, she trades in information and access, her survival dependent on navigating the underground economies of Proxima. Her relationship with Kimoni evolves from transactional to one of fraught trust, as her own past and the fate of her missing friend, Aina Karagawi, become entangled with his investigation. Himari embodies the scarred soul of Proxima’s underclass: adaptable, cynical, yet holding onto a frayed sense of loyalty and justice.

Yuki-Wing (Maya Fan)

Detective Yuki-Wing, operating under the alias Maya Fan, is a PIG investigator who goes missing while pursuing a trail linked to a new, weaponised variant of Vitalis. A sharp and dedicated officer, her investigation into the pharmaco-chemical underworld leads her too close to the truth behind the XIAN attack. Her last known transmissions point to a connection between the drug, spinal fusion research, and the orchestrated violence at XIAN. Yuki-Wing represents the institutional seeker of truth within a system designed to bury it—a ghost in the machine whose disappearance becomes a catalyst for Kimoni’s off-the-books quest.

Alexi Ramanov

Alexi Ramanov is the CEO and driving force of the XIAN Corporation, a titan of industry whose augmented physique and ruthless will embody corporate power in Proxima. A strategist and manipulator, he views people and tragedies as variables in a grand calculation for control and legacy. Following the attack on XIAN, he tasks Kimoni with finding the “strategist” behind it, blurring the lines between corporate security and personal vendetta. Ramanov is a figure of immense influence and hidden vulnerabilities, whose polished public facade conceals a network of secrets, investments (such as in Suraja’s grafts), and a paranoia that the system he built may be turning against him.

Mikayla Chung

Mikayla Chung is the Chief of the Protection and Investigation Group (PIG) in Proxima, a high-ranking enforcer operating within the system’s strict legal and political frameworks. Pragmatic, sharp, and strategically minded, she represents institutional authority, yet she privately pursues truths the official machinery buries. It is Chung who discreetly directs Kimoni to investigate the weaponized Vitalis variant, using him as an off-the-books asset to bypass the declaration of confidentiality surrounding the XIAN attack. Her actions reveal a complex duality: a public face of order and compliance, and a private gambler willing to manipulate shadows to uncover corruption. She embodies the tension between duty and conscience in a city where justice is often subordinated to stability.

Suraja Uwe

Suraja Uwe was a front-desk administrator at XIAN, known for her captivating presence, sophisticated demeanor, and a prominently displayed fused arm—a gift of corporate patronage. Her death in the Classified Level during the XIAN attack is shrouded in mystery, as her security clearance for that area was unexplained. More than a victim, Suraja becomes a symbol of the attack’s intimate betrayal and a focal point for Kimoni’s guilt and Ramanov’s rage. Her story represents the permeable boundary between the corporate elite and the violence that sustains it, a life of curated beauty abruptly ended by the chaos it sought to overlook.

Willow Heritage (“Mamma T”)

Willow Heritage, publicly known as “Mamma T,” is the incumbent head of District Willow and a leading candidate in Proxima’s election. A former face of XIAN who lost her legs in childhood and now wears advanced fused prosthetics, she has crafted a public identity as a matriarchal figure of resilience and compassion. Her campaign promotes security through expanded surveillance (“EYES”) and appeals to communal sentiment, leveraging her personal tragedy and corporate backing. However, her rhetoric often masks calculated political maneuvering, aligning with XIAN’s interests while presenting herself as a champion of the people. Willow embodies the polished, performative hope of Proxima’s surface world—a symbol of progress and stability, yet deeply entangled in the power structures that perpetuate the city’s divides.

Theo Mayumi

Theo Mayumi is a former Skin and recovering Vitalis addict turned political challenger, running against Willow Heritage on a platform of radical systemic reform. His scarred face and personal history of survival—one of the few to escape Blue-Slide Park—make him a living symbol of resistance and grassroots credibility. His campaign boldly targets XIAN’s influence, the brutality of the Con-Cuff program, and the decay of Proxima’s lower districts, advocating for dismantling and rebuilding the city’s oppressive structures. Mayumi represents the voice of the marginalized and the possibility of bottom-up change, standing in stark contrast to the polished, top-down visions of his opponents.