The CYA Files: Characters
Emily Johnson – the newest member of the CYA and a main character throughout The CYA Files. She is a Level 5 Space Ranger who has just spent five years at the Venus Station but has had to be evacuated to Earth due to a civil war. She meets Matt at a UIIC dance and eventually befriends him, which leads to him nominating her for membership in the Alliance. Once a member, Emily puts her combat skills to good use as the user of the Sword Suit. She discovers the remaining missing piece of the Armor of God mecha, the Sword of the Spirit, and becomes its wielder. Her spiritual gift is unknown at the beginning of the story, but is eventually revealed.
Dr. Charles McIntire – a retired pastor who wanted to make a difference in the lives of young people for God. For this purpose, he founded the Christian Youth Alliance and invited youth from his congregation and others in the area to join it. There were once many more members than there are now; several left due to boredom, others were lost in fights against adversaries, and some left to follow a rebellious member decided he wanted to do things his own way, without Dr. McIntire’s guidance. Dr. McIntire remains a mentor to the Alliance members but primarily stays out of the way. His spiritual gift is leadership.
Matthew “Matt” Gordon – one of the founding members of the CYA and the actual owner of the dormiflat the group uses as a base. By day, he works as an “anti-hacker” in the UIIC’s Department of Cybercrime Prevention, helping to catch other hackers who, unlike him, have not reformed. He acts as the technology guru for the team, monitoring their moves in battle from a control room at the base. His spiritual gift is knowledge, and he puts it to good use in his position. He doesn’t normally go out to battle, but when Ayumi is captured by Nekros, he decides he has no choice and dons the Techno Suit, the first of the suits ever to be made. He wields the Helmet of Salvation, which allows the bearer to see when others are in trouble even from miles away. The Helmet also acts as the control center when attached to the Armor of God mecha.
Marìa de los Milagros Aritza – another of the founding members of the CYA. She is the daughter of a Spanish mother and a Basque father. Her birth was hard but successful, which led to her mother naming her “Marìa de los Milagros” (Maria of the Miracles). She is a practicing nurse and the Alliance’s medical officer. She goes with the team as medical support, with the assistance of her helper android, Quinta, who is programmed to do medical tests and some medical procedures. She doesn’t typically fight, but she does don the Nurse Suit when going into combat. She becomes more involved in combat when her old patient Mr. Valdez gives her the Angel Shoes. She wields the Shield of Faith, which can create force fields both on its own and as part of the mecha. Her spiritual gift is healing, but it does not manifest on command, and Quinta always stays near Marìa when she uses it so that Marìa does not overexert herself.
Chelsea Nazar - the daughter of a British woman and a Jordanian man who met when the man studied abroad in England. They married and returned to Muscat to live, and there Chelsea was born. Chelsea's father began to change once back home and was very strict with his family. Chelsea's mother, a Christian, was forced to practice her religion secretly, and Chelsea was raised Muslim. Chelsea's mother could not disagree with this because she feared her husband. Chelsea received a good Islamic education and learned to read, write, and speak fluently in both Arabic and English. However, when Chelsea was 13, her father went off to fight in the Phobos-Moon war and was killed in battle. Her mother decided she did not want she and her daughter to live in this environment anymore, so she went through the necessary channels to get out of the country and emigrate to her native Britain. Once there, her mother's hidden Christianity reawakened, but Chelsea struggled with it due to her Muslim upbringing. She met Roger one day when she went to pick up a friend's car, since she worked nearby at a bakery. They became friends and he told her more about Jesus. After some long soul-searching, Chelsea accepted Christ. She then felt God calling her to serve her Muslim neighbors, and she did so. This attracted the attention of Dr. McIntire, and he told Roger to recruit her for the CYA, which Roger did. She joined shortly before Ayumi did. They gradually became good friends because of their similar backgrounds. She pilots the Šahrazād Suit (Šahrazād being the Arabic form of Scheherazade, the character from Arabian Nights), which is dressed in Arabic style. Her spiritual gift is exhortation. She primarily uses a kilij (short curved sword) in battle as well as a thick ribbon anointed in jasmine that she calls "Wind of Jasmine" and twirls around to confuse enemies. Because of this, the others sometimes call her Jasmine in battle. She also wields the Breastplate of Righteousness, which contains a system that can assess enemy weaknesses and houses the main non-computer components of the mecha, which Chelsea monitors.
Ayumi Hinagira – a young woman from Japan who, before Emily, was the newest member of the CYA. She joined around the time the rebellious member caused a mass exodus of people from the group. Because of this, she is a little reluctant to have Emily join the group, fearing that something like that will happen again. Eventually, however, she becomes close friends with Emily. Ayumi has perhaps the most interesting backstory of the CYA member – she grew up being trained both in the traditional Japanese arts and in the duties of a miko, or Shinto shrine priestess. However, she discovered Christianity at some point and decided to leave her life as a miko, much to the dismay of her grandmother, who is a devoted Shinto follower and the matriarch of a family of miko. While she thought she left that life behind, when her ability to see the future in dreams (which had stopped when she became a Christian) returns, she begins to have a lot of doubt. Her primary gift, however, is service, which she puts to use in her day job teaching at a juku (cram school) in Little Tokyo and giving private lessons in flower arranging and the tea ceremony. She is also the scout for the group and dons the Geisha Suit, which she pairs with a battle fan, shuriken (throwing stars), and homemade weapons such as a petal shooter made from a flower arrangement vase. She wields the Shoes of Readiness, which have various useful combat properties and act as the transport mechanism for the mecha when attached to it.
Roger Collins – Matt’s right-hand man who represents him in combat situations as well as the team’s transportation officer. His nickname is “Speedster” because of his love of cars. He is a bit of an anomaly in the group because he is American, but no one seems to mind. He maintains all the group’s vehicles as well as the suits and the mecha. His day job is at a mechanic shop several miles away. He also sometimes plays music at coffeehouses and other venues in hopes of getting a big break. When in combat, he dons the Speedster Suit. His spiritual gift is mercy, though this doesn’t quite seem befitting his rough exterior. He also sometimes makes use of his musical talents through certain “combat instruments” similar to Ayumi’s homemade weapons. He has a particular dislike for Nekros’s consort Jade/Nekra, who teases him frequently and calls him “Pretty Boy.” He wields the Belt of Truth, which can see through illusions and tell if someone is lying. It is also the weapons control center on the Armor of God mecha.
Darien Palmer/Lord Nekros – the main villain of the novel, the son of a werewolf and a witch-siren. While he makes full use of the magical capabilities his witch-siren ancestry gives him, he feels that his estranged father will accept him better if he becomes a full werewolf. To do this, he must awaken an ancient spirit by gathering a certain amount of human energy. His front for this operation is Palmer Records, a large and successful recording agency of which he is the head. He doesn’t generally fight himself, preferring to send out Jade, Nastasya, or some of his lesser minions, but when required, he is a fearsome fighter.
Jade Rai/Lady Nekra – Nekros’s consort and Palmer’s secretary. She is a werecat and takes the form of a large mountain cat when the full moon comes. However, she has a limitation on this power – she must become human again before sunrise, or she will be stuck in cat form for good. While devoted to Nekros, she does toy with other men, particularly Roger. She comes from Omicron Andromedae, of a people that, due to the blessing of a witch-siren long ago, all possess some magical ability. She was bitten by a werecat while a child, but never could truly control her were form until she met Nekros.
Nastasya – a notorious high-ranking soul-stealer from the stronghold of Dis on the planet Pluto. She has the ability to shapeshift by stealing people’s souls, which she does via a special headband and monocle she wears. She can also simply steal someone’s soul and not take it into herself, leaving the person an empty shell until the soul is returned. Her prowess at soul-stealing has caused her to rise to a high rank among her people. She generally works alone and answers to no one but herself, but she will occasionally work for others if the pay is right. This is what got her working for Nekros. However, it soon becomes obvious that she would much rather do her own thing, and the Alliance is eventually to use this to their own advantage in gaining access to Nekros when they finally find out his location.
