A collection of my headcanons for the characters from the old Jorvik CD games and comic books. Retconned or expanded lore from SSO is not accounted for.
She is the second youngest in the Soulriders and second oldest in the Flaming Quartet.
Her mother used to love horse riding and that love transferred to Lisa. Going for rides was their favourite form of spending quality time together. Falling from a horse at the age of 7 distanced Lisa from horses, but it never created a rift between daughter and mother. Two years later Mrs Peterson died in a traffic accident, and Lisa stopped riding completely. She usually cites her age as 10 for simplicity (to explain the discrepancy between 7, 9 and 10).
She learned how to play the guitar all by herself when she was about thirteen. This also prompted her to start writing her own tunes. She plays the guitar in the Quartet and is the secondary composer; she doesn’t mind singing, but her greatest weakness is dancing.
Her favourite genres are rock and metal. The Miscreants are one of her favourite bands, she’s got a lot of merchandise and has attended several gigs. Funnily enough, Starshine calls this type of music “mindless hysteria”.
The big city girl, Lisa has had to deal with her share of issues after coming to Jorvik. Mean students would bully her for her hedgehog hairstyle, or for being not trendy enough for someone who’s expected to be representing city gleam; Lisa in turn would curse Jorvik for how different it was from her upbringing. However, to be completely honest, she feels more at peace in Jorvik than she ever did in big cities; she doesn’t hate the peace and quiet or the nature surrounding the island. Her initial dislike for Jorvik came from the abrupt change caused by her dad’s new job, losing old connections, and feeling generally helpless.
Being a small town, Jorvik manages two educational facilities – Jorvik High and Star Academy – in the same building. When Lisa learned about this, she applied for Star Academy in Jorvik immediately and got accepted shortly afterwards. She finds it convenient to be able to attend school in the very same building, but she’s most excited to develop as a musician from now on. She still bumps into Linda, Anne and Alex in the hallways as they all head for their respective classes.
Lisa’s rebellious nature has been an expression of trying to regain control over her life and to attract her father’s attention. This is most often expressed by breaking into restricted areas (Dark Core platforms, the school after it’s closed, the Pine Hill mansion etc).
She often asks Kevin for advice regarding writing songs and they spend long afternoons debating which melodies sound best. Lisa is a bit strict in that matter, and she promises herself she’ll only contribute a full song for the band when she’s absolutely content with it.
Her father has a huge collection of vinyl records and cassette tapes from his youth. Lisa herself didn’t really use to be interested in them until someone at school brought it to her attention that such oldies can be real rarities these days. Ever since, whenever she and her father are both free, they play a record or a cassette and talk for hours.
Lisa really hates the strict school rules at Jorvik High, the importance of the authorities and the amount of schoolwork. She has decent grades if she puts enough effort, but most of the time she achieves enough just to be left in peace.
Her favourite subjects are languages and her least favourite subject is handicrafts. She’s not very fond of dancing. As for singing, she enjoys it, even though it is not her forte.
When it comes to riding, it was really difficult to overcome her childhood trauma. Even to this day she knows her technique is far from perfect, but perfection was never her goal. She mostly rides to bond with her horse and collect her thoughts. Competitive riding does not interest her that much.
Though Lisa has a reputation of a tomboy, she actually enjoys trying out different outfits and different styles. As long as she doesn’t have to grow out her hair, she can even experiment with hairstyles.
She learned how to read when she was four and has never stopped since. Her room is filled with stacked books of all kinds, but she doesn’t buy that many; instead she frequents the library in Jorvik, striving to read at least one book every week. Linda’s library card has the biggest loan history in the whole town and her reading speed is almost double the average. She reads anything and everything, fiction, non-fiction, you name it. Because of the knowledge she’s acquired in so many areas people tend to call her a walking encyclopaedia.
Due to being well-read, Linda has extensive vocabulary. It’s not uncommon for other people to request explaining difficult words that she uses.
She rarely watches TV, but one of her rare guilty pleasures is watching girl cartoons – those where the protagonist consists of stereotypical one-trait personalities. She usually finds herself drawn to the “smart one”, especially if she happens to also be pretty and popular.
Linda doesn’t have a favourite subject, enjoying both sciences and humanities. Her worst subject is PE, the only subject where she struggles to get straight A-s. As a quick learner Linda doesn’t really need to study for tests to get the best grades (though she keeps that in secret so as not to be completely detested by schoolmates).
Due to her poor athletic skills, her family was really surprised when she decided to take up riding. Originally it was just a way to stay fit when running and swimming was too much for Linda. Then she met Meteor and horses became her whole life. Nowadays she’s one of the most devoted riders at Jorvik Stables.
Linda loves Herman. She could talk to him for ages. They often spend time in the stables, chatting endlessly while brushing the horses or mucking out. Herman is so different to most adults she knows – laid-back yet full of wisdom, living his life in a way true to himself. Linda looks up to him and longs to one day be able to be as free as he is.
Generally, Linda is not interested in romance. She gives excuses such as not having enough time, while in reality, she’s content with her own company and feels no need for a significant other. There’s been one time when she was asked out by a boy, but then he never talked to her again because she was “too challenging to talk to”. Not only didn’t it deject Linda, it only confirmed her opinion about dating.
Her eyesight is really bad due to her often reading at night. Her glasses are sometimes being made fun of, but Linda refuses to use contact lenses. She’s paranoid she’d poke her eyes out.
She hates teachers who are afraid of being questioned or doubted. In her opinion, pursuit of knowledge should be above such trifle fears.
Speaking of teachers, unlike half the school, Linda respects Mrs Graham and often engages in ardent debates with her. She considers the woman a wise, trustworthy role model who understands the importance of educating young people in a way that would get through to them. If only Mrs Graham would give Linda a break instead of putting so much work on her shoulders…
Anne has once offered Linda a “nerdy to trendy” makeover. Unlike Alex (who would rather die than wear a dress), Linda agreed and even enjoyed it - but afterwards, she continued her own mousey, comfortable dressing style.
Schoolwork often leaves Linda stressed and burnt out. She wishes being smart and gifted wouldn’t come with so many responsibilities and being expected to pick up other people’s slack. Thankfully, Linda’s parents are the opposite of strict; they give their daughter freedom to pursue her passions while supporting her in her academic endeavours, and whenever school gets too tough, they intervene to protect Linda.
She would never admit it under any circumstances, but she thinks Lance is quite handsome.
She is an only child in one of the wealthiest families in Jorvik. Her family home is a twelve-bedroom mansion located at a large plot of land, consisting of a garden, two pools, and a tennis court.
Anne’s father, an important politician in Jorvik, is an owner of at least five other properties in Jorvik and abroad, and several businesses rent from him. He is a clever entrepeneur who doesn’t take advantage of the people, but he loves money a bit too much and always finds ways to expand his fortune. He engages in a quiet competition with Dark Core industries as the two main forces in Jorvik.
Anne’s mum is a retired actress and model. She attended Star Academy in her youth and her face often adorned many tabloids. She encourages her daughter to go in her footsteps without the education part – now that Anne’s parents both have extensive connections, Anne might as well take a shortcut and shoot straight at the moon rather than hang out with celebrity wannabees at Star Academy.
Brought up in a perfectionist environment, Anne is very strict both on herself and the others. She’s also particular about the people she hangs out with. If someone doesn’t meet her expectations, she will lose interest and sever all ties without a warning.
She’s been taking lessons in horse riding ever since she was very small, as her parents wanted their daughter to be able to show off their status among the elite. Anne, however, grew to love riding, and set up a goal for herself – to become the best rider in Jorvik. Among the Soulriders team, her technique is pretty much flawless.
Other than horse riding, Anne’s parents pay for all kinds of extracurricular activities, that Anne does almost every day. She speaks four languages, plays the tennis and the violin. There are also etiquette classes, current events classes and debate classes. They take up a large part of the day, and Anne excels in all of them despite hardly being interested in any.
In the past, Anne once fell off a horse and gave it a harsh punishment. It took a few falls until Anne learned her lesson in humbleness and started treating horses as partners, not as slaves. Once she met Concorde, he quicly became her only friend.
Anne and her family travel extensively and go abroad almost once a year. They have been to multiple countries and continents and the list keep growing. When on vacation, Anne prefers getting a suntan by the pool over visiting old monuments, but she’s quite curious about other cultures, customs, and cuisines. Whenever her father doesn’t need her to look nice as he’s talking to his business partners, Anne utilises her language skills to engage in conversations with local people to learn their perspective, personalities and lives.
Anne is naturally photogenic and charismatic. Though she may not seem eloquent at a first glance, people listen to her with full attention when she talks.
She is incredibly popular with boys, but generally very few of them dare approach her. There are rumours that several boys have been humiliated by Anne when she turned them down. She’s also admired by girls.
Anne has no favourite or least favourite subject. Most classes at school don’t interest her, though she usually gets good grades because the teachers fear her family’s status.
Due to her background, being handed everything she’s ever wanted without needing to put in the effort to get it, Anne is secretly very insecure about being good enough. It’s a constant worry of hers that no matter what skills she has, no matter how many activities she is forced to do, she will always be nothing but a pretty face and an addition to her important parents. Expensive dresses, makeup, the jewellery Anne loves so much are a way to hide her own imperfections.
The closest to a praise her parents have given her is “You could do better”.
She lives in a cramped house at Crow’s Nest with her mother and four brothers. Three of the brothers are older than Alex, which caused her to grow up as a tomboy, enjoying “boy stuff”. The house hosts six people in two rooms, and there is no central heating. Needless to say, it is not a comfortable place to live, but Alex still enjoys spending time at home. She values her family more than anything.
Alex’s father was an abusive drunkard. He couldn’t ever keep a job for long, and whatever money the mother managed to save, he would drink it. Mum protected the children from his angry outbursts at her own expense, but Alex was old enough to understand just how much hardship she was going through. Thankfully, father left the family not long after James was born. Even if it was hard on everyone, they were much better off without that leech. Alex hopes he either left Jorvik or died somewhere in a ditch. If she ever met him in the street, she’s not sure if she’d be able to control herself.
She was Linda’s classmate in primary school so the two have known each other for far longer than the others. They originally bonded over their unfashionable clothes – Alex because she couldn’t afford anything better, and Linda because she was simply not interested in fashion. Despite their differences, they are thick as thieves, and Alex loves having someone that accepts her, offers support and valuable advice about just anything.
Other than the Soulriders, Alex has a couple of guy friends she most often hangs out with. They are all car nerds who absolutely cannot wait until they are legal to drive. Alex feels comfortable with them because they see her as one of them, even if she is the only girl.
Alex first sat in the saddle quite late – as a first year student in Jorvik High. As soon as she was on top of the horse, she wanted to escape and never return. It was Linda who persuaded Alex and the two have shared the hobby ever since. Alex’s riding skills are far from top, but she makes up for it with her bond with Tin-Can. Spending time with each other is what matters, not flawless riding nor winning competitions.
Alex’s favourite subjects are PE and physics. Her least favourite subject is literature. Studying isn’t really her thing, she hates sitting with her nose in books. Her grades are sufficient at most, but Linda helps her out if it gets really bad.
Alex tends to skip classes a lot, so she’s hated by most teachers. There used to be a young history teacher who never picked on Alex, seemingly the only adult who respected her. Alex loved his classes, even if history is as remote to her interest as humanly possible. Unfortunately, the teacher got transferred after just one semester in Jorvik.
Though she is very good at fighting, Alex doesn’t go randomly looking for trouble. The only time she fights is when someone bothers her or the people she cares about. She’s surprisingly reasonable if someone simply disagrees with her; she actually loves a good debate, even if she doesn’t always have the elaborate vocabulary to support her claims.
Alex got a driving license for motorcycles as soon as she became eligible. An old junk of a motorcycle, which she had bought long before at a junkyard and fixed it up herself, is now her main means of transport.
She loves ice cream at Leonardo’s because it’s cheap and tasty. Her favourite flavour is mint with chocolate chips.
Working out is her favourite activity aside from horses and meddling with engines. It allows her to vent when she’s angry, plus she likes pushing the limits of her own body. Her muscles are considered impressive even among the guys.
She’s not big on music, but she secretly enjoys Raptor’s stuff.
She comes from a fairly average family in Jorvik. Her father is a regular company worker with a laid-back, caring personality and an aptitude for jokes at any given occasion. Her mother is a fashionable housewife whose greatest hobby is collecting purses and shoes. Brittany also has a younger brother whom she considers an annoying little pest, but the kid admires Brittany and wants to follow her everywhere. The family live in a six-room house located at one of the neat neighbourhoods in Jorvik. They have a patio which Brittany’s father occupies all summer to host barbecue parties.
Many people, including her own parents, consider Brittany’s looks extraordinary, but she never felt particularly self-confident and has always erred on the shy side. Most kids are intimidated by the wealth of her family and consider her stuck-up. This really bothers Brittany, who doesn’t feel better than anyone and wishes people would get to know her better before judging her.
She has no musical education prior to Star Academy. For this reason she didn’t feel at all confident when auditioning, and she sometimes feels not good enough for the band, where everyone else has experience.
That being said, Brittany’s best asset is her voice. Despite no prior training she has perfect control over her vocals, which has attracted attention of both her teachers and her friends. She is the lead vocal in the band; in order to improve, Brittany often stays after class to practice with Mrs Graham. She’s also okay at dancing, not quite Kyomi’s level, but above Lisa for sure.
Her favourite genres are power pop and soul. She used to like mainstream pop such as Cindy when she was younger; nowadays she tends to cringe at her old tastes. She really strives to expand her musical knowledge and sometimes sits down to listen to Kevin while he plays some of his favourite tunes, but – embarrassingly so – Brittany struggles to understand any of it.
Not a fan of clubbing, she dislikes very loud music or rumbling bass lines. The parties she throws in her family house’s patio are great fun, as long as she’s the DJ.
Her room is large enough to comfortably host a large group of friends if need be, so the Flaming Quartet most often crash her place to hang out. The room is full of scattered music and fashion magazines, idol posters, and filled with fragrance from a scented candle. Brittany also boasts a large stereo set which Lisa often takes over to blast the Miscreants at full volume.
Brittany’s favourite pastime is going shopping and she loves playing dress up her bandmates. She seems to always know exactly what type of clothes would suit a person and make them look more flattering. Sometimes she even carries a sketchbook with outfit designs that she comes up with herself. For the above reasons, Brittany tends to be the one who decides the outfits the band performs in. Needless to say, Lisa and Kyomi love trying on Brittany’s outfit sets, and not even Kevin could get away.
Brittany is generally interested in all kinds of art. Sometimes she sneaks into the auditorium to watch performances of the acting students. She’s been caught a few times, but managed to plead the teachers into letting her stay, even if she is a completely different major.
Her favourite school subject is handicrafts where she can try out designing and sewing her own garments. Her least favourite subject is biology, all the graphic descriptors make her feel faint.
Disco is the apple of her eye and follows her to the dancing room, the music room, and even outside the school. Brittany always makes time to give him pets and snacks.
In the first grade, Brittany won a beauty contest at school, earning deadly jealousy from Anne. Since then, Anne has already won enough of those beauty contests to forget that incident at all, but Brittany never did and is still quite scared of Anne.
The family is quite well off, but there is no acceptance for lavish expenses in the house. Her parents have busy jobs, so it’s often up to Kyomi to take care of herself or the household, such as cooking meals or cleaning. They do make it up for her by spending weekends together, often going on trips together, but she does feel lonely in the house sometimes.
Due to her upbringing, Kyomi doesn’t really spend money on expensive clothes or makeup. Of course she like shopping as much as the next person, but flaunting her status is meaningless and an expression of shallowness. When Kyomi wants to treat herself, she gets a massage or a manicure, or tends to her dreadlocks. She wants to feel at peace in her own body.
When Kyomi was in primary school, she persuaded her parents to sign her up for dance classes. They complied expecting Kyomi to grow out of it or get bored soon, but she never did. She has a natural affinity and she knows it.
She and Kevin go way back; they met in the same class in middle school. Their friendship grew naturally, connecting over their joint love for music, even though the ways they expressed it differed quite a lot. Other students would gossip about the gorgeous girl hanging around with the funny guy from Crow’s Nest, and even though Kevin would always laugh them off, Kyomi got him to promise to always confide in her if it was getting to him.
She is the lead dancer as well as the choreographer in the band. She makes sure to create moves that Lisa and Brittany can keep up with, but every once in a while, Kyomi will get an impressive solo dance part all to herself. She doesn’t feel confident in singing, though.
Kyomi is a vegan and a pacifist and practices yoga, longing for perfect balance both in her life and in her music. For this reason she’s on great terms with Herman, who himself is a bit of a hippie. When they start going on about cosmic energy, they could never stop – burning an incense or two all the while, of course.
Kyomi enjoys chill-out music, such as house, jazz or downtempo, but in her free time she usually listens to nature sounds, ASMR and lifestyle podcasts.
Kyomi’s favourite subject is geography and history; she loves learning about other cultures, languages and places. Incidentally, despite her physical skills, she doesn’t find PE all that fun and running around after a ball is bound to end up with an injury. Her weakest subject is maths.
After being very self-sufficient in her childhood, Kyomi learned cook a wide variety of dishes. She combines this hobby with her cultural fascination, often trying out food from different cultures, stuff that your average Joe’s taste buds aren’t used to. For this reason her cuisine isn’t popular among her friends, but her parents – educated and curious people – absolutely adore their daughter’s cooking.
Every weekend Kyomi gets down at Black Light nightclub and is usually branded “today’s best dancer”. Mr. Wetton had heard of her even before he offered the quartet a record contract.
Miss Rita is her favourite teacher and the feeling is entirely mutual. A lot of students hang out at the projects to dance away with Rita, but Kyomi seems to be one of the few that Rita pays particular attention to. She gives Kyomi not only valuable tips about dancing, but also about showbusiness and life in general, and they could chat for hours. Kyomi herself considers Rita a role model and hopes to achieve worldwide fame comparable to her.
Due to her laid-back personality and nice looks Kyomi is often asked out by boys and girls at school. She has a history of a few short-term relationships, most of which ended amicably and she still keeps in touch with them.
She has a dream diary which she updates regularly.
His family has roots in around Valedale where his grandmother and his mother lived for a long time. His mother then got out for town when she met the man who would go on to become her husband; Kevin with his parents continued to live in town during his childhood, while occasionally visiting his grandmother at her house by the river. Spending summer out in the island is one of the fondest memories Kevin has.
He’s loved music for pretty much all of his life, writing songs before he even learned to read and write notes. His passion was never considered “useful” at his home and his parents hoped that their son would study for a proper job, but they didn’t particularly hinder him from pursuing it either. Later on his mother got seriously sick and couldn’t hinder him even if she wanted to.
He bought his first keyboard for his own money that he earned while working part time back in middle school. It was a very exhausting period where he’d work all day and only return home to sleep. Despite all the hardships, he never lost sight of his dream and eventually achieved it. At first, the keyboard was so precious that Kevin was shy to touch it. The ivory and ebony symbolized all of his dreams that finally were within his reach. Since then, there hasn’t been a day when he didn’t play it.
Other than piano, Kevin can also play the guitar, drums, and saxophone. He has dabbled in many instruments around and could probably produce a decent melody in each of them if he tried.
While he attended Jorvik High – which is in the same building as Star Academy – he and Kyomi would often sneak into the studio to jam together. That’s where Kevin learned to play most instruments available as well as use the musical equipment and software. He’s somewhat of an oddity for becoming proficient in programming and technical stuff long before he could afford his own computer. Sneaking in was breaking the rules, though, so Kevin hopes Maurice Bergen never learns about that.
Kevin takes additional piano classes with Mrs Graham and drumming classes with Mr Grimp. He needs to admit drumming is hardly his forte, but it’s still leagues better than trying to learn how to dance.
His favourite school subject is computer studies – anything technical comes easily to him and he is always eager to try out new softwares. His least favourite subject is social studies, because being so occupied in his art, he barely notices what is going on around the world.
Kevin listens to pretty much every music genre out there, but his favourites are alternative, experimental and ambient. He doesn’t have a favourite artist; instead he has a favourite album in every genre/artist and an opinion on everything.
He was in middle school when his father got arrested. Afterwards he spent a month at his grandmother’s, trying to come to terms with the new reality.
Due to their background at Crow’s Nest Kevin is best friends with Alex. He’s shorter and much skinnier than she is, so they often joke that if he got bullied she’d have to save him like she does her brother James.
Kevin isn’t very popular with the opposite sex. Some girls are charmed by his talent, but refuse to look past his sheepish personality. Kevin himself isn’t particularly bothered by his reputation of “that funny guy with a hat”. If anything, he’s embarrassed by his nickname “Mozart”, even though it is very flattering.
The girls sometimes make Kevin dance down at Black Light. He indulges them, but most often his moves only evoke amusement rather than admiration.
He styles his hair every morning, but despite his best efforts it never looks as “cool” as he’d like.
He has a soft spot for music history. If someone lends him an ear, he could talk about it for ages.
The three brothers are triplets. Their family had been numerous and lively for generations, so three children didn’t surprise anyone.
As a young lad, Herman worked under the previous owner of the Jorvik Stables. Those were peaceful and happy times when he had fun every day, learned a lot and felt trusted. Unfortunately, the owner suddenly died, signing the stables over to Herman. Young Herman wasn’t very confident in his skills to run the stables, but a lot of townsfolk persuaded him to take over. It turned out that trust towards Herman extended far more than his previous superior. Eventually, Herman made the decision to make Jorvik Stables an even more splendid place.
He is crazy about being eco. Not only is he an environmental activist, trying to raise awareness about pollution, he also puts a lot of effort into making sure his stables are as eco-friendly as possible. Additionally, he believes this is the secret to keeping horses happy.
Both Herman and his brothers are single, but they have a lot of cousins who have little kids. Said kids consider the three brothers their favourite uncles.
The scarf that Maurice wears is a gift from his wife back when they were going out as youngsters. The scarf is old and worn out, and students have often wondered why their headmaster walks around so poorly dressed. Maurice however refuses to stop wearing the scarf until his wife wakes up.
Even though he is hardly an extrovert, Maurice took the role of a frontman in his avant-garde band, Velvet Sky, back in the early days. The music they played was bizarre to say the least, and it never reached massive success, although they did gain a cult following among the fans of experimental ambient. Clarence Stillwater tried to get Maurice to sign a contract with Dark Chord Records, but Maurice had already started to grow cynical at the music industry. The whole situation might have had different outcomes, as Clarence was ready to resort to dirty tricks, but before he could do that Maurice’s wife fell ill, Velvet Sky disbanded and Maurice withdrew from making music once and for all.
While he can appreciate great songwriting, instrument virtuosos or flexible dancing, Maurice considers human voice to be the foundation of all music and judges it as the key factor in Star Academy auditions. After becoming a teacher, he used to coach students in vocal classes. His lectures were pretty popular despite the strict grading system, especially among the fans of his former band. These days no young people recognise him anymore, so he’s transferred the task to Mrs. Graham and devoted all his attention to administrational matters so that the school can function well.
A practical man with a great deal of artistic sensibility, Maurice believes in common sense. However, his wife’s coma caused him to resort to unusual lengths to find the cure. He’s even researched unscientific solutions like the legendary tune parthenope - it remains debatable whether or not Maurice believes that, or if he’s simply grown too desperate.
Due to frequently associating with Brittany’s father, who tells dad jokes as often as he breathes, Maurice’s sense of humour is a bit out of order, to say the least.
A native of Jorvik, Clarence was raised in a household where money and efficiency was valued over connections. This influenced his upbringing, causing him to study business. He later travelled the world, soaking up success like a sponge, to finally settle in Jorvik and start Dark Chord Records fifteen years ago.
Clarence has little interest in music itself, but the workings of the industry fascinate him. No matter what he does, the surge of people desperate to become stars just never dwindles. He can never pass up the opportunity and let them go to waste.
That being said, Clarence has an appreciation for certain qualities of his artists. He sees potential in Lance and Lilith who harbour the seeds of ruthlessness. The only question is whether they will nurture that seed, or let it wilt.
He has lived in at least ten places throughout his life. He loves the splendour of big cities such as Berlin, London, Tokyo, Paris and so on. These days his main HQ is Jorvik, but he hates the shit-hole and only stays there for publicity. Every once in a while he looks outside the window at the top floor of Dark Chord Plaza, towering over Jorvik with too much glam to look natural, and watches the local airport, longing to one day board a plane and leave this place forever.
He holds a grudge towards Maurice Bergen for being the only stain on his otherwise spotless record. Even though no one but Clarence and Maurice himself are aware of their past, it still hurts like a rotten tooth.
He starts his day by looking into the mirror and checking if his gold tooth hasn’t been stolen.
Surprisingly, he actually has played the piano before. For five minutes.
Stillwell is a fake name Clarence used for a while, but has since reverted to his real name.
Mr. Sands’s earliest memory is the crashed spaceship, the knocked out guardians and realising the opportunity to escape. Once he’d managed to gather enough powers to manifest upshore in Jorvik, he laughed maniacally.
He enjoys (mad) sciences. When he has the time, he’d like to use his resources to research the human brain and uncover the secret to humanity’s unexpected longevity. There has to be a reason why such a weak species has survived for so long.
His favourite period was the early 1900s, when the technology was thriving and the people were stupid and easy to manipulate.
In general, Mr. Sands truly hates this world and its pitiful inhabitants, but he has to give them one thing – their coffee is unparalleled.
Just as Sabine’s family competes with Anne’s for being the most important family in Jorvik, likewise Sabine keeps competing with Anne (in her head, at least) which of them is richer, has better clothes, jewellery etc.
Moreover, there’s a constant rivalry going on between Sabine and her siblings. If they could, they’d bite each other to death. They take after their parents a lot, that much is for sure.
They once wanted to buy Jorvik Stables from Herman. When he refused, they tried blackmailing him, taking him to court and even hurting him. None of their master plans worked and they seem to have given up by now.
Still, Sabine does enjoy riding. There is no doubt that her bond with Kaahn is genuine, even if both of them are completely obsessed with winning every competition possible. Their favourite discipline is dressage, but they both secretly enjoy wildly dashing wherever it takes them.
After Lisa’s arrival to Jorvik, Sabine caught Dark Core’s attention when they started hanging around the school. She immediately enjoyed their attitude towards the snotty rebel, even if their nouveau riche attitude gave off a pretentious vibe, while Dark Core noticed how Sabine would always bully the Soulriders and decided she could be useful. During Lisa’s first ride with Starshine, Mr Sands and Sabine found a connection – they both wanted to remove the horse. They formed an alliance while Lisa was trying to heal Starshine, and came up with a plan.
Sabine originally isn’t quite aware of the supernatural events taking place in Jorvik; she doesn’t know the old man is an alien, nor does she know of the other girls’ powers. That might or might not change - judging by Kaahn’s flaming hooves and the fact that Sabine seems to later possess similar creepy aura to Dark Core goons, they’re very likely to have transferred certain powers to her. The red cloak was her own creativity though; she found it in the attic of her family residence.
In all of Dark Core, Jessica is the most accustomed to humans and their ways. She’s not only blended in at school, but even started to enjoy the lifestyle. It would have been perfect had it not been for the actual presence of humans.
She has the greatest powers right after Mr. Sands, but she’s also the youngest General. Not being taken seriously by her peers drives her mad.
She claims she doesn’t need a steed to remain formidable. Having a “partner” is a weakness, and Jessica fancies herself self-sustaining, someone who needs no nag to keep her company. Above all, horses are dirty, smelly, and she doesn’t like an animal looking down on her. When Buck has pointed out that Jessica would look down on other while sitting on horseback, he got his ass whooped.
Katja is known to always show little emotion, no matter how angry she is. Perhaps for this reason her anger is considered the scariest among all Garnok’s Generals. She does the cruellest things when someone pisses her off.
When picking her human form, Katja deliberately chose and all-white image. She liked the contrast with her dark personality and abilities, plus she enjoyed the idea of being perceived as “cold as ice”.
She doesn’t care about Garnok as much as she enjoys the possible benefits, be it personal gains or just spiting the humans.
Her horse, Stalker, could talk to her as much as other special horses can talk to their soulriders, but he’s mute. Their communication takes place on a subconscious, delicate level, and they understand each other perfectly without the need for words. Deep down, Katja knows Stalker is as ruthless and cold as she is.
Buck secretly detests Katja. He hates being treated as a sidekick, hates being told what to do. Unfortunately, his powers are much weaker so he has to obey whatever Katja tells him to.
The hockey stick is a real thing. He’s taken up hockey in between scheming.
Derek took up photography as a young teenager. He originally photographed everything without much thought, until he was included in the government special camera programme. Ever since, Derek has been focused on improving his skills so as to achieve the best results possible, but also to actually enjoy those results.
When he’s confused or embarrassed, he gets tongue tied and starts mistaking words. He used to hate it until it caused the first time he’s heard Anne laugh.
Ironically, he hates the smell of any perfume. It makes him sneeze almost as bad as his spring allergies.
James doesn't look it, but he’s actually a diligent student, if a bit clumsy. There’s been numerous cases when he’d spill ink on his notes or knock down a chair while sitting down. The teachers always worry if he’s going to hurt himself this time around.
He might not be good at fighting, but he’s got an impressive volume of voice. When screaming, he can be heard from miles.
He’s a huge fan of baseball. He watches every match and collects cards with almost religious devotion.
James has at some point worn all of Alex’s old clothes when she’d grown out of them.
If that’s even possible, James’s eyesight is even worse than Linda’s.
Though he doesn’t realise it, Josh is quite popular with girls in Jorvik High; they admire his “loner” aura and sad, prolonged gaze. If he was ever told about such a reputation, he’d be very surprised as he considers himself to be pretty social.
He enjoys rock music and secretly wishes Lisa would share her favourite bands with him. He still hasn’t found the courage to text her.
Growing up in Paris to the film critic mother, Pierre has had an appreciation for art from his early childhood. He was always quite close to his mother, unlike his brother Claude, who never bothered to experience beauty and preferred to hang out with bad company and stir trouble instead.
Pierre’s life made a backflip all at once. First, he joined a theatre school. Then, his mother died by a shark in New Caledonia. Then, Paris had grown more and more unsafe and Claude ended up in the midst of all the stirrup. Everything and anything seemed to crash onto Pierre’s young shoulders, and he felt like he couldn’t take it anymore. This is when his father made a smart decision to send his son away from the dangerous environment. They both chose Jorvik - the place with one of the biggest artistic schools in the world. After all, Pierre could study to be an actor there as much as he could here.
Pierre’s favourite film genre is drama and dramatic acting is what he pursues. He’s really bad at acting in comedies because he always ends up laughing mid-dialogue.
He doesn’t speak the Jorvik language all too well and though people are generally understanding, it makes him incredibly embarrassed. Sometimes he struggles to understand classes or fails to communicate with his schoolmates. His biggest fear is accidentally insulting a girl when he means to tell a compliment.
Seafood gives him bad sickness. This might or might not be related to his mother’s death. No, octopi or squids aren’t okay either.
Lilith dyes her hair herself. That being said, she doesn’t really enjoy her own style. The hair and the fashion that she wears make her groan internally; she only does this as a deliberate action to stand out and intimidate people.
Despite being “allies” in a way, Lilith hates Raptor. She considers him not only talentless and spineless, but also dumb and annoying. She’s never admitted that out loud though, not even to Lance.
Lance was originally a professional footballer. He played in the Jorvik team as the midfielder for a few years; an injury caused him to withdraw and search for other things to do with his life. He finally decided on pursuing music and applied for Star Academy, only to discover - not without amusement - that he was one of the few students who weren’t teenagers anymore.
Despite being an obvious jock, Lance can actually sing quite well. No one knows how or when he learned to sing. He plans to release an acapella record with his favourite lullabies.
One of Lance’s old mates from the football team works in the café at the mall. Every now and then Lance graces him with his presence, orders a coffee, and fully believes that without his contribution the café would go bankrupt.
He’s probably the least tech-savvy student in the academy. Making a phone call is where he peaks.
Raptor has always had a good ear for beats. It’s no wonder that Clarence discovered him in one of the shady clubs in Jorvik - Raptor had already gained quite a following as an underground rapper. However, making it big was too much of a temptation for Raptor, and he abandoned his independence in favour of a contract, luxury, success, fame, infinite money, and being Clarence’s puppet.
Ever since he managed to get out of Crows’ Nest, Raptor has lived in a luxurious apartment and refuses to ever set foot in his old neighbourhood again. It’s his biggest fear that he’s going to lose everything and return to the streets. That is why he keeps clowning around for Clarence, even if he knows he can do better, more original, more compelling tunes.
He’s been acclaimed as one of the fastest rappers in Jorvik. In comparison, having to dance makes him anxious – though at least it’s less obvious with background dancers.
Mr Wetton had always been an oddball. While everyone in the family adored the countryside lifestyle, horse riding and being close to nature, he strived to break out of here, to live in the city, to have a career. He studied management in order to start his own business and when he succeeded, he offered half the shares to Herman. Contrary to his expectations, Herman accepted the offer. Today, they make most business decisions together.
Despite not being able to create art to save his life, Mr Wetton knows a talent when he sees it. Along with the contract with the Flaming Quartet, he has offered Kevin help with releasing his solo album.
He’s a lightweight. Don’t let him drink, or he’s going to get wasted after one glass.
As a kid, his biggest obsession was Wild West films and comics. Coyote is a nickname that he gave himself at that time.
He left for the USA when he was twenty. Herman was heartbroken by his brother’s departure, as he had hoped to pursue their mutual passion together. However, they never lost contact. Coyote kept writing and phoning, and when he won his first western riding competition, he sent the medal back home. It is hung on the main wall inside the Jorvik Stables office.
Herman can’t understand why Coyote likes eating hamburgers so much. His favourite is one with bacon and avocado.
Despite his grumpy appearance, Mr Grimp is secretly a softie. He takes care of Disco whenever he wanders into the school, sometimes even buying him treats. He prays that no student ever witnesses him feeding the dog.
Mr Grimp’s classes are one of the hardest to pass because the main criteria is keeping tempo. He is merciless about that.
He has a background in engineering; he was going to work in technical fields and earn a lot of money, while drumming was merely an impractical hobby. Upon spotting a job opening at Star Academy, he decided it would be a perfect place to combine all of his skills and do what he enjoys at the same time. He also never expected teaching to feel so rewarding - interacting with students makes Grimp’s heart almost as full as drumming.
He used to play in a tribute band. Back then he wore his hair long to look cool when smashing the drums.
Born and raised in Jorvik, Miss Rita is one of the most famous stars from the island. When anyone says “celebrity from Jorvik”, she comes to mind first.
Breaking through at Broadway seemed like a wild fantasy for a young girl studying at the School of Performing Arts, but Rita was determined. With nothing on her except for a bag hanging over her shoulder, she boarded a plane in the Jorvik airport and left for New York. She had no connections, no money, only her own blossoming skills and undying determination. A few arduous years of gruesome dancing practise paid off in the end, and she made it big. Ever since, she has performed with the biggest acts in the world, such as the Bolshoi ballet.
Once you get to know her, Miss Rita turns out to be the most laid back of all teachers. Sure, she might be strict when it comes to dancing, but you can talk to her about anything, joke around, or even confide in her. A lot of students join her dancing in the projects just to hang out with her.
Several customers at Leonardo’s have witnessed Miss Rita talking to Leonardo for way longer that is needed to make an order. He then reportedly prepared a special dessert for her (whether or not she consumed it is debatable).
She has a wine cellar rumoured by many to be full of legendaries.
Mrs Graham is generally the most disliked teacher with an reputation of an old cat lady. She’s mostly popular among the students who play the piano, because once she’s next to her beloved instrument she seems to become a completely different, kinder person.
In her youth, she won several piano competitions and was called the most promising prodigy in Jorvik. Switching to teaching was a bold decision that not many people agreed with, but Graham decided she would rather share her skills with other young people.
Her husband is more to the meek and quiet side; he takes care of the household while she works. Having an ambitious wife with a strong personality is the biggest blessing he could have imagined.
Every now and then she gets mistaken for the school’s headmaster.
Leonardo is Italian. He arrived in Jorvik while he was still in his teens, shortly after completing an apprenticeship under a legendary pâtissier. Hoping to spread the love for gelato in this interesting small island, he started studying at the local catering school.
Leonardo’s nickname “Jorvik’s local hero” comes from the time when he passionately refused to allow the authorities to tear down said school due to lack of funds. Many students, including himself, found themselves being forced to quit mid-course, without any prospects to continue studying the art of ice cream in Jorvik. Infuriated, not wanting to give up on his dream, Leonardo locked himself in the school just as the demolishing machines approached. He never budged down so they had no choice but to leave him be, and the school soon resumed the interrupted courses.
Leonardo’s ice cream parlour is one of the most lucrative businesses in Jorvik. A lot of people discouraged him from even starting it, telling him that he would fail, that no one would eat his desserts. He refused to listen and proved them all wrong, now being known as the best patisser in Jorvik.
He thinks Miss Rita is the most beautiful woman in Jorvik.
His breed is a special one called a Starbreed or a Star Horse. Unaware people visiting Jorvik stables wonder if Herman has dyed Starshine’s mane blue, but Starshine snorts at that; he’s different from those heavy metal bands Lisa likes so much.
He’s the fastest horse in Jorvik and he enjoys bringing his speed to the fullest in neck-breaking intense races.
Born and raised in the wild, only meeting Herman months after separating from his own herd, Starshine is a bit of an unapproachable pessimist. He has the wisdom and sedateness of an old sage, but his avoidant tendencies and caution border on the pathological.
His jump height reaches over two metres, making him the highest jumper in history of Jorvik.
His favourite food is apples, but he will devour everything. He is the favourite horse among the children visiting Jorvik stables, as they always give him snacks and he politely consumes them all.
He and Anne have performed in dressage competitions outside of Jorvik and have a few trophies proudly displayed in the trophy cabinet at Herman’s office.
Concorde absolutely loathes the nature – riding through the woods, muddy areas, and generally getting dirty. He feels he belongs in the civilised world, and performs best at hardstanding riding arenas.
He adores having his mane and tail combed, braided and decorated.
Much like Alex, he doesn’t really enjoy organised riding with all the rigid rules, breaking records, earning points or trophies. He loves riding in the wild the most – no destination, no real reason, only wind playing with his mane and infinite freedom.
He’s incredibly strong and can carry large baggage despite his small posture.
He is a mixed breed dog. He weighs around 10 kg and is rather small in posture.
While he often hangs around at school and no one knows who he belongs to, Disco is no ordinary dog. He’s been around for as long as he remembers, even in the previous headmaster’s time, always on the lookout for people who might need help. He can sense their emotions and determine what it is they need right now – and then he makes sure they get or find it.
At some point Kevin and his grandma adopt Disco. He enjoys having a whole backyard to run around.
He originally lived on the planet of the horse-people and had always been good friends with them. After Garnok’s defeat and capture, there was no question that someone as wise and powerful as Fripp could ensure the monster’s successful banishment.
Being trapped under the sea at the crash site felt like a never ending nightmare. Thankfully Fripp was able to manifest his powers to materialise in Jorvik, but due to the imprisonment he got weaker and the only form he was able to take was a silly little rodent.
Each of the guardians in the spaceship had their own set of powers and each of those was later transferred to the Soulriders, but Fripp refuses to disclose whose power he shares.
Calling him a squirrel is the fastest way to experience cosmic powers for yourself.
His exact nature remains strictly unknown. Not even his Generals can say for sure whether it’s Garnok’s innate nature to be evil, if he’s even sentient, or just how powerful he is.
That being said, Garnok’s consciousness is connected to his Generals, who feel his every thought, every sensation or emotion. These are not expressed in words or images; it’s a stream of something much more primal, bare.
One thing is for sure – he despises horse-people, horses, or people who ride them.
Garnok’s imprisonment largely limits his incredible power. If he was to stand in human presence unbound, they would turn to ash, and his Generals would drop to their knees, unable to stand up straight.
When Garnok writhes in his chains, the sea in Jorvik rages in a storm.
He’s Katja’s twin brother, if alien Generals can even be considered relatives. They were created at the same time from the same speck of dust, so they call themselves siblings.
His artificial left eye is a consequence of being trapped in the spaceship. Unable to draw from his complete power, Laverne materialized in Jorvik with a gaping nothingness in his left eyehole. The only human who saw him like shrieked, terrified, so Laverne got himself an artificial eye to limit the attention he’d draw otherwise.
He enjoys tormenting his sister’s little sidekick, Buck.
Zielonka (Guest) on Chapter 7 Tue 01 Apr 2025 07:43PM UTC
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nihilisten on Chapter 7 Tue 01 Apr 2025 08:33PM UTC
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