Marcus Fenix
Focused, strong, and determined, Marcus Fenix is a natural leader who keeps his own problems to himself and continually puts his life on the line for others.
The leader of Delta Squad and a celebrated war hero, Marcus Fenix has lived a life of contrasts. Coming from a rich and privileged family, he could have become an officer or avoided military service completely, but he chose to be an enlisted infantryman instead. When the Horde breached Jacinto Plateau’s defenses, he defied orders to try to save his father. But he was too late. Not only did he fail to rescue Dr. Adam Fenix, but he was also sentenced to 40 years in Jacinto Maximum Security Penitentiary.
Four years into his sentence, Marcus was rescued by his best friend Dominic Santiago to rejoin the fight against the Locust Horde. Since then, he has been the solid foundation upon which the squad has been built. In spite of insurmountable odds and progressively higher stakes, Marcus has risen up time and time again to be the man many people look to for hope, inspiration, and direction.
Dominic Santiago
Loyal, vocal, and faithful, Dom values selflessness and would do anything for the people he cares for. In spite of a series of unimaginable hardships, he’s persevered and stuck by his friends.
Loyalty best describes Dom, who has stood by his best friend Marcus Fenix in spite of heavy personal losses. While Dom started out as a vocal, colorful, and practical soldier, the constant war against the Locust Horde has started to take its toll. After losing his son and daughter in the Emergence Day cataclysm, and the death of his wife Maria, he’s become withdrawn, and his sole focus in life is keeping Marcus alive.
If it hadn’t been for Dom, Marcus would probably have died in Jacinto Maximum Security Penitentiary when the Locust overran it. Dom not only testified on his behalf to prevent Marcus’s execution and get his sentence commuted, but also rescued him from prison and convinced Lieutenant Minh Young Kim to let Marcus join Delta Squad.
Augustus “The Cole Train” Cole
Charismatic, confident, and enthusiastic about everything, Cole knows what he’s capable of and goes in without hesitation. He’s the ultimate “can-do” man, baby!
It’s all about the game for Augustus Cole, a.k.a. “The Cole Train.” No matter how bad things get, no matter how bleak the outcome, Cole’s always amped up. An adrenaline junkie by nature, he used to be a star Thrashball player but he gave up his comfortable life to become one of the first to enlist after E-Day, after his family was killed. His aggression toward the Locust Horde definitely hearkens back to his competitive sports background.
One of Cole’s favorite pastimes is ragging on Baird, who he’s been serving with for years. Despite the verbal sparring, they’re best buddies, and Cole would defend him to the end. Cole’s irrepressible good humor and optimism has a big impact on the Gears around him, especially as things get even bleaker. When the sheer brutality of the war gets to him or he misses his folks, he makes sure he hides it and keeps everyone’s morale high.
Damon Baird
Sarcastic, smart, and sometimes a little selfish, Baird is definitely his own man. Still, he flourishes when he feels integral to the success of the group.
While Baird is clearly not thrilled to be a soldier, he’s remarkably good at it. Unfortunately, his poor attitude, short temper, and general unwillingness to take on any responsibility have gotten in the way of promotion. While he claims he’s only interested in saving his own skin and is happier tinkering with machinery than being social, he plays a key role in Delta Squad, and they’d miss him if anything happened to him. And he’d miss them, but he’d sooner saw off his own leg than admit it. His acid sarcasm and complete lack of tact are his way of coping with fear.
Baird uses his intelligence as an important weapon against the Locust. Not only has he spent time studying and observing the Locust, but he also comes up with some creative ways to get rid of them. Baird is valued for his technical skills, which are just as sharp as his sarcasm.
Anya Stroud
Anya was Delta Squad’s controller before she became a frontline Gear. Delta Squad trusts her with their lives.
It’s not easy growing up in the shadow of a legendary mother, but Lieutenant Anya Stroud has become her own woman. The daughter of decorated, hard-charging Major Helena Stroud, she used to be the COG controller responsible for handling Delta Squad, providing them with communications, tactical information, and real-time combat data. But now the situation is growing desperate, she’s fighting on the front line—and proving every bit as tough as her late mother.
Anya is intelligent, thorough, and reliable, and leaves nothing to chance. She’s the kind of officer Gears trust with their lives. In CIC, Hoffman regarded her as his right hand. She’s come a long way from the studious girl who provided the reassuring direction on every Gear’s radio—she’s out there with them, leading her own troops and taking on the Lambent.
Clayton Carmine
Clayton Carmine is a veteran Gear, and it shows. There’s a touch of sarcasm in his voice that makes him seem slightly standoffish. In combat, he’s a brutal, aggressive soldier who excels at killing grubs.
In the Carmine family, military service is simply an expectation. They don’t do it because of a sense of duty, or honor, or patriotism, though such qualities are not in short supply; they simply love to shoot guns, blow things up, and never turn down a knock-down, drag-out fight.
Clayton Carmine is the embodiment of this philosophy. He is the quintessential Gear. Burly, confident, and ready to do what it takes to make sure every Locust in front of him is dead before he walks away. Clayton is the Gear that his younger brothers Anthony and Benjamin aspired to be.
Clayton wears his standard-issue Gear helmet because he hates getting hit in the face with tiny splinters of bone as he saws through Locusts with the chainsaw bayonet on his Lancer.
Jace Stratton
Even though he’s determined and driven, sometimes Jace lacks confidence in himself. But with his painful background, it’s not surprising that he’s unsettled. He’s a survivor.
Being the youngest member of Delta Squad isn’t easy, but Jace is figuring things out. There wasn’t much of a time for childhood, at least not with the Locust slaughtering his parents when he was just a kid. The Gears have become his new family, and he’s the embodiment of determination and grit. For Jace, war is all he knows, but that doesn’t mean death doesn’t still sting. He’s still learning to cope, and his religious leanings help him in that respect.
Samantha Byrne
Intelligent and sharp-tongued, Sam is still charismatic and quite perceptive when it comes to her fellow Gears.
Samantha Byrne is a resourceful, talented, and precise Gear. Her father fought alongside Victor Hoffman during the Siege at Anvil Gate; being a Gear is in her blood.
Sam is generally friendly and personable, though she may seem rough around the edges. She has a particular knack for raising Baird’s ire. The two soldiers often share repartee that some may even mistake for flirting, though this is far from the case; Baird and Sam are simply passing the time by looking for chinks in the other’s surly exterior.
Sam’s consideration to the war and her role in it is straightforward. She does what she must so that she and her friends survive to live—and fight—another day.
Dizzy Wallin
Dizzy’s got no reason to love the COG—he was one of millions abandoned to die when Prescott deployed the Hammer of Dawn. But he serves anyway.
Like most Stranded, Dizzy saw the COG as an enemy and preferred to scrape an existence in the camps. Then he was widowed and left to raise twin daughters. Reluctantly, he joined the COG through Operation Lifeboat, serving as a combat engineer in exchange for food, medicine, and care for his kids.
While Dizzy brews (and drinks) high-octane moonshine, and his language would make a sailor blush, he’s a devoted dad who puts his daughters first. Even Gears who think the Stranded are vermin have come to respect Dizzy’s guts and good humor. Apart from his daughters, the other love of his life is Betty, the massive grindlift rig that he drove on the battlefield.