Kristan Gunn

**Kristan Gunn** is one of the main protagonists in Synodic Reboot. He has a mild interest in the paranormal, mostly enjoying video games and fiction relating to such subjects, believing the "real deal" to be a bit too dangerous to delve too far into. He wears an unzipped hoodie over a t-shirt and a pair of jeans.

He was the second adlet introduced, and the first to enter the Medium.

## Biography

### Background

As a Sverb player, he has most likely originally arrived on Nobriel via a meteor, but the exact circumstances of his arrival are unknown. He grew up with his sister Zariyah, who has recently moved out on her own at some point before the comic begins.

He once went on a road trip with his friend Alethea to find and retrieve the timeline tracker left for her by her mother, accompanied by Zariyah and another friend, Xzavier.

Kristan rarely accompanies Zariyah on her outings where she hunts for paranormal artifacts, instead preferring a more distant appreciation of the subject. However, once Zariyah encountered the Vengeful Spirit that would persistently haunt her, she had to move out of the house for Kristan's safety, with it following her to the new house.

When he later switches into an old pink hoodie, Kristan remarks on its damaged sleeve, reminding himself of "the one time he did something brave." The specifics of this event have yet to be elaborated upon.

### Sverb

As the first client player of the session, Kristan was tasked with being the first to figure out how the entry mechanisms work with the help of Zariyah as his server; mostly at her urging by her fascination for what this reality-altering game may be hiding. Alethea also briefly reached out to inform him of the incoming meteor and make him realize the urgency of his situation. During some of the early-game confusion, Kristan also connected as Rennard's server player, but did not yet have time to do anything on that front.

He arrived to LOCAF with Shattersprite, who he could not understand. He quickly speculated on how to be able to speak with it, and prototyped his dragon plush, forming his companion Mirgonsprite, who quickly informed him of his location in the Medium and told him of his new goal to reach the First Gate. Shortly after this, Kristan encountered his first imp, being urged by Mirgon to defeat it, which he reluctantly did. After clearing his living room of more hostile imps, Zariyah continued building Kristan's house up as he took a moment to inform Braiden about the game and take a much-needed nap.

During his nap, Kristan found himself stranded on a mysterious highway with no items on hand. He was terrified and unsure how to get back, and had been approached by what he assumed to be a car. It is later revealed that the Overseer had decided to "bring him out there" via experimental means to speak to him regarding a task that executorTaciturn refused to do, Kristan's appearance here likely relating to the neon energy keeping his unawakened dreamself in a deeper sleep than usual. However, before he could be approached, he forced himself back awake.

Kristan wakes up to several messages waiting for him on his phone and responds to a few of them. executorTaciturn briefly discusses Sverb with him and expresses terror towards something other than the Sverb-initiated apocalypse, to which Kristan tries to reach out to help him, only to get blocked. Afterwards, he gets back to Braiden, informing him that he got the game from Digi-Den so he can retrieve his own copy. After these conversations, he's finally prattled by Mirgon on their newly-registered account asking him to come downstairs and practice sparring.

After a rather intimidating sparring match with Mirgon, Kristan learns how to fight without instantly shattering his mirrors, impressing his dragon guide in the process. The two take a minute to prepare for adventure, Kristan setting down the necessary entry machines in Rennard's house, and then setting out to climb to the First Gate.

Along the way, they encounter a pair of ogres, which Kristan finds himself very ill-equipped to fight as they hit him hard, taking the sails out of his previous newfound confidence. At this point, Mirgon temporarily self-reverts back to Shattersprite with a command to shatter the ogres, successfully doing so, but nearly shattering Kristan in the crossfire just before turning back into Mirgon. This event left Kristan in a very low emotional state, feeling like a burden.

Further along the way, Kristan has a phonecall with Zariyah for a status update after she herself enters the Medium on the Land of Glyphs and Mechanisms. During this conversation, Kristan breaks and admits his concerns with himself, to which Zariyah comforts and reassures him, the two also vowing to find each other despite currently being on two different planets.

Kristan was most recently seen parting ways with Mirgon and hopping into the First Gate.

## Personality and Traits

As mentioned before, Kristan holds a degree of interest in the subject of the paranormal, likely taking after Zariyah's own interest, but he mostly prefers reading about or experiencing fiction inspired by it. He also enjoys video games, especially those relating to adventure.

He is very laid-back and considerate, even to the point of (unsuccessfully) trying to reason with the first imp he encountered. His friends often appreciate his kind nature. However, he is a little bit harsh on himself for his self-perceived lack of self-sufficiency.

## Abilities

Kristan is a very inexperienced fighter, with his combat capabilities further hindered by his mirrorkind specibus. However, Mirgon has been training him to show him how to wield it to its best potential; while Kristan has yet to achieve true mastery with it, Mirgon is apparently quite impressed with Kristan's existing capabilities, now able to use his mirrors in a light-hitting, swift and precise manner.

As a player of Sverb, it can also be assumed he has some sort of ability relating to his title as the Seer of Dawn, but as of yet said power is a mystery. He also has a dreamself on Derse, but it has yet to awaken and it has a mysterious energy keeping it in a deeper sleep; when he dreams, he instead briefly found himself in an odd highway dream when he slept, leaving his dreamself's status unclear.

## Relationships

### Zariyah Gunn

Kristan and Zariyah have a close sibling relationship, often bouncing off of each other with jokes and banter while still knowing when to be serious and help each other out. Zariyah is Kristan's server player, and is dedicated to finding him in the game to protect him.

### Mirgonsprite

Mirgon is Kristan's guide to Sverb, as well as a personification of the dragon plush which was an inanimate/imaginary friend of his and Zariyah's during childhood. They have a good friendship despite Mirgon only recently gaining sentience, as they also remember their time as a plush. Mirgon tries their best to train Kristan to become more self-sufficient as well as trying to pick him up emotionally when he's feeling down.

### Braiden

Braiden has been described by Kristan as "his best friend aside from his sister," feeling very anxious about his plan to play the game and escape the apocalypse. The two care a great deal about one another; Braiden encourages Kristan to be badass while Kristan encourages Braiden to be safe, traits that each of them have difficulty with individually. Kristan was the one who told Braiden about Sverb and where to get it while successfully convincing him to play.

### Rennard Rush

Kristan and Rennard are good friends, with Kristan being understanding and sensitive to Rennard's issues relating to his nightmares on Derse, which Rennard much prefers to Zariyah's abrasive prodding on the subject.

### Alethea Luke

Despite not talking a whole lot, Kristan and Alethea get along pretty well. There was a brief moment when Kristan had become suspicious of Alethea's knowledge about the game's events (which he later learned was due to her dreams on Prospit), but they have since spoken and cleared things up, helping each other figure things out a bit better.

### executorTaciturn

Kristan has only spoken with ET once so far during the comic, remarking that he hasn't heard from him in a while. Kristan really wants to help him out with whatever issues are troubling him, but ET wound up blocking him - in a sympathetic manner, seemingly doing so just to spare Kristan from similar emotional pain.

### Xzavier Rexx

It is unknown exactly what Kristan's relationship to Xzavier is, but while briefly discussing him with Zariyah, he suggests that he may not be as bad as she makes him out to be. This either implies that the two are still friends on some level, or Kristan just gives him the benefit of a doubt.

### twinjetXanthic

It is unknown exactly what Kristan's relationship to twinjetXanthic is, but it can be inferred they know each other on good terms since TJ told Zariyah to "say hi to Xerarch whenever convenient!"

### Quintin Trey

So far, Kristan has only known Quintin as the Vengeful Spirit, but he has yet to be seen directly interacting with him in any capacity, and is currently unaware of his new state of consciousness as a sprite. It is known that Kristan was bothered by the situation with the Vengeful Spirit, but it's unknown what he thinks about him as an entity/person, and how he will react to the development of his prototyping.

## Trivia

* His appearance was retconned at one point during the comic's production to improve the quality of art and make his hair's defining traits more apparent. His color palette was also changed, including giving him a white hoodie rather than the initial pink one; curiously enough, he later changes into his "original" pink hoodie later on in the comic, which now features a damaged sleeve.