Protagonist

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The **Protagonist** of *ASTRAL CHAIN* is one of two twin police officers who are recruited into the Neuron task force during the game. The first name of the protagonist is chosen by the player, while the Protagonist's given last name is **Howard**. The player can choose between a male and female appearance, with the option not chosen appearing as the younger twin and closest squadmate, Akira Howard.

## Appearance

The protagonist's hairstyle, dyed hair color, eye color, skin color and lip color are all able to be customized by the player at the beginning of the game. The protagonist's outfit can be customized during the game using the locker room at the Neuron headquarters.

The male protagonist's default appearance has messy medium-length black hair and dark, grey-brown eyes. He wears the standard uniform shared among other police officers, with a collared white shirt with a dark grey zipper and black tie underneath a heavy blue jacket decorated with the police logo and two stripes on the left arm, as well as a white stripe along the padded collar. He is wearing police armor on his chest, back, knees and arms, with the front piece branded with "POLICE" in large red letters. A belt running along his waist has utility pouches on each side, as well as a holster for his X-Baton on the right hip and the word "POLICE" written across the back. He also has a walkie-talkie attached to the front-left of his jacket. He has a Legatus Unit and Cradle on his back, which is used to summon his Legion, and thick white protective gloves over his hands. He wears black pants with utility pouches strapped to each leg, and knee-high laced boots over the top.

The female protagonist's default appearance has medium-length black hair in a bob, and dark, grey-brown eyes. Her outfit is identical to the male protagonist, except that she wears tight shorts, with a single utility pouch strapped to her left leg. She also wears shiny thigh-high socks underneath her boots.

## Background

On the 25th of November, 2058, the protagonist and their twin Akira were born to a redshifting mother in Zone 09 during the Pandemic. The woman died during childbirth, and the twins were taken in by police officer Maximilian Howard, who had rescued the woman prior to her death. Max raised them as a single father, and the twins grew up admiring his work as a police officer. At one point, Max was hospitalized and the twins were cared for by his associate Jin Wong, who often helped Max out in looking after them. On April 6, 2078, the twins got jobs as police officers because of their admiration for Max's work in saving the world.

## Story

### File 01 【Startup】

On June 21, 2078, two months after the twins became police officers, the Sword Legion's development was finished after the development of the Arrow Legion. Brenda Moreno and Yoseph Calvert file for the transfer of the twins to the Neuron task force due to their test results regarding their potential to be Legionis' far exceeding all other candidates. After a major gate outbreak causes all of the Ark Police to be mobilized, the protagonist heads to the site of an accident on Eastside Highway in Zone 36, where they meet up with Akira. Gates suddenly appear, causing invisible assailants to begin attacking the pair. Unable to fight against the unseen threat, the situation looks bleak until Max shows up, along with other Neuron members Jin and Alicia, who fight off the chimeras using their (also invisible) Legions. Yoseph calls Max, telling him to give Legatus Units to the twins so they can wield their own Legions, which he begrudgingly complies with. Now armed with Legions, the protagonist and Akira fight off the now visible chimeras. During the fight, the road collapses, and the protagonist is stranded on the falling highway. As a truck falls towards them, the protagonist's hair turns blue as they sync with their Legion, and they use the Legion to pull themself back up to solid ground - finishing off the remaining chimera at the same time. After this, they collapse from a sudden headache and the entire squad returns to Neuron HQ.

### File 02 【Awake】

Back at HQ, Yoseph explains to the twins the truth about chimeras and the imminent threat humanity is facing.

## Personality

The protagonist of *ASTRAL CHAIN* does not have many dialogue lines of their own in the main story, and was created to be a player projection. Director Takahisa Taura stated in an interview that "We wanted the player to feel like they are, or that they could become, the police officer.", and as such, they don't show many expressions or actions that could give them a predefined personality. The only dialogue the protagonist possesses is during the ending cutscene, which has the player narrate the events after the final boss.

## Gallery

Official render of the protagonists.Official render of the protagonists and the Sword and Arrow Legions.Official art of the protagonists.The male protagonist and his Sword Legion in combat.The male protagonist and his Sword Legion in combat.The male protagonist and his Sword Legion in combat.The male protagonist and his Sword Legion in combat.The male protagonist and his Arrow Legion in combat.The female protagonist using her Beast Legion as a mount.The male protagonist and his Arrow Legion fighting a Homunculus.The male protagonist and his Sword Legion in combat.The male protagonist and his Sword Legion in combat.The male protagonist and his Sword Legion in combat.The female protagonist and her Beast Legion in combat.The male protagonist.The female protagonist.The female protagonist talking to a young boy.The protagonist and Akira Howard.The male protagonist.The female protagonist.The female protagonist on a motorbike.The male protagonist in the Ark.The male protagonist walking along the wall of the Ark.The protagonist as a part of the Neuron task force.The protagonist as a part of the Neuron task force.The male protagonist fighting alongside the police.The male protagonist assisting an injured person.The female protagonist and her Sword Legion.The male protagonist following his Beast Legion.The female protagonist viewing a simulation of rubble falling in the Ark, using the IRI system.The female protagonist performing a stealth attack with her Sword Legion.The female protagonist performing a stealth attack with her Sword Legion.The female protagonist.The male protagonist.The protagonist and Akira Howard facing off against a chimera.The protagonist and Akira Howard.The female protagonist summoning her Legion.The protagonist and Akira Howard summoning their Legions.The protagonist and Akira Howard summoning their Legions.The male protagonist killing a chimera alongside his Sword Legion.The female protagonist and her Sword Legion.The female protagonist riding a motorbike.The protagonist as Lappy.The protagonist wearing Raven armor.Concept art from the artbook for the female protagonist.

## Trivia

* The female name options when using the "Random" feature in character creation are Akane, Kaede, Miki, and Misaki. The male name options are Hayato, Ryo, Yamato, and Kazuma.
* Despite being a 'Silent Protagonist', they still have some spoken Dialogue at the start of File 12 explaining the aftermath of the final battle.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.platinumgames.com/games/astral-chain
2. ↑ https://youtu.be/brmmV3g4qqo?t=16
3. ↑ ASTRAL CHAIN Official Artbook
4. ↑ https://www.nintendo.co.jp/switch/ab48a/character/01.html
5. ↑ https://www.polygon.com/interviews/2019/6/17/18682365/astral-chain-nintendo-switch-e3-2019-platinumgames-interview-nier-automata
6. ↑ https://www.platinumgames.com/official-blog/article/10252