Shade's Children

Shade was originally named Robert Ingman, who somehow managed to upload his consciousness into the machines and systems in his lair at a time before the Change occurred. He serves as a mentor to his Children, and sends them on missions for supplies and information. After transferring himself to the Thinker, Robert develops multiple personalities and one of these, "Shade", becomes so obsessed with gaining a human body that he does not care how many children must die or be captured for him to get one. His true personality, "Robert", tries to reason with Shade, but is usually over-ridden. While the Shade personality is obsessed with gaining a physical body, the true Robert attempts to proclaim his status as the original Robert Ingman personality, rather than the evil Thinker form. Once the Thinker is destroyed, the original Robert attempts to right the wrongs he has done to the children, regardless of the personal cost: his existence.

Ella, the leader of her group, is resourceful and strong but cold and withdrawn emotionally. Her Change Talent is the ability to summon or "conjure" inanimate objects of limited mass at will, usually weapons. This is how she escaped the Overlords' dormitories, conjuring a razor blade to cut a tracking device out of her wrist. She seems closest to Drum, and there is evidence of a romantic attachment to him, but his permanent emasculation by steroids prevents any sexual relationship. Ninde once remarks sarcastically, "Sure! And Ella will care about someone other than Drum!"

Ninde is somewhat childish and watches many pre-Change movies to escape from her reality to that older world, into which she would probably be integrated well—she is emotional, dramatic, and attractive. Her Change Talent is telepathy: she can read minds within a limited level of complexity (she can't comfortably read human minds or Overlord minds) and distance, and tends to chew her knuckles when concentrating. She develops a romantic relationship with Gold-Eye over the course of the novel. After the Change was reversed, she studied to become a doctor.

Drum is an embodiment of physical strength and is described as having to use special clothing on account of his size (he is much bulkier than the average teenager), but has been emasculated by steroids given to him by the Overlords since he was to become a Myrmidon. Unfortunately for him, the steroids stopped him from going through puberty. His Change Talent is telekinesis, limited by mass.

Gold-Eye is constantly nervous and moving, still paranoid from his life spent constantly eluding the Trackers and Myrmidons that hunted him. His Change Talent is, unusually, not under his control, but comes to him in the form of visions of the future that he calls the "soon-to-be-now". Gold-Eye's English, both written and spoken, is bad after his years alone—he has not spoken to another human for some time as of the beginning of the novel, since his older brother Petar (probably a corruption of "Peter") and his brother's friend Jemmie are recaptured before the story begins. Gold-Eye is attracted to Ninde. At the end of the story, he has a vision showing that he and Ninde will have two children, named after Ella and Drum.

Alen

Lost on a fossicking mission around a month before the novel begins, Alen's sleeping body is discovered by Ella's team as they infiltrate the Meat Factory to rescue Drum, who was caught while covering Ella and the rest of her team's retreat on a previous mission. Ninde is in favor of rescuing him, but Ella makes the difficult decision to leave him behind.

Brat

Brat is a former operative of Shade and friend to Ella, who was captured by the Overlords around two years (according to Shade) before the start of the novel. When Stelo's team captures a Winger and, later, Shade vivisects it, this Winger is revealed to be Brat upon the removal of one particular device. Drum, a witness to the vivisection, kills him out of mercy almost immediately after this is revealed.

Lisa

Lisa was the leader of one of Shade's teams until nine years before the novel begins, when her entire team is lost attempting the University mission later accomplished by Ella's team. She was dedicated to Shade and his cause, much like Ella, and is furious when her teammate Sal suggests leaving the Sub rather than tackling the dangerous mission.

Mac

Mac was one of the oldest of Shade's Children when Ella first arrived at the Sub. At one point, his team retrieved hardware for Shade's computer. He was lost on the University mission two years before the book began.

Rick

Rick and his team were sent to the university prior to Ella's team. They were expected to return the day before Ella and her team began it. However, Rick is severely injured during the mission and never returns.

Sam Allen

Sam is supposedly captured at least nine years before the novel begins, after leaving the Sub in anger at Shade's ruthlessness. He is used in one of the elite Myrmidon guards that belong to no particular Overlord, which are ordered to drown Gold-Eye and Ninde near the end of the book. When the Change Projector is destroyed, the device controlling his brain is disabled, giving him a few moments of humanity during which he recites a small poem in English and tells Gold-Eye that he was once Sam Allen; after this, he falls into the water and dies due to the lack of Projector radiation energy.

Sim

Sim shows all of Shade's new recruits round the Sub, and seems to have some authority over the other children. He picks up on Gold-Eye's lack of sexual knowledge, and points him towards the relevant lessons.

Stelo

Stelo is the leader of one of the other teams and - initially - the target of Ninde's flirtation, despite no apparent attraction on his part and Shade's attempts to discourage Ninde. On orders from Shade, his team sets out to capture a Winger. Stelo pretends to be injured as part of this trap. The Winger they successfully catch is later revealed to be Brat. Following the mission in question, Stelo requires medical attention, having been scratched. Stelo and Marg survived the attack on the sub after Marg saw one of Shade's robots leaving and they decide to follow it. Stelo is shown carrying his dead teammate Peter and traveling with Marg through the sewer system. They encounter one of Shade's rat robots. Stelo begins to yell at the robot, and hits it, angry at Shade for a perceived betrayal. Shade then orders the rat robot to self-destruct.

The Overlords are evil beings from another dimension. They appear human but are subtly different. They view all life other than themselves as utterly worthless, referring repeatedly to humans as animals. As such, they have no moral problems with harvesting children's bodies to construct their creatures, for no purpose other than sadistic enjoyment of gladiatorial violence between the creatures.

They do not normally use audible speech to communicate, though they are capable of it. Instead, they subvocalize, using their technology to carry their speech among them. When they subvocalize, their throat muscles twitch noticeably.

There are three female and four male Overlords.

The Overlords disdain combat and never enter hand-to-hand combat themselves, but have a variety of technologically advanced weapons. Two are used by Overlords during the book: a "fusion lance:" a tube-shaped, laser-like ranged weapon, and an undescribed electromagnetic pulse weapon.

• Black Banner

The first Overlord featured. He wears black, spiked armour with a horned helmet. In conjunction with Red Diamond he plans to capture deceptor technology for use in battle. He expresses an interest in harvesting Gold Eye's abilities.

• Red Diamond

A highly aggressive male Overlord who wears a red armour and a fire-like cloak. He is greasy, fat, and balding. He is also attempting to capture deceptor technology for his use in battle.

• Blue Star

Very little is mentioned about Blue Star. Blue Star is the fourth male Overlord.

• Gold Claw

Apparently the oldest of the Overlords, Gold Claw, a female Overlord, is also quite arrogant.

• Silver Sun

An attractive female who wears mirrored armour, Silver Sun is very intelligent and sadistic. Her teeth are filed to points and she can speak English. When torturing Gold Eye and Nine she explains that she lived among the humans for years as an infiltrator to prepare the way for the Change, and as such has the most familiarity with humans.

• Gray Crescent

An old male, Grey Crescent was asleep when Ninde and Gold-Eye were brought to see the Overlords.

• Emerald Crown

Emerald Crown, who dresses in flexible green metal armour and a crown of emerald spikes, is female.

The cover of this softcover edition is an artist's depiction of two Myrmidons and a Tracker in the Meat Factory.

The Overlords' creatures are numerous and vicious predators of several homogenous types. They are reasonably intelligent, being able to strategize and fear risks. This intelligence is particularly evident in the more advanced creations, such as the Myrmidons, which have a simple language. All of the creatures are created using human organs and body parts processed in the Meat Factory, and are heavily specialized for their purpose to the detriment of other attributes. Some creatures use amulet-shaped devices called "mind-calls" which allow for telepathic communication with fellow creatures or Overlords. Most, if not all, of the creature types have weaknesses or aversions exploited by the main characters.

• Drones

Drones are the Overlord's workers: although they do not have enhanced senses or any defense, these workers who maintain and run the Meat Factory (and presumably other Overlord facilities) are super-strong; they lift Drum without strain. They are only found in Overlord installations, where there are invariably others nearby to defend them. A standard size of Drone groups is not mentioned in the book, although when Ella, Ninde, and Gold-Eye infiltrated the Meat Factory, they met a pair of them together.

• Ferrets

Ferrets are similar to their real-life counterparts in appearance, but are notedly larger, more intelligent, and have hollow fangs with which to partially exsanguinate their victims. They are nocturnal, and seem to act merely as hunters of escapees rather than also fighting for the Overlords. They are mentioned to have great strength. Ferrets also have an affinity for underground locales, are afraid of heights, and hate water. They operate in "fangs" of five, and make hissing noises to communicate.

• Myrmidons

Myrmidons, unlike some of the other creatures, are humanoid: Larger than most, (the teens from which they are made are given steroids) these creatures are always seen wearing full armour and usually carry a mêlée weapon or a net gun, used to capture escapees. They have barrel chests, long arms, spade-shaped hands, and six fingers. They use fist-sized glowing globes called witchlights for light, and are mentioned as using "battle sprayers" that spray acid. They are the shock troops of the Overlords and the primary fighting units. The Myrmidons have a language for battlefield communication known as Battlespeech. They appear in "maniples" of seven.

• Myrmidon Masters

A Myrmidon Master is a larger, more intelligent Myrmidon which commands other Myrmidons. In the field, they are second in command only to a visiting Overlord. Myrmidon Masters are not generally seen in groups with other Myrmidon Masters, but rather among groups of the lesser Myrmidons.

• Screamers

Although no Screamers are ever seen in the book, they are heard - their scream is so loud as to be able to deafen and daze people far away from it. They are also the primary method of alarm for sleeping Myrmidons - only a Screamer can wake a Myrmidon quickly. They do not travel in groups. It is mentioned that when a human is close to the screamer while it screams it can peel away the skin on the insides of their ears.

• Trackers

Trackers are the scouts of Overlord forces - their noses, ears, and eyes are larger than normal and further enhanced with Overlord cyborg technology. They travel in "trios" of three, using whistling noises to indicate their status. They wear leather armor and do not fight unless attacked. At the beginning of the novel, one of the Trackers the team fights is a "Senior Tracker."

• Watchwards

No Watchwards are ever seen in the book, but they are mentioned several times. Drum, in his video recording, mentions having strangled one to escape the Training Ground. Ninde mentions that there are no Watchwards guarding the Meat Factory, and when the burglar alarm in Shade's old lab is set off, a "vaguely human creature" with a mind-call is mentioned as having received the alarm. Watchwards are most likely sentries and guards in the Dorms and other Overlord installations.

• Wingers

Wingers are flying creatures resembling humanoid bats. They have no nose, and their lower jaw is extended for enhanced killing ability. As with the other creatures, a mind control unit is kept near its brain, which forbids human thoughts and speech (although speech becomes difficult anyway due to the repositioning of the mouth). When one Winger has this removed, it recognizes Ella and pleads for death. Wingers use Change energy anti-gravity boosters to help them fly, since they are theoretically too heavy to fly. There are also special, vehicle-sized Wingers used as the personal flying mounts of Overlords. Normal Wingers appear in "flights" of nine.