#new underground

The protagonist:

Fallen Child / "Kid"

An enigmatic young Boss Monster bonded with a human SOUL who fell into the Bulwark from the supposedly dead world above.

Equipped with a Survival Knife and a Heart Bracelet by default.

(Survival Knife - ATK x. A sharp and sturdy all-purpose knife. But any weapon, however real, is only as potent as the will behind it.)[Attack increases with LOVE.]

(Heart Bracelet - DEF 1. Inscribed with... Something illegible. Frail and precious, but, nevertheless, it fills you with a flash of hope in any circumstance.)[Leaves you with 1 HP once per battle. Cannot be thrown away or sold.]

Actually quite vocal... But doesn't speak a language known by the inhabitants of the New Underground, nor the player. They can understand others just fine, however.

They wind up nicknamed "Kid" by Near and just roll with it, at least in more pacifistic paths. I, personally as the author here, have no idea what their real name is yet.

Is indeed capable of casting magic and is as incredibly strong as their human-monster SOUL fusion would suggest; They are limited by facing stronger, more ruthless foes more regularly than Frisk had to contend with, as well as their own reluctance to do harm. Would certainly quickly become nigh-on unstoppable in straight fights in more violent routes, especially if they claim other human SOULs, but it's not like that's a change.

The deuteragonist:

Near

A scrappy but compassionate young human girl living [mostly?] on her own in the Bulwark.

She finds Kid early on, and more or less serves the Toriel role in the story, at least in the beginning.

This includes fighting them as the game's first major boss encounter, at the end of the Bulwark, though for reasons and goals different than Toriel's.

However, she can also join Kid as a permanent[?] traveling companion if she is spared and other conditions are met.

Has some bad history with the New Underground society proper, leading to her living on the fringe of it in the abandoned and forgotten Bulwark.

Reasons for this relate to her having a frail constitution and severely low DT, making her a pariah of the utilitarian NU.

May no longer be fully human/been the subject of genetic/magic/thaumic experiments and surgical alteration, which may be a common occurrence for humans of her lowest-most class? I'm honestly not sure, and it mainly comes down to how obvious I want to make her and the story's inspirations.

Certainly has no inherent magical abilities, in any case. However, she is definitely ingenuitive and determined, even if she's not Determined.

The antagonist:

Green

One of the six elite human Diviners who make up part of the NU's leadership.

Plays the Flowey role, though likely a much more active and visible variant, and generally much more difficult to pin down their intentions and goals.

Young, smart, ambitious, and conniving as far as the current leadership goes. Tends to play the part of an affable and energetic gadfly, with a tongue both silver and barbed.

Indeed has a green colored human SOUL. It is typically assumed that any Kindness they display is to be taken sarcastically, but... Their true nature is unknown.

They probably had that mask made to be creepy and unsettling deliberately. The Diviners mostly wear some kind of mask as an unspoken pseudo-rule of dress.

No natural magic abilities, but armed with a host of technology and weapons that let them leverage their human SOUL and DT.

Probably quotes Flowey's "my intent is not regicide, little monarch" quip at some point towards the end of the prologue.

But they probably don't attack Kid themselves in the game's introduction, though they do probably first appear within the Bulwark segment.

Whether they're the final boss or not, I have no idea yet, but they're likely to be among the last enemies to be directly fought.

Their real name is certainly not "Green," and they may not even go by that. Very much up for change. I might also make their hair black instead of reddish-brown, especially if I wind up naming them "Eun."

Original text posts here and here. Also have a crappy map concept thing.