++Essence of Life++

Only the main ones. There's a link to a site for the rest.

Cardinal Caterina Sforza, the Duchess of Milan, is a strong willed, determined woman who shows no fear and has a strong resolve in anything she believes in. She is the head of the Ministry of Holy Affairs and leads the department's special operations group, the AX Agency.

Caterina first met Abel Nightroad when he saved her from a group of vampires who attempted to kill her by order of the Contra Mundi. After she was safe, he promised that he would always protect humans. They have been close friends ever since. Caterina greatly loves her brother Alessandro, the current Pope, and has shown herself to be willing to die to protect him. Caterina frequently clashes with her other brother,Cardinal Francesco, who abhors the idea of peace with vampires and has little regard for the life of Alessandro.

Despite her past experiences, Caterina strongly believes in the need for peace between humans and vampires. Though discovery of her actions could result in her execution, Caterina secretly works to form diplomatic relations with the Empire, knowing they both have a much more deadly enemy in the Rosenkreuz Orden. She has used the AX Agency towards this goal, including arranging a joint operation that teamed Abel Nightroad with Empire representative Astharoshe Asran to capture a vampire mass murderer at large in Venice.

On the surface, Abel appears to be a clumsy, absent-minded Catholic priest who has bad luck with money and is always hungry. In reality, he is a Crusnik, a vampire with extraordinary powers that can feed on other vampires. Nearly a millennium in age, Abel was created in 2088 A.D. as one of four test tube babies whose bodies were infused with Crusnik nanomachines by the Mars human colonists. Abel once had a hatred for humanity and joined the Methuselah in the war against humans after the Armageddon. During the war between the humans and Methuselah, Abel Nightroad killed seven million humans. Lilith's death during the war caused him to abandon his hatred. He spent 900 years weeping and mourning in Lilith's crypt at the Vatican, until a young Caterina Sforza fled there to escape Methuselah assassins. Abel, realizing that it was his task to continue Lilith's work and defend the humans, saved the young Caterina and chose to live on. He joined the AX at its foundation in May, 3055 A.D.

In penance for his earlier sins, Abel now adheres to a strict principle of pacifism and has taken a vow not to kill unless he absolutely must. Though accepting of his Crusnik form, he will generally only use it as a last resort. After meeting Esther, he is reluctant to use his Crusnik form in a battle for fear of her seeing it, and after she does see it for the first time, Abel is extremely distraught and screams in agony. Later he tells her it is the mark of his sins. Notably, in regards to Esther, in the novels and manga, Abel first reveals his Crusnik form during the Star of Sorrow arc, not long after he meets her, and, in the manga, part of her reasons for joining AX is to find out more about Abel (also in the novels, he is nowhere near as distraught for showing her as in the anime). He seems to be oblivious to Esther's romantic feelings for him, and possibly to his own feelings for her. Asthe seems to have noticed, though, and calls him a dunce for not being bothered by Ion's affections for Esther. While he mostly responds to her with fatherly affection, when he thought she had been killed, he lost control of himself and went into Crusnik form, seeming to delight in killing the Methuselah Radu who he thought had killed Esther. It is Esther that helps him return to normal.

Abel eventually learns that Lilith's killer and his brother, Cain, is still alive and swears to find and kill him, once and for all. After Abel finds and confronts him, Cain defeats Abel and sends him into a near death state. While Esther mourns at Abel's grave, Cardinal Caterina retrieves the nanomachines from Lilith's body and sends Father Tres to take them to Abel in order to revive him. Tres delivers them to Abel's grave, both reviving him and allowing him to achieve 100% Crusnik fusion without the insanity that manifested in Cain. Immediately afterwards, Cain arrives and Abel battles him again, but the fight ends in a draw and Abel must continue his quest to destroy his brother, now joined by Ion Fortuna.

In his human form, Abel fights with a gun loaded with silver bullets. With 40% of his Crusnik nanomachines activated, his eyes become red, his lips turn dark blue, his teeth become fangs, and a gigantic red scythe composed of crystallized blood materializes in his hands. At 80% activation, his nails turn into claws, grows black wings and he can generate massive amounts of electricity. He can only achieve this form, or higher, if he has fed on a vampire, otherwise there is a risk the nanomachines will refuse the command and cause him to collapse. At 100% activation, he turns into a humanoid creature with dark skin, black bat-like wings, and blue markings that cover his entire body. He also generates more electricity than his 80% form and a second blade forms on the other end of his blood scythe. While in Crusnik form, the blood of Methuselah is drawn to him and goes directly into his body without using his fangs.

Born as the legitimate granddaughter of the queen of Albion, she was brought to Istvan shortly after her birth in order to save her from assassins. She is the daughter of the late Prince Gilbert who was assassinated just after she was born. She was raised in Istvan as a nun by Bishop Laura Vitez, who loved Esther like her own daughter.

Esther meets Abel during an attack on Count Gyula's City Military Police as the leader of a band of rebels called the Partisans who worked to oust Count Gyula's tyranny over Istavan. After a vampire kills one of the clergy and Bishop Laura is killed in a subsequent church bombing, Esther goes with Abel to Gyula's home to stop his plans and rescue the captured Dietrich. The meeting of Esther and Abel differs between adaptations. In the manga series, Esther meets Abel while smuggling drugs with Dietrich. In the anime series, much of the Star of Sorrow arc is changed, starting with the meeting which occurs when Esther appears at Gyula's home to escort Abel to Saint Matthias.  Esther had also murdered Colonel Lattikar to avenge the earlier murder of Bishop Laura. She and Abel are captured by Gyula's soldiers and Dietrich is killed at the church before it is burnt to the ground. After being captured, Abel and Esther successfully stop Gyula and Dietrich's plans.

Esther decides to journey to the Vatican with Abel and Tres to try to understand why so many people had to die, who Dietrich really was and his goals, who Abel really is, and what she wants to do with her life. Once they arrive at the Vatican, Esther is accepted into the Ministry of Holy Affairs and becomes a fledging AX agent. A vivid, star-shaped birthmark adorns her side, marking her as Albion's "Star of Hope". This mark is later revealed to be proof that she is part of the royal family of Albion.

Esther appears to have growing romantic feelings towards Abel Nightroad, though he seems oblivious to this (as well as to his own feelings for her), though others have noticed. She also develops a strong friendship with Ion Fortuna, even offering to let him feed on her after he's sent into a blood lust by Dietrich. In the anime, she blames herself for Abel's apparent death and stays by his casket for several days, not once leaving his side until Virgil Walsh comes to bring her to Albion. At first she still refuses to leave, despite learning she is the heir to the throne, but she hears Abel's voice and it gives her the strength to go. She is also a witness to Abel's revival by Tres and another battle between Abel and Cain. As she watches them battle, she comes to understand that Abel will continue battling Cain for all eternity or until one of them has killed the other, and that he must leave. Realizing she can make a difference in the world, Esther faces her destiny and is crowned Queen of Albion.

Created 3036 AD, Father Tres Iqus is one of ten "Killing Doll" mechanical soldiers created by Vatican scientist Professor Gepetto Garibaldi in an attempted rebellion. Because his cyborg body is composed of both organic and mechanical parts, he must take vitamins to maintain it. Tres, unit HC-IIIX, is the only one of the units known to still be operational. He was saved from destruction and recruited for AX by Cardinal Caterina Sforza, where he now has the code name Gunslinger. In Reborn on the Mars, it is revealed that his full name is Hercules Treq Iques, however he rarely uses it and is known primarily by Tres Iques.

Being a battle android, Tres works with an unemotional, relentless efficiency and his functions are mostly limited to combat situations. He tends to use expressions much like a computer might, such as asking for a "status report" to assess someone's physical status and responding to questions with "negative" or "positive." Despite his mechanical nature, he has had moments where he appears to display concern for others, a sense of humor, and annoyance. Tres is also extremely loyal to Caterina, and Abel remarks that Tres always appears to be in a bad mood when travelling because half of him is always home in Rome. In the novels, when AX is dissolved, he joins the Rosenkreuz Orden with Caterina.

Originally from Albion, Sister Kate is the holographic captain of the AX battleship the Iron Maiden, and later the Iron Maiden II. Kate also oversees most of the AX missions from within the ship, coordinating the agents moves and relaying information via the earpieces all of the agents wear. Kate is also skilled in making herbal tea blends which are well loved by the AX agents and Cardinal Caterina.

Kate, whose real body is comatose, is able to project herself in various places with the help of her long-time friend Professor Wordsworth and his inventions. The novels suggest that Susan von Scorzeny, an androgynous female pilot for the Rosenkreuz Orden known as the Red Baroness, caused the accident at the University of Rome the resulted in Kate's condition. Kate originally met Cardinal Caterina in college, and she was one of the founding members of the AX.

In the original novels, Kate is described as being an "elderly nun with a mole on her check" with a pleasant, comforting personality with a smile that "could calm a raging bull." In the anime series, however, Kate is given a more youthful appearance, and a stronger, no-nonsense personality.

Born in 3032 AD in Antwerp of the Four City States Alliance, Hugue is the sole survivor of the Watteau family, a paramilitary clan whose clansmen kept the position of Chief Inspector for the Four-City Alliance. Hugue is driven by the desire to avenge his clan after the large scale attack on their home by vampires. The only survivor of his family's murder aside from himself, is his sister Anais (or Ana), but she is missing and presumed to have been taken away by the murderers. Despite his position in the AX, Hugue will often defy orders and search for his little sister as well as his family's murderer. With his independent nature, he frequently leaves AX at a whim to track down vampires.

Hugue, whose code name is Sword Dancer, wields a blade-staff with both a kitana and wakizashi and has artificial arms that enhance his speed and strength, enabling him to easily match the average vampire in a fight. His analytical skills are far beyond that of the average human, allowing him to kill a vampire without wasting a single movement. On one of his earlier missions in the series, he was sent to investigate the murders of several clergy members by a vampire. After a brief conflict, he killed a vampire who was trying to capture the sole survivor, a nun named Sister Agnes. While resting at the church, Hugue and Agnes are captured by the servants of the area's leading vampire, Count Karel van der Verf. The vampire plans to execute him, chaining the priest in a pit and forcing him to fight a Werewolf (note the werewolf makes no appearance in the novels). In the anime, Hugue appears to be losing until Sister Agnes retrieves his weapon and returns it to him. In the novel he does't fight a werewolf, but Agnes returns his weapon to him just the same. Count Karel stabs her for her actions, badly wounding her, which enrages Hugue. In the anime, after quickly slaughtering the werewolf, Hugue kills Karel and the rest of the area's vampires who had been watching the fight. Note, in the novels, however, a masked man (most likely Isaak) kills Karel. Father Hugue later appears to deliver the Rosenkreuz Orden's plans to destroy Rome and aided in the battle against Archbishop Alfonso d'Este. He also turned up in Albion to help the Vatican's forces in destroying Isaac's ship. His appearance during the Silent Noise arc, is only in the Anime.

In the original novel, it is revealed that Hugue's childhood friend, Jan van Maylen, employed the vampires to destroy his clan. Jan came from a third class noble family and desired the job as Chief Inspector of the Four City Alliance, a position long held by the men of the Watteau Clan. Hugue finds him, but spares his life, asking him to come to the church where they first met. Instead, Hugue finds his former lover and Jan's current wife, Rachel. She attempts to dissuade him from killing her husband, but fails. Before leaving, Hugue confronts Memlink of the Count Four, the vampire who had framed Karel for the attack on the church in Amsterdam. Memlink attempts to kill Jan, believing that he had intended for Hugue to kill him at church, but is killed by Hugue. Jan begs his old friend for forgiveness, but Hugue refuses, vowing that he would return to carry out his vengeance after he has finished killing the remaining two Counts, Gie and Darsus. 

Born 3021 AD in Bohemia, Havel originally worked with the Inquisition Bureau. After leaving his position, he became Caterina's personal bodyguard, and he later was one of the founding members of the AX. Codenamed "Know Faith", much of Vaclav's body has been replaced with mechanical parts and appears to be capable of flight. He has also been implanted with a system that gives him the ability to camouflage himself. As such, he is one of the most powerful AX Agents, and holds the highest rank under Cardinal Caterina. He is also one of Caterina's most trusted friends, having known her for over 10 years. After Noélle's death, he is the only one Caterina seems to be able to cry in front of. Havel spends most of his time at Caterina's side, though he does occasionally go on missions like the other members of the AX, and is the most trusted with important matters.

In the novels, during the Bohemia War, he calls himself the "Unbeliever". Although he was often considered to be one of the most religious men in the AX unit, Father Havel began to doubt his faith after seeing so much suffering in the world. Some time after losing his belief in God, Father Havel joined the Neue Vatican, and became one of Alphonso d'Este's followers. He kidnaps the Pope, resulting in a conflict with his former comrades. Although Abel tries to convince him to return to the AX, he turns him down. Hearing that the Inquisition forces plan on killing all within the city, an injured Havel attempts to stop them, but is subsequently killed by Sister Paula. Before he dies, the priest claims admits that he had found his faith once again. The events in the Anime prove ironic, as Vaclav Havel personally participated in the arrest of Archbishop Alfonso d'Este.

orn 3031 AD in Hispania, Leon was once a decorated professional soldier with a penchant for showing off. When he killed his wife and thirty clergymen, he was sentenced to a 1,000 year prison term. He is allowed to leave, however, to assist the AX with their cases. In return for his help, the length of his sentence is reduced by a couple of decades, so long as he survives and returns.

He carries a pendant with a picture of his daughter around his neck at all times, and loves her more than anything in the world, although her current status is unknown. When not working, his prison is actually the Vatican's orphanage. Father Leon fights with sharp chakrams and a bazooka, and specializes in sabotage and guerrilla tactics. He takes great offence at being called an old man, but despite his gruff exterior, Father Leon still shows signs of caring for others, particularly children. He agrees with Abel's idea at the end of the Barrie case in sending the children who had been turned to vampires to Albion instead of executing them.

In the novels and manga adaptations, Father Leon acts like a pervert around women, including Esther Blanchett and Noelle.

Born 3034 AD, Brother Petro, the Knight of Destruction, is the head of the Department of Inquisition. He fights with a giant mechanical lance called "The Screamer", and wears extensive, heavy armour. In the anime, his armor is equipped with a jet pack, while in the novels and manga he uses an experimental injection to give him vampire-like agility.

Brother Petro can be thick-headed and violent, with an intense hatred for vampires. When Father Abel Nightroad delayed his pursuit of Ion Fortuna, Brother Petro insisted on fighting Abel and won after Abel slipped and fell from a cliff. Brother Petro has a strong sense of honor and he threatened to kill one of his men who insulted Abel after his apparent death, saying that while misguided, he was still a brother under God. He also is extremely loyal to the Pope, above anyone else, feeling that the Pope is God's representative and that if he does not follow him, he would not be following God. Nor is he above showing reason or compassion, even for a Methuselah, and is seriously wounded trying to protect Ion Fortuna. Though he was a witness to Abel's Crusnik form during a battle with Radu, Petro has never mentioned it or appeared to be bothered by it.

orn 3036 AD at Krakow, Sister Paula Souwauski currently serves as the Vice Chief of the Inquisitorial Department, and is Brother Petro's second-in-command. Codenamed "Lady of Death", Paula is an extremely skilled mercenary who has taken many lives in her line of work. She first appears alongside Brother Philippo on a mission to Brno, to stop the machinations of former Archbishop Alphonso d'Este. Believing that all within the city were guilty of heresy, she attempted to activate a missile to destroy them all, but was eventually thwarted by Abel Nightroad and Vaclav Havel.

Although skilled with a variety of weapons, Paula claims in the novels that her true battle prowess lies in hand-to-hand combat, but she prefers to strike fear into her enemies through the use of weapons. She prefers to use her Moon Blades, two weapons with crescent shaped blades protruding from each side, that can be wielded like knives or thrown like shurikens. Even the Methuselah, Radu Barvon, was unable to detect her presence until she was ready to attack. Despite his enhanced abilities, she was easily able to outmaneuver him. In the anime series, she struck him with what appeared to be a killing blow during the Iblis incident, but Radu survived the wound. Her appearance in the Ibilis story arc is only in the Anime series.

Paula has an unwavering loyalty to the Church and believes that people are either with it or against it. She once stated that her mission was to "kill all heretics, regardless if they be man, woman, or child." Despite her ruthless nature, she is extremely loyal to her superiors, particularly Brother Petro and Cardinal Francesco. Her loyalty to Cardinal Francesco far exceeds that of her loyalty to the Pope, as seen during her mission in Brno when she was willing to let the young Pope die under orders from Francesco.

Augusta Vradica is the Empress of the New Human Empire. Her real name is Seth Nightroad. She is the youngest of the Nightroad siblings, and the third Crusnik. A member of the Alliance Aerospace Navy, Seth viewed Lilith as a mother figure and holds Abel in great sisterly affection. When Cain was fatally wounded in an accident, she injected him with 100% Crusnik, restoring his life, but changing him for the worse. After he killed Lilith during the war, Seth joined Abel in confronting him and together they succeeded in launching him out of an airlock.

Among the four Crusnik siblings, she has spent the most time with Methuselah, but like Abel, she does not feed on them. Around 800 years ago, Augusta Vradica led the Methuselah to the lands where the Empire would eventually stand, to save them from persecution. She helped restore nature back to the lands, returning them to their former glory before the Armageddon. She then became the Empress of the New Human Empire, ruling over her kingdom as the heart of the Empire itself. As the Empress, Seth is seen as a mother by her people, and treats her subjects as she would her own children. However, most of her courtiers and servants have never seen her before in all the centuries that they have served her, mainly due to the heavy veils she wears to cover her appearance as well as the use of a voice modifier. Though she does age, she still appears as a little girl, but is well over nine hundred years old. It is implied that she does not wish to declare war on the Vatican territories due to her brother's support of the humans. As his sister, she knows Abel very well, and has commented that he is quite popular with the girls for some unknown reason.

During a plot to overthrow her, Seth disguised herself as a tea-seller and a medical student in the human district of the capital city, Byzantium. During that time, she met Ion Fortuna and Sister Esther Blanchett, though neither knew who she was. She later alerted Abel and Asthe when Ion and Esther were in danger, and saved Esther from one of Dietrich's puppets.

When her Crusnik powers are activated, Seth's eyes turn red, her lips turn greenish-blue, her voice becomes deeper, wings styled like fairy-like prop from her back and a pair of giant tuning forks made of blood materialize in each of her hands. In this state, she can almost instantly disintegrate her enemies. Similar to Cain, her power appears be based on a manipulation of sound waves. She calls her technique "The Fire of Sound".

Born in 3045 AD, the Earl of Memphis and the Empress's Swords Keeper, Ion Fortuna is very young by Methuselah standards. The grandson of Mirka Fortuna, he is full of pride for both the Empire and his race, and is quite nimble and strong for his age. He is ordered by the Empress to act as an Imperial messenger and envoy to negotiate with the Vatican. Upon his arrival at the Vatican embassy of Carthage where Caterina was staying, the building caught fire, causing the Vatican's agents to believe that he was involved. He fled from Father Tres' gunfire, but was injured by a silver bullet. Abel and Esther established contact with Ion and Radu, and aided their escape through the underground passages beneath the city.

After learning Radu has betrayed him to the Rosenkreuz Orden, Ion is terribly saddened, but finds comfort in Esther's friendship. Initially, Ion holds strong prejudices against Terrans, but after his acquaintance and growing familiarity with Esther, his attitude changes considerably, from the once selfish and human-loathing character seen when he first shows up at the Vatican. Proved when the Puppet Master tries to control him, Ion attempts to commit suicide in order to stop himself from unwillingly killing Esther in a bloodthirsty rage, but is thwarted and saved from this fate by Father Nightroad. Ion seems to fall in love with her, though he does not tell her how he feels. Through his experiences with the treachery of the Order, Ion develops a growing desire for vengeance, and eventually joins Abel in his quest to destroy them.

Astharoshe "Asthe" Asran, Viscountess of Odessa and Duchess of Kiev, is an undercover agent for the New Human Empire. She is a direct, no-nonsense individual who has a very low opinion of Terrans, referring to them as barbaric and stupid, among other things. Her opinion of humans, however, seems to have primarily been formed through Empire propaganda combined with having little exposure to or understanding of humans. Asthe takes being called a "vampire" as an insulting slur, and only refers to herself as a Methuselah. Asthe fights with a weapon called the Sword of Gae Bolg. The most powerful close-combat weapon found amongst the Lost Technology relics, the sword uses ionized xenon gas to create a high-density, high-temperature plasma blade capable of cutting through anything.

Asthe's view of humans begins to change after she is sent to Venice to arrest Endre Kourza, a vampire mass murderer whose newest round of killings in Vatican territory could spur a war. As part of her mission, she is partnered with Father Abel Nightroad from the AX Agency. When the two find Endre, Asthe becomes solely focused on killing him because he murdered her partner. She is so blinded by her rage that she destroys the Rialto Bridge, killing and wounding many humans that had come for a festival. Abel also sustains injuries while protecting her from her own sword, which flew back at her in the explosion. She greatly regrets her actions, and keeps a better handle on her emotions when they go after Endre again and arrest him. Though she initially berated Abel for calling himself her partner, a word of special meaning to Asthe, at the end of the mission, he earned her respect enough for her to call him her partner. She also became more accepting and tolerating of humans in general.

Her partnership with Abel would become an important step in the secret peace negotiations between the Vatican and the Empire. She would later be assigned to shelter the Vatican diplomats and the Earl of Memphis after the Rosenkreuz Orden's attempt to assassinate Cardinal Caterina. Through this turn of events, Asthe would also become a core Empire representative in the question to stop the Rosenkreuz Orden's continued efforts to start another war between the Methuselah and Terrans.

In the novels, the partner that Endre killed was the Countess Len Yearnoshe, however in the anime series, her partner is changed to a male and it is implied that they were lovers.

The oldest of the Test Tube Babies, Cain is often seen as Abel's elder twin. He was once the gentle, beloved leader of the Mars Colonization Project, until an accident killed him. Seth injected him with the Crusnik nanonmachines which saved his life, but also drove him insane. In the war following the return of the colonialists to Earth, he and Abel took the side of the vampire returners. When Lilith's influence made Abel question their choice, Cain killed her. Furious, Abel and Seth confronted their brother, pushing Cain out of the space ship and into the atmosphere. His body burned into a pile of ash. Cain was able to regenerate his body from the ash, however, he sometimes has difficulty holding his makeshift body together.

Nine hundred years later, he met Isaak Fernand von Kämpfer. Together, they took over the Rosenkreuz Orden, a small, insignificant organization in Berlin that consisted of enemies of the Vatican. Through Cain and Isaak's charisma and power, the Orden grew into the world's leading terrorist organization. Cain's motivations are unclear, but he seems bent on the destroying humanity and the world. His subjects refer to him as "Mein Herr" which is German for "My Lord." He is also referred to as "Mein Herr Contra Mundi", German for "My Lord Against the World". His most popular title, however, appears to be Contra Mundi.

Once his brother Abel learns Cain is alive, Abel's primary goal becomes to kill Cain once and for all. When Cain leads the Rosenkreuz Orden on an attack of Albion, the two brothers have their first clash and Cain kills Abel with relative ease due to his higher Crusnik fusion level and Esther's sudden appearance, that distracted Abel. Realizing Abel had destroyed the control panels of the rocket, he plans to merge himself with Abel's body to get the access codes from Abel's memory. However, Abel is revived with Lilith's nanomachines thanks to Caterina and Tres. This puts Abel at the same power level as Cain and their next clash ends in a draw. Accompanied by Ion Fortuna, Abel has pledged to hunt Cain for eternity, if need be, until he is destroyed.

When his Crusnik powers are activated, Cain's lips and eyes turn red, his hands grow blue claws, he grows four white wings, and a black lance materializes in his hands. In this state, he can generate destructive red energy. When not in Crusnik form, he appears to have the power to launch a destructive and invisible force from his hands and to possess super strength. Among the four Crusniks, Cain is the only one who has fused 100% with his nanomachines in the novels, however in the anime Abel also achieves 100% fusion, without the insanity, after being infused with Lilith's nanomachines.

Born 3042, Dietrich joined the Orden at the age of 7, and by the age of 10 he had earned a high ranking position. Before joining the Orden, he was the son of the Duke of Germanicus. As a child, he was avoided for his unusual intelligence, and his evil nature. It was for this reason that his father tried to kill him. He failed, and Dietrich killed him along with the rest of his family. After slaughtering his family, Dietrich took over as ruler, and continued living in his home. He continued terrorizing the villagers, until the day he met Cain and Isaak, and joined the Rosenkreuz Orden. Dietrich is the only known Terran in the Orden, and believes that his involvement has a great purpose for the world.

He is extremely beautiful and is said to have the face of an angel but the heart of the devil. Known and feared for his extreme sadism, Dietrich seems to view the world and people in it as his personal toys for use to relieve his constant boredom. After meeting Esther Blanchett, he seems to develop a mild obsession with her, delighting in taunting her and calling her name whenever he is around her. That doesn't stop him from sending Ion into a blood thirst while he's locked up with Esther in the dungeons below the palace. He then gives Esther the option of dying at Ion's hands or killing Ion to save herself.

Dietrich, also known as the Marionettenspieler (Puppet Master), is the creator of the Order's foot soldiers, which he affectionately refers to as Death Hunters. These puppets are vampire corpses that are controlled using a lost technology that utilizes thin string-like living fibers transplanted on the skin. Once fused into the nervous system, the fibers sends out electrical impulses which allows the "puppeteer" to control his victim's nervous system and senses. This ability can be used on living beings as well, forcing the person under his control to perform tasks against their will. Despite his skills with Lost Technology, it is said that his most fearsome trait is his ability to play with the hearts of other people.

In the anime series, Dietrich fails to gain control of a rocket during a mission in Albion and Cain kills him for his failure. However, this does not happen in the novels, as Dietrich survives.

An inventor of the Rosenkreuz Orden, Isaak is also called Panzer Magier. Isaak is the vampire who is responsible for making Cain's current body, which had been permanently damaged by Seth and Abel 900 years ago. Despite his many talents, Isaak is somewhat of a mystery and has gone by many aliases in the past. He used to study at London University under the name of Isaac Butler, and was involved in the incident which killed William's fiancé and led to both to them being expelled. Since he met Cain, Isaak takes care of Cain's regeneration and leads the Orden with him, though his true motivation for doing so is unknown. He enjoys smoking cigarillos and quoting works of literature. Issak does not usually appear in public, preferring to let others carry out his plans. When he does move to the front lines, he shows excellent battle prowess and is not easily defeated.

Isaak possesses many talents and is well versed in the use of Lost Technologies. His primary weapon is an attack called the Arrow of Belial, a massive sphere of light that shoots a multitude of energy bolts at his opponent. He also possesses the ability to project a nearly impenetrable electromagnetic wall, known as the Shield of Asmoday, around his body. This defense can be utilized at will and is capable of blocking almost any assault. In addition, Isaak created artificial demons that he can summon into battle to aid him. He has two kinds of demons: dwarfs called the "Schatten Kobolds" that appear to be little devils concealing their forms in Kämpfer's shadow, and knomes, monstrous worm-like creatures with the ability to tunnel through the ground at amazing speeds. The latter only appear in the novels. He also employs the use of thin mono-carbon fibers, called the Sword of Beelzebub, which are strong enough to cut through the hardest diamond, thus making for another formidable weapon.

According to the novels, Dietrich von Lohengrin is Isaak's protege and it is probably under his tutelage that Dietrich gained the knowledge to create the Death Hunters. Isaak is last seen piloting the Orden's air ship while leading an attack on the city of Londinium in Albion. Through the combined efforts of the Church and the Kingdom of Albion, the ship was destroyed, presumably killing him in the explosion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Trinity_Blood_characters