The Gate of the Feral Gods

Matt Dinniman

The Gate of the Feral Gods

Matt Dinniman
65 pages2-hour read
Fiction
Novel
Adult
Published in 2021

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Character List

Meet the key characters, with insights into their roles, motivations, and relationships—spoiler-free.

Major Characters

Carl is an ex-Coast Guardsman forced to compete in a lethal, galaxy-wide reality show following Earth's destruction. Operating under the "Compensated Anarchist" class, he relies on explosives, brute force, and an intuitive understanding of physics to survive. His primary motivation is protecting his found family, which places him in a reluctant leadership position among the surviving humans. He openly opposes the dungeon's controlling system and attempts to use its own mechanics against it.

Key Relationships

Best friend of Donut

Ally and friend of Katia

Client and ally of Mordecai

Ex-boyfriend of Beatrice Varr

Enemy of Loita

Managed crawler of Zev

Donut is a highly intelligent, talking feline who formerly competed as a prize-winning show cat on Earth. In the dungeon, she utilizes her high charisma and magical aptitude to support the party during combat and negotiations. While she maintains a vain and occasionally demanding exterior, she is fiercely protective of her friends. Her popularity among the intergalactic audience makes her a prime target for corporate sponsorships and marketing exploitation.

Key Relationships

Best friend of Carl

Close ally of Katia

Advised by Mordecai

Protective mother figure to Mongo

Katia is a shapeshifting doppelganger and a core member of Carl's party. Having lost her original physical form, she uses her adaptable nature to serve as the group's scout, infiltrator, and situational combatant. She approaches problems with a methodical, observant mindset that balances the impulsive tendencies of her companions. Her Pathfinder skills and burgeoning engineering knowledge make her an indispensable asset to the team's survival strategy.

Key Relationships

Ally and friend of Carl

Close ally of Donut

Former friend of Eva

Tactical associate of Gwendolyn Duet

Mordecai is a changeling and former dungeon manager who now serves as an advisor to Carl's group. Stripped of his original form and full abilities by the system, he relies on his encyclopedic knowledge of the dungeon's mechanics to keep his current charges alive. He operates with a cynical, world-weary pragmatism born from years of trauma within the gameshow. Despite his pessimistic outlook, he works tirelessly to craft potions and reverse-engineer weapons for the party.

Key Relationships

Manager and advisor to Carl

Advisor to Donut

Suspicious fellow changeling of Juice Box

Supporting Characters

Chris is a former retirement home maintenance worker who entered the dungeon alongside his brother and friends. Following his brother's death and a shift to the Igneous racial class, he undergoes a drastic personality change, adopting a violent and isolated approach to survival. He operates independently in the dungeon's harsh environments, acting erratically and pushing away those who once considered him an ally.

Key Relationships

Former ally of Carl

Darkly connected to Maggie My

Original party member of Imani

Maggie is a grieving widow who entered the dungeon and actively seeks revenge for the demise of her husband, Frank. Sponsored by powerful entities like the Skull Empire, she utilizes covert methods and deadly artifacts to target her enemies. Her pursuit of vengeance consumes her entirely, making her a persistent and unseen threat to other participants attempting to survive the gameshow's trials.

Key Relationships

Vengeful enemy of Carl

Darkly connected to Chris Andrews 2

Juice Box is a changeling sex worker residing in the Dromedarian settlement of Hump Town. She possesses the rare and dangerous ability to shapeshift rapidly, making her far more formidable than her basic level suggests. Initially presenting as a self-interested survivor trying to endure the oppressive conditions of the bubble, she holds valuable local intelligence regarding the town's political secrets and hidden populations.

Key Relationships

Ally and informant to Carl

Sister of Henrik

Romantic interest of Louis Santiago 2

Fellow changeling of Mordecai

Louis is a crawler who accidentally entered the dungeon by driving his convertible van into the initial collapse. Overwhelmed by the lethal environment, he largely squanders his potential and uses his legendary-tier spell, Cloud of Exhaust, merely to escape conflicts rather than win them. He spends much of his time seeking comfort in taverns until he is forced to sober up and contribute to the broader survival effort.

Key Relationships

Best friend of Firas M.

Reluctant follower of Carl

Romantic interest of Juice Box

Firas is a low-level crawler who prefers to hide from the dungeon's horrors rather than confront them. Equipped with a useful teleportation spell called Puddle Jumper, he uses his magic primarily to assist his friend Louis in running away from hostile encounters. Like his companion, he requires harsh intervention from Carl's party to realize that passive avoidance is no longer a viable survival strategy on the fifth floor.

Key Relationships

Best friend of Louis Santiago 2

Reluctant follower of Carl

Gwendolyn, often called Gwen, is a human fighter leading her own team of crawlers through the dungeon's fifth floor. She approaches the game's challenges with a pragmatic, direct mindset, preferring straightforward solutions to complex puzzles. This straightforward philosophy often causes friction when she is required to coordinate with other groups who employ more convoluted, high-risk strategies to bypass the system's intended mechanics.

Key Relationships

Allied crawler with Carl

Tactical associate of Katia

Commander of Tran

Loita is a hostile AI administrator working for the Borant Corporation, the entity running the dungeon gameshow. She views the human crawlers with intense disdain, considering them little more than disposable entertainment and a cultural contagion. She actively enforces the show's commercial obligations, ensuring that popular participants generate revenue for corporate sponsors regardless of their personal safety or dignity.

Key Relationships

Hostile administrator to Carl

Exploitative manager of Donut

Hostile superior to Zev

Zev is a Borant employee who previously served as the public relations agent for Carl and Donut. Following undisclosed threats against her family by the corporation, she is forced back into line and restricted in how she can assist the crawlers. Despite her limited capacity, she attempts to provide subtle guidance and warnings to the party, operating in a precarious position between her corporate employers and the humans she manages.

Key Relationships

Social media manager of Carl

Public relations agent for Donut

Subordinate to Loita

Odette is a highly influential intergalactic media personality who previously hosted a popular broadcast featuring dungeon participants. She operates with her own hidden agenda, utilizing agents outside the dungeon to secure valuable assets on the ruined surface of Earth. She views the gameshow and its survivors not merely as entertainment, but as pieces in a larger, complex scheme that she manipulates from afar.

Key Relationships

Employer of Lexis

Unknown pursuer of Beatrice Varr

Beatrice, known as Bea, is Carl's ex-girlfriend and Donut's original owner. While she is not actively participating in the dungeon crawl, she attempts to survive in the ruined settlements of Earth alongside a new companion and a stray cat. Her existence on the surface makes her a valuable target for illegal bounty hunters looking to capture humans for the Syndicate's entertainment purposes.

Key Relationships

Ex-girlfriend of Carl

Former owner of Donut

Survival companion of Brad

Target of Odette

Henrik is a Dromedarian official in Hump Town who secretly leads a sect of Changeling Principals. He uses his position and fabricated persona to harbor his people, who are refugees seeking a cure for a generational birth defect. To maintain the town's safety from aerial bombardment, he orchestrates a complex daily deception to convince hostile gnomes that a crucial hostage is still alive.

Key Relationships

Brother of Juice Box

Temporary ally of Carl

Captor of Wynne

Wynne is a high-level Dirigible Gnome held hostage by the Dromedarians. His continued survival is the only leverage Hump Town holds to prevent the gnomish forces from carpet-bombing their settlement. Due to the spells placed upon him by his captors, he remains in a compromised state, entirely dependent on outside forces for his rescue or execution.

Key Relationships

Hostage of Henrik

Inspection subject of Leon

Rescue target of Carl

Leon the Commissar is a gnomish ambassador and enforcer representing the floating fortress known as the Wasteland. He approaches his duties with a gleeful anticipation of violence, eager for any excuse to order the bombardment of the settlements below. He utilizes specific magical spells to detect changeling deception, making him a dangerous obstacle for anyone attempting to negotiate with the gnomish military.

Key Relationships

Inspector of Wynne

Subordinate to Commandant Kane

Antagonized by Carl

Commandant Kane is the military leader of the Dirigible Gnomes stationed in the Air Quadrant. He commands the massive floating fortress that threatens the desert settlements below and coordinates the aggressive bombing campaigns. Despite his militaristic role, he maintains a surprisingly domestic personal space within the dungeon, raising his young daughter during the ongoing violence of the gameshow.

Key Relationships

Father of Bonnie

Commander of Leon

Rival of Ghazi

Bonnie is the young daughter of Commandant Kane. She lives an isolated existence inside a mundane house tethered to a giant balloon high above the dungeon floor. Subjected to the traumatic violence of the gameshow and manipulated by magical potions, she exists in a state of confused grief following a brutal attack on her home by a feral boss monster.

Key Relationships

Daughter of Commandant Kane

Future ward of Juice Box

Comforted by Carl

Known as the Mad Dune Mage, Ghazi is a human magic-user trapped in a hermetically sealed ecosystem within the Land Quadrant. He accidentally summoned a dangerous minor deity while attempting to magically animate a personal companion device. Driven to erratic behavior by his isolation and magical blunders, he holds a critical piece of a world-altering artifact while attempting to manage the lethal consequences of his failed spellcasting.

Key Relationships

Accidental husband of Mrs. Ghazi

Rival of Commandant Kane

Attacked by Carl

Orren is a Syndicate Liaison acting as an investigator for the entities running the dungeon. Though he appears in a humanoid guise, he is actually a Valtay worm operating from within a liquid-filled bowl. He constructs elaborate, highly technical theories to explain unexpected events within the game, completely unable to comprehend that crawlers might simply break the rules using mundane sabotage.

Key Relationships

Investigator of Carl

Colleague of Loita