The Volunteers •
Mr. Sellars—a mysterious man kept under house arrest on a US Military base. He is responsible for recruiting people to infiltrate Otherland and uncover its secrets. Although mentally tortured by the danger to which he has submitted them, he affectionately refers to them as his volunteers and tries to aid them in every way possible. •
Paul Jonas—a British man trapped in Otherland and pursued by the Grail Brotherhood for unknown reasons. He suffers from a hypnotic blocking of his memories. Both the Twins and a strange woman (whom he dubs the Angel) seem to be seeking him out, but for very different purposes. •
Irene (Renie) Sulaweyo—a South African
Zulu woman and a college professor in Durban. After her younger brother, to whom she is a surrogate mother, falls into a coma, she begins a search for answers. Renie is headstrong, and other characters constantly refer to her tendency towards action over contemplation. •
ǃXabbu—a Kalahari
San and a friend of Renie. He was originally Renie's student, learning how to control virtual reality from her in order to create a simulation that would preserve his dying culture. He is known for his ability to tell engaging folktales that offer new insights into situations. •
Orlando Gardiner—a young boy suffering from
progeria who is drawn to Otherland while playing a virtual reality
MMORPG called
Middle Country, in which he is the Barbarian hero Thargor. •
Salome (Sam) Fredericks—Orlando's best friend, though the two have never met in person. In
Middle Country, Sam goes under the alias of Pithlit the thief. Though Sam is actually female, she uses exclusively male aliases, leading to a lot of confusion about her real gender. •
Martine Desroubins—a blind French researcher who is able to sense the online world through a complex
synesthesia, around which she has built her personal machine. Though deprived of sight, she is often able to sense things that her companions cannot. •
Singh—Known better by the name "Blue Dog
Anchorite", who is the only surviving member of the group of technicians that designed Otherland and a well-known member of Treehouse. •
Florimel—A German woman who is just as strong-willed as Renie, although not as forthright with her story and motivation. •
Quan Li—A Chinese grandmother who sought out answers after her granddaughter fell into a coma. •
Sweet William-an elderly British man wearing the avatar of a vampire. He and Martine seem to know each other. Like Florimel, he is also silent about his personal life. •
Javier "T4b" Rodgers—a goggleboy who speaks in badly mangled net-slang and wears the armor of a robot or a space-age warrior. Like Florimel and Sweet William, he does not volunteer any information—not that anyone except Orlando and Fredericks could understand him even if he did. He is a suspected charge-head—someone who takes data-based drugs.
The Grail Brotherhood and associates •
Félix Jongleur (Osiris)—the wealthy head of the Grail Brotherhood, a powerful organization that employs assassins in order to guard its secrecy. The oldest living man, his motives remain unclear. • Robert Wells (Ptah)—head of the Telemorphix Corporation and one of the wealthiest men in the world. He tries to wrest power from Jongleur. • Daniel Yacoubian (Horus)—A US Military general who is involved in the power plays in the Grail Brotherhood. • Jiun Bhao (Thoth)—a wealthy Asian businessman who is second in power only to Jongleur. • Ricardo Klement (Khepera)- the first member to attempt the grail process. • Johnny "Dread" Wulgaru (Anubis)—a half-Aboriginal Australian psychopath obsessed with rape and murder, employed as an assassin by the Grail Brotherhood. He possesses the ability to mentally interfere with machines, allowing him to do many seemingly impossible things. He refers to this ability as his twist. • Dulcinea (Dulcie) Anwin—an associate of Dread's whose specialty is hacking through security systems and gaining information. After the events of the Sky God Project, she is drawn into the events surrounding Dread and Otherland. • Hideki Kunohara—a Japanese man of unknown allegiances who nevertheless owns private space on the Otherland network. • Bolivar Atasco (Shu)—A Colombian man who contributed to the Otherland Network in order to build a simulation in which Meso-America became a world power. He agreed to work with Sellars behind the Grail Brotherhood's backs.
Inside Otherland • The Other—the strange entity that is the secret and backbone of Otherland. • The Twins—two men, one monstrously fat and the other painfully skinny, who appear in different incarnations throughout the network. They pursue Paul Jonas relentlessly. • The Angel—a woman who also appears in different incarnations. She seems to have a particular affinity for Paul Jonas, although she also appears to other characters to give them guidance. • Gally—a young boy who travels with Paul. He is neither a puppet (non-sentient character) nor a citizen (a human wearing an avatar). • Azador—a Romany so stereotypical that he is almost amusing. He knows a great deal about the Otherland network, although he is unwilling to share his information. • Emily 22813—a young woman originally thought to be a puppet who nonetheless is able to cross world boundaries. She is pregnant, and she claims that Azador is the father. • Nandi Paradivash-an Indian man, a devotee of Krishna, and a member of the Circle, a secret organization of people from all faiths at odds with the Grail Brotherhood. • Bonita Mae Simpkins-an African American woman, a Christian, and a member of the Circle.
In the real world • Long Joseph Sulaweyo—Renie's father, an alcoholic and terribly incapable of managing his life. • Jeremiah Dako—the former housekeeper of Susan Van Bleeck who joins Renie and her father after Susan is murdered. He and Joseph do not get along but are forced to make common cause with one another. • Del Ray Chiume—Renie's ex-boyfriend, an employee of the UN. Renie goes to him asking for help, unaware of what the help will cost him. • Decatur (Catur) Ramsey—a lawyer under the employ of Sam Fredericks's parents. He begins to research Tandagore Syndrome and eventually ends up uniting people for common causes in the real world. • Beezle Bug—a cartoon bug-shaped piece of data-retrieval gear owned by Orlando that shows remarkable reasoning skills and a level of intelligence that approaches sentience. • Olga Pirofsky—One of the many actors for the Net-based interactive character Uncle Jingle. She is a widow, having lost her husband and son about 30 years prior to the beginning of the series. While working as Uncle Jingle, she begins having headaches. As she researches Tandagore Syndrome, which she suspects she has, she begins to learn of the children who are falling into comas around the world. • Calliope Skouros—a Greek-Australian detective who is assigned a 5-year old unsolvable murder case. As she researches, she begins to notice similarities between this murder and the MO of a famous serial killer (Dread). • Christabel Sorensen—a girl of approximately 7 or 8 years who has a special friendship with the strange old man Mr. Sellars. She is unaware that Sellars is under house arrest, and willingly helps him with his plans. • Cho-Cho—a 10-year-old street boy of Mexican descent who sneaks onto the army base while Christabel is trying to help Mr. Sellars. He becomes involved with Sellars's experiments. ==Adaptations==