Daniel Edwards

Name: Daniel Edwards
Age: 21 years old (in 1918, during the Great War)
Sex: Male
Nationality: British 🇬🇧
Birthday: November 14 (1897)
Sexuality: Heterosexual
Height: 1.78 m
Marital status: Single
Rank: Private / Tank Driver
Status: Alive

A young man with fair skin, short brown hair swept to one side, and blue-gray eyes. His gaze is expressive but weary from the horrors of the front. He is athletic but not overly muscular. He wears the uniform of a British Army tank crewman (Royal Tank Regiment), with a heavy jacket, leather straps, and is almost always covered in soot, engine grease, and the thick mud of France.

Reserved, humble, and initially nervous and insecure as the group's rookie, he demonstrates tremendous courage and composure under pressure. He is extremely loyal to his superiors and comrades. He doesn't aspire to be a legendary hero; he simply wants to fulfill his duty, protect his fellow soldiers, and escape that hell alive.

Likes: Engine mechanics, fixing things, tranquility, loyalty, peaceful moments with a cup of tea, and the Black Bess tank.
Dislikes: German anti-tank guns, the tank's engine shutting down in the middle of a firefight, enemy artillery, the unbearable mud of Cambrai, and losing his friends on the battlefield.

Before going to war, he was a simple civilian driver and mechanic in England. He was drafted and sent to the Western Front in France in 1918. With hardly any experience in actual combat, he was assigned at the last minute to the crew of the Mark V tank called "Black Bess" to replace its former driver, who had been killed. At the Battle of Cambrai, he had to learn the hard way what trench warfare meant.

Captain Townsend
Full name: Captain Townsend (his first name is never mentioned in the game).
Rank: Captain / Commander of the Black Bess tank.
Mini History and Relationship: He is a stern, methodical leader, extremely dedicated to the British Crown. Townsend is the tank commander and is never willing to surrender. Initially, he puts a lot of pressure on Edwards because he is the inexperienced replacement, but he quickly begins to trust him at the wheel. Edwards has enormous, almost reverential, respect for him; for him, Townsend is the voice of reason and firm authority amidst the chaos.

Private McManus
Full name: Private McManus.
Rank: Soldier / Port Gunner (left gun/machine gunner).
Mini History and Relationship: He is a veteran Scottish soldier, cynical, grumpy, and openly pessimistic. At first, he treats Edwards with pure contempt and distrust, thinking that as an inexperienced rookie, he will only get them all killed. As they advance through the mud and survive impossible ambushes, McManus eventually develops respect and affection for Edwards, becoming an extremely protective comrade.

Private Finch
Full name: Private Finch.
Rank: Soldier / Mechanic and starboard gunner.
Mini History and Relationship: He is the youngest and friendliest member of the crew before Edwards' arrival. Finch is a kind-hearted young man who tries to keep the peace between the grumpy McManus and the captain. He quickly forms an empathetic friendship with Edwards from the very beginning, connecting with him because they have calmer and less aggressive personalities than the rest of the veterans.

Lieutenant Pritchard
Full name: Lieutenant Pritchard.
Rank: Lieutenant in the British Army.
Mini History and Relationship: He is the senior quartermaster officer at the deployment camp. He is the one who assigns Edwards his position as the new driver of Black Bess just before the major Cambrai offensive. Although his interaction with Edwards is brief, it represents the exact moment when Edwards' civilian life was left behind to enter the hell of war.

Black Bess

Model and Type: British Mark V "Macho" Heavy Tank (Mark V Male Landship) of World War I.

Dimensions and Weight: A steel behemoth weighing over 29 tons, with gigantic metal caterpillar tracks designed to cross trenches and thick mud.

Armament:
2 x 6-pound (57 mm) cannons mounted in the side sponsons.

4 Hotchkiss .303 machine guns to repel enemy infantry at close range.

Atmosphere: There is no separation between the enormous 150-horsepower Ricardo engine and the crew. The interior is stifling, exceeding 45°C, sticky, and saturated with gunpowder smoke, diesel exhaust fumes, grease, and sweat.

It's an almost pitch-black space, illuminated only by tiny slits and the engine's glow. The engine noise and the impact of bullets ricocheting off the outer armor are deafening; to communicate, you have to shout in someone's ear.