[Espy]

mdom is the eccentric llama-herder who travels all across the land. The first you hear about her is from ambient dialogue between two NPCs; apparently mdom had visited the town just a couple days ago, and the entire populace had come to see her and her llama's traveling act. The dialogue also hints that mdom might be more than just a simple shepherd, and you can use the keyphrase "Traveling Llama-herder" with other NPCs to gain more information.

Eventually, you track down mdom to a roadside inn, and after being sent on a fetch quest to retrieve salve for her llamas, she lets you in on the secret that she's actually a superb healer, having learned the art of healing as an apprentice to an elderly witch in the mountains. From then on, you're able to teleport directly to her, and have your entire party healed and buffed once a day.

[Potironette]

Espy is a figure that flickers on the mech shop once in a while. You wonder what's going on with the computer screen before forgetting about it, figuring that the figure is just a badly connected video chat with the store owner.

Turns out, it is a badly connected video chat, and one day when you're in the store, as a randomly triggered event, the store owner sees Espy flickering on the video screen too! The owner is suddenly very excited and you have no idea why.

A chain quest is triggered! Espy is a special NPC that has been reported as "missing" from the world for a rather long time. Now, the mech shop owner provides you a series of quests to locate where Espy went.

After doing many useless tasks such as running all over the world for oil, sheet metal, and paint, the mech owner builds a mech that sends you off into another dimension where you find Espy dismantling and incinerating monsters with a giant laser gun.

A new story quest is triggered! And Espy sends you off collecting monster parts for research, in which you try as best as you're able (which is not very good) to keep the monsters you kill intact. After many failed attempts from which you earn experience, Espy gives up on you and sends you off on a new mission--to go back and tell the mech owner about the new planet.

You go back and recount the story, leaving the part out about how keeping monster parts intact was too difficult, and now have access to another dimension--whose quest-giver is Espy.

[Niyo]

That one NPC every thinks is a glitch of some sort.

[TwinkleQueen]

The hacker trying to crack the code!

[SparX]

The princess who gives you the longest quest of your life

[Isis]

The demon enemy who shows up in groups of 3-5 of itself and is considered one of the most tricky opponents in the game - their combination of long-range spear attacks keeps your units at bay, while their longer-ranged butterflies sap your mp.

[Major]

Hmmmm... The mysterious monster-child-trickster who may or may not be your friend! D:

[SparX]

The super spy

[Serra Britt]

The sacrificial girl from the harpy village, chosen in an effort to ward off even greater evil, but saved by the idealistic hero.

[Isis]

The NPC who runs the ranch. Whenever you catch a monster ally, it is sent to the ranch. She only runs it during the day though - at night, she is at the hot springs.

[Lanfear]

The unassuming npc that stumbles upon some artifact of power, gets possessed by an eldritch entity and vanishes into the nearest dungeon; making everyone in their small village worried sick and unaware of the depth of the problem, thus they scrounge together a reward for any hero brave enough to go rescue you..
or accidentally fall face first into a giant evil plot for the destruction or dominance of the world they know and love.

[bluebird]

A Valkyrie guarding the gates of Valhalla.

[Espy]

An exiled noble, banished from court due to what others saw as a propensity for necromancy. You're first introduced to her through whispers and rumors of a crazed witch ("Didn't Aeron say that witch used to be some uppity noble lady, or somesuch?") living in the forest, but you only meet her in person much later, during a quest involving a curse on one of the party members.

While running errands for her to gather the supplies needed to cure the party member, you realize that Bluebird's skills aren't the usual raising-of-the-dead type of necromancy that the more superstitious peasantry is afraid of, but rather a sort of magic having to do with communing with the aspects of death inherent in nature. As such, the local fauna is drawn to Bluebird, as opposed to repulsed from a normal practitioner of necromancy.

Your party's second run-in with Bluebird starts with a pitchfork-armed mob surging through the forest towards her dwelling. She has no trouble defending herself, but the mob refuses to listen to her explanations that she is no, in fact, a necromancy-practicing witch. They're only calmed down and dissuaded from further witchhunts when you speak with them, and afterwards, Bluebird joins your party as a rather unconventional healer.

EDIT: (guys come on, you don't gotta write a friggin essay like I did, come back)

[bluebird]

@edit: XD
*golf claps* I want this riveting prose on my wall.

The avatar above me is a shapeshifting earth guardian, angered by humankind's encroaching greed.

[Espy]

I was about to say the protag, duh, but you changed your avi.

You're the NPC boyfrand of the drider who's the actual party member. Strider's basically your stereotypical shy/quiet healer except he fuckin has eight legs. Terrify spells are for wusses.

[bluebird]

*cackles* going thru an identity crisis with my avis rn

you are a lonesome renegade with a mysterious past. you don't have many belongings because you don't stay in one place for too long, and because you have your own quest (probably one of uncovering who murdered your loved ones even though it's been many years, but no one knows for sure).
To fuel your quest, you freelance on the side despite the questionable ethics of some jobs such as assassination. It doesn't bother you unless it's something that hits close to home, and it's enough that you just end up assassinating the requester or leave the job altogether. Luckily, the job this time is one of the lighter ones. You signed up to help the protagonist(s) to safely cross to the next village/metropolis. You'll be stuck in this area for a while as you scout for information, so if the protagonist(s) revisit this area and need you on call again, you'll be here (until you're not).