Marina

Buddy Armstrong, also known to her fans as Marina is babygirl. That is all.

Lore
Buddy was born in the joy lab of Principum Vitae within Olathe, where her lineage had been practicing archaic, but brutal and cruel rites and rituals in order to appease the Infinity Commanders of old in the past. Her father is the current leading Joyboy.

Her mother was not an active participant of these rituals, and so wanted Buddy not to follow in the footsteps of her father. The life of a dark priest was cruel and a lifetime of servitude to gods of old was not what her mother wanted for her child. It is alluded that she was born male, but Buddy's mother then made her look like a girl before her father or anyone else had a chance to see Buddy. Luckily, this worked because the internet didn't exist yet.

She would grow up in a joy lab of Olathe, and would go off into an orthodox path different from that of the male dark priests. From here, her skills of being a talented joy dealer would be noticed by Downtown Infinity and their Ministry of Joy Dealing. They even offered her to come and study over there, a scholarship of sorts to learn more about her dark arts. She would take this chance to leave Olathe, wanting to leave her father's piercing and watchful gaze of scrutiny and jealousy and freely express herself, unlike that of being near by family. Her mother would be proud of her, as she always was. So. Freaking. Wholesome.

From there in Downtown Infinity, she would learn and continue to refine her art of occultism for some time considering she did say that it felt like a lifetime coming back to Olathe. She had to go back to that forsaken place somewhere in the Eastern Union because she was sent a letter by her father, informing her of her mother's death in an uncaring manner. Not only was it suspicious, as the two didn't have any sort of connection since Buddy left for Downtown Infinity, but also that he was not acting so worried for his wife. Buddy did think something was wrong because her father was obsessed with blood magic and some blood magic techniques often demanded the blood of loved ones. She would go back, preparing herself to find out what has happened to her family in Olathe.

Little did she know of a bigger scheme that was going on and that she will play a part in as one of Termina's contestants...

In the character creation she will have the option to start with the skills: Engrave or Necromancy. Depending on the options picked she will also start with an alchemy book or a god-related book, learning the respective engraving symbol. Should the player choose anyone else as the player character, she will have Engrave by default if you recruit her.

Traits
Buddy is incapable of wielding two-handed weapons, but she can utilize guns.

If not the main character, Buddy will join the party with two learned skills: Pyromancy trick, a damaging spell that can also cause the burning status effect, and Engrave, a skill that will permanently increase a default attribute, once per character - as long as one finds the Skin Bibles required for each attribute.

Engrave: Gods, Skin Bibles and Stats
All skin bibles are available as bookshelf loot or as a trade to Pocketcat for 3 contestant heads. Buddy can also start with one random skin bible by selecting "Something to Read" on choice 3 of her character history. Olivia can start with Vinushka's skin bible based on her character choices and O'ssa can start with either Gro-Goroth, Rher, or Sylvain Skin bible based on his choices

Character History Choices
Character choice 1: What did you study?


 * 1) Occultism - Gain [engrave] skill.
 * 2) Alchemy - Gain [Alchemilla vol 1] and [Alchemilla vol 2] books.
 * 3) Blood magic - Gain [necromancy] skill/spell.

Character choice 2: What God did you study?


 * 1) Pick one out of the 6 Gods and gain affinity with the God.

Character choice 3: What did you bring to Olathe?


 * 1) Medical goods - Gain 2 [blue vials] and 1 [cloth fragment].
 * 2) Something to read - Gain [skin bible of a random God] book.
 * 3) Food - Gain 2 [dried meats] and 1 [moldy bread].

Skip Character History


 * Necromancy and Engrave skill
 * 1 chalk, 1 blue vial (4 on Easy), 1 moldy bread

Location and recruitment
Buddy will address the player character once they step off the train. She will reveal that she is a local of Olathe and an joy dealer if asked about the dream when spoken to. She can be found soon after carving a ritual circle in the train cabin, which will be available for use later.

Her location in the game afterwards changes drastically according to Henryk's fate in Day 1:


 * If the player wishes to have Abella, Buddy, and Levi in their party all they would have to do is kill moonscorched Henryk in the evening of day 1 before he kidnaps Buddy, thus negating the need to moonscorch Levi and be able to recruit him as well.


 * If Henryk turns into his moonscorched form he will kidnap Buddy during Day 1 Night and keep her as a prisoner in the upstairs bedroom of the Mayor's Manor, where the door would either need to be broken down or opened with a small key or lockpicking. If recruited here she will disappear from the party as soon as the player reaches the slums or the city gates. When playing as Levi, she can be permanently recruited and will not leave the party.
 * Buddy then can only be permanently recruited if the player avoids recruiting Levi, but takes the time to save him from Caligura's attack on Day 2 Morning at the west part of Olathe. Then, a scene at Day 2 Evening at the West part of Olathe where Karin and Buddy avoid the attacks of the Weeping Scope, a recently Moonscorched Levi, will take place. Both women will be available for recruitment afterwards, while the Weeping Scope will flee to the Orphanage. Buddy will be in the library to the west of Main Junction.
 * If the player breaks Henryk's trance before he turns or kills him when he is moonscorched before the night of day 1 Buddy will leave the train at Day 1 Night and move to the Bookstore on Main Junction. If the player mentions their wish for visiting the joy lab of Principum Vitae to her at this place, Buddy will initially refuse the offer of going together, but will meet the player at the joy lab's entrance.
 * She will be permanently recruited if the player has a free party slot.

Trivia

 * (Revise later) Anyone know why her hair becomes white in her enemy and Moonscorched sprites (though it may be related to how Enki's hair is also white in some way) Note: She also seems to have white hair in ending 3.
 * If you can't find Buddy on day 3 to kill her (she might also leave your party), she will attack you at the exit from Level 2 of Principum Vitae joy lab.
 * It is possible that the "bug" with Buddy disappearing and only seemingly reappearing from nowhere with Karin is unfinished content as even in the shootout with The Weeping Scope Buddy is nowhere to be found.
 * When found in the Mayor's house she'll mention that it is a Tuesday. There seems to be no other way to check the current date of the events other than this bit of dialogue.
 * It is possible after the ending B epilogue as Buddy, the photobombed figure might be Samarie herself, though she is supposed to be dead in this route.
 * It might be a doppelganger of Samarie, since doppelgangers are known to mimic and copy the person they are supposed to replace.
 * In the demo, using the soul stone on her if she died would reveal that she has an Enlightened soul, similar to Enki as they both learned about blood magic at an early point in their lives. Though this is likely because the souls new to Termina were not in the game at the time.
 * Buddy's name, which is a feminine version of the Classical/Vulgar Latin name of Marinus, means of the sea, which comes from the Latin word, Marinus. If one looks at it from that context of name origin, Buddy did go to Downtown Infinity, which should be the fictional equivalent of Downtown Infinity City in Eastern Olathe. The area is situated in the Colorado Peninsula, which is surrounded by the Big Lake on its western, southern, and eastern flanks.
 * Interestingly, when Buddy loses to the Decrepit Priest, her body is crucified facing toward the cross and away from the player, further alluding to her being a transgender woman.
 * This is also alluded to again in her Moonscorched form, when her head was moved to her crotch area, and where her head would be, the neck, is replaced by a cocoon that looks phallic in shape. Experts say that this might be a metaphor.
 * Engrave Skill:
 * Gro-Goroth +4 Attack
 * Vinushka +4 Magic Attack
 * Sylvian +3 Magic Defense, +30% Otherworldly Resistance
 * All-Mer +3 Defense, +15% Physical Resistance
 * Rher +25 Max Mind
 * God of Fear & Hunger +5 Agility
 * She, alongside Levi, is the youngest of the playable contestants at 18. Coincidentally, or not, both of them were born in Olathe.