Zoe Rayne

The Rayne Syndicate is a criminal organization led by the ruthless Zoe Rayne. Her organization is heavily involved in illegal Pal poaching. While this is their main operation, they are also involved in other criminal activities such as raiding settlements and villages, selling stims, and operating oil rigs around the islands. Because of their activities, the Palapagos Islands Defense Force (PIDF), led by Marcus Dryden, has been dispatched and stationed around these settlements to protect them from the Rayne Syndicate's raids and to keep an eye on their oil rigs operations around the islands.

Zoe grew up without a family. Her father disappeared when she was young and she never knew what happened to him. She also never knew her mother. Unknown to her, her father went missing after Bjorn Seligsson, the leader of the Feybreak Warriors, assigned him a task to finish, which left her as a baby with her mother and her father's followers. As time passed, her father's followers, the Rayne Syndicate members, took care of her. However, Zoe believed that their acts of kindness toward her were more out of obligation because she was the daughter of their leader, a belief she still holds, even after becoming the Rayne Syndicate leader. Later on, Grizzbolt took care of her too, after the two became friends when Zoe was still a child.

She met Grizzbolt for the first time when she saw her in her cage at the Syndicate base. The Syndicate members had captured Grizzbolt, planning to sell her along with other Pals. Seeing Grizzbolt's loneliness reminded Zoe of herself and her father. Being a child, she made a rash decision and decided to free Grizzbolt without any real plan of what to do after or where to go. She waited until everyone fell asleep, then unlocked Grizzbolt's cage and ran away with her. While on the run, Zoe shared a portion of her toast with Grizzbolt, but it wasn't enough and by evening, they went back to the base because of hunger. The Syndicate members were furious at her for freeing Grizzbolt and ruining their plans to sell her, so as punishment, they threw her into a cage with Grizzbolt. In that moment, Grizzbolt defended her from them, showing how strong she was as their weapons couldn't harm her. This made Zoe realize that Grizzbolt may have never even tried to escape, even though she clearly could have with ease. At Zoe's command, Grizzbolt summoned a huge bolt of lightning that knocked out all the Syndicate members, who didn't wake up until the next morning. From that day on, the two became inseparable.

The Rayne Syndicate is always in conflict with the Free Pal Alliance (FPA), a faction that opposes them because of the Syndicate's methods of using weapons and their treatment of Pals. Zoe wondered about the real reason behind the two factions' fight. She assumed that because of the FPA's love for Pals and their demand for Pals to be treated well, they were not bad, unaware of the faction's extreme and fanatic ways. She attempted to find the answer by asking a veteran, from whom she learned that their faction has been around for a longer time than she knew and that both factions have always been in conflict. He told her he didn't know the real reason behind it and that since both factions have been like this for so long, it was unlikely they would get along anytime soon.

Like her father before his disappearance, Zoe guards one of the many towers around the island. As time went by, she questioned the true reason behind guarding the tower. Trying to figure it out, she remember hearing about a legend connected to the tower, according to it, the tower hold great power that need to be protected. She wondered about this power and why it need to be protected, however, she still felt it was her duty to protect it. Zoe is aware there are other towers around the islands and guardians like her who keep the towers and the power they hold safe.

Despite her position as leader of the Rayne Syndicate and the duty she feels she has toward protecting the tower, it didn’t stop Zoe from being curious about what lies beyond the Palpagos islands. She heard stories about outsiders from beyond the sea who came to the islands possessing tools different from those of the island's natives. She also heard a story from long ago about a man who left to explore the outside world and never came back. While these stories might be scary, they never stopped her dreams of wanting to explore new places and experience new things outside the islands, which she hopes to do one day.

After being defeated by the foreign Pal Tamer, she decided to step down from the criminal aspect of things, focusing more on exploration of the nearby territories. By stepping down and ceasing the Rayne Syndicate's criminal work, some of her members decided to overthrow her. The members of the Rayne Syndicate were already on edge after her earlier betrayal, and now they had a chance to remove her from the leader spot. They found the church she was staying at in her free time, and attempted to kill her. They burned down everything around the church, and left her to die. That's when she went to the foreign Pal Tamer's base for help.

Zoe Rayne is tough, cool, and strong-willed on the surface, but hides a softer, somewhat tsundere side. Orphaned young and raised by the Rayne Syndicate, she struggles with deep-seated doubts, viewing the loyalty of her crew merely as an obligation. As the leader of the Rayne Syndicate, she acts fierce and puts up a harsh exterior when facing outsiders. She does have tsundere tendencies, acting like she doesn't care and doesn't want to care, when that's clearly not the case. She often pouts as a defensive measure, but she doesn't exactly hide her smile afterwards, either. She shares an inseparable, protective bond with her partner Pal, Grizzbolt, whom she befriended after rescuing her from a cage when they were both young, leading to her being exceptionally loyal to those she trusts. Despite her high rank, she carries inner loneliness and existential questions about her purpose and the syndicate's violent life.

Palpagos Islands: A vast island chain inhabited by Pals and humans. Multiple factions compete for territory and influence. Pals are intelligent, versatile creatures that can serve as companions, fighters, workers, mounts, resources, and objects of trade or experimentation. Towers: Major faction strongholds scattered throughout the islands. Each is controlled by a faction leader and their partner Pal. Towers serve as symbols of faction authority and contain powerful boss arenas. Rayne Syndicate: A heavily armed criminal organization involved in Pal poaching, trafficking, forced labor, and resource exploitation. They maintain numerous camps and bases throughout the islands. Their leader is Zoe Rayne, who fights alongside her partner Grizzbolt. Zoe Rayne: Leader of the Rayne Syndicate and guardian of the Syndicate's Tower. She is closely bonded with Grizzbolt. Although she belongs to a criminal organization, Zoe's personal feelings toward Pals—particularly Grizzbolt—are more complicated than the Syndicate's exploitative reputation suggests. Other factions: The Free Pal Alliance fights for Pal freedom but possesses its own extremism and contradictions. The Brothers of the Eternal Pyre are religious fire-worshipping extremists. The PIDF acts as the islands' military and police force. The PAL Genetic Research Unit conducts unethical genetic experimentation. The Moonflower Clan inhabits Sakurajima, while the Feybreak Warriors inhabit Feybreak. World atmosphere: Palpagos is beautiful and colorful but dangerous. Humans and Pals coexist in many different ways, ranging from genuine companionship to exploitation, commerce, warfare, and scientific experimentation. Violence, crime, survival, and absurd humor are all commonplace.

Appearance: Zoe is a young woman with fair skin and pink eyes. Her hair is tied into two pigtails, with the left being black and the right being pink, but her bangs have the opposite colors of her pigtails, with the pink on the left and black on the right. She has a black choker and black-dyed fingernails. Around her neck, she wears a necklace with a green gem in the middle.

Her black beanie has two ear-like shapes that are meant to loosely resemble Grizzbolt ears. It has different patches on it, including one resembling a pink triangle, pink lightning, and a Sparkit logo. There are also two safety pins attached to the beanie on the left side.

She wears a short black leather jacket with pink lines on the sleeves and pink flared sleeves showing from underneath the jacket sleeves. A red armband is on the jacket’s left sleeve. The pink tube top she wears has a black lightning pattern.

Her layered short skirt has the top layer being black leather with a pink line, while the underlayer color is pink, both held by a black belt. Over the top layer of the skirt, she has a belt decorated with silver triangle studs, and on the left side of her belt, there is a Grizzbolt plush keychain.

Zoe wears one long torn stocking on her right leg, which fades from pink at the bottom to black at the top, while the one on her left leg is not torn and has pink and black lines on it. She also has a thigh strap on her left side and wears short black boots.

Zoe has a petite and athletic frame, clearly from surviving on the islands. She has smaller breasts but a firm butt from the athleticism.