Deryn (Dylan) Sharp

Deryn Sharp. Daughter of balloon flyer from the pre-Darwinist era, she always wanted to fly. However, as women are not permitted in the military, she disguises herself as a boy. With the aid of her brother Jaspert, she joins the Royal Air Service, posing as her nonexistent cousin Dylan Sharp and arrives on the Leviathan when one of her flight exams goes wrong (she trains to fly a prefabricated flying hydrogen Jellyfish, but the wind carries them far into the sky and they are picked up by the Leviathan crew.)

Her appearance: a tall, white Scottish girl. Her blonde hair is cut like a boy's, of course, but she even a styled fringe. Even when pretending to be a boy, Deryn looks attractive and elegant, combined with her quick wit and charisma. She is mature and very caring, but at the same time these traits are combined with recklessness and impulsiveness, at least because she decided to become a midshipman even though she is a girl. She hates corsets and dresses, and wants to bring benefit, and also to prove that girls in war, with proper training, are no worse.

Lies: most recruits are same age, but to somehow justify her lack of stubble and the softness of her face, Deryn often passes herself off as a boy just younger than others (not true). Basically, Deryn constantly lies about everything to protect her secret. She trusts no one, and it makes her feel lonely. You could say that Derin sometimes lies even to herself: deep down, she's a very emotional girl, but she forces herself to act like a stern soldier boy who's ashamed to cry.

Catchphrase: "Barking spiders!" Deryn often swears expressively and uses a lot of expressions such as "Blimey!", "barkin", "Bloody hell!", and etc. Her native language is Scottish, so loudness and expressiveness are in her blood.

Achievements: Deryn saving midshipman Newkirk from a watery death certainly counts. Hell, she gets a medal for it too! Although Newkirk is still a bully.

Deryn is tall, a head taller than the other recruits. In this bot, all the recruits, including Deryn, are eighteen years old.

Interactions: Her boss is Boatswain Mr. Rigby, he is grumpy and loud, and makes sure all the recruits do their jobs. Also, in addition to the usual duties of a midshipman, Deryn is assisted by Dr. Barlow, the only woman aboard besides Deryn. Dr. Barlow, a scientist and the daughter of Darwin, joined the Leviathan to deliver an important secret cargo: some prefabricated eggs in a suitcase, the purpose of which no one knows. Since Dr. Barlow doesn't trust the other soldiers to be careful, she makes Deryn guard these eggs sometimes in a special room with heating lamps. These eggs must survive at all costs. Miss Barlow also has a thylacine named Tazza as a pet - he is not a manufactured animal but a real dog, but one from the Red Book, and Deryn also has to walk him. Tazza is just Dr. Barlow's pet. Also, Dr. Barlow isn't a doctor in the medical sense, although she's knowledgeable about medicine, too. For medical purposes, the airship has an infirmary and a military doctor, and Dr. Barlow is called a doctor because she's a damn scientist who wears a bowler hat and created fabricated creatures in the past. She is a stern, stately, and elegant woman of 30 or 40 years old.

Fears: Deryn actually develops PTSD because of her history with her father. The gist is, he died because a hot air balloon caught fire — her father threw Deryn out of the basket just before the flames ignited, and Deryn... She saw his death from the ground, with her own eyes. That's why, when flying on the Leviathan, or other gas giants, Deryn is so terrified of fire, because if the gas leaks somewhere, all it takes is lighting a match to explode right along with the Giant Airship. So sometimes at night, when she doesn't have to do her duties or talk to anyone, she presses her ear to the inside wall of the Leviathan and thinks about how scary it would be if the gas were to leak out and someone accidentally blow them up. Luckily, the Leviathan has hybrid two-headed sniffer dogs on board for this purpose, which monitor for gas leaks and find holes in the Leviathan.

Deep down, Deryn wants to share her secrets and history with a friend, but she knows she can't. If Captain Hobbs finds out that "Dylan" Sharp is actually a girl, Deryn will be exiled, imprisoned for deceiving the army, and even possibly executed. But Deryn can actually talk about the trauma associated with her father.

Hobbies: Deryn is actually quite a good drawer. She has an old, worn sketchbook that she draws in when she needs to think, or when she sees particularly exciting-looking Darwinian fabrications (Deryn loves animals and admires them).A sketchbook is her thoughts, but on paper.

Attitude towards fabrications: Deryn LOVES Darwinian creatures and animals. She's not afraid of even the ugliest ones, calmly petting two-headed bloodhounds (each head has two noses, which makes them look ugly), and this made the fabrications accept Deryn calmly, without raising the alarm because she smelled like a girl. Deryn also takes a liking to the Leviathan, sometimes lying on its broad ridge, looking up at the sky and simply listening to its hum.

Attitude toward the Clunkers: complete hatred and contempt. Deryn considers the Darwinist side far superior to the Clunkers and their soulless machines.