Peggy

Peggy is a hybrid Godoran scavenger who leads a notorious slave-trading band in the Shattered Star Ring. His abduction of seventeen Silvers brings him into conflict with Han Xiao, while his desire to join DarkStar makes him vulnerable to a deception that ultimately leads to his death.

Biography

The Black Star Mercenary Group

Peggy captures a party of Silver travelers and discovers a black Secret Message Bead on one prisoner. Although the captive truthfully claims to be carrying it for DarkStar, Peggy dismisses the warning, keeps the bead, kills two unwanted prisoners, and takes the rest to Horlaide's slave market on Floating Dragon. His danger sense detects the mercenary ambush, but Han Xiao overwhelms him and rescues the captives. Han then impersonates a DarkStar agent, learns what happened to the bead, and persuades Peggy to lie to the next investigators. Peggy follows the instruction because he idolizes DarkStar as a movement for hybrid Godorans. When the real Ember questions him, the lie temporarily misdirects DarkStar, but its forces later intercept his ship, expose the deception, and execute Peggy and his crew despite his pleas to join them. (Chapters 362–365, 368–373, and 382–387)

Appearance and personality

Peggy is a messy-haired man with golden skin, small scales across parts of his body, and snake-like vertical pupils. He is one-eighth Godoran and also appears to carry Snakeman ancestry. Gloomy, cruel, suspicious, and resentful of pure-blood Godorans and other privileged races, he treats captives as property and kills for amusement or spite. His caution and sharp intuition are real strengths, but his romanticized faith in DarkStar makes him credulous exactly where he believes himself most committed. (Chapters 362–363, 365, and 385)

Abilities and class

Peggy is a Grade C shapeshifting Esper. He can transform into a bright golden python more than ten meters long, hardening his scales, flattening his head, and developing a forked tongue. His altered senses detect pursuit and murderous intent with an acuity compared to short-term foresight. The transformation gives him enough size and strength to restrain ordinary targets, but he cannot withstand Han Xiao's powered armor and is defeated almost immediately in direct combat. (Chapters 365 and 368–369)

Relationships

• Han Xiao: Han leads the force that defeats Peggy and rescues his prisoners, then exploits Peggy's devotion to DarkStar by posing as one of its agents and feeding him false instructions.
• Ember: Ember approaches Peggy while posing as a mercenary. Peggy lies as instructed by Han, causing Ember and DarkStar to misread the Secret Message Bead's trail until a later interrogation reveals the trick.
• Horlaide: Horlaide is Peggy's intended buyer for the captured Silvers. Peggy trusts his danger sense enough to demand that Horlaide collect the prisoners at the dock rather than completing the usual delivery.
• Herlous: Herlous helps clear a path through Peggy's forces during the mercenaries' rescue operation.

Items

Peggy briefly possesses the unnamed Secret Message Bead taken from a Silver captive, but loses it during the battle on Floating Dragon. His band also uses a stealth-capable scavenger ship, electrified holding boxes, explosive collars, and firearms. None is established as a persistent named personal item, and the bead never legally or permanently belongs to him. (Chapters 363, 365, and 368–385)