The playable explorers
Ten explorers make up the documented base roster — the Deluxe Fortune Hunters pack adds two more playable on top, for twelve in total — a handful sail with you from the first contract, and the rest join as you rescue the people the jungle swallowed. The choice is cosmetic — no stats, no classes — but each carries a short backstory, and the costumes were recreated by a real costume designer from 16th-century Spanish dress, then photoscanned into the game.
Alonso de la Torre
A former soldier who cares nothing for the gold — the expedition itself is his way out of the life. Weary and pacifistic, he's the crew's steady hands when everyone else is losing theirs.
Leonor
A noblewoman who killed a man in Seville and made the sea her home. Sharp, quick and composed — very good in a crisis, usually one of her own making.
Don Rodrigo de Medina
A disillusioned minor noble chasing honest purpose rather than coin — which in this jungle is its own particular kind of madness. Reckless where Alonso is careful.
Fray Gaspar
A penitent friar seeking atonement in the worst possible place to look for it — carrying the last rites into a jungle that keeps handing out reasons to use them.
Beatriz
Hard-bitten, hollow-eyed and out of second chances: nothing to lose and a world to gain. The one who volunteers for the run everyone else steps back from.
Nahuel
A wronged man out of a Spanish cell, here to be repaid for what was taken from him — in gold, and in full. He reads the forest better than any of the Europeans.
The Grummet
Listed in the community codex as the expedition's grummet — a ship's boy. Full backstory still being confirmed against the 1.0 build.
Hassan
Listed as a pirate in the community codex. Full backstory still being confirmed against the 1.0 build.
Juana “la Culebra”
“The Snake” — a contrabandist, and confirmed in the game's own database as a Lost Survivor: she is one of the explorers you unlock by rescuing rather than one you start with. Her full backstory is still being pieced together.
The Native
Listed in the community codex simply as “Native.” Name and full backstory still being confirmed against the 1.0 build.
How to unlock characters
The expedition recruits the way it loots: by carrying people home. Rescue-type contracts (and survivors found mid-run with the Slave Finder) add the rescued to your playable roster — the very first survivor you save becomes selectable. Filling out the full playable roster earns the Seven Willing Souls achievement. Separately, the Deluxe Edition's Fortune Hunters Characters Pack unlocks two more playableexplorers — Nacon's store page words it as "unlock two playable characters", so it is paid roster, not a skin.
Are there classes in The Mound?
No — there are no classes, and no character stats. Picking Leonor over Fray Gaspar changes how you look, not what you can do. Every explorer draws from the same weapon shop and the same item list, and rank locks apply to everyone equally.
What replaces classes is your loadout: a crew sorts itself into roles by what it packs. Whoever carries the Ammonia Salts is the medic; whoever carries the lantern and the Map navigates; whoever takes the matchlock is the loud one who wakes the forest. Add a patron saint blessing on top — Michael for blades, Barbara for guns — and you have something that behaves like a class without ever being locked to one. Our loadout guide lays out the four roles most crews settle into.
Is there character creation?
No creator, no sliders. You choose a crafted explorer and customize outward from there — weapon and trinket cosmetics unlock through play, and the Deluxe Abyssal Gear pack adds Cthulhu-engraved equipment skins. In a game where your own senses are the unreliable system, recognizable silhouettes are a survival feature: you need to know instantly whether that figure in the trees is Leonor or something wearing her — which in 1–4 player co-op is the line between a rescue and a trap.
Aboard the Tempestad
You don't play these people, but you'll deal with every one of them between expeditions. The galleon is the hub: contracts, confession, appraisal, resupply.
The Captain
Master of the galleon Tempestad and keeper of the ledger. He hands out the contracts — your difficulty menu in human form — and takes his cut when you come back rich.
Father Escalona
The expedition's priest. He briefs you before every landing and revives the dead you manage to haul back to the ox-wagon. In this jungle, the man with the last rites is also the man with the revive.
The Appraiser
Buys your treasure by tier — Legendary idols at 560–840c down to Basic ones at 80–120c. He knows exactly what your haul is worth, and it is always less than you hoped.
Benjamín
The expedition's naturalist, cataloguing a wildlife that increasingly refuses to obey natural history. His notes get stranger the deeper you dig.
Melchor
The occultist aboard — the one man who suspects what the Mound truly is, and is studying it anyway. That rarely ends well in a Lovecraft story.
The Cook
Feeds the crew between expeditions — “better than eating the rats, I suppose.” The galley is where survivors trade what they saw, and what they only think they saw.
The working deck also holds the Shop, the Woodworker (who carves the sacred figures), the Cook, the Tutor and the Lute Player — recover his two lost songs for the Patron of the Arts achievement. Ships of the story: the Tempestad (your galleon), the Lazarillo, and the Comendador, lost in a storm and the subject of a Story contract.
Where to next
No classes — so this is where your role actually comes from.
Your first expedition, step by step.
Rescue contracts are how the roster grows — the full unlock ladder.
Playing these explorers with a crew of four.
The expedition, the Tempestad and the story they're walking into.
What launch-week crews wish they'd known.
Character questions
Does The Mound have character creation?
No — you choose from crafted explorers, with cosmetic weapon and trinket unlocks. There's no face or body creator.
How many playable characters are there?
The community codex documents ten explorers. You start with a handful and seven more join through rescue — that split is what the Seven Willing Souls achievement tracks. We're still pinning down the exact starter/unlock split in the live build. Separately, the Deluxe Fortune Hunters Characters Pack unlocks two more playable explorers on top of that roster.
Are there classes in The Mound?
No classes. Roles come from what you carry: the weapons and items you pack define whether you're the medic, the light-bearer or the loud one.
How do you unlock characters in The Mound?
Rescue survivors — complete rescue contracts or bring found survivors home on the ox-wagon and they join the playable roster. Filling out the roster earns the Seven Willing Souls achievement.