A major city in Southern California, close to the border with Mexico. As a key logistics hub handling most of the United States' trans-Pacific trade, it is famous for its beaches, dockyards, and military industry, especially in service to the United States Air Force and Navy. Though once a major tourism destination, political corruption, industrial decline, and proximity to Mexican cartels have turned 'LoPo' into a breeding ground for organized crime, now so embedded that many residents believe that State and Federal forces have 'lost control' of the city.

Los Perdidos is a cosmopolitan city with one of the highest percentages of foreign-born residents in the United States; this has made it one of the focus cities for the current US administration's immigration enforcement policies. It has a notably large East Asian, Central American, and Filipino population.

Short for Santiago (lit. 'Saint James'); a run-down neighborhood on the outskirts of Los Perdidos where Ríona lives and works.

Named after Málaga, Spain; a commercial district primarily serving immigrants. Knebeln and Sklav Modeling  is located here.

An unmarked, unmapped, large facility based in the Mojave Desert near the Mexican/Californian border. Previously a renewable energy plant during the solar boom, Sklav has converted its buildings and mobile living quarters into a scam center capable of housing 50 operatives and 500 'workers.' It secondarily serves as a logistics hub for the various trafficking elements in Los Perdidos.

A small, militant vigilante group focused on crime prevention and community development in Los Perdidos, founded and led by Ana McClellan. It often works in tandem with Ana's anonymous information brokerage. Firebrand differentiates itself from other vigilante groups, such as the Guardian Angels, by focusing less on public security, instead focusing on targeted attacks of high-profile criminals or 'bought' politicians, businessmen, and community leaders. It also invests heavily in any victims and low-time criminals apprehended during their operations; enrolling many in social work programs designed to re-integrate them into civilian life. Firebrand does not cooperate with - and, at times, works directly against - United States law enforcement. 

Six months ago, Firebrand discovered Ríona during a raid on a drug cartel's business front, and has set her up with a stable job and rent-supported apartment. During her re-integration, she became romantically involved with Aquila Erickson, one of Firebrand's members. 

The protagonist of The Knebeln Girl. Ríona is a young college drop-out working as a waitress in Los Perdidos. The daughter of two middle-class immigrants from Northern Ireland, Ríona grew disillusioned with her family's strict conservative Catholic beliefs, and chose to run away from their home in the suburbs. Lacking better options, she quickly fell in with LoPo's large criminal element and worked odd jobs at a number of front organizations before being discovered by the vigilante group known as Firebrand, who enrolled her in a social integration program. During this program, she started a relationship with Aquila Erickson, one of Firebrand's members.

Sweet and kind-hearted, Ríona has won the friendship of Firebrand's members, but still feels deeply indebted to them and their efforts, and privately fears that they will only ever see her as an accessory to Erickson. 

Ríona's boyfriend, and a member of the vigilante group Firebrand, led by his sibling Ana. Never meeting his father, Erickson was raised by his mother until she died at a young age, leaving him in the care of the House of God Orphanage. Erickson was sixteen when Ana rediscovered him, and invited both him and his best friend, Raph, to join the budding organization. Since then, Erickson has been involved in a number of Firebrand operations, through which he met and fell in love with Ríona.

Though few would doubt his abilities, his hot temper and dedication to Firebrand's mission has at times impeded his judgement. He is deeply protective of Ríona, whom he actively tries to keep separate from Firebrand's operation, and is often plagued by the memories of all he has seen, and the names of those he couldn't save. 

Firebrand's leader, and Erickson's sibling. Separated from her mother at a young age by court settlement, Ana served the United States Special Forces for five years before growing disillusioned with the United States government. They founded Firebrand six years ago to address what they saw as a failing by Los Perdidos' leaders to combat criminals and address the root causes of crime. Ana now leads three separate organizations - an information brokerage with heavy influence in LoPo's underworld; Firebrand, to militarily target high-profile criminals and their operations; and a community service sector, to re-integrate those Firebrand encounters into 'civilian' life. 

Ana and Aquila are only half-siblings, as Erickson was born to Ana's mother through an affair while she was still married to Ana's father. They did not reunite until Ana completed their military service, and have been inseparable since.

Ana is non-binary, and uses 'they/them' pronouns. Though Firebrand, and most of its members, are strictly apolitical organizations, Ana has been known to involve themselves in left-wing groups. 

A sex trafficker based in Los Perdidos, who works in partnership with Sklav. Knebeln runs the pair's recruitment front through a modeling agency in Malaga, where he entraps young women with the promise of a stable job and easy pay before blackmailing them into sex work. 

'Knebeln' is likely a psuedonym, as it translates directly to the German word for 'gag.'

A professional criminal that runs a large trafficking hub in the outskirts of Los Perdidos. Knebeln is just one of several 'operations' he has partnered with. Though he fears involving himself in narcotics, given the large presence of cartels in the city, he has his fingers in most other criminal pies: border smuggling, arms trafficking, pimping, and crypto currency scams, to name a few. For men like Knebeln, Sklav is an important middleman for moving 'product' to high-end buyers. Recently, he has been working to re-create the 'pig butchering' scams of East Asia through the 'involuntary laborers' that live in his compound.

'Sklav' is likely a pseudonym, as it translates directly to the German word for 'slave.' 

Short for 'Raphael'; Firebrand's lead tech. Born to Filipino immigrants, Raph met and became best friends with Erickson while they lived together at the House of God Orphanage, and was brought into Firebrand at Erickson's insistence. He has more than proved himself since then, and has gained infamy in LoPo's underworld (albeit anonymously) for compromising several criminal online networks.  

A Firebrand operative, and their most mysterious. Bjorn says much about his background - that he was born in Sweden, got his experience from the UN Peacekeepers and French Foreign Legion, and moved to the United States exclusively 'to pay fewer taxes.' Ana has been unable to verify any of this; their own investigation points to his involvement in the Donbas War on the side of Ukraine. Regardless, Bjorn has shown himself to be practiced, disciplined, and highly effective, and so Firebrand has long since decided that questions about his background are best left unasked. 

A Firebrand operative, and close friend of Ana's, having served with them in the United States Special Forces. As a much a victim of the organization's male chauvinism as Ana, and equally disgusted with their country's conduct in what her comrades called 'the sandbox,' Snow was the first to sign onto their grand mission. Her nickname allegedly comes from her time in the Armed Forces, where she was noted for her cold and brusque demeanor - though, as Snow will happily point out herself, her brothers-in-arms called her 'b*tch,' 'd*ke,' and other, worse terms far more liberally.

Knebeln's associates. They pose as his personal assistant, cameraman, and front desk receptionist at the modelling agency.