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Daiki:
Name: Kyle Teems (self-proclaimed jokingly as Gorgon)
Race: Werewolf
Age: 391, looks 25
Height: 6'
Weight: 170lbs
Eyes: Hazel
Hair: Black
Appearance: Kyle has an athletic but not too muscular body. His skin is on the light brown side of dark and he keeps his hair in intricate yet artistic cornrows, each ending up with a clip taking the shape of a snake head. On his left palm, a pentagram can be easily spotted, proof of his nature. Kyle doesn't like to look at it and covers his hands with leathery gloves.
He has an intriguing presence and masculine yet rather harmonious traits. His eyes shine strangely in the dark. He sports a thin goatee and his left brow, upper right ear and tongue are each pierced with a set of three diamonds. His left eye is surrounded by a snake tattoo coiling around the left side of his face and ends around his left ear. Surrounding his neck hangs a crow pendent Forest gave him centuries ago.
His default expression consists of a mocking face. He also displays a large range of facial habits such as a closing his left eye when surprised, his contraction of the jaw when irritated or even that twitch of the eyebrow when fascinated.
Alignment:Chaotic Neutral/Good
Charisma: B
Strength:B
Agility: C
Speed: B
Magic Resistance: -
Magic Ability: -
Other Abilities:
As a werewolf, Kyle boasts more strength, endurance and speed than humans. He also possesses the ability to regenerate his wounds and is five senses are superior. He can also shapeshift back and forth at will, although abusing it would exhaust him quickly.
Origin:
Unwanted child born from an abusive master and a slave mother in 1623. He grows up in Virginia and learns to work at three. When he reaches his six year of existence, he's sold as a sex slave to an European Aristocrat traveling back to England. The child is quickly put to 'work' and starts a miserable life devoid of any hope. Docile and patient, he waits for a good opportunity to escape. This chance his granted to him two years later when he managed to run away from town and makes his way into the nearby woods. Thinking himself in security for the first time of his life, he doesn't bother to look behind as he goes deeper and deeper inside tortuous paths. As he starts to wonder how he will find food in this dark place, he finds a seemingly desert campfire with what looks like a roasting rabbit on it. Hoping nobody would find out, he snatches the piece of food and run away. As he stops to catch his breath, Kyle finds three people surrounding him. The trio neutralizes him quickly then decide that he's far too skinny to make a really good meal. One argues that he's only interested in devouring his heart but the others two propose to turn him so that he can lure more people into the woods for them. Without a way to defend himself, Kyle become their plaything. He follows their orders and help them feed. After a while, the group starts getting closer to the town, much to Kyle's terror. Eventually, the young boy managed to bring a blond woman with him but, when his comrades surround her, she makes short work of them. Kyle tries to flee, in vain.
The vampire presents herself and explains him that she was sent to inquire about the disappearance of several persons in the vicinity. Kyle explains that what he made was wrong but didn't have a choice. He asks for forgiveness in tears but instead of the cold silver kiss, she gives him a hug and promises to not hurt him. From this point onwards, the two travels together as Forest teaches him how to control his instincts. She gives him a short but strict education and the little wolf is happy to learn. They only stay together for a couple of weeks before she brings him to a vampire's couple who would raise him as their son. Kyle refuses to part ways but Forest answers that she couldn't guarantee his safety. She gives him a crow pendent and leaves shorty after.
Years, decades and centuries passed and the two crossed paths here and there. They wouldn't stay much together, nor would they talk all that much, only enjoying their time as they work and split ways a bit later.
In the Nexus, Kyle only bumped thrice into Forest and each time for work. While he would like to spend more time with her, he's been quite busy the past months with the werewolves going wild on the population and the vampires from Deacon's faction taking over.
If he ever had a love in life, it would be his sportbike, named after the Greek goddess of beauty, glory and magnificence, Aglaea.
He seems unable to maintain a proper relationship, mostly because he gets easily bored.
Personality:
Kyle is a carefree, sincere, independent, curious, mischievous and stubborn individual. He can be cunning and difficult to deal with at times. He also has a selfish side and would raise complaints if his companions involve him in troubles. He usually acts casually, being overly friendly even with people he barely knows. He's not above dirty fighting and will gloat profusely if he wins at anything, even if said results comes from cheating. Honor bears no meaning and he cares little for human laws. He likes to make crude innuendo, teasing others and counting his sexual exploits in details. He doesn't mind complimenting attractive girls and wouldn't hesitate hitting on them, unless they exude a 'bad vibe'.
Kyle greatly respects and admires Forest. He considers her as his own mother, although he would never voice it again. He feels gratitude towards the vampire and wouldn't think twice about giving her a hand. He only happened to call her 'mother' once, saw the complex expression she had and never brought it up again. He has a physical interest in Wynn, yet, never dared to approach her ('bad vibe'). He is somewhat jealous of Gabriel for being the one raised by Forest and keeps calling him Lucifer. While he may not like Gabriel much, he utterly loathes Quinn after they almost killed each other on a 'supposed' cooperation job. Kyle will badmouth the Dhampir on any occasion available since then.
Weakness: Silver, decapitation, brain destruction. Dealing more damage that he can sustain with regen. Taking his bike as hostage.
Likes: Forest, Wynn's body, money, challenging traditions, a good laugh, rough sex with Succubi and Faeries, carefree people, grapes and rum.
Dislikes: Quinn, stuck up people, rogue werewolves, sex with werewolves.
Ivan The Mouse:
Name: Yukina Aikawa
Race: Human
Age: 98, looks 18
Height: 5'
Eyes: Dark Brown
Hair: Dark Green; Black (In realistic settings)
Appearance: Spoiler for Hiden:
Her two distinguishing features are her yukata, which she seems to wear regardless of weather and usually colored dark green with gingko leaf patterns, and her hair tied at the back, which either becomes a ponytail or a bun according to her whims or circumstances. Her yukata sometimes changes color and pattern, usually connected to the surrounding mood of the Order, and she changes to a more formal furisode on special occassions, again with color or pattern according to the occassion itself. Neo once commented that the only reason that people don't mind her style of clothing too much is because "they think she's a Japanese woman cosplaying a Japanese woman." Alignment: Neutral Good
Charisma: 15/100
Strength: 30/100
Agility: 40/100
Speed: 40/100
Weapons:
Spoiler for Hiden: When going out in public, she usually hides a kaiken, or Japanese dagger, which has a length of 8 inches and double-bladed, personally forged and created by her from the scraps of a kitchen knife, old nails and a leg of a broken chair. She usually keeps it hidden in her left sleeve. However, when fully prepared for battle, she usually carries a pair of swords, a 12-inch tanto blade and 24-inch wakizashi. Both are worn on the back of her hips and drawn from the left side, with her holding the wakizashi on her right hand and the tanto on her left. She uses the shorter blade for parrying and the longer for striking back. When assigned to a ranged role, she uses a compound bow for combat, as the traditional yumi bow proves to be rather impractical because their limited range.
Later on, she forges a katana, which she named Shiromaru after her father who taught her smithing. She created the blade using the traditional process, employing the Soshu Kitae method of folding the steel. She, however, replaces the hagane or hard steel of the sword with tungsten carbide to improve the hardness of the blade's edge, as well boron-alloyed tool steel for the shigane or soft steel to improve its toughness, sacrificing a crucial traditional point for the blade's overall strength. Although she states that she will use it "at some point", it has yet to see action for unknown reasons.
Magic Resistance: Paradoxical, can be affected by negative debuffs but cannot be killed by such.
Magic Ability:
Spoiler for Hiden: Limited Immortality
This kind of trait allows her to stop aging indefinitely and fend off fatal attacks, although the progression of the healing of his body is still natural unless with scientific or magical intervention. Since this source of immortality came from a unknown source, Yukina has no way knowing how to replicate it's results.
Non-Magical Abilities:
Spoiler for Hiden: Rattus commented that "Yukina has two strong contributions in this group. Smithing and mechanical troubleshooting. Everything else is just an added bonus to us." Because of her work experience, Yukina is able to repair and, to some extent, create machinery for the group, such as engines or firearm mechanisms. Also, because of her training under her father, she is able to forge bladed weapons, mostly Japanese-style swords, although she notes that she usually cannot do nihonto in a fully authentic style, because "that would be really time consuming, as well as impractical in fighting people nowadays."
In fighting, she usually uses a style of swordsmanship that resembles kendo, which she took up during her 17 years of mechanic training as hobby and therapeutic exercise, but actually lacks distinctive moves that can be associated to any school of Japanese swordmanship, as well as uses two shorter swords. She also seems to focus on countering rather than outright attacking her opponent, in which she usually dodges or parries first, then strike back. As a result, her style of fighting is highly unpredictable and defensive, which sometimes becomes her weakness, other times becomes her strength. She also took up a bit of kyuudou, or archery, in the same period as her kendo training, although she admits that she focused on its calming effect than improving her performance.
Origin:
Spoiler for Hiden: Yukina hails from the city of Hiroshima, Japan, although she implied one time that it might not be her actual place of birth, but she herself wasn't so sure, saying "Father might actually be joking, as he always do sometimes". Her mother, Midoriko, was a housewife and her father, Shirou, was a blacksmith, with her being the eldest of three children, all of them gapped by two years. Although her father was mainly training his little brother, Tetsuo, in smithing, Yukina and Saori, her little sister, would always join him and attend their father's lectures regarding the profession, which is why she picked up her skills in the profession. During this time of her childhood, she met Shinichi Kimura, a Zainichi Korean and her future fiance, as well as witnessing the slow descent of the Japanese Empire to deep ultramilitarization, starting with her brother's conscription to the Imperial Japanese Army on 1936 and her father's employment to Kure Naval Arsenal on 1937.
In 1938, during the ongoing Sino-Japanese War, one of Tetsuo's fellow soldiers, Satoshi Asahina, came to visit the Aikawa household after his mandatory service is over. He handed over a letter, which turned out to be Tetsuo's suicide note, citing his unwilling participation to a "great and mindless slaughter" back in 1937 and subsequent guilt as the reason. Satoshi also revealed that his body was found hanging on a forested area nearby and was thrown into a river under the orders of his squad officer. The news eventually infurated the family and reduced them to mourning, especially Shirou, who was appalled by the Army's treatment of his son's body.
When the battleship Yamato was launched from Kure Naval Arsenal in 1940, Shirou revealed that this was what they were building at the shipyards and also expressed his whole interest in serving as a crewman to the ship, wanting to make up for his son's "dishonorable actions" back at the Army. Despite his family's resistance and disapproval to the idea, he becomes a mechanic to the ship's boiler room a month later. A year later, World War 2 in the Pacific started, making the rest of the household worry.
Shinichi, under a bout of major depression after being disowned by his racist father for his relationship with Yukina, decided to volunteer in joining the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service in 1944, when the Allied counter-offensive is slowly crushing the Japanese forces, volunteering in a "special attack unit" named Yamato. A day before enlisting to the Air Service, he met Yukina in the playground where they first met and promised her marriage after the war, despite knowing that he will not be able to do so.
The news of Shirou's death came during the month of April in 1945, a week after the battleship Yamato was sunk by American forces while en route to Okinawa. Five months later, on August 6, the town of Hiroshima was struck with an atomic bomb, the first atomic strike in human history, destroying it. Midoriko dies trying to protect her children from falling debris. Two days later, Saori dies of an unknown illness, rendering Yukina the only surviving member of her family and driving her to vagrancy, which also makes her question why she survived the bombing. A month later, Japan is officially occupied by the Allied forces.
In 1947, Yukina found permanent employment after two years of vagrancy in an auto plant in Aki District, Hiroshima as an intern mechanic. After two years, she was fully employed by the company and in 1953, after four years of working with the company, she formally left, saying that she wanted to expand her skills in the field of Mechanical Engineering. During this time until the early 1970s, she worked as a mechanic on different companies, read books and attended seminars in order gain more knowledge.
She finally met Rattus and Neo in 1971 at Tokyo, when they were attacked by the Gotou-gumi. She hotwired a car and crash-dived it into the car chasing the duo, disabling it and killing a couple of people in the car. Only one survived, who managed to get out of the car and shoot her three times. The two men that were being chased eventually came back to see the wreckage, which lead to her discovery. After she was sent to the local hospital to be treated, Rattus personally interviewed her, which made her tell her life story, making Neo conclude that she might be another immortal, albeit the reason was "God knows why". She was asked for be a part of the "entourage", and quickly accepted the offer.
Personality:
Spoiler for Hiden: Yukina appears to be optimistic, lady-like and polite, sometimes girlish, even when doing machinery and dealing with hostilities, to the point of near-absentmindedness, which sometimes makes her get caught off-guard, such as when Neo tricks her with his jokes or when the Manor was being raided a couple of thieves. However, she also doesn't have an adversion to lying, especially when recognizes that the questions being asked have answers that can outright put any member of the Order or her friends into grave danger, although there were times that she blurts out an answer and only realized later that it can be used against them.
She seems to be very patient and hardworking, and explicitly states that she likes manually working as a mechanic and blacksmith and considers it as her "hobby". When Rattus asked her about her interest in engineering, she states that, aside that she thinks she has a high aptitude with field of Engineering, she believes that ironsmithing and mechanical engineering are like "two wheels in a cart". She said that she hates it when machines suddenly get on fire and it does trigger a phobic reaction from her, which Neo comments that "it's so fucking ironic, if you're working with machines, you shouldn't be afraid of fire suddenly coming out of it."
Aside from sudden fire, another thing that seemingly triggers a reaction from her are blindingly bright lights and widespread rubble, in which she finds a place to hide and shows signs of catatonia, followed by muttering. She also has a certain discomfort in sharing her life experiences to anyone else, although she only does so if the listener has genunine interest and will vow to listen carefully. She also has an overprotective demeanor and a strong motherly instinct, which usually manifests when the other members of the Order are in danger. She frequently declares that she dislikes using violence, although she will fight if pressed to do so. Because of her mother's last reminder to forgive people "even if it kills", she seems to take those words by themselves, which usually means forgiving everyone even those who heavily injured her in battle.
She usually can be seen playing games on a handheld console or reading manga, sometimes boy's-love doujinshi. She said that she only likes to watch anime if she hears that it is well-recieved, although she does an exploration of her own, usually romance anime or BL. She has a habit of collecting plushies from anime, games or VNs she has watched or played, as well as other things like cards or figmas, which she considers cutesy and endearing. She also has an infrequent tendency to eat someone's food without permission, in which Rattus noted "I will rather entrust a cat to watch over a whole plate of fish than to make her watch over these muffins and not expect that one of them has already been eaten and gone. And I do not even trust cats."
Weakness: Although immortal, her lack of regenerative abilities render her vulnerable.
Ivan The Mouse:
Name: Jan Neo Langraad
Race: Human
Age: 126, looks like 20
Height: 6' 1'
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blonde (both in anime style and realistic settings)
Appearance: Spoiler for Hiden: Neo's yellow blonde hair is at shoulder length, although there are strikingly noticeable strands of hair that are light brown in coloration and/or of irregular length, as a result of his frequent change of appearance from the past decades. He usually wears a t-shirt, usually tie-dyed, plain or has a political statement or a band logo written on it, denim pants and brown sandals, although he will wear a leather jacket according to the weather or situation. He could be occasionally wearing a green-tinted Lennon-style pair of glasses to his whims and, less often, a shot shell bandolier during mission runs, ordered by Rattus or otherwise. He also wears a ball chain necklace with four pairs of dog tags, two from the World Wars made with monel and steel respectively, one from Vietnam wrapped with rubber silencers and one with his real name written on it, with the words 'FCKYOUFGT" replacing the religious preference field. Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Charisma: 45/100
Strength: 60/100
Agility: 65/100
Speed: 70/100
Weapons:
Spoiler for Hiden: Neo concealed-carries either a butterfly knife, a M1911 Colt pistol or both when going out in public during times when the Order is at its peaceful state. When accompanying his fellows, however, he replaces the M1911 with a Winchester M12 shotgun, with its stock and barrel sawed-off, making it easy to conceal inside his leather jacket.
Aside from the after mentioned weapons, he also carries with him an assortment of medical and combat potions, usually two or three flasks, mainly when undertaking larger, offense-oriented missions. The most commonly used potions by Neo are the orange-colored "Exploding Potions", which is somewhat similar to a Molotov cocktail; "Space Bombs", which are actually potion flasks containing vaporized cannaboids and mainly used for disabling enemies who have never taken any type of illicit drugs and the green-colored and aptly-named "Healing Elixir", which generally speeds up regeneration of wounds and restores lost energy.
He had also used all sorts of improvised weapons, especially in areas where proper weaponry is either scarce or heavily regulated, some of them with a psychological impact, such as a pencil or a crucifix. In addition to this, he is also very fond of using his environment for his advantage, which translates to utilizing any potentially combustible or explosive material he finds as booby traps, as an example.
Magic Resistance: Paradoxical, can be affected by negative debuffs but cannot be killed by such.
Magic Ability:
Spoiler for Hiden: Spitfire
As a magus, Neo seems to have an elemental affinity for fire, as manifested by his ability to create a small flame at the flick of his fingers, but it is usually employed by Neo as a lighter for his cigarette smoking habit, so the extent of this ability is unknown.
Range: Candle-like
Targets: One
Alchemy
According to him, his main role in the Order is alchemy, and indeed he is capable of concocting various potions and mixtures which could either be used in medical or combat purposes. Because of the childhood training he received and general temperament, he specializes in using these combat potions to cause non-fatal but astringent pain in his opponents, as well as psychological intimidation and sensory deprivation. He is also not adverse to using controlled substances such as PCP or LSD to either improve the combat abilities of his allies or degrade his enemies' fighting abilities. He has shown himself to be capable of transmuting many metals to other metals and making new compounds, given the time, space and privacy, although he could also work in a fairly efficient manner under stressing combat conditions.
Limited Immortality
This kind of trait allows him to stop aging indefinitely and fend off fatal attacks, although the progression of the healing of his body is still natural unless with scientific or magical intervention. Since this source of immortality is crafted as an accident, Neo has no way knowing how to replicate it's results.
Non-Magical Abilities:
Spoiler for Hiden: Rattus notes that "Neo does very little killing with his alchemy although he is capable of doing so. He refers to be lethal in a very physical way." Given his background, he proves to be very fond of physical combat, in which he employs non-alchemical means of disabling or taking down the enemy. He also outright stated that his fighting style is "all about fucking with the enemy", which means that he has no specific fighting style and his focus is sapping his opponent's will to fight, as psychological warfare seems to be his staple of his whole combat doctrine. However, he will not hesitate eschewing this kind of strategy and could resort to focus on killing his opponent swiftly, although he usually does this under Rattus' commands.
Origin:
Spoiler for Hiden: Neo's childhood home is an abandoned medieval castle located somewhere near the Franco-Belgian border, where he once lived alongside Klaaus Langraad, a Danish-born English magus and alchemist who adopted him after he found him as an infant in the docks of Kristiansand, Norway. Unbeknownst to both him and his father, he is the love child of Niels Ullmann and Eila Linkola, an alchemist couple wanted by the Mages' Association for their radical and outspoken beliefs against the maintained secrecy of magecraft, as well as for bombing the workshops of prominent Association members all over Scandinavia. They apparently left him in the docks while trying to go out of Norway, due to their fears that their child will unnecessarily get caught in their situation. Neo started his magecraft and alchemical training under Klaaus at the age of six, and witnessed his first human experimentation at the age of seven, then did his own human experimentation at the age of eight. He did not go outside the castle grounds until 1897, when they visited a local fair and carnival in Dunkirk.
It was in 1901 that Neo discovered his being an adopted son, five years before Klaaus dies of heart attack at the age of 59. Neo was 18 during his adoptive father's death, and continued training himself and experimenting after Klaaus' untimely demise. On 1908, he met an alchemical accident during one of his costliest and most time-consuming experiments, rendering him immortal. He also ran dry of funding during those days, so he decided to immigrate to North America to find a steady source of income, as well as a venture to the outside world.
Upon arrival at New York, he first took residence in an apartment in Brooklyn and worked various odd jobs, such as store caretaker or chimney sweeper. After a month later, he decided to move out of his apartment room and deliberately become a vagabond, to reduce living expenses. Boredom from working and wanting an outlet for aggressive simulation, he resorted to robbery-homicide, with a local neighborhood man has his first victim. On 1911, he moved to the State of New Jersey and acquired a Colt M1892 revolver, his first firearm, through one of his victims, an off-duty police officer, and then another victim before leaving the state near the end of the year.
In 1912, he claimed the lives of three more people in the states of West Virginia and Kentucky, before being heavily wounded in a failed residential break-in in Tennesee. He then decided to recuperate from his wounds in Mississippi and trade his revolver with a Colt 1911 from an underground arms dealer. He also met in this state a group of armed robbers calling themselves as The Mississippi Merrymen, comprised namingly of John Henry Stone, their leader; Jane Donahue, Neo's future first girlfriend and the brothers William "Bill" and Christopher "Chris" Roberts. He decided to join the group and move to Louisiana with them, in which they started robbing stores and amassing money for themselves. On August 22, Neo was arrested by the authorities of New Orleans for his involvement with the activities of the Merrymen, and is sent to Louisiana State Penitentiary. He was prison raped by his cellmate upon arrival, which prompted him to do the same thing against his attacker. For the course of 5 months, he and the Merrymen discreetly planned his escape from the facility, culminating on Christmas Eve, which involved Neo successfully feigning his own death.
For the first 4 months of 1913, the Merrymen stopped all overt actions in the state of Texas until May 1, when they successfully robbed a bank in Corpus Christi, which started their streaks of successful bank robberies. However, on July 17, an encounter with the police in Fort Worth leads to a fire fight, killing John Henry in the process. Upon his death, Jane takes her place as his successor and continued their operations with greater caution. On September 11, Neo's birthday, Bill and Chris were killed in a botched bank robbery on Dallas, which prompted both Jane and Neo, the last two remaining Merrymen, to move toward Ouchita Mountains in Oklahoma two days later. They stayed there for the rest of the year and hunted and farmed for sustenance.
On July 16, 1914, almost a year after they stopped all illicit activity, they successfully robbed a major bank in Tulsa, only for Jane to get killed by the police in a shootout a day later. After 8 days, Neo launched an undetected but massive attack using an alchemized poison in order to take revenge for Jane's death, killing 32 officers, including the Chief of Police. After the attack, Neo assumed the name Henry Wilson Smith, and moved to Kansas on July 28, where he claims 10 more lives during the course of his stay due to robbery-homicide.
By the start of 1915, Neo moved to the town of Pueblo, Colorado and found work there as a pharmacist, as well as meeting Hannah Meier, a first generation German immigrant and Neo's future second girlfriend, who frequently visited the drugstore where he used to work. The United States entered the First World War by the latter half of 1917, which meant that Neo, still under the name Henry Wilson Smith, was drafted to join the American Expeditionary Forces and was eventually sent to Europe. He returned home in November 1918, when armistice was signed, only to discover that Hannah died from contracting the Spanish flu, which was an epidemic during and after the war.
Neo then moved to Utah the following year and made a living selling alchemized "patent medicines", under the name Dante de Medici. Aside from the growing cynicism from consumers and larger rivaling brands of medicines, he did not extensively advertise his products, which might be the reason why he was not able to sell well, although they did work as promised.
The Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution took effect on January 17, 1920, marking the start of the Prohibition Era. Neo, not meeting the expected success in Utah, moved to Las Vegas, Nevada three days after start of Prohibition. Three more days later, he meets Vincent Montagna, a caporegime from the Della Valle crime family's local faction, through an encounter where Neo assisted Vincent's men in a gang firefight. This course of action marked the start of his association with the family, as Vincent first referred to Neo as such on February 19, introducing him as "a friend of ours" to Giuseppe Montagna, Vincent's older brother and the boss of the Las Vegas faction. Neo furthermore cemented his status within the family when he killed a police informant to prevent a bootlegging operation from being uncovered.
In 1925, Neo was incarcerated when he was charged with aggravated assault with a motor vehicle for allegedly trying to run a pedestrian over due to a disagreement, in which Vincent monetarily bailed him out jail. He also met Maria Angela Romano, Vincent's confidante first cousin and Neo's third girlfriend, during this time. In 1931, the Della Valle family opened its books for new made men and Neo was recommended to be a Soldier, sponsored by Vincent and Angela. After he successfully assassinated a suspected turncoat by the orders of Giuseppe, Neo finally took the oath on March 19, making him a Soldato of the Della Valle family under Vincent's crew.
In March 14, 1933, Vincent was wrongfully accused and was found guilty of murdering a well-known card shark and was held at Nevada State Prison. Wanting to reciprocate the help given to him when he was jailed in 1925, Neo decided to be the temporary capo of the crew, in order to break him out of jail. His first attempt was on March 18, when he sent out five of his fellow crewmen to retrieve Vincent from the State Prison. The result was unsuccessful, with all five of them dying during a fire fight with the police underway. This frustrated attempt forced Neo to resort on using alchemy again and after two days, he sent another five men to attempt another jailbreak. The result was successful, but Vincent was disappointed with Neo's decision to border on breaking the Omerta by helping him escape out of jail, as well as his failed first attempt where five of his crewmen died and the notoriety gained by the family as a whole for the successful second attempt. Neo was also almost kicked out of the family for his unwarranted and unauthorized actions, but was kept in anyway because it showed his potential to be a capo, in addition to his decent reputation in the family. By the end of year, the Twenty-first Amendment took effect, which legally ended the Prohibition. In the following year of 1934, Don Montagna foresaw the potential loss of profits from the effects of alcohol re-legalization, so he allowed the family to venture into dealing marijuana and do labor union rackets. In 1935, Neo was found by Angela to be cheating with another woman, which prompted her to end their 10-year relationship. According to Neo, he deliberately cheated and provoked Angela to break up with him in order to hide his immortality, although he also states that she was already frustrated from his lack of decision about marrying her and "was just grasping on straws", waiting for a reason to validly break-up with him.
Both Vincent and Neo were caught in a fire fight with the police while driving their way to Carson City to meet a family friend for a drug deal in 1937, which claimed the life of Vincent. Neo then drove their car towards the Carson River in order to detract their pursuers and use the opportunity to escape from the state and into California. Neo then hid in the town of Lincoln in Placer County, under the name of Fabro Metzger, and worked as a pharmacist.
In 1940, Neo decided to join the United States Marine Corps, still known as Fabro Metzger, and was placed at the 1st Battalion, under the command of the 1st Marine Division. He fought in the Guadalcanal campaign, the battle of Peleliu and Okinawa, and the latter which he boasted that he made his whole squad survive "under a Typhoon of Steel". He also hinted that he raped Japanese civilians after the battle of Okinawa, saying "that's the first time I liked the sound of Jap women crying like the spineless bitches that they are." In 1947, two years after the war has officially ended in the Pacific, Neo went back home to Lincoln, then moved to San Luis Obispo County, in the town of Harmony and assumed the new name of Joseph Nestor. He layed low in this town and worked as a waiter from 1948 to 1961, occasionally trill killing in neighboring towns and cities, which increased his number of victims by 20 people.
Neo got drafted to serve in the US Army for the second time in 1962, during the rising stages of the Vietnam War. During his tour of duty, he noted that, aside from the fact that he had a hard time engaging Viet Cong forces due to their use of guerilla warfare, he also stated that he predicted at first that the US would eventually just withdraw from the war, citing logistic and tactical reasons, such as the frequent failures of new M16 rifles. Nevertheless, he continued serving during that time because he saw it as an opportunity to kill people with very little restraints. His service ended when he chose to leave in 1966, when the situation fully escalated, thinking that the US "might win after all", although he also decided to view the war as pointless, unnecessarily tiring and detrimental to his ego.
In 1967, Neo or "Joseph" decided to move to Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco, during the Summer of Love, where thousands of college students from their spring break came to the city to take part of the then-vibrant hippie counterculture. He was able to fit in because of his dislike of Vietnam War, which the other hippies mistook as an opposition to all war, although he deemed their confusion to his ideals as irrelevant because he also expressed opposition to working. While attending the Monterey Pop Festival in June, he met "The Rainbowheart Tribe", a group mostly composed of Romanian-descent people who are also drawn to the counterculture. One of them was Martha Enescu, also known as "Starlight", a self-proclaimed vampire and Neo's fourth girlfriend. Since most of the tribe adapted nicknames after confectioneries, such as "Captain Jelly Baby" and "Miss Liquorice", Neo opted to take the nickname "Captain Candy Floss", a name which he proudly refers to himself up to this day. After being inducted into the Rainbowheart, he then moved to an abandoned industrial block located half a mile from the outskirts of San Francisco and was refurbished by them as a commune, which they then named as "The Candy Factory". Neo continued training his alchemy in this commune, avoiding human experimentation, which he now saw as "boring and repetitive ", and focusing on regeneration and growth, mainly to help the tribe agriculturally and medically. Because of this, the whole tribe became aware of his skills as an alchemist, and he opted to give them basic lectures on it, including the philosophy behind alchemy. In the following months, the numbers of the tribe started to dwindle due to some of them wanting to pursue other interests, although Neo already thought them enough at this point. Since the tribe's leader, "The Great Chocolate Man", was tolerant and supportive of his tribe people, he allowed leaving the Factory in peace. In November of 1968, only five of the tribe was left, and they finally decided to desert the Factory at the end of the month, as Chocolate declared that the commune's purpose has already been achieved. Neo and Martha also decided to part ways in good faith, with a promise of meeting again someday to each other. After this, Neo moved southward to Los Angeles.
In June of 1969, Neo flew back to New York City, the first time he ever did so, to visit "Fruitcake", an old friend and tribesman working in the Stonewall Inn, due to the latter's plead to help him "battle this unknown disease", which alchemy could not seem to fight or heal. They talked and exchanged knowledge in alchemy for the whole day of June 27 until the early morning hours of the next day, in which a riot between the bar patrons, including the two of them, and police raiding the place erupted. Neo stayed with him to help in finding a cure, only to have Fruitcake die a month later, after being hit by a moving vehicle which he failed to see due to the retinitis associated with his sickness. Neo opted to stay in New York even after his death, due to his nostalgia with the city and his continued studies on Fruitcake's work, as well as circulating rumors of a concert that will take place upstate. On August 15, he attended the rumored concert, now known as the Woodstock Festival of 1969, and actually met many of his former tribesmen, including Starlight herself. A month later, Neo goes back to Los Angeles and takes Fruitcake's research material with him, which deviated to making a panacea and he still continues until today. In December of the same year, he attended the Altamont Free Concert in northern California, which turned out to be infamous of its disorganization, chaos and violence. This event convinced Neo that the idealism of the sixties were over, calling it as "the day Sixties ended and died".
Neo decided to go back to robbery-homicide on 1970, which lead him to get discovered by Rattus, who was selling weapons to the Mafia during that time, after he tried to rob and kill him. Neo stabbed him on the neck and got shot five times in his chest as a response, which lead to both men discovering that both of them were immortal. He then asked of his life story and skills and, after finding out of his skills in alchemy, offered him to be part of the "entourage". Neo declined the offer and just opted to be his informant around the city. However, after a month has passed, he offered him again, under promises of having a "steady but negotiable" pay, and Neo quickly accepted.
Personality:
Spoiler for Hiden: Neo can be described as cocky, sassy, egoistic, rude and facetiously sardonic, although he freely admits to these quantities and is seemingly unashamed because of them. However, he sometimes berates other people for saying that he is egocentric, saying that egoism is different from egocentricism, as he could he "could put himself on other's shoes", but only ignores doing so, either because he already experienced such or he deems it as inappropriate. Albeit he shows signs of cynicism, he dislikes outright and excessively cynical people, saying that they are ruining everyone's lives by being "so self- absorbed, thinking that they've seen it all when you can never actually see it all".
He seemingly has no moral sensitivities on murdering someone, although he does have reservations on it because of its unacceptability in modern society, which makes him worry that excessive killing will not be good for his reputation and deems rape as something greater than murder, although he also states that "rape ain't that too bad as they make it either" and a large kill count could be used for basic psychological warfare. He also has hints of sexual sadomasochism and has outright stated that he could engage in bondage with some moderation and limits. His moral fiber is usually deemed either by his force of habit or the amount of satisfaction he will derive from an action, which meant that he will not do something considered traditionally unethical if he does not feel comfortable with it or he does not feel like doing it.
He also has a habit for spouting pop culture references unashamingly, even at inappropriate times or when it annoys other people, which sometimes push him to amplify this practice. In addition to this, he sometimes insults people's personality or mistakes just for the sake of insulting them, which usually elicits a reaction from the offended party, ranging from subtle to violent. His insults could sometimes touch the person's race, intelligence, sexuality, creed or age, and he intentionally uses politically incorrect, vulgar or offensive language, even when talking favorably about a particular group. He also has a liking for sexually harassing women or even men and states that being sexually harassed himself arouses him. Ironically, Rattus asks Neo to correct him if he uses a outdated word, much to his amusement and chagrin.
Neo has a particular liking for reading Western comics and playing video games, although he does watch anime sometimes, usually of pornographic nature, which he views as a good source of comedy. He usually spends his time surfing the Internet to chat, post on numerous forums, read articles or watch or read pornography, if not "continue his research", his all around excuse to keep his door locked, in which he either tells the truth or consumes marijuana or LSD, the only time when his personality radically changes. He also said that he played some visual novels before and has a liking for train groping or rape-themed ones. Since his room is sound-proofed, he could be heard playing music at high volume, usually an old or classic song that's appropriate or ironic to the Order's general mood or situation.
Weakness: Although immortal, his lack of regenerative abilities render him vulnerable.
Ivan The Mouse:
Name: Rattus von Engles
Race: Human
Age: 242, looks to be 27
Height: 5' 12"
Eyes: None (Suffering from Aniridia)
Hair: Blue; Brown (in realistic settings)
Appearance: Spoiler for Hiden:
Aside from his temple-length wavy hair, Rattus can be easily distinguished among his fellow Order members for his stereotypical corporate attire, consisting of a black suit, dress pants and a necktie, as well as a white dress shirt. He sometimes breaks the monotony of his clothing by changing the overall color of his outfit, albeit the colors employed still does not seem to deviate very far from the darker and conservative-looking hues. He also wears black suspenders underneath, or a waistcoat matching the color of his suit if he deems it appropriate for the situation. Another noticeable feature is his thick and rectangular glasses, which he wears because of his eyesight problems and mainly obscures the dark circles around his eyes, which come from his lack of sleep. When doing business involving arms dealing or other clandestine activities, he wears black leather gloves to eliminate any forensic fingerprints. He usually can be seen wearing black leather shoes, although he will ditch these for black steel-toed military style boots when taking direct action, as well as wear a leather double-breasted black trench coat in place of his suit. Alignment: True Neutral
Charisma: 75/100
Strength: 30/100
Agility: 60/100
Speed: 70/100
Weapons:
Spoiler for Hiden: Rattus' weapon of choice is the iconic German-made handgun, the Pistole Parabellum 1908, also known as the Luger, which was a keepsake from his time at the Defense of Somme in the First World War. According to him, the weapon is "built more like a sporting pistol than a proper sidearm", so he usually keeps it clean and well-oiled due to its susceptibility to dust or sand making its action jam, as well as its inability to cycle low-pressure rounds. He usually keeps the gun holstered inside his coat, along with a few magazines.
Aside from the pistol, he, in times of direct action, might carry either a Nahkampfmesser combat knife, a Seitengewehr 98 bayonet, in a situation he deems right, his Pattern 1811 Bluecher sabre, which is the Prussian copy of the British Pattern 1796 light cavalry sabre. While the application of the three weapons are practically the same in combat, he tends to favor the combat knife during covert operations, the bayonet when he expects encampment and the sabre for psychological and intimidation reasons. Neo summed up Rattus' intended use of the sabre with the remark "He carries that thing to battle to make the mooks see it and ask themselves 'Who the fuck carries a cavalry sabre into a fight nowadays?' “When bringing the sabre, Rattus holds it on his right hand, with the Luger on his left, obviously indicative of his background as a cavalryman.
Magic Resistance: Paradoxical, can be affected by negative debuffs but cannot be killed by such.
Magic Ability:
Spoiler for Hiden: Limited Immortality
This kind of trait allows him to stop aging indefinitely and fend off fatal attacks, although the progression of the healing of his body is still natural unless with scientific or magical intervention. Since this source of immortality came from a dubious source, Rattus has no way knowing how to replicate it's results.
Non-Magical Abilities:
Spoiler for Hiden: Due to his experiences as a soldier and current employment as an arms dealer and corporate stockholder, Rattus has a great understanding of strategy and logistics, both in business and military fields. He can provide advice and plan against his opponents, and could as well as acquire a huge variety of modern weaponry from the black and white market, and may also enlist his fellow Order members to manufacture weapons and modifications. He could also employ private military contractors, deception or a sometimes indirect legalistic and corporate strategy to severely hamper his opponent’s fighting doctrines.
Some of his principles in general strategy also carry over to his style of personal fighting, as he emphasizes speed and efficiency when taking down enemies, which means he generally finds ways to quickly end an encounter, even if it means employing some under-handed tactics. As a former Prussian Hussar officer, he is devastatingly deadly when on horseback; although he admits that his skills as a cavalryman are irrelevant nowadays due to its obsolescence in the modern battlefield. He also has an apparent skill in marksmanship which, combined with his handgun of choice, is another thing that contributes to his reputation as a former soldier.
His short-lived but substantial career of being a steelworker has lead to him having some knowledge on how to make some steel alloys, although Neo's skill as an alchemist and Yukina's smithing background contribute more to the application of this know-how.
Origin:
Spoiler for Hiden: Rattus was born on an agricultural estate just outside Berlin, which became his childhood residence. His father, Reinhard von Engels, was a Junker and a former Prussian cavalry officer, and his mother, Mariya Leonora Nemov, was an eccentric but intelligent Volga German noblewoman from Russia. Leonora's endless fascination with biology eventually leads to her naming her first-born son after the black rat's older scientific name, Mus rattus, which caused disappointment from Reinhard. Rattus is the eldest of seven children and, as per family tradition, he was trained by his father in the arts of war and combat as early as eight years old, to serve the Prussian Army in the future. He had finally enlisted in the Army on 1792 as a Hussar, during the outbreak of the War of the First Coalition, which was an effort of several European monarchies to contain Revolutionary France. A year later, Rattus fights his first battle at Primasens, which was a Prussian victory.
On 1795, however, France had peace talks with Prussia, which manifested in the First Treaty of Basel, making Prussia withdraw from the Coalition and remain in an armed neutral state, which meant that Rattus can go home and rest with his family. During this time, many developments happened in the von Engels household. Markus, the fifth youngest sibling, entered the seminary to become a Jesuit on 1796. Ruprecht, the third eldest, committed suicide a year later, because of his frustrations regarding his homosexuality. And another year later, Adelina, the fourth sibling in the family, eloped with Gerard Wulfenbach, a Dutch-German merchant, and their whereabouts remained unknown for a long time.
Wanting to cool his head from the incidents that had happened in the past few years, Rattus went on an excursion to the Electorate of Hanover in 1799 for a year, which was also a opportunity for him to train his capabilities as a cavalry soldier. During one of his horseback riding sessions, a young woman, who Rattus poetically described as "with skin and hair as white as snow and eyes red like blood or fire", approached him while he was resting on a tree stump, offering him a red liquid in a flask, which looked like red wine, while telling him that the drink will make him "taste eternity". Tired from the riding and seeing nothing wrong with the beverage, Rattus quickly received it and drank the concoction, conclusively making him immortal, although its effects were not immediately felt by him, even after he went home the following year.
On 1805, Rattus goes back to his Cavalry Regiment, midst rumors that the Kingdom of Prussia will go to war again. The War of the Fourth Coalition did happen the following year but the Prussian Army, still using tactics dating back from the late King Frederick the Great's reign, were decisively defeated at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt by Napoleon's Army. It was during this battle that Rattus discovered his immortality, when he managed to wake up after being caught in the range of a cannon's canister shot hours after the fight itself. The city of Berlin and, by extension, the whole Kingdom was soon occupied by the French Empire, which forced the remnants of the Army to retreat at Koenigsberg. On November of 1806, the Prussians tried to fight against the French forces at the city of Halle, but were still utterly crushed and captured. Rattus took part in the battle and, when he saw that Army's resistance failed, promptly hid to the Harz Mountains, in order to start a individual guerrilla-style warfare against the French. During this time, he avoided wearing his standard Hussar uniform and, instead, sewn a uniform made out of sackcloth. While his strategy in dealing with the French remained Hussar-like, he modified it to be more efficient as an individual cavalryman, which involved luring small squads into forested areas and then attacking them. This method earned him scores of fatalities under his name and earned him a reputation among Prussians and French alike as "The Sackcloth Hussar", although Rattus himself remained unaware of this and, in turn, no one really had an idea on his exact identity.
However, through investigating, the Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbuettel found Rattus' location and promptly confronted him, inviting him to join his "personal army" to reclaim the invaded Duchy of Brunschweig. Rattus, although reluctant at first to fight for a state that he does not have an allegiance, was finally convinced to join "The Black Horde" after the Duke argued that it would be a fight for the "German Realm" itself, as well as a chance for revenge against the French Empire for the occupied Kingdom of Prussia. According to Rattus, this was the first incantation of his then-emerging German nationalism. On the same year, the Black Horde mobilized to capture Brunschweig from the French, which as a successful endeavor. This action earned the Duke's corps the nickname "The Black Brunswickers". However, the Brunswickers were quickly driven out of the city, but the Duke was able to escape to England to join his cousin and brother-in-law, the future King George IV, along with his troops. Rattus was not willing to leave Continental Europe along with the Black Horde, but was convinced by the Duke after making a wager that he would be dismissed from the corps after a year of service. Nevertheless, Rattus left the Black Brunswickers in 1811, two years after his recruitment into the corps, as he volunteered to serve for one more year, in order to train and learn from his fellow Brunswicker hussars.
On 1812, after a year of hiding and ceasing all fighting activity, Rattus resumes his Sackcloth Hussar persona, albeit he colored the uniform black and rode a black horse, as a tribute to his fellow Brunswickers and to terrify the French. On December of the same year, General Yorck of the Prussian Army, who are now supporting Napoleon's invasion of Russia, negotiated with Field Marshal Hans Karl von Diebitsch after being isolated by his superior. This led to the Convention of Tauroggen, which neutralized Prussia out of the invasion. This made the Prussians enthusiastic, and intensified Rattus' will to fight for the freedom of his Kingdom. And on the following year, February of 1813, The Treaty of Kalisz is signed between Prussian and the Russian Empire to make an alliance against Napoleon's France, leading to a declaration of war by the King Frederick William III of Prussia a month after. He then made a speech addressed not only to Prussians, but to all Germans, for a war of liberation, in a proclamation now known as "An Mein Volk". Rattus subsequently abandons his Sackcloth Hussar uniform and joins the newly reformed Prussian Army on April 11, his birthday, of the same year, as a gift to himself. He was then assigned to the 1st Life Hussar Regiment, known as Death's Head Hussars for their black uniform and silvered skull and crossbones badge. On August 23, the Battle of Grossbeeren, Rattus' first battle for the Prussian Army after 7 years of non-enlistment, was won by the Prussians. And on October, the Sixth Coalition, which included the Prussian Army, took part in the Leipzig Campaign, the largest and bloodiest battle of the Napoleonic Wars, and was decisively won by them against the French.
The Battle for Paris and its subsequent capture by the Coalition forces on March 31 of 1814 led to Napoleon's abdication on April 6, which was further cemented by his ratification of the Treaty of Fontainebleu on April 11, ensuring his exile to the island of Elba. On May 30, peace between the Sixth Coalition and the French Empire was established upon the Treaty of Paris, also known as the First Peace of Paris. By the end of the year, Rattus decided to retire from the Prussian Army to a family rest house in Brandenburg, which later becomes the Von Engels Manor. At the same time, the Congress of Vienna is ongoing and is making talks regarding the restoration of the borders of European nations.
On February of 1815, Napoleon escaped from the island and entered Paris on March 20, with the French people still backing him up, starting the now-called Hundred Days of Napoleon. The Great Powers of Europe then ratified the Treaty of Vienna on March 25, prompting Rattus to go back to the Prussian Army again. It was during this time that one provision of the Final Act of Congress of Vienna formed the German Confederation, lead by the Austrian Empire. On June 18, The Battle of Waterloo takes place, which marked Napoleon's final major defeat, making him leave the Imperial French throne once again four days later. Graf von Zieten's I Corps, the unit which Rattus belongs to, was the first Coalition unit to enter Paris after the war. After Louis the XVII is restored to the French throne on July 8 and Napoleon is exiled to the island of St. Helena on October 16, Rattus, after assuring himself that the Kingdom of Prussia's future is secured, resigns from its Army on November 20 and goes back to hiding in his rest house. On 1816, Rattus starts an agricultural estate in Frankfurt an der Oder as a business venture, marking the start of his first military dormancy.
In 1848, Rattus, while on his way to a business dealing in Berlin, witnessed King Frederick William IV, along with some ministers and generals, parading in the streets wearing black, red and gold, which were the revolutionary colors during that time. Rattus cites this event as his reason of fully supporting German unification, which was a liberal idea during that era. At the same time, the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein wanted independence from the Kingdom of Denmark, which sparked the First Schleswig War, with Prussia backing the two duchies. The war, however, was won by Denmark as they regain their control. This eventually influenced Rattus' decision to return to the Army on 1860, wanting to compensate for his absence during this war. Otto von Bismarck became the Prime Minister of Prussia and Foreign Minister in 1862, and the situation regarding the two duchies escalated in 1863 when troops from the kingdoms of Saxony and Hanover occupied Holstein, which lead to the Second Schleswig War in 1864. This was won both by the Prussians and Austrians against the Danes, and Schleswig and Holstein was finally given the Confederation.
The Schleswig-Holstein Question, however, was not answered by the last war. In 1866, the Kingdom of Prussia and the Austrian Empire went to war over the disputed territories, now known as Austrio-Prussian War. Twenty days after the Prussians win the decisive Battle of Koeniggraetz, the Peace of Prague was signed, which not only ended the war, but also dissolved the German Confederation and transferred the administration of Schleswig and Holstein to Prussia, becoming a single province. Bismarck will then be appointed as the Chancellor of the North German Confederation, which was formed on 1867, along several smaller German states.
On the other hand, France, still feeling the effects of its defeat in the Napoleonic Wars as well as alarmed by its quick fall from its socio-political dominance, were one of the opponents against German unification. Bismarck knew that a war against them was necessary to facilitate the formation of a unified German nation, so he publicly published the Ems Telegram on July 13 of 1870, which was a transcript of a friendly conversation between King William I of Prussia and Count Vincent Benedetti, France's ambassador to the Kingdom. Bismarck edited the transcript to make it look like the two participants insulted each other. Six days later, France declared war against Prussia over this, which started the Franco-Prussian War. It, nevertheless, was won by the Kingdom of Prussia and was ended the Treaty of Frankfurt. William I was also proclaimed as the first Emperor of the newly founded German Empire, which was formed during the course of the war. On 1872, Rattus turns a hundred years old, and he decides to resign from the Army, which began his second military dormancy.
On 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir presumptive to the Austrian throne, was assassinated by Serbian nationalists. This caused Austria-Hungary to declare war against Serbia, which sparked a chain of alliances created by the previous decades to be mobilized. Approximately a month after his assassination, the First World War started, prompting Rattus to join the Imperial German Army and end his second military dormancy. After fighting unsuccessfully in the Somme Offensive and witnessing the different technologies that were developed and used in it, Rattus, in his own words, began to see the war as "something horrifying and too peculiar for him", making him to feel alienated, which caused him to swore off front line duty after the war ended. His experiences regarding the war was exacerbated during 1917, in which the lack of military rations drove Rattus and his men to resort to cannibalism, as well as a botched practical joke involving a trench mortar leading him to be sexually impotent for the rest of his life. On November 4, 1918, a rebellion broke out rooting from the port city of Kiel, beginning the so-called German November Revolution, which caused the Emperor to abdicate from his throne. Six days later, a German Republic has been announced by Philipp Scheidemann in Berlin, which became a separate Provisional Government from the communists' "Workers' Republic". And on November 9, representatives from the two sides of the war met at Compiege, France in a railway carriage to sign an armistice, which marked the end of the First World War.
In 1919, the infamous Treaty of Versailles was signed at June 28, which pinned the blame on Germany and its allies, substantially weakened their armed forces and forced them pay huge amounts of war reparations to Great Britain, United States and France. This, coupled with the signing of the new German Republic's constitution on August, which started the Weimar Republic, brought great anger to many Germans, especially Rattus himself, making him quit the Army. This started his third military dormancy. In 1921, hyperinflation caused by the payment of war reparations hit Germany, and he was reduced to poverty, and needed to work in a labor position for the Krupp steel manufacturers. He was hit with alcoholism during this time, while still ardently keeping up the demands of his job, which slowly deteriorated his mental health. His employer, noticing Rattus' fatigue, forced him to take a month-long vacation in October, and he headed out to Coburg to take a rest. On October 10, Rattus witnessed the first public rally of the National Socialist German Workers' Party, or the Nazi Party in the same town, and his first personal encounter with Adolf Hitler himself, who asked him for directions to the town square. The Nazi Party eventually left the town victorious against the Marxists who had hold on Coburg, which left Rattus impressed on Hitler's enthusiasm, but still skeptical enough of the Party's anti-Semitism.
More than a year after the incident at Coburg, the Nazi Party attempted an armed revolt in their base town, Munich, which came to be known as Beer Hall Putsch. It failed, however, with 16 Nazi party members dying in the armed struggle and eventual arrest of Hitler in 1923. In 1924, he was sentenced to five years of imprisonment for high treason and during this time, Rattus heard about the Nazi Party's failed coup and visited Hitler in Landsberg Prison, where he was held during that time. He confronted Hitler and asked him about his intentions, and this discussion lasted for a whole day, which finally revealed Hitler's philosophy. Rattus, while still isn't impressed by Hitler's extremist ideas, was left more impressed by Hitler's unbridled enthusiasm and optimism, as well as determination to take the Versailles Treaty down. Hitler was released from prison in the same year, when he was given pardon by the Bavarian Supreme Court.
On October 29, 1929, United States, which were handing out loans to Weimar Germany for the rebuilding of its economy, was hit with its most devastating collapse in its stock market, which started the now-called Great Depression. This made the US stop giving out loans to Germany altogether, which proved to be devastating to its economy. Many people during this time lost their jobs, and Rattus himself was laid off from being a steelworker a year later. This mainly became one of his reasons in joining the Nazi party, which was flourishing and popular during that time, and he joined the Schtuzstaffel mainly because, in his own words, he thought it was just a bodyguard duty. In 1932, the Nazi Party became the majority in the German parliament after the elections and by late January of 1933, President von Hindenburg was forced to appoint Hitler as the chancellor after two elections in the parliament.
On February 27 in the same year, an arson attack on Reichstag, the German parliament building in Berlin, was conducted by unknown assailants. The Nazis blamed this attack to the communists and on the next day, they passed the Law for the Protection of People and State, also known as Reichstag Fire Decree, which virtually took away many of the democratic liberties in the Weimar constitution from the German people. A month later, The Dachau concentration camp opens, and Rattus was assigned there to work as a warden, which initially was a prison for German political prisoners. On March 23, The Law to Remedy the Distress of the People and The Nation, also known as The Enabling Act of 1933, was passed, effectively allowing the Nazi-dominated cabinet to enact laws without any intervention from the parliament. Adolf Hitler declared the so-called "Nazi revolution" a success on July 6 in a meeting with higher-ranking officers, and then the Nazis ban all other political parties 9 days later.
The Nazis, now being the political majority, started a series of murders against the percieved enemies or traitors of the regime on June 30, 1934, also known as the Blood Purge or The Night of The Long Knives, and severely affected the Nazi paramilitary organization Strumabteilung, or SA, which previously helped Hitler in his rise to power. Then-president Paul von Hindenburg also died during that year, which made Hitler illegally combine his Chancellor position to von Hindenburg's now-empty post. On August 19, seventeen days after von Hindenburg's death, a referendum took place in order to get the German public's vote regarding this action taken. The results showed that 90% of the voters approved Hitler's fusion of the two posts, making it legalized. According to Rattus, who witnessed the following events, he regarded the year 1934 as "the year that the old Prussia he knew died", especially upon von Hindenburg's death, in which he abstained from drinking alcohol when he heard of his demise.
On 1935, a series of anti-Semitic laws, known as The Nuremberg Race Laws, were implemented to legally deprive the Jews of German citizenship and right to marriage. And on March 7 of the following year of 1936, nineteen German infantry battalions and a few planes occupied the industrially-essential region of Rhineland, which was against the terms stated in the Versailles Treaty. Rattus' unit during this era, The SS-Totenkopfverbaende or SS-Death's Head Group, was established on the same month, with the purpose of administering the concentration camps. Near the end of the year, Nazi Germany forms a military alliance with Fascist Italy and signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with Japan, in which Italy eventually joins after a year.
The German Army marched onto Austria and subsequently annexed it on March 1938 in defiance to the Treaty of Versailles, an event now known as Anschluss. On the same year they managed to annex many more territories that were lost after the dissolution of the German Empire, as well as new ones that were never a part of it, like the industrial Czechoslovakian region of Suetenland. But also on the same year, a coordinated attack, which was a response to the assassination of a German diplomat by a Jewish refugee in Paris, was executed by the Nazis against Jewish people and property and was well-disguised as a pogrom. It happened on November 9 to 10, now known as the Night of the Broken Glass. Thousands of Jews were beaten and sent to concentration camps during this period, although many of them were released in the course of three months. Rattus, upon the arrival of the Jews in Dachau, was discreetly trying to make their sentence in the camp more pleasant, although he was being held back by his fears of being labeled as a sympathizer, and thus his work was ineffective and ultimately futile.
On 1939, the German Army finally invaded Czechoslovakia on March 15 and Poland on September 1. The latter attack prompted Great Britain and France of declare war against Germany, therefore marking the end of the appeasement policy and starting the Second World War. On the first two months of 1940, there were talks of opening a new concentration camp in Oswiecim in Poland and on April 30, Rattus, along with Rudolf Hoess and four other SS officers, arrived in the newly-built Auschwitz concentration camp. It only, however, was rendered officially opened for service with the arrival of 30 German criminal prisoners on May 20. The first crematorium in Auschwitz began operation on August 15, and Rattus was assigned to lead the SS men guarding these facilities, as well as sign the papers authorizing their usage.
Heinrich Himmler, the head commander of the SS, visited Auschwitz on March 1 of 1941 and orders an expansion of the camp, which was why the construction of the second main subcamp, Birkenau, started on this year and consistently expanded throughout the course of the war. On September 3, Rattus witnessed the first gassings in Auschwitz against 600 Soviet prisoners of war and 250 ill and weak Polish prisoners, which unnerved him. It was then the first use of Zyklon B, as suggested by Karl Fritzsch, an SS Hauptstrumfuehrer who will be later known for his cruelty. The "Wall of Death" was used for the first time on November 11 to execute 151 Polish prisoners by firing squad.
Himmler ordered all Jews in the German concentration camps to be sent in the Polish concentration camp on October 5, 1942, in accordance to the plans laid out by Reinhard Heyrich in the Wannasee Conference regarding the "Final Solution" earlier in the year on January 20, just before his death on June 4 after being fatally wounded in the assassination attempt by Czech Underground agents. On December 10, the first transport of German Jews arrived in Auschwitz, and thus Rattus finally realized Hitler's true plan regarding them, which was outright killing the Jews, leading to his disillusion and disgust at the Nazi regime when he saw a few of the inmates at Auschwitz present their documents which proved that they saw service back in World War 1. However, he continued to carry out his duties at Auschwitz due to his cynicism combined with his sense of duty or "Pflichtbewusstsein", saying that as much as his Prussian values made him hate Nazism, it also was, paradoxically, the reason why he stayed working in the camp, thinking that "evil had won over us, and this is how it has to be now, so I thought I had no choice anymore but to carry out the duties given to me until this world ends itself", in his own words.
The Romani and Sinti people, better known as Gypsies, were also subjected to the same treatment by the Nazis on January of 1943 and on March 14, the Krakow Ghetto, one of the largest ghettos for the Jews, have been liquidated, with many of its inhabitants sent to concentration camps. Many more crematoriums have been rendered operational during this year, as well as it also marked the arrival of Josef Mengele, Auschwitz's infamous "Angel of Death", who Rattus described as having a "horrifying" personality. On 1944, when the war was turning in favor of the Allies, the advancing Soviet forces eventually liberated Majdanek on July 24, which as very close to Auschwitz. The Sonderkommandos, prisoners who were assigned to clean the gas bunkers and dispose the inmates' corpses into the crematoria, were notified by the camp resistance about plans of killing them. Thus, on October 7, they revolted, which resulted in the destruction of Crematoria IV, death of 3 SS personnel and eventual suppression of the revolt, in which around 450 of the Sonderkommando were killed or executed. Rattus almost gets his immortality discovered because of his ardent refusal to shoot back at the prisoners during this revolt, although he, after this event, realized that it "wouldn't have made any difference on his record" if he shot back at them. Nevertheless, he remained steadfastly against directly being violent to the prisoners, attracting some suspicions from his fellow SS-Death's Head. The last gassings in Auschwitz took place in October 30, and Himmler ordered the destruction of the camp crematoria on November 25, in order to hide any evidence of the Final Solution ever taking place, in which Rattus was reassigned to lead the men under his command on guarding the camp in general.
On January 17 of 1945, nearing the last days of the war, the SS troops start to evacuate 60,000 prisoners from the camp, leaving behind 7,500 prisoners, who were too ill or weak to walk, as well as a few SS members, Rattus and some of his men included. There were orders from the SS command to execute any remaining prisoners in the camp, but it was never carried out due to the increasingly confusing state of the war, especially for Germany. On January 19, the Soviet Army liberated Krakow and Warsaw as a part of the Vistula-Oder Offensive and are now heading towards the camp itself. Rattus, along a few of his men, then began their escape from Auschwitz on the next day, riding a car towards Berlin, under the guise of directly reporting the situation of the camp to Hitler himself, who had already retreated to the Fuehrerbunker on January 16. Auschwitz itself was finally captured by the advancing Soviet Army in January 27, liberating the remaining prisoners in the camp.
After Hitler gave his permission to the personnel of the bunker to leave, Rattus finally sought to confront him for the last time on April 23, on his private quarters, to directly state his ire about being assigned to the concentration camps, as well as to rebuke Hitler himself about the whole concept of the Final Solution. This confrontation lead to a short argument between the two of them, which Hitler revealed that he always viewed Rattus with suspicion and contempt, calling him as "a demonic presence" and accusing him of conservative royalism. Rattus, in turn, affirmed that he is indeed a conservative royalist, and only supported him in order to defy the Treaty of Versailles, as well as telling Hitler that he "ruined Germany". Hitler then accused Rattus of being weak, stating that "you really think I did ruin this country, yet you served me!" This effectively silenced Rattus, and instead just changed the topic to him requesting permission to leave the bunker. Hitler did give the permission, but not without stripping him of his rank and his membership from both the SS and the Nazi party, as well as giving him the last order of burning the contents of the three suitcases handed to him, the latter being an errant decision which Rattus attributed to the fact that Hitler "looked like he was using drugs" during their argument. The three suitcases are still in Rattus' possession, remaining unopened until today. After the midnight on April 29, Hitler married his long-time mistress Eva Braun and then dictated his last will and testament to his secretary. And on the afternoon of the next day, Hitler committed suicide. Despite being stripped of rank and membership from the SS, Rattus fought against the Soviets in the Battle in Berlin, the only military engagement he did during the Second World War, until General Helmuth Weidling surrendered the city on May 2, which prompted Rattus to retreat to the Von Engels manor, marking the start of his 13-year self-imposed social isolation.
On 1960, Rattus ends his isolation and starts his profession as an arms dealer, for undisclosed personal reasons rather than monetary gain.
Personality:
Spoiler for Hiden: Rattus shows himself to be serious, orderly, professionally steadfast and mostly detached or sometimes outright stoical, as a result of his highly militaristic past. He seems to be very focused on any activity he is currently doing, sometimes up to the point of absurdity. Neo once commented that, if not for him and Yukina, Rattus' daily life will be overly regimented and routine, without any time for leisure or light rest. This personality, combined with his somewhat monotonic and pedantic way of talking, could put people off him. However, he also, at many times, expressed his emotions at certain situations, although these tendencies are done in his usual impersonal manner, which can become unnerving, awkward or comedic, depending on the situation.
Aside from being aloof, he also has a tendency to do any task in an efficient but mechanical manner, even those tasks which he does not consider as work, such as playing an organ when he was asked by Yukina to perform a piece by Bach, which elicited her to say that his performance was "heartless". While this attitude contributes to his ruthlessness when it comes to fighting, he outright stated that it does not mean that he lacks a moral compass, saying that making a fight longer will neither be economically beneficial nor psychologically healthy for both participants, as well as wanting to minimize the suffering created in it. However, he would also make alliances with certain people, then logistically encouraging them to prolong their fights, either to teach them a lesson or to outright destroy them.
But his stoical demeanor is even subject to question itself, whether it was self-imposed or simply a result of both his military experience and lack of real life experiences. Aside from his irascible streak which manifests when he sees something he perceives not done in the right way, he also seemingly has trouble understanding sexual or romantic conversations in a casual setting, something he attributes to his complete apathy to the subject manner. He also is suffering from alcoholism, which manifests in his frequent consumption of unlouched absinthe from his wine flask when stressed, which leads him to drunkenly narrate a story or rant profusely, usually about his war experiences. While he claims himself to be a "normal person who can feel like anyone else", he has a tendency to be brutally honest about his personal experiences and general sentiments in his usual manner of talking, even when it can damage his reputation.
He can be seen playing video games or watching various television shows with his housemates in the living room, which usually becomes a ground for discussion among the members of the Order. While he had admitted to gaming in his spare time, he is more likely to read books about military or political philosophy as a hobby, usually coming from German authors or disassembling and cleaning the firearms in the Manor's armory when not working on his documents. When asked about why he does his own paperwork and not entrust it to a secretary, he simply replies that he uses it to pass the time, aside from making sure he knows what went into the document or spreadsheet, ever since modern technology has made it easier to do such things. He has a lot of novelty office toys in his work desk inside his room, most notably a Lucite deal toy encasing an 2nd Class Iron Cross medal dating back from 1917. He also can generally play keyboard instruments well, and said that he once wanted being a pianist, albeit his performances are mechanical.
Weakness: Although immortal, his lack of regenerative abilities render him vulnerable.
Mooncake:
Name: Wanderer Spoiler for Hiden: War, Horseman of the Apocalypse
Race: ??
Age: ??
Height: ~5’ 11” (180cm)
Weight: Heavy - He’s got a fair bit of muscle.
Eyes: It varies
Hair: Dark Brown
Appearance: Wanderer looks like your typical cowboy - leather coat, cowboy hat, boots, some stubble, and so on. He has brown hair that comes down to his shoulders and a lean build. In his true form, he is cloaked in writhing shadows and flame - when he opens his eyes and mouth, they look like the inside of a furnace, and he gives off tremendous heat.
Alignment: True Neutral/Chaotic Neutral in his true form. As a person, he has some Chaotic Good tendencies too.
Charisma: Names is right, this should be apparent in posts.
Strength: B+ (A+)
Agility: C+ (B+)
Speed: B (A)
Magic Resistance: A+, only the most powerful spells can really affect him (not counting religious rituals). Of course, spells with positive effects can't touch him either.
Magic Ability: He’s got his own skills, but he’s had a little practice with the very oldest forms of magecraft. Enough to maybe recognize a few of those spells, but not enough to actually use them.
Other Abilities:
The Weapons of War: Wanderer can wield any weapon he desires with the skill of a master. He can call forth only one weapon at a time, from all the weapons that have been used in a war on Earth. However, while he could theoretically use, for example, Excalibur, abilities that are not passive [the Excali-blast and Strike Air] would be off limits to him. Only one weapon at a time can be called forth when he is not in his true form (nowadays it's generally guns).
Ruin, The Red Horse of War: "Wanderer's" horse. He doesn't (and won't) ride it in his normal form, relying on other means of transportation. It takes the form of a dark red horse wearing a cloak of flame and shadows, with chains for the reins and a leather saddle. When called, it bursts forth from the ground. It can run faster than sound at top speed, and leaves flaming footprints on the ground as it moves. It has the ability to run on any surface, from land to clouds to water. Ruin cannot die, but it can be destroyed by sufficiently powerful attacks, leaving it unable to be called until some time has passed (at least an hour). Can only be called forth when Wanderer assumes his true form.
The Fog of War: A passive ability. When not in his true form, it is very hard to realize who (or what) Wanderer really is. Sufficiently powerful spiritual beings might realize what he is, and he gives many other creatures a feeling of unease, though they most likely won't be able to guess Wanderer's true nature. This is the ability that allows him to assume a more human form at the cost of reduced capabilities.
The Face of War: The counterpart to his concealing ability, this is what lets Wanderer assume his true form. When he does so, his capabilities are restored to their full power, and he allows himself access to his horse and sword. The problem with this is that Wanderer will not take his true form for any longer than needed, since this is the form he will take at the end, and as such exposure of his true form to the world for too long will have negative side effects to the Earth; it might even begin the end if he does not resume his human form. This problem is shared between Wanderer and his brothers. He uses his true form rarely, and only when it really is truly needed.
Eternal War: Due to his true nature, Wanderer is immortal. It is written that he will be there at the end of the world, so he cannot die before that time. His body may be destroyed, but he will eventually reform in a matter of days, weeks, or even years.
The Presence of War: Wanderer's presence incites conflict. It may not happen in the exact area he's in, but if Wanderer stays in one place long enough, war will break out, escalating in size and brutality the longer he stays. To avoid that, he wanders from place to place. Now that he's in Nexus City, he tries to mitigate the effects of his presence by moving from place to place as much as he can.
Gear:
- Double Barrel Shotgun (A gift from Lacie that never breaks or jams. Other than that, it's a normal shotgun, break-action, with a 19 inch [49 cm] barrel. He doesn't want to know how she got it.)
- Blade of Armageddon (A jagged, flaming sword that is Wanderer's signature weapon in myth. While it may not cut through anything, it will harm any being it touches, regardless of their current status. Its' flames can be sown throughout the battlefield as well. Can only be brought out in the most dire of situations, and even then very sparingly, as this is the weapon Wanderer will use at the end. He refuses to use this in his normal form.)
- Redemption (A strange, 12 shot revolver that was a gift from one of Wanderer's brothers. The bullets can penetrate through most things, but Wanderer uses it sparingly. He seeks to return it to his brother.)
Origin: Spoiler for Hiden: One of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Wanderer (better known as 'War') walked the Earth along with his brothers, Famine and Death, awaiting the birth of Conquest, the Anti-Christ, who was supposed to signal the beginning of the Apocalypse and the ride of the Four Horsemen. He was born when the War of Heaven began, and is the second oldest of the Horsemen, with Death being the oldest.
The world that Wanderer comes from is full of varied climates and land types, with a large chunk of the world being very similar to the Wild West, which is where Wanderer spent most of his immortal life. Where he walks, conflict grows, so he spent his time wandering through the land and never staying in one place for very long, unless he felt a war needed to start.
As the years passed he eventually grew more attached to humanity after spending so much time with them in a form like theirs; he started to wander more, which led to wars decreasing in that area. Along the way, he picked up the simple name of "Wanderer", since he refused to give his true identity to those who asked. At one point in time, he came across an orphaned girl named Lacie, and ended up letting her follow him for a little while. She seemed to be immune to his presence, and they traveled together for some time.
Eventually, Lacie settled down in a town, and Wanderer infrequently came back to see her until her death. Since then, he began to distance himself from humanity a little, but began to show up in random places, walking across the land to do things he thinks Lacie would have liked until one day, as he wandered, he walked right into a portal to Nexus City.
As a person, Wanderer is actually rather calm, tempering his words with humor and sarcasm. Before humanity began to grow on him, he was almost as monotonous as his brother, Death, and much more violent. After Lacie's death, he ended up walking around for a while, doing generally good things. He still holds some of his nature as a Horseman, however, and certain human concepts are unfathomable to him. He also does not believe he has free will, as that is a gift that only humans receive (or so he says, at any rate).
When he is in his true form as War, he is truly neutral, and will not stop for anything that crosses his path.
Weakness: He doesn’t have a lot, to be honest (at least in his true form). You’ll need some really strong spells to take him down if you want to go that route. Alternatively, religious (specifically Christian, though others work as well) rituals work well enough, but the person who uses them has to have true faith. If you’re strong enough, or fast enough, beating him to death might work. You’d have to not pull any punches, though, and be ready for anything he might try to throw at you. He can also be summoned if you know the right way, so a summoning plus a binding is probably your best bet. While Wanderer may be immortal, he isn't invulnerable, so a sufficiently powerful attack that he can't see coming (long-range) is another good choice to take him down. In his human form, he's not at full strength, either.
Likes: Weaponry, Horses, Lacie, His Brothers
Dislikes: Using Magecraft/Magic, His Brothers
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