Schiefer Henker
Schiefer: Slate (Gray)
Henker: Executioner BasicsFull Name:Schiefer Henker
Nickname/Alias:Henker
The Butcher (Limited to White Fang of Vacuo)
The Flayer (Limited to White Fang of Vacuo)
Age: 17
Gender:Male
Race:Human
Appearance Description:To put it bluntly, Schiefer is an ugly bastard. Originally he was somewhat average looking with dull blue eyes and listless white hair, but his father's 'disciplinary actions' in his early teenage years has resulted in his nose being broken so many times that it would take serious surgery in order to undo the damage that has left it in a malformed state. He is also noticeably missing a number of teeth along his bottom right jawline that makes smiling... awkward for him.
Despite the unfortunate state of his face, physically Schiefer is a remarkably physical example of the human race. He towers over most at 6'7 in height, his body toned and muscular due to years of hard physical labor and combat practice. His hands are covered in scar tissue and calloused from being put to work.
Allusion:The often unnamed Royal Executioner
PersonalityPersonality:Many would believe that Schiefer was a cruel, heartless monster who delighted in the pain and suffering of other living things, both from his appearance and the story of what happened at that Astor Dust Company mine in Vacuo that earned him the fear and hate of the White Fang in the region. The truth however is... more complicated then that.
Schiefer is somewhat emotionally stunted and numb, taught from an early age that part of his value to the tribe was to keep a steady head on his shoulders and not let such petty weaknesses like emotion dictate his actions and being punished for being overly emotional. This doesn't mean he can't feel things like happiness or sadness, but he doesn't really know how to properly display them and thus has to push them down like he was trained too.
Raised almost from birth to follow in his father's footsteps as a mercenary for hire (The main source of income for their tribe), any passion or pursuit that didn't support or somehow enhance his future prospects in this field were suppressed and discouraged. The desert of Vacuo was also a highly dangerous place where life was cheap and the strong survived, the tribe hammering into Schiefer's head the lesson again and again until he could keep himself distant from others so that he wouldn't feel pain when they died, be they friend or foe.
The Astor Dust Company mine incident changed Schiefer in ways that no one could have expected. Losing himself completely to his semblance and regaining control to witness the aftermath of what he had done horrified him to the core. His decision to take the money earned from the job and leave for Vale/Beacon was driven by a need to get some distance between himself and what he had done, but also because he firmly believed that Beacon could teach him the control needed so as not to lose himself like that again.
Likes:Blacksmithing
Clearly defined duties and goals
Beautiful things
Soft things
Pastries (even more so if they've got cream involved somehow)
Dislikes:His justified paranoia of the White Fang
Needless cruelty
His snoring
The fact that he has to breath through his mouth most of the time because he can't properly breath through his nose
Weakness (both physical and emotional)
Spicy Food
Motivation:To achieve the self control needed to make full use of his semblance without losing himself to it.
Sexual Orientation:Heterosexual, but willing to concede that he hasn't really explored this.
BiographyCountry of Origin:Vacuo
Bio:Schiefer was originally born in one of many small tribes that dotted the landscape of Vacuo. He was born the son of the one of the tribes blacksmiths named Axton and his supportive wife Amber, but despite the efforts of the local healer Amber passed away several days after giving birth due to complications. The slow and painful death of his wife changed Axton for the worst; He had never been the kindest of men and he was well known for being something of a strict taskmaster, but Amber had been able to coax a degree of softness and restraint from her husband that kept him from being too overbearing in regards to his fellow tribesmen. With the light of his life gone, Axton became harsh and cold to his fellows... the most often focus of his attention being his son.
Throughout Schiefer's childhood, his father was a distant figure who expected a high standard from him and was difficult to please because of it. When the standard for normal was set to 'great' by default, good was never good enough while poor work was badly punished. While nothing out of the ordinary when he was small, as he grew older Schiefer's punishments tended to get more physical in nature once Axton believed his son was old enough to know better and could take those kinds of things. His nose was broken a number of times, resulting it in being completely deformed.
Axton wanted his son to grow up into a strong man that people could depend on when times were tough. To this end, Schiefer was trained to follow his father's footsteps as a blacksmith... as well as taught how to fight in order to serve as one of the tribes mercenaries to be rented out when required. The first time that Schiefer took a life as part of a coming of age ritual (a bandit who had been captured alive for the purpose), his father took him aside to let him know just how proud he was of him. It was one of the few times in his life that Schiefer actually received his father's approval and it would remain one of his most treasured of memories.
Shortly before his 17th birthday, Schiefer joined his father and a team of tribesmen on a job. One of the dust mines of the Astor Dust Company in the region had been occupied by White Fang insurgents who had taken a number of the work force hostage. The manager of this branch of the ADC had quietly cut corners in regards to security in order to line his own pockets and, rather then risk the discovery of his embezzlement by calling in a company task force that might discover his mishandling of company resources and funds, instead hired local mercenaries to do the job instead.
The White Fangs holding the mine had not been idle. They had taken advantage of the resources of the mine, namely the dust and mining explosives, to set a number of traps to serve as defenses against what they believed was going to be a Aster Dust strike force. One of these explosive dust traps maimed and resulted in the death of Axton Henker when he had his legs blown off and he bled to death with his son beside him. With half their force injured or dead, fear gripped the remaining tribe mercenaries while the White Fang indulged in a moment of hateful joy at the losses inflicted on what they believed to be a hated enemy...
And then Schiefer discovered his semblance.
Drawing in the negative emotions of both his allies and enemies, Schiefer found himself becoming empowered by them. It was as if a cocktail of combat drugs had been injected into his veins, increasing his reflexes, speed and strength while causing him to... it was difficult to put into words to describe what happened next. He remembered his actions rather clearly but... as Schiefer would later word it, it was sort of like watching someone else play one of those arcade first person shooters; You're aware of what was happening and the decisions that the player needs to make to win, but you weren't in direct control of the situation, just watching someone else do it.
Holding Action in its one handed mode and picking up his father's sword Consequences, Schiefer went on a one man killing spree. At first he just felt like he was soaring at the peak of human physical ability, overpowering and overwhelming any White Fang member he encountered with clean efficiency... but as the fighting continued the discovery that by changing the goal from defeating the enemy to intentionally inflicting pain and agony on them to inspire terror, fear and dread in both his victims and those watching would actually empower him to the point of being inhuman changed the nature of his battle with the White Fang into something cruel and dark.
This cruelty evolved into monstrous sadism as two further discoveries were made by the power addicted and blinded Schiefer. The first was how to switch Consequences from its standard sword mode into its cat-o-nine-tails alternative, allowing him to start flaying his opposition alive and leaving them to drown and die in their agony on the ground as he pushed onto new victims. The second was how the terror that fueled this new power sky rocketed to new heights once the difference between 'White Fang member' and 'Faunus mining worker taken hostage' was forgotten.
Schiefer would have left no one alive if it wasn't for the arrival of Grimm lured by the fear he had been cultivating... and the only reason their arrival changed anything was that their inherit hatred of humanity proved to be more pure a source of negative energy and power that he forgot about the remaining White Fang and Faunus miners to focus on this new, more interesting foe.
By the time the last of the Grimm were dead, the remaining miners and White Fang had either died or fled. Without a strong source of negative emotion to fuel his semblance and the additive power that it offered him, the haze started to lift from Schiefer's thoughts and the full weight of the horror he had unleashed crashed down upon him without mercy or pity.
The ADC manager who had hired them for the job paid rather well for the overzealous display and a promise to employ the tribe again to handle any... further disputes. Schiefer was given the lion's share of the cut as it was largely his efforts that saw the job being a success but... he couldn't stay in Vacuo any longer. What he had done horrified him due to the complete lack of self control that it had devolved into and going to Shade wasn't considered much of an option due to how much the White Fang chapter of Vacuo likely wanted his head for what he had done to them and the miners...
So he left Vacuo, traveling to a completely different kingdom in order to get the training he so desperately needed not to be afraid of himself anymore.
CombatWeapon:Action and ConsequencesAction: A rather simple but effective weapon, Action was designed by Schiefer himself to be an axe that could switch from being a single handed weapon into a double handed one to increase reach and the possibility of putting more strength behind the blow, resulting in inflicting more damage onto his target. It is simply a matter of the shaft of the weapon being able to extend and retract.
Consequences: Originally designed and used by Axton Henker before his death, Consequences' base form is that of a one handed executioners sword. The trick of the weapon is that its blade can 'split' and form a whip like cat-o-nine-tails covered in serrated shards and blades, extending its reach dramatically. The purpose of this second form is to dig into the target and flay it in multiply spots at once, be it aura or flesh.
Both Action and Consequences can be enhanced with dust to give their attacks an additional effect. Because they are separate weapons, they can be infused with different kinds of dust, independent of each other.
Semblance:Empowering Darkness: A passive semblance, Empowering Darkness is triggered whenever Schiefer encounters the negative emotions of others; Namely emotions of anger and fear. Whenever there is a source of anger or fear nearby, Schiefer's physical reflexes, strength, speed and endurance starts to increase. The more powerful and widespread the emotions in question, the greater the boost to his abilities becomes. Currently he is unsure of what the limit of his semblance might be, but from personal experience he is aware that he can bypass normal human limitations if he finds a source of anger or fear strong enough.
Empowering Darkness' effects can create a dangerous cycle. The more powerful Schiefer becomes due to it, the more 'addicted' his mind becomes to the power and thus, he starts to actively want to create a situation where the emotion empowering him grows more intense and powerful, thus making him more powerful and seeking to further enhance the emotions to enhance himself. This can reach the point where rational thought goes out the window, as proven by the first time Schiefer discovered his semblance when during a terror fueled rampage against the White Fangs, he actively started torturing civilian faunus miners who he had been hired to rescue from the White Fang solely because the terror and hatred the act inspired drove his power to further heights in the moment.
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