[CHAR] Wild Beasts of the Earth (Gothic Horror)

[Tesserach]

Character Description

Name: Ciprian Rudeanu aka Rudy Rudeanu
Gender: Male
Age: 34
Nationality: Romanian-Hungarian
Appearance:

appearance

Average height, but an athletic, muscular build with dark curly hair and brown eyes - image to follow

Personal Effects: Suitcase and stage-trailer - Rudeanu possesses a number of personal items, including live pistols for acts, along with a number of other pieces of equipment common to a prominent magical stage performers of the era, including things like straight-jackets, restraints, small pyrotechnics, and specialized equipment for the performance of illusions(glass, mirrors, scaffolds, mystery boxes, you name it).
*Note: May involve shipping and handling

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Background:

What is your job Stage Entertainer - escape artist, magician, illusionist, stunt performer

Backstory: Ciprian Rudeanu was born to a Hungarian tenant farmer and a mother of Romanian-Roma descent. The family was not wealthy, but nor were they as poor as some others in the part of the countryside they grew up in. Ciprian managed an education, learning English and German and developing an interest in the natural sciences after reading a book about stage magic.

At a young age he began honing his skills at simple performances, gradually transitioning into a travelling performance against the wishes of his parents before he'd turned 16, joining a road show where he learned from other performers, improving his magic acts and apprenticing with some of the acrobats and other physical performers during his time there. Ciprian proved to have a driving interest in performing his craft, constantly reading, corresponding with other leading magicians and devising some of his own innovative techniques and devices for his acts.

Ciprian and his group were beginning to gain some local acclaim, in large part because of Ciprian's magical performances, he and several other members of the troupe were drafted into the war, effectively ending their collaboration. Even early in the war the poor conditions for common enlisted men was notoriously well known, and Ciprian was fortunate an officer among the Hungarian pioneer units recognized his name, and advocated for Ciprian to be taken in among the pioneer corps. Through the rest of the war Ciprian served in engineering units as as an enlisted man, serving primarily on the eastern front before brief postings in France and Germany.

After the war Ciprian was determined to renew his career where he left off. Having seen more of Europe, he realized the need to relocate and tour larger cities, and generate his own publicity. Seeing more of Europe convinced Ciprian of the need to tour more widely, particularly among the larger cities where venues paid much better. During this time he began gaining some small fame for his grandstanding escapist tricks and stage illusions - drawing large crowds for his grand exhibitions, including being suspended in restraints from the Eifel tower and other prominent landmarks through his growing European and American tours.

During this time he became heavily involved in the magic community, exposing many fraudulent performers claiming actual supernatural powers or scamming unwitting victims out of their hard-earned money.

Recently several newspapers around Germany published high-profile stories made following Rudeanu's debunking of a psychic defrauding grieving parents and spouses of their money in which Rudeanu claimed that organizations like "Nachtewache" were almost certainly defrauding their financiers, and that ever case of 'alleged' monsters or claims of magic he'd investigated had turned out to be cases of rampant quackery, mental illness, or people genuinely confused as to what they truly saw.

Shortly thereafter while preparing to headline a performance at a Munich Caberet, he received a letter inviting him to a private get together after the show.

[Terrans]

Character Description

Name: Theodosius "Theo" Rautenbach
Gender: Male
Age: 26
Nationality: German
Appearance: A large shouldered man; Theo looks the part of the stereotypical burly German at a muscular 1.9 meters. Light brown hair in a overgrown crew cut helps hide the shrapnel scars that mar the left side of his temple. He possesses stormy grey eyes that are sit underneath thick eyebrows that seem dull but with a hint of intelligence within. His left hand is missing his ring and little finger at the first knuckles. [/hider]
Personal Effects: A few changes of clothing, An Iron Cross (2nd Class), Luger P-08, Trench Knife, and a personal journal.

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Background:

What is your jobFormer Unteroffizier of the Imperial German Army; Militiamen
Backstory: A product of the Ruhr Valley; Theodosius Rautenbach was born the first child of five to a coal miner father and a school teacher mother. His young days were spent running lunch's from his childhood village to the mineshaft his father and uncles worked in. While never having left the valley proper; Theo didn't see much of a future outside the family businesses of mining. A mine collapse in 1910 however, took his father's legs and the lives of two uncles along with fourteen other miners. Despite being only a teen, Theo knew he had to help contribute to his family's situation and so he began to travel. Taking odd jobs and hopping trains; sending money back as he followed the jobs first across the valley; and then Germany.

An exciting and frightening journey for a young man but one he enjoyed. Soaking in the experiences and sights of the lands beyond hos hometown. So it was a adventurous and independent seventeen year old man the Army recruiters found when war was declared in 1914. The promise of steady pay and a patriotic fervor were all Theo needed to sign up.

Theo found quickly that the poster's and promises of the recruiting halls were a stark contrast from the trenches he found himself in. Made a machine gunner by virtue of his large size; Theo quickly found a distaste for the job. Not only because of the return fire and attention his gun brought but the carnage he had brought onto the field. Bogged down in Flanders; Theo's nightmares were filled with mud and twisted corpses as his waking moments were lit by the muzzle flashes of his Spandau.

He escaped Flanders in 1917 after a mortar round landed short. Ripping off his helmet and giving him a concussion serious enough to be transferred to the rear to recover. Upon recovering after a month in a field hospital; he was hastily bundled into a replacement unit slated to reinforce a new concept; the Stormtroopers. His new unit was stood up in time for the German's last counteroffensive in the spring. It was here that Theo earned an Iron Cross; taking a Canadian mortar section with only a pistol and knife despite being bayoneted in the attempt. A grenade however wounded him severely enough to be pulled out of the front; losing two fingers in the process. Infection nearly killed him; and it was in a Red Cross hospital that he heard of the war's end.

The inter-war period was a rough time for Theo. His previous existence of nomadic worker was untenable given Germany's current state. As a former soldier he was viewed as no better then the mobs of his former comrades that roamed the streets and roads; little more then bandits in tattered uniforms. However, his view of this militia was shared by several comrades; with Germany's military in shambles. They all but welcomed the government friendly militia's that battled the various anti-Weimar groups that embroiled the nation.

The irony of going from a war to a civil war was not lost on Theo. However, the somber man just saw it as a price his generation had to pay for the next one. Their generation of war would lead to a generation of peace...hopefully. It was this oddly optimistic, and yet cynical, man that found himself in Munich in 1923. One of his old captains had pressed a note in his hand and said; "They need dependable men like you my boy."

So here he was. A borrowed suit and his few worldly possessions the only showing of his time with the army and the militias.

[Eviledd1984]

Helmut Kürten

Name: Helmut Kürten

Gender: Male

Age: 30

Nationality: German

Appearance: Helmut is about 6’1" with an athletic body. His hair is light blonde, and his cut is short. Helmut’s skin is pale white and looks quite sickly. His overall appearance is relatively lean; one would assume he has not eaten or slept. His whole body is adorned with scars from his time during the war. As well as having piercing blue eyes.

He wore a white shirt with holes and stains in his casual clothing. Dark green overalls covered the shirt and looked equally as ratty. He also wore black combat boots that he had worn during the war.

He wears his old soldier Outfit with a helmet and gas mask during his hunts.

Personal Effects: A pair of pistols ( Steyr M1912 pistols), A bible, A rosary with a cross on the end, and a pair of trench knives.

Background:

What is your job: Formerly a soldier with the 54th Infantry Division. Now, he is a painter.

Backstory: Helmut was born in the city of Fehrbellin. At a young age, he was reticent and shy. He mostly kept to himself and played his made-up games to keep himself busy. He kept himself busy with drawing and painting. As a boy, he was skilled at using pencils and brushes. For most of his childhood and teenage years, he was a loner. As a teenager, his paintings and drawers were quite disturbing. The images depict grotesque violence and horrible-looking creatures. He sees some of these in his dreams and the waking world.

As the Great War was beginning, he was drafted into the war. During his time, he participated in many battles. While fighting in the Battle of Mărășești, his company was stalked by a group of vampires. With him being the sole survivor. During the carnage of a brutal battle, he was significantly injured. One of his legs was blown off, and there was a large amount of shrapnel in his body.

After the war, he returned disillusioned and suffering from immense PTSD. He returned to painting, drawing what he had seen during the war, his dreams, and hallucinations. At night, he would go out and hunt creatures of the night. Living in Munich as a painter.

[Dyelli Beybi]

Character Description

Name: Nicola Hoffman
Gender: Female
Age: 23
Nationality: German
Appearance:5'6'' tall, reasonably slim, with dark hair and eyes

appearance

Personal Effects: Suitcase of clothes and some cheap jewelry.

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Background:

What is your job Stage Entertainer - assistant to Mr. Rudeanu

Backstory: Nicola Hoffman was born into a middle class German family in 1900 in the border town of Mulhouse (or Mülhausen as it was then known). Nicola's father worked on the railway and Nicola, a bright young girl, received the beginnings of a classical education. The region was always somewhat fractious, though her family, originally from Bavaria, were loyal to the Kaiser and Nicola was sheltered from some of the worst goings on in the Province. And then the Great War broke out.

On 8 August 1914, the French army entered the city. Only to leave again two days later. A week later, on 16 August, the French were back and this time, with soldiers fighting in the city itself, the Hoffman family fled to Strasbourg (Strassburg) where they remained for the rest of the war, in part because the family home had been destroyed during the fighting. Nicola's older brother, Felix, was drafted into the army, where he was killed only a few months later during the Brusilov Offensive.

Matters only got worse from there. Alsace-Lorraine was annexed after the war. Nicola's parents died during the Spanish Flu pandemic leaving Nicola with very little. To make matters worse, at the beginning of 1921 she was deported from Mullhouse to Germany, a country she had never set foot in to that point, having been declared an 'Enemy Alien' in the Francization campaigns. Which was when she first started seeing the man in the top hat. A figure glimpsed occasionally who seems to disappear again when encountered, occasionally leaving the lingering smell of cigars in his wake.

Nicola moved back to Bavaria, initially staying with a spinster aunt before moving to Munich in search of work. The man in the top hat continued to occasionally appear though never in any aggressive way.

Pretty, resourceful and desperate for money, Nicola eventually fell in with Ciprian Rudeanu and while she had initially hoped he would prove the man in the hat to be simply a man, eventually she decided not to raise him, having come to regard the figure as a benevolent guardian. It was a few days prior to Rudeanu that she received a mysterious letter...

[Theyra]

Aleyn Deyne

Character Description

Name: Aleyn Deyne
Gender: Male
Age: 28
Nationality: British(Manx)
Appearance: Aleyn
Personal Effects: Pocket watch, Colt Model 1908 Pocket Hammerless, combat knife, flask(Filled with gin), A locket with a portrait of his family and a lighter

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Background:

What is your job Former Soldier
Backstory: Born on the Isle of Man in Douglas and the first of four. Aleyn had a normal life growing up in Douglas and grew close to his family. He was planning on being a craftsman like his father and inheriting the family business. It was while working at his father's store when he would meet his future wife, Paaie Hendull. Which the two were married in 1908 and moved out into the countryside. There, Aleyn would have three children and live a happy life. Then World War One reared its ugly head. Aleyn was among the first to be drafted for the war and would greatly miss his family while deployed on the continent. Four years on the Western Front proved to be a challenging experience for him. After seeing the horrors of war, and would fight in several battles. The biggest being the Battle of the Somme and he would later fight in the second battle of the Somme.

When the war was over and Aleyn was sent back to Britain. He was allowed to leave the army and return back to his home on the Isle of Man. Joyfully returning to his family, he thought that life would return to normal. That only lasted two months, for one day as the family was having dinner. The only warning they had was two loud knocks on the door before it was forced open. Soon a creature attacked them and Aleyn tried to protect his family only to be sliced up and tossed aside. Knocking him out, and the next thing he knew, he woke up in a hospital. Turns out one of his sisters was going to surprise Aleyn and his family with gifts that night. She would find him barely alive and rushed him to a hospital. When he inquired about his family, Aleyn was told that only he survived, and he was devastated by the news. He was not sure of what attacked his family, and he sounded kinda crazy about how he described the attacker. Aleyn tried to find any information he could find about what killed his family.

So far into his search, Aleyn could not find what killed his family, and it was during a bout of drinking alcohol at his home that a message came for him. A letter that told him that he was invited to a meeting of the Nachtwache. Curious about who would invite him and the nature of the meeting. Aleyn would travel to Germany to find out more about this group and see what they have to offer him.

[enmuni]

Masako Yamamoto

Character Description

Name: Masako Yamamoto (山本正子)
Gender: F
Age: 23
Nationality: Japanese
Appearance:

appearance

Personal Effects: Aside from normal everyday clothes, Masako possesses a fully-equipped nurse’s chatelaine, a lighter and pack of cigarettes, a flash, a small bottle of laudanum, and a combat knife. She has tentative plans to purchase a pistol.

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Background:

What is your job Registered Nurse with the Japanese Red Cross
Backstory: I was born in 1900—that is, Meiji 33—perhaps two or three weeks after that year’s Hanami. I do not actually know when I was born, exactly, which I must admit is the greatest disappointment my father probably found in me. I can say that I was born at my father’s work, where my mother was visiting him after classes had finished for the day. I was told growing up that this was an omen of my studious nature. I performed well in school; from the beginning to the end, I was one of my father’s best students. Certainly, I imagine this was helped by the fact that my teacher followed me home! But I always found the praise from hard work attractive, and further enjoyed most of my studies then.

I must have gotten my will to be studious from my father, as my mother was always more concerned with tradition and with my grooming than these academic matters. I still do not understand, to that end, how they became married, but my mother always suggested to me that my father had only ever become more liberal-minded in his time as an academic. I remember that they often fought, as my mother felt my education should not come at the expense of my potential as a mother myself, while my father was particularly delighted by my interest in the sciences, and only ever disappointed by my lack of a sense for literature. In that time, I learned English from my father, who was an avid reader of the latest works on education, many of which were written in that language, while the others often were translated into it.

I had, when I was younger, accepted that my mother had already made up her mind on which sorts of men she wanted to see me with; two of her closest friends had sons, and it was my understanding that I had a choice between the two of them and only the two of them. I got along particularly well with the elder of the two, named Katsuo, and it was felt with great excitement by both of our mothers that we would marry soon after our primary schooling. But as we grew from children into young people, I felt as if we grew apart, though I do not know if he felt the same. “It is only natural that people change,” my father told me then, and so at this point I understood better how he felt about the matter. He did not want his young daughter to be married so soon, imagining that I would instead, after completing primary school, go on and continue my education, to become more than a wife and mother, but rather, at the very least, a good wife and wise mother, as it was said. With such encouragement, to my mother’s outrage, I chose to study nursing under the Red Cross with my father’s support, rather than to follow Katsuo around on whatever path he chose. If the two of us should reconvene in our paths, my father imagined, then he would surely approve of whatever we chose to do, but he firmly refused to insist upon any relationship, despite insistence from my mother and from Katsuo’s.

For my ability in English, I was delighted to have the opportunity to serve as one of the youngest nurses in the squad sent to Southampton. My father greatly encouraged that trip abroad, while my mother was beside herself. Little did any of us know that we would be asked to remain for the entirety of the war! I will admit, then, that this time awoke something within me. I imagine a keen mind must be inclined to thinking on its own, and if this is the case, then my own was left to its own devices. I was young and silly then, and at such a time in my life as I was, I learned a great many things there. If my mother should ever learn how I came to know the German language, I would imagine she would die on the spot, unless she managed to induce me to kill myself first, so I will ask that my writing of my experiences abroad not be shared outside of my confidence.

Although the majority of the Prisoners of War we cared for in our time in Southampton were of no consequence to me, I found myself picking out several of the most dashing, and considering what I might do. I told myself and my fellow nurses, then, that the extra time I devoted to the injured among these dashing sorts was to learn the German language, so that we might better be able to care for them. I did make good progress with the language, but I cannot say that this was the only product of my time among them. By my second year around these—shall we call them crippled gentlemen?—I found myself perhaps more bold than sensible. Although my fellow nurses said nothing of the matter, perhaps for at least one of them also considered a fling as I did, the surgeon indeed took notice when I turned entirely red as one of the new men in our charge requested me to care for him by name, despite us having never been introduced. He presumed, in a sort of kindness to me, that it was simply that I was better with German language than any of my fellow nurses. But I will admit that I did care for him as I cared for some of those other handsome fellows; after all, I had found that I greatly enjoyed going “above and beyond” in my care.

I suppose it is poor form to say that I enjoyed the war, but my experience was surely more lovely than most. The stress and activity of my work and the sort of entertainment I could access, both in the forms of the United Kingdom’s extensive scientific literature and in the nonetheless handsome forms of the crippled Germans in our care, brought me to feel almost mournful when I was on my way to return to Japan. To go from intensive medical work and intensive leisure to a possible quiet domesticity felt entirely unacceptable to me. I remember, as I sat in my bed on the way back, thinking of ways to prolong my time in the service. How fortunate I was that Russia was in shambles and that our country was engaged in a massive intervention! I had no sooner greeted my parents than I announced that I would be departing north shortly. My mother screamed at me then, while my father stood in stunned silence. But I had already enlisted to go there, and it could therefore not be helped, even as I then felt a sense of remorse for abandoning them so soon after my return.

The Siberian Intervention, I suppose, was less excellent than my time in Southampton, but despite the unpleasant material conditions and good reading, I made up for this with socialising—of the normal kind, to be clear. That is not to say, though, that I did not maintain my previous hobbies. At the time of my departure to Siberia, I had known a number of Germans, a Hungarian, two Englishmen, a Scotsman, two Canadians, and an American. By the summer of last year, when that disappointing announcement of our withdrawal from the intervention came, I realised in my tally that whoever I married would not be my first anything. I had known, in addition to those previous fellows, a particularly handsome Cossack, as I learned he was called, a Buryat fellow, two Yakut gentlemen in rapid succession (they called themselves Sakka, as I recall, and needed only a bit of patching—it was their visit where I was almost caught!), one of my fellow nurses (on several occasions, actually, we slept together specifically to stay warm, but found ourselves enjoying one another’s company more than I had imagined I would), five or six Czechoslovak legionaries, perhaps twelve White Russians and one Red, if I recall, out of my own curiosity and as an odd sort of kindness to him, for he was to be executed when the Whites returned, and a significant number of our own soldiers—enough of whom, anyway, that I cannot recall all of their names, though for a certain number of them, I believe it is because we had both drunk far more than we ought to have. I admit, writing it, that I make it sound as if I were immensely promiscuous, but disregarding recurring incidents, I rarely engaged more than a few times a month—twice in a week, at the very most.

But when that conflict ended, I could not bring myself to return home at all. I wrote a letter to my father, saying that I intended to immigrate to America. But instead, I boarded a ship heading to Germany—a place I imagine few who know me would bother to consider—intent on finding one of my old flings to perhaps help me find some nursing work in their area. Perhaps fortunately, it is unusual to see an Oriental woman of any sort in this part of the world, and I had managed to track down several of them. So it seems, I sound like a Southern German when I speak, and not a proper one at that. Munich is home to not one, but three of my old flings! Werner, Julius, and Eduard are their names—sadly, only Julius greeted me warmly. Though I could not stay with him, on account of his mother, he was kind as to give me directions and assistance in finding temporary employment while I made arrangements to become properly certified in accordance with German law. While modelling for artists is by no stretch of my imagination anything I would have ever done under normal circumstances, with how fascinated they are to have a “genuine Oriental subject,” as they say, I would be silly to try and find other temporary work. Artists are, even in such a case, stimulating enough company that I cannot find myself too disappointed. But I still look forward to when I can return to my nursing work, and find more situations as I have in the past to enjoy excitement in work and leisure at once.

[Archangel89]

Character Description

Name: Viktor Ulrich
Gender:Male
Age: 58
Nationality: German
Appearance:

appearance

Personal Effects: A change of clothes, several books (prayer, exorcism rites, demonic identification etc.) 3 vials of blessed water and 3 of blessed oil, 1 Webly Mk V revolver and enough bullets for 1 reload, a journal of his own study/notes.

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Background:

What is your job Archbishop of Munich
Backstory: Born in 1875 to a moderate family in the German countryside, Viktor was the oldest of three children. This led him to forcibly adopt a parental mentality and aided in the care of his younger brothers. The family, being neither vastly poor or wealthy, did their best and led mostly normal lives. Viktor was always drawn to the church as he said that it brought him a sense of peace in his life and eventually, when he came of age, took the first steps into the priesthood at the age of twelve. If life had continued this way, life would have been peaceful and that is where his story would have ended.

At the age of thirty eight, as an established priest, the Great War broke out and chaos erupted in the country. Ever the father-figure at heart, Viktor’s heart grew troubled at the thought of his countrymen in a great battlefield without the Lord’s presence and before the Archdiocese had called for volunteers to go and spread the gospel in such forsaken lands he stood at the front of the line willing to go. His family, very much troubled by his decision, reluctantly sent him off with the gift of a brand new revolver. War was an entirely different affair than anything that Viktor had ever experienced. As he took up his position as a military chaplain and aided the medical staff in their duties the untold amount of death and serious injuries slowly took their toil on the priest as he did the best he could to give the peace of Christ to the wounded and dying.

For four years he toiled among the back lines burying countless young men and gave counsel to those that remained. One night a field camp after burying yet another soldier in the wee hours of the morning came a moment that would change his life forever. As he came around the corner at the far end of camp, a sharp metal gleam caught his eyes in the brush. As he turned to face the brush the horrifying sight of a mangled soldier covered in viscera with a twisted and contorted face stare back at him. In a panic Viktor reached for the pistol at his side and when he turned back the creature was in his face and in garbled German it spoke;

”WHERES YOUR FAITH FATHER??”

As soon as it had breached his space, the thing was gone. It wasn’t long after that incident that the war ended and Viktor returned to his parish. That night in the field shook him to the core and for the next two years it haunted him until a meeting with another bishop that he told another soul. The response of demon attack was something he hadn’t expected. With this new information Viktor went on a learning spree and began the self taught route of an exorcist.

[Framing A Moose]

Nelly Hacke

Name: Cornelia "Nelly" Hacke
Gender: Female
Age: 20
Nationality: American (German Heritage)
Appearance:

appearance

Personal Effects: Gris-gris, matchbox, bottle of rum, worn flat cap, heavy worn overcoat, bone-handled hunting knife, pocket change

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Background:

What is your job Beggar
Backstory: Nelly was born in New Orleans to a pair of German immigrants - her father was a dockworker while her mother did some tailoring as a seamstress when more money was needed. They lived a humble life, with a small but modern house not far from the docks. They did not live in excess, but they never dipped into poverty. Nelly's mother taught her instead of sending her to school. Like many Catholic mothers, she primarily taught her from the Bible and did the same for Nelly's little sister, Anja, when she came around.

Stable as they were economically, life was far from perfect. Nelly and Anja's father had a penchant for drinking, and when he drank, he found a penchant for violence. From a young age, Nelly learned how to read her father. Not just his expression, but his schedule. Sundays irritated him, made him feel like a failure in the eyes of God, so she locked Anja and herself up every week after church. Bigger boats sailing in meant he'd be too tired to go to the bar after, which meant they'd be safe. She got good at it. Good enough to protect her family.

Until she was twelve years old. It was a Sunday. She and Anja were huddled together in their room, waiting with dread for their father to come home from the bar. When he did, there was yelling. It wasn't angry, though. It was...absolutely jubilant. She couldn't keep Anja from racing downstairs to see the man twirling with his confused wife in his arms. He was so exuberant, so full of life. It was happier than any of them had ever seen him. The happiness was infectious. Soon Anja was dancing with her father while her mother laughed in the corner.

That evening was more joyful than any that had ever taken place in that house. They had gumbo instead of fish, told each other stories into the night. Anja fell asleep in her mother's arms in front of the fire, who eventually took her to bed, leaving Nelly with her father. She wasn't sure what it was about him - the slight smirk that played at the corner of his lips, the unprecedented sharpness behind his eye. Something about him struck Nelly with the sudden unwavering belief that this man was not her father.

She didn't tell her mother. She didn't even tell Anja, not at first. Instead, she slipped into the bed her and Anja shared to try - and fail - to sleep. They woke up to the sweet smell of baking. Cake waited on the dining room table in place of grits, with both their parents sitting at the table, silently waiting for the pair. Nelly had her suspicions immediately, but it wasn't until she was sat across from her "mother" that she was sure. The woman had that same smirk, that same sharpness. Her mother was not her mother.

Nelly slipped away as quickly as she could while still avoiding suspicion. She packed her and her sisters' things, explaining to the younger girl that they were leaving. Anja was confused, upset. Explaining it only caused Anja to grow more upset - to the point of drawing the people pretending to be their parents into their room. Nelly kicked their bags under the bed, quickly spinning a lie about hitting her sister to explain the tears she was shedding.

Nelly didn't end up leaving that night as she'd planned. Anja refused, and she couldn't bring herself to leave without her sister. The next morning, she woke up to find Anja already awake, staring at her inches away. The sharpness had been unsettling in her parents' eyes. Seeing it in little Anja's sent a stabbing terror into her heart. On her lips played that malicious smirk. That day, they had cake. They had gumbo. And when night came and the things that weren't her family were sleeping - or at least mimicking sleep - Nelly slipped out of her bed and turned on their gas stove.

The house burned, and, as far as Nelly knows, whatever they were burned with it.

There was no funeral procession, no second line. Nelly didn't have any other family in New Orleans. No one to bury her dead, no one to take care of her. So, she took to the streets. There's a lot a kid can learn on the streets of New Orleans, especially one as observant as Nelly. The stray dogs taught her how to fight, like a cornered animal without restraint. The rats taught her how to worm her way into tight places she oughtn't be in to snatch up things she oughtn't have. And cats taught her how to weave through a crowd without anyone paying her any mind. Her ability to snatch wallets and watches as she did was something she taught herself.

It's that last skill that'd lead her to her Gigi. She was weaving her way through a crowd, slipping hands into pockets. One of her marks had an envelope - not too thick, but there was something with some weight inside. Jewelry maybe? She was about to open it when she saw something that made her pause. It was addressed to her: Nelly Hacke. It shocked her enough not to notice when a figure approached her, grabbing her by the wrist. Looking up, she found a heavyset old woman with a stern face.

Nelly never understood why Gigi took her on as her ward rather than turning her in. Maybe Nelly's quick hands impressed her. Maybe she pitied the kid. Hell, maybe it was simply Nelly's last name; Gigi always seemed amused to have a girl named Hacke helping her con people. Gigi was allegedly a psychic, a fortune teller gifted with foresight. She was a fraud, of course, something Nelly discovered early in her tenure as the woman's assistant. However she'd managed to get Nelly's name, it wasn't the spirits that gave it to her. Many of Nelly's duties had to do with spying on her Gigi's clients. Hiding atop confession booths with a glass cup, sneaking into bars to hear them drunkenly spill their secrets, slipping into their houses to find any clues as to what to bring up at their next session.

As fraudulent as her sixth sense might have been, Gigi was still a spiritual woman. She taught Nelly of Vodou and the Loa. She also helped teach Nelly how to spot and avoid what she called the Otherfolk - that which appeared human but were not. The things that took her family weren't the only kind. New Orleans, as a city of the night, had plenty creatures of the night pass through, things pulled from folklore and bedtime stories. Under Gigi's tutelage, Nelly developed what could only be described as esoteric street smarts. Nelly learned how to spot them, how to avoid them, how to take notice of strange happenings long before they became deadly. She was witness to a lot - after all, few pay attention to folks like her, begging on the street.

Nelly couldn't say she was surprised when they came for Gigi. She'd been slipping, becoming soft, guiding the Otherfolk's prey out of town with her fortunes instead of keeping to herself as she'd taught Nelly to. In the end, Gigi suffered the same fate as her family - wearing that same smirk, same sharpness. Nelly left the very night she realized Gigi had been taken. She'd planned on leaving town, maybe going North. As such, she took her Gigi's coat. Slipping her hands into her jacket pocket, she found one final trick from the old fraud. Inside was the very same envelope she'd snatched from Gigi all those years ago. Same writing, same weight to it. Opening it, she found two tickets: one from New Orleans to England, and another from England to Germany, the first leaving in a week, the second in a month. Inside was also a matchbox from some German cabaret.

Gigi didn't have a gas stove, but she did have a lot of high proof liquor. Enough to set her little shack ablaze. Nelly kept a low profile the following week until her ship was scheduled to depart. The journey to and through Germany was long; Nelly managed to scrape by begging. She didn't really have anywhere to go after the second ship dropped her on German shores - she tried tracking down extended family, but never really had much luck there. Her resources were few, after all, and there weren't many interested in helping a homeless woman find her family. She was panhandling in Munich when she got it: an envelope dropped into her hat. She didn't get a good look at who dropped it into her hat, but when she dug inside, she found an invitation. An invitation to a cabaret - one with the same name she saw every time she needed a light.

[Dyelli Beybi]

Character Description

Name: Adam Temple
Gender: Male
Age: 49
Nationality: British
Appearance: 5'10'' tall with dark hair, now showing a few hints of grey, a well-trimmed moustache and dark eyes

appearance

Personal Effects: A silver cigarillo case an a monogrammed Ronson Wonderlite

---

Background:

What is your job Novelist

Backstory: Adam Temple is a relatively accomplished fantasy novelist whose name might be recognisable, if not his appearance.

Born into an affluent, gentrified family in London in 1874, Adam was an intelligent young man, albeit one with no particular interest in his fathers' businesses. He studied literature at University College, Oxford, and began writing short stories, followed by novels from the early 1900s. This did not make Adam and especially wealthy man (at least not independently), though most people who knew him in the period would have said he was definitely an interesting one, finding his way into many of London's most fashionable parties.

During this period, Adam married a poet ten years his junior, Edna with whom he has two children.

Adam's financial situation changed in early 1914, shortly before the outbreak of the war, when Adam's father passed away, leaving him a number of family businesses which he, rather wisely, chose to allow a manager to look after for him.

Adam was seen as too old to be conscripted during the war and, as such, did not serve in the trenches, though several of his businesses contributed to the war effort.

It was in 1917, with the war in full swing, that Adam was contacted by a branch of the Night Watch in the UK. With no previous experience of the supernatural, he was thrust into the exorcism of a demonic hound in the vicinity of the Croydon Aerodrome. The hunt was both terrifying and exhilarating and served as an inspiration for his next novel 'The Hounds of Sorrow', which was much more successful than his earlier works.

Adam continued his work with the Night Watch, wrapping up a number of cases in the UK where, within the secretive circles of the organisation, he has acquired a reputation for being able to solve some of the more complicated cases the Night Watch has been called in to look at. All of which, naturally, serve as further fodder for Adam's novels.

Recently, Adam was asked to come to Munich to look into the gruesome murder of a grave digger...

[Chronic]

Finley drake

Character Description

Name: Finley Drake
Gender:Male
Age:37
Nationality:british
Appearance:

appearance

Lean and muscular physique. 6 foot tall

Personal Effects:

1895 Nagant revolver

Clothes

With black pants and black dress shoes. No hat

Pipe

And a small pocket knife. And playing cards, and Small brown Journal with pen.

---

Background:

What is your job soldier turned treasure Hunter.
Backstory:Finlay Drake was born in 1886 into a well-known and respected family in England. As a descendant of the famous explorer Sir Francis Drake, it was only natural that he would carry on his family's tradition of travel and discovery. From an early age, Finlay showed a keen interest in history and archaeology, spending much time studying maps and artifacts.

When World War I broke out, Finlay felt it compelled him to serve his country and enlisted in the British Army. . He proved to be a brave soldier and was promoted to a respected leader. But the dangers of war befell him, and he returned home from the battlefield a changed man. Although he did pick up rather good aim.

After the war, Finlay struggled to find his place in the world. He yearned for the thrill of adventure and the excitement of discovery that he had experienced during his military service. Remembering the tales of his ancestor's exploits, Finley decided to follow in Sir Francis Drake's footsteps and become a treasure hunter.

His travels took him to Munich, where he had heard rumors of a long-lost artifact that was said to hold great power. Armed with his knowledge of history and his natural instincts for exploration, Finley set out to uncover the secrets of the past and make a name for himself as a renowned treasure hunter.

[Demencia]

Character Description

Name: Quinn O'Hearn/Sophie Quincy
Gender: Female (presents as male to avoid discrimination)
Age: 24
Nationality: American
Appearance:
Hider

Quinn is 5'4

Personal Effects: Men's suits in various styles ranging from a casual Norfolk suit to a formal Mackinaw jacket or summer white with cane, M1917 (S&W) revolver in .45 ACP, a locket with a picture of a woman in it, a lighter engraved with Tank Corp's insignia and a pack of cigarettes.

---

Background:

What is your job Former soldier (Cpl., 1st Tank Brigade, 344th Battalion, Fifth Corps)
Backstory: Sophie Quincy was born in central Indiana to a less than well-off family not too far from Indianapolis. Life was relatively unassuming until she was sent to Catholic school where she met a girl and suddenly found herself burdened with a dark secret. The two of them had a friendship that... went beyond the bounds of polite society and very dishonest in the eyes of the church, so neither of them were keen on letting anyone in on it. They were willing to keep living their lie as normal until the war in Europe was getting close to dragging America into it, and Sophie's friend joined the Army Nurse Corps out of a sense of obligation to her country. Sophie didn't want to be a nurse, but she also wasn't ready to be left alone while her lover went to Europe without her, so she altered her appearance and faked her name to impersonate a man so she could join the Army. Now using the name Quinn O'Hearn to lean into her Irish heritage, she was sent to Bourg, France as a student of Captain George Patton's experimental tank school. She was assigned the Commander/Gunner role of the Renault FT, and given to the 327th(later reorganized to the 344th) Tank Battalion where she saw combat from Saint-Mihiel through the Meuse-Argonne Offensive all the way to Lorraine. While they didn't see each other often, Quinn being frequently on the front and her paramour being at field hospitals behind it, the Army made it very easy for letters to be exchanged quickly between the two.

After the war was over, the pair didn't feel like they were ready to go back to the United States, having been fascinated by the big city feel of European metropolises like London and Paris. They would spend some time in the UK before returning home to their small town, if they ever could. When a mysterious letter awaited them at their hotel asking for a meeting, Quinn was sure she'd been found out, and she'd do anything to stop someone from spilling her secret.

[Bingelly]

Name: Charlotte “Lotte” Treich
Gender: Female
Age: 20
Nationality: German
Appearance: Charlotte is a small, thin woman, standing just at 4’11”

Hider

Personal Effects: A suitcase of clothes, both plain and for performance. A collection of letters, mostly from her fans. A Fritz Mann 6.35mm.

Background: Singer
Backstory: Charlotte Treich was born to a family of urban poor in Berlin. Her childhood was spent in want, and oftentimes pushed to desperation even in the years before the war even with a large family. Though she received compulsory education as required, hunger pains hobbled academic success despite best efforts to apply herself through classes in her early years, though she took to music quite well privately and at church, proving to be a lifelong habit of hers.

Then the Great War broke out, and disrupted what dynamic the family managed to create. Her eldest brothers were both drafted to the front early in the conflict, only one of whom would return, while her father worked ever longer hours in an attempt to make ends meet under the Allied Blockade. The Hunger Years of 1917 and 1918 proved particularly difficult for the already strained family, and Lotte herself turned to underhanded methods to secure scraps of food.

Life after the armistice proved little easier, at least initially, the Spanish Flu robbed her mother and father and youngest brother from her, leaving Alois, her demobilized brother to return as head of a much quieter home. However, this did not change the circumstances of the family as much, and they still resorted to theft to help make ends meet. These years of malnourishment and desperation taught the girl what it was like to be unnoticed, and how to move as such, and gave the skinny girl a surprising speed on the run and a sense of environment to make use of it.

The Bloody Week of 1919 in Berlin ultimately saw Alois killed in the extrajudicial violence carried out by the Freikorps, once more robbing the Treiches that remained in Berlin of their primary breadwinner, forcing Charlotte, now 16 to take to the streets to find what work she could. Fortunately for her, Charlotte found work as a dancer at one of Berlin’s cabarets.

This would ultimately prove to be the start of Charlotte’s lot improving. Pretty, if stunted in terms of height and seemingly naturally talented at dance, the young girl caught the attention of the manager as a background dancer. From there, she spent the next two years improving and developing her abilities with the hopes of eventually headlining her own act.

As of present, she is still a minor name, but it is a growing one in Berlin and its suburbs. She is not without her fans, of course. One incident stands out, however, when she found a black lacquered jewelry box with floral gold inlay waiting in her little dressing area with a letter written in the most elegant print Charlotte had ever seen. In contrast to the penmanship, the woman found the contents to be a painfully boring and generic love letter, but the box still held her attention.

Opening it, she found a simple gold chain, supporting a rather large red crystal pressed into an archaic style of pendant. Curiosity pressed her on, and grabbed the pendant. She found it to be ice cold, and noticed that the gem reacted to her touch as though there was a fluid within the deep crimson. A deep wave of nausea swept over her as she placed it over her neck, causing Charlotte to stumble from her chair. Hellish screams bombarded the young woman’s senses as she felt cold spread out from her chest. Instinctively, she reached for the necklace and attempted to rip it off to no avail.

As the cold burned into her hand and spread to her neck, she tugged with all the strength she could muster and finally broke the thin chain as she wrenched the necklace free. Quickly, she tossed it away. Charlotte proved keen on forgetting the event, and another letter waiting for her carried good news.

Her sister was to be married in Bavaria, just outside of Munich.

[InfamousGuy101]

Name: Ernst Heller
Gender: Male
Age: 35
Nationality: German
Appearance:

Personal Effects:

1. Luger P08 Pistol: A standard-issue sidearm for German officers during WWI, retained by Ernst for personal defense. It's kept in a worn leather holster under his coat.

2. Pocket Watch: A brass heirloom from his father, engraved with the Heller family crest. It holds sentimental value and serves as a symbol of his family’s former status.

3. Leather Wallet: Contains a few Reichsmarks, identification papers, and a photograph of his parents and younger sister from before the war.

4. Cigarette Case: A silver-plated case with a few hand-rolled cigarettes, a habit Ernst picked up during trench life.

5. Small Flask: Filled with schnapps, carried more out of habit than necessity. It provides warmth and a sense of familiarity during moments of uncertainty.

6. German Army-Issue Folding Knife: A practical tool that Ernst keeps for utility, but which could double as a weapon in close combat if necessary.

7. Notebook and Pencil: Used to jot down notes, information, or names of potential allies and contacts.

8. Rosary Beads: A keepsake from his Catholic mother, carried not for religious devotion but as a quiet homage to his family's past.

9. Brown Leather Gloves: Worn during cooler months or when he expects to get his hands dirty, either literally or figuratively.

10. Matchbox: For lighting cigarettes or providing quick illumination in dark or cramped spaces.

Background: Ernst Heller served as a junior officer in the German Army during the Great War, where he gained extensive combat experience on both fronts. Currently, he works as a notary in Munich, using his legal skills to navigate post-war bureaucracy while maintaining ties to his nationalist organization.

Backstory: Born into a prominent Munich family of industrialists, Ernst Heller enjoyed a privileged upbringing with a strong sense of national duty. When the Great War broke out, he enlisted with zeal, eventually serving as a junior officer. Ernst’s combat experience was marked by brutal trench warfare on the Western Front and grueling campaigns on the Eastern Front. His military career was distinguished by tactical skill, but he also witnessed the devastating costs of war, leaving him hardened and deeply cynical.

After the war, Ernst returned to a Germany on the brink of collapse. His family’s business suffered as the economy spiraled, and the Hartmann wealth dwindled rapidly due to reparations and inflation. Ernst, embittered by the outcome of the war and the subsequent chaos, joined the Freikorps—paramilitary units that fought communist uprisings in German cities. He played a direct role in suppressing the Bavarian Soviet Republic, engaging in brutal street battles that shaped his perception of communism as a mortal enemy of Germany.

Now part of a clandestine far-right organization seeking to restore Germany's strength, Ernst’s political activities have grown more intense. While the group speaks of taking decisive action soon, Ernst’s exact role in these plans have been ambiguous to him as he awaits for them to be set in motion, though he sees himself as an instrumental figure in Germany’s resurgence.

Ernst is strategic and methodical, with a sense of honor born from military discipline. While he is slow to trust, he is fiercely loyal to those he sees as kindred spirits. His bitterness towards Germany’s political landscape drives him, but beneath the hard exterior is a man seeking meaning beyond mere vengeance. Ernst is both drawn to and wary of the darker forces that seem to be rising around him, unsure whether they are tools to be used or threats to be confronted.

Late one evening, Ernst received a letter delivered to his modest flat. The handwriting is unfamiliar, but the contents mention a meeting of the “Nachtwache,” supposedly recommended by an unnamed acquaintance. Intrigued and believing it might be connected to his political movement — perhaps a covert recruitment meeting or an opportunity to network — Ernst decides to attend. The venue, a notorious cabaret, struck him as an odd choice, but he assumes it’s a necessary cover. With his Luger hidden under his coat and a mix of curiosity and cautious optimism, Ernst makes his way to the meeting, unaware of the true nature of the group he’s about to join.

[Tackytaff]

Sonja

Name: Sonja Marie Wickler (née Brandt)
Gender: Female
Age: 46
Nationality: German
Appearance:

[+]

There are lingering traces of a once-beautiful youth remaining on Sonja's face. Her hair retains it's golden hue towards the ends, though dulls with threads of grey the closer it reaches the roots. Smile lines and crows feet mark time's affect on soft, loosening skin, their friendliness thwarted by the much more severe and prominent frown etched permanently between her brows. She remains an imposing figure despite her age, standing at nearly 5'11 she's taller than most and has a sturdy frame hidden under layers. A modest and practical woman in both appearance and demeanor; her clothes are always clean and pressed, but plain and several seasons out of fashion. A pair of pearl earnings, a simple gold wedding band on her left hand, and a small silver watch bound to the left wrist with a blue velvet band and clasp are the only adornments she allows herself.

Personal Effects:
Sonja's wardrobe is never complete without a hat, a pair of gloves- silk in the summer, leather in the winter -and a medium sized dark carpet bag that serves as both briefcase and handbag, carrying her many necessities;
- A leather-bound journal
- Italian and English translation dictionaries
- A silver lighter two inches long and one wide
- A pair of reading spectacles
- A tin flask filled with a clear and strong alcohol
- 2 pens and inkwells, one black one blue
- A red lipstick that appears completely unused
- 2 needles and spool of thread
- A spare set of stockings
- 2 scarves, one silk one wool
- A handful of hat and hair pins
- Identification papers and a few hundred marks

Her late husband's Mauser C96 remains in her possession, but rarely leaves it's locked hiding place in her office.

Trade: Private Investigator
Backstory:
Sonja was born the fourth and final child of the once-affluent Magdeburg Brandt family in 1877. The family’s hardships started shortly after her birth and most of Sonja's life and early memories were that of a particular sort of impoverishment: Completely dependent on the charity of distant unseen family in far off places and sparse remains of an old inheritance for survival. Neither of her parents worked, instead clinging to their pride and memories of wealth that she had never experienced. All while surrounded by true the destitution of their neighbors. While she hardly had the words to describe it at the time, her family’s combination of ego and ignorance grated and shamed her.

In the late 1880's, the Brandt matriarch contracted tuberculosis. As her mother faded, Sonja's father turned further towards drink. Both brothers fled to find their own fortunes elsewhere. When it became apparent even from the outside they could no longer manage themselves, the community her family had always scorned came to their aid. Each day a different family would come with a dinner, hot bathing water, or clean laundry. More often than not, Sonja would follow them out again, desperate to flee the suffocating remains of her family. Among the squalid dregs of Magdeburg's lowest class she developed a sense of solidarity and identity.

At 19 her mother finally passed after nearly a decade of sickness. The end of her life also meant an end to the charity that had kept the family fed and housed. The generosity of her distant relatives had reached a limit when all that remained of them was a drunk widower and young woman old enough to work for herself. Sonja wrote to them all in desperation. Out of her dozen letters, one responded. A great aunt that had come to her mother’s modest funeral and found Sonja fetching and clever enough to be deserving of a final piece of kindness: A proper education abroad. Within six months she was packed and on a train to Zurich.

She had been intended to stay only for three years, taking music and art classes at a small woman's university. However, one evening while accompanying a group of friends to a marxist rally on the steps of the University of Zurich, she met Michael Wickler. Six years her senior, he was well traveled from a short time in the military, and working towards his doctorate in law. What began as a clumsy attempt to recruit Sonja to a cause gave way to a handful of dates and soon enough, an engagement. Sonja was practical enough to know marriage was the ultimate goal of her education, but Michael saw things differently. He charmed her with flattery and encouragement, gave her the words and understanding for what she had felt her entire life, and incessantly pushed her to continue her education. Under his pressuring she eventually found herself enrolling in the University of Zurich herself. After two rounds of degrees, first in the natural sciences, then another in law, the couple finally returned to Germany as Mr. and Mrs. Michael Wickler.

They made their start in Munich, where Michael had friends, family, and ties, and were able to start a firm in only a few short years. Sonja's interest in her husband’s work matched his own. They took cases for unions and renters, jobs that paid less but offered greater fulfillment. Most days were spent in the too-small poorly-lit office working in silent tandem. Officially, her role was that of secretary, but it was rare for a document or letter to be sent out without being approved by Sonja's discerning eye. Michael found himself embroiled in the SPD shortly after they'd established themselves, through connections he'd made in Zurich. At first Sonja had merely tagged along; taking minutes of meetings and refreshing pots of coffee for the groups of mostly men. Except for one way, when day a contingent of women joined them, identifying themselves as the Munich BDF. In them, Sonja found a cause she could call her own, and thus began her work for woman's suffrage.

Then the war came. Micheal was sent off with the rest of the reservists, and never returned. Sonja moved to live with her sister-in-law, Ada, an agreeable woman married to a police captain. Their four children were all grown and gone and Ada was grateful for the companionship and one less empty room. Without Michael there was no more law work, and Sonja threw herself into political activism to compensate for the loss of both. The SPD's agreement to the war became something of a betrayal in Sonja's mind, and her politics continued to veer left, to the MSPD shortly after it's formation, and eventually the KDP.

Towards the end of the war, she began work in an ammunition's factory; and more importantly it's respective union. For two years she re-immersed herself in the working class she believed herself championing. That career was cut short too, after the strike in 1918, followed by the end of the war. Shortly after, women were granted voting rights, and her work for the BDF was no longer needed as it centralized itself in Berlin for more global affairs.

Hardly content to live as a retired widow before reaching 50, Sonja found her own way of occupation. Over her two decades in Munich, she'd accumulated a number of contacts and friends within different spheres of the left-wing movements in the city. Her unique experience, education, and temperament positioned her well to continue aiding the communities that had been abandoned by their government. Her first job was for the union she'd been a member of during the war, a simple case of wage theft. They hadn't expected a woman to investigate, nor deliver key evidence directly to the police captain as well as every union-sympathizing lawyer she knew. From there, one paid favour led to another, and while the pay was as irregular as the work itself she eventually managed to begin renting out a small office in a squalid district of the city.