'snip, snip,' said the butcher's scissors
Out of Character Information
player name: Tekky
player livejournal: bonehaus
playing here: No one.
where did you find us? I was... here before. But there was an ad in the DOGS comm!
are you 16 years of age or older?: Yeeeup.
In Character Information
character name: Heine Rammsteiner
Fandom: DOGS: Bullets and Carnage
Timeline: Ch. 52
character's age: Unknown, looks to be in his early 20s.
powers, skills, pets and equipment: Enhanced speed and strength, decently speedy regeneration, able to grow back body parts and probably revive from cardiac arrest and the like. Apparently the only way to kill him is a headshot, but even that's debatable.
canon history: Heine does not remember anything of his past before waking up with a metal ring, a 'collar' around his neck in an underground facility. The 'collar' was implanted by a woman named Angelika Einsturzen and her fellow scientists. The collar was implanted along with a 'spine,' a piece of technology that made him stronger and faster than normal children his age, and indeed most adults. The spine was part of the Kerberos Project, an experiment meant to make soldiers for an underground army.
He (and other subjects of the Kerberos Project) were all about eight or nine years old. They were put through experiments and trials that tested their regenerative ability, as well as their fighting capability. The first experiment, just after he woke up, entailed being attacked by a huge, vicious creature that was several times larger than the young children. Dr. Angelika was the one controlling the beast, and encouraged the children to fight it despite the apparent impossibility. Arms were ripped off and small bodies were thrown against the wall. It was all Heine could do to hide himself from the raging creature.
When he looked back up, he saw Lilly, the girl who had explained to him that everyone had woken up in this place with no memories of their past, completely murdering the animal the doctor 'affectionately' named Kevin. Heine could not understand how she could do this, especially when 'Kevin' was killed and Lilly came to him, just as confused as he was. It turned out that the 'spines' implanted in their bodies gave them superhuman strength and the ability to regenerate almost immediately. However, during moments of intense emotion or violence, the spine would take over.
But the kids weren't too happy about this. They knew nothing of the world beyond the laboratory. They didn't even know if there was a world beyond the laboratory. But they knew that this day-to-day living, killing, eating, sleeping wasn't right. They had memories of things that they'd never seen - of flowers, of sunshine. They began to plan an escape - nearly impossible, what with the constant surveillance and the attention their 'mother' lavished on them.
To escape was almost infeasible, to stay was unbearable. And so when the professor called Heine to her private room (lined with cases of growing fetuses floating in what looks like water, yay), not long after his 'sister' Lily lost control once again, and was given a chance to become more powerful, he agreed. Einsturzen offered to implant the Ruler spine in him in place of the regular Kerberos one - giving him leadership over all of her soldiers and the soldiers she had yet to develop. Conversation between Einsturzen and Neubauten, however, hints at a plot to make Heine the leader of the 'dead Country.'
Heine agrees immediately, and the Ruler spine is linked into his collar. He has a heart to heart with his Kerberos (who turns out to be a very messy eater) and literally looses himself. His Kerberos takes over and is shown to the other subjects of the experiment, who are told by Einsturzen that they are no longer needed, as Heine will be the new Ruler. Shit hits the fan and he wakes up to himself clutching Lilly's head and standing on top of a heap of dead bodies. This, unsurprisingly, causes him to develop an irrational fear of women, and he tries not to have any contact with them if possible.
He escapes Einsturzen one way or another (plooot hooole) and ends up aboveground, living with Bishop, who saves him after he flees from the Underground laboratory and helps him recover.
Heine eventually partnered up with Badou Nails, another gunman, and the pair often worked together, taking on jobs and taking down mafia and shady organizations. Recently, however, characters from Heine's past have been showing up, such as Giovanni, another subject from the Kerberos Project, and other 'experiments' from the underground facilities.
He almost the only subject of the Kerberos experiment left, and presumed to be the only one 'above ground,' as Giovanni still works for Dr. Einsturzen. He is the main character of the story - one of the 'Stray Dogs.' He tends to be the one who helps Badou out of sticky situations and get information out of other people, usually with a loaded gun.
At this point, Heine has been meeting other people connected to Dr. Einsturzen and those who work with her, and is thus becoming very wary of just about everyone. At the end of the sixth chapter, he has met Naoto, someone who was also attacked by one of Dr. Einsturzen's allies. Giovanni, whom he hates because of how he led attacks on the above ground and is a reminder of the Kerberos experiments, has also begun appearing, and Dr. Einsturzen is planning something that he knows will involve attacking the cities above ground.
personality: Heine is, to put it simply, a jerk. He's rude to everyone, with very few exceptions, and he's not even the kind of jerk with a heart made of a dense, shiny yellow metal. He puts intent behind every insult, though they amount of actual interest varies. He's apathetic, unsympathetic, and can be passively cruel. He would have walked past Nill if he hadn't noticed her wings, and even then he's reluctant to get close. People who try to become even casual acquaintances are usually insulted or ignored until they leave, and the people who try to get any closer have to deal with the same, even after or if they gain his trust. His attitude stems from both the results of the few times he placed his loyalties in one person or another during his time in the laboratory, and the harsh city in which he lives.
Because he's so hard to approach, the few who do make it past his barrier (more like general atmosphere) of prickliness are stuck inside it forever. Or at least until they do something really stupid. Heine does, in his own way, care about people. He just shows it by trying to take care of them without actually telling them that he's okay with them or anything remotely resembling communication. Then again, if he actually has some sort of emotional investment in their wellbeing, then it's likely they can tell what he won't say (e.g. Nill, who can communicate with him better than almost anyone, through verbally one-sided conversation).
Outside of his tiny, tiny circle of at-least amiable contacts, Heine is... well, not friendly. He hates the thought of being controlled, another effect of his past, and is liable to lash out at anyone who tries to restrain him. Being pitied or patronized is nearly as bad, because he has his own sense of pride - he knows he's pathetic in comparison to what Einsturzen wanted of him and what he thought he was destined to be, but he accepts it because it's still better than being under the mastery of anyone but himself. Heine is well aware of his situation and doesn't make the best of it, but he recognizes that it matches his temperament more than being contained.
In addition to just being flat-out rude, Heine is also, as mentioned, not nice. Not even on the inside. Nill is the only one who gets the slightest genuine smile from him, and that's partially because she reminds him of Lily, who was his anchor in the past. He would have ignored Nill if he hadn't noticed that she was genetically screwed up like he was, and it's likely that he wouldn't have regretted it either. He's a mercenary; he doesn't care about who he shoots, maims, and/or kills so long as it doesn't take too long, no one he kind-of-sort-of likes doesn't die, and he gets paid.
He does have a sense of humor, if terrible (Requiem for a Dream should not be remembered with a nostalgic smile), that shows up at the most morbid of times. The 'black dog' or persona of the Kerberos spine is equally awful and markedly more vulgar and sexual, considering Heine's gynophobia. The 'black dog' is constantly bloodthirsty and almost hungry, advocating disemboweling evisceration, and general violence at pretty much all times. More concerning, maybe, is the fact that Heine sometimes agrees with it.
why do you feel this character would be appropriate to the setting? He's been here before, and he was having an... okay time of it, which is more than can be said about his original world.
Previously Played Information
previous game: scorched, yep.
length of time there: April 4th, 2010 - July 17th, 2011
important development and/or events in your previous game: He softened, if slowly, over the year and some-odd months. HE MADE FRIENDS? I think that's important. Anyway, he basically became less of a jerk!!! But only to some people. To everyone else, he was still rude. No surprises there. But basically he was able to branch out at least a little, and figure out approximately 2% of what's so fucked up about him with help from his new ~friends. And he relapsed horribly but occasionally because of Bellatrix and a few isolated incidents, but w/e, w/e. Let's focus on the positives. The total development was pretty small, but improvement nonetheless.
notes: I'm... going to wimp out and say that he accidentally got lost in the Mist was dead for a while.
Writing Samples
Network Post Sample: Here.
Third Person Sample: Here.
And if you really want more...
Anything else? Uh, I used stray_gunner last time around, this is still... the same person...