Post by Karl Ruprecht Kroenen on Jul 31, 2008 8:36:56 GMT -5
The Character
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Canon or your own: Canon (Using film adaptation)
Copyright (Marvel/DC/ect): Dark Horse Comics
Characters civilian name: Karl Ruprecht Kroenen
Code names/Aliases: Colonel Kroenen
Class [Superhero, Vigilante, Mercenary..ect]: Supervillain
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Gender: Male
Age: 111 Years old (Born in in Munich, Germany in 1897)
Apparent Age: None (Due to mask) / Dead (Due to appearance)
Hair: None
Eyes: Green (No eyelids)
Height and weight: (Gotta guess sorry) 6'1" / 13st 1lbs
Appearance:
Fortunately for any and all persons unlucky enough to meet Kroenen face to face, he never removes his mask and equipment unless in private.
The undead man, more machine and black magic than human, covers his disfigured face with a specially designed 'gas mask', which he built himself. The mask purifies air and filters out microscopic organisms of all kinds, and also serves to intimidate his opponents.
Aside from the mask, Kroenen wears a full black bodysuit under a full suit of bullet/stab-proof armor. Over that he usually wears long black leather coats with high collars, and a peaked black cap.
He also wears long leather gloves over his hands - one of which is entirely mechanical.
Under the mask is a terrible sight - a man who suffered a masochistic compulsion to alter and 'improve' his body, whilst also taking pleasure in the pain. His body is covered in scars from surgical procedures to remove and replace organs with mechanical/magical substitutes, and he has also fused steel to his bones.
His most shocking disfigurement is, however, the removal of his eyelids and lips. Coupled with a pallid - almost rotten - yellow complexion, Kroenen looks very much like a corpse. That would also effectively be correct in medical terms.
Picture [if available]:
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Super Powers:
Superhuman speed/agility:
Kroenen's body is a masterful work of art. Designed and enchanted to perfection, it allows him to move with incredible speed and agility and gives him an unprecedented degree of control over his movement.
He is therefore capable of moving to deflect blows, dodge bullets and even deflect the rounds back at their point of origin.
Enhanced strength:
Kroenen has, through magical and mechanical manipulation, enhanced his strength to the same level as that of 10 fully grown, athletic men.
Stealth:
Kroenen is a master of stealth, guise and cunning. He has been known to disappear from sight in seconds, and most of the time seems to come from the shadows, taking his target by surprise. He is deathly silent, the only sound he makes being the whistle of his blades as they sail through the air.
Weapons master:
Kroenen is a master of unarmed combat, swordsmanship and marksmanship. He has never missed with a ranged weapon and is a foe not to be underestimated at close range.
Immortality:
Kroenen is effectively undead, and does not age nor die like a normal human. He is almost impossible to wound and kill successfully, due to the fact that most of his vital functions have been replaced with dark magic enchantments and mechanical implants. His body is very durable and easily repaired.
Also, due to his lack of regular human bodily functions, Kroenen is immune to poisons, drugs and chemicals, and is protected from disease by a variety of enchantments and his specially designed suit and gas mask.
Occult powers:
Kroenen's knowledge of the occult, and the fusions of dark magic and steel in his body make him difficult to assault directly with magical powers. Whilst he has shown the ability to contribute greatly to the summoning of demons and portals, he is yet to show any direct offensive magical powers. There is always the opportunity to learn, however.
Learned Abilities:
Gifted Scientist:
Kroenen was originally an intelligent and gifted German scientist, and has a keen and expansive knowledge of all things biological and mechanical. He is a talented surgeon and engineer.
Master of the occult:
Years of exposure to the occult in societies, texts, information, other like minded individuals and twisted practices, Kroenen has gained a formidable knowledge of the occult.
Equipment:
Spring-loaded Katar gauntlets
A set of spring loaded gauntlets conceal katar-like blades on each forearm. They can be deployed and retracted with simple motions of the wrist, and Kroenen wields them with the same amazing skill, speed and precision he does with any weapon.
Recently, Kroenen has re-forged the gauntlets using the molten metal from an artifact of the Ogdru Jahad and a dark ritual. They are now unbreakable and razor sharp, and deliver the corrupting influence of the gods of chaos. Wounds caused by the blades can instantly become septic and rot.
Tonfa swords
Similar to the tonfa - a wooden pole with a perpendicular handle near one end, the tonfa swords are long blades with rotating handles near one end of the blade.
They allow the user maximum performance for fighting multiple enemies and are excellent when used for a moving defense.
Kroenen wields them with the same amazing skill, speed and precision he does with any weapon.
Gas mask & Armour
Both bulletproof, they offer protection to Kroenen's body from piercing attacks such as bullets or blades, and slicing attacks in close quarters. It is unlikely that Kroenen actually needs the armor, but wears it more so to save the inconvenience of receiving damage that must be repaired later.
Mechanical left hand
A fusion of dark magic and metal, the left hand was lost when Kroenen attempted to retrieve a grenade from beneath a portal in Scotland. The prosthetic hand is twice as strong and durable as his own, making it a dangerous weapon itself.
Mechanical heart
A fusion of dark magic and metal, Kroenen's artificial heart powers his body, and gives him great strength, durability and agility. He can deactivate himself using the device, and seem to become inanimate and dead, by putting himself on a timer.
Occult implements
Kroenen has access to a number of texts, books, items and persons that have dark power, occult knowledge or significance. He can utilize these in any number of ways, from constructing more black magic devices for himself to constructing portals to the other side.
Weaknesses (Must Have):
Whilst incredibly difficult to kill or injure, his body can be damaged - As evidenced by the loss of the left hand.
Whilst incredibly skilled and agile, he is not as mobile as some others nor is he as strong as a great number of his enemies.
Background:
Karl Ruprecht Kroenen was born in Munich, Germany in 1897. A musical prodigy with angelic features and blonde hair, young Kroenen toured the capitals of Europe singing opera until his voice deepened with the onset of puberty, thereby ending his career. From a very early age, he demonstrated symptoms of masochism, whipping himself with a fresh branch of oak each day, and finding pleasure in the pain.
As a teenager, he loathed his awkwardness and may have developed an extreme form of body dysmorphic disorder. He conducted a series of brutal experiments due to his surgical addiction, in which he surgically removed his own eyelids and lips. He later designed a tight-fitting gas mask to filter out germs and hide his disfigured face.
In 1930, he met the resurrected monk Grigori Rasputin for the first time. Obsessed with purity, Kroenen quickly became Rasputin’s most loyal disciple. He subsequently joined the Nazi Party, and rose quickly through the ranks, joining the Schutzstaffel in 1933 and achieving the rank of Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel). He was awarded the Iron Cross for services to the Third Reich. Kroenen became head of the Thule Society, a group of German aristocrats obsessed with the occult. He helped them to spearhead Project Ragna Rok, engineering the portal generator that would conjure the Scarlet Beast, Hellboy, in October 1944.
When Allied Forces stormed the island off the coast of Scotland where Project Ragna Rok took place, Kroenen lost his left hand trying to retrieve an active grenade thrown by a young Professor Trevor Bruttenholm. When the grenade exploded, a length of shrapnel impaled Kroenen through the chest. Shortly thereafter, he disappeared.
After Kroenen's disappearance, records were found of his experiments on fusing steel to bone. This is further evidence of Kroenen's philosophy that humanity’s future lay in the marriage of flesh and machine. In 1956, an unmarked grave in Romania was found. Dental records identified the remains as those of Kroenen. However, Kroenen reappeared in 2004.
Using a mixture of occult magic and clockwork, Kroenen created a prosthetic heart and left hand. By cranking the key-like mechanism where his heart should be, he effectively was able to wind up his wrists, allowing him to wield his tonfa swords with superhuman skill and precision. He could also turn the key to "switch off" his body (literally), remaining in a dormant state and appearing dead, until his masters, the Ogdru Jahad, reanimated him. He used this deceptive technique to infiltrate the BPRD headquarters.
A ruthless and cunning assassin, Kroenen was responsible for the deaths of countless people, including scores of Allied Troops, as well as Hellboy’s father figure, Trevor Bruttenholm. He also critically wounded Agent Clay of the BPRD. In Kroenen’s lair beneath Rasputin’s mausoleum in Moscow, Hellboy seemingly avenged Bruttenholm's death by throwing Kroenen into his own trap — a spiked pit hidden beneath a trapdoor. Skewered on the stakes, the undead Kroenen then watched helplessly as Hellboy dropped a giant cog on top of him.
Left to his own devices for some time, Kroenen eventually managed to shift the cog enough to give him space to work at breaking the spikes on which he was impaled. After a few days of constant struggle, Kroenen eventually freed himself and managed to repair the damage (Mostly cosmetic) that was done to his body.
He continues to work towards resurrecting Grigori Rasputin once more.
Personality :
It would not be far from the truth to say that Kroenen does not exhibit any form of personality. He rarely speaks or even utters a sound, even as he fights and kills. He is cold, ruthless, calm and calculating - so much so that he seems like a machine to those who meet him, before they die of course.
However, despite this he has been seen to express emotion as his malicious nature and dark entertainments draw him out of his 'shell'. He is, in short, a very, very bad person.
Other:
None.
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Brief Sample Roleplay
See MACH V, Penance, Toxin and Sigma.
