SCHWARZGHIEST

Johan Rosengeim (a.k.a. General Karl Friedrich von Rosenheim)

REAL NAME: General Karl Friedrich von Rosenheim, a.k.a. Johan Rosenheim

CONCEPT: Granted arcane soul-draining powers by a botched Teutonic ritual, former SS General Karl Friedrich von Rosenheim became Schwarzgeist; the Black Ghost.

• CURRENT CONCEPT INFO:
  Polite and slightly formal, with speech patterns and social moires reminiscent of an older time. Cool upon first glance, warm and brotherly after a long friendship. Tough, but with the sentimentality of an old warrior.
  Handsome and distinguished, with old eyes that speak of long, hard experience. Quiet and dignified in manner and presentation, always tastefully and finely dressed, favoring somber colors.
  Subtlety and cunning; win the battle before it begins. Will not hesitate to ambush, decieve, trap or manipulate foes. Kills willingly enough, but loathes suffering or cruelty.
  Favorite Music
  Viennese Waltzes; also russian piano work; Rachmanninof, Tchaikofsky, etc.
  
  BIO:
  Born is Rosenheim, Bavaria in 1907, Karl Friedrich was the son of a rich, patrician family with extensive holdings. He grew up as a smart boy, with a stong social understanding and a flair for music. He completed his primary education after the end of the first wold war, the destruction sparing bavaria, and the entered the Universitat Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1924 to take a degree is history, transferring to the Kriegsinstitut Bayern-Munchen two years later, and emerging with a liutenent's commission and a post in army intelligence. He rose steadlily through the demoralized weimar military, and his connections and wealth helped to facilitate that rise.
  In 1929 he was brought into the NSDAP by an old friend from Rosenheim, one Hermann Goering, a rising star in National Socialist movement. Promoted to Lt. Colonel before the Nazis took power in 1933, Friedrich was already one of the brightest stars of army intelligence, skilled in codebreaking, espionage and assasination.
  In 1938 now Colonel Rosenheim recieved appointment to the SS-Specialgruppe 13, a secret organization dedicated to tracking down and recovering lost magical artefacts. The position, while highly prestigious, seemed almost ridiculous to him, and it was only after the urging of many friends that he accepted the appointment. SG-13 went on to successfully complete many missions, returning countless relics and strange items into the reich's waiting hands.
  It wasn't until 1943, well into the war, that things began to go strangely; the missions they were given became more bizarre, more and more often they we asked to attempt to 'activate' or 'unlock' items they had found. After one particularly spectacular mission that left the unit's commander dead, with his face melted off from trying to wear an ancient iron helmet, Rosenheim was promoted to General, and became the new commander of SG-13.
  His first mission, early in 1944, was to investigate the ruined Castle Gebbeln, located near Thuringen. There, deep within a sealed crypt, they discoved a single corroded, black iron ring, along with the inscription "By the blood of the thousands, so do kings live forever". The orders came down almost immediately from Berchtesgarten, "Immidiate Transfer to Dachau for investigation and activation." As commander, it fell to him to see that the order was carried out. Nine thousand died; their blood forming a macabre lake, into which Rosenheim, holding the ring, was submerged; the magic was supposed to grant immortality, and in a way, it did. As soon as he entered the blood-pool, the ring began to vibrate, emitting an ear-piercing shriek, and then shattered into a black-green mist. The blood began to roil and rage, and the bodies piled all around began to twich and shake as indistinct wisps of green-black energy crept from them, joining the ring's cloud, enveloping Rosenheim in a bubble of wispy green flame. All of a sudden the pain started. Agony so deep, it could only be called soul-wrenching. And then the pain ended... he could see a wisp of fire leave his own body, clearly writhing in agony until, with a sceech, it vaporized.
  Suddenly, and with a rush the entire green-black cloud of flame condensed back into Rosenheim's startled form, and he fell with a sickening splash into the lake of blood, terrified and confused. What happened next was a blur, but somehow he ended up in an infirmary, with horrifed nurses frantically bathing him, as his skin blistered and cracked under the bloody mess that covered it.
  His debriefing was short and to the point,
  "Mission failed due to unknown complications",
  and the whole thing was ignored from then on; there was no more time for analysis.
  Soon thereafter SD-13 was broken up, and Rosenheim placed on administrative duty. As the Reich crumbled around him, Rosenheim requisitioned several traincars of fleeing plunder to be secreted in vaults under his family's ancient castle and deposited in various Swiss bank accounts, and then made for home; bith for his own safety, and to take time to understand the unexplained after-effects of his ordeal. He spend the remaining months of the war discovering and honing his abilites, and he marved at the power that they offered. After the war, he took an assumed name, posing first as his own half-brother, and later as his own son to escape Nazi hunters. He worked closely with ENIGMA and Der Spinne to get other Nazis out of Germany, and was personally responsible for the successful flight of Josef Mengele to Argentina.
  After things began to die down, he considered his options and began plotting against the soviets. For the next 40 years he was a nightmarish adversary to dozens of soviet State Heroes. Posing as "Der Schwarzgeist" ot "The Black Ghost" he wreaked havoc, assasinating leaders, sabotaging vital programs and stealing billions of dollars worth of cash, art and resources.
  It wasn't until the early 1980's that Rosenheim began to see that the people he hurt and killed were not a faceless communist threat, and that the chaos he sowed lead only to more chaos and death. He didn't really feel any guilt over what he had done, but he did think that it had been foolish and counterproductive.
  After that he began leveraging his massive financial holdings to enact the changes he wanted. He acquired swiss citizenship in 1992 and afterwards he emigrated to the USA in 1993 after the fall of communism under the name Johan Rosenheim, posing as his own grandson. He moved to Freedom City, where he lives in a lavish manor on Lantern Hill. He keeps a very low profile, and lives below his means to keep the curious at bay.
  When the Aliens attacked, he lost billions of dollars, but also years of carefully planned economic and politcal manipulation, as well as nearly losing his grand-niece Johanna (whom he dotes on, and who is one of the few alive to know who he actually is).
  He is now determined to see justice done; to see the invader scum destroyed, and to see mankind take it's rightful place among the stars.

QUOTES: "It's easy to be racist when there are whole other species to hate"

in the form of "the Black Ghost"

What is your villainous /heroic motivation?

Driven by powerful desires for justice and progress, and disgusted by chaos, confusion and dependence, Schwarzgeist strives to see his vision of humanity fulfilled; a vision of abundant wealth and power, of unrivaled technical, scientific and mystical triumphs, and of unquestioned human supremacy.

Character Flags

• Find a final solution to the Grue Problem.
• Help lead the people of Earth to their proper glory.
• Learn to use my sorcerous potential.
• Build a coalition to mobilize and organize a cohesive resistance to the occupation.
• Capture and study the enemy.

Prison Term and/or Your greatest defeat

In 1953 Schwarzgeist attempted to sabotage the fledgling soviet nuclear program. Unfortunately for him, he was detected by a Soviet Mystic named Grandmother Winter, and the entire "Heroes of the People" super team was waiting in ambush for him. He was beaten bloody, and though three of the 'Heroes' fought their last that day, he was overwhelmed and taken, helpless, to a secret mystically protected prison deep in the Urals. There he spent three years being brutally interrogated and tortured until he was able to seduce one of his jailers, the young superheroine called the Atomic Maiden. They fled together, enjoying a brief but passionate love affair. She expatriated to England with his help, and they corresponded for many years. Her son, David (from a later marriage) is now in his late 40's and is a nuclear engineer in Britain.

3x3

• Friends
• Johanna Rosenheim: Schwarzgeist’s grand-niece and ward; budding mystic and conjuror. Charismatic, but shy, she is highly loyal and curious.
• Y’ssak the Changer: Ancient Lemurian sorcerer-priest; master of dark rituals and ancient secrets; also makes a damn fine cup of coffee.
• David Lanikov: Brilliant British nuclear scientist and son of Schwarzgeist’s former lover, Soviet Superheroine “Atomic Maiden”.

• Contacts
• ’Herr Doktor’: Cover Identity for Josef Mengele, still alive and running a black-market genetics facility in Argentina; the one captured in the 80’s was a clone.
• Seti I: Ancient Egyptian pharaoh who’s soul is trapped inside an animated statue of himself. Has a significant cult following in Egypt, with tendrils in the US and Europe.
• Heinrich Geldfarb: Swiss banker and financier known to have ties to organized crime and international terrorism.

• Enemies
• ’Grandmother Winter’: Former Soviet super-mystic and seer; long-time foe of Schwarzgeist, and seemingly both immortal and nearly impossible to kill.
• The Green Man: Eco-terrorist and plant controller, utterly against humanity and progress; has clashed with Schwarzgeist’s business interests on numerous occasions.
• Larceny, inc.: Chaotic crew of rag-tag super-thieves involved in heists and theft all over the eastern seaboard, including several of Schwarzgeist’s holding companies. They will pay.

• Locations
• Blackmoor House: Classic Victorian mansion on Lantern Hill, current residence of Johan Rosenheim and his niece Johanna, as well as their servants.
• Castle Rosenheim: Ancient family seat in Rosenheim, Bavaria, Castle Rosenheim sits atop sprawling crypts and dungeons and contains numerous secret rooms and passages. Currently under the care of servants while Johan and Johanna are overseas.
• Leviathan: (Player Knowledge) Secret German Super-sub, recovered and refitted by Schwarzgeist as an undersea HQ. Luxuriant, massive, and nearly undetectable.

• Organizations
• The Grey Council: (Player knowledge) Confederation of independent mastermind-type villains who meet secretly for support and information sharing.
• Thorne, Black & Rose: Schwarzgeist’s largest holding company; significant interests in pharmaceuticals, mining, heavy machinery and bleeding-edge tech.
• The Teakwood Club: Exclusive yacht/social club located in an elegant secure compound on the freedom city waterfront; provides the highest levels of service and discretion.

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