View the profile
Name/Aliases: Robert Rhein, Reiver, Captain Rhein, Rhein, Er mit der brennen Hertz, Him with the Burning Heart, Iron Hands Rhein, Rhein the Scalper
Age: Twenty Seven
Sex/Gender: Male
Species: Feral Otter
Place of Origin: Ghennann (Former town in Terra Centra, near Reisen)
Current Allegiance: Haven City Citizen, Mercenary, Anti Compass Party Activist, Marked Terrorist and Pirate
Gadgets:
Frequently finding himself in combat Captain Rhein is well armed as any pirate should be and his weapons of choice are unique but reliable. He most often supports a twin barreled side by side bolt action pistol of which he owns a dueling pair. These pistols are chambered in the quite powerful .300 magnum munitions used by Timpal, and are quite accurate and large for pistols. With a five round internal revolver magazine for each over-thick barrel and a cross fire so the pistols don't double discharge (something that would most certainly cause him to drop his gun) these massive pistols provide quite the signature. Additional excessive amount of gunpowder present means that a large portion of the weapons energy is spent in a spectacular fireball out of the barrel as unburnt gunpowder flies from the weapon. Since the creation of these pistols they have been burnt with many natural otter figures to provide grip and serve a memory to the captain's long lost life and town and while he is only seen with both pistols frequently during an assault both are always near by in case of a prolonged firefight and both are immaculately cared for. Some of the captains crew say he uses those pistols because any human and most other ferals would drop them if they tried to fire them. They alone have gotten the captain the tittle Iron Hands and he can often be seen massaging his early arthritis ridden hands and working his muscles so that his grip is strong enough, though he claims that it is because he once fell from an airship because he couldn't hold on and was only saved by the ocean and the incompetence of Reisen's marines in cold water. The captain is quite skilled with his firearm in either hand alone regardless but he is not skilled in twin wielding the overpowered and heavy pistols as it takes two hands to steady the rather long side arms for a clean shot as each one is around two feet long.
Additionally the captain has a side by side bolt action rifle chambered in the same .300 magnum rifle rounds as his pistols and supports a matching stock much as it supports a matching barrel set and internal revolving magazines, five each. However, unlike the pistols the rifle is the proper and expected form for its ammunition and is not nearly so unwieldy as a result. At Seven feet in length the gun is longer than Rhein is tall and each barrel is extremely heavy making the rifle a substantial twenty five pound behemoth with a build sturdy enough to club most enemies to death without much ill effect on the rifle. Despite this Rhein is simply a good marksman at fair ranges. The captain has never practiced firing the weapon at extreme range, having far too many other responsibilities to take care of and only using it when he goes out to assault a town or ambush soldiers as it's too large a weapon to effectively use on his ship.
The last notable weapon Rhein carries is a narrow headed handaxe. Too narrow in the head to be a proper hatchet, it's an axe of old and forgotten design, of a type developed during the time of chain and steel armor's heyday designed specifically to drive deep into the gaps between plates and split chain and balance for throwing in times of need. Rhein uses the weapon to torture officers that he believes hold valuable information and scalps members of the compass party with it to ensure they are dead. The Axe has a cold hammered steel head and while the haft has been replaced many times after hard fights it still supports a dark oaken finish often stained with blood.
Zeppellin: Der Brennenhertz (The Burning Heart)
Based off of quite moderate in sized scout carrier Ironhands captured from Reisen during one of his assaults on their forces, the Burning Heart is actually three air ships in one. Arranged with the original scout carrier and carry-all in the center the large ship has two smaller reconnaissance zeppelins attatched to it by large rotor supporting wings giving it a large capacity for its side and providing it with three generators. The central vessel is seven hundred and fifty feet long and one hundred and fifty feet in diameter sausage shaped, with a flat armored landing deck on top and reinforced armor on the underbelly to allow for safe combat landings. Each of the wing tip scout vessels is one hundred feet long and forty feet wide and slightly more bulbous than the central vessel. The total Wing span of the airship is nine hundred feet. Despite it's massive size the ship only needs twenty crew members to function and may have as many as two hundred and fifty persons properly quartered. The entire vessel has been painted black with a single deep crimson stripe down it's belly and an emblem of a red heart with blue flames burning on it on each side of it's control surfaces as well as each side of each hull and both top and bottom of the vessels wing flaps. The bridge of the vessel is crouched down safely under the leading edge of the flight deck and above the armored nose with downward and upward facing periscopes.
As far as armaments are concerned Der Brennenhertz is quite moderate for it's size as Captain Rhein has removed all of the bomb racks to save weight and the substructures for all of the central carrier's turrets as well as half of each outer hull's turrets had to be removed in order to attach the wings. Each wing is based in three massive ground attack turret holds and four smaller machine gun turret holds on their inner edges while their outer edges are held to the outer hulls through the stems of one smaller ground attack turret and four machine gun turrets. The ship still has the four outermost machine gun turrets on each smaller hull as well as two bubble machine guns mounted dorsally on each small hull. The central hull has two twin machine gun turrets facing the ground on its nose and two more on its aft as well as three single machine guns on each side. Each of the three Reisen zeppelins was captured with intact strum generators and the captain has expanded their node arrays to protect the entire wing surface and added quite significant extra capacitors raided from Reisen giving the ship part of it's name. Despite This the captain was still concerned for the vessel's defenses and replaced each of the light ground attack turrets on the sides of the outer hulls that had still remained with 20mm quad cannon positions. Additionally the ship supports two large shield generators at the root of each wing and two smaller shield generators at the end of each wing where it meets the outer hull. These can be simultaneously or individually activated.
For offensive weaponry, to make up for it's considerable loss of firepower in bombs and cannons each side of the vessel where the armory previously was for the side tourrets of the central hull, now supports three 88mm cannons that are kept well stocked from a magazine kept higher up in the sides of the vessel now that it has side hulls to increase it's stability. Each gun, while limited with 15 degrees of pivot supports any vertical angle from -5 degrees (highest safe angle) to -50 degrees allowing them to precisely target ground forces or lower air forces and leading the captain to often strike from above in a broadside. To save weight for these weapons the captain only carries twenty shells per, never intending to outseige a city state on his own, and preferring hit and run.
The ship also has many other features. The entire length of the central hull under the gunnery batteries is lined with lead acid battery cells as well as all of the bombing areas in each recon zeppelin and capacitors for running the zeppelins advanced electric motors and if the wing's flaps are closed (revealing the massive emblems on them) they reduce forwards and backwards drag (though without the upward thrust of the props the zeppelin must maintain speed to gain lift from the wings or loose altitude slowly), this allows it to function like a quite bulbous, massive, and slow plane, but notably fast air ship. The presence of three generators on the ship allow it to quickly recharge it's capacitors to reactivate shields or strum generators, and the central hull is designed to land vehicles. As a Reisen vessel the bridge is also pressurized.
Despite all of these advantages the ship has several shot comings as well. While the engineers commissioned to refit and build her were well payed and worked well, the ship is an exotic and experimental design at best as a rare one of a kind design. Because most of the vessels parts are from Reisen, repairs are expensive or require raids on dangerous military outposts and the vessel is immediately identifiable as the ship of one of Reisen's most wanted individual fugitives and enemies. Additionally while the original carrier held two heavy tanks only one remains and the other vehicle bay has been taken by a civilian truck, a couple of scout bikes, and a machine gun mounted side car bike. As a carrier the ship is also limited just as its previous design was, with such a short 750foot runway only slow planes can land safely, even with a landing cable, and the aircraft it carries must fit in it's small two plane hangar built under the aft edge of the carrier deck (which requires folding down the upper ruder just to use). One of these planes is still the original and outdated Engelaugen folding winged reconnaissance plane re-canvased to match it's mother ship and rearmed to use munitions more readily available the plane only has two machine guns front and a back end mounted machine gun nest for the radio operator, the large winged plane is extremely slow and cant be in anything but mellow winds because of it's extreme wing size making it unstable on the ground but it flies quite well, even at altitudes most planes struggle, and it's efficient and well tuned engine as well as light weight give it an extreme range compared to most other aircraft, additionally its wheels can fold in allowing it to land in the water and it's slow speeds mean it can land nearly anywhere. The other plane is a well armed but lightly protected gyrocoptor equipped with eight machine guns and two 20mm auto cannons but woefully under armored and slow compared to heavier aircraft and quite short ranged. Additionally, the high stress of combat maneuvers on the massive wing structures require constant repairs that mean landing the ship and compressing it's hydrogen bladder to avoid disastrous fires or breaks in internal structure and crossing between the hulls requires crawling on hands and knees through the wing(s) between your destinations. To top it off the captain runs it on a scant crew of fifty in order to leave room for evacuating towns in time of need.
Appearance:
While Robert is quite fit and tightly built, even for a feral otter, he is not spectacular to look at. His fur is a consistent maple brown over his entire body, easily hiding away scars from fights and secreting bullet wounds and muscle. The otter is not tall for his kind at a heavy 5' 5", and though he is heavy for his size at 225 pounds, he is not broad either, just dense. The subtle but notable features of his build are his quite substantial forearms from all of the finger and hand strengthening work he has done (as well as climbing) and his tail which is close to five feet long, making it substantial, even for an otter. Finally his eyes are a shocking oceanic blue like the shallow waters of the warm white sand island shores.
Most commonly garbed in heavy black canvas pants and a white cotton shirt the captain wears a heavy black leather and red canvas jacket over top. Generally his feet are covered by heavy steel toed leather boots and his pants are held up by a heavy leather belt. He's almost never seen without a stout burnt leather gun belt holding up his pistol on his right thigh and a black wide brimmed hat with a telltale stetson V and curled sides to its brim. A deep red band compliments this with a copper emblem of a burning heart in the center of it.
During times of battle the captain often wears a second gun belt and a pair of bandoleers. The shoulder strap for his rifle also studded with rifle rounds to allow him the munitions he needs to sustain a gunfight.
Someone who watches the captain closely might notice he has several idle ticks and abnormal movements. When tired he walks with a stiff limp to his left leg where his muscle was once cut deep by a would be assassin. When without anything to do with his hands he has a habit of rubbing them together and massaging them in an attempt to clear away some of the aches of the hard life he now leads, when relaxed he might even work at his many times attacked but not visibly tattered tail, or often abused feet as well. When drunk or particularly tired he has a tendency of whispering in harsh hushed or mellow and needing tones to people that don't likely exist any more.
Personality:
Half way between suicidal depression and complete suicidal rage Captain Rhein is a tormented figure that most would agree only lives to hate the Compass Party, and in many ways agreeing, even to the scant honest or good deeds of the party is a quick way to get in a fight with the captain as his hatred takes him to the point of a flaw. Despite this the captain is too smart to be completely suicidal and hasn't yet killed himself and doesn't aspire to get into fights he can't win, hoping instead to be a ghost in the skies that haunts them until the day they both pass into an oblivion beyond, doomed to burn in purgatory of any and all faiths each of them, one of the few things the captain is proud of. This sulking violent side is all that the outside world generally sees of the captain, and many believe that this is all that remains of Captain Rhein. Some feel sorry for him, others hate him, and most think he's a suicidal but persistent and often well paying fool as well as a stubborn and determined mercenary when one can convince or afford him.
While the belief that his sorrow and rage against the fate that befell his town is in all truth most that remains of the shell feral that is, Captain Rhein is driven by a few more subtle forces as well. As any captain, good or bad, should, he cares for his crew and watches over them like an eager specter of violence ready to fall on any who might threaten them like an enraged demon and he secretly admires many 'beautiful' people even if he seldom justifies speaking to them and many of the bright ones avoid him and his reputation as well. In the end he always knows that not everyone chooses to act out against what they know is wrong so violently and at such risk, so he has accepted that his life is one that will be lonely, and would continue to fight alone if those who supported him left. Luckily for the captains cause, Reisen has wronged many and in the case that his cause isn't enough the value of captured Reisen munitions and equipment means his pockets are deep.
History:
While little is known about the life Robert had before his current struggle, what is known is that the town of Ghennann was a coastal town that had discovered and started to mine heavy earth in a near mountain, and for it had become rather wealthy in a short period of time by selling it's new resource openly. With it's wealth of resource the town managed a shallow alliance with Timpal to protect itself from the violent expansions of Reisen, but this wasn't enough. An aging Compass Party Captain lead an assault on the town and bombed it flat. At the time Rhein was nineteen and working as a demolitions expert in the mines. When the military forces of captured the mine, he and his other coworkers were forced to continue working under the hastily erected watch of the present military forces or any survivors from the town would be killed.
It took forces from Timpal three months to arrive, but as promised they forced the Fascists to fall back through weight of numbers and practice. However, the prisoners in the town were killed in the violent conflict as well as many of the workers. Those that survived were wounded and in poor condition to begin with. Too few to start the town again, they were accepted into Timpal as refugees.
Harbored by the communistic city state Robert learned how to fight by mandate, picking up basic medical skills and many others and being put to work in mines controlled by the power. However, they would not allow the violent and determined otter fight as he was deemed to unstable for front line service. At age twentyone he resigned his citizenship and left for Haven, joining one of many mercenary companies, his was the Golden Aces. There he thrived at every chance to strike at the Compass Party and seethed with uncontrollable ire when he was put under the order of the violent fascists as much as they scowled in disgust at his presence.
His captain status started with his assignment to lead several teams of soldiers in the mercenary company due to his drive and charisma, however the Compass Party once again interfered with his life, and this time to their folly. While deployed to raid a free pirate cove the mercenaries were betrayed upon completing the mission and given an order of execution. Not ones to be murdered helplessly the mercenaries fought back, outnumbered and out-positioned they were doomed however. Quick to think the young captain managed to climb around the outer hull of the vessel his teams had been deployed on with several men and take the bridge of the scout carrier, ambushing the soldiers assaulting his teams from behind and seizing the vessel for their escape. Taking the soldiers back to Haven, each went his way, and a few stayed. The ship was renamed the Burning Dream.
In the years that have followed the captain has lead a vendetta against Reisen, supplying his efforts through mercenary missions and eventually affording the extensive rebuild to the Burning Dream that made it into The Burning Heart. To date the captain and his crew draw out their vendetta knowing that they are but a nuisance to the large city state but determined to cause pain none the less. This has made the captain one of the most wanted men on Hearth and there have been many attempts on his life, the most recent of which involved a tortured soul from one of Reisen's labor camps that had been brainwashed into believing that people like the captain are responsible for Reisen's violence. Since then the captain has only become more withdrawn from the world.
Age: Twenty Seven
Sex/Gender: Male
Species: Feral Otter
Place of Origin: Ghennann (Former town in Terra Centra, near Reisen)
Current Allegiance: Haven City Citizen, Mercenary, Anti Compass Party Activist, Marked Terrorist and Pirate
Gadgets:
Frequently finding himself in combat Captain Rhein is well armed as any pirate should be and his weapons of choice are unique but reliable. He most often supports a twin barreled side by side bolt action pistol of which he owns a dueling pair. These pistols are chambered in the quite powerful .300 magnum munitions used by Timpal, and are quite accurate and large for pistols. With a five round internal revolver magazine for each over-thick barrel and a cross fire so the pistols don't double discharge (something that would most certainly cause him to drop his gun) these massive pistols provide quite the signature. Additional excessive amount of gunpowder present means that a large portion of the weapons energy is spent in a spectacular fireball out of the barrel as unburnt gunpowder flies from the weapon. Since the creation of these pistols they have been burnt with many natural otter figures to provide grip and serve a memory to the captain's long lost life and town and while he is only seen with both pistols frequently during an assault both are always near by in case of a prolonged firefight and both are immaculately cared for. Some of the captains crew say he uses those pistols because any human and most other ferals would drop them if they tried to fire them. They alone have gotten the captain the tittle Iron Hands and he can often be seen massaging his early arthritis ridden hands and working his muscles so that his grip is strong enough, though he claims that it is because he once fell from an airship because he couldn't hold on and was only saved by the ocean and the incompetence of Reisen's marines in cold water. The captain is quite skilled with his firearm in either hand alone regardless but he is not skilled in twin wielding the overpowered and heavy pistols as it takes two hands to steady the rather long side arms for a clean shot as each one is around two feet long.
Additionally the captain has a side by side bolt action rifle chambered in the same .300 magnum rifle rounds as his pistols and supports a matching stock much as it supports a matching barrel set and internal revolving magazines, five each. However, unlike the pistols the rifle is the proper and expected form for its ammunition and is not nearly so unwieldy as a result. At Seven feet in length the gun is longer than Rhein is tall and each barrel is extremely heavy making the rifle a substantial twenty five pound behemoth with a build sturdy enough to club most enemies to death without much ill effect on the rifle. Despite this Rhein is simply a good marksman at fair ranges. The captain has never practiced firing the weapon at extreme range, having far too many other responsibilities to take care of and only using it when he goes out to assault a town or ambush soldiers as it's too large a weapon to effectively use on his ship.
The last notable weapon Rhein carries is a narrow headed handaxe. Too narrow in the head to be a proper hatchet, it's an axe of old and forgotten design, of a type developed during the time of chain and steel armor's heyday designed specifically to drive deep into the gaps between plates and split chain and balance for throwing in times of need. Rhein uses the weapon to torture officers that he believes hold valuable information and scalps members of the compass party with it to ensure they are dead. The Axe has a cold hammered steel head and while the haft has been replaced many times after hard fights it still supports a dark oaken finish often stained with blood.
Zeppellin: Der Brennenhertz (The Burning Heart)
Based off of quite moderate in sized scout carrier Ironhands captured from Reisen during one of his assaults on their forces, the Burning Heart is actually three air ships in one. Arranged with the original scout carrier and carry-all in the center the large ship has two smaller reconnaissance zeppelins attatched to it by large rotor supporting wings giving it a large capacity for its side and providing it with three generators. The central vessel is seven hundred and fifty feet long and one hundred and fifty feet in diameter sausage shaped, with a flat armored landing deck on top and reinforced armor on the underbelly to allow for safe combat landings. Each of the wing tip scout vessels is one hundred feet long and forty feet wide and slightly more bulbous than the central vessel. The total Wing span of the airship is nine hundred feet. Despite it's massive size the ship only needs twenty crew members to function and may have as many as two hundred and fifty persons properly quartered. The entire vessel has been painted black with a single deep crimson stripe down it's belly and an emblem of a red heart with blue flames burning on it on each side of it's control surfaces as well as each side of each hull and both top and bottom of the vessels wing flaps. The bridge of the vessel is crouched down safely under the leading edge of the flight deck and above the armored nose with downward and upward facing periscopes.
As far as armaments are concerned Der Brennenhertz is quite moderate for it's size as Captain Rhein has removed all of the bomb racks to save weight and the substructures for all of the central carrier's turrets as well as half of each outer hull's turrets had to be removed in order to attach the wings. Each wing is based in three massive ground attack turret holds and four smaller machine gun turret holds on their inner edges while their outer edges are held to the outer hulls through the stems of one smaller ground attack turret and four machine gun turrets. The ship still has the four outermost machine gun turrets on each smaller hull as well as two bubble machine guns mounted dorsally on each small hull. The central hull has two twin machine gun turrets facing the ground on its nose and two more on its aft as well as three single machine guns on each side. Each of the three Reisen zeppelins was captured with intact strum generators and the captain has expanded their node arrays to protect the entire wing surface and added quite significant extra capacitors raided from Reisen giving the ship part of it's name. Despite This the captain was still concerned for the vessel's defenses and replaced each of the light ground attack turrets on the sides of the outer hulls that had still remained with 20mm quad cannon positions. Additionally the ship supports two large shield generators at the root of each wing and two smaller shield generators at the end of each wing where it meets the outer hull. These can be simultaneously or individually activated.
For offensive weaponry, to make up for it's considerable loss of firepower in bombs and cannons each side of the vessel where the armory previously was for the side tourrets of the central hull, now supports three 88mm cannons that are kept well stocked from a magazine kept higher up in the sides of the vessel now that it has side hulls to increase it's stability. Each gun, while limited with 15 degrees of pivot supports any vertical angle from -5 degrees (highest safe angle) to -50 degrees allowing them to precisely target ground forces or lower air forces and leading the captain to often strike from above in a broadside. To save weight for these weapons the captain only carries twenty shells per, never intending to outseige a city state on his own, and preferring hit and run.
The ship also has many other features. The entire length of the central hull under the gunnery batteries is lined with lead acid battery cells as well as all of the bombing areas in each recon zeppelin and capacitors for running the zeppelins advanced electric motors and if the wing's flaps are closed (revealing the massive emblems on them) they reduce forwards and backwards drag (though without the upward thrust of the props the zeppelin must maintain speed to gain lift from the wings or loose altitude slowly), this allows it to function like a quite bulbous, massive, and slow plane, but notably fast air ship. The presence of three generators on the ship allow it to quickly recharge it's capacitors to reactivate shields or strum generators, and the central hull is designed to land vehicles. As a Reisen vessel the bridge is also pressurized.
Despite all of these advantages the ship has several shot comings as well. While the engineers commissioned to refit and build her were well payed and worked well, the ship is an exotic and experimental design at best as a rare one of a kind design. Because most of the vessels parts are from Reisen, repairs are expensive or require raids on dangerous military outposts and the vessel is immediately identifiable as the ship of one of Reisen's most wanted individual fugitives and enemies. Additionally while the original carrier held two heavy tanks only one remains and the other vehicle bay has been taken by a civilian truck, a couple of scout bikes, and a machine gun mounted side car bike. As a carrier the ship is also limited just as its previous design was, with such a short 750foot runway only slow planes can land safely, even with a landing cable, and the aircraft it carries must fit in it's small two plane hangar built under the aft edge of the carrier deck (which requires folding down the upper ruder just to use). One of these planes is still the original and outdated Engelaugen folding winged reconnaissance plane re-canvased to match it's mother ship and rearmed to use munitions more readily available the plane only has two machine guns front and a back end mounted machine gun nest for the radio operator, the large winged plane is extremely slow and cant be in anything but mellow winds because of it's extreme wing size making it unstable on the ground but it flies quite well, even at altitudes most planes struggle, and it's efficient and well tuned engine as well as light weight give it an extreme range compared to most other aircraft, additionally its wheels can fold in allowing it to land in the water and it's slow speeds mean it can land nearly anywhere. The other plane is a well armed but lightly protected gyrocoptor equipped with eight machine guns and two 20mm auto cannons but woefully under armored and slow compared to heavier aircraft and quite short ranged. Additionally, the high stress of combat maneuvers on the massive wing structures require constant repairs that mean landing the ship and compressing it's hydrogen bladder to avoid disastrous fires or breaks in internal structure and crossing between the hulls requires crawling on hands and knees through the wing(s) between your destinations. To top it off the captain runs it on a scant crew of fifty in order to leave room for evacuating towns in time of need.
Appearance:
While Robert is quite fit and tightly built, even for a feral otter, he is not spectacular to look at. His fur is a consistent maple brown over his entire body, easily hiding away scars from fights and secreting bullet wounds and muscle. The otter is not tall for his kind at a heavy 5' 5", and though he is heavy for his size at 225 pounds, he is not broad either, just dense. The subtle but notable features of his build are his quite substantial forearms from all of the finger and hand strengthening work he has done (as well as climbing) and his tail which is close to five feet long, making it substantial, even for an otter. Finally his eyes are a shocking oceanic blue like the shallow waters of the warm white sand island shores.
Most commonly garbed in heavy black canvas pants and a white cotton shirt the captain wears a heavy black leather and red canvas jacket over top. Generally his feet are covered by heavy steel toed leather boots and his pants are held up by a heavy leather belt. He's almost never seen without a stout burnt leather gun belt holding up his pistol on his right thigh and a black wide brimmed hat with a telltale stetson V and curled sides to its brim. A deep red band compliments this with a copper emblem of a burning heart in the center of it.
During times of battle the captain often wears a second gun belt and a pair of bandoleers. The shoulder strap for his rifle also studded with rifle rounds to allow him the munitions he needs to sustain a gunfight.
Someone who watches the captain closely might notice he has several idle ticks and abnormal movements. When tired he walks with a stiff limp to his left leg where his muscle was once cut deep by a would be assassin. When without anything to do with his hands he has a habit of rubbing them together and massaging them in an attempt to clear away some of the aches of the hard life he now leads, when relaxed he might even work at his many times attacked but not visibly tattered tail, or often abused feet as well. When drunk or particularly tired he has a tendency of whispering in harsh hushed or mellow and needing tones to people that don't likely exist any more.
Personality:
Half way between suicidal depression and complete suicidal rage Captain Rhein is a tormented figure that most would agree only lives to hate the Compass Party, and in many ways agreeing, even to the scant honest or good deeds of the party is a quick way to get in a fight with the captain as his hatred takes him to the point of a flaw. Despite this the captain is too smart to be completely suicidal and hasn't yet killed himself and doesn't aspire to get into fights he can't win, hoping instead to be a ghost in the skies that haunts them until the day they both pass into an oblivion beyond, doomed to burn in purgatory of any and all faiths each of them, one of the few things the captain is proud of. This sulking violent side is all that the outside world generally sees of the captain, and many believe that this is all that remains of Captain Rhein. Some feel sorry for him, others hate him, and most think he's a suicidal but persistent and often well paying fool as well as a stubborn and determined mercenary when one can convince or afford him.
While the belief that his sorrow and rage against the fate that befell his town is in all truth most that remains of the shell feral that is, Captain Rhein is driven by a few more subtle forces as well. As any captain, good or bad, should, he cares for his crew and watches over them like an eager specter of violence ready to fall on any who might threaten them like an enraged demon and he secretly admires many 'beautiful' people even if he seldom justifies speaking to them and many of the bright ones avoid him and his reputation as well. In the end he always knows that not everyone chooses to act out against what they know is wrong so violently and at such risk, so he has accepted that his life is one that will be lonely, and would continue to fight alone if those who supported him left. Luckily for the captains cause, Reisen has wronged many and in the case that his cause isn't enough the value of captured Reisen munitions and equipment means his pockets are deep.
History:
While little is known about the life Robert had before his current struggle, what is known is that the town of Ghennann was a coastal town that had discovered and started to mine heavy earth in a near mountain, and for it had become rather wealthy in a short period of time by selling it's new resource openly. With it's wealth of resource the town managed a shallow alliance with Timpal to protect itself from the violent expansions of Reisen, but this wasn't enough. An aging Compass Party Captain lead an assault on the town and bombed it flat. At the time Rhein was nineteen and working as a demolitions expert in the mines. When the military forces of captured the mine, he and his other coworkers were forced to continue working under the hastily erected watch of the present military forces or any survivors from the town would be killed.
It took forces from Timpal three months to arrive, but as promised they forced the Fascists to fall back through weight of numbers and practice. However, the prisoners in the town were killed in the violent conflict as well as many of the workers. Those that survived were wounded and in poor condition to begin with. Too few to start the town again, they were accepted into Timpal as refugees.
Harbored by the communistic city state Robert learned how to fight by mandate, picking up basic medical skills and many others and being put to work in mines controlled by the power. However, they would not allow the violent and determined otter fight as he was deemed to unstable for front line service. At age twentyone he resigned his citizenship and left for Haven, joining one of many mercenary companies, his was the Golden Aces. There he thrived at every chance to strike at the Compass Party and seethed with uncontrollable ire when he was put under the order of the violent fascists as much as they scowled in disgust at his presence.
His captain status started with his assignment to lead several teams of soldiers in the mercenary company due to his drive and charisma, however the Compass Party once again interfered with his life, and this time to their folly. While deployed to raid a free pirate cove the mercenaries were betrayed upon completing the mission and given an order of execution. Not ones to be murdered helplessly the mercenaries fought back, outnumbered and out-positioned they were doomed however. Quick to think the young captain managed to climb around the outer hull of the vessel his teams had been deployed on with several men and take the bridge of the scout carrier, ambushing the soldiers assaulting his teams from behind and seizing the vessel for their escape. Taking the soldiers back to Haven, each went his way, and a few stayed. The ship was renamed the Burning Dream.
In the years that have followed the captain has lead a vendetta against Reisen, supplying his efforts through mercenary missions and eventually affording the extensive rebuild to the Burning Dream that made it into The Burning Heart. To date the captain and his crew draw out their vendetta knowing that they are but a nuisance to the large city state but determined to cause pain none the less. This has made the captain one of the most wanted men on Hearth and there have been many attempts on his life, the most recent of which involved a tortured soul from one of Reisen's labor camps that had been brainwashed into believing that people like the captain are responsible for Reisen's violence. Since then the captain has only become more withdrawn from the world.
