Letters from Chimera OOC

It’s 1946 and the world is breathing a sigh of relief over the end of World War II, but this war did not end the way we all remember it…

The atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States ended the War in the Pacific, but the European Front was decided on October 16, 1945, when Adolph Hitler ordered the detonation of a device known only as “The First Seal” over Moscow, obliterating the city and killing Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin.

Now, with a tentative peace accord reached, international relations are tense all around. The United States and England remain allies, with the British Empire tightening her grip on her colonies abroad. The Soviet Union is reeling from the loss of its capital city and much of its leadership, but its new leaders in St Petersburg are determined to retake their place among the great powers of the world. The Reich, now stretching across most of Continental Europe, is hated by them all, but grudgingly tolerated.

All around the world, the great powers are racing to split the atom and chasing down rumors of other devices like the First Seal, whose mystery is only outstripped by their extraordinary power for destruction. These ancient creations are rumored to be scattered across the world, hidden in the darkest places, the fiercest deserts and most brutal tundra, and even small pockets of the planet where creatures of bygone eras still wander.

In the middle of it all was an explorer and former spy known only as the Chimera. While his exploits were legendary, almost nothing was known of the man himself, until he was gunned down by a German assassin on the tiny Greek island of Antikythera. However, before his death the Chimera managed to send several letters to seemingly unconnected people around the globe, warning them that they were the only ones with a chance to save the world from complete and utter destruction. He knows, he’s seen it happen.

The letters were dated February 23, 1951...

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My vision for this RP is sort of Indiana Jones by way of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Jules Verne, and H.G. Wells. As a result, interesting characters are encouraged and some slight sci-fi elements are allowed, but they should be more in the vein of the aforementioned authors than hard sci-fi. Otherwise, please feel free to create any sort of character you’d like from anywhere around the world, just try to keep in mind some of the difficulties, opinions and prejudices of the times as you create your characters for a small measure of realism.

Name:
Gender:
Age (must be at least 20):
Nationality:
Career/Specialty:
Appearance (a photo is best, a description is fine, no cartoons):
Personality:
Biography (make sure to remember the War, and that it ended differently here):
Other:


Oh, and here's a rough world map for reference...

Spoiler:

Name: Julien Mercier
Gender: Male
Age: 33
Nationality: French
Career/Specialty: Former Special Operations Executive (SOE) officer, former and current smuggler/mercenary thug.
Appearance:

Personality: Julien is very intelligent, but usually comes off as arrogant and aloof, and with his biting tongue and a distain for authority, he tends to make enemies quicker than friends. However, beneath his chilly exterior, Julien can be very loyal to those he deems worthy of his trust, and he will always repay any debts in full. He even has a dark, dry sense of humor that usually only emerges in the direst of situations.

Biography: Julien was born in Brest, France right before World War I. His father, a sailor, left soon after to fight and returned in 1917 missing a leg. Not two years after that, Julien lost his mother to the Spanish Flu and the family fell on hard times as his father’s injury and budding alcoholism caused him to neglect both employment and his sons to drink away the grief and pain. This left Julien to provide most of the care for his younger brother, Mathieu, which he managed for almost five years before Julien was caught trying to steal a pair of shoes for his brother. The two boys were removed from the home and sent to live with a maternal aunt in Paris. However, with Henri and his aunt’s own five children, Julien was often lost in the shuffle and spent much of his time roaming the city. As a teenager, this behavior led him to get into trouble for petty crimes, which only escalated as he reached adulthood.

At twenty, Julien was arrested for assault and spent the next two and a half years in prison. After his release, Julien found his first and last honest work on a cargo ship and spent the next few years travelling the world as he hopped from ship to ship, finally joining a few friends smuggling goods around the Mediterranean. He didn’t particularly care about the beginnings of the war as Germany invaded Poland, if anything he saw it as an opportunity to make more money. It wasn’t until after France had fallen that Julien learned that Henri had been executed by the Germans for his part in a resistance group spreading anti-Nazi propaganda. Enraged, Julien started searching for a way to get back at the people who had murdered the last of his family. He eventually recruited into the Special Operations Executive (SOE), who were more than happy to overlook his criminal past in return for his knowledge about France and his many less than legitimate contacts in France and beyond.

After intense training in armed and unarmed combat, demolition techniques and covert communications, Julien parachuted back into France with several other SOE officers and proceeded to generally wreak as much havoc as humanly possible. However, a botched intelligence gathering operation in July, 1945 blew his cover and led to his capture by French police, who quickly turned him over to the SS. Julien escaped with the help of an old criminal acquaintance, but not before he’d been brutally interrogated. By the time Julien had recovered, the war was officially over and the British Intelligence Services no longer wanted anything to do with him. Left without a purpose, Julien decided to take advantage of the skills he’d learned and sell them to the highest bidder, working as little more than a mercenary or hired thug. Then a letter found him in Marseille…

Other: He speaks English fluently and can fake an English or American accent well enough to fool most people, and can speak German almost fluently but with a strong French accent.

Name: Lord Archibald Merton Ulysses Dalmonte

Gender: Male

Age: 67

Nationality: British

Specialty: Deep pockets, contacts, socially adept, archaic knowledge of mythology.

Appearance: The lord is a dapper little man standing at 5’ 11” tall with a slender frame. His watery blue eyes seem all the larger behind the old fashioned pair of wire spectacles he uses to read. His hair is still free of gray, but is an indeterminate light ash blonde. His skin is fair and only his forehead and eyes show any evidence of wrinkles and those are cause by many hours poring over old texts and books. His manner of dress is archaic at best, eccentric at worst. He favors old-fashioned tweeds and riding breeches from 50 years ago. If he’s in the field he will still insist on a linen suit, pith helmet and tea precisely at three.

Spoiler:

Personality: In a nutshell, Lord Marlborough is a lovable eccentric. He fancies himself an old English aristocrat from the late 19th century. Modeling himself on the Lords that made brilliant archeological discoveries of King Tut’s tomb and the lost city of Troy, he plays the role to the hilt. Under the façade, however is a brilliant mind. Dalmonte has studied the myths and history of most of the ancient races and is supremely well versed in their languages. He is the proverbial nutty professor, so focused on his particular interest that he doesn’t always notice things right under his nose.

Bio: The Dalmonte family could trace their lineage back to the oldest families of Britain and Austria. And they did so at every opportunity. They had used their money, influence, old allies and brilliant minds to advance their own ends and deeply lined their pockets. Centuries of Dalmontes each added to the family coffers. None more so than Archie’s father, Malcolm. Using his old boys club contacts, Malcolm invested the family fortune brilliantly in the industrial age. Archie and his 3 siblings grew up with private schools, private tutors and not a care in the world. They were able to pursue their own interests, be it travel, business or education as they saw fit. Archie pursued them all with equal vigor.

While his brothers and sister led comfortably normal lives, Archie’s brilliance led him to all known corners of the of the world, both before and after the war. He threw himself into the old legends of the ancients. He fancied himself one of the great explorers in the days of Lord Canarvan and Howard Carter. He learned the ancient languages. He studied their legends and sought their old places and treasures. While not entirely successful, he managed small finds often enough to continue to get investors and to fuel his own harmless eccentricities. At his side, is a Great Dane pup of 6 months named Odyssyes.

Archie can read most ancient languages and speaks fluent Latin, German and of course, English.

Name: Anton Loginov

Gender: Male

Age: 25

Nationality: Russian

Career/Specialty: Soldier for the Red Army, recently reassigned and listed as MIA to Specialized Technological Task Group code named as Jasper.

Appearance:



Personality: Anton is one of those guys who manages to make up the heart of the group. The one person who can always be relied on to place a well needed joke, or bring a group back together. Despite his current occupation, or lack of occupation, he still carries with him a carefree attitude that overlays a deep determination to do whatever happens to warrant his attention at the time. Despite all this, he is still a soldier. He has killed before, he expects to kill again, and he is prepared and able to do so without a moment's hesitation. He declares life valuable, but he has a different way of looking at things. He will kill when he has to, but will just as much hold his trigger finger if there is so much a doubt as to who exactly he's going to kill. He knows some of the people he kills have families, but so does he, and they would shoot him just as easily as he would shoot them. His conscience is a mix-matched sense of guilt and reasons which end up in a personality that comes across as a joker, as glue, and as a child at times.

Biography: The tactics of the Red Army leave little survivability towards those on the front lines, often tossing their men with no weapons towards hordes of soldiers, hoping to simply overwhelm them with numbers. Anton was one of those statistical miracles, surviving through the war from the start to the end, never getting higher than the rank of Kapral. (Translates to Corporal in Russian Ranking System.) While he did survive all of these battles with relatively little damage to his person, a lot of others didn't.

To see so many die around you while you are the only one left standing is something that can crack even the most hardend veteran. Normally Psych evaluations were never issued, but in Anton's case with the massacre of thousands around him, his officers wanted to make sure he wouldn't snap on the line and cause more casualities. Despite numerous psychological evaluations issued by several Russian Officers, nothing was found to indicate he was suffering from any kind of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Everytime he was sent back to the front line, and every time he came back after a massacre he underwent another one with the same results until the point where he would often start his sessions with jokes and completely bypass the entire session.


Near the end of the war, he was reassigned to a section of the military simply known as 'Jasper'. He had never heard of the military branch before, and was quickly told why. They specialized in developing experimental technology for the field in order to counter the developing nuclear power from the West and from the Fascist Reich. During his few years among them, he was introduced to Tesla technology, enhanced armoured suits that never saw the light day, and some personal human flying devices that he simply adored even though the ignition and landing could be a bit rough. He didn't normally see the battlefield after that, only participating in small covert operations with a small team using some of the technology being experimented on.

When the Soviet leadership was hit in 1945, it sent a reeling blow through the Jasper branch of the military. Suddenly all their funding was gone, all their initiative was gone, and all their will to continue was gone. Everything was destroyed in an instant, and soon the war ended, and Anton returned to his family back in the city of Magadan, near the Okhost Sea.

It was only a couple months after that, Anton having enjoyed the hospitality of his family and his fiance when some military men came knocking at his door. He recognized them as members of the Jasper military branch, and after explaining to him that they had their new funding and leadership, insisted that he rejoin the task force. Anton tried desperately to tell them that he was out of the military, that he no longer had any sort of interest in ever going into the army again. It wasn't until they threatened his family and Fiance with death before he finally rejoined them.

The initial threat of Jasper killing his family managed to keep him in the military for awhile, until he managed to sneak enough money towards them to smuggle them out of the country, and into the Western border. They would be taken in as refugees, he hoped, and would be safe from Russia's Red Army due to the fragile peace that hung over the world scale. Not soon after he got word that they had managed to get out of the country, Anton conviently went missing on a covert op somewhere in German territory, taking with him one of the experiment jump packs that Jasper had been working on for years.

The timing of everything was so picture perfect that it couldn't have happened as a natural occurance of events. Anton had gotten two letters before the raid. One being the letter notifying him of his family, and another which he had yet to open. Little did he know that the letter currently sitting in his left breast pocket would hit him harder than a bullet ever would.

Other: Anton can understand English, but his ability to speak it is limited. Often heavily accented and constantly switching between the two languages. Anton knows no other languages.

Name: Evelyn Audrey Goins
Gender: Female
Age: 24
Nationality: Egyptian
Career/Specialty: Treasure Hunter/Thief
Appearance : Evelyn stands at a measly 5’2” with a deep tan from her Egyptian heritage and years of working under the hot desert sun. Her light black hair is kept short, hanging just above her shoulders, and Evelyn rarely does anything other than straighten it when she gets the chance. Not a woman for the cooled salons and tea at noon, Evelyn prefers high-waisted grey linen pants with wide legs. The light fabric helps keep her cool in the hot desert air. She tops this with a gossamer thin grey, black striped pointelle blouse over a simple maroon silk chemise. Around her neck, she has a bright maroon silk scarf tied which can shield her nose and mouth in sand storms, cover her hair when speaking to any Muslim contacts and wipe the sweat from her eyes when crawling deep into long lost passages.

Personality: Evelyn is a rough girl, raised in a household of boys and it shows. She’s a fiery woman with a heated set of opinions that she’s willing to defend verbally and on occasion physically, especially if one damages her fragile pride. She strives to live up to the memory of her father, and dreams of one day becoming a great hunter like Giovanni Battista Belzoni, refusing to let anything stand in her way on the path to reaching her dreams. Evelyn has never really been one for maintaining close relationships, and is estranged from her only surviving family, her mother, even if she still cares for her mother greatly. At the mention of the war, Evelyn grows very quiet and distant, preferring to avoid the bitter memories of those days entirely.

Biography: Evelyn grew up in Cairo, Egypt, a colony of the British Empire. Her father was a Canadian who had come to the country with several well known researchers to study the natural wonders of Egypt, and fell in love with one of the local girls, eventually settling down to raise a family whilst continuing his studies. Eve was the last of four children, and the only daughter of the bunch. She was a daddy’s girl at heart, spending all the time she could with her father as she was growing up, following him out on digs and helping with whatever she could get her little hands on.

She learnt much from her father, about ancient kings and civilizations, and of the great men who discovered them. One above all other’s stuck with her, Giovanni Battista Belzoni, a Venetian Explorer who had discovered countless Egyptian antiquities. His exploits and adventures enthralled her, his roots as a common man with a sharp mind drove her and inspired her to achieve as he did. She spent much of her time in the markets, watching old men barter with merchants for the latest treasures from the depths of the sands(as well as countless fakes). The local merchants took a shining to the young girl, and passed along some of their secrets for the occasional errand. As she grew older, her mother expected more and more help around the house, forcing Eve to spend less and less time with her father and in the markets. She didn’t like it, but resolved that she’d simply make up the lost time once her mother allowed Evelyn to enjoy her free time again.

When the war broke out, Eve’s world shattered. Her father was captured by the German’s on a dig, and wasn’t seen nor heard from again. Her brother’s quickly enlisted to aide the British in fighting the Nazi threat, leaving Eve and her mother to wait in Cairo for their safe return. As the years of bloody conflict dragged on, Eve and her mother grew apart, the loss of her father driving a wedge between their once close bond. She found herself spending more and more time amongst the stalls of the merchants, learning the tricks and traps of their trade, even helping the odd customer find himself a true gem amongst the rubbish the others tried to pass off. Before too long though, the markets grew quieter, as the war dragged on and the market for treasures dried up in favour of industry. One day, Eve awoke to the sounds of her mother sobbing, and found the woman collapsed in their doorway, clutching a letter tight against her chest. A foolish advance had cost her brother’s their lives, and now her estranged mother was only family Eve had left.

Unable to stand living with the woman who had robbed her of the time with her father, Eve cut out on her own, taking up work with one of the local merchants to help with his business. He’d find the rumours, tips and signs, then send Eve off to collect whatever the treasure was, who’d collect a healthy commission upon her return if she was successful. Thanks to her father’s teachings and the knowledge of the merchants in her youth, she rarely returned empty handed, earning the merchant many a client and bounty for the riches she found(or swiped when their current owners happened to be distracted).

She’s been working for the merchant ever since, continuing even after the war’s end and enjoying the massive surge the treasure market has received as the many nations of the world hunt for the mysterious devices like the First Seal, although Evelyn longs to find one of the fabled devices herself one day, and earned the fame and reputation she feels she deserves. Then one day, the merchant handed her a strange letter…

Other: Evelyn wears a small amulet that has a picture of her mother in it, and always carries four old rusty coins, regardless of her attire or destination. She speaks Egyptian Arabic fluently, as well as English, and knows several bits of German and French should she need to deal with such clients, although far from having an actual conversation.

The IC is up and running!

Please forgive the rather dull first post. I promise things will get exciting as soon as intros are made all around. For everyone, your first post should get you to the same house Julien is at.

Also, regarding your letters, feel free to personalize them, just make sure to include something strong enough to motivate your character to agree to come to Paris.

Thanks for letting me join, I've been absent from FOG for a while. This is a great idea, and I'm really excited to see where it goes. My character profile and post should be up in a matter of hours, but feel free to continue in the meantime.

Name: Leandra Irena Rabenschwarz

Gender: Female

Age: 31

Nationality: German

Career/Specialty: Former Nazi intelligence worker, amateur anthropologist, Swordfighting enthusiast

Appearance:
Although Leandra is naturally blonde, she has taken to dyeing her hair black since the close of the war. She has green eyes, and by looking closely it becomes apparent that her right eye is made of glass. Disturbingly enough, her real eye contains the same vacant look, with an infrequent glimmer of life and hope. Her hair is short and usually slightly curled or permed back. She must remind herself to smile, and is otherwise blank faced and distant. Her attire generally consists of leather boots and skirts or dresses of varying colors. She occasionally wears denim that she fashioned herself. She prefers comfortable blouses or collared shirts, with an outercoat that depends on the temperature. Leandra is often found sporting a swastika or some other item that denotes her service, particularly if she is looking to avoid being harassed.

Personality: Leandra is intimidating in some capacity, even to those older and larger than her. Her eyes have a lifeless quality, and her affect is, on first inspection, flat and cold. However, this is simply the woman playing the part that she has been conditioned to play. In her pure form she is kind and bubbly, naturally possessing a curiosity that eventually becomes annoying. She once possessed an intense love of human kind that seems to have been dimmed (or extinguished) long ago. Unfortunately all of her good qualities have been wrapped up and buried deep beneath her intricate guise. She is an introvert, and has developed a stoic, distant exterior that pairs well with her involvement with Nazi affairs that she has never once supported. Although she is a Nazi, prolonged interaction with her reveals her disdain for their ideologies and facist practices. She feels deeply isolated, and has no contact with anyone she truly believes she can trust. Although she is not hostile, Leandra is ruthlessly deceptive. Her life path has made her intellect sharp, and she is capable of fabricating intricate lies within seconds.

Biography:
Leandra was born in 1915 to a wealthy German man living in the countryside, far removed from Germany’s cultural centers. As the children of a prostitute, she and her twin brother had never met their mother, but were instead raised by their father and their older half brother. Wealth ensured a quality education- from the time they were capable of babbling nonsense sentences, she and her brother learned from the finest tutors and teachers her father could afford. Although her family was quite important to her, Leandra had always been an introvert, burying her head in the stacks of tomes that populated their household, which was much too big for three children, a single man, three dogs, and the occasional whore. Originally captivated by history, Leandra soon found herself devouring every book on the culture of other European countries, Asia, and even the Americas. Unable to tolerate the incessant begging of his daughter, her father hired a plethora of teachers that imparted virtually any knowledge Leandra demanded. She took up French, Spanish, and English, and began learning the art of fencing at age twelve. Just as she was beginning to understand the intricacies of swordplay, Leandra lost her right eye sparring with her brother. To her father’s bewilderment, Leandra returned to fencing as soon as she received her glass eye. Her return was met with much difficulty, as she struggled to adapt to monocular vision, but she learned to supplement her vision with other senses. The saber, rapier, and epee were not enough- the German girl began studying Kendo. At age twenty, her father gave her two gifts, an Italian sabre and a Japanese Katana, one weapon to match her preferred schools of swordsmanship.

Because she had never been given the opportunity to leave Germany, Leandra used her knowledge of cultures, swordplay and language to sate her thirst for travel. Unfortunately, as she became more worldly, her brothers became more immersed in German culture. They had been following the rise of Hitler and his National Socialists with a rabid fervor. They admired the Chancellor, and leapt at the chance to join ranks and serve their fatherland. Their involvement and monetary support of the Nazi party eventually led to a change in Leandra’s father. Though he had once been open minded, tolerant individual, he and he sons succumbed to the spirit of the times. They began to realize that Leandra possessed none of the qualities of a good German woman. Although she was tall, with blonde hair, green eyes and fair skin, her liberal ideologies were to be abhorred. This could not be tolerated

Her family pressed her into marrying a Nazi politician and abandoning her studies and her swords. University was an unattainable dream. She lived in misery for years, struggling to stifle the contempt she felt for Germany’s newfound arrogance and disrespect for all things foreign. She did what was demanded of her by her family, her husband, and Nazi Germany. Leandra learned to play the part of an Aryan that was (besides the green eyes, one real and one glass; and the infertility) ideal. She cooked for her abusive husband, cleaned their home, and, in order to feed the maternal instinct she was expected to feel, taught the neighbor children what she knew.

After her husband's death in 1941 Leandra still felt pressed to conform to the expectations of the Germans around her. She joined the Wehrmacht as a typist, to help with a war effort that she knew was misguided. Her proficiency with foreign languages earned her a spot in the Abwehr, then the Reich Main Security Office, doing counterespionage translation and working on a team of decrypters. By the time The First Seal had enveloped Moscow in its blast, Leandra Rabenschwarz had distinguished herself as a loyal German, and a faithful supporter of the Nazi party.

The day Moscow disappeared also happened to be the day a strange letter was forwarded to her desk. As Leandra slowly proceeded to decrypt and translate the letter, she felt the heavy dread of the realization that it had been addressed to her. The sender revealed, in detail, information about her that would have resulted in her immediate execution, were the letter ever discovered. The sender? Chimera, a name often mentioned in her department. He demanded she travel to Paris at a later date, in 1946, and if she didn’t he would not hesitate to reveal her. She committed the details of the letter to memory, and just as she was about to put a flame to the parchment, she realized it had been dated six years in the future. She felt sick.

Approved! Please feel free to start posting.

WOW! That is a remarkably accurate view on the history of Germany's rise. Well done!

Thanks!

Is this still happening?

We're still here. I think we're waiting on Lyonesse. But I can certainly have Archie introduce himself around to keep things rolling

Hey there everybody. I realize I'm a little late to this party but I am far too intrigued by the set up and the opening posts not to throw a character into the fray.

Name: Hiroshi Ikoma

Gender: Male

Age: 28

Nationality: Japanese

Career/Specialty: Former field medic turned head researcher for Imperial Japanese Army‘s sinister Unit 731. Wanted War-Criminal.

Appearance: A wiry shadow of a man, Hiroshi is anything but physically imposing. Even with his rigid posture he barely breaks 5’6, and tips the scales to an unimpressive 136 pounds. Despite this, he commands an air of suffocating authority. Most tend to describe close quarters with the enigmatic Hiroshi “uncomfortable.” Only the faintest etchings of the years spent witnessing and committing atrocities have worn into the young mans face, adding to the effect of his hollow, piercing eyes. The dark orbs are draped with thick circles from lack of sleep and drift lazily about his surroundings, at odds with his smooth, calculated almost robotic movements.

Spoiler:

Personality: Always one to obsess over the slightest detail, Hiroshi wishes to excel and perfect any undertaking or skill he sets his mind to. Once locked into a task Hiroshi executes with ruthless efficiency, often forgoing food or sleep until it reaches its completion. He values two things: production and loyalty; though whether through fear or respect has little influence on its appeal. An interpreted lack of either will be met with intense disdain.

He holds himself to a strict set of self imposed honor rules though the exact implications of these is unknown to anyone but himself. This self-dictated honor system has occasionally puts him at odds with those in positions of authority; however, this isn’t to say he’s outspoken by any means. Hiroshi tends to harbor his true feelings, only letting them surface in subtle passive aggressive behavior as tension builds. Still, he values a “greater good” over self-interest, and will remain stoic and silent if it feels it furthers group cohesion.

Biography: One might perhaps consider it ironic that Hiroshi Ikoma was born on April 6th, 1917: the day the U.S. declared war on Germany in WWI. Though lucky enough to be born into one of the more wealthy families in Tokyo, competition in high society remained fierce.

His father, a crooked banker of some renown was much more interested in whores and gambling away his money than appearing any kind of role model for Hiroshi. Not as though it would have mattered, Hiroshi was given little choice in his life path. Raised from day one to go into medicine, a skill that he had undeniable talent for, yet resented all the same. Still, Hiroshi was a natural learner, and his fathers money allowed the young boy to soak up as much knowledge as possible, learning several languages to go with his uncanny healing ability.

Growing tensions between Japan and China would cause great change in Hiroshi’s life. The 17 year old jumped at the chance to throw his father a curve ball. Signing up for basic duty and being thrust into the position of field medic due to his history. The move would effectively exile Hiroshi from his families wealth and reduce him to the role of commoner.

Unfortunately for Hiroshi, he still carried his fathers name, a name synonymous with making money off the backs of the lower class. He quickly found himself the target of other recruits aggression and his commanding officers were all too happy to look the other way when not adding in punishment of their own. The abuse would be the opening salvo to Hiroshi’s transformation into the man he is today.

Years of violence and death blended into one another, and the entire world was slowly dragged into the escalating war, Hiroshi found himself in the boggy jungles of southeast Asia. In the earliest years of the war he developed a reputation, not only as a proven healer, but as a brilliant mind and tactician. During an American night raid on an island in the Philippines, Hiroshi was captured; during the ensuing escape the clever doctor managed to cut power to the land strip, forcing the stranded pilots to circle in the darkness until they ran out of fuel. It was a decisive victory for the Japanese, touted as proof not only that they would ultimately win the war, but as reason for Hiroshi’s immediate promotion to Japan’s secret weapon: Unit 731.

To outsiders Unit 731 seemed little more than a sadistic hit squad, sent to test weapons, biological and otherwise on living human beings for “research.” Their tactics were many and varied, ranging from experimental vivisection to disease research to simple firing ranges with live targets. However, those closest to the project know Unit 731 was Japan’s answer for the growing rumors of occult objects, mysterious super weapons and even cryptozoology being funded and sought out by other countries.

Not wishing to be caught unaware, it was Unit 731’s job to track down those suspected of having information and “extract” it by any means necessary. Truth be told, they found very little success, regardless of tactics. Hiroshi, though bound by national pride to silence, found the entire project moderately revolting, though ultimately it was his own morbid fascination that won out.

Hiroshi was lucky enough to be exploring rumors in the Gobi Desert when the bombs were dropped. In fact by the time news of the detonations reached his small exploration party, Japan had already surrendered. Knowing better than to attempt to return to Japan, Hiroshi went into hiding, traveling to rural India to hide from would be captors.

Having comfortably settled into his new surroundings and reaching a mutually beneficial arrangement with the locals in exchange for medical care, Hiroshi’s life has been all quiet in the last few months. That was until a mysterious letter would come to find him even in this remote farming region, a letter whose implications would reach their bony fingers inside and rattle him to his core.


Other: Hiroshi can speak Japanese, English, Italian and enough German to make due. Yet, with very little real world application and practice, he still thinks in his mother tongue meaning things are occasionally lost in translation.