Difference between revisions of "Schwarzpunkt (Guardian)"

Latest revision as of 02:29, 3 March 2012

Schwarzpunkt, as a trading card.

Background

Joseph Herzmann was no brilliant inventor, he was no super-powered alien, nor was he gifted with abilities by some twist of genetic fate or horrific scientific accident. He was a man. Nothing more, and not one thing less. However, what he did have was a head for finance. Joseph spent many years in his native Austria working in the banking industry. And, he was quite good at it, from lowly teller to bank manager to head of an entire chain, Joseph really thought he was going places. Until, of course, it was found that he had been stealing money from the banks at which he worked for years! The scandal that erupted even made those who had followed his successful career in gymnastics years ago look at him sternly. He had lost, pretty much everything... except, of course, for the money (which he had carefully stashed away in nearly untraceable accounts overseas).

Not only had Joseph been pilfering money for quite some time, but he had also acquired some contacts in the Rogue Isles outside of the United States. Contacts who were more than willing to toss some legal muscle his way. And when the skilled attorneys were done, Joseph had been all but acquitted. He served some token time behind bars, but was released sooner than he would have thought possible.

Once his sentence was served, he left his native Austria and moved full-time to living in the Rogue Isles with a brand new identity: Jakob Mueller. He didn't waste much time once he had moved, and immediately saw to the project of getting his money out of hiding. As Mueller, he put his money to use in pursuit of establishing a "legitimate" business. Mueller Incorporated opened its doors for business one year to the day after his release from the hoosegow. Mueller Inc. was meant to be a corporation whose chief aim was in the acquisition and development of knowledge and scientific progress. To that end, a large number of prominent scientists (some madder than others), inventors, doctors, and thinkers were put on the payroll. Jakob used his monetary holdings and the name of his now somewhat famous company to acquire other properties in the Isles that Crey hadn't already bought up. Thus making him the holder of several multimillion dollar companies.

It wasn't until he found a few choice gadgets within his own company that he moved from white-collar criminal to full on villain, though.

The Gear

The Sciences Division is a rather uncreative name for the division in which all of the thinking and postulating of other arms of Mueller Inc. get tested and put into practice, but it was a very important entity. And it is from this division that Jakob acquired the gear that would make him able to move from daytime CEO and businessman to nighttime assassin and thief for hire.

• Black-Point Gloves: These "gauntlets" absorb ambient light energy and use it to increase the density of the gloves themselves. This turns a rather ordinary punch from an ex-banker into a devastating blow. Not only that, but it does so with a great deal of presence as well... for you see when the B-P Gloves are in action, the area immediately around the user's fists becomes jet black and emits tendrils that seem to steal light itself from the area. It can be quite intimidating.

• Displacement Mask: This device allows the wearer to become practically invisible by bending light from behind the user to appear as though it is being emitted from the front of the user... rendering the man in between virtually transparent. The problem is, that because this item also relies on light, it is disrupted if the practitioner also switches on the B-P Gloves at the same time.

The Name

Jakob had operated as a nameless villain for some time within the Isles using the technology he "acquired." Finally, it became clear that in order to make a name for oneself, you first had to have a name! And Jakob Mueller was just not intimidating enough to do the job... nor did he want everyone and his uncle to be able to associate these new more viscious crimes with those back in Austria he had committed. And though it wouldn't have made much difference in the Isles that he had a sordid past, he felt sentimental that he should only bear one black mark on any identity tied to him directly. He needed something that existed beyond himself.

And so it was that he simply translated the codename of the gloves he had been using in his crimes that had become his one and only signature into German. Schwarzpunkt was born!

Metagame Information

— This section pertains to out-of-game information and is included for the benefit of the reader, or to include other OOC information.

Schwarzy was my second villain ever created. He was intended to be a sort of evil Batman with a touch of Ozymandias. In a way, I think that is about what I came up with in time. But, what this character really did, more than anything else, was bring me to legitimately enjoy Stalkers and the Rogue Isles. It was this character duoed with a Stone Brute on my significant other's account that was my first villain to 50. Originally, he only existed to unlock VEATs, but it didn't take long for him to become my villain badger... until Going Rogue came out, and the need for having two badging characters fell by the wayside.

Now, he is my second favorite Stalker, and one of my go-to characters whenever I want to make and/or test an AE arc.

Badges

All this character's badges are listed here on City Info Tracker.