REINER - DORNKIRK
Details
Full Name: Reiner Gerhard Strauß Dornkirk
Race: Human
Sex: Male
Age: 22
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 155lbs
Birthdate: 29th of Hunter's Bounty, 100 Steel
Birthplace: East End, Zaichaer
Profession: Infantryman
Housing: ZDC Barracks
Partners: N/A
Titles: Private First Class
Factions: Zaichaer Defence Corps
Fluencies: Kathalan, Common
Conversationals: Vallenor
Ineptitudes: None
Appearance Reiner is a slender young man of average height with fair skin, dark hair and hazel eyes.
Personality Reiner grew up poor with a chip on his shoulder. He idolized his estranged uncle, Melchior Dornkirk, who had risen the ranks of Zaichaeri society and built a life outside of the Grungeworks. Blaming his parents for being cut-off from the more successful branch of the family, Reiner felt he had a lot to prove to get back into their good graces. He is a Zaichaeri zealot and he broadcasts his patriotism as loudly and as often as possible. Despite his indigent upbringing, he is proud of where he came from and believes that he can work hard, pull himself up by his jackboot straps and rise just like his storied uncle and his two sons.
History
Reiner Gerhard Strauß was born to Greta Dornkirk and Volker Strauß one stormy evening in their tenement home with the aid of a midwife. He grew up in the slums of the East End in the same house where his mother and Uncle Melchior were raised. The Dornkirk siblings had been estranged for years, since Melchior disapproved of her decision to marry into so humble a family, when he was trying to arrange a loftier match for her. As he ascended in society, he cut her off completely.
Both of Reiner’s parents worked at factories in the Grungeworks, and led quiet, simple lives. Unambitious people, they were content with their simple lot and Greta was happy to let the more successful Dornkirks bask in the glory of the Windworks, while her family made no effort to exploit her maiden name. Reiner was different.
As he was growing up, his mother’s family name was being heard more and more around the city as the Dornkirk Windworks expanded and took on more storied contracts with the government. He peppered his parents with questions about his famous uncle, and begged to be introduced. It was to no avail. When he was old enough, he began writing letters to Melchior Dornkirk and later to his cousins as he became aware of Stefan and Brenner's existence. The letters were never returned. He wasn't even sure they made it to Dornkirk Manor, but that didn't stop him from writing.
Reiner applied to the Zaichaeri Battle Academy to train as an officer, but his score wasn't high enough to earn a scholarship and his family didn't have the money to pay for that schooling, so he was sent to trade school. During this period of his adolescence, to his parents’ chagrin, Reiner started to go by his mother’s maiden name, renouncing his inherited name of Strauß. In his mind it was a tribute to the side of the family he lionized, but it was also a name that bore weight in the city. It might have benefited him a great deal more if old Melchior ever acknowledged him.
Upon graduating from school, Reiner defied his parents’ wishes and enlisted in the ZDC rather than work in the factories. Although he sought to pursue a career in the Engineering Corps, he was assigned to the regular infantry, where he served capably for four years, slowly rising the ranks as his venerated cousins grew increasingly powerful and prominent. He was so proud to be related to the founder of the Windworks, and the Chief Science Officer and First Minister of Zaichaer. He knew that the coming war with Kalzasi would grant him the opportunity to make a name for himself that distinguished him from his parents in the eyes of his other relatives. He would make himself known through valour, and meet his heroes on those terms. Or so he thought. But then came the Mists.
Reiner had been deployed along the Northern border, preparing for the invasion of Kalzasi, so he wasn’t in the city when the Mists came. On that dreadful day, he lost both of his parents, as well as an uncle and cousin he idolised and would now never meet. Like much of Zaichaer, Reiner was suddenly forced to reevaluate his priorities and figure out what to do in a post-apocalyptic city-state.
