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Information
Name/Nickname: Adel von NN (last name never given, starts with "von"); Herr Adel; Herr Herzog; Ratdog; Rattenhund; Der Stille Tod (the Silent Death) (NOTE, he uses the alias Ratdog/Rattenhund only in his military service during the war; before and after the war, he goes by the name Adel)
Gender: Cisgender male
Birthdate/Age/Sign: NA; thirties/forties; Sagittarius
Orientation: Biromantic bisexual
Relationship Status: Single/casually involved/involved (various; Unnamed Woman; Godfrey Klemper; Didrika)
Race/Ethnicity/Nationality: Caucasian; Germanic descent; German
Class: Junker (nobility)
Religion: Atheist
Profession: Hereditary duke and landowner; honorary lieutenant in the Wehrmacht (Heer); sniper for General Schavitz; resistance collaborator
Birthplace/Residence: Eastern Germany/WWII Germany/East Germany
Personality/Characteristics
[Coming soon.]
Appearance
Ratdog is of average height; with a fit/athletic body type; has light blue eyes; and has warm/dirty gray fur.
Ratdog has a nicked left ear. He wears traditional Wehrmacht (Heer) fatigues and field cap, though he occasionally dresses more formally or wears a Stahlhelm. He isn't a member of the Nazi Party, so he doesn't wear their insignia. He frequently carries a rifle. He tends to keep quiet and blend in, and doesn't smile often.
Family & Relationships
Godfrey Klemper (Lover/Bodyguard/Spotter)
Wehrmacht child soldier who is assigned as Ratdog's bodyguard as punishment for an illegal relationship with partisan Elias Baswitz; he initially despises Ratdog for so easily obtaining a military rank, as well as for his frequent drinking and promiscuity. Klemper's rejection of him spurs him to start cleaning up his act to win him over, though he then has to deal with Klemper's volatile moodswings and lack of trust. Their relationship is very rocky but devoted, and they become inseparable.
Unnamed Woman (One-Night Stand)
Mother of Adel's toddler son, Hans von NN; it's a one-time, drunken encounter and they don't know anything about each other. She abandons the newborn at Adel's home (it's uncertain how she acquired his location) for unknown reasons, leaving Adel to raise him alone. All that's known about her is that Hans has the same color eyes that she does.
Hans von NN (Son) (Deceased)
Adel's toddler son, named for Adel's grandfather (Johannes von NN); the product of a one-night stand, his mother abandons him for Adel to care for. Despite having no idea how to raise a child, Adel loves him dearly, and is devastated when he's run down by a speeding motorcycle. Mistakenly believing the Trench Rats are responsible, he starts targeting them under the alias Ratdog.
Didrika (Enemy/Ally/Partner)
Partisan leader; she's one of Ratdog's primary enemies and rivals throughout the war, the two often clashing with each other. They develop a grudging respect for each other's skills, and several times Ratdog and Klemper send escaped victims of the Nazis her way for safety. The two of them meet again after the war and although they never marry, they do start a family.
Edelgard von NN (Sister) (Deceased)
Adel's older sister, a dutchess (Adel is a hereditary duke). She suffers from obvious mental illness, likely a result of generations of inbreeding, as the von NNs, including Adel's and Edelgard's parents, seem to engage in the practice of brothers pairing with sisters. (The implication is young Adel and Edelgard are intended to continue this tradition, though they never do.) She murders their parents but lets Adel go, then disappears into a snowstorm; her fate is unknown, but she's presumably deceased.
Adalbert von NN (Father/Uncle) (Deceased)
[Coming soon.]
Adelheid von NN (Mother/Aunt) (Deceased)
[Coming soon.]
Johannes von NN (Grandfather/Granduncle) (Deceased)
[Coming soon.]
Herzogin von NN (Grandmother/Grandaunt) (Deceased)
[Coming soon.]
Godfrey von Adel (Son)
Didrika's and Adel's firstborn child and son. He's named after Adel's deceased lover, Godfrey Klemper.
Tatiana von Adel (Daughter)
Didrika's and Adel's secondborn child and daughter. She's named after the deceased Boris's sister Tatiana. She names her own son after her deceased half-brother, Hans von NN.
Hans von Adel (Grandson)
Adel's grandson through his daughter Tatiana; similar to Adel's deceased son Hans (for whom Tatiana's son is named), he's the product of a one-night stand, and Tatiana raises him as a single mother. Adel meets his grandson only once, following his birth; although he gives his blessing for Hans to be named after his son, his grief overwhelms him and he takes his own life shortly afterward. Tatiana had intended to ask him to be Hans's godfather; this honor goes to Otto Himmel instead.
History
[Coming soon.]
Adel In Heaven
[Coming soon.]
Trivia
*Several members of Adel's family bear names related to the German term for the noble class (Deutscher Adel); among them are Adel himself, Edelgard, Adalbert, and Adelheid. (Other characters in the story with related names are Adelina von Dobermann and Adalard von Staden.)
*Adel/Ratdog is the (former) noble of highest status in the story, being a Herzog (duke) whose ancestry goes back at least five hundred years. His family castle is still standing, albeit abandoned and dilapidated; the vast farmlands around it are largely overgrown by the time of the main story. Ironically, there's a high likelihood that Godfrey Klemper's equally extensive family line of peasant farmers long ago worked the von NN farmlands.
*[Coming soon.]
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