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Description

IMPORTANT NOTE: This artist does not support, condone, or promote icons of fascism. Such details are included only for historical reasons and have little or zero bearing on a character's background.

“You say you have the strength to come against me? I could laugh, but in Germany it is frowned upon for military men to even smile.”

Few names inspire such boot-shaking dread or heart-swelling pride as the fearless, charismatic leader of the German Navy’s “Iron Fleet”, Grand Admiral Arthur Bismarck.

Name: Arthur Wilhelm Bismarck von Munich
DOB: June 4, 1919

Height: 6'5"
Weight: 210lb
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue

Branch of Service: Kriegsmarine
Rank: Grand Admiral
Command: Schlachtschiff Bismarck

Personality: Arthur is a man of reason, though his desire for perfection can lead him to overbear on his subordinates. His short temper also means it takes little taunting to set him off. His skills in tactics and observing the battlefield play a critical role in turning the table to his favor, and his attack strategy quickly exploits any weak spots his opponent may develop. He also enjoys tinkering, and has recently created a sentient mechanical wolf named “Alfred” to help him in his workshop and around his home. In short, Arthur is a quick-witted but short-tempered commander whose actions and achievements have garnered respect across the world. Deutschland über alles. Heil Bismarck und der Kriegsmarine.

Bio: Arthur William Bismarck von Munich was born at the fall of his grandfather Otto’s Second Reich, to a wealthy family deep-rooted in traditions of warfare. Upbringing included studies of the Chinese warlord Sun Tzu’s treatises and their applications to the then-present day, and sparring in line with the training of Europe’s great masters. At twelve Arthur’s outdoor life included horseback riding, marksmanship and a new doctrine of “blitzkrieg”, or “lightning war” - this often meant rushing a line of static targets in the dark and killing as many as possible within sixty seconds.
In 1937 the infamous Adolf Hitler rose to dictatorial power and established the Third “Thousand-Year” Reich. This same year Arthur - now aged 18 - enlisted into the navy, and trained extensively to rise like his forebears.
Induction to the Kriegsmarine’s ranks included a pre-training fight against each of the “Ozean Übermensch”, the strongest and most capable men in the service. Most of the men ahead of Arthur in the line fell after a number of blows, giving the nobleborn a chance to study each fighter’s tactics. By the time his turn came, Arthur put this study to the test.
His fighting style was quick, precise and ruthless, and he countered each opponent blow for blow. Arthur won three introductory fights by knockout, four were drawn out to a stalemate, and he was knocked out only once. From here Arthur earned his reputation as a cunning fighter and the moniker “Eiserner Seemann”.
Admiral Otto Ernst Lindemann made a visit to Arthur’s training academy in Hamburg on April 4, 1938, and he summoned the student to visit Berlin - and to meet the Führer.

The next two years were the most strenuous of Arthur’s life. The strict and demanding regimen proved almost too much for his body to handle, but something inside him refused to quit - either his dedication to Germany’s pride or a desire to impress his family, or his stubbornness in the face of adversity. Whatever the reason, Arthur pulled through and was soon given the reward to his efforts. Plans for a new battleship, bigger and more powerful than any that had come before, were finalized in the workshops of Kiel.
The specifics of the training Arthur took are currently classified, but they showed several researchers and scientists valuable data of Arthur’s resilience, strength, intellect, and agility. He didn’t know it himself, but Arthur was Germany’s best candidate yet for their prototype kansen. With this new weapon they could strike Britain’s convoys and starve the islands to submission with only a handful of men. As opposed to training hundreds of thousands to fight aboard giant ships, these “shiffemensch” could carry on their backs the equivalent firepower of a battleship or aircraft carrier and still fight as effectively as ground soldiers. The concept was proven with ships such as Italy’s “Vittorio Veneto” class and America’s “Nevada” class battleships. Germany’s own Z-class destroyers were proof this concept worked.
Arthur was hooked up to various monitors before being presented with a glowing blue cube. As instructed by the men in charge of the experiment, Arthur picked it up. Memories of his life’s training flooded through his mind, and various scenes of warfare flashed across his eyes. Electricity surged through his unflinching body until the cube stopped glowing and crumbled to dust. He was now an empty vessel, ready for his rigging.
On August 24, 1940, it was presented to him: the largest battleship ever built, the pride of Germany. And it bore his grandfather’s name.
Fitted in admiral’s full dress, Arthur approached the massive rig and ran his hand along the steel-plated hull. Something took the shape of the ship’s tail on his back, and four great metal arms sprouted from it to carry his main battery. A staff shaped after the mast took form in his hand, and flew the blood-crimson Kriegsmarine ensign.

Arthur was ready for service. Under escort of Prinz Eugen von Ritter, the Großadmiral departed. His first mission was part of Operation Rheinübung (Rhine exercise), and would consist of sinking a loaded convoy bound for Britain. Battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were also slated for the exercise, but due to mechanical issues neither was sent out.
On May 19, 1941, Arthur and Prinz Eugen set out of Gotenhafen for the Danish straits, and then the North Sea.
Between May 20-22, Arthur and Eugen sailed north through the Arctic for the Denmark Strait. Unbeknownst to them, however, the Royal Navy had them in their sights. Leading the charge was the mighty battlecruiser Hood, command of Grey Lady Heather Canterbury; and her escorting battleship commander Amelia Tudor, aboard the Prince of Wales.
On May 24 the two forces met and engaged combat. Hood fired first at the Prinz Eugen, mistaking the heavy cruiser for Bismarck. Eugen returned fire, and Wales entered the fight soon after. As shells came down on Bismarck’s hull, the titan finally turned his guns to bear and opened fire. After his fifth salvo, Arthur scored a hit on Heather. A huge mushroom cloud erupted from Hood’s amidships and the hull tore itself in half from the blast. Her foremost gun fired one last defiant shot before it slipped beneath the waves, taking all but four of the 1,419 souls onboard: Signalman Ted Briggs; Able Seaman Robert Tillburn; Midshipman William Dundas; and Commander Heather Canterbury.

Arthur left the battle relatively unharmed, though a shell from Prince of Wales tore through one of his fuel tanks, and sent an ugly black slick leaking out into the ocean. Arthur equipped his rigging and made a dash for Nazi-occupied Brest, France, evading the aircraft of British carrier Ark Royal as well as the radar of cruisers Norfolk and Suffolk. The rest of the British Home Fleet was called out too, led by then-current monarch Alice Tudor in command of battleship King George V.
Arthur had almost made it to Brest when the BHF engaged him on May 27. Ark Royal sent off a torpedo squadron and disabled his steering, destroying the starboard rudder and jamming the port one at a 27° port turn. This sent Arthur into a giant circle, but he didn’t let it stop him from firing every shell he could to turn victory in his favor. But as the battleships Nelson, Rodney, Duke of York and KGV closed in, he disarmed his rigging and ordered the ship scuttled. He was taken prisoner by the Royal Navy, along with those who survived his sinking, and he returned under light escort to his childhood home after war’s end.

While he hadn’t achieved the overwhelming success his superiors envisioned, Arthur’s efforts weren’t in vain. He proved that with the wisdom cube an army of men could travel and fight at sea just as they do on land. His final days of combat left nothing to desire but an encore performance, however the chance to give one never came. When Bismarck was sunk, the German high command found it difficult to balance the loss with those they were suffering in the east. As the Russian Front began to collapse, so too did the Schiffemensch.

Description

IMPORTANT NOTE: This artist does not support, condone, or promote icons of fascism. Such details are included only for historical reasons and have little or zero bearing on a character's background.

“You say you have the strength to come against me? I could laugh, but in Germany it is frowned upon for military men to even smile.”

Few names inspire such boot-shaking dread or heart-swelling pride as the fearless, charismatic leader of the German Navy’s “Iron Fleet”, Grand Admiral Arthur Bismarck.

Name: Arthur Wilhelm Bismarck von Munich
DOB: June 4, 1919

Height: 6'5"
Weight: 210lb
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue

Branch of Service: Kriegsmarine
Rank: Grand Admiral
Command: Schlachtschiff Bismarck

Personality: Arthur is a man of reason, though his desire for perfection can lead him to overbear on his subordinates. His short temper also means it takes little taunting to set him off. His skills in tactics and observing the battlefield play a critical role in turning the table to his favor, and his attack strategy quickly exploits any weak spots his opponent may develop. He also enjoys tinkering, and has recently created a sentient mechanical wolf named “Alfred” to help him in his workshop and around his home. In short, Arthur is a quick-witted but short-tempered commander whose actions and achievements have garnered respect across the world. Deutschland über alles. Heil Bismarck und der Kriegsmarine.

Bio: Arthur William Bismarck von Munich was born at the fall of his grandfather Otto’s Second Reich, to a wealthy family deep-rooted in traditions of warfare. Upbringing included studies of the Chinese warlord Sun Tzu’s treatises and their applications to the then-present day, and sparring in line with the training of Europe’s great masters. At twelve Arthur’s outdoor life included horseback riding, marksmanship and a new doctrine of “blitzkrieg”, or “lightning war” - this often meant rushing a line of static targets in the dark and killing as many as possible within sixty seconds.
In 1937 the infamous Adolf Hitler rose to dictatorial power and established the Third “Thousand-Year” Reich. This same year Arthur - now aged 18 - enlisted into the navy, and trained extensively to rise like his forebears.
Induction to the Kriegsmarine’s ranks included a pre-training fight against each of the “Ozean Übermensch”, the strongest and most capable men in the service. Most of the men ahead of Arthur in the line fell after a number of blows, giving the nobleborn a chance to study each fighter’s tactics. By the time his turn came, Arthur put this study to the test.
His fighting style was quick, precise and ruthless, and he countered each opponent blow for blow. Arthur won three introductory fights by knockout, four were drawn out to a stalemate, and he was knocked out only once. From here Arthur earned his reputation as a cunning fighter and the moniker “Eiserner Seemann”.
Admiral Otto Ernst Lindemann made a visit to Arthur’s training academy in Hamburg on April 4, 1938, and he summoned the student to visit Berlin - and to meet the Führer.

The next two years were the most strenuous of Arthur’s life. The strict and demanding regimen proved almost too much for his body to handle, but something inside him refused to quit - either his dedication to Germany’s pride or a desire to impress his family, or his stubbornness in the face of adversity. Whatever the reason, Arthur pulled through and was soon given the reward to his efforts. Plans for a new battleship, bigger and more powerful than any that had come before, were finalized in the workshops of Kiel.
The specifics of the training Arthur took are currently classified, but they showed several researchers and scientists valuable data of Arthur’s resilience, strength, intellect, and agility. He didn’t know it himself, but Arthur was Germany’s best candidate yet for their prototype kansen. With this new weapon they could strike Britain’s convoys and starve the islands to submission with only a handful of men. As opposed to training hundreds of thousands to fight aboard giant ships, these “shiffemensch” could carry on their backs the equivalent firepower of a battleship or aircraft carrier and still fight as effectively as ground soldiers. The concept was proven with ships such as Italy’s “Vittorio Veneto” class and America’s “Nevada” class battleships. Germany’s own Z-class destroyers were proof this concept worked.
Arthur was hooked up to various monitors before being presented with a glowing blue cube. As instructed by the men in charge of the experiment, Arthur picked it up. Memories of his life’s training flooded through his mind, and various scenes of warfare flashed across his eyes. Electricity surged through his unflinching body until the cube stopped glowing and crumbled to dust. He was now an empty vessel, ready for his rigging.
On August 24, 1940, it was presented to him: the largest battleship ever built, the pride of Germany. And it bore his grandfather’s name.
Fitted in admiral’s full dress, Arthur approached the massive rig and ran his hand along the steel-plated hull. Something took the shape of the ship’s tail on his back, and four great metal arms sprouted from it to carry his main battery. A staff shaped after the mast took form in his hand, and flew the blood-crimson Kriegsmarine ensign.

Arthur was ready for service. Under escort of Prinz Eugen von Ritter, the Großadmiral departed. His first mission was part of Operation Rheinübung (Rhine exercise), and would consist of sinking a loaded convoy bound for Britain. Battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were also slated for the exercise, but due to mechanical issues neither was sent out.
On May 19, 1941, Arthur and Prinz Eugen set out of Gotenhafen for the Danish straits, and then the North Sea.
Between May 20-22, Arthur and Eugen sailed north through the Arctic for the Denmark Strait. Unbeknownst to them, however, the Royal Navy had them in their sights. Leading the charge was the mighty battlecruiser Hood, command of Grey Lady Heather Canterbury; and her escorting battleship commander Amelia Tudor, aboard the Prince of Wales.
On May 24 the two forces met and engaged combat. Hood fired first at the Prinz Eugen, mistaking the heavy cruiser for Bismarck. Eugen returned fire, and Wales entered the fight soon after. As shells came down on Bismarck’s hull, the titan finally turned his guns to bear and opened fire. After his fifth salvo, Arthur scored a hit on Heather. A huge mushroom cloud erupted from Hood’s amidships and the hull tore itself in half from the blast. Her foremost gun fired one last defiant shot before it slipped beneath the waves, taking all but four of the 1,419 souls onboard: Signalman Ted Briggs; Able Seaman Robert Tillburn; Midshipman William Dundas; and Commander Heather Canterbury.

Arthur left the battle relatively unharmed, though a shell from Prince of Wales tore through one of his fuel tanks, and sent an ugly black slick leaking out into the ocean. Arthur equipped his rigging and made a dash for Nazi-occupied Brest, France, evading the aircraft of British carrier Ark Royal as well as the radar of cruisers Norfolk and Suffolk. The rest of the British Home Fleet was called out too, led by then-current monarch Alice Tudor in command of battleship King George V.
Arthur had almost made it to Brest when the BHF engaged him on May 27. Ark Royal sent off a torpedo squadron and disabled his steering, destroying the starboard rudder and jamming the port one at a 27° port turn. This sent Arthur into a giant circle, but he didn’t let it stop him from firing every shell he could to turn victory in his favor. But as the battleships Nelson, Rodney, Duke of York and KGV closed in, he disarmed his rigging and ordered the ship scuttled. He was taken prisoner by the Royal Navy, along with those who survived his sinking, and he returned under light escort to his childhood home after war’s end.

While he hadn’t achieved the overwhelming success his superiors envisioned, Arthur’s efforts weren’t in vain. He proved that with the wisdom cube an army of men could travel and fight at sea just as they do on land. His final days of combat left nothing to desire but an encore performance, however the chance to give one never came. When Bismarck was sunk, the German high command found it difficult to balance the loss with those they were suffering in the east. As the Russian Front began to collapse, so too did the Schiffemensch.