Austrian Eagle
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History
Lutwig Frantzel was the son of a great family in his native Austria. His father was a respected artist and painter, and his mother was the heir to a long line of female seers, a well loved structure in his hometown. Lutwig was content to live a life of fortune and happiness, focusing only on his passion of skiing and other winter sports, without a care in the world. Of course, no matter how wealthy his family was, no male was above Austria's law of conscription, and unlike many families, his father did not want to buy his son a cushy desk job. You see, while he himself was an artist, his own father, and father's father, and many other men in his family, were all decorated soldiers and war heroes, even he himself had an exemplary service before finding his love of art.
At first, Lutwig balked this, fearing danger and loss of life on the fields, but did not want to shame his father by trying to get out of it. He was a common soldier for his term, doing routine patrols in areas of the nation supposedly harboring rebel elements. It was during a patrol that his squad was attacked, and in this attack something manifested deep inside him. His mother's mental powers were potent, but they were all in the realms of 'seers', seeing the future and past to guide others. Lutwig, though, had a different set of powers inside him. In one strong blast of seemingly pure energy Lutwig sent many of the attackers into a deep sleep, as well as himself.
He woke up a week later, in a military hospital, along with many other members of his squad. Even after his attack, the battle kept going around him, many of his friends were wounded for their nation, but the attackers were beaten back. It was then he realized that he was wasting his resources and gifts, while many less fortunate around him were willing to give their all for their home. When he was released and his term was up he vowed to do more to help others, in an attempt to redeem for his past life of sloth and apathy. He trained his abilities, focusing his once uncontrolled and strange powers into finely honed skills, able to manifest as a powerful blade of psychic energy, or able to strike directly into the minds of others. He made a costume and begun fighting crime in his home, and soon was hailed as a national hero, a symbol a normally forgotten or scorned nation needed on the world stage. He is still the same personality, of course, he loves the fame and the chance to try new stunts in his job, but he has grown from a selfish child to a hero in his own right, and when the invasion of Millennium City was seen as looming by his mother, he saw it as a chance to represent his people in a grander stage.
Personality
He is young still, and quite cocky in his abilities, but he would never put others in danger just to prove how good he was...himself in danger? Yea he'd do that a lot. He's loyal and brave to a fault, taking his nation's proud history of great warriors to heart, often taking risks for people he knows very little, against foes that are most likely stronger our outnumbering him, for no reason other then he gave his word.
He loves to joke, and is often the first one to make fun of a foe or to point out a weakness in them, despite being pleasing to the people watching him, it is actually a good tactic to throw off villains. Under it all, though, he has a deep spiritual side, raised Hindu by his Roma mother, he uses meditation and yoga to focus his mental powers when out of combat. He takes this very seriously, often isolating himself totally to pray or meditate in order to avoid any distraction. He sees his mental powers as a tool to reach enlightenment and to reach out to the divine. He, despite his holy side, is a bit of a party animal, enjoying any excuse he can get to celebrate with friends. When not fighting or in meditation he can be found at a club or a bar buying drinks for everyone.
Powers/Abilities
He calls himself an 'offensive mentalist', focusing more on attack then defense or control aspects. at the core though, all his powers are aspects of the psychic. His most common form of manifestation is in the form of a powerful blade of mental energy, and at times when 'his inner eye opens', his free hand manifests a second, smaller, blade used for vicious sudden attacks.
He is primarily a melee fighter, but he has a couple of ranged tricks, including the ability to trap a foe in their own minds with a cocoon of potent mental energy, this ability has left more then a few people permanently scarred by their experiences.
It is important to note, with these powers he has the ability to 'sever the soul' (as he calls, killing with mentalist abilities), but this can only be done consciously, and he has never made that choice. Instead he sticks to incapacitating foes long enough for the authorities to show up, leaving them in a form of a 'mini-coma' at that time.
Appearance
He is tall and muscular, clearly even during his youth of sloth and apathy he was interested in keeping fit. Even when out of uniform he loves the color red, often wearing at least one major red feature of clothing on his person, most normally a long red trench coat when he can. Very fashion conscious, he always makes sure to dress properly for the occasion, be it a formal black tie function or just going clubbing with friends, his clothes are always in style and of the best quality. Likewise, he keeps his hair and skin in as good condition as he can, styling himself as best he can for social functions. Though, it can be hard to maintain a good hair look while being shot at, though a nice quantity of gels and sprays helps!
Family Rumors
Recently, at a press conference, a reporter raised rather troubling rumors about his father's activities in the Austrian/German villain group known as The New Thule. He denied the rumors of course, but the facts cannot be changed.
During the great war his grand father, Martin Frantzel, was a high ranking member in the shadowy Thule Society, and said to have been a legendary sorcerer. When the war ended, Thule was said to have been dissolved, but in the mid 90's a group calling themselves The New Thule popped up, spouting the same legends and myths that their predecessors said. Many of Martin's friends had descendants in that group, and it is a fact of record that they attempted to recruit Joseph to their ranks due to the fact it was said he possessed many skills his father did.
When Martin died, he requested to be entombed with his mystic artifacts and tools, and despite the shame he brought to them, his family accepted this desire. In 1999, in December when many groups such as New Thule were preaching doom, Martin's tomb was desecrated and looted, including his bones. The family attributed it to vandals or people who took the doomsaying to heart, but Joseph was absent from his traditional new years eve party, and didn't reappear until the third day of January. He claims he was at a very extensive party in the countryside, and his family supported it, but when asked none of his normal associates could back it up.
While there is no hard proof of it, the rumors are strong that Joseph has taken his father's place as a key member of The New Thule, and until this rumor can be put to rest it will only grow stronger as the group begins to get bolder in their actions.
