# Dogs of War: Character Concepts

## Murat Özel

From a very young age, Murat Özel (moo-Raht Oer-zil) was fascinated by fire, which was a constant source of trouble for him. As a child, his curiosity sparked numerous house fires, severely damaging the family's kitchen in one case and consuming the entire house in another. His mother died delivering Murat, and while his father was affectionate, the demands of providing for the small family left little time for leisure or sentiment.

As a teenager, Murat worked as an apprentice (and later journeyman) foreman at an explosives manufacturer in Ankara. The plant had produced explosives for the Ottoman Empire during the great war, but since Turkey had thus far remained neutral in the escalating European conflicts, the work had become slow and unprofitable. Although the job barely put food on the table, Murat wouldn't have traded the job for anything—it gave him unlimited access to the forge's fires and the chemical accelerants that powered the explosives produced by the plant. He would frequently bring trace excess materials home to fashion his own custom explosives—he never had nefarious intent, yet he frequently got himself in trouble at home and elsewhere with his tinkering.

One fateful day at the factory, Murat slipped and fell into a vat of a fluid explosive reagent. The fluid was shallow and did little to break his fall, and thus he was knocked unconcious when his head struck. Fortunately, his mouth and nose remained uncovered, and he survived several hours half submerged before he regained consciousness. Murat nearly died from chemical poisoning, and his eyes were damaged by the exposure, requiring him to get spectacles with a strong prescription. But after only a couple of weeks he felt fully recovered and returned to work.

His first day back at work, Murat felt a strange new sensation. He attempted to ignore it and focus on his work all day, but failing to shake the feeling, he soon realized he could control the intensity of the new sensation. Curious, he lowered the intensity until he could hardly detect it, and then elevated it almost to a fever pitch. At peak intensity, Murat's skin emitted an intense incendiary explosion that caused severe damage to some nearby equipment. Fortunately, he was able to explain the incident away as an industrial accident.

Murat continued working at the factory into adulthood, as he saw the Nazi threat spread across Eastern Europe. It became clear that Turkey would not be entering the conflict any time soon, and wanting to do his part to fight back, Murat enlisted with a British grenadier corps that was recruiting in Ankara. He quickly mastered his new weaponry, but also proved himself as a master demolitions expert and borderline pyro-maniac.

### Attributes
- Agility 8
- Smarts 10
- Spirit 4
- Strength 6
- Vigor 6

### Skills
- Athletics 6
- Common Knowledge 4
- Notice 8
- Persuasion 4
- Repair 12
- Science 6
- Shooting 10
- Stealth 8

### Powers
- Decay (4 points): destroy 10 pounds of matter for each round of contact
- Explode (Level 4, 8 points): 6d8 medium blast template

### Hindrances
- Bad Eyes (Major)
- Code of Honor (Major)

### Edges
- Trademark Weapon (grenade launcher)
- Mr. Fix It

### Gear
- Grenade launcher
- grenades: incendiary x3, fragementation x5, smoke x2
- Sidearm
- Mines
- ???
- Demolition explosives (for bridges, buildings, train tracks, etc.)
- blasting caps, wire, etc.
- Spectacles
- Binoculars
- Lighter and matches
- Rope
- Duck tape

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## Uwe Dönitz

Uwe Dönitz (Ooo-vuh Deur-nits) was born in Prussia on the cusp of decades of civil unrest in the Germanic kingdoms, and indeed all of Europe. In his early years, a revolution ousted the aristocracy from power, and after only a few short years as a free state Uwe's Prussia was assimilated into the Nazi-controlled German empire.

Although politics would have a huge impact on his life, Uwe was much more interested in the topics of mathematics, language, and technology. In school he exhibited an exceptional intuitive understanding of numbers and mathematical theory. After a single year at the University of Königsberg Uwe was accepted at Oxford in the U.K., and then moved on almost immediately to Princeton University in the U.S.A. Meeting scholars from all over the globe, Uwe found that he could pick up their languages extremely quickly, and was soon fluent in dozens of dialects.

By this time Alan Turing was a legend, and Uwe was intrigued by the topic of cryptography and Turing's designs for an abstract automated computing machine. In fact, Uwe left Oxford for Princeton precisely because he hoped he could work closely with Alan on his research. Alas, Uwe met Turing at a handful of department seminars and had a few passing conversations on campus, but otherwise saw very little of him.

Uwe ultimately found companionship instead in a secret fraternity of scholars in Princeton. The fraternity would meet every weekend to discuss not only science and technology, but also the supernatural and occult. Often one of the brothers would bring an ancient text from an Asian, African, or European tradition, and those gathered would all engage in ritual (assisted by stimulants or hallucinogens) in search of spiritual transcendence. Not a superstitious person, Uwe nevertheless found these rituals to be a fascinating glimpse into the human psyche. However, during one such ritual Uwe had a life-threatening drug-induced seizure. Worried for his life but fearful to take him to a doctor and expose the fraternity, Uwe's brothers instead administered additional drugs on their own to counteract the first. Fortunately Uwe did finally recover, although it took several days for the effects of large doses of drugs to wear off.

When he had recovered his full faculties, Uwe found that the latest ritual had endowed him with a new sixth sense. At will, he could attune himself to radio and radar signals and interpret the content of the transmissions. Polymath and polyglot that he was, he could even interpret encrypted signals on occasion. Through trial and error, Uwe found he was also capable of altering the transmissions, modifying morse code messages or changing the voice or content of a radio address. Uwe knew how useful his new talents could be in combatting the growing Nazi threat in Europe.

Speaking of which, Uwe's uncle Karl had had an illustrious career with the German navy, and by this time was well on his way to becoming the Großadmiral of the Kriegsmarine. As the relative of a high-ranking Nazi officer, Uwe would never be safe in Europe. If ever captured by the Nazis, there would never be any escape—he would either be forced into service, imprisoned indefinitely, or executed for treason. On the other hand, his name and ethnicity earned him few favors among his allied contemporaries, many of whom suspected anyone of German heritage as harboring Nazi sympathies.

### Attributes
- Agility 8
- Smarts 10
- Spirit 4
- Strength 6
- Vigor 4

### Skills
- Athletics 4
- Driving 6
- Common Knowledge 6
- Notice 10
- Persuasion 4
- Repair 8
- Science 8
- Shooting 8
- Stealth 4
- Thievery 8

### Powers
- Broadcast (2 points)
- Manipulation (4 points)
- Extra Actions (3 points)
- Fast Action (2 points)
- Speak Language (1 point)

### Hindrances

Both related to his uncle being a highly-ranked Nazi officer

- Wanted (Major)
- Shamed (Major)

### Edges
- Double Tap
- Jack-of-all-Trades

### Gear
- Travel backpack
- Pistol (TBD)
- Portable radio x2
- Telegraph key and sounder
- Lock picks
- Plastic explosive (stats?)