Albert Steiner

Albert Steiner is a Sentinel and Current grandmaster of the Iron Company

In his home universe of Valhalla, Albert Steiner was born some ninety years ago, aboard a trade vessel known as Fair Valley's Hope, to a pair of crew members known as Ferdinand and Alexis Steiner. During his early childhood, he spent much of his time aboard the craft, helping both of his parents who worked as maintenance technicians. It was during this time that he developed his knack for machinery, often cobbling together odd gadgets to show his parents. While it was not an easy life, it was better than most.

Unfortunately this would eventually end when the Fair Valley's Hope was attacked by marauders when he turned seven. While the security teams put up a valiant fight, they were eventually overwhelmed. Steiner's parents were killed after having hidden him in the ventilation system.

With the ship having been badly damaged in the attack, and much of the supplies being pilfered-the pirates left the vessel a dead hulk, with systems almost completely non-functional. Steiner's story might have ended here, whether by malnutrition or disease, as over the course of six weeks he was forced to eat the dead as his food supplies had run out with in the first few days.

His luck however, would change for the better after a passing vessel spotted the hulk. When the boarding party had begun its sweep of the vessel-having found the bodies of a number of the crew began to check for survivors. Finding a half-starved Steiner after a brief chase, the party called it in-thus began his life anew as a ward of the mercenary band known as the Iron Company. Relocated to their world of Hephaestus I, his life in the Company was not the easiest-as it was expected that every member of the company was contribute-from the youngest to the oldest.

By age 12, Steiner was very nearly thrown out several times due to disciplinary issues-mainly due to his theft of scrap components-but, a Forgemaster-(The Company's Equivalent of a Chief Engineer) by the name of Alexei Durnov discovered his knack for machinery after having examined one of the devices made out of the stolen salvage, and offered him a choice; he could continue down this road and very well find himself cast out to fend for himself, or apprentice under Alexei and further his talents without having to resort to theft.

From that point forward, while his general attitude-a quiet, introverted personality, perhaps due to the mental scarring of what happened aboard the Hope-improved little, and if anything evolved into the cold, professional demeanor that he became known for even as his skills grew. Fearing that his apprentice may end up turning his skills to a much darker purpose without something to anchor him as the record of his misdeeds often saw him isolated from the various other apprentices and smiths, Alexei impressed upon him what the Company called the Tenants of Iron-a code of conduct that drew from the old codes of chivalry that the ancient knights of distant earth once adhered by-honesty, loyalty, courtesy, etc, as well as emphasizing self-discipline.

While not the Tenants did not have the effect that the Forgemaster had hoped-the emphasis on honesty, loyalty and discipline stuck with him, and would shape who he would eventually become. By eighteen, his drive and work ethic had seen him placed on maintaining the Company's Dragoon walkers-a combination of piloted machines and individuals who through the use of cybernetics piloted their mechs after suffering grievous injuries in the line of duty, but still wished to serve on.

While many suspected that Alexei may have had a hand, including Steiner himself in where he was placed, he nevertheless continued to work hard-ensuring that he proved that he belonged where he was in spite of the resentment of some of the older techs who had worked most of their lives to get where they were as only the best were given the privilege of maintaining the machines. Over the next seven years, Steiner would find himself shipped off as the Company took various contracts and assisted in keeping not only the mechas running, but assisting where he could-earning the grudging respect of many of his peers.

During one such contract-a detachment consisting of himself and some 50 others, were sweeping for xenolife under contract on a backwater planet known as P-4503-A, dubbed the Rock by the colonists who lived there, when the starport he was stationed fell under heavy attack by pirates outfitted with what was at the time top notch equipment. With reinforcements not due for several weeks and their current forces insufficient to combat them, every available man was pressed into action.

Finding himself on the front lines along with his comrades, Steiner found himself often being forced to make makeshift repairs to the Company's equipment while engaged in combat. After nearly eighteen days of fighting, their remaining forces numbering around forty combat capable troops, with some support from what was left of the local militia numbering some thirty plus a number or refugees-had been pushed to the brink by the time reinforcements had arrived to.

Unfortunately, the battle, and by extent the planet had been lost, and the situation had become an extended holding action. As the pirates pressed their attack, determined to capture the port and its vessels intact, Steiner stepped into the controls of one of the remaining mechs-its pilot had been killed by a sniper moments earlier-and attempted assist with a holding action as the shuttles containing their wounded and the refugees attempted to take off.

Unfortunately, while his actions were valiant-fighting with a ferocity beside his brothers in arms that he had not known he was capable of, they were too little too late-most of the shuttles had been disabled and the landing zone was becoming to hot for any further runs as the enemy had set up heavy anti-air defenses.

In an uncommonly brave, and at the time, uncharacteristic act, Albert volunteered to attempt to disable as much of the enemy anti-air defenses as possible, or failing that, cause enough trouble to drive the enemy back. With little support and a machine already on its last legs, his mission was only a partial success-he managed to accomplish his objective-sowing enough chaos to provide a window for the few remaining transports to flee-he could not disable their anti-air, and was eventually laid low as anti-mech weaponry raked him over.

Nearly a week later, he woke, crippled and wounded-with much of his vitals damaged and hooked up to a heavy duty life support machine-his comrades had managed to drive the pirates off long enough to retrieve him. His actions had managed to save over two hundred people, including the refugees-and thus he was awarded the rank of Sentinel-a title that while held no command, was given to those who had distinguished themselves and was offered a choice-his injuries would leave him unable to function even with cybernetics without extensive care and would likely remain an invalid for the rest of his life, but would be given the honor and care due to him-or could be integrated within a specially built mecha known as a Warden. For him, it was no choice.

He barely survived the process, his body very nearly rejecting the implants needed to both keep him alive and operating the machine. After nearly two weeks, he 'awakened', when many thought him dead, or at least a vegetable. His world became the cool rush of the fluids inside his life support unit, his senses the various cameras and sensors inside the dragoon. From then on, he would continue his role as a technician, his Warden fitted for the role.

This would go on for five years, with him occasionally being kitted out for combat and providing support in the field, and during this time a schism was developing between the various members of the Company due to a particularly low intake of new recruits and a stint of bad luck that had cost them several contracts-while he and a few others were aware of this-they thought nothing of it. This would eventually turn out to be a mistake Steiner one day awoke to alarms and weapons fire.

Emerging from the bay he was being kept in, he was surprised when what he had assumed to be a friendly dragoon launched an attack on him. After fending off his attacker-he would later learn what had happened-dissatisfied members after exhausting all other options had attempted to initiate a coup. Steiner, having been woken by the commotion had come into the middle of the renegades attempting to hijack some of the combat vehicles and mechs to aid in their rebellion located at the base he was stationed at. Enraged by their betrayal, he fell upon them much like he had the pirates who had nearly killed them. Unfortunately, the worst was yet to come.

If he had woken sooner, he might have perished before he knew what was going on; the rebels finding stiffer resistance than expected resorted to WMDs in hopes of destroying those who were still loyal to the old company; unfortunately, this was not as successful as they had hoped. As the battle dragged over the course of several weeks, Steiner had found himself pushing his machine to its limit.

As the loyalists' defense disintegrated and began to prepare an attempt to flee Steiner went down the archives, and in an attempt to preserve as much of the Company's knowledge as possible, he constructed a powerful black box, integrating it into his mech and downloading as much of the database as possible, purging the archives afterwards then physically destroying as much as he could after.

Unable to fall back towards the original retreat point, Steiner fled through a series of underground tunnels towards a bunker that housed a small, space capable vessel. Unfortunately, shockwaves from the conflict, indicating another wave of WMDs being unleashed upon the surface traveled down, collapsing part of the bunker and nearly burying the starship as he took off.

After coming across a group of scavengers and bartering passage with the now almost dead craft, Steiner wanders to this very day, selling his services as a technician, clinging to old tenants and vows to dead men, becoming ever more isolated as he has come to realize that he is truly alone, even in the current day.

Over the years, as his systems have degraded and his mech being refitted via ad-hoc repairs, jury-rigging and lack of proper facilities, Steiner has found himself in another universe after a bad jump left him stranded when the trade ship he was on suffered a critical malfunction and left him badly damaged and leaving the crew dead. After floating for several days, with no idea where he was and him having shutdown in order to try and conserve power and try and keep failing systems from getting any worse, he began to pick up scattered comms traffic and sound of something docking. Scavengers possibly. He powered up his systems and prepared for the worst.

When a group of what looked like soldiers enter the bay he was in, they stopped-apparently they hadn't been expecting a mechanized walker here, let alone one that was active. Steiner, in bad shape despite several days of the Warden's self-repair systems doing their best to fix the damage, decided that diplomacy was the best option here. Calling out, he asked that they identify themselves. After learning that they were soldiers of some great interstellar empire, he Identified himself as a member of the now destroyed Iron Company, and that any assistance would be appreciated.

It was during this time that he learned that they were actually from another universe entirely and given that he had really nowhere to go at the time he asked if he could come with them when they returned to their home universe. Fighting his own battles here and after a short time finding himself back in Valhalla once again; with little to do he focused on rebuilding the Company.

Ten Years, ten years of hard fighting, work and diplomacy eventually led to the Company eventually gaining dominion over a dozen or so systems. Utilizing the now reformed Company's resources along with the old archives he possessed in the form of the company black box. Unfortunately, such a rise to power did not go unnoticed; leading the company through two year in a brutal, bitter war that became an extended holding action as the forces against them became more and more apparent, and now finding himself in a new, dark universe with threats both familiar yet alien; he seeks to safe-guard and shepherd his people. Though whether this is possible is yet to be seen.

Before his internment within the Warden, Steiner was a stocky man, 5'4 in height and weighing in at approximately 150 to 160 lbs. With bright red eyes, brown hair and pale skin and possessed a deep, booming voice. These days, he is little more than a withered husk sustained within stagnant life-preservation fluids by technologies almost forgotten outside of the archives he possesses, his voice the distorted tones of a speaker unit.

Steiner is a mess of contradicting personality traits; dutiful and self-sacrificing, yet at times seemingly self-serving. Kind and caring, and at other times indifferent and aloof. Polite yet abrasive. Diplomatic, yet utterly despising the great game and having a dislike of nobility, he maintains a fairly blunt, to the point nature in conversations.

These contradictions have a habit of irritating many of those he interacts with and has often led to him putting his foot in his mouth on more than one occasion. At the same time his direct nature, as well as a steady conviction stemming from his oath as a Sentinel; to stand against those who prey upon the innocent, to serve as a light in a dark universe has led to him putting himself in the line of fire on more than one occasion much to his detriment at times. It should be noted that he does not normally anger easily, but once his fury is roused it is difficult to quell, and even when it dissipates, he does not forgive, nor forget.

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• Player commissar_farzi created this on 2022/09/15 19:15.
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