Name: Johann De Lange
Callsign/Nickname: Mickey, as in Mickey Mouse. His voice is naturally high-pitched and he's on the shorter side.
Age: 58, April 13, 1956
Gender: Male
Appearance:


Mickey's at the tail end of middle age-ancient by military standards. While still quite physically strong and certainly healthy, there's no escaping time's toll. Although he's kept a full head of hair it's started greying in parts, his skin weathered by years of sun and smoking. On the shorter side at only 5'6" but with broad shoulders and big hands, he could have been a boxer in another life. Always image-conscious, his civilian wear consists of suits and overcoats regardless of the weather.

Nationality: Canadian by birth, naturalized American and South African citizen

Personality: Johann is a throwback to an earlier age, a Cold War relic and remnant of the post-war gun-for-hire culture that sprang in Africa. He considers himself the last of the true mercenaries, from a time when they wore jeans and used cammies as opposed to suits and regulation flight vests, back when governments were somewhat embarrassed by hiring contractors. A dedicated and vehement anti-Communist, he misses the Cold War very much. Say what you will about the Eastern Bloc, they made a good enemy.

He’s kind of lost in the wake of the Heavenfall, drifting from battle to battle in search of something to do. Laid back and rather languid in his speech, he can come off as lazy, sleepy, or simply not very intelligent. Nothing could be further from the truth-Johann is old, and with age comes a willingness shut up and watch people dig holes for themselves.

History: Born in Calgary, Johann’s parents were South African expats who had immigrated after World War 2 when his father found work in the oil industry. Growing up in Lloydminster he spent much of his childhood hunting moose, bear, and waterfowl in rural Saskatchewan in between bouts of school and traveling with his father for work. By his mid-teens Johann was set on studying petroleum or chemical engineering in order to become an oil man himself but changed his plans after a chance encounter with a bush pilot. Suddenly fascinated flight and taking after his father (a veteran of the East African Campaign and a former member of the infamous Security Branch) he settled on becoming a combat pilot in hopes of battling Communist aggression. Pivoting to flight school he applied for his student pilot permit the day of his sixteenth birthday, and by seventeen he was a fully-fledged flier ready for military training.

Unfortunately, Canada was not involved in much combat by the time he was coming of age and had, in fact, conspicuously sat out Vietnam. Joining the RCAF seemed like a path to nothing except training flights so Johann left for the United States to join the USAAF, hoping they'd get involved in another conflict sooner or later. He graduated the United States Air Force Academy and was first trained on the F4 Phantom and before transitioning to the F14 Tomcat. His first assignment being a deployment to Persia to assist in training the Imperial Iranian Air Force, shortly before it became the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force and Americans were no longer welcome.

Disappointed by his still not having been in a proper shooting war, Johann did not reenlist upon completing his service. Instead of return to Canada or the United States however he went abroad, returning to his family's homeland in South Africa. He was granted citizenship due to his parents and quickly folded into the SAAF. First flying the Atlas Impala and then later the Mirage III he did recon flights to support the South African-backed RENAMO in the Mozambique Civil War. Later he would finally get his wish and see combat in the Border War, bombing Soviet-backed forces in Angola and Namibia.

By 1985 he had retired again but remained embroiled in the war, now flying as a mercenary against the communist MPLA. He continued flying as a mercenary until the 90s, seeing action in the Yugoslav Wars as well as in the Persian Gulf. Towards the end of his career he had migrated to Soviet planes due to them being common amongst his employers, transitioning from the venerable MiG-21 to the more modern Su-27.

By 2000 he was now completely and truly retired. Somewhere along the way, Johann had acquired a boat and a house in Laguna Beach as well as an ex-wife he didn't much care for and a daughter who didn't care much for him. He was content to live out the rest of his life getting old and fat while fishing, with only the occasional joyride to remind him of his wartime escapades.

Unfortunately, the Heavenfall messed up his plans. The boat sank, the house was entirely destroyed, the wife simply disappeared, and the daughter was hospitalized with severe psychosis, leaving Johan with plenty of bills to pay and two grandchildren to support financially. Thus he found himself flying again, joining up with a couple of small mercenary companies in the early 2000s. With those dissolving due to lack of funds and equipment he made his way to the nascent Shattered Steel, and in a bit of historical irony was once again assigned to training foreign pilots, this time in the rebuilding JSDF. It was there that he met the ex-Ranger and current squid pilot Fuka Nakano.

Johann was rough-spun and somewhat crude, a lover of beer and motor bikes who had nothing but disdainful pity for the poor bastards not smart enough to fly a plane and thus had to fight on land. Fuka was from a very wealthy and well-cultured family, a teetotaler who wouldn't be caught dead on a chopper, as well as being ex-military who in many ways preferred the groundpounding lifestyle. Despite their many differences in personality and the gap in age (or perhaps because of them), the two struck up an odd friendship, and when Fuka was looking to leave the military, it was Johann who suggested she fly for Shattered.

Personal Gear:

• R4 Rifle:The standard issue rifle of the South African Defence Force, upgraded with Picatinny rail and red dot sight. It's essentially a Galil with better optics.
• M1911A1: A design that's old as dirt and yet still works. Johann was issued one in the USAF and has kept using it out of familiarity.

Personal Aircraft: Sukhoi 35 "Whiskey Jack"

Aircraft modifications: The Whiskey Jack is heavily modified to the point that the total work done and components added approach the value of the plane itself.

• Retrofitted with modern electronic and avionic systems (namely AN/APG-83 AESA) as well as touchpad instruments, and distributed aperture system. Additionally, its HOTAS has been supplemented with direct voice input.
• Vintage Soviet-era helmet-mounted display replaced with a modified version of the F-35 Helmet-Mounted Display System.
• Capable of carrying a wide range of Western munitions for ease of logistics.
• Has Multifunction Advanced Data Link installed along with EW capabilities
• Carrier-landing capabilities
• Japanese style sea camo,a hold over from his time training the JDSF.

Anything Else:

• Johan and Fuka have been friends for years, despite their differences in age and personality. Mickey is rough-spun and somewhat crude, likes cold beers and cruiser-style motorbikes while hating rich kids and stupidity, the height of which he considers fighting on foot. Fuka is often rather quiet, erudite, from a wealthy family and is former infantry. Despite all of that, they’re able to spend hours hanging around doing nothing.
• The Whiskey Jack's extremely expensive upgrades are due to its service history. Originally purchased by the Indian Air Force and then quickly sold off post=Heavenfall, it found its way into the fleet of Silverbirch Security Services, a nascent PMC of sketchy origin backed in part by Misriah Ironworks. There it gained some of its more advanced systems which had been sourced through means left unquestioned. Upon Silverbirch collapsing in on itself the company was bought out by Le Guivre, a security consortium run by an eccentric billionaire who enjoyed playing soldier. Said billionaire spent lavishly on upgrades to the point of near-foolishness, until he shot himself when his home was attacked by corrupt police seeking to extort him. With no one around to stop him Johann took the Whiskey Jack with him when he went to Shattered Steel.
• In addition to his native English and Afrikaans Johann has a working knowledge of Russian,a valuable skill for someone flying a Soviet plane.

Name: Ryan Hammond-Capotrio

Callsign/Nickname: "Longbow", earned after whiffing a full salvo of AMRAAMs in a practice session.

Age: 23

Gender: Male

Appearance:


Note - Much dirtier blonde than image, almost brunette

Nationality: United States, Florida, Bay Area Combat Zone

Personality: VERY Floridian. He's a very outgoing person, with a near fanatical love of the sky. Being raised in a disaster zone for most of his teenage life, with a family/friend group of blue collar engineers and workers, he has the humor of a day laborer, the mouth of a sailor, and the jury-rigging skill of a redneck. He has a pet Armadillo Girdled Lizard, and will show him off at any given opportunity. Calls his family and friends on the weekends, without fail.

History: Born to a middle class family, Ryan didn't really have much to complain about during his early life. Raised by a loving family, and surrounded by friends, he grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida to no real hardship or pain. Despite the presence of MacDill AFB less than an hour away, Ryan didn't worry too much about the war, or what it meant for his future. As it was, there wasn't much to worry about, right?

The Heavenfall changed all that. When he was 13 years old, the world ended all around him. The ground rippled like the dirtiest batch of oobleck, and his home collapsed with him and his family inside. His father, almost fifty at the time, made it out alive, but his mother, uncle and grandmother were less lucky. Even then, that wasn't all. After a few minutes, the water rushed in from the beaches, as tsunamis battered the peninsula that he lived on, along with the nearly 2 million people who lived in the Tampa Bay Area.

Ryan was 13 years old when his whole family died in one day.

Taken in by his best friend's family, the orphaned Ryan grew up in FEMA shelters and public schools, as his home rebuilt brick by brick. At 15, his new family finally got a new home to live in, a place to call their own. Still on the remains of the St. Petersburg peninsula, in an area that used to be known as Kenneth City. At 17, Ryan was officially adopted by the Hammond family and became brothers with his best friend.

At around age 14, Ryan took an interest in planes, and asked to be signed up for flight classes. He turned out to be a good flyer, graduating flight school almost 4 months ahead of schedule and becoming certified to fly at age 15, before he could even drive legally. Racking up an obscene number of flight hours in a single year, he flew his Cessna almost non-stop. Flying was like an escape for him, and sharing it with his family was something he loved. One time, he even was the pilot for his daredevil fried, who parachuted out the back of his plane.

At 18, two major events happened in Ryan's life.
1. He got his hands on a refurbished BF-109, a plane flown in World War 2 with a recorded combat mission.
2. His home became a warzone, as the Mexican and South American cartels pushed hard in an attempt to mollify the population, and get a distribution spearhead. However, these cartels didn't receive a national response. They received a STATE response. The semi-repaired swampy urban environment came alive with rednecks and pissed off survivors, who threw the cartels out with a vengeance bordering on mania. Ryan helped, flying his new BF-109 overhead and using it to spot hardpoints for the redneck army that came out of the woodwork.

Only a few years later, he was able to "acquire" a run-down YF-12 from the now-abandoned Air Force base that rested on the Tampa peninsula, and refurbish it piece by piece with the help of a few friends he made during the invasion. Replacing outdated parts with kitbashed electronics, he resurrected the old plane and pushed it to the skies once more.

Personal Gear: M30 Drilling
Key with the tag "My other ride is a war relic" on the keychain
Yellow Sheet notepad with at least 3 pens clipped on by plastic binders

Personal Aircraft: Lockheed YF-12

Aircraft modifications: Tow and Launch hooks that reel into recessed bays for carrier operations
Replacing the AN/ASG-18 Fire Control system with the AN/APG-81
Replacing the AIM-47 ordinace with AIM-174B
Replacing most electronics for more modern versions (eg. radar warning, countermeasure dispensers, EWAR suite)

Anything Else:
That Feeling when you dump 4,500 lbs worth of missile
What do you mean "The Bogey is going Mach 3?"
"That feeling when you breach the clouds? It makes you forget about everything else for a while."
"Quick adventure! Let's see what we can find. It'll only take 20 minutes, I swear."