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the ooc
Name: Bex
Age: 29
Email: mommyfox@gmail.com
AIM: bextrannen

the ic
Name: Rainer Konig
Age/Birthdate: 44 / November 20th, 1963
Sexuality: Bisexual
Occupation: Independently wealthy, aka elitist snob
Location: The Black Forest, Germany, specifically the city of Wolfach
Played-By: Sean Bean: http://www.compleatseanbean.com/index-pic.jpg

Fairytale: The Gingerbread Witch, Hansel and Gretel
Age of Realization: 11
Ability, if any: A powerful connection with the Black Forest. Highly appropriate, also highly useless.
Defining Character Traits: Cold indifference to the suffering of others; calculating what use they can be to him; protective of his own resources; considers himself "other" and not a part of normal human society.
Status: He'll admit it if pressed, but he doesn't go around advertising it. Casual inquiries generally get "I'd rather not discuss it" in response. He'd rather downplay its importance than have to be defending himself all the time.

History:
The Black Forest is full of magic - pines and firs in thick clumps along the rivers, reaching up the mountainsides. It seems forbidding to outsiders, dark and mysterious. It was a perfect place for Rainer, otherwise known as the Gingerbread Witch.

When he was eleven years old he helped his mother make a gingerbread house for Christmas. Midway through he took on an obsessive interest in the project, and became very possessive. "No, the shingles should be made of caramel chips! The moldings should go like THIS!" He spent so much time on it his parents became a bit concerned - especially when he said he wanted to live in a life-size replica of it. He couldn't communicate with his parents the joyous realization he had come upon, the unquestionable knowledge that he was, in fact, the Gingerbread Witch of Hansel and Gretel. Rainer didn't question this revelation, nor did he think he was insane or dismiss it. He knew who he was, what he was, better than he had ever known before. He felt complete and assured. A better person might have been distraught to find out their soul originated as the cannibalistic villain in a fairy tale, but not this kid. He reveled in it.

The greatest part of his new identity was his connection to the forest. He knew the Black Forest like his own backyard, every tree and every slope. He had an intimate sense of this one forest, because it was his Home. He was an intimate part of it, like its soul and his were intertwined. He even knew the parts that had changed since he had last seen them - the Forest told him. He knew from his past memories that there were other people who remembered past lives, whose origins were retold in fables and nursery rhymes, but he felt distinctly different from them and besides, he had no desire to leave his forest. He didn't seek them out.

Rainer's family was very wealthy. They were distantly related to the House of Hohenzollern, so it was not only money that made them haughty and elitist. They reinforced his assurance that he was entitled to a comfortable life, as well as his alienation from normal people. He grew up in high society, sheltered away from the world, attending parties and banquets and balls. His parents were so old-fashioned as to be medieval; their high breeding made them long for a time when it meant much more.

He might have grown up to be cruel, as money is power and power corrupts, except for the temperance of his father. The elder Konig insisted that Rainer have the finest education, and one cannot be thoroughly educated without being versed in history, morality and religion. The Konigs might have been convinced that money and station made them better, but being "better" also meant upholding a higher caliber for behavior. In other words, cruelty and rudeness were beneath them, and they would not tolerate it in their son. Much to their chagrin, they could not educate him into any measure of faith. He didn't tell them that he had no use for religion because of its emphasis on the afterlife, and he knew for a fact there was no afterlife for him, just the next lifetime on earth.

The other tempering element in Rainer that kept him from following his Tale and being an evil person were his past lives. In the forties he was an Einsatzkommando, a Nazi soldier involved in mass executions in the Ukraine. After experiencing more violence and death than he could cope with, he had a psychotic break and committed suicide. In his following life (a short one between 1946 and 1961) he was born a poor girl in East Germany, which at the time was occupied by Soviet forces. The economics of this area at the time were extremely rough. She and her sisters died of influenza the winter of 1961 after they were cut off from their parents by the Berlin Wall. These two lifetimes had a very sobering effect on the Gingerbread Witch, and allowed Rainer (who thankfully remembered these lives in bits and pieces and not all at once) to be more of a complete human, more compassionate, than he might have been otherwise. (That said he's still not a nice guy by normal standards. It's all relative.)

His first experience "mingling with the masses" was at an English university, where he was sent for college (his father's massive donation paved the way for Rainer's acceptance.) He was mostly sent there because his father was of the opinion - and correctly so - that excellent English was going to be necessary for Rainer in business pursuits. He scraped by, mostly on merit, partly on luck, once or twice on bribery. It did him little good, though - once he graduated he went right back home and did not pursue a career. Why should he? "Set for life" kind of wealth may seem like a fantasy, but it can also lead to the atrophy of the soul and a disconnect from the truth of the world. There was little purpose in his daily activities; there was nothing he HAD to do. Bored and without direction, his early adult life was characterized by an extreme level of hedonism. Drugs, drinking, gambling, all manner of sexual experimentation - he did it all. He even left his beloved forest in search of pleasure, which did further damage to his soul. He spent a few years in Amsterdam, and came home only after a very close call (overdose) at 27. There he reconnected to a young woman he'd known as a teenager, Leila. She was from a similarly high-falutin' background, but not to the degree of the Konigs. She did a lot of volunteer work, believing that her wealth gave her a responsibility to help other people. She provided a grounding influence for Rainer. They were married at 29 and had a child two years later. Petra was the light of her father's life. At last he had found his purpose.

Thirteen years later ...

"Hello, my name is Rainer, and I'm an alcoholic.

I've been an alcoholic most of my adult life, although I didn't know it until a few years ago. It was my investments manager who told me. I think I listened to him because he had no reason to lie, and because he didn't try to be understanding or sympathetic. He was very straightforward about it, he didn't try to sugar coat it or make me feel better. I appreciate candor and honesty.

I started drinking at university, and there it wasn't considered a big deal. I didn't get drunk much, but by the time I was a senior I had several drinks a day. Then I went to Amsterdam, and it was a lot more than alcohol there - I won't get into it. When I came back to Germany, I got off all that, but I never thought alcohol was also a problem. It was just a little Amaretto in my coffee, a little Scotch when I was home for the evening, a couple of glasses of wine with dinner, a nightcap. So it was for a long, long time.

Eight years ago, when I was 36, my wife and my five year old daughter were killed in a car crash. That was when what had been a slow-burning disease turned into an inferno - I drank all the time. It was like a baby's bottle, a comfort, like medicine. I'd drink until I was sick, until I was so far gone I couldn't think anymore. That was the aim, really. After Leila and Petra died I realized how little I had to live for.

Some of you are going to think this is ridiculous, that I'm lucky for what I'm about to tell you. And maybe you're right. See, I've never had to work. My family is very well off, so though I have a degree I've never had a career. My father insisted that I be educated. He should've insisted that I get a job, or start a business, or do something other than piss my life away. When my family died I had nothing left but this material bullshit than meant absolutely nothing to me. Leila had been the one who liked accumulating beautiful things, art and sculpture, populating the garden with exotic plants, a stable full of high bred horses and a beautiful house with no one in it but us and our help.

Then there was no one in it but me, and I couldn't stand it.

So I drank. And like many people with money, no one wanted to tell me how bad it was. I'd surrounded myself with yes-men. Thank goodness for Vince, who was straightforward with me and forced me to look at the useless pile of accumulations that was my life. He came with me to my first meeting. Good men are rare.

I sold just about everything. I did keep my rare book collection, but most of them are with an archivist now. Money is poisonous - I needed to separate myself from it. I tied up almost all of what was left in long-term investments, and Vince set it up so I still had a very comfortable allowance, but I couldn't blow it. I'm better off that way as a person. I bought a little country place in the Black Forest. I got involved in a local art movement, and the Schwarzwaldverein - that's the Black Forest Society to you English speakers. I have been taking some classes, to fill my time and keep my mind active. I still miss my family so very badly, but at least I'm trying to heal myself.

I've been sober now for three years and two months. It's a daily battle; I had a lifetime habit of casual drinking. There's no alcohol at the house. I don't go anywhere that serves alcohol - and believe me, I know everywhere within a twenty mile radius that I could get it. I've had a lot of setbacks and back-sliding. So far so good. One day at a time."

Rainer is now 44, living alone in (what he considers) a small cottage in the Black Forest (still a big house to any normal person.) He's still trying to find purpose and meaning in his life, and is realizing that money was not always a blessing to him, as it allowed him to have very little substance in his life. Other than his wife and daughter, his relationships were very shallow and fell apart under the strain of his alcoholism. While he's contacted other Tales before (more out of accident than intent), he's decided to see if he can find meaningful connections with these other semi-immortals.

A few random notes:

Speaks German and English, with a half-forgotten smattering of Latin. Has several warm-bloods that are a bit overkill for just trail riding horses, but Rainer doesn't really understand that. He thinks horses just COST that much, any horse. He owns a roan draft/warmblood cross named Scheispulver (Gunpowder), who is the only mare, a bay named Sham and a chestnut, Drache (Dragon). He has one enormous black Trakhener named Bucephalus, who was his wife's jumper. He has a very old cob pony, Luciole, that belonged to his daughter and a pair of Norwegian Fjord driving horses named Loki and Sleipnir. Because dammit I love horses so my character with money will have horses. Try and stop me.

Sexuality: Before his wife's death he was about a 2 on the Kinsey scale. He experimented a lot in Amsterdam and let's face it, he was a rich guy around a lot of very foppish folk. But after his wife died, he's been unable to be with any other woman. He starts thinking about Leila and loses interest. Men, however, are different enough that he can not think about her and concentrate on the person he's with.

Personality:
People who like Rainer might describe him as classy, cultured, refined, noble, reflective, tragic, patriotic and intelligent. People who DON'T like him will call him an elitist, prejudiced snob with exaggerated problems, a proud, spoiled brat who needs a good knock on the head to bring him down to Earth, where all the PLEBIANS live. Both of these descriptions are more or less true.

In his heart of hearts, he's very lonely. His pride and hermit-like habits have isolated him, much as the Witch was isolated. He's outside of his comfort zone in reaching out to people, but it has become necessary for his own mental health. The mercilessness of the Witch comes into play in his business matters. He's well-known in the business world for being especially cold and ruthless. In his mind, it's all about resources and economics. Why protect the little guy if the big guy is more economically successful? He's very protective of his assets, like the Witch was, as well as protective of the forest (hence the affiliation with the Schwarzwhatever.)

Rainer and The Gingerbread Witch:

In Hansel and Gretel, the children are sent out into the forest - a story probably based in part on true events, when children were abandoned in times of intense starvation. There they meet a witch who intends to eat them, they outsmart her, and run home. Very basic story ... but with many layers.

On a less literal level, the Witch could be interpreted as an element of nature. The following is how Rainer interprets his Tale. The children are simply resources to be exploited, and it is not active malice or evil that causes her to want to eat them; they're just FOOD. As a forest-spirit, the Witch does not know mercy or misplaced parental instincts. She finds something to eat and plans to eat it, no matter how the meal might feel about it. Similarly she is not angry or vengeful at the children who bested her; in fact, she kind of admires their ability to survive. Resentment is too human an emotion for her; she's too primal for it. She doesn't see eating the children as cannibalistic because she doesn't consider herself truly human. She was the embodiment of the Forest - merciless, consuming, practical, and hungry. It is tempting with all its resources (the Gingerbread House) but very dangerous. Still, it can be overcome, as the children did.

The European Mirror
In his twenties, Rainer went looking for a mirror he had used in a previous life to travel to other lands. He finally found it in a run-down part of Berlin and brought it back to his house for safe-keeping. He didn't want to deal with it at the time, so he put it into storage. He recently remembered "Oh yeah I have that thing" and got it out, thinking it could help him find some other Tales. He had no real idea how much he was hobbling the rest of the Tale community by sticking it in a locked up storage unit for twenty years, but he's unapologetic about it - after all, no one ELSE tried digging it out of the wreck of a house it had been in.

Potential Interaction: BWAHAHAHA, OH GOD LET ME HARASS HANSEL AND GRETEL! Just a little. Not that much. Only as much as their players want me to. Because as much as Rainer would like to think he's above all that, the Witch in him really would like to watch the brats squirm a little. They're actually more likely to make HIM squirm, now that I think about it ... ANYWAY! Other stuff. I'm sure there will be much tsk-tsking of Rainer's snobbery, which will be fun, and the occasional foray into "What is this VAL-MART of which you speak?" type of nuttiness. Also Rainer likes classy stuff like theater (uh, but no wine tastings) so there's that. Pony rides for der kinder? Maybe. Fending off Neil's friendly offers of alcohol? Absolutely.

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