Aldric

Aldric van Hauptmann (most commonly referred to as Aldric) is the personification of death within the human perspective. Originally one of the main villains, he does come round as a helping hand when things tend to awry. However he tends not to help out of the kindness of his heart (as he commonly states that he does not have one) but rather is the result of convincing from Frans, Fritz, and on occasion Cerberus. This causes him to be occasionally annoyed with Fritz and Frans when the three come to Planty's family gatherings.

Appearance
Aldric's physical features includes a pale face that his somewhat deformed and decaying. His left side of his face tends to resemble more of a skull than his right side, which looks more humane. He, like Planty however for different reasons, has thin limbs and is also thin, however is very bony. He also has thick gray hair in a similar style to Planty and Frans, save for the three strands of cowlick in the middle.

Aldric has a few appearances he may use depending on the occasion. The most common include his war uniform, his business attire, and his "casual" clothing.


 * The War Uniform is his black uniform from the Napoleonic Wars in which he was a cavalry officer serving in the Prussian Army.  It includes a black dolman with a red collar and a loose also black pelisse (however he does not frequently wear the pelisse).  He wears grey trousers and boots that come up to halfway up his shin.  There is also his shako hat with a skull in the center above the bill and a large white plume that goes well above his hat.  Occasionally, he will wear a sash around his waist, although this is more commonly seen when he was human fighting Napoleon.


 * His business attire features a black tailcoat and a white collared shirt that he ties a string bow-tie under the collar.  He will commonly wear a red sash around his waist and will wear black (or dark grey) trousers that come down to the ankles.  Depending on what's going on, he will wear either his cavalry boots, or some fine dress shoes.  In this attire, he tends not to wear any headware and will wear an Inverness Cape if he is going to a formal occasion (such as a theatre).


 * His final, most common attire involves him wearing a torn cloak that goes down to the knees.  This attire makes him look very similar to the Grim Reaper, which is what Aldric models his clothing after since he does go by what popular conceptions of death looks like.  (He mentions that at one point he was a large Siberian Tiger and at another point a Plague Doctor).

Personality
Aldric's personaility while he was human is unknown since Aldric has become human on many occasions and thus his memory is skewered (according to him). However, from what he has been able to deduce, that he somehow was able to show kindness and mercy compared to him now.

As an entity, he has retained the same personality since the beginning of time when he was given his position by the Divine Oracle. He tends to have a very negative outlook on life, yet understands that at times, it can be beautiful. He has had a very negative outlook on humanity as a whole for a while until recently when he became Aldric van Hauptmann. Nevertheless, he has a sociopathic attitude towards humanity and frankly does not care what happens to them as to him "They will never change.  They're born out of womb, they live their life; they destroy their home; they kill each other; and then they die.  And then I have to take care of them." However, he has shown that he can be friendly towards some people, albeit they have lived with him for ages and thus he has gotten used to them and visa-versa (as seen with Fritz and Shaliqua). This has caused him to be quite lonely and befriend some wild monsters, such as wyverns and vampires.

Biography
Aldric, as death, was created at the beginning of time when the Divine Oracle gave him his position. His main goal was to help guide the lost souls back to the world. Soon, however, he began to keep them in his humble abode after he found life their lonely. The Oracle did give him some company, however secretly he took up alchemy and was rumored to experiment on certain lost souls in the Demon Forest, which at the time was beyond the Oracle's control and thus could be kept secret. This did create some issues as the souls who were told to come to his house had to wait longer than they should have and the Oracle did notice this. After asking the numerous "helpers" of Aldric in an attempt to figure out where he was and why they weren't helping him, the Oracle was told that Aldric frequented the Demon Forest. The Oracle, afraid that its power and authority could be questioned if he didn't know anything about this forest, went into a rage and began to search for Aldric relentlessly.

The Oracle supposedly brought an entire army from the heavens and scattered across the Dark Realms in search for Aldric. However Aldric, who had practically mastered alchemy, was nowhere to be seen. The Oracle and its army returned to the Gates to find Aldric escorting the Lost Souls back to the World. The Oracle approached Aldric and demanded that he explain himself. Using the "Altering" curse, his "helpers" and some of the Oracle's soldiers were unaware that Aldric had left his post for an unknown amount of time. The Oracle, feeling insulted, challenged him to a duel.

The Duel was to be by combat using Divine Weapons. Aldric used alchemy to enchant all of his weapons but did nothing to the Oracle's as to not draw attention to him possibly cheating. The fight started off with the Oracle, being vastly superior in strength, winning before Aldric lured him into a trap and used his enchantment to shatter the Oracle's weapon. Believing something to be amiss, he used all of his powers to attempt to break Aldric's weapon which was fruitless in the end. This caused the judges to disqualify Aldric from the duel and since it was a Divine Duel, only those two could duel. Thus the Oracle won and banished him to the Dark Realm where he would no longer escort the Lost Souls back to the world, but instead house them in his Realm. He would also have to look after and maintain ALL of his "monsters" that he created and he would have to take all the souls and deliver them to the Realm (although this was altered to include his "helpers").

However the punishment was not taken as punishment by Aldric and instead used his newfound powers as a way to "stick it" to the Oracle by randomly taking souls and keeping them in a jar that only he could open. This caused the Oracle to punish Aldric once more in which he was forced to live as a developing human without any memories of him being a Divine Being. This would become the first case of Aldric changing to human form (albeit against his will). In order for him to return to his "Divine" status, he would have to father children; the Oracle however, stuck it to him, and made sure that each of his incarnations would not be naturally tough or brawny but instead thin to limit his chances of reproducing. Nevertheless, on his tenth incarnation (the other nine he died prematurely or was unable to produce a baby before dying) he successfully met the criteria for being able to return to "Divine" status. The Oracle reluctantly granted him this and he went to studying and developing his alchemy in private.

As the years went by, he took many forms depending on the dominant idea of him (this proved to be more of an identity crisis) and eventually settled with the Grim Reaper after a visit to Romania during the Dark Ages. When the Plague hit civilization, he took on the form of a plague doctor and he was, for the most part, overworked and began to take a disliking towards humans. This caused him to infect rats himself and infect people in general causing the Oracle to consider "disposing of Death in its current form". Aldric fearing this, became an immortal and chose a place in modern Ireland (Clanricarde) to begin training an apprentice. "The Apprentice" as he was known to Aldric and later his students became the first human to practice alchemy and the first un-altered human lich (previous Liches were Neanderthals or children who died early). Aldric, once the Apprentice was done, moved across the Channel to Poland where taught another Apprentice and told him of the original in western Ireland. His next two destinations were Bavaria and Florence where he taught two more apprentices before retreating back to the Dark Realm to watch over the four apprentices. He trained one last one in the later 16th century in Romania, however he became to greedy with power and as a slight punishment from Aldric (pressured by Cerberus), turned him into a vampire (Dracula).

A hundred years passed and the Alchemists were numerous, however the Thirty Year's War changed that and many of the Alchemists died in the process leaving, once again five. To guide them forward, Aldric gave them instructions to create an overarching organization known simply as the "Institute"; they would train students to in alchemy to connect with nature and free themselves in a metaphorical way. However, several years down the line, the Institute broke up into four pieces (the Illuminati, Freemasons, Government, and Dwellers). The Illuminati settled in Bavaria, the Freemasons in the Thirteen Colonies, the Government in London, and the Dwellers in Constantinople (Istanbul). Several smaller bases were made across the world by all the organizations and occasionally there would be small skirmishes between the groups, but it never got to the extent that ordinary humans became involved accidentally.

AS ALDRIC VAN HAUPTMANN

Aldric (his name at the current time was not that), quite curious to see what was happening on Earth, became a human once more and went through the natural process. He chose a list of families and randomly selected who he would be born from. It was decided that the relatively known Hauptmanns living in eastern Brandenburg would be his new family. Thus he was born on Christmas, 1776 in Oppeln. The family moved to Danzig before leaving for Berlin around 1785. Aldric was sent to the Military Boarding School and received his officer's commission in 1793 as a Hussar in the Brandenburg Regiment.

The War of the First Coalition and Second Coalition turned out to be boring for Aldric who was stuck in Pommerania looking out towards Sweden and Denmark most of the time. However, the Fourth Coaliton soon rolled around and Aldric was thirsty for blood. Now a captain, and commanding his own company, the conducted raids all over Hannover in an attempt to halt the French for as long as possible. During the Battle of Eylau, Aldric made a name for himself after charging a whole regiment and claiming their banner before arriving back at HQ with a torn uniform. For this, he was granted the Iron Cross. In 1807, Prussia surrendered, and he self-exiled himself to England fearing that Napoleon may free Poland and that he would not be safe (his father was a primary diplomat in the First Partitioning). This is where he met Samuel Fraser and Helga von Hessen (his future wife). In 1810, he returned to Berlin and was given the rank of Colonel after fighting in Spain on the side of British; this is where he transferred to the 1st Regiment Life Hussars. He wouldn't be able to fight in it until the Sixth Coalition in which he dawned the nickname "Totemkopf" and "Death" after numerous stunts performed by him that should've resulted in his death and the shear fear he put into their eyes with his black and white face paint.

The Battle of Leipzig was where he received his title Duke of Silesia after his engagement with a Bavarian dragoon regiment causing them to surrender single handedly. This brought him fame across the Prussian and German courts and begun the Hauptmann-Hartmann relationship (Greif Hartmann was a captain in the Dragoon regiment). Greif became one of Aldric's closest friends and both went on to capture Paris in 1814- the first time either one had been.

The peace did not last however, and as Aldric was in the middle of building the Hauptmann estate in Silesia, Napoleon returned once more and Aldric was called back (he was in the reserves at this point) and served at the Battle of Ligny and the Battle of Waterloo, in both cases harassing the French and causing several commanders to fear crossing a certain point- working out in the end. With the war over before it really began, he returned to Prussia and began construction of a small cottage in Hannover.

Aldric then began to get into politics and helped Otto von Bismarck in some instances and helped with securing information during the First Slevsig War in which he was a Supply Commander in charge of reinforcing and maintaining food supply lines to the troops. After this, he became more of a politician and retired from military life forever choosing to live in Berlin primarily. During the 2nd Slevsig War and the subsequent Austro-Prussian War, he kept in contact with Greif and his children (Greif died during the 2nd Slevsig War) and after helped them adapt to a new Prussia.

This is the time in which Aldric became known as an "immortal". In once incident he fell down a flight of stairs in Berlin (at 76), yet stood up and walked to the Parliament building. Another instance happened when he contracted bronchitis at 84 and survived to make an almost-full recovery. He left politics after this and moved down to Bavaria to help strengthen his lungs. It was around this point, that Wolfgang von Hauptmann and Theresa Hartmann married and started construction of the Passau Castle (often referred to as the Hauptmann Abbey). Aldric lived in the Abbey alongside his grandchildren and great-grandchildren often telling stories of the Napoleonic era and his "office job" in the 1st Slevsig War. Aldric, also taught his children about alchemy and was a donor to the Illuminati organization. Although he was an unofficial member, it is believed that Greif was and thus the whole Hauptmann family was allowed to be apart.

Aldric finally kicked the bucket on June 27, three days after the Illuminati headquarters was destroyed in a bombing. Ludwig von Hauptmann was killed as well as the remaining Illuminati members. Aldric returned to the Dark Realm after living 120 years in the human realm and returned to his job as the Grim Reaper and began to create the "Ghost Army" in his free time and watching over the Hauptmann family (specifically Otto and Frans).

THE PROPHECY

It is mostly unknown where Aldric got the prophecy and whether or not it was a hoax. Supposedly the Oracle (while Aldric was on his tenth incarnation) told Aldric that because of his actions and as one last punishment, "that one of his children's children would, against all odds, become the dominant ruler of the planet and that his empire would span galaxies and rule for a thousand years- nothing more, nothing less- and then the cycle would continue. This child will seem innocent and uninterested in this and then will cause the deaths of millions if not billions and when they die, their children will take over and cause millions of deaths and so on until it collapses under its own weight.  Then the family will die, save for one."

Aldric, originally skeptical of this due to the impossibilities at the time, began to think that it was true. And for the most part, tried to prevent it until he realized that it was fruitless and that if it were true, he'd only be delaying the inevitable. He told this to his children and grandchildren in an attempt to quell any imperialistic thoughts (mostly because of him remembering the Napoleonic Wars and Napoleon's ambitions).

Supposedly, before World War Two, Aldric went into a state of insanity to the extent that he ran into the Demon Forest and was unable to find his way back until a little before World War Two where a German general who had died informed him of how Germany was doing. Aldric was indeed prepared to do what he had been preparing for, but was relieved when the Nazis and Japan were defeated in only around a decade and a half.

IN THE MAIN STORY

In the main story, Aldric is originally a villain that tried to put as much of a concrete wall in the path of Planty and Wayde. He was the cause of many of the supernatural events that transpired in the first few seasons before being confronted by them one Halloween after he attempted to claim Wayde's soul after he forgot to do seventy years ago. He becomes more friendly towards the group around Season 4 where they band together to stop Werner from causing chaos and havoc in the world. In one episode, they banish Werner to Tartarus, but escapes with the help of Tartarus after Werner told him he was trying to kill Planty, whose father was a lover of Gaia (Terra) at one point and was still salty about it. Using Aldric's alchemy book, they summon the Four Horseman (Aldric included) and use them to reign havoc on the Group. This continues to happen until Planty and Wayde, with the help of Cerberus stops Werner once more and banish him to the Void where he meets Thanos. Thanos uses Werner's intellect to escape and reclaim his throne.

Thanos does finds all six of the Infinity Stones and does manage to kill numerous of the Group's friends, but due to their extreme amount of Plot Armor (provided by Planty), most survive. Aldric however, is banished, and Thanos' goons start a siege on the Divine Temple. Aldric, Cerberus, Shaquila, and Fritz manage to escape to the Human realm and wind up in Romania where they camp, waiting for Planty and the Group to arrive aboard the Bayern. The move to Moldova and camp there where Leifur and Andrew arrive in time for the Bayern to also arrive. This is where Aldric experiments with alchemy in an attempt to regain his powers, to no avail. After misreading an instruction in the book, he accidentally changes to a woman and causes multiple parallel universes to collide. Although their universe doesn't, it is known that many others are destroyed but that it has stopped.

Aldric becomes Diana and eventually develops romantic feelings for Leifur and unwanted attention (especially from Klara). She is present at the Battle of the Seven Armies in Belgium where she commands a cavalry corp that does manage to cut off the main army from the ports. In the end, she goes to live with Leifur.

Relationships
Otto von Hauptmann- although he is his great-great grandfather, he does try to mess around with Planty by putting needless obstacles in his way, much to Planty's annoyance. It is also made clear that Aldric can be a heavy drinker and a bit cocky which Planty feels that he already has to deal with two of them excluding himself and that one more is too many. Nevertheless, he is patient with Aldric knowing his previous history of banishments and inability to support long-lasting friendships (that are healthy). It is also theorized that Planty got the immortality serum after a large amount of help from Aldric who only gave three and one to extend the lifetime.

Wayde- he originally sees him as a competitor of inferior value and originally wants to destroy him, although eventually realized that Shaquila was happy with Wayde and did not bother them. He does try to reclaim his soul, although his true motives was to allow Shaquila and Wayde to be closer together, since he felt their relationship was strained. After the Divorce War, he tries to friendly with Wayde, although this usually doesn't end well (they commonly fight each other to the extent that they must be transported to an uninhabited planet for the safety of the humans on Earth.

Shaquila- she is Aldric's first attempted conquest and has attempted to woo her for many a millennia, failing but still on good terms with her. It does get to the point, where he would "kill" Wayde so they could be together.

Fritz- he is one of Aldric's closest friends, mostly after the Napoleonic era since the were both cousins. Fritz usually is the factor that convinces Aldric to help Planty and the Group or just people in general. Occasionally, Aldric finds his parties and orgies a bit over-the-top and annoying to the extent that he will vacation in Siberia just to get away from it all.

Cerberus- he is Aldric's closest friend since the beginning of time and both have endured each other for ages and at this point are almost inseparable. It is theorized that Cerberus is Greif as they both met in the Napoleonic era and both of their families eventually married (three times in total). Whenever Aldric is away, Cerberus does hold down the fort quite well and usually guards the Gates to Hell and does help organize the Werewolves to attack during the Battle of the Seven Armies.

Leifur- although originally indifferent, as Diana, he starts to develop feelings towards him which causes awkwardness between them originally. However, it does not seem to deter either one of them in the end. Supposedly, Leifur took a liking to her because "she is the only person I feel I wouldn't crush" referring to Aldric maintaining his stellar height.