A brilliant East German electrical engineer, Kobel Schmitt, while researching and inventing an experimental perpetual dynamo that would provide East Germany with limitless electrical power, instead, became a pariah of the engineering community, leading him to eventually create the weapon known as the "Crimson Lightning".

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Kobel Schmitt worked tirelessly for over a decade devising a perpetual nuclear dynamo. Although the scientific and engineering communities knew the potential of this machine, the western world considered his work as that of a 'crackpot' and a 'scientific idiot'. That didn't stop the East Germany government from fully funding his work and research.  In 1990, he'd finally built a small-scale version of his nuclear dynamo; that's when the Berlin Wall fell and East Germany was no more.

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Earlier that same year, he met his childhood sweetheart and got back together. After months of time together, he was ready to marry her, but fate had a different plan for them.

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Literally overnight, Kobel's funding and research was shutdown. The new 'reunification' government informed Kobel that he and his team were instead being reassigned to the remote Markersbach Pumped Storage Power Plant.  Kobel instead fought to prove his perpetual dynamo's operation, yet the new government prevented him from doing so, at one point calling his experiment as nothing more than 'junk science'. Kobel knew he had to prove himself and his theories first before he and his fiancee' could get married. In a blindly sent letter, Kobel told her to wait for him, that he would contact her after he'd proven his theory and they would have a perfect life together; a life with Kobel being a premiere scientist.

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Angrily, but with deep focus, Kobel went to the new power plant in Markersbach.  While there, he secretly tested his new perpetual nuclear dynamo against government orders.

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It worked; in fact, it worked so well, that even in its diminutive scaled-size, it was able to easily create the same 1,050 MWs of power that the dam's hydro-electrical power plant could produce at 100% capacity.  When Kobel went to inform his fellow scientists and engineers, they turned him in for using nuclear materials without authorization.  When he tried to get a letter back to his fiancee', they intercepted it and burned it in front of him.  Kobel was placed in a German prison without formal documents, and was placed in a dark solitary cell, with no contact with anyone than his assigned guards. The government never found the equipment plans, since Kobel hid them minutes before his capture. Only Kobel knew the secrets of his perpetual dynamo.

 

In 2010, the new Prison Warden discovered Kobel. After an uneventful investigation, they release a broken, dying Kobel back into society. 

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Kobel blamed the new reunified German government for all it did to him. He blamed the newly reunified Germany government for his inability to complete his life's work, as well as loose the only woman he'd ever loved.

 

He swore vengeance against them.

 

Using his original designs (which he found untouched where he'd previously hidden them), Kobel built a battle-suit powered by his perpetual nuclear dynamo engine in its original size.  As such, he was able to create remarkable amounts of electrical energy, and at times, even stronger levels.  He fashioned a flight pack and armor system, as well as gauntlets that could discharge the large amounts of electrical energy for nearly 100 yards.  There was, however, one major problem: Kobel was too old and feeble to wear the armor.  He knew he'd have to recruit someone, but hadn't gotten to that stage of his plan at that point. That's when fate once again stepped in.

 

While watching German television, he saw an impassioned plea from a young man hoping that the viewers wouild help him find his long lost father.  The young man said his name was Antov Schmitt and that he was the son of Kobel Schmitt, a famous yet maligned Soviet-era nuclear scientist.  The young man had been informed of his father's unprecedented incarceration in prison, and had been looking for his father since.  He wanted to find him and reconnect.  He put out a number on the screen and asked people if they knew of or about his father's current whereabouts of condition to call and let him know.

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Kobel called the next day and arranged a one-on-one, no media, meeting in a park.

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There, in the park, Kobel met his son Antov; the father was reunited with a son he'd never known about.  Over the next hour, Antov explained that his mother, Kobel's choldhood sweetheart, gave birth several months after he'd left to Markersbach.  She'd attempted to contact him several times, but received no word form him nonetheless. The first four years were difficult; the economy was stagnant, the jobs were few and as a result, Antov's mother died one grueling winter while trying to keep Antov warm from the elements. Luckily for Antov, he was taken in and cared for by a socialist Eastern Germany family.  By 2008, Antov was off to study electrical engineering in Berlin, that is until 2011 when he was told about his real father by the socialist family was was raised by.  These 'foster' parents were also members of a secretive group called "Condor Legion", an anachronistic group bent on restoring a socialist regime back to Germany and Europe.  Antov had been recruited into the Condor Legion as one of their engineers.  When the Condor Legion's leader, Condor Commander, learned about Antov's father and the potentially powerful weapon it could be, Condor Commander told Antov to do all he could to 'find' his father and get him to work with Condor Legion.

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Kobel listened to the story, at times crying, at other times, in complete disbelief of what he was hearing.  He told Antov of the suit he was building and that he hoped to find a candidate that could wear the armor and use it to punish the reunified German government for all they did to him...and his family.  Antov and Kobel hugged a long hug and went off together to meet Condor Commander...but not without being spied upon the whole time by a member of G.U.AR.D.

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Over the next month, Antov and Kobel worked tirelessly together to refine the suit's capabilities.  They'd visited Antov's mother's grave together, and spent quality time, making up for all they'd lost between themselves.  All during this time, Condor Commander was plotting the use of the suit for a massive raid at several nuclear and electrical generating stations, depriving most of Germany of their electrical power.   Kobel, however, intended to have Antov wear the suit and destroy Markersbach completely.  Condor Commander didn't have an issue with the Markersbach destruction, but considered it 'petty' in the grand scheme of things, Finally, the suit was completed and Antov tested it on the Markersbach Pumped Storage Power Plant.

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The facility was obliterated in less than a minute. the suit worked beyond everyone's hopes.

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As part of their phase II, Antov was to fly off to Berlin to the Reaktorsicherheitkommission or Reactor Safety Commission (RSK) Building.  There, he was to destroy most of the facility's buildings, making the plant inoperable for at least several months.  That's when GUARD stepped in and raided one of Condor Legion's alternate bases in Bonn, Germany.  There, GUARD troops took down over 50 Condor Legionnaires and captured dozens of Condor Legion engineers and scientists, once such engineer being Kobel Schmitt. As GUARD was downloading the Crimson Lighting schematics, Condor Commander appeared on the scene and destroyed the computers with all of the Crimson Lightning plans and designs in them.  GUARD agents tried to whisk away the captured engineers and scientists, however, Condor Commander was not about to let his secrets be taken.  Condor Commander not only killed the GUARD troops escorting the capture engineers and scientists, but also killed every single captured engineer and scientist, including Antov's father, Korbel Schmitt.  In an attempt to further destroy his alternate base, Condor Commander set off a series of plasma bombs in the facility, completely and utterly destroying everything...and everyone...there.

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The only one to escape the alternate base was Condor Commander himself. Condor Commander told his legions that GUARD was responsible for bombing the facility, killing everyone there.  Antov, after returning for the RSK mission, was devastated to hear of his father's death by GUARD's hand.  From that point on, Antov swore a blood oath to Condor Commander that he would work with them until his (Antov's) death.

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Antov, as the "Crimson Lightning", continues his hardened stance against the democracies of Europe and Germany, fighting for the Condor Legion's goals and for vengeance against GUARD who he still believes was responsible for murdering his father.

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Antov is a very intimidating man whose anger and resentment of his non-socialists drives his intense hatred of anything or anyone related to or working with/for Europe, the newly reunified Germany, the United States and/or GUARD.  Since joining Condor Legion, Antov has built a larger version of his father's perpetual nuclear dynamo at the Condor Legion's HQ called "The Aerie".  It can produce 100 GWs of power, and has no radiation or thermal issues, thus masking the legion's base from prying satellite and airborne sensors.

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Fueled with anger and driven by his operational perpetual nuclear dynamo, the "Crimson Lightning" intends to make the west pay for his father's death, as well as the indirect cause of his mother's death.

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