Ludwig Weillschmidt

Character Name: Ludwig Weillschmidt

X-Men / Brotherhood Code Name: Panzer

Age: 15

Appearance:

Spoiler:

Mutant Abilities: Ludwig's ability has two attributes to it. Firstly, he is extraordinarily strong: he can move heavy objects easily and break or destroy normally tough materials. While his strength is maybe around five times that of a normal human, he also exercises and trains regularly to increase this, and he's still young, so he has the potential to heighten his abilities. He is also more durable than average, and it takes quite a hard beating to bring him down, although he is naturally a stubborn person and doesn't quit easily on anything.

Secondly, while Ludwig is very strong, his body is still human, and he's especially vulnerable to things like knives or bullets. This is where the other half of his ability comes into play: he can temporarily convert his entire body to a metal similar to titanium. In that form, it is very, very difficult (but not impossible) to physically harm him. However, the conversion makes him slower, and also takes a lot of energy and stamina: he's only been able to maintain it for a half-hour at the longest before having to take a rest. As his recovery abilities are the same as any normal humans, this can be very draining.

X-Men or Brotherhood: X-Men

Sexuality: One of the many things he is currently trying to learn about.

Personality: In contrast to his older brother's fluctuating personality and occasionally wild attitude, Ludwig is quiet, serious, and realistic, cool-headed and rational in even the most stressful circumstances. He is also patient, and although he has a hard time controlling his temper when he loses it, it takes a serious offense to push him to that point. Despite his age, he's both responsible and organized, although he tends to be a bit of a control-freak at times and doesn't like when he isn't able to change things to his liking. Despite this, he tries his best to get along with people, although he won't hesitate to speak his mind when someone is bothering him. Strangely, aside from being very frank, Ludwig is rather poor at expressing himself and tends to tone down or hide his emotions; however, he blushes easily for a variety of reasons and will snap at people if he is irritated.

As he is still young, Ludwig is rather naive, but somehow considers this a personal failing rather than a reasonable thing to be at age fifteen. Even besides that, he's naturally curious and enjoys learning about all kinds of new subjects and things; as his main goal at the moment is to graduate, this is a good thing, and he's quite a capable student. Interestingly, again in the opposite of his brother, Ludwig is rather shy, and doesn't handle compliments or praise smoothly: he dislikes being the center of attention and when given the opportunity, will keep to himself. However, he is much more open emotionally around people he trusts.

Background: Ludwig was born and raised in Germany and, although he speaks good English, he still has a bit of an accent from it (yet another thing he's shy about). For the better part of his life, he lived with Gilbert and his parents: his childhood was absolutely unremarkable, save for the fact that his love of books and slightly anti-social tendencies got him picked on a little bit. He didn't realize that Gilbert had powers and assumed that the frequent shocks he got from touching the other at times were just Gilbert playing pranks on him. Although Gilbert bragged about being special, Gilbert always did that, so the other's unusual disappearance confused and hurt Ludwig. His parents did all they could to find him but after a while, Ludwig began to just hope that he hadn't gotten himself killed.

When his own abilities manifested in early adolescence (and a trip to the library revealed that such a thing wasn't supposed to happen during puberty) he panicked, but as his powers weren't obvious unless he wanted them to be, he quickly learned how to hide and control them as best he could. He also began to honestly wonder about whether Gilbert's bragging might have had any truth in it. Then, just as suddenly as he'd vanished, Gilbert reappeared, looking worse for wear but still very much alive. After catching up with the other, Ludwig decided to accompany Gilbert to America to attend school there instead, and has been there ever since.