Alden Damian Holzknecht

Name: Alden Damian Holzknecht
Nickname/Alias: Al, Damian, Denman

Age: 17

Gender: Male

Species: Human

Affiliation: Alden joined the Survivors along with his childhood friend, Colton Argo.

Relations: He is the sole survivor of his family, formally known as Clan Holzknecht. The only relations he has left in this radiated world is the blood brother of Colton Argo, and the master of his wooden crafts.

Height: 5'7

Weight: 135 lbs

Appearance:


Weapons: Alden primarily fights with the wooden swords he handcrafts, with such skill and emotional craftsmanship that he bonds together a sword that rivals even the toughest of metals.

Personality: Alden is a strong-willed individual, and sticks to the teachings of ancient Chinese and German customs, which he mixes together into a unique code of conduct and ethics. He believes in shouldering the burdens of all those who are weak or troubled, and often gets him and Colton in sticky situations when he lends his jubilant trust to the wrong company.

Sexuality: Alden often makes gay jokes to his best bud Colton, but in reality, he is heterosexual. He tends to boost his vigilant morals within earshot of attractive ladies.

Preferences: A girl who can handle a sword with a sense of justice. Anyone who is down to Earth, and is willing to roll with the punches. A toned body and stomach also gets Alden rather randy, as the expression goes.

Likes:
-Craftsmanship
-Chocolate Mint Pocky
-Sparring
-Kicking ass

Dislikes:
-Hostility and rudeness
-Using guns
-Stealing (unless it's robbing the rich and snobby)
-American food

History/Biography:

  Alden was born in Hanover, Germany, to a family of 8. His parents quickly became burdened with so many adolescent mouths to feed, and at the young age of 6, Alden Damian Holzknecht was sent on a carriage across Eurasia and into the Northern provinces of China, to a homely village known as Anakoro. It was there that Alden lived with his Uncle Faust, the local Dojo Sensei for kendo and martial arts, and grew up tending both a lively dojo and a small farm on the rural outskirts of Anakoro. Alden grew up with two close friends, the son of the respected Argo family, Colton Argo, and the daughter of famous War General Okumura, Ane Okumura.

  His uncle had seen the potential in Alden's wooden craftsmanship, and had given the boy lessons early-on in the crafting of kendo swords, which Alden had rapidly grown in love with. Where other kids were given toys and knick-knacks for their birthdays, Alden Holzknecht was given foreign wood materials, stripped from exotic trees native to all different regions of the world. The boy would eagerly craft these materials into weapons and other miscellaneous objects he would present to his friends; one year he had presented a wooden model for a sword-but-at-the-same-time-a-gun to his best friend Colton, but whatever he did with that, Alden never knew. He had also gifted Ane with an assortment of hand-carved wooden birds of all different species, some of which were not native to the dense forests surounding Anakoro, and all of which the young girl had hung from the ceiling of her room, bringing them to life with suspended flight and a calming breeze that always passed through her bedroom. Alden continued this craftwork, and had begun a profitable and laborious occupation carving ornate furniture and other such requests for the citizens of Anakoro, which he mostly spent on funding his Pocky obsession, and secretly for buying odd mechanical devices in broken status, for which he would give to Colton to repair, Alden loving every second of watching his best friend perform such a unique style of craft and building the three a hang-out den that rivaled the adolescent wonderment of childhood dream fort.

  All of this was torn from him when the Bomb of Anakoro Province had devastated his village and his very existence. When Alden woke up from his brief comatose, he found himself lying under the charred body of his Uncle Faust, the only feature unscathed on the old man's body was a smile, whose warmth rivaled the very Bomb itself. He gently placed his Uncle's body under the tallest sakura tree in the dojo garden not but a few yards to their left, as they had been walking back from the grocery store when the weapon of mass destruction made impact. Surprisingly enough, the dojo was still standing, though Alden could quickly spot the rapid decay in strength from the building's support, his vast knowledge of wood and architecture easily pin-pointing his peripheral to the dojo's weak points. The building was seemingly waiting for Alden, and he knew exactly what he had to do in that situation. He walked quickly into the dojo, gathering all the sources of varying woods from his collection, as well as his Uncle's favorite bomber jacket (the irony made his stomach do flips). The boy, who had turned 17 earlier that month, grabbed his Uncle's kendo sword from the ground and stabbed it into the floorboard of the front porch, Alden falling to his knees in-motion and rapidly stringing off both Chinese and Germanic prayers, along with the oath one took when receiving the title of dojo sensei, and finally capping the honorary ritual sermons with the motto of Clan Holzknecht; 'Onward the Light casts'. When he turned and walked down the stony path leading towards the rest of the village, the dojo had finally given in to the laws of physiques and collapsed in one big cacophony, echoing a rhythm that Alden would recall for the rest of his life.

  Alden sauntered poignantly through the devastated ruins of his town, paying homage to the antiquities and corpses of his past, when he had finally found the safe-spot of Colton Argo. Alden quickly hoisted his friend, who was far more injured than he, and sat him down gently on the well, slinging one arm over his blood brother while they sobbed together. When they mustered the strength to carry on, they ventured to the abode of Ane Okumura- or the remnants of it. Though the house was obliterated, the signs of human-interference with the natural positioning of blasted stone and stucco and small footprints through the thick ash that caked the ground, the two were convinced their childhood friend had survived. Eagerly, they followed the trail until it died out on the very edge of Anakoro. They knew it led South, and together they ventured, determined to start anew, and Alden carried within him the secret desire to return his childhood sweetheart to them. Whether she had lived or not, they figured it was the best start.

And so they survived.