Emil Zsoldos

A violent, impetuous officer with an insatiable hunger for physical valor. Though he has commendable strength as a fighter, every battle is just a challenge to inflict and endure as much pain as possible.

He welcomes chaos of all sorts, though he doesn’t have enough honor to stifle complaints if he gets hit.

• While Emil enjoys brutality more than anything, he doesn’t get ordered to do so often. On the battlefield, he is both a human shield and a generator of shields, so, strategically, his role is to protect rather than destroy.
  • He is one of the few characters who actively bemoan their Value. For him, GUARD is a curse and the bane of my existence, even though it enables him to do all sorts of damage to his body.
  • He has complained copiously about this to commander and coworker Regina Pretorius. She is usually the one to throw him back into position whenever he sneaks off to the bloodier front lines.
• Along with his Armed Forces identification tag, he wears a necklace with two Hungarian army tags. He claims that they’re his most prized possessions, despite them being worn and presumably decades old.
• Recreational reading is limited to men’s health, outdoor lifestyle, and raunchy pin-up magazines.
• Across the bridge of his nose is a scar he’s had since childhood, before the maturation of his Value.
  • The scar’s origin story has been inconsistent across different retellings. One involved a mine; another featured a ninja with a shuriken (for some reason).
• National pride is merely a means for his own goals. Emil has voiced plenty of reservations about the country he’s serving, and he still considers Hungary his ‘true’ homeland. But his position hinges on public perception of the military, so he’s smart enough not to say anything that’ll get him ousted for good.
  • An aspect he holds in genuine esteem is the strength and scope of the American military. Though he can’t say if they’re the most righteous, he brags that they’re the best in the world.
  • He tends to treat international affairs like sports games, provoking soldiers of other countries by being overly patriotic (and facetiously xenophobic). Anything to get them to swing first.
• Despite reveling in hand-to-hand combat, Emil frequently loses the fights he picks with seasoned fighters. His battle strategy hinges too much on his impulses and lack of self-preservation. He is also a horrifically sore loser.
• Bulletproof vests are a staple of his outfits, even as a civilian. He brags that his Value would do a fine job on its own, and that the government forces him to wear it as a precaution (like giving an olympic swimmer a fucking lifejacket).
• Least favored among his compatriots and unpopular with the public at large, Emil has long accepted his fate of being hated by others. He even considered becoming a Super at one point - on the villain’s side, that is.
  • What stopped him from descending into professional villainy was his acceptance into The Program’s 195th season, which would lead to his position of power within the military. Otherwise, he would’ve felt ‘inspired’ by Regina’s stint into superherodom to explore the exact opposite.
  • Fellow student and friend (?) Vera Zhou also played a part in preventing this, threatening to beat his ass backwards until he turned Lime-colored if he committed to such a lifestyle.
• One of his phases as a teenager was a greaser style akin to the 1950’s. It fit with his delinquent image, and he still has his old leather jacket from this time.
• One of his phases as a child was dinosaurs. America’s cultural fanaticism of the ancient reptiles had a heavy influence on him once he moved to the country, and it helped him assimilate all the quicker. Even now, he spends extra time in the pre-historic sections during his history museum trips.
  • He rejects the modern notion that dinosaurs were more bird-like in nature. Science be damned.
  • His favorite dinosaur is the stegosaurus. When he had first encountered a Testutcheon, he thought it was one and freaked out accordingly.
• Driving a tank is his favorite non-hand-to-hand-combat activity. The first time he had the chance to enter one was when he was very young (he was bouncing off the walls with excitement), and the novelty has yet to wear off. Unfortunately, his tank privileges have been tightly moderated ever since a handful of incidents.
• Like his current coworkers, he had attended a prestigious academy as an adolescent. He cared little about his grades, skipping classes and getting into fights nearly every day. But nothing entertained him more than dumbass friendship drama, which he witnessed plenty of.
  • Vera claims that he was only immune to such drama because few people gave a damn about him in the first place. They also claim to have befriended him with deep reluctance.
• Unlike a recovery Value, GUARD does nothing to expedite the healing process once damage breaks through the barrier of entry. As a result, Emil has spent his fair share stewing and seething at the hospital.
• Stray dogs appear often in warzones. Emil tends to sneak out during mealtimes to feed them scraps.
  • He’s informally adopted a few over the years. Currently, he has two - Sobo and Somi. They’ve trained enough to occasionally accompany him in war.
• Though he enjoys innuendos and a fine form as much as the next guy, he’s much more interested in fighting than any other intimate activity. And based on the strangely affectionate manner he can throw fists sometimes, such aggression may be his love language.