Ludwig

### Affiliations

Lucy Lacemaker, Shuck, Fontaine, Wexle, Sullivan, Helgan, Fleisher, Hyzenthlay, Winifred

### Relatives

Mother (Unnamed) -Deceased- Father (Unnamed) -Deceased-

### Love interests

Helgan (Former Mate)Helen Merchant -Deceased-

### Likes

Precision, politics, work, order, Ludwig has also taken a liking towards human food

### Dislikes

Humans in general, reckless or immature behavior

**Ludwig** is a character in Satellite City. The Grand Voice of the Kivouachians, he is the leader of their current operations and, through the hybridization experiments, aims to create a new Kivouack.

## Appearance

### Physical appearance

Ludwig is a tall, gangly humanoid with a skeletal frame, bone-colored skin, and long, lanky limbs. His fiery orange-and-red hair splays out from the top of his head and runs down the back of his thin, foot-long neck like a mane, and sways about on its own accord. His face is gaunt and skull-like, with beady orange eyes set in deep black sockets, sharp cheekbones, and a chiseled but flat nose that appears to be no more than two slits. His mouth stretches from ear to ear, full of red needle-like teeth that lock tight together, giving his mouth the appearance of being flayed open like a "Glasgow Grin". A smaller set of outer teeth interlace where his lips meet at the middle, making his mouth appear smaller than it actually is.

Going down Ludwig's neck are a four blood-red slits from where multiple white quill jut out like fish bones, the largest being on opposite sides of his head, curling around his head and neck like a collar. From the neck down, his anatomy is more conventionally humanoid with broad shoulders and a narrow waist. His hands each have five fingers and a thumb tipped with black claws. Much of Ludwig's height is taken up by his long legs, which are digitigrade in shape and end in raptor-like feet with five huge, sickle-shaped claws.

### Clothing

Ludwig wears a long black and yellow-striped coat tailored by Fontaine himself, with a large collar, loosely-tied waist belt, and four long tails hanging down to his ankles. The collars, cuffs, and waist belt are solid black. Underneath of all of this he wears a black and yellow damask-patterned vest with red buttons, a red cravat, and rust-colored dress pants that splay out at the ankle. A red handkerchief sits in his breast pocket. Most of Ludwig's outfit, his coat especially, appears worn and faded with age. It is currently unknown what Ludwig looks like without his coat on.

## Personality

Ludwig is generally bitter, cold, and very unsympathetic towards the feelings of others, especially if it gets in the way of things he deems important. He's extremely hardworking and dedicated to his goal of keeping the Kivouack alive and quite literally never stops working towards it. He's obsessive about scientific theories and experiments, natural selection, and the identity of Mandus; the creature responsible for the downfall of the Kivouack. Ludwig has sacrificed a lot emotionally for this goal, and likely will not stop at nothing to reach it. He has been noted to be an expert in psychological warfare and trained under Fontaine in his earlier days of scheming in the Kivouack. His intelligence and talent was extraordinary, which led him to be known and respected by most high political figures (which later granted him rank as Whisper to Winifred).

Curiously enough Ludwig actually seems to be quite emotionally complex, and has a very strong fear of losing others since the downfall of the Kivouachians. He wants to do what's best for others because he's scared he'll lose them, just like he lost Lucy all those years ago.

## Background

As a younger creature, Ludwig surpassed many with his cunning and ruthless nature, but lacked ambition. Young Kivouachians were left to feed and educate themselves, they would often steal food or eat each other. Only the strong would grow to full size. Ludwig was able to manipulate others and was a master of psychological warfare. He really hit his stride when he befriended the young Lucy Lacemaker. The two would pull off scandals, heists, and terrorise the older creatures with their brilliant minds.

Eventually, Lucy was taken in by a creature called Sombra, a wise and well read master of history and law. This led to Lucy becoming the top judge in the Kivouack and The Voice of the Court. Ludwig was taken in by Fontaine who taught him the true mastery of scheming and manipulation. Under Fontaine's guidance, Ludwig became a famous name in the Kivouack, as well as a respected one. His talents were under-utilized in the beginning, as he started out as a glorified butler to the political leaders of their world. He soon became a friend to many important figures. Eventually, he grew to become one of the top advisers to Winifred, acting as her Whisper.

Winifred delighted in toying with those who worked under her, yet she took little interest in Ludwig as The Grand Voice, Locket, wanted him for her mate. This allowed Ludwig to avoid Winifred’s imaginative cruelty, yet due to his fear of Locket it also made his life difficult. During this time, Ludwig was in a relationship with Helgan, one of the greatest political figures of their time. Their relationship was public knowledge, so at her first opportunity, Locket had Helgan contorted into a seat where she remained for countless years.

Once Helgan was in her place, Locket continued to pursue Ludwig and almost succeeded. But upon seeing her private chambers, Ludwig promptly fled.

Ludwig was the only one who spoke out against the high politicians regarding the threat of Mandus, but he was declared insane and relieved of his duties. Once Lucy Lacemaker went missing, Ludwig ventured into the Madness Frontier to find her. Locket sent Shuck and Wexle to arrest him, but after an engagement with a follower of Mandus, Shuck was left wounded and Wexle was left in pieces. Ludwig escaped during the confusion of combat.

After the Kivouack was destroyed, Ludwig was forced into leadership by the very creatures who condemned his warnings as madness. Ludwig, cold and bitter due to the loss of many friends, reluctantly agreed and drew up plans to bring the Kivouack back to glory and make their world anew.

## Abilities

**Immortality:** All Kivouachian's are immortal due to their cellular structure and the ability to control the length of their own telomeres, because of this they cannot die naturally of age. The only way a Kivouachian can die is if their DNA is damaged and left un-mended.

**Regeneration:** Kivouachian's are capable of regenerating skin, limbs, tissue, and other body parts. Even dismemberment is of little threat to them.

**Transformation:** Kivouachian's have the ability to rewrite their own DNA and density at the flick of the wrist, giving them the freedom to re-create parts of themselves whenever they'd like to whatever they'd like (ex; Wexle's arms turning into blades when she fights Dorothy, Lucy Lacemaker turning herself into a swarm of flies, etc).

**Contortion:** Sometimes Kivouachian's were dismembered at the head for whatever reason it may be; sometimes for pleasure and sometimes for play. But all have the ability to stay alive for extremely long periods of time without the head. Of course this becomes invalid once the head is eaten, burned, or dissolved, but if not - they are simply unconscious. Those with weak genes will usually die after a couple thousand years without their heads on, and most will need aid when it comes to actually putting it back on. But there are the rare, lucky few (ex; Lucy Lacemaker) who's heads will naturally return to their bodies without help.

## Relationships

Lucy Lacemaker - Close childhood friend to Ludwig. The two of them met at a very young age and spent most of their time together pulling off heists, scandals, trading illegal body parts, and killing the weaker creatures of the Kasino in exchange for knowledge about their kind. Fontaine took them in as apprentices, and the two of them stayed close throughout the years as both of them moved up the political ladder. In current time however, their relationship seems much more problematic since Ludwig is scared of losing her and appears to be torn between the survival of the Kivouachian's and his friendship with Lucy.

Shuck - Ludwig and Shuck used to be very close during the Mandus conflict when the two of them ventured into the Madness Frontier to find Lucy Lacemaker. He even helped Shuck stop blood-letting in the 1500s. No matter what, Ludwig will always have a deep respect for Shuck, but nowadays they have grown distant and are definitely not as close as they used to be.

Fleischer - Ludwig doesn't like Fleischer, avoids him, and blames a lot of what happened during the Mandus conflict on him. They don't speak much nowadays.

Winifred - Naturally, he feared Winifred and was very anxious around her during his days as her Whisper. Ludwig knows Winifred's true nature, and seems to be frustrated that she isn't what she used to be.

Hyzenthlay - Ludwig sees Hyzenthlay as more of an object of success than he does a true Kivouachian. He knows what she is and is partially the reason for her existence. He does, however, tell her she is "remarkable", and even encourages her to prove her worth, should she want to try and earn her place in Kivouachian society.

Sullivan - Met in 1996, Ludwig seems to tolerate Sullivan and cooperates with him when needed.

Wexle - Used to be against Ludwig in the beginning as she was a warrior and nothing more than that. Currently she is his right-hand lady and is just as feared and respected as Ludwig is.

Fontaine - Without Fontaine who knows where Ludwig would've been? Fontaine is a (fatherly) mentor figure to Ludwig and has known him since he was a child. He taught him everything he needed to know about the arts, performance, scheming, not to mention manipulation and thievery too. Ludwig works alongside Fontaine now and seems to accept his words of advice.

Helgan - Former mate and the first and only to survive her in a relationship. Funny enough, Ludwig was the more dominant of the two. After her contortion into Locket's throne however, their relationship ended. He no longer likes her on a personal level and nowadays Helgan serves beneath him.

Felicity - Ludwig seems to find Felicity to be somewhat of a nuisance, trying to limit his time around her to be as short as possible.

Quinn - He's quite dismissive of him and sees him as nothing more than a messenger.

Sombra - Respects him just as deeply as he respects Fontaine. It's noted that Sombra has possibly taught Ludwig how to fight in battle.

Locket - Ludwig undeniably had a fear of Locket. Unfortunately for him, Locket liked him on a personal level and she almost succeeded in pursuing him until the day Ludwig saw her private quarters and fled. The both of them are now hostile towards each other, and are both the leaders of their respective parties which are currently against each other.

Helen Merchant - A girl who lived in 1734, Ludwig fell in love with her but he was forced to watch time kill her. She grew old and died at Broadgreen Hospital, Liverpool. Outliving her made Ludwig furious, and he decided to remain distant from humans.

## In Character Trivia

* Closest friend of Lucy Lacemaker, yet he no longer trusts her completely after her disappearance.
* Mentored by Fontaine and Sombra.
* Used to have an entirely different appearance.
* Served as a Whisper to Winfred in the past.
* Helped create Hyzenthlay.
* Caused WWI and WWII.
* Former enemy to Wexle, his own right-hand man.
* It's been noted that Ludwig never wanted to become a political figure and was originally rejected for being too unmotivated. Lucy Lacemaker was graciously accepted however, thus separating the two. It was at that point that Ludwig worked vigorously to become a politician, if only to be reunited with his friend.
* Obsessed with the identity of Mandus and what happened to those who were taken by him.
* Is the current Grand Voice and leader of Kivouachian's.
* Still has an immature and violent side of himself that possibly interferes with his emotions.
* He's actually quite fond of human food.
* Is bitter towards all humans and hates their species as a whole, he even goes as far as to confiscate books containing their literature.
* There's lots of contradicting statements about Ludwig's relationship with his parents, but it can be said that he either killed them both alongside Lucy, or refused to kill his father himself.
* According to Sullivan, his favorite flower is Ragwort.

## Out of Character Trivia

* **You Belong**: Ludwig's design was based on the Smiler - a rollercoaster at Alton Towers, Staffordshire.
* **Changes:** Ludwig has undergone many changes over the course of their existence. Based on previous teases on Twitter, Ludwig has taken on four distinct looks over the course of their creation. Their first model was played by a physical performer. Their second was purely CGI but utterly human. Their third was the first appearance in Show itself, and the fourth is their current appearance. Technically, one could consider a fifth form, which was their very Goth appearance, 7 Billion Years ago.