Heike Rautaeinen

Heike Rautaneinen is a 25 year-old nomad from Clan Suomalainen based primarily in the cold north-west of Morzov. He met Sly while waiting in a hotel bar, drinking strong vodka and coffee. He met Lili Blu soon after, who turned out to be the person he was there to see; the talented mechanic he had heard of whom he needed to try and fix his ‘t55now Plow’.

When not helping his family and wider nomad clan survive in the frigid north, he does as nomads often do, taking up courrier work, mercenary work, and or whatever job can make use of his driving talents and ability with a rifle.

## Heike Rautainen

### Relatives

Tove Rautanen (Sister)Jonne Rautanen (Brother)

Keino Rautanen (Father)

Liisa Rautanen (Mother)

### Affiliation

Clan SuomalainenFinland

4G

### Occupation

NomadMercenary

Bodyguard

Emergency Boyfriend

## Biographical information

### Place of birth

The Suomalainen Convoy, Somewhere in the far North West

## Appearance

Heike stands at about 5’10 with swept back medium length blonde hair, shorn back and sides. He tends to keep his face clean shaven, which looks windburned and freckled, at least compared to most urban folk.

## Personality

Heike is known for his chill and friendly demeanour and largely positive disposition; he is often found to be smiling as if chuckling at a joke he thought of, but that only he gets. He never sets his expectations too high, so he is rarely disappointed and more easily impressed; this is at least part of how he maintains his calm. He is perfectly happy to just go with the flow and improvise as needs be, trying his best to hide whatever intentions he may have if required, though is fairly blunt when stating them.

His upbringing in the harsh north has meant he has to become adaptable like this; he doesn’t care much for luxury because of this, and is happy with a few home comforts. He knows he is naive to some of the ways of urban life despite being reasonably well travelled in his profession; self-awareness of this is something he uses to his advantage as one of the ways he keeps his true intentions hidden.

His clan’s harsh existence in the north has toughened him up in ways that perhaps shock others; he fears not extremes of climate and isn’t much phased by death. His family taught him how to fight as a means of survival, and has had to do his part to defend his clan in the past. His father gave him a very old rifle said to be over one-thousand years old, a Mosin-Nagant bolt-action, and taught him to use it with great precision. Heike maintains a quiet pride in his rifle and his ability to use it; he is not afraid to use it with deadly force but prefers not to, he knows it's often better to simply offer a smile and a handshake with the loosely slung weapon on display.

He has an odd and mischievous sense of humour, and takes delight in messing with people in largely inoffensive ways (though sometimes, his jokes can hit harder than intended). He loves his music and is often listening to something at any given moment, even if it's just a tune playing in his head; this can sometimes lead to absent minded moments. He also loves to dance when he gets the chance, and has so far proved himself quite talented at doing so.

His existence is one fueled by shockingly high levels of coffee, and he can usually be found brewing strong coffee most mornings. The edge of high-octane caffeine is usually mellowed out with the occasional cigarette and evening vodka, the latter of which he can put away with frightening ease.

When he can, one of his favourite pastimes is to relax in a sauna, often with a beer or two; saunas are his happy place, something he maintains is part of his heritage and key to his good health.

## Background

Heike was raised by his family amongst the Suomalainen nomad clan in the cold northern wastes of Morzov.

His clan claim descendancy from the legendary kingdom of Finland (Suomalainen); a land of the old world back on earth that was famed for warm swamps and cold north, its mastery of lost and advanced technologies (such as the mythical Nokia device of indestructible communication and the King AI of Crushing Candy), legendary creatures such as the fabled Moomins and the monster bard Mister Lordi, and the great hero Queen Saana Gustav Marinnerheim.

As most records of Finland were lost from the databases on Carna, the kingdom has descended into legend and myth with some even denying its existence entirely; Heike and his clan have strived to keep the culture and tradition of Finland alive. Much of his upbringing was with his clan’s old tradition of ‘Sissu’, something not easily understood by outsiders but is perhaps best illustrated by Heike and his clan’s abilty to live comfortably in the harsh north and smile through adversity.

Heike’s clan have always had a penchant for old world tech, believing that even though its is a millennia old, what tech did make its way to Carna and survived is superior. They cite its relative simplicity compared to the Carna tech and its ability to easily resist being digitally tampered with by Carna tech are its reason for its superiority; that and its origins from a time and place in which Finland also existed.

Heike himself is not a techy by any means, but he is used to old world tech and has a quiet preference for it. The Suomalainen Clan maintain a host of old world vehicles, many of which are said to be from the legendary Finnish military itself; these make up the bulk of their convoy, the tracked vehicles being especially prized for their off-road capability. At age 17, owing to his talents a driver, Heike inhereted his father’s tank as his own personal vehicle in the convoy; an old Finnish T-55M dubbed Vainamoinen (Old Man), it is primarily used as a lead vehicle in the convoy with a dozer blade fitted letting it act as a snow plow. It is thus often dubbed ‘t55now Plow’.

Driving cars with great technique and speed has always been considered a old Finnish cultural pastime, one which Heike embraced from a young age. Though he wasn’t too great with the more technical maintenance side of things (often relying on other in his clan to keep his cars running), his knack for driving itself from such a young age earned him a great deal of praise in his clan. Indeed, this is part of why he was bestowed ‘t55now Plow’, an awkward vehicle to drive at the best of times, but Heike could drift the vehicle comfortably. Because of this affinity for driving, he took naturally the stereotypical nomad occupation, courier work.

Heike’s other great skill is shooting; a skill developed out of necessity to defend the clan’s convoy, Heike prides himself on his ability to use a rifle with deadly effect. Much like the ‘t55now Plow’, his Mosin-Nagant is an antique hand-me-down weapon that he has inherited, and takes great care of. He looked to the legend of the ‘White Death’ as his hero in the art of the gun, an unstoppable and deadly warrior from the greater Finnish mythos.

## Pre-Campaign

One morning Heike awoke to find the gears grinding awkwardly and angrily as he tried to get the t55now Plow moving; according to one of his clan’s mechanics, the old transmission had broken and the tank wasn’t going to go anywhere anytime soon under its own power. Despite having the old manuals for the vehicle and quite the pool of talent amongst them, none of the clan’s mechanics felt comfortable enough in their own skills to try and fix it; the elder mechanics who knew had apparently neglected to instruct on T-55 transmission repair and were now too infirm to be of any use in that regard.

One of the clan’s mechanics had heard a rumour about young and rising mechanical protege in Nova Roma, and suggested that they maybe they could fix it; the hands and eyes of a talented outsider might be just what they needed to get the old machine fixed. Heike, eager to see his t55now Plow up and running again, set off almost immediately for Nova Roma, determined to find this mechanic under the impression that they could and would fix his tank. It was this that led Heike to Nova Roma, where he met Sly Mole waiting in motel lobby and eventually the famed mechanic herself, Lili Blu.

## Relationships

### Sly Mole

Heike enjoys Sly’s company. He very much likes that she seems to have enough money to keep him well supplied with coffee and vodka. Heike sees a certain naivety in Sly, which he finds charming and at least a little relatable; he also has a quiet respect for he ballsiness and steadfast determination in pursuit of justice for her father. While Heike may find the jokes about Sly’s privilege funny, he is happy enough with his own lot in not to care too much about it; he’s quite happy to have a friend with money if anything. Part of him wishes Sly would more formally introduce him to her mother… she does have a sauna after all.

### Lili Blu

The fabled mechanic Heike was looking for, he is very glad to have someone who can keep cars running in the form of Lili, and looks forward to the day she’ll fix his t55now Plow. He’s also quietly grateful she can fix people almost as well as she can fix engines, given his life has taken a more immediately dangerous turn as of late. Heike respects Lili for what he sees as her free spirited personality, but does wish she’d be a lot less outwardly anxious sometimes. Heike find’s Lili’s family a little odd, but tries not to judge too harshly as she would surely find his family equally odd.

### Mika Hatsuko

Heike is not entirely sure what is going on with Mika, only that she attracts trouble but at least seems good fun. Heike can respect Mika’s love of the Glock, and is surprised by her apparent vast network of friends and acquaintances, though he does wonder why all her friends seem to be more the criminal and bullying types. Heike is happy to play along being Mika’s boyfriend and or bodyguard, it is a fun deception to him, but will shoot the bullies from her past if required regardless.