User:Hans "Firefox" Raginhart

Appearance
Hans is a red fox, though his fur is a notably dark burnt red, which contrasts to his flaming orange-red hair. He stands 5'10" (178cm) tall, and has an average but fit build. His typical dress is a pair of hiking or combat boots, jeans, a sleeveless black or white t-shirt, and a button down shirt over top of it.  Whether the shirt is tucked or buttoned depends on his mood.  When flying or in cold weather, he wears a worn crimson flight jacket, though he generally carries it even when weather dictates he not wear it.

Birth and Childhood
Hans Paul Raginhart was born to Johann Kristian and Rachael Aria Raginhart on November 11th, 181 AU. He had two siblings, the twins Albricht and Arianna, however Albricht was killed in an accident at the age of 18. Hans’ childhood was not unlike that of many military families. The first thirteen years of his life were spent on Romeo with his siblings and mother, while Johann sailed aboard the Scarlet Blade, for which he was an escort pilot. It was during this time that Hans became fascinated with flight, much to his father’s delight and mother’s chagrin. Many of those days were spent in his tree house, pretending to be a great pilot from the stories Johann would tell him; perhaps the Red Baron, Eddie Rickenbacker, or El Porco Rosso.

In his early teens, he would spend his days sitting at the end of the runways or in the terminal, watching the planes take off and land, and listening to the traders and mercenaries, who always had interesting tales of adventure, combat, and gallantry. One notable that passed through the terminal on a regular basis was Hans’ future friend, Burrito Loco, who he often looked to as an example of a brave and daring combat pilot. Albricht, of whom he was four years senior, would follow him around the airport, asking questions which Hans was all too eager to answer. Albricht would always look up to Hans, although some would say that Albricht had even more natural flying skill than he did.

When Hans was 13, Johann got a temporary two year station on Echo, and taught both Hans and Albricht as much as he could about flying and maintaining combat aircraft. Johann had also saved up enough of his combat pay to buy a personal craft, a decrepit Series I Avenger. Over the next two years, Johann and his sons rebuilt the fighter, from the ground up, and Hans christened it the Red Dusk. It was here that Hans gained much of his knowledge in aircraft mechanics.

Echo Academy of Flight
When Hans was fifteen, he enrolled in the Echo Academy of Flight. Johann’s status in the Armada provided his tuition until his second year, when his academics proved to be lacking. The teachers that taught him anything about aircraft or piloting loved him; his science, history, and composition teachers tolerated him; his social studies and literature teachers despised him. They always commented that, while he had more than enough brains to easily pass any class he put his mind to, he generally didn’t apply himself to a task he deemed not necessary, fun, or interesting.

Having earned his wings in the middle of his second year of flight school, ahead of many of his peers, he took a job in the Academy shuttling people and supplies around the local skylands to pay for his last year of classes. That last year proved to be his best, and he passed the aviation and combat courses with straight A’s, though that could not be said for all of his academics; for many classes, he barely squeaked by. He graduated from the Academy in June of 200, and joined the ranks of the Crimson Armada that fall, finishing boot camp and combat pilot school in February of the following year.

Armada Service
Hans quickly climbed the ranks in the Armada and his skills in combat earned him an elite strike flight, the Immortals, for which he handpicked his three pilots; Abbot Redmond, Kristof Turner, and Krystal Mondjager. During Hans’ second year in the service, Johann retired after 26 years of service, leaving the Red Dusk to Hans. Over the next two years, Hans made it the most combat worthy craft that the Armada had ever seen. He even replaced the 30mm rotary cannon with a unique Light Forges 42mm Stormhunter rotary cannon, using his pull with command to get the Armada to back the commissioning of the equipment. The success of his overhaul was short lived, as the next year the Immortals were ambushed by a large fighter force while on recon duty, and Abbot and Kristof were shot down, and Hans and Krystal badly injured. Hans sustained a shoulder injury that paralyzed his left arm for the next two years. The Red Dusk was totaled on landing, though Hans still has what is left of the plane. Krystal died a few months later as a result of her injuries. After Krystal’s death, Hans went into a severe period of depression, and waited out the last months of his contract in relative silence. Two weeks before his commission was up, both Albricht and Johann were killed when their crop duster collided with a cargo hauler in bad weather.

After the Armada
After leaving active service in the Armada, both he and Arianna disappeared for several months. While Arianna had dealt with her depression over the loss of her father and brother, Hans didn't fare so well and sometimes wouldn’t leave his room for days on end. To pass the time he taught himself to read and speak his ancestral language and several others, including Uurwerkian and the ancient languages of scholars and traders. He whiled away his days deep in books about the past, on the upheaval, the Kingdom of Magnus, anything he could get his hands on. On his twenty second birthday, Hans was visited by one of his only friends from the Academy, Michael, who had been affectionately dubbed “Crazy Wolf” by Hans while in their senior year. Michael had done well for himself, trading and taking defense missions for skylands to ward off pirates and bandits. Having heard of Hans’ grounding due to a lack of craft, he had bought him a stock Marauder, and coaxed Hans to fly with him for the next few months. In those months, Michael helped Hans regain his love of flying, and restore his self-confidence. Hans then worked his way to better and better planes, learning to fly with his head as well as his instincts, and became a leading combat pilot once again.

In 205, Hans joined the staff of the Free Skybrary, using his newfound skills in linguistics and history to help translate and write histories during his long flights between skylands and in his free time. He also hired his first crew member on Sharif -- a skilled, but green aircraft mechanic named Tina.