Schlosser's Schiffchen

[NewOriginalSchwann]

BYOND Key: NewOriginalSchwann

Discord Username: Schwann #4814

Character Name: Schlosser

Item Name: NDF Schiffchen

Item Function(s): It’s a hat. This item has no function aside from covering your head.

Item Description:

Desc:  A side cap known as a Schiffchen on Visegrad, a term roughly translating to “little boat” in Basic, which is commonly worn by members of the Visegradi National Defense Force. The NDF’s symbol – a silver fortress standing upon a crimson background – is prominently featured on the Schiffchen’s badge. “Totschlager” has been written on the inside of the band by somebody with a marker.

Fluff Description: The Schiffchen has a long, storied, and somewhat controversial history upon Visegrad, which dates back to its initial colonization. The planet’s first security service, the Visegradi People’s Security Service, used the Schiffchen as its standard headwear for security personnel in an effort to invoke the Warsaw Pact’s security services. Following its dissolution the National Defense Force continued to use the Schiffchen as headwear, and it remains a common sight on Visegrad today even if the NDF, which was dissolved by the Navy shortly after the Solarian Collapse, no longer exists.

Why is your character bringing this item to work?: Schlosser has a very complicated relationship to the Solarian Alliance and Visegrad in particular, having served as a police synthetic on Visegrad for over a decade prior to the Collapse. This hat serves as a reminder of the life she left behind in 2463 when she opted to leave VIsegrad following the NDF’s dissolution by the Southern Solarian Military District, and it’s simply comfortable to wear – Wildlands Squadron headgear simply isn’t the same for her.

How did your character obtain this item?: This hat was issued to Schlosser in 2451, when she began working as a synthetic at one of Fellegavar’s prison facilities. “Totschlager” (blackjack) is her nickname from the facility and refers to both her unit designation (21) and the baton issued to prison personnel.

What value does this item have to your character, and what story does it tell?: The NDF Schiffchen clearly marks Schlosser as a former member of the NDF and gives her a solid connection to Visegrad beyond her accent. For Schlosser herself this hat, and the symbol upon it, are a reminder of who she used to be and the people – and synthetics – she worked with on Visegrad. With the NDF gone and most of its synthetics either destroyed in combat with secessions during the Collapse’s immediate aftermath, or wiped by the SSMD when they dissolved the NDF and repurposed for Navy use, Schlosser may be the only one left to carry on many of the memories the synthetic staff of her facility experienced, mundane as they may be. The hat is, in its own way, her connection to those who can no longer be here.

Sprites: See attached.

Additional Comments: DanseMacabre made these sprites and all credit regarding them is due to him.

Schlosser Schiffchen.dmi

[Kintsugi]

Not that my word means anything here (Schwann is actually on the lore team, I am not, and I'm biased in the first place as he's a very good friend of mine), but me and Schwann have talked pretty extensively about Schlosser's background/the NDF as a whole/etc and I think he's definitely very committed and invested in this character, her backstory, and the lore he's working with in regards to this character. I think it's definitely fair to give Schlosser this item, and on a personal level I appreciate that Schwann is working with a piece of lore that doesn't come up very often.

[WickedCybs]

This is approved.