Full Name: Rüdiger Pracht Aliases: Rudi Gender and Pronouns: Cis Male; He/Him Place of Birth: Munich, Germany Heritage: White German Date of Birth: March 31st, 1953 Age: 26 Parents:
Allergies: N/A Addictions: N/A Mental Conditions/Disorders: PTSD, Scopophobia (Fear of being stared at) Physical Conditions/Disorders: Prosopagnosia (Face Blindness)
Features: Defined, rounded features that are plagued with exhaustion. Rudi has sunken eyes, a button-like nose, and soft yet gaunt cheeks. Voice Claim: Teddy Hyde Eye Color: Gray Hair Color: Black Hairstyle: Medium-length, Overgrown Pompadour. Build: Lean and lanky, cusping the line between average and underweight. Height: 5 feet and 11 inches (approx. 180 cm) Weight: 134 pounds (approx. 61 kg)
Connections: N/A
Relationship Status: Single Sexuality: Gay
An interesting side-effect of prosopagnosia is that, due to the inability to connect faces as a whole, Rudi often has trouble visualizing his own emotions. He may appear straight-faced in situations where it is societally inappropriate to be so. However, he can express himself through smiling, as it’s not a learned expression but a natural evolutionary expression.
Rudi relies on other physical characteristics to identify those close to him, such as items of clothing, their gait, their voices, etc.
Rüdiger Pracht was born in Munich, Germany, and moved with his family to the United States when he was around eight years old in 1961. In the beginning, life in America seemed promising for the flourishing family. The country was in its golden age post World War 2, and civil rights movements began to kick off. Rudi’s father worked at a local vehicle factory, while his mother held a job in retail.
Sometime between 1963 and 1969 though, things took a dark turn.
One morning as the family slept, waiting for dawn to approach, the television whirred to life with a terrifying and piercing tone. The family poured into the living room one by one to see an emergency broadcast from the U.S. Department for the Preservation of American Dignity. According to the broadcast, the United States surrendered to their communist enemy and it was the duty of the patriotic American citizens to preserve their pride… and kill themselves and their families.
Rüdiger’s mother begged and pleaded his father to watch the broadcast in its entirety, praying that there was some sort of alternative option. Some sort of mistake. However, his father was a hard man to dissuade. As per the instructions of the broadcast, Rüdiger’s father crept down the hallway to retrieve Rüdiger’s infant sister. With a solemn look on his face, and a shotgun in his hand, the patriarch joined countless others in the front yard of their home to act. First went the babe, quietly smothered by strong hands. Then, alongside the screams and pleas of Rüdiger and his mother, the father laid himself in the yard and pulled the trigger.
Shortly after, a message played on the flickering screen:
“Technical difficulties. We apologize for the interruption.”
Hours dragged on like days, and upon the break of dawn it was revealed that the broadcasted message was a hoax, and not in fact pushed by the Department. The incident traumatized Rüdiger greatly, night terrors following him into his adulthood and the anguish putting a halt on his daily life.
Rüdiger quit his job shortly after he learned he was accepted into the Research Thought Initiative's program, and is now attending various meetings and workshops under the supervision of the R.T.I’s senior physiological scientists. Similarly to Philip Gerhardt’s specialized video cassette, Rüdiger’s “Anti-Dream” induction and Kleitman map are influence by the Flashed Face Distortion Effect, though this effect has managed to worsen his trauma and change the physiology of his brain, which lead to him developing Prosopagnosia. Prosopagnosia is a neurological disorder characterized by the inability to recognize faces, also known as “face blindness”. Rüdiger has also developed scopophobia (fear of being stared at / of faces) as a side effect to his sudden face blindness, as losing the ability to recognize faces has left him feeling scared and confused.