Chapter 1 - Steel Aces

🔹 SS-Oberscharführer Falk Ritter

Commander of the Panzer IVSilent. Calculating. Tired.

Falk no longer believes in grand words. He is driven by responsibility, not zeal. In Poland, he was precise. In France, relentless. In Gibraltar, a survivor. Now, on the Eastern Front, he leads without promising anything—except a chance to come back alive.He carries every loss like a wound pressed against his chest. His authority comes from action, not volume.Albrecht watches him from afar… and Dietrich still trusts him.But even Falk doesn't know how much more he can carry before he breaks.

"War isn't a mission. It's a debt to the ones who didn't return."

🔹 SS-Rottenführer Konrad Weber

GunnerVeteran. Lethal. Broken inside.

Konrad has seen too much and spoken too little. He's the only one who's been with Falk since the beginning. Wounded in the Sudetenland, he still aches—but never complains. He fires with surgical precision and carries a quiet rage no one dares name.He no longer believes in the Reich. He believes in his crew.He's the first to shoot… and the last to judge.

"I don't kill for the Fatherland. I kill so my brothers don't die."

🔹 SS-Sturmmann Ernst Schäfer

LoaderLoyal. Hot-blooded. Human.

Ernst still holds onto ideals, but he no longer shouts them. He believes in sacrifice, in brotherhood forged in steel, and in duty. He is the muscle of the crew—but also its heart. He yells when no one else dares, laughs when others can't, and cries when the silence becomes too much.

"If I die, let someone remember who we were. Not monsters. Just men."

🔹 SS-Sturmmann Lukas Reiner

DriverPractical. Cynical. The youngest.

Lukas shifts gears faster than he trusts people. He thinks the war is insane, but rarely says it aloud. His sarcasm does the talking. He drives like nothing matters… but brakes like someone who still cares. He's fed up, but he keeps going—because he refuses to let someone die because of his mistake.

"The only homeland I recognize now… is made of 25 tons of steel."

🔹 SS-Unterscharführer Helmut Kraus

Radio Operator and LiaisonPrecise. Quiet. Watchful.

Helmut is their link to the outside world, yet he speaks the least. He hears things before the others. Intercepts orders, enemy movements, command rumors. Inside, doubts grow—but his voice stays steady on the line. His loyalty is intact. His faith, not so much. And when the collapse comes… he'll be the first to notice.

"I don't give opinions. I listen. And that's enough to know when we're fucked."