The Volksgeist

The Volksgeist were the official (and only) super-team of the DDR. Disbanded in 1990, its members have met a number of different fates. Direktor X erased all records of his team from the Stasi archives and most of the members went into hiding.

DIREKTOR X

Bernd Brucker was not only the leader of the Volksgeist: secretly, even to his team, he was also the terrifying Stasi interrogator dubbed Beichtvater (Confessor) After the fall, Brucker was sentenced to a jail term of ten years, but not before hiding various materials taken from the Stasi archives. Freed after serving his sentence, Brucker claims to have reformed and currently lives as a children’s book author. He is, of course, under heavy scrutiny from intelligence agencies and superheroes. He sometimes helps his watchers despite the distrust they all have for him. His powers allows him to control nervous systems, so he’s able to inflict pain or pleasure with a thought and can even control the bodies of his targets against their will.

ELMSFAUER

Sonja Behnke gained her powers from a strange electrical phenomenon during a rainstorm and was drafted into the Volksgeist. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, she retired from her superhero career and relocated to Cologne to raise her daughter. She returned to duty during an attempt by Overthrow to assassinate the federal chancellor in 2007, and is currently the resident heroine of Cologne.

EISENWACHTER (OR THE IRON WATCHMAN)

Andi Fröhlich left his armor behind at the fall of the Berlin Wall and retired to a successful career as an engineer. Worried about the rise of threats like Overthrow and MENACE, he designed a totally new battlesuit and field tested it during the demonic invasion of Stuttgart. Today he is known as Maglev. Not even his old his teammates are aware that Andi was once part of the Volksgeist, and he has no desire to tell them.

FANGSCHREKE

Trained in People’s Republic of China in swordfighting and Praying Mantis Kung-fu as part of an exchange program, Jana Korten became soon the most efficient assassin of East Germany. She disappeared without explanation after the team disbanded. A woman called Ghost Mantis, matching her description and using her trademark sickle swords, has since been reported in southeastern Asia. Working for Dr. Sin’s organization, Fangschreke is apparently still active—and youthful—today.