Jurgen von Dietz was born into a wealthy Austrian family.Patrons of the arts and science, Jurgen's parents sent him to the finest arts institutions throughout Europe. However his performance at each school was, to the chagrin of his family, quite deplorable. Unable to tell Beethoven from Boron, Jurgen became interested in thrill seeking and extreme sports.
And, as further embarrassment to his parents, Jurgen excelled at them. Not familiar with sports his parents thought Jurgen's speed and apparent invulnerability were perfectly normal. The term "adrenaline junkie" was assigned to him and used often. Later on, after seeing a report on common injuries and statistics, they realized that Jurgen did indeed have gifts; Jurgen was some kind of mutation.
After detailed DNA analysis it was shown that Jurgen's maternal grandfather was the genesis of the mutations. The grandfather was a nuclear scientist during the war and although he survived the war and patented many new uses of radiation, he was eventually killed by the changes to his DNA, which were incompatible with his original chromosomes. He did pass the mutation to his descendents, but only Jurgen actually expressed the mutation.
After extensive testing, it was discovered that Jurgen was not, in fact, invulnerable. His body tended to heal injuries at a highly accelerated rate, and in fact could regenerate organs and limbs, given enough time. (One overzealous researcher decided to see exactly how long it would take Jurgen to heal massive injuries over the entire body. It was easy enough to tamper with his parachute... ) However after healing, Jurgen will experience fatigue as his body's resources are diverted from normal operation to healing.
After converting part of the family stable into a climbing wall, draining a reflecting pool to build a half-pipe, and purchasing several mountainsides around the world, Jurgen decided it was time to grow up and joined the military. As it turned out, his personality was not suited to the military and he left after his time was up.
One lazy day, after outrunning an avalanche or some such adventure, Jurgen had an epiphany. Never shying from a thrill, Jurgen immediately put his military and extreme sports knowledge to work and became a cat-burglar. His climbing skills, combined with camouflage and stealth made a perfect recipe for thievery. Once again he excelled. His career as a thief would have continued and no doubt become legend, if he had not happened to be caught filching silverware by his own butler.
Wishing to spare the family more embarrassment Jurgen returned the loot he had taken, swore off crime and left the family in Austria. Jurgen traveled to the US where he happened upon Alert Force during a hurricaine in Florida. With no knowledge of who they were or even an invitation, Jurgen tagged along.
In the course of events Jurgen discovered his father was covertly passing secret information vaguely Eastward during the Cold War. With the help of Mantis, he was able to rescue his father from other spies who had captured him back in Austria. Jurgen's parents were then enticed to emigrate to the US and have been living at the Alert Force Mansion. (His Mother's cooking, especially her deserts, have become quite popular with the AF crowd!)
Jurgen is currently employed as Head of Security at Fire Opal's Clubs of Detroit and L. A. and has been monitoring gang and mafia activity within the clubs. He is also forming a security consulting firm with Joe Hicks and hopes to put his theivery skills to use aiding companies and individuals improve their security. (For inquiries please call Joe at SeTec Assosciates!)
Jurgen Von Dietz Character Archive
