Violens
(Ernie Schultz)
Context
This profile assumes that you have already read the J.J. Sachs character profile. That’s the one with the context, storyline, etc.
This entry includes S P O I L E R S concerning both the original LS and their Fallen Angel appearances.
Background
- Real Name: Ernie Schultz.
- Marital Status: Unrevealed.
- Known Relatives: Unnamed parents.
- Group Affiliation: Partner of Sachs.
- Base Of Operations: New York City, later Mobile, later Bête Noire.
- Height: 5’11” Weight: 230 lbs Age: Mid-40s.
- Eyes: Blue Hair: Brown w/white temples (balding)
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Genre theory
See our J.J. Sachs profile for more about the “urban wasteland” genre Sachs and Violens originally operated in. And see our Fallen Angel character profile for more about Bête Noire, and the mystical properties bestowed by the city.
Powers and Abilities
Violens is a natural-born killer and a veteran who fought in Việt Nam. He’s great with firearms, knives and grenades, and seems to be primarily an assaulter. He is a brutal, experienced and fearless fighter. His extensive training allows him to deploy all sorts of tricks to slant odds in his favour.
Schultz will routinely use his enemies as human shields. It’s not meant to deter them. He’s largely counting on their “friends” to open fire anyway and do his work for him.
If he has time to prepare, Violens will not just charge in. He will have a plan based on surveillance, diversions, fallback measures, etc.. And he will liberally use smoke and other grenades.
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His arsenal revolves around typical early 1980s American weaponry such as Colt M1911 .45 pistols, a M16 assault rifle, Ingram Mac-11 machine pistols, K-bar knives and US Army grenades. He often has a M60E2 machinegun around, but this is seldom used. It seems to chiefly be a visual reference to Rambo movies.
In Bête Noire, he and his assistants primarily use Uzi and Mini-Uzi submachineguns.
Soundtrack
The OST to Taxi Driver seems to fit.
History
Ernie Schultz is a professional photographer from New Orleans. During the late 1960s he worked in Việt Nam. He apparently was an Army photographer.
His service during this war left him traumatised, as he discovered that he was a savage killer. His deeds earned him the nickname of “Violens”, presumably as a pun over a photo camera’s lens.
(One can imagine that Schultz was drafted and fully trained as an assaulter, and was deployed as such until somebody remembered that he was a photograph and gave him a camera. But it doesn’t matter – the story takes place in a narrative genre where elite military skills just exist. And never deteriorate from lack of use, of course.)
On one occasion, the patrol Schultz was with was obliterated, leaving him the sole survivor. Shellshocked and in a rage, he blindly opened fire on nearby persons. All that did was to murder hapless farmers, including women and children. Schultz attempted to commit suicide over this massacre, but his mud-filled .45 jammed.
There were other terrible incidents, but Schultz never spoke about those.
The new pornographers
Once he returned stateside, Violens couldn’t stand being a reporter. Instead he did photoshoots of marriages, commercials, baby pictures, etc.. Eventually, he found his niche as an adult magazine photographer.
His work ranged from glossy glamour shots and cute pinups, to hardcore porn. His favourite model, Juanita Jean Sachs, became a good friend. Though Ernie had a crush on her, he considered that he was way too old and damaged for such a beautiful young woman.
When a friend of J.J. was executed, Sachs swore to kill the murderers. While uneasy at the prospect of violence, Ernie wanted to protect Sachs and had to get moving. He quickly found her trail after J.J. armed herself with a whip bought at the sex shop operated by Ernie’s aged parents.
For subsequent events, see our Juanita J. Sachs character profile.
Description
Violens is a large man. He has a distinct Ernest Borgnine vibe and advanced male-pattern balding. He is not actually fat, though – he just has a thick build, and most of the meat is muscle. He seems to be in his mid-40s.
Violens is fond of wearing a headband and mirrorshades, and often has a trenchcoat to hide his arsenal. 1980s, eh ?
Personality
Ernie’s goal was to have an ordinary, boring, awkward, middle-aged life. With this, he could keep his inner violence and trauma under control. He liked acting like a protective big brother to his friends. He’d also downplay himself as a has-been without a past, and avoid circumstances that could make him lose it and go crazy.
Juanita was apparently his closest friend. Since his PTSD and anger issues curtailed his social life.
Reversion to type
After the fights in New York and New Jersey made it impossible for him to have a normal life, Schultz just gave up. He let J.J. call him Violens and was back to being a ruthless, pragmatic killer and crafty tactician.
This was closely linked to J.J. jumping his bones. From there, he let go of his accrued inhibitions and years-long attempts at keeping his least civilised nature in check. For starters, getting into deadly firefights was soon rewarded by the aroused J.J. pouncing on him.
Violens did not go completely wild, though. Finally indulging in his long-repressed wish to have sex with J.J. gradually became an actual relationship. Agreeing to ruthlessly killing a bunch of people was done in the name of justice, in a world where the police and the judiciary do not work.
And Schultz keeps a certain Responsible Dad™-like outlook, especially when it comes to protecting children.
Sachs and Violens are fanatically dedicated to each other. They will take stomach-churning risks without hesitation to support each other. Their entire life is about being together.
Quotes
“I can’t stop thinking about you. And I gotta make sure you’re okay. Even if it means acting like I did back in ’Nam.”
(Threatening two men with a grenade) “Now, now, Ralph… Don’t be hasty with that gun. Remember the first rule of weaponry, namely – as soon as you pull the pin, Mr. Grenade is no longer your friend. Now while you ponder that, go get George here a paper and pen so he can write some things he didn’t bother to tell the cops.”
“I say *she* shouldn’t kill you. Me, I’ve killed innocents people before. Old habits die hard. But you’ll die easy.” (shoots man in the head point blank)
J.J.: “I don’t want to be without you. Ever. End of story.”
Ernie: “No, it ain’t the end of the story, J.J.. It’s not that simple. We still got a lot to work out about…” (J.J. brings his hand on her breasts) “On second thought, maybe it *is* that simple.” (sex ensues)
“You are under arrest by authority of the Magistrate of Bête Noire. Surrender immediately.”
(Looking at the Fallen Angel fly away with the man he came to arrest) “And me without my jetpack.”
Ernie: “J.J., be careful !”
Juanita: “Yeah, that’ll happen.”
Ernie: “Something’s up.”
J.J.: “Gee, Ernie, you’re insatiable !”
Ernie: “No, that’s not what’s up. At least, not at the moment.”
Game Stats — DC Heroes RPG
Tell me more about the game stats
Ernie “Violens” Schultz
| Dex: 05 | Str: 03 | Bod: 04 | Motivation: Uphold Good |
| Int: 04 | Wil: 05 | Min: 04 | Occupation: Vigilante |
| Inf: 04 | Aur: 03 | Spi: 04 | Resources {or Wealth}: 004 |
| Init: 017 | HP: 045 |
Powers:
Awareness: 09
Bonuses and Limitations:
Awareness only for events threatening the peace of Bête Noire.
Skills:
Acrobatics (Athletics, Climbing): 04, Artist (Photographer): 05, Evasion (Ranged only): 07, Martial artist: 05, Medicine (First aid): 03, Vehicles (Land): 04, Weaponry (Việt Nam war-era US infantry weapons, Firearms): 07
Advantages:
Area Knowledge (Bête Noire), Familiarity (Military equipment and protocols, Porn production scene, New Orleans lore, New York City lore), Lightning Reflexes, Schitck (Speed shooting, Paired weapons).
Connections:
Magistrate of Bête Noire (Low).
Drawbacks:
MPI (extremely sensitive about the Việt Nam war, easily angered by the subject), MPI (recurrent nightmares about ’Nam), SIA toward Sachs.
Equipment:
- Shades [BODY 01, Shade: 01].
- Customized Colt M1911A1 .45 (x2) [BODY 04, Projectile weapons: 04, Ammo: 08, R#02].
- Ingram Mac-11 machine pistol [BODY 04, Projectile weapons: 05, Ammo: 06, R#02, Advantage : Autofire]. Occasionally, this weapon is drawn as a TEC-9, but it has the same stats.
- M16A2 assault rifle [BODY 04, Projectile weapons: 06, Ammo: 07, Telescopic vision: 01, R#02, Advantage : Autofire].
- K-Bar combat knife [BODY 05, Enhance (EV): 01 (Cap is 06), Descriptor: Piercing, Slashing].
- Offensive grenades (x4) [BODY 02, EV 07 (Area of Effect 1 AP), Grenade drawback].
- Smoke grenades (x2) [BODY 02, Fog: 06, Grenade drawback].
- If he uses said grenades he will also have a GAS MASK [BODY 02, Enhance (RV vs. particulates, vapors and gasses): 05 (cap is 11), R#02.].
- Often wears polarized glasses [BODY 01, Shade: 02].
- Shitty station wagon. In Bête Noire, he uses a convertible muscle car instead.
- Excellent pair of binocular [BODY 02, Telescopic vision: 05].
- A big trench coat, of course. Gotta hide those weapons somewhere.
- In Bête Noire, Violens and his mens used Knockout Gas Grenades [BODY 03, Fog: 04, Knockout gas: 08, Grenade drawback, R#03] on at least one occasion in an attempt to take down a superhumanly powerful opponent.
- In Bête Noire, the usual weapon for Violens and his men is a full-sized or mini Uzi submachinegun [BODY 04, Projectile weapons: 05, Ammo: 06, R#02, Advantage : Autofire], at least when they are mobilised. If not, Ernie usually relies on his two .45s.
- During the fight against the Hierarchy, Ernie was armed with what seemed to be a FN P-90 PDW [BODY 04, Projectile weapons: 06, Sharpness (projectile weapons): 01, Ammo: 12, R#02, Advantage: Autofire, Limitation: Can only use SLAP ammunition (already factored in)].
- Sachs and Violens’s arsenal (which is mostly Violens’s, really) includes a half-dozen assault rifles, at least one M60E2, an indeterminate number of pistols and submachineguns, and about two crates’ worth of grenades.
Regulate
The Chief Enforcer is aided by tough, dour gentlemen with an obvious experience with deadly violence. If they are summoned, Ernie will usually be accompanied by an half-dozen such guys – unlike Shadow Boxer, he doesn’t have superhuman abilities to rely on. Those aides seem quite disciplined and are presumably ex-military. They have the following stats :
| Dex: 03 | Str: 03 | Bod: 03 | Motivation: Patriot |
| Int: 03 | Wil: 02 | Min: 03 | Occupation: Soldier |
| Inf: 03 | Aur: 02 | Spi: 03 | Resources {or Wealth}: 002 |
| Init: 009 | HP: 010 |
Skills:
Military science (Camouflage, cartography, demolition): 03, Vehicles (Land): 03, Weaponry (Infantry weapons): 04
Advantages:
Familiarity (Military equipment and protocols), may have Citizen of Bête Noire.
Connections:
Street (Low).
Drawbacks:
None.
Equipment:
Uzi [BODY 04, Projectile weapons: 05, Ammo: 06, R#02, Advantage : Autofire] and possibly some mission-specific stuff.
Game Stats — DC Adventures RPG
Tell me more about the game stats
Ernie “Violens” Schultz — Averaged PL6.8
| STR | STA | AGL | DEX | FGT | INT | AWE | PRE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 02 | 02 | 03 | 05 | 02 | 01 | 01 |
Powers
Chief Enforcer of Bête Noire ● 8 points ● Descriptor: Bête Noire
– Senses 5 (Ranged mental Detect, Extended 3, Events that threaten the peace in Bête Noire).
– Benefit 1 (Favoured by Bête Noire).
– Enhanced Advantages (Well-Informed and Connected, both Limited 1 to Bête Noire).
– Enhanced Skill (8 Ranks of Investigation, Limited 2 to Gather Information & Surveillance, Limited 1 to Bête Noire).
Combat Advantages
All-out Attack, Chokehold, Close Attack 2, Defensive Roll 1, Improved Critical (Việt-nam era US CQB weapons) 1, Improved Initiative, Takedown.
Other Advantages
Equipment 8.
Skills
Athletics 4 (+5), Close combat (Knives) 3 (+10), Deception 1 (+2), Expertise (Photographer) 5 (+7), Expertise (New York City lore) 3 (+5), Expertise (New Orleans lore) 2 (+4), Expertise (Soldier) 5 (+7), Insight 4 (+5), Perception 3 (+4), Persuasion 1 (+2), Ranged attack (Việt-nam era US CQB weapons) 8 (+11), Treatment 2 (+4) (Limited 2 (Limited to Revive and Stabilise)).
Equipment
To fill Ernie’s equipment pool, see his DCH stats.
Offense
| Initiative +6 |
| Unarmed +7, Close, Damage 1 |
| K-bar knife +10, Close, Damage 2, Crit 19-20 |
| Firearms +11, Ranged, Damage by type, Crit 19-20. |
Defence
| Dodge | 11 | Fortitude | 06 |
| Parry | 08 | Toughness | 02*/03 |
| Will | 04 |
* Without Defensive Roll
Complications
- Concerned citizen Ernie helps and protects people whenever possible, even when that involves grave risks.
- PTSD Violens had nightmares associated with the war. He’s also easily angered when the Việt Nam war is brought up.
- An item Sachs and Violens are strongly devoted to each other.
Powers Levels
- Trade-off areas. Attack/Effect PL 8, Dodge/Toughness PL 7, Parry/Toughness PL 6, Fort/Will PL 5.
- Points total 97. Abilities 34, Defences 19, Skills 20, Powers 8, Devices 0, Advantages 16. Equiv. PL 7.
Source of Character: Sachs & Violens miniseries (Epic).
Helper(s): Kal El, Gareth Lewis.