Karin

"'I don't need some queer eyepatched foreigner telling me what's possible and what's not.'" Karin Algernon Sauer is a playable character and a potential party member in Fear & Hunger 2: Termina. A journalist that has covered wars, coup d'etats and other disasters, she has picked up various skills that help her survive, with persuasion skills definitely not being last on that list.

She covered wars, you know?

Lore
Karin is a journalist and a contestant on the Termina festival.

She is known by her attitude that she hates Kaiser and Bremen army, calling them pigs. Her personality is kind of impetuous and quick tempered, being the most annoyed when the train stopped and quite sharp-tongued with Daan.

She was always a restless child, who would run away to venture out at the slightest carelessness of her nanny. Her parents were aristocrats and were always busy, she was raised by the housemaid, called Dalia. Despite their wealth, his parents did not have a noble lineage, being always overlooked by the rest of Bremen's nobility. When the war came, outsiders like Karin's parents became easy targets for the public, and soon, a crowd was making its way to her family's mansion.

Dalia told that Karin's parents handed her over to Dalia's care and sent them on the run, out of the country. However, it's confusing for Karin to remember since she was so young, her memory seems to indicate that Dalia just kidnapped her. Regardless, they fled to Jettaiah, a sacred city and very different from the usual, stunned by such a change and scared, Karin got out of the car and fled through the streets.

Still, Dalia managed to find her and bring her back, they both lived together and she kept saying that her parents were sending her money, but Karin knew something was wrong. As a teenager, Karin joined several human rights organizations, fighting government oppression. One such protest went wrong when the military started shooting at protesters.

Karin was injured and ended up in hospital, waking with several members of the Bremen embassy around her, where she found out that the protest had become public and her image on television had become popular. Explaining everything, Karin was protected and soon sent back to Bremen, where her mother was waiting for her and there was a new husband.

It turns out that during the uprising, the mob burned down the mansion and his father ended up dying in the process. The true story came out, Dalia had kidnapped Karin and was living off her family's extorted money.

Due to her busy life, Karin ended up becoming a journalist very early, and the appearance of a figure called the Kaiser had made the continent restless, he appeared out of nowhere and took control of the entire country. This figure was blamed for her father's fate, as he was the one who had started the revolts against the country's nobility. And Karin was obsessed with uncovering his past.

But nothing seemed to make sense, there were Kaiser connections with a secret group called the "New Gods", but it just seemed like a conspiracy theory. The New Gods were a group that had been talked about since the Cruel Age, a secret society that controlled different nations from behind the curtains and manipulated those in power.

There were several powerful people attached to the group and the more Karin looked, the more it seemed that they were responsible for the last Two Great Wars, something big was happening in Europe. And when the Kaiser occupied the town of Prehevil in Bohemia, Karin decided to go there and find out the truth for herself.

Traits
Karin is incapable of wielding two-handed weapons, but she can utilize guns. She comes equipped with a Knife and a Pilot jacket.

If recruited, Karin will have the Lockpicking skill learned, and will unlock doors for the player when the opportunity arises. As one who does not have skills geared for combat by default, she will be an utility party member that saves the player the need to use Small keys or bash down doors with somewhat limited usefulness in-battle - something that can be easily fixed by equipping good weapons or teaching her skills and spells from the Hexen.

Character History Choices

 * 1) Character choice 1: What did you do when you escaped Dalia?
 * 2) Convince passerby that you were kidnapped - Gain [persuade] skill
 * 3) Run into the crowd and hide - Gain [escape plan] skill
 * 4) Character choice 2: What did you do at the riot?
 * 5) Help the wounded - Gain 4 [cloth fragments] and 2 [blue vials]
 * 6) Grab a gun - Gain the [lugr pistol] and 6 [9mm bullets]
 * 7) Run away - Gain [escape plan] skill
 * 8) Character choice 3: What did you take with you to Prehevil?
 * 9) Medical goods - Gain 2 [blue vials] and 1 [cloth fragment]
 * 10) Self defense items - Gain 1 [Lugr pistol] if not taken yet, 5 [9mm bullets] and [fencing gambeson] armor.
 * 11) Food - Gain 2 [dried meat] and 1 [moldy bread]
 * 12) Skip Character History
 * 13) * 1 Lugr pistol, 6 pistol 9mm bullets
 * 14) * 2 blue vials (5 on Easy), 1 moldy bread
 * 15) * Escape Plan and Persuade skill

Hexen
If a player character kills Karin in combat, they will absorb her Endless soul, which unlocks her skills at the Hexen.

Location and recruiting
When the introduction with the rest of characters ends, the player can follow Karin as she makes her way into Prehevil. Her journey appears to end just outside a house before the street to the Mayor's Manor. If you recruit Daan on Day 1 evening and prompt him to leave by moving towards the Mayor's Manor, Karin and Daan can be found discussing the moonscorched in that same area, where she will remain until morning Day 2.

Karin will initially refuse to join you on Day 1, but can be found outside the News Agency (Directly south of the Orphanage) on Day 2, where she will join the party.

There is also an alternate way of recruiting Karin at a later time: if the player did not prevent Henryk from turning into the Gentleman, he will kidnap Marina on Day 1 Night. If one saves and recruits her at the Mayor's manor, while restraining themselves from recruiting Levi but saving him from an altercation with Caligura on Day 2 Morning at the West part of Prehevil, a scene at Day 2 Evening at the West part of Prehevil where Karin and Marina avoid the attacks of the Weeping Scope, a recently Moonscorched Levi, will take place. Both women will be available for recruitment afterwards, while the Weeping Scope will flee to the Orphanage.

If the player avoids recruiting Karin on these occasions, she will start to break under pressure during Day 3 Evening, explaining that while commonfolk might see war journalists as vultures, she sees herself as a valkyrie that immortalizes the fallen by telling their stories.

Moonscorched
If not dealt with, Karin will eventually suffer the effects of Moonscorch and turn into the Valkyrie, a twisted bird with a humanoid face hidden beneath hair carrying multiple Bellends on its wings. The fusion of human and bird physique is so perfect that it is pratically impossible to tell which is the point of origin in her transformation. An exoskeleton-like growth works as an organic armor of sorts for the Valkyrie, and the monstruous claws it sports are its main weapons.

Said transformation will have happened by Day 3 night, when she can be fought on a lonely foggy island beyond the lake only accessible by boat. The fact that her Moonscorched form is a mixture of a vulture and a valkyrie might indicate that she feels some degree of guilt over profiting on war casualties instead of simply seeing herself as a savior of memories.

Strategy
In her human form, Karin will use Shoot every single round unless her arms are removed: as she is holding a pistol with both hands, both of her arms are a single target. In the case the player dismembers her, she will use Tackle instead, a much less damaging attack.

Trivia

 * She works at "The Midnight Gazette" and she's author of "Kaiser critique", one of the readable files the player may come across.
 * Using Steal on Karin can provide 9mm bullets.
 * Playing as Karin drastically changes the introduction of the characters outside the train, Olivia starts to theorize that they're still dreaming and in the after-life, Marina starts theorizing it's a premonition and Henryk theorizes that it's just a dream.
 * Karin's Moonscorched form reminds of Louhi in the painting "The Defense of the Sampo". Most likely being the inspiration.
 * Karin's name is a Swedish form of the name Katherine/Catherine, which comes from the Greek καθαρός (katharos), meaning 'pure'.
 * Karin is another form of Karen, which fits because of Karin's blunt and arrogant personality, which are often associated with 'manager-asking' women that are derogatively called 'Karen'.
 * The element of Karin's backstory mentioning "Covering Wars" is a reference to the protagonist of Dead Rising ( 2006 ), Frank West, who has also "Covered Wars" as said in the game's first case cutscene, more specifically when she says "I've covered wars, you know", a quote also famously said by Frank West.
 * Her middle name "Algernon" might be another reference to Frank West, whose full name is Francis Algernon West.
 * Her general character might be inspired from Frank West, both are photographers, both "covered wars" and both handle pistols in their respective cutscenes: the main handgun that is shown in the cutscenes in Dead Rising 1, and Karin's main weapon in Termina. Their personalities are also somewhat similar, but not as similar as the other details.