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Working on getting things started. Could i get everyone to PM me their SUs or repost them on the next page of this thread?
Also this thread will be repurpoused after the RP starts. Itll be where you can search for and accept to take on certain jobs/missions in the RP. Ill post the details shortly.
Spoiler Alert!Name: James Nolen
Alias: Jim or Axe
Age: 47
Alliance: Survivor
Most consider him a bandit
He sees himself as a guy trying to survive
Appearance: He is a white male. He has gray and white hair and brown eyes. He wears an old and tattered hide jacket with a black shirt underneath, a loose and faded pair of blue jeans (darkened at the bottom), brown boots, and a hunters belt complete with a machete sheath, small loops for shotgun rounds, and a small pouch. He also carries a canteen, which is attached to a long leather band around his shoulder.
Weapon of choice: Jim is infamous for using a fire axe. He will use guns when the risk becomes too great and also carries a revolver in one of his various inside jacket pockets. He also carries a machete but uses it only in situations in which he can't use his axe.
Personality: Jim is cold as the situation and as calculating as he is cold. Because of reputation, bandits keep their distance. He will do almost anything to survive. He will not kill innocent women nor children. He prefers to work alone but he will work with others in order to survive, making him a viable mercenary or hired thief. He knows most of the tricks of his trades. His trades include; tracking, hunting, various hand to hand combat styles, knife fighting, fencing, and thievery. He is not greedy but he is not above taking something he can get even though he does not currently need it. He will not abandon his client unless it is for his survival. Although he is keen on his survival, he is willing to sacrifice his life.
Biography: As a teenager living in a rough part of the city, he was paranoid about being attacked on the street. Because of this he studied hand to hand combat and knife fighting. When he was seventeen, his parents were killed by a robber. He was forced to live with his grandparents in the country. There he learned hunting from his grandfather. He enjoyed it a bit too much and started poaching dangerous animals when he was twenty-four. The sport became too easy for him, so he became a private bodyguard at the age of thirty to learn the ways of how people kill and how to protect himself from killers. He still retained his paranoia throughout his life and so he hired a hacker to delete his identity. He called himself James Nolen from then on and became a mercenary.
At the age of forty-six China attacked. He happened to be in Northern California at the time. The area he was at was surrounded and he was taken to a concentration camp. He never tried to escape because he knew it would be futile. The first ones to try were captured and gunned down in front of the rest. Eventually China withdrew, taking the prisoners to their ships. Jim knew they were going to be held hostage and his background was going to be looked into. If the Chinese government found nothing they were sure to kill him. He waited patiently for a moment to escape. It never came. Instead they were released onto the shores they were taken from. This puzzled him but he soon figured out why.
Many of the "escapees" died to bandits trouble. During his first encounter with bandits, he grabbed the nearest weapon, which was a fire axe. He used that to fend off the bandits. Word spread about him and his axe. Jim realized that they were afraid of it. He used that fear to his advantage and managed to keep his reputation which kept him alive.
Without Turning Back
A cloud of ash came up after each footfall. He looked up and stopped. Before him was a sea of black. He was getting closer. He continued to walk for an hour. Step after step. The smell of burning petroleum permeated his nostrils. He looked up. What stood before him now used to be a gas station. He remembered all the fuss; Soaring gas prices, OPEC. He chuckled. How little it mattered now. He walked through it maintaining his path. After an hour or so he looked up again. In the distance he could see houses towards the east. He stopped and headed towards them. "Now we're getting somewhere" he said under his breath. The sound of crunching ash was replaced by the hollow sounds of concrete. He turned his head to the side. There was a marking on each of the doors. He said them as he walked by, "X X X X X X X X X." The markings where made with red and white spray paint. Some of the markings were just an "X". Others where a circle with an "X" on top of them. He continued, "X X X X X X O." He stopped. He shifted his direction pulling out an old fire axe and moved towards the "O". On approach he check the sides of the house. "Pretty spaced out." he muttered stepping on the porch, "It should be alright." He lightly turned the door handle. The handle turned. He gripped his axe tightly and opened the door. The hinges announced his entry with a loud creaking noise. He paused for a moment. Voices could be heard from upstairs. He could not hear the words very well but he could hear the stress and annoyance in them. They knew he was inside. He bent low and quickly entered. A quick glance around showed him the stairs were behind the kitchen which came down on the living room. He entered the kitchen. He could see the zigzagging pattern of the underside of the stairs. He heard footsteps. They were heading for the stairs. Dust from the ceiling came down on him with each step. It seemed only one was sent to investigate. He quickly calculated the number of steps it would take to climb down the flight, 13. He had about 7 seconds. One, he quickly glanced at the cupboards, all where open. Two, he quietly made his to the kitchen table. Three, he grabbed the vase. Four, quietly made his way back. Five, he made his way to the living room. Six he hurried to a blind spot right next to the stairs. Seven, he threw the vase across the room. Startled, the footsteps unloaded two bursts from a shotgun at the direction of the sound. His presence was confirmed. He quickly jumped out and swung his axe. The axe found its mark on the robbers head. He quickly placed his boot on the robbers face and dislodged his axe, he had no time to lose. He quickly made his way up the stairs. Just before he reached the top he saw the tip of a double barrel shotgun. He bent low, grabbed the barrel with one hand, and pulled using his body weight. The robber was pulled down to the ground. Still holding on to the barrel he rammed the axe's head into the robbers neck. The robber fired one shot before he received a swift kick to the temple. The second robber was unconscious. A third robber rounded the corner. He had two options. He could charge him with his axe or use the shotgun from the second robber. He chose the second one. He quickly snatched the gun from the second robbers hands, turned the shotgun while pumping it, and fired. The third robber fell without a word. He heard a voice, "Did you get him?" He picked up his axe and opened the door. The fourth robber dropped a sac of provisions on the floor making a load crack. The robber glanced at his gun which was laying on the opposite wall and glanced back at the intruder who was shaking his head. The robber said to words, "James Nolen."
"Yup, that's me." he said raising his axe. He brought the axe down with great momentum. The fourth robber fell to the ground. Jim searched the robbers body taking a cigarette box and a lighter. He then wiped the axe head on the robbers shirt, took the bag of provisions, and walked towards the stairs. Jim glanced down at the third robber and stooped down taking a can of beer from the robber's jacket pocket and placing it in the bag. He made his way to the second robber and took his shotgun and his rounds placing the rounds in his bag. He made his way down stairs. Jim unstrapped the two shotgun ammo belts from around the second robbers waist and shoulder placing it around his own shoulder. When he made it down stairs he opened the bag withdrew a magazine rolling it up. Jim put his axe on his belt, pulled out his lighter, and lit the top making his way to the broken back window. He held the magazine up to the curtains. They lit up in flames. He walked to the front window and lit the curtains on fire and discarded the magazine on the living room rug. Jim grabed the bag, flung it over his shoulder, walked outside, and started down the street saying, "X X X X.........." without turning back.
Come Back Soon
The hands were dealt and each of the players searched their packs. The men placed their bets. A half full cigarette box, a spool of fisherman's line, three small unopened packs of sanitation wipes, and a kitchen knife where placed on the table. Each of the bandits looked at each other and nodded. The game began. The first player peeked at his two cards and placed down a silver butter knife. The other men laughed. "What the hell do you call that?" chuckled the player across from him. "Business has been slow lately" replied the first player laughing. The other men burst into a harder laugh slapping the table. The smile of the player across from him slowly fell into a grimace. The other men turned. All their expressions darkened. James Nolen was approaching. The bandits began arguing with each other and pushing one another around. Finally one stepped up. "Hey!" he managed to say. "Admission fee?" he said holding out his hand. Jim stopped and looked up dropping the bag he had over his shoulders. The bag came down with a load crash. Jim walked up to the men, his axe bobbing at his side with each step. The men held up their guns a little more gripping them tightly. James still approached unperturbed. He reached into his jacket. The bandits pointed their guns at him. Jim stopped and slowly pulled out two cans of food. He slammed them on the table making eye contact with each of them. For a while no one said a word still maintaining eye contact. Jim straightened himself and went back to his bag, picked it up, and continued walking. The men's heads turned following Jim. Just when the bandits were about to continue their game, Jim spoke without turning. "Hey, keep the change." With that he threw something behind him. It landed on the table bouncing and making a rattling sound. The bandits looked at it. They became infuriated. A silver butter knife rested on the table and nothing else. Even their cards were taken. The bandits looked at Jim who was still walking towards the entrance. None of them made a move to reclaim their items.
Jim kept walking and looked up. There was a sign above him. Most of the letters were riddled with bullets, however underneath the sign in black letters was crudely written, "Welcome to Tartarus." Jim entered the building. He looked towards his right. The Black Cross was here early and so were the Venoms. He looked to his left. The Skulls aren't here but that was expected. He looked towards the corner of the building. A table was set up and behind it was his stash. No other person would leave their stash unguarded in a bandit town. Jim was the exception. Never the less he rifled through his stash making sure everything was there. Not even a cigarette was missing. They were beginning to learn. He unfolded a chair and sat down with his boots on the table. After about an hour or so 70% of the bandits have returned from their ventures. Jim put his feet down and pulled out four boxes of cigarettes and placed them on the table. People already started to swarm his table. He spoke loudly so his voice carried over the crowd. "I have a limited supply of cigarettes. The best offers will get them." He traded the first box for three bars of soap. The second one got him three meters of rope. He traded both the third and the fourth one for a can opener. After the last ones were traded he pulled out a stack of knives laying them out on the table.
This continued for 30 minutes. The crowd was starting to fade away. Jim slammed two cans of beer on the table. His table was once again rushed. He eventually traded them for a flare gun, anti-bacterial soap, a pair of rubber gloves, a half-full can of black spray paint, and a bottle of Tylenol. He bartered with a few more items and closed shop. Afterwards he haggled a water canteen for the deck of cards he had stolen previously.
After a day of negotiations he laid himself back in his chair with his feet on the table and closed his eyes. He soon opened them to see someone headed straight for him.
"Where are my men?!?" shouted the bandit.
"Dead probably," Jim replied coldly.
The bandit pulled out a pistol. A voice in the crowd carried over all the commotion.
Everyone stopped. Grant Owen made his way in front of the crowd that gathered.
"Are you forgetting the rules of this town?" he said in a southern accent to the pistol wielding bandit. "We settle disputes the old fashioned way."
The rest of the bandits circled around Jim and his challenger. Owen stepped into the middle.
"Your pistol please." he asked the bandit holding out his hand. "And yours too Nolen."
Nolen knew the rules well. He placed his axe, machete, flare gun, and revolver on his table.
Owen started again, "Too make things a little more interesting, this will be a knife fight. Anybody have a couple of knives they are willing to lend?"
A long dagger was thrown at the ground by the challenger's feet.
"Anybody willing to let Axe borrow a blade?"
A blade was thrown at Jim's feet. He stooped down and picked it up. The bandits laughed. "A butter knife" stated Owen, "Looks like someone is generous." The spectators roared with even more laughter.
"Remember," Owen said to the audience, "I receive 10% of all winnings."
"And I receive 5% of the pot," interrupted Jim.
"You haven't won yet," growled his opponent.
Owen coughed loudly and spoke. "All bets will be placed through Edgey." Pointing to a table right outside the circle of bandits. "And without further ado let's begin."
He stepped out of the middle and raised a revolver in the air.
The opponent quickly jutted his blade out. Jim was quicker and stepped back out of range. He then stepped inward towards his opponent. Caught off guard by the old man's agileness the opponent swung his hand back. Jim parried his opponents swing with his unarmed hand and moved behind his opponent. In response the challenger tried spinning around. Jim was already bending his knees low and struck his opponent in the back of the knee. Jim then withdrew to a safe distance. His adversary's sounds of pain were drowned out by the crowd's hollering. The opponent got back up and tried to overcome the pain. Now it was Jim's turn to strike. He jumped to his opponent's weak side. The challenger tried turning but his knee folded under his own weight. Jim struck his opponent's knife arm leaving his butter knife embedded. In a feeble attempt to retaliate the opponent swung his knife. Jim jumped behind his arm and broke it at the elbow. The challenger dropped his dagger. Jim picked it up and slowly walked behind his opponent. The battle was won. Nolen held his challengers head up leaving the jugular exposed. A quick slash and the job was done.
Some of the crowd cheered. Others held their heads in dismay. Jim discarded the knife and went over to Edgey's table. He picked up a few bars of soap, a can of beans, and a full roll of duct tape and went back to his corner. He grabbed his effects and headed for the exit. Grant Owen was leaning against the wall. A huge grin was spred across his face. He opened his mouth and said, "Thank you for shopping at Costco."
"Please, come back soon."
Name: Alexander Zimmermann
Alias: Ace
Age: 27
Alliance: Pulse
Appearance: White male with blonde hair and very blue eyes behind his mirrored aviators. He wears a brown leather jacket and brown boots. He is shorter than the average person and talks in a Scottish accent.
Weapon of choice: His Pulse Raptor (currently out of commission due to the EMPs) which he christened Überkanonen and two Colt Diamondback revolvers. He has very good reflexes and eyes making him accurate and fast. He also pilots the one of the EMP resistant helicopters.
Personality: Strong willed and determined. Brilliant in the air. Reckless on the ground. And he hates piloting helicopters. He is also a glory hog.
Biography: He lived in Scotland with his mother and his German father. Growing up he loved to hear the stories of the Red Baron. His interest in these stories came from his great-grandfather who flew beside the Red Baron. From there on he wanted to be an Ace fighter pilot. As a teenager he studied the tactics of aerial combat, mostly Boelcke's Dicta. He then took flying lessons when he was old enough. His first time flying in a cockpit was the greatest moment in his life. To be soaring through the sky with the world at your below you was a stunning feeling. There he made up his mind to spend the rest of his life in aviation. He moved to the US for collage. There he learned about aviation and communications. He became a US citizen and joined the Air Force. All the positions for being a fighter pilot were taken so he went into communications. On his first training flight the pilot had a heart attack. Luckily Zimmermann got to the cockpit and landed the plane better and faster than the pilot ever could. The pilot was saved and Zimmermann was given the chance to be a bomber. Fortunately, his commanding officer thought his skills should be tested as a fighter pilot. Zimmermann quickly took the offer. As a fighter pilot he was able to outperform all of the fighter pilots of the entire Air Force. He was instantly put into the special forces. This job took him out of the front lines and put him behind it, for gathering intelligences. He hated that job. There was no action, no fighting, and certainly no glory. All his missions were top secret and classified. In 2009 he was approached by Pulse. They claimed to be a classified branch of both the National Guard and the Coast Guard. Just when Zimmermann was about to turn down the offer, Pulse sweetened the deal. Pulse was test running some of their own specially modified and improved versions of aircraft. Zimmermann was still hesitant. Pulse offered him seven days with full pay. If he was not satisfied he could go back to reconnaissance. Zimmermann thought it over and agreed. The first plane they showed him was the Pulse Raptor. Zimmermann sighed. He already piloted a raptor before. Pulse assured him this was not any old Raptor. As his first job they made him test the capabilities of the Pulse Raptor. As he was being briefed about the planes supposed limits, his eyes widened. When it was time for him to fly it he was very enthusiastic. Take off was the same. It was not until he traveled 123,000 feet above the ground was he amazed. It was the same amazement he had when he was young. The whole planet below him. Zimmermann stayed with Pulse.
Name: Gregory Osmer
Alias: He is called Shade on the field (whether he is on it or not). Only a handful knows his name (If that is his name).
Age: 36
Alliance: Lance, B.C.C.O. and BioCorp (However he does not trust BioCorp at all).
Appearance: He is a black haired white male. He is about average height and has very dark brown (looks black) eyes. He always wears his trade mark long, heavy and black coat. When conducting business, he wears a suit and tie with his black coat. On the field he wears a tactical vest and boots with his black coat.
Weapon of choice: His intellect is his main weapon however he always carries with him a custom made and modified pistol with gyrojet ammunition. He is very accurate with his pistol. He also carries a modified dart revolver.
Personality: He is a patient and intelligent person. He has a reputation for being an exceptional military strategist and inventor. To top that off he is very paranoid but he is able to control his paranoia with his intellect. Because he is paranoid he has contingency and back up plans for everything. Osmer does not get frustrated easily nor does he get easily exited. Most people think he is devoid of emotions. Others think he is mad. Some think he possesses strange powers. Rumors spread but all of them agree he is a very serious and secretive person. He is the only "Ghost" who does not use the formula (Osmer is considered a half Ghost). Osmer also talks in a monotone voice.
Biography: He did a good job of hiding his past. Information on his history is only known by him. The only thing that is known about him is that he co-started the Lance Mercenary Organization with four others at the age of twenty-three. Lance eventually was contracted by BioCorp as the main bulk of the B.C.C.O. Because of this he is the leader of the B.C.C.O. and acts as liaison between the B.C.C.O. and BioCorp. Because of this, he holds a chair on the BioCorp board. He is rarely seen on the field. But when he is, something important is going on.
Personal Business
The door open. A man in a long black coat stepped into the dimly lit room. He sat in the only available chair. "Excuse my tardiness" said the man in a monotone voice. "There was an urgent matter that needed my attention." A man at the far end of the table spoke. "Now that Osmer is here, we can begin."
A man in a white lab coat straightened his papers on the table, stood up, and spoke. The others in the room looked at him with serious faces. Each of them wearing all black. "Progress on Zeta is going slowly. We haven't found a way to bypass the natural defenses."
A woman near the far corner of the room stood up slamming the table with her hands. "How many times do we have to listen to your failures?" she said sternly. "We have given you every available resource in the world and you still are making no progress? How is this possible?"
The most of the black figures in the room nodded their heads in approval. The rest sustained their mind piercing stares.
The woman continued her scathing speech. "Time is running out. It has been months and we still don't have Zeta complete? Every time you come into this room we hear about your inability to perform the task that was appointed to you. Before project Zeta, you assured us of your abilities. Osmer was right from the beginning. You cannot do anything!"
A bead of sweat rolled down the scientist's forehead. He thought carefully. One wrong move and that move would be his last.
"Something like this takes time." responded the scientist. " A slow and steady process. If we rush it at this stage, we could lose everything. All of our research would be worthless." He made sure to emphasize the words "we" and "our" making it seem the loss of his work would be a loss for them all.
Before the woman could retort. Osmer spoke. "Five days. You have five days to get results. At the end of five days you will be the test subject." His monotone voice echoed off the walls.
The scientist was speechless. He looked Osmer in the eyes. They were black. Black as evil incarnate. It was a stare you could feel. And the feeling was not pleasant, not one bit. He thought of his options. No he couldn't do that.
"Do what you must." Stated Osmer as if he could read the scientist's mind. "On the fifth day, my scientists will conduct the experiments. Depending on how good your results are will determine how painless your death will be. If you succeed in what we asked there should be nothing to fear."
The scientist dropped his papers. They lay strewn about on the table. He would face a woman's scorn any day if the alternative was Osmer's stare. He fell into his chair much like his papers; a mess.
"Now to a more pressing issue." Osmer said. "I have reason to believe there is an imposter among us."
The other looked around, trying to guess who it was. Finally one spoke up, "Who is it Osmer?"
"You." replied Osmer. His voice lacked emotion but had an unmistakable coldness to it.
"That's absurd." declared the man.
"Is it now? Firstly, you were the first to ask who it was. Secondly, a proud businessman like Anderson would never use contractions such as 'that's.' Thirdly, as a former smoker, Anderson was constantly moving his hands."
The Anderson fraud glanced quickly at his left side of his chest. He was about to reach for his gun when Osmer fired a dart from a modified revolver. The dart pierced the phony's neck and he was instantly knocked out. The other members of the board jumped out of their seats unsure what to do.
Still sitting Osmer spoke. "The effects are not permanent. With the consent of the board, I would like to perform the interrogation personally."
No one in the room spoke for they were still in shock.
"Good," said Osmer still looking towards the fake Anderson. "This is personal business."
Name: Isaac Wolfe
Alias: (None)
Age: 27
Alliance: B.C.C.O. and BioCorp although his loyalty is not completely to them
Appearance: He has dark skin and black hair because of his Cherokee ancestry (his mother is full Cherokee while his father is Caucasian). He looks like the standard B.C.C.O. soldier. He about average height at 5'10''.
Weapon of choice: He is familiar with all B.C.C.O. weaponry.
Personality: He is the soldier who keeps his mouth shut and objects only in his mind. He is not reckless and follows orders. He disagrees with much of what he is being ordered to do however he waits for the right time to leave or rebel. He is also wise for his age and proud of his heritage.
Biography: He was born and raised in Oklahoma. His mother taught him about his heritage while his father taught him how to hunt. He joined law enforcement when we was 21. As a police officer he was reckless and hasty but he got the job done. One day his recklessness got a fellow officer killed. His actions were scrutinized and he was kicked off the force. These advents made him more solemn. The next day he had a knock on his door. The person on the other side claimed to be part of an mercenary organization named Lance. The mystery man told Wolfe that they were currently hiring and that if he joined, his record will be wiped clean and he would begin a new life as a hired gun. Wolfe thought it over for the next week. He felt like there was no other choice and joined Lance. Lance was eventually contracted by BioCorp and was integrated into the B.C.C.O.
He was in the oil refinery facility raid with Geist.
Colonel Byron Thaddeus MortonSpoiler Alert!Name: Colonel Byron Thaddeus Morton.
Alias: Colonel
Alliance: *Pulse and the United States of America.
Appearance: Byron Thaddeus Morton is a mountain of a man. His nickname, The Goliath, does Morton an exorbitant amount of justice when describing him. He stands at a height of 6'8", weighing in at over 375 pounds of pure, unrivaled brute strength. His body is covered in bandoliers and weapons. He has taken the utmost precautions to ensure his longevity and protection. His right eye bears burnt skin around the socket, and where his right eye should be, there is instead an artificial eye with infrared technology built into it that sends collected data directly to the brain. This eye can use its infrared sensors to detect heat and triangulate a position through walls and certain structures. His left arm, from just below the elbow down, is severed completely off. It has since been replaced with a mechanically enhanced prosthetic Robo-Arm that was developed by Pulse only a few years back. This arm is completely metal and wires, sporting a Tungsten base armor; which is a metal surpassed in strength only by diamond. It is gold played to give it a more accommodating appearance. The wrinkles in his face are from years of tough living, giving him character but at the same time, a very cold and heartless stare and disposition.
Personality: Colonel Morton has a very ruthless persona about him. He understands conflict and suffering, and also believes that everyone should have suffering in their lives to build character. He is very old fashioned when faced with various euphemisms and ideologies. His sympathy is very little, but his reforms are great. That is to say, of he sees people in trouble and suffering, he will never show them any real apathy or emotion. He will, however, utilize all the power at his command to help those in need. He is brave and stouthearted, while also being haunted by his own demons from the past. He fills nearly every void of what is known as the "strong silent type." Although technically the United States no longer exists, Byron still fights for it. He fights for it because he needs something to fight for, otherwise he has no reason for living. Perfectly fits the definition of a "die hard patriot."
Biography: Byron was born to James and Matilda Morton in Springfield, Illinois on August the 11th of 1945. He was never much one for sports early on in school, from grades 1 to 7 he spent most of his days at recess inside, focusing on his studies rather than physical activities. This boggled his parents because of the boys obvious size and natural strength. His parents, however, would not have much time to instruct their son and make plans for his future. At the age of 13, the worst event of his life occurred. Byron's parents were both killed in a car crash, the result of a drunken driver.
Byron collapsed into depression, not knowing how to handle nor grieve for his parents passing. He was passed from foster home to foster home for his unruly personality and aggressive behavior until his 18th birthday.
It was 1973, and the call of the Army was strong for many young men. Byron, however, did not want such a life. After too many misdemeanors and being in and out of juvenile hall, the courts decided a fair punishment would be either prison for 8 years, or 4 years in the army. Morton chose the army.
His first year in basic training an arms maintenance was easy for him. His following two years in Vietnam however, proved far more difficult. Weeks in the hot sun followed by weeks in unending rain took their toll on the young mans life. At the age of 21, he experienced his second life changing tragedy. While crawling on all fours towards a POW containment camp, his left arm tripped a land mine. The mission was thought to be a failure, but Byron pulled through anyways. The mines explosion caught the attention of the guards, giving away Byron's Company's position. Byron, however, was blasted into a waterway, a waterway that conveniently led underneath the POW camp. Byron made It out with all 5 captured POW's. The rest of his company, however, with the exception of his commander, were slaughtered.
Byron was transported back to the US and awarded the Purple Heart for his bravery in the face of peril, a feat that nearly cost him his life. His left arm had to be amputated from the mine, while the blood lost from saving his fellow men caused him to slip into a 3 month coma. When he awoke, he found the latest in science where his left arm once was. A prosthetic piece of machinery was now to serve him for the rest of his life. He humbled himself, and turned to god. After two years in physical therapy, he went back into the military. Instead of utilizing his strength, he enable the use of his mind. Creating weapons and different scientific applications for the military, Byron quickly became the leader of the Military Robotics Division. Being a co-designer of nearly every advancement in the use of robotics by the military, Byron was simultaneously climbing the ranks as a Tactical Field Expert. When it came to battle tactics, he was the best.*
By the early 90's, Byron Thaddeus Morton had attained the rank of Colonel in the United States Military. In 1998, after serving for 35 years in the military, Byron retired. The army had given him everything he could ever ask for and more, which is why he is such a faithful patriot. he began to slow down and relax and finally enjoy his retirement. Then... It happened.
On September 11th, 2001, America was attacked. His beloved country was threatened, and so he saw fit to call himself back to arms. The war in Iraq was incredibly difficult, but it was not unlike the Vietnam war he had previously fought in. Being a high leader in robotics, he was able to upgrade his prosthetic arm into an all around utility that no other human could accomplish. It could extend, it could latch onto things, it gave him unheard of strength, he was in the most literal form, a super soldier. He was not, however, invincible.
During one of his raids on an Iraqi outpost in 2008, Byron's arm was hit by an EMP weapon. The arm shut down, and Byron was quickly overrun and captured. They tortured him for information. They tortured him for a long, long time.*
A true patriot to the end, he refused to relinquish any information. The Al-Qa'ida, unable to retrieve information through conventional means, decided to take a more traditional touch to the torture. This traditional touch came in the form of molten steel being poured on various parts of the body. They started with his right eye.
Noone knows if he would have died there or if he would have escaped on his own, all that is known is that he thanked America once more when the Marine Strike team raided the Al-Qa'ida camp and freed him. Seeing those beautiful, spacious skies and amber waves of grain brought tears to his remaining eye. He was hospitalized immediately when he returned to the united states. His eye was burnt beyond repair. It was instead removed, and replaced with an infrared mechanical eye that could relay information and dissect an environment at the speed of a computer.
When he returned to work in 2009, he was approached by his superior ranking officer and offered a position in a bran new division that had just opened, called Pulse. Byron gladly accepted the new post and took to his new job with little trouble. In 2012, the news of the United States no longer being a nation brought a sadness upon Byron like none other. He currently resides in Texas, at the remnants of what was once Dallas, taking it upon himself to defend the country he loved no matter what the costs.
Prologue: "A Ten-hut!"*
500 Hazard Suited Pulse Soldiers snapped to attention at the sound of their Colonel's voice.
"About, face!"*
Another booming command, and every soldier simultaneously pivoted on their right toe, turning to face their leader at home plate of the stadium. They were at the stadium of the Dallas Cowboys, what was once a place of happiness and giddy dreams.
That was... Before the Apocalypse.
"At ease!"
The Colonel barked, and his order was followed. Every soldier folded their hands behind their backs,
And separated their feet in a resting position. Sweat dripped from Colonel Byron Thaddeus Morton's brow as he gazed upon his company. These were men he had trained, dined with, fought with, bled with, and all but died with. Now, he was prepared to make that last statement change, as was every soldier in that stadium. They all knew what was expected, and they all knew that they probably would not live through the following confrontation. But what really mattered was that they didn't care. They were happy to die.
As long as they died together, while fighting for their fallen country, they were ready to greet the next world with open arms.
Morton's gaze traveled to the stands of the stadium. They were filled with survivors, people on the run from the apocalypse and just barely holding on to life. He had created a safe haven for them here, in Dallas. He had told them they would make it through this. He gave them food, water, shelter, he gave them hope, and told them of a brighter future. There was, however, one thing he hadn't told them.*
That they were alone in this city, and the only thing standing between these survivors and the cretinous apocalypse going on outside these walls... Was him.
He returned his gaze to his troops, and spoke aloud for all to hear.
"Men," he said loudly, "we have spent our lives training for this day. Every event prior to this moment, right here, right now, is meaningless. Every material possession, every suffering, every love, every sacrifice have all been leading to this moment. This is going to be the pinnacle of our existence. The reanimated have been multiplying in number just outside this cities walls. Soon, they will gather a force strong enough to break through."
He paused, just for a moment to let the message sink in.
"And when they do break through," he continued, "what will they find? A broken people? A species unable to continue on through this hardship? No! They will find strong, capable men and women, ready to fight for what they believe in!"
His voice began to rise and gain more and more confidence with each word he spoke.
"We will not fall! These reanimated these... Mutants, they will not win! They can think, just like we do. They are not simply mindless beasts, but neither are we!"
The survivors cheered as he spoke.
"We will show them who the superior species are! We will show them real fear and true strength! Not by the strength of our muscles nor by the power of our weapons, but by the ferocity of our hearts!"
The crowd roared.
"We fight for every life taken by these bastards! We fight for every family torn apart! We fight, not for freedom, but for life! We fight for the United States, and for what we represent!"
The crowd ate this up and kept cheering.
Byron's voice suddenly became very monotone. "And what is it that we represent?"
The crowd grew quiet very quickly, all on the edge of their seats to hear what the Colonel was about to say. He continued to pause for a moment until silence swept the stadium unopposed.*
"What we represent... Is the spirit of the human race."
Applause slowly built up as he spoke, "And that, my friends, is something these monsters can never take from us!!!"
The crowd roared, the soldiers cheered. Byron turned and walked into his office in the stadium announcers booth. What he hadn't told them is that he had not gotten contact from his commanding officers in weeks. What he had not told them is that supplies were getting lower.
What he had not told them was that they were alone, and that time was running short.
Weapon of choice: Colonel Byron utilizes the latest in advanced military technology, including the patented Pulse Pistol that was a staple weapon of the Pulse Soldiers. It is the size of a 9mm pistol, firing armor piercing rounds. Along each of his legs at the calves lie a holster, each of the two holsters housing a sawn off shotgun. Around the thighs of his legs are bandoliers with shotgun shells. at his waist, Byron's belt holds four holsters, two in the front near the belt buckle, two in the back. In the front holsters sit twin golden 9mm pistols, while in the back holsters sit twin mini-Uzi guns, also gold plated. Bandoliers are strapped across his chest, full of ammo, with two large holsters in the back. All he has to do to access these weapons is reach over one of his shoulders. Two weapons are housed here, the first being a real time Flamethrower, the second being a prototype 308 automatic rifle with a grenade launcher attachment. At his sides on his belt sit a pair of knives, used either for throwing or close range combat.
Byron is a mountain of a man, and his physical strength surpassed only by his firepower. He has given his mechanical arm numerous upgrades to now resist EMP along with being bulletproof.
Eruc Suriv (aka Aerian)Spoiler Alert!Name: Eruc Suriv
Alias: *Aerian
Age: 44
Alliance: Veteran mercenary for Vial Industries and threat to both the undead and the living, his only alliance now is to himself and whomever he chooses to show mercy to.
Appearance: Unlike his brethren reanimated, Aerian does not appear to be undead. He looks normal, like he did in the pinnacle of his mercenary days. He wears a suit of bullet proof armor, lightweight, yet durable metal alloy based. The armor is black and red colored, giving him a colorful yet threatening disposition. His armor bears the scars of blades that have met it and many blemishes from bullets that have failed to pierce it. His face is one of pure angst and determination. The pupil in his right eye has no color from a previous battle wound, along with a scar going through his eye and the brow above it appears to have been burnt off with a lot of scar tissue around it. His skin has lost most of his color, resembling more of a sickly white as opposed to his previous tanned skin. The hair on his head which was once a long mane of dark gold has turned to a bright white as the hair has died and become tainted from Necroenza. His look is fierce and gives most a very uneasy feeling when being gazed upon by his gaunt features and threatening presence.
Personality: Aerian has a very violent temper. Being a former mercenary, he already has a ruthless sense of violence and has no real care or good will towards the preservation of life. Willful and headstrong, he is not afraid to voice his opinions, nor to meet confrontation with conflict at the slightest whim. Being a reanimated as well, he has a lust for flesh, whether it is from a corpse or a living being. At times if he goes too long without eating such things, he can enter a sort of feeding frenzy, where he gives in to his base lusts and traits given by the Necroenza, more or less becoming a mindless feeding machine until his hunger is satisfied. Being a warrior, he has a hunger for battle, and will never quit on the battlefield until the enemy is defeated.
Weapon of Choice: Hands, feet, mouth, toxic Necroenza spit. He also carries a silenced pistol that remains in a special leg holster on his armor, along with a compound bow of the highest grade that he uses to hunt down his targets. He prefers to hear the whooshing sound of an arrow and the sickly noise of it penetrating it's target as opposed to bullets.
Biography: The first and original test experiment of Vial Inc., The mercenary who was the first and original test subject of BioCorp who helped steal the Necroenza virus and was tested upon, being the original source and first reanimated, the strongest of them all.
Prologue: "Ugh... My head... Feels like its been ripped in half..."*
The cot creaked as Eruc Suriv woke from his sleep. He rose and put his hands on his face to rub the dust out of his eyes. As he looked around in his dimly lit room, he stretched, an found himself in pain. The source of his pain was stemming from his left arm. He tensed his muscles and noticed the small hold at the point where his elbow bent, a small hole that had been created only weeks before. A hole that would change his life forever.
He had been injected with BioCorp's super soldier formula. His strength, endurance, vitality and speed had all increased. He felt stronger, but weaker at the same time. He was the very first human subject that was tested on by BioCorps new formula, but he certainly was not the last. He was chosen first because of his accolades, his accomplishments, and most of all, because of his impeccable service record. And yet... None of that mattered to him. He stood, dressed himself in his normal attire, grabbed his weapons and left his room. On the nightstand near his cot lay a document stating his involvement and payment by working for BioCorps competition, Vial Industries, along with outlining his duties for the day to steal the super soldier formula and deliver it to Vial Ind. For all his accomplishments, there was one thing he prides above all else. He is a mercenary first, loyalist second.
Money is the only thing true mercenaries respect, and Vial paid well to ensure it.
Eruc had heard of BioCorp hiring more people to test their new formula on. They were not allowed to even be in the same room together, however. Because of this, neither Eruc nor any members of the B.B.C.O new the other existed. He was a lone wolf, always had been. When he was in the military in previous years, he had alone led battalions to complete victory. When the third world war had begun, Eruc was already tired of fighting for causes that never seemed to be fixed. He gave up his military life, and his rank, and became a mercenary for hire, one of the finest ever known. Now, not only had BioCorp hired him for the super soldier project, but Vial Industries has also hired him to deliver the formula to them. He would become the ultimate soldier, and the most well paid. It was a win for him in every way, and he intended to see it through.
He made his way through the halls, making sure to steer clear of the security cameras. Though he was still technically employed by BioCorp, to be discharged or word for conspiracy and theft was not a mark he wanted on his record. He slipped past the first security checkpoint, but when he came to the second is where it got interesting. He had *two guards to deal with. Just two.*
Swiftly, he held Strode up towards the first guard, who smiled and walked up to greet him. His smile was met with the force of an arrow being stabbed up through his throat and out the back, severing his vertebrae for instant death. The second guard behind the counter had no chance to react as a bullet silently and politely buried itself between his eyes. Eruc's arrow made its way back to its case and his gun found it's holster again, and he was on the move.
He strode through security checkpoint after security checkpoint, leaving nothin behind him but death. The formula was progressing at an accelerated rate, and his speed continued to increase, until they hardly had a chance to react as soon as he entered a room. Finally, he entered the laboratory. The lone scientist who was still there had somehow been alerted to someone attacking the facility, and was ready.
Or at least, he thought he was.
A force struck his chest like none he had ever felt. In a flash, he was up against the wall, falling to the floor, his ears bleeding, and his chest heaving from exhaustion.
*Eruc made his way towards the scientist, and said, "Give me the formula... And I may spare your life."
The scientists reply was him taking out a small USB stick.
"The files you are looking for are on this stick. But... You will never have them!"
As he muttered those words, he shoved the USB stick into his mouth, and swallowed.
Or rather, he attempted to swallow.
His attempt was foiled as his throat met the crushing grip of Eruc's hand. Squeezing harder, and harder, eventually his windpipes gave up, and caved in. The look on Eruc's face was one of both disgust, an curiosity. *Shortly afterwords, the security forces arrived at the laboratory. What they found was more than most of them could stomach, and neither the formula or the thief were anywhere to be found.
The next day....
"Yes yes, I know we're already over budget, but I'm telling you, we're on the brink of something huge!"
A knock on the door.
"Yea I get it, I get it. Let me call you back. Come in," said the CEO of Vial Industries as he hung up the phone. His secretary entered and informed him that a man was here who needed to see him urgently.
"Yes of course, send him in, hurry up," he said annoyed as he scribbled some notes down. The door reopened, this time accompanied by the pounding of heavy feet striding into the room. Before the CEO had a chance to talk, the man dropped a bag onto his desk. The bag had an odor about it like the back end of a cow.
"What is the meaning of th-" the CEO started to say until he looked up and saw who stood before him. "Ah, Mr. Suriv, nice to see you again."
"Likewise, sir," Eruc replied dryly. "I have acquired what you have asked of me, now I want my payment."
"You have the formula?? Where is it?"
Eruc smiled and nodded towards the bag. The CEO gave him a curious look, and proceeded to open it. He withdrew in disgust to see that inside the bag was a human head.
"What is the meaning of this?" he shouted.
"You will find the formula on a USB flash drive lodged in his throat. My apologies, I did not have time to remove it myself."
"Very well, Mr. Suriv. Head down the hall, to the left, and you will receive your payment."
Eruc left the room with a smile on his face, a smile that had not been seen in years.
A few days later....
Eruc awoke with a hunger that he had never felt before. An insatiable taste was in his mouth and he had no idea what could sate his lust. As he stood, he realized he was in a basement of some sort, there were test tubes everywhere, along with many people. He looked down, and saw yet another needle hole in his arm. Then he began to remember what happened. Vial had reproduced the formula, they had paid him an even larger sum of money to be among there test subjects, and something had happened to him. His skin felt like it was deteriorating, and this hunger he had was driving him crazy.
Before he knew what he was doing, he found himself leaping onto what appeared to be a nearby scientist. As he sunk his teeth into her flesh, he felt a rush like nothing he had ever felt. Once he bit her, he noticed that she began I change, her skin paled, and she began to attack others in the room. He continued the attack, an the last thing everyone was hearing before they died was the screaming of the person next to them. All who had been attacked began to come back to life, reanimated. Eruc led the assault, and many of these undead escaped the lab. Some were left and locked back in the room. Eruc escaped as gunshots were heard floors up. He found that he had still been in an underground laboratory of Vial Inc. He ran out into the street, and found he still had his super human abilities from the formula he had been given. He scaled up the side of a building in mere moments as if it was a latter.*
As he stood out in the darkness from the top of a building, he watched the creatures he had bred from blood attacking innocent bystanders. He witnessed the corruption. He saw the fires blaze as people continued to die, completely unaware and unprepared. As he stared, he new that he was to blame.
He knew that this was the beginning of the end.
Looks like i wont be able to start this up today. Its my fault. I put the start date too close to the day I was going on leave to see my family before I deploy to Afghanistan. Ill be on a plane all day today, and tomorrow Ill be busy being social with all the people that missed me and all that mushy mumbo jumbo. This does however leave us with more opportunity to prep ourselves before we kick this thing off. So Im going to say, next Tuesday sounds good. Use this time to think of what youre going to bring to this RP, make another SU if you want, and we can all discuss how we want to start this thing. Also Ill take the following days to explain the mission system for this RP and make sure everyone knows how it works. Well Im about to hop on my first 4 hour flight so cheers everyone.
It's fine~


text:
Reliving the Past: Writing Historical Fiction
Who: Sulari Gentill
When: Sunday, 23 October, 10am-4pm
Cost: Full Price: $180; Member: $125; Conc Member:$110
Level: All
Writing fiction often begins with a single shining idea. Historical fiction is about setting that idea in a time and place that has existed and been recorded. The historical novelist's art is that of weaving a new story into the old and intertwining imaginary plots into actual events and milieus.
In this workshop you will comprehensively explore the techniques, tricks, ideas and pitfalls of bringing history into a narrative in a way that enhances rather than swamps. .....
The Story Doctor - sold out!
This course is now sold out. Please email us your name and phone number and we will add you to the waiting list.
Who: Kate Forsyth
When: 2 x Sundays: 23, 30 October, 10am-4pm
Cost: Full Price: $350; Member: $250; Conc Member: $210
Level: Emerging/advanced: Only writers with completed manuscripts of 50,000 words or more may enrol (poetry and picture
Seminar: Finding the Detail: Research Tools for Writers
Who: Eleanor Limprecht
When: Tuesday 25 October, 6:30-9:30pm
Cost: Full price: $55; Member: $40; Conc Member: $35
Level: Beginning/Intermediate
How do you use the tools of journalism and investigation to research the stories you want to write and add detail to your fiction or non-fiction? This seminar will provide you with practical information about resources available (both online and traditional) and how to access them. Topi
Everything You Need to Succeed in HSC English Extension 2
With Felicity Castagna
NSW Writers' Centre: Sunday 30 October, 10am-4pm
Casula Powerhouse: Sunday 6 November, 10am-4pm
Cost: $55*
* The course at Casula is available for a subsidised price to students from eligible Western Sydney schools. For details, please call (02) 9555 9757.
This one-day course will take students far beyond the fundamentals of writing to look at what distinguishes great Major Works across all textual forms. The course will focus on:
What makes an original and distinctive creative work: Students will look at the current trends in major works and creative writing more broadly as well as looking at some distinguishing features of each form and what makes for a successful major work. .....
HSC English Extension 2: The Reflection Statement
Who: Felicity Castagna
Where: NSW Writers' Centre
When: Sunday 4 June, 10am-1pm
Cost: $30
Students will learn what the Board of Studies is looking for in a reflection statement. Topics covered include the fundamental information that must be included in your statement, focusing on what really matters, how to pack a lot of information into a small space, how to discuss creative writing practice in sophisticated ways and how to show that your work is informed by theory and research.
Participant Requirements
Pen and paper .....
Write to Speak
Who: Miles Merrill
When: Saturday 5 November, 10am-4pm
Cost: Full price: $180; Member: $125; Conc Member: $110
Level: All
Writers don't always think ahead to potentially performing their work when they're going through the difficult writing process. But knowing how to perform and speak your words is essential, both in terms of marketing and professional development, but also for building your confidence in the public arena. .....
Book Publicity for Authors
With: Jaki Arthur
When: Saturday 5 November, 10am-4pm
Cost: Full price: $180; Member: $125; Conc Member: $110
Level: All
Experienced book publicist Jaki Arthur presents a motivating and inspiring workshop all about book publicity – how it works, why it works, what it can do for you and how to do it!
You will discuss today's media landscape and where your work and ideas fit within it, learn how to identify and approach targets, and when (and when not to) to pitch, and finally, learn about the current book retail landscape in Australia and the Australian publishing industry in general – its strengths and its weaknesses. .....
Writing for Children
Who: Jacqueline Harvey
When: 5 x Tuesday evenings: 8, 15, 22, 29 November; 6 December, 6:30-9:30 pm
Cost: Full Price: $500; Member: $350; Conc Member: $300
Level: All
Writing for children is big business. Despite the oft forecast demise of reading, demand for quality children's books is strong and there has been significant growth in this market over the past few years.
If you're keen to write stories that will keep children reading under the covers after lights out, if you're interested to know more about the puzzling business of publishing, or if you harbour dreams of being the next JK Rowling or Andy Griffiths, then this course is for you. .....
Literary Speed Dating
Presented by the Australian Society of Authors
Where: Barneys Church, 57-61 Mountain St, Ultimo
When: Friday 11 November, 2pm-4pm
Cost: ASA and/or NSWWC Members: $35
A roomful of publishers and agents and three minutes to pitch your work, ask a question or exchange email addresses. Bring your solid story idea, business cards and pitching skills.
This event is presented by the Australian Society of Authors (ASA) and is only open to ASA members. Thanks to a partnership between the ASA and NSW Writers' Centre, 15 places have been reserved for NSWWC members.
Powering Your Blog
With: Karen Andrews
When: Saturday 19 November, 10am-4pm
Cost: Full price: $180; Member: $125; Conc Member: $110
Level: Beginner/Intermediate
Do you want to take your blog to a new level? This course will help you learn the key elements of content planning and creation, the basics of content marketing, and pick up a raft of social media tips.
Topics covered include:
The eleme
Between Facts and Feeling: The Art of Feature Writing
Who: Rebecca Harkins-Cross
When: Saturday, 19 November, 10am–4pm
Cost: Full Price: $180; Member: $125; Conc Member: $110
Level: Beginner/Intermediate
'The feature writer's aim is the dramatist's aim: make 'em laugh; make em weep.'
— Mary J.J. Wrinn, 1929
Journalism and the world it documents may have changed a lot since 1929, but this definition of feature writing holds. Navigating the ocean between facts and

subset: commoncrawl


text:
See New Politics perform from SXSW
Around 9 a.m. typically isn't the best part of day for rock musicians, particularly during a massive event like the South by Southwest music conference in Austin, Texas, where bands are playing all day and into the early morning hours. But Danish act New Politics, which is in Austin for SXSW this week (as am I) woke up bright and early to perform an infectious acoustic version of new single "Harlem" on the 4th-floor terrace at the Austin Convention Center. It did a better job of waking me up than the morning coffee. »Read Full Blog Post
Olly Murs brings a mixed bag of tricks to The Rave
Olly Murs has been touted as the U.K.'s answer to Bruno Mars ahead of his new campaign to break out stateside.
Thing is, we already have a Bruno Mars. »Read Full Article(1)


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Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE:HI)
F4Q 2012 Earnings Conference Call
November 27, 2012 08:00 AM ET
Kenneth A. Camp - President and CEO
Cynthia L. Lucchese - SVP and CFO
Joe A. Raver - President, Process Equipment Group
Kimberly K. Dennis - President, Batesville Services
Chris Gordon - Director, Investor Relations
Daniel Moore - CJS Securities, Inc.
Clint Fendley - Davenport & Company, LLC, Research Division
Jamie Clement - Sidoti & Company, LLC.
Good day ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Hillenbrand, Inc Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later we will conduct a question-and-answer session and instructions will be given at that time. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder today's conference call is being recorded.
I'd now like to turn the conference over to your host, Mr. Chris Gordon, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Chris Gordon
Thank you, Ally, and good morning. Welcome to our earnings call for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012, which ended on September 30th. With me on today's call are Hillenbrand President and Chief Executive Officer, Ken Camp; and Chief Financial Officer, Cindy Lucchese.
During the course of today's conference call and the question-and-answer session that follows, we may make projections or other forward-looking statements that are subject to the Safe Harbor Provisions of the Securities Laws regarding future events or the financial performance of the Company. We caution you that these statements are only our view of the future and that actual results may differ materially. We also alert you to the risks described in the documents we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, such as our annual and quarterly reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q. We do not undertake any obligations to update or correct any forward-looking statements.
Now let me provide some information regarding our call. We have scheduled one hour, and we'll start with prepared remarks from Ken and Cindy that should last approximately 20 minutes. Ken will start with an overview of the business for the past quarter, Cindy will follow with financial results and Ken will wrap up the prepared portion of the call with some closing comments.
After that, we'll move directly to Q&A, where we'll be joined by Process Equipment Group President, Joe Raver; and Batesville President, Kim Dennis. If you have follow-up questions after the call has ended, please feel free to call me at 812-931-5001 or e-mail me at email@example.com.
Now it's my pleasure to turn the call over to Ken Camp, Hillenbrand's President and Chief Executive Officer. Ken?
Kenneth A. Camp
Thank you, Chris. Good morning, everyone and thank you for joining us today. After the market closed yesterday, we released our earnings and filed the 10-K for the fourth quarter and full fiscal year of 2012. Both documents are currently available on our website.
We finished fiscal 2012 with a double-digit revenue growth compared to last year for both the quarter and full-year delivering $0.50 per share in adjusted earnings for the quarter and a $1.76 for the full-year. I'm pleased with how well the Hillenbrand team has implemented our acquisition strategy to diversify and provide attractive growth for our shareholders, generating revenue of more than $250 million for the quarter and nearly $1 billion for the full-year. This represents a 10% increase over Q4 and 11% for the full-year.
Consolidated adjusted gross profit margin was 40% in the quarter in line with Q4 of last year, and up from 39% last quarter. The adjusted operating profit margin was 19%, an increase of 400 basis points over the last quarter and 100 basis points over the prior-year.
I'd like to start my discussion of platform performance with the Process Equipment Group, which has generated very solid results for the quarter and the year. Fourth quarter revenue in the Process Equipment Group grew 33% to $102 million. While much of this was due to the addition of Rotex, the Process Equipment Group still grew organically by 10% and they're now contributing 40% of total enterprise revenue and 38% of our total adjusted EBITDA.
Like last year we again shipped several large orders in the fourth quarter and as a result we drew our backlog down by 14% sequentially to $121 million. That's a level that shift slightly ahead of the Q4 2011 levels and this amount is consistent with – in Q4 of last year.
Our backlog continues to give us visibility into the future revenue and as we discussed in our last call, it has begun to show some signs of uncertainty in the global markets. With the elections finally over and virtually the same cast of characters returning to Washington, there is still uncertainty about when and how the United States will deal with the fiscal cliff, that's set to take effect only a month from now.
Adding this challenge to our mounting national debt and similar situations in Europe, generate high levels of economic uncertainty around the globe. These levels of uncertainty are reflected in the results of many of the companies that you seen report in recent months and we have no reason to believe we would be immune from the same factors.
If you've listened to our earnings calls before, you heard us say that a core element of Hillenbrand's growth through acquisition strategy is to acquire successful companies with great brands that can benefit from our core competencies of strategy management, lean business, and intentional talent development.
When we acquired the Process Equipment Group companies, our goal was to accelerate their growth. A big part of the plan for organic growth in these companies is to expand into new markets with both existing and some new products. We've leveraged our strategy management process to accelerate these growth initiatives and our expertise in lean to take advantage of some operational synergies between the operating companies. This has allowed us deliver double-digit organic revenue growth in the platform.
During the quarter, the gross margin remain strong at 43% in line with last year, while the EBITDA margin was 24% for the fourth quarter and 20% for the full-year. In addition, the Process Equipment Group full-year adjusted OpEx ratio improved 190 basis points to 27.1%.
In short we continue to be pleased with the progress of the Process Equipment Group. The companies which comprise the Process Equipment Group, which are K-Tron, TerraSource Global and Rotex have all performed very well this year. And in fact, they've done so since our first acquisition in this space beginning in 2010. These companies are exceeding many of our expectations and are building a strong track record of success. This makes us even more excited about our pending Coperion acquisition as it fits perfectly into our strategy for growth in the Process Equipment Group.
Now I'd like to make a few remarks about the Batesville business platform where North American deaths were down about 1% and burials were down 3% in the quarter compared to the prior-year. While this brings deaths closer to historical levels for the quarter, full-year burials remained down by double the normal rate. Despite these headwinds, Batesville's revenue was down only 2% to $152 million and they continue to hold their market leadership position.
As burial volume was lower than last year for the quarter and represented the biggest impact on Batesville revenue, we estimate that the cremation rate increased by about 120 basis points during this period. This is right in line with the long-term trend we've observed in past years and Batesville's options cremation product line grew at more than three times the rate at which the market grew during Q4, while Batesville's interactive and the vault businesses grew at double-digit rates as well. Because of the fixed nature of Batesville's distribution system the reduced volume depressed gross margins in comparison to the prior-year and Batesville is taking action to bring these more in line with their historic levels.
The Batesville leadership team has undertaken a number of actions to right size their organization and further lean out their production and logistics capabilities. This has enabled them to improve their adjusted margins by 240 basis points sequentially from the third quarter. Since we cannot predict the certainty of what the North American death rate will be, although we believe it cannot indefinitely remain at the low levels we experienced this past year and the one before that. We need to be as lean and flexible as possible as the funeral products industry continues to evolve.
Finally, nothing makes me happier than to know that this is the last time I will have to focus any of my comments on this. But as you recall, we received a favorable ruling on the class certification of the Funeral Consumers Alliance lawsuit during the quarter. In fact, we received favorable rulings at every step of the way during this multiyear process. We were able to expeditiously end the litigation and preserve our long standing policy of selling our caskets through licensed funeral homes operated by licensed funeral directors. The conclusion of the FCA action finally reduces the drag on the Company that the lawsuit brought in terms of legal matters. And management attention and the restrictive covenants and other agreements with our parent Company Hill Rom are now terminated.
Now I'll turn the call over to our CFO, Cindy Lucchese. Cindy?
Cynthia L. Lucchese
Thank you, Ken. At the top line, our fourth quarter revenue grew 10% to $254 million and a 11% on a constant currency basis. The Process Equipment Group once again delivered strong results increasing 33% to a $102 million. And as Ken mentioned earlier, organic growth was also strong at 10% for the quarter.
Batesville revenue was $152 million or 2% lower than the prior-year, largely due to a 3% decline in North American burial. For the year, revenue increased by $100 million or 11% to $983 million just shy of the $1 billion mark. Revenue growth was 12% on a constant currency basis. Process Equipment Group revenue grew by a $130 million with organic revenue growth of 13% and Batesville revenue declined by $31 million or 5% primarily due to a 4% decline in North American burial.
Now turning to margin, our gross profit margin for the fourth quarter was 39.5%. It was slightly higher on an adjusted basis at 39.8%, about 60 points lower than the prior-year. As a reminder, the items we adjusted for include restructuring charges at both of the business platform as well as inventory step up charges related to our acquisition of Rotex.
The Process Equipment Group's adjusted gross margin was 42.7%, a 30 basis point improvement over the prior-year. Batesville's gross profit margin on an adjusted basis was 37.8%, a 170 point basis decline from the prior-year. Lower volume and average selling price, short-term transition costs and increased commodity and distribution costs were the key drivers in the decline. For the full-year gross profit margin was 39.6% and on an adjusted basis 40% about 220 basis points less than the prior-year.
We continued to employ lean principals throughout the organization and this is particularly evident in the Batesville organization where significant actions were taken throughout the year to make changes that will favorably impact profitability in the future. Going forward we expect these actions to provide annual savings of about $5 million for Batesville and $2 million for the Process Equipment Group.
Now turning to operating expenses, for the quarter, operating expense as a percentage of sales was 24.3% or 20.9% on an adjusted basis, and on an annual basis our operating expense ratio was 24.4% or 22.5% on an adjusted basis. In the current year we realized about $5 million of savings related to changes in employee benefits and other estimates that we do not expect to take place again in the future.
Other income and expense for the quarter was about $1.6 million lower than the prior-year and for the full-year it was about $12 million unfavorable as we expected really due to two key factors. First, we had $6 million less interest income due to the full collection of the Forethought Note in April of 2011 and second we had $4 million less investment gains from our limited partnership investments.
Our adjusted effective tax rate this quarter was 28.9% compared to 28.3% in the prior-year. And for the full-year our adjusted effective tax rate was 30.5% compared to 32.9% in the prior-year. This improvement was primarily due to a true-up of actual versus accrued tax liability when we filed our return, the impact of discrete items and also the increase in the percentage of lower rate foreign source income.
And I'd like to point out although we benefited from a number of these discrete items the past several years, we don't expect much benefit from them in our current fiscal year. Our tax rate in 2012 would have been about 33% without these items which is more reflective of what we expect going forward from our existing operation.
And as we like to say here at Hillenbrand, cash is king and our results in this area again were positive as we continue to deliver strong operating cash flow quarter after quarter. Year-to-date we delivered $138 million of operating cash flow and if you exclude the one-time cash receipt for the collection of the Forethought Note, our operating cash flow increased by $8 million or 6% over the prior-year.
Turning to bottom line results for the quarter, net income increased 6% to $25 million with earnings per share of 5% to $0.40. On an adjusted basis, net income increased 6% to $31 million and earnings per share increased 4% to $0.50. Also adjusted EBITDA was $57 million, an increase of 8% compared to the prior-year.
So for the full-year net income was down 1% over the prior-year with earnings per share down 2% and these decreases were largely due to the $12 million decline in other income and expense I discussed earlier. On an adjusted basis, net income decreased 44% and EPS decreased 4% as well. Adjusted EBITDA was $207 million, a decrease of 1% compared to the prior-year.
Okay, now I'd like to turn to guidance. And as you know our tradition has been to provide guidance for the upcoming year during our fourth quarter earnings call. However, given our pending acquisition of Coperion, which is expected to close in the near future, we've chosen to delay this discussion until the acquisition is finalized. At that time we plan to provide guidance for our fiscal year 2013, including not just existing Hillenbrand, but also Coperion.
And now I'll turn the call back to Ken for his concluding remarks. Ken?
Kenneth A. Camp
Thanks, Cindy. As many of you know Hillenbrand is a thoughtful prudent Company with a long-term view of the future. We're deeply committed to the proven acquisition strategy that's been the key to our growth these past few years and we will always make the best decision for the long-term increase in shareholder value.
We will continue to build Hillenbrand as a global industrial products company with an emphasis on customer and geographic diversification to balance risk and growth. The Coperion acquisition is the latest step in this strategy and while evaluating acquisition candidate companies is a continual process, we have a lot to keep us busy right now as we focus on the Coperion integration process.
Until the transaction is officially closed, we can't say a lot other than that we're diligently working on these integration plans, and we've assigned Diane Bohman, a very experienced Hillenbrand executive to lead the integration full-time over the next 18 months or so. Some of you may remember Diane from her assignments as CFO of Batesville and later as the leader of the Company's logistics organization. Diane and Joe Raver's leadership team are using our skills in lean business to ensure the integration process as implemented as effectively as possible. We will have much more to say about the Coperion acquisition and our integration plans after the transaction is completed.
As Cindy mentioned we expect the acquisition to close very soon and we will host investor luncheons, in New York, Boston and Chicago shortly thereafter to share the next chapter of the Hillenbrand's story with you. We will also share our 2013 guidance with you via press release just after the close.
Our goal continues to be that we will implement our strategy to result in revenue growth and profitability. Our focus is on strong cash generation that strengthens our balance sheet and enables us to execute the strategy. We're committed to being careful stewards of the Company and to providing meaningful value to our shareholders despite economic times like these when the global economy is both challenging and increasingly unpredictable.
For our Q&A session we'll be joined today by Process Equipment Group President, Joe Raver and Batesville President, Kim Dennis. Now we're ready to take your questions. Ally, would you please open the lines.
Question-and-Answer Session
(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Daniel Moore of CJS Securities. Please go ahead.
Daniel Moore - CJS Securities, Inc.
Good morning and thanks for taking the questions.
Kenneth A. Camp
Good morning.
Daniel Moore - CJS Securities, Inc.
Ken, coming off a very solid quarter where certainly very solid growth in Process Equipment, and it appears that trends in Batesville are getting somewhat back to normal, yet your comments are a bit more cautious than we've heard. Maybe a little bit more color about what you're hearing from customers across the PE business. Are you being across the businesses, are you being more conservative, or are customers really holding back until we get resolution, resolving fiscal cliff and some of these other issues?
Kenneth A. Camp
That's a good question and I – we probably are feeling a bit more conservative for a number of reasons; one is, we had a major milestone in the U.S. with the election. The elector has spoken and no one – I don't think anyone is saying that what the elector had to say is going to make life easier or more productive for our business, there is – we have to learn the new rules and everybody has to learn how to adapt to them. If the same level of uncertainty exists in Europe and people are even talking about Asia, China being down – the decline in their economy and I think they're down from 1.12% to around 8% now.
I think all of us would take – 8% growth all of us would take us, but everybody is acting like the world is kind of coming to an end. I think that nations and businesses will plough through most of this in the upcoming years so, but when you look at some of the really big global players they too are being very cautious. What that means to us is many of those big companies are our customers and when they show public signs of cautiousness we have to take the same approach. It's not changing the strategy, it's not changing the thing that Joe Raver's team and the Process Equipment Group does, but it also – its prudent for us to take a cautious approach and hopefully as the year unfolds we'll have better news and folks will have more confidence in their respective economies and we can get on to the business of business.
Daniel Moore - CJS Securities, Inc.
Okay, that's helpful. And can you give us a sense; we talked about on the call following Coperion some of the revenue synergies involved, do you expect those opportunities to be immediate or will benefit the – were a little bit more gradual as the two companies integrate over time?
Kenneth A. Camp
Well I am going to start at and then turn it over to Joe Raver because he's closer to it, but we have a lot of sayings here, one of them is, we're frequently pleased and rarely satisfied. So, results are never as immediate as I would like them to be. But we've got the right people working on this and I'll let Joe give you an indication of the top couple of priorities that he has to get the results as quickly as possible without them – without those results being ephemeral or temporary.
Joe A. Raver
Thanks, Ken. Dan, I think there is – there's a series of the synergies and they come at different times. As Ken mentioned some of them are pretty fast and an example of that is specifying current Process Equipment Group products into Coperion systems. Now we'll have to work through the backlog because this is a big projects business on the Coperion side, but once they start to work through the backlog we'll start to be able to put K-Tron theaters into their systems and Rotex screeners into their systems. And so that will be a relatively – because we have great products, those are great products and great brands that will be a relatively quick transition for us to make.
I think the second part is to leverage their footprint to help us to grow globally particularly in places like India and Russia and Brazil. That will take a little bit longer for us to get up and running. However that's much faster than – and less expensively than we would ever be able to do it as on our own, and so that will be a real benefit to the business, but that's more of a medium term type look.
And then if you go a little bit farther we have the opportunity to develop new products, integrated new products specifically for systems in end-markets that we are trying to go penetrate more deeply together as a single company. And so I think that will come a little bit farther out in time as we learn to work together to find customer requirements more clearly and then of course develop and integrate those products. So, some things we'll see pretty quickly. I think other things will come about in the next 12 to 24 months.
Daniel Moore - CJS Securities, Inc.
That's helpful. I appreciate it. I'll jump back in queue.
Kenneth A. Camp
Our next question comes from Clint Fendley of Davenport. Please go ahead.
Clint Fendley - Davenport & Company, LLC, Research Division
Thank you for taking my question. Good morning, guys.
Kenneth A. Camp
Good morning.
Joe A. Raver
Hi, Clint.
Clint Fendley - Davenport & Company, LLC, Research Division
I just wondered on the – the performance was stronger than we had expected in the quarter from the Process Equipment Group and I wondered if you had any color on the impact from the completion of the large project that you had discussed in previous quarters, and I know you've also had some efficiency initiatives as well within the Process Equipment Group and I wondered if that was one of the things that was helping the performance in the quarter?
Joe A. Raver
Yeah, Clint this is Joe again. You're absolutely right. So, in parts of our business we did have a couple of really large projects shipped near the end of the year, and we just drove revenue up and you could see the down – took it out of backlog, that's sort of normal in this business in the fourth quarter for us, but that was part of the driver, and then again I think certainly the businesses in end-markets just had nice strong quarters in the fourth quarter and when we get that volume, gross margins are strong as well. So, overall we had a really nice quarter from a revenue and margin perspective in the group and you're right that some of those larger projects that we talked about last quarter did ship in the fourth quarter.
Clint Fendley - Davenport & Company, LLC, Research Division
And I guess this is – this is sort of the second year that we've seen this sort of I guess a rhythm from the Process Equipment Group as far as the building of the backlog, I mean, is this a typical pattern for that segment or was it just unique to the last couple of years or so?
Joe A. Raver
Clint it varies from year-to-year. If you look back historically at these businesses prior to when we owned them, it's not always this third calendar quarter or our fourth fiscal quarter where you see some big projects shipped. It has happened in the last couple of years, but sometimes those quarters will move around and those big shipments will move around from quarter-to-quarter. So, it's not one of those sort of natural cycles I think that you'd see for example in the Batesville business where there's always – in the winter there are many more deaths for example. It just happened to be the timing of the last couple of years that this was a quarter where we had some big projects shipped.
Clint Fendley - Davenport & Company, LLC, Research Division
Okay, that's helpful.
Kenneth A. Camp
Clint, this is Ken, I'll add a point there. There is a lot of mix going on in this, as customers have their construction project ready for big equipment, sometimes they will want it earlier. The reverse happens as well. We saw the frac sand business which effects Rotex a bit overheated in 2012 and the business was just really going as lots of customers put orders for new equipments so they can be prepared to capitalize on fracking and horizontal drilling. That began to slowdown also in the fourth quarter. It had in essence been pulled ahead by our customers in 2012. So, we had some orders more out and we had some orders that we actually shipped a little bit early. So it's a mix we're still getting used to. We're looking to history to be a guide there, but it's not a perfect science yet and probably is not going to be.
Clint Fendley - Davenport & Company, LLC, Research Division
And Ken, I wondered if you could maybe obviously we heard your comments on the – kind of the [cautiousness] regarding the fiscal cliff and the broader uncertainty in the economy, I mean how much of the backlog decrease do you think might be related to that, I know you guys have been very clear that we expected the backlog to decrease here for the fourth quarter given the completion of the project, but how much do you think you're actually seeing the uncertainty impact, the Process Equipment Group from where we stand today?
Kenneth A. Camp
I think I'll let Joe follow-on to this, but from our advantage point here, I think what we saw is more issues of timing as customers said look; we're going to take this order that we placed with you and I know you – we told you that we wanted to that hypothetically in the second quarter, but we're thinking now it's going to be a little further in the year, so let's add 90 days to that. It comes first in the form of timing, and we have not really received any abnormal or susceptive cancellations, it's been primarily issues of when the customers think they're going to be ready for it. And our hypothesis is that many of them are trying to buy time and get the lay of the land themselves. Joe, do you have any thoughts on that?
Joe A. Raver
I think that's exactly right Ken, I mean, just given the uncertainty in the U.S. which has increased, we felt that more in the last quarter so than we had in the rest of the year. Those projects just get pushed out in terms of people wanting to complete and spend money on those projects until they have a better lay of the land before they'll commit capital for projects, and so that's really what we're feeling right now, ideally some of this gets resolved relatively quickly and North America gets back on track with the strong demand that we felt during the first half at least of 2012.
Clint Fendley - Davenport & Company, LLC, Research Division
Okay, thank you guys. That's helpful. I wondered if we can switch to Batesville for one last question here. I understand you guys won't provide guidance until sometime in December, but I was hoping maybe you could just update us on how you're thinking about your outlook here for next year for that segment and obviously we're coming off the year where the volumes have just been at unprecedented low levels, I mean how will that affect as you think about the comparisons your outlook for 2013 for that segment?
Kimberly K. Dennis
Okay, hi it's Kim. I think as we think about the revenue side of things, I think Ken already commented we are in the fourth quarter starting to see things come up a little bit more towards normal levels although obviously that didn't kind of correct for the downside that we saw in both deaths and burials for the year. We're seeing cremations begin to stabilize at kind of near normal levels, starting to see deaths return closer to normal levels although we don't, we haven't seen a big bounce back as we had historically seen over the last 30 years when you had a big low period you'd have large high period following, we certainly haven't seen that.
So our tact has really been to focus on everything we can do to solidify our revenue with our current customer base continuing to grow our national accounts and the key accounts that we've been working on. And in addition to that really focus on the cost containments efforts that we've had going on literally all year. I think you can see as we post our fourth quarter results that benefits of that really show through, basically every improvement dollar that we made on the margin lines flow through on the bottom line and we are also able to contribute as well, volume reductions in OpEx.
So, if the year does not have a bounce back I'd expect that we've taken a lot of the right actions and have plans to take a lot of the right actions continuing into 2013 around cost containments, and in the events that we get a burst of volume that will be a great win for us, but we'll be prepared either way.
Clint Fendley - Davenport & Company, LLC, Research Division
Right. Thank you, Kim.
(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from Jamie Clement of Sidoti. Please go ahead.
Jamie Clement - Sidoti & Company, LLC.
Good morning.
Kenneth A. Camp
Good morning, Jamie.
Jamie Clement - Sidoti & Company, LLC.
Good morning. I wonder Joe if I could ask you a follow-up question to one of Clint's, I think you all referenced frac sand a little bit, but can you delve a little – into a little bit more detail in terms of the composition of your backlog today compared to where it was 12 months ago from an end-market perspective and you can maybe touch on geography as well as just industry as well?
Joe A. Raver
Sure. While we don't provide a lot of detail around our backlog, so I will tell you by business unit which is to a certain extent end-market, it's really pretty similar to last year, in fact very close I mean, within a few percentage points each way for each of the businesses in terms of backlog from ending the fourth quarter this year to ending the fourth quarter last year. By end-market I mean, as Ken mentioned the frac sand market was really very strong in 2011, 2012. Natural gas prices have remained quite low. The stocks of natural gas are very high, and so there's been a switch of rigs to oil from natural gas.
We also had to see a little bit less on the energy side from a coal perspective where coal stocks are high because the natural gas is less expensive, there's been a switch in energy consumption from coal to natural gas. So, we see some ups and downs in the end-markets around energy. Other markets are much more stable, for example food and pharmaceutical, those are stable markets. And then by end-markets as you know we've had a pretty strong 2012 in North America, but we continue to grow share around the rest of the world. So we see backlogs growing around the world as well.
So, there's probably been a little bit of shift from our North American focused backlog a little bit more to the rest of the world backlog. But generally the backlog is very similar to what you saw last year at the same time. I hope that helps.
Jamie Clement - Sidoti & Company, LLC.
Very much. Thank you all for your time.
Joe A. Raver
Our next question comes from Daniel Moore of CJS Securities. Please go ahead.
Daniel Moore - CJS Securities, Inc.
Thank you again. Recognizing you won't be giving detailed guidance, just trying to put a little context around your caution. If you look at the backlog it's still up year-over-year, given K-Tron and Rotex specifically prior to layering in Coperion, do you still expect positive growth – positive revenue growth for those two PE businesses for 2013?
Joe A. Raver
For the group we do, we expect positive revenue growth for the Process Equipment Group in 2013. Again there is – in the end-markets there is some ups and downs but overall we believe strongly that our strategies are good strategies and we can continue to demonstrate growth even in relatively difficult markets around the world.
Daniel Moore - CJS Securities, Inc.
That helps. I appreciate it.
Kenneth A. Camp
Dan, its Ken. If I could add a point to that, you are hearing some caution from us because I think there's been some uncertainty among a lot of people that can be our customers as they have made public statements about their businesses. However as if you look just a little bit farther out, I would say the uncertainty is somewhat near term, not a quarter or two, but somewhat near term. And think for example about fracking and natural gas.
Fracking is about 10% of the portfolio there, and we think the long-term potential is very, very significant. In fact a lot of people smarter than we are think exactly the same thing. As natural gas gets cheaper to extract and becomes a feedstock, I think you've heard me say this before, for polyolefin businesses. For the first time in a long time there are significant about a dozen and half polyolefin plants in one stage of growth or production or another. So, these polyolefin plants some are just being specked out. There's a lot of equipment to be sold in there and we think that, frankly I have used the term renaissance and I really believe it.
There's a potential of renaissance going on in the natural gas business as a feedstock for polyolefin's in America. It's been oil in the Middle East heavily that's been the feedstock. If that reaches a tipping point and many people think it's going to, that is a very, very significant thing not only for North America but certainly for our businesses as well. So, we're very, very bullish on the long-term. We're just – we think there is – people are being a little cautious in the next quarter or two to see what kind of decisions the governments make and what the rules are going to be.
Daniel Moore - CJS Securities, Inc.
Understood. And lastly just turning to the balance sheet quickly; you'd expanded your borrowing capacity to $900 million obviously to complete the Coperion acquisition, but it still leaves you with another $300 million in additional capacity. Do you see other significant large Coperion type size acquisitions in the pipeline in the short-term or is that simply giving you incremental liquidity to run the business?
Cynthia L. Lucchese
Okay, Hey Dan, its Cindy. Let me just start out to explain why we did the $300 million accordion. So with Coperion because they do a lot of larger system orders, they have a number of performance guarantees and letters of credit that they need in order to run their business. And so, for us to close we need to have a facility available to take that on and so that was really the impetus behind us doing the $300 million as opposed to us trying to come up with another $300 million to spend. So that part – and Ken you may want to comment on the acquisition?
Kenneth A. Camp
Yeah, we – our practice is we have to say something substantive when we have something substantive to actually announce and other than Coperion we don't at this moment, but one never knows when they're going to come. I think the signs you should look forward is Coperion is a very significant acquisition for us; it's an important piece for the puzzle as you know and we are going to have our hands full integrating this effectively. You will note in my remarks I said that we took one of our most experienced executives, put her in charge of leading this for – reporting to Joe this integration and its – we think an 18-month or sell assignment. So this is very substantive to get Coperion digested and we're going to be prudent about this, we're not going to just be out banging in very large acquisitions one right after the other. But the pipeline keeps going. We're also talking to people, we get lots of calls and we always like to have candidates in line for the future, but right now integration is number one on our list.
Daniel Moore - CJS Securities, Inc.
Very helpful. Look forward to seeing you at a conference in January.
Kenneth A. Camp
We look forward to being there.
And I'm showing no further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Chris Gordon for any closing remarks.
Chris Gordon
Once again thank you for joining us today. And we look forward to speaking with you again. We will announce via press release our plans for Investor Lunch Meetings, in New York, Boston and Chicago after we close on the Coperion acquisition. During these meetings we will discuss Coperion's financial impact on Process Equipment Group and Hillenbrand guidance for fiscal year 2013. Have a good rest of the day everyone.
Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's conference. You may all disconnect and have a wonderful day.
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TravelPod Member ReviewsMercure Xian On Renmin Square Xi'an
We spent a comfortable night in the Mercure in Xi'an. My only complaint would be the means of my waking. At one point I thought I was in a dream revisiting Disney land with our children and riding "it's a small world" for the 40th time in a day. However it transpired that it was a cleaning truck playing the annoying little ditty to wants pedestrians of its presence at top volume at 7.00a.m. In the morning. Luckily we were due up shortly after so no great harm done.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TravelPod member and not of TravelPod.com.
TripAdvisor Reviews Mercure Xian On Renmin Square Xi'an
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