This story is based on the Games Workshop Fantasy Role-playing Game. I'm using the Empire Within Campaign as the background for this story; this campaign also belongs to Games Workshop.
Legends of Empire
Introduction:
Ulrich Von Valdenberg
The Dog & Duck Inn, The Kings Arms, The Golden Griffon Tavern, The Prancing Goblin, The Laughing Lords Arms, The Seven Rings Tavern, The Privateers Arms … Beyond that I can't remember where I am. Three flagons of ale in every fine establishment had left me thinking that six months of fighting the forces of chaos on the Kislev border was not quite so bad afterall.
My head swam with the sight of bar room whores and the clouded mind of one who had consumed far more than he could ordinarily manage. The one on my lap was called Lillith, an old flame from back in the days long ago when I had a title to my name and money enough to burn. Things had changed a long time ago, I was no longer the young and dashing Imperial army officer. My title was lost due to the scheming ways of three younger brothers and the most poisonous of all, my sister Violletta. I will tell more of my vile kin when I am of a clearer mind.
My name is Ulrich Von Valdenberg. I was the first heir and eldest child of the Count Von Valdenberg. To look at me now one would think of me a peasant, a man of common birth and breeding. That is a view I promoted and welcomed wholeheartedly, although it was not always so. My career has been colourful indeed, from the early days as a simple nobleman. I was soon swept away with the romantic and dashing notion of becoming the greatest duellist The Empire had ever seen. Much to my horror and thanks to the interference and connivance of my siblings, I duelled one too many times and killed the son of Count Von Krueger. From there I was cast out of noble society, made an outcast from friends and family. All shunned me for my supposed crime. Little did they know that my dear sister was instrumental in setting up the fight with the intention of taking my place as heir to the Valdenberg estate.
My skills soon turned to the pursuit of killing for money. I worked hard those five years, gaining my place among the mercenary contingents heading for Kislev in the seemingly endless battle to rid the lands of the chaos filth that spilled forth from the northern wastelands. I was soon a mercenary captain leading an entire company of three hundred hardened veterans. Our successes were many, our defeats were very few. But soon I was to face my nemesis, Lord Thraxullan Demetreya. He was a leader of the foul spawn of the chaos gods. To my continuing shame and utter contempt for the foul bastard, I have to say that he was the only opponent to whom I have ever lost in armed combat. If not for the skill of my troops and their shear bloody minded ferocity, I would have been lost to the wastes years ago on that fateful day. But still we were sent scurrying back to the empire like the whipped dogs we inevitably felt like. The last I heard he fought still on the lands of Kislev. He is undoubtedly an ever present threat to all he encounters. And he is also the one I have vowed will either be my greatest conquest or the one who finally sends me to the hells. But more of him later.
From the battlefields of the northlands to the ever so genteel trials of combat of the Empire I was cast into the murky world of a judicial champion. I was employed by numerous wealthy merchants to exact revenge or justice upon those who had wronged them. It was an extremely profitable but ultimately soul destroying experience, seeing the fat merchants lord it over better men who I was hired to dispose of has left its mark on my soul. A good woman, Lucinda, was to be for a while my excuse to quit the life of combat I had led for over ten years.
We were married the following year when she became pregnant with our first child. Four others followed over the next four years. One fateful day while travelling back from town our estate was attacked and my family taken. It was said that chaos scum were responsible for the attack. I spent the best part of the next five years searching for them. During my travels I became the assistant and henchman of a renowned witch hunter. I lost count of those we butchered in the name of the emperor. All were guilty of allying with the chaos gods. All that is except the last ones we slaughtered. A young family in the wrong place at the wrong time and caught up in a pitched battle through no fault of their own.
Soon afterwards the witch hunter was killed by angry villagers related to those who were killed. I ran for my life, hunted by people I had no wish to slay. My wanderings soon brought me to the attention of a holy military order. As penance for taking the lives of those who were not inflicted with the mark of chaos I was to spend five years in the service of The Knights Templar. For five years we fought against the enemies of The Empire. For five years I longed to be free of the endless killing. Upon completion of my time among the Knights Templar, I returned to life on the road.
Now forty five years old and a grizzled veteran of many conflicts I was to return home, only to find out that my wife and children had been returned for a sizable reward, it had been bandits not chaos forces that had taken them. My initial joy was soon soured when I found she had remarried to a man of wealth and was apparently happy. She had thought me dead, and at that moment I had wished I had been slain. Reluctantly I left her to her new life and took to the roads once more.
I was soon leading another company of mercenaries. Once again we were to travel to Kislev, and that is where our story begins. For six months we had fought on the Kislev borders against the foul powers of chaos. I had lost count of those I had sent back to their dark gods. But still the one opponent I still sought after all these years continued to elude me. We have returned to The Empire for a much needed break from the fighting, and now here I sit surrounded by my company and in the arms of Lillith. She was a little on the plump side now, and wore far to much rouge for her own good, but still she set my heart racing. In those days twenty years ago, she had been a young noblewoman. Her fortunes fared even worse than my own however and she was virtually sold into an unbearable marriage. I had helped her escape and given her what I could but we lost touch soon after.
The Hammer & Anvil, finally I've remembered where we are. The place was bustling with activity. A regular drop in for soldiers and mercenaries it was an excellent place to pick up work. All I had to decide now was 'do I go back to Kislev once we are in need of coin, or shall I try my fortunes here in the empire.' I for one had seen enough of the north and would pass command on to my second in command, Elric Bernestein, a giant of a man from Altdorf. He never seemed to tire of the fighting and would lead my boys to victory against the chaos filth.
I fancied settling down again, after one more adventure. It always seemed to be one more adventure, one more quest or goal, but this time I was certain it would be the last. All I needed now was a reason to leave the company and a long adventure to take me across The Empire and back again. I was certain to find something, but I would wait until my mind was clearer before deciding on anything.
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