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Our second character is the nemesis of Jean-Francois
Delcasse...
Klaus von Ravensberg; coarse, large Prussian artillery
officer
(c) copyright 2001 Volker Bach
Total Points: 106 Points
Age 41; 6'1"; 212 pounds; a blond-moustached,
wide-shouldered, heavy man with a booming voice and
mischievously sparkling eyes.
ST 12 [20] - thrust 1d-1, swing 1d+2
DX 13 [30] - basic speed 6, move 6, dodge 6
parry
(broadsword) 7*
IQ 12 [20]
HT 11 [10]
WL 12 [-] - fright check 15**
*includes +1 PD from basket hilt
**includes +3 from Collected
ADVANTAGES: Collected [5]; Fit [5]; Military
Rank 4 (Major) [20].
DISADVANTAGES: Bloodlust (Only on the battlefield, -50%)
[-5]; Code of Honor (Officer's) [-10]; Duty
(Army, 12-) [-10]; Enemy (Jean-Francois Delcasse,
6-) [-5]; Vow (kill Jean-Francois Delcasse)
[-10].
QUIRKS: Loves hunting and riding; Occasionally uses physical
force in outbursts of temper; Hates stuffiness and rigid
conventions; Speaks very loudly; Overtly technosceptic.
[-5]
SKILLS: Administration-12 [2]; Animal Handling
(Horses)-11 [2]; Area Knowledge (Franco-Prussian
border)-12 [1]; Brawling-13 [1]; Broadsword
(Saber)-13 [2]; Camouflage-13 [2];
Gunner/TL(5+1) (Cannon)-16* [4]; Gunner/TL(5+1)
(Rotary Cannon)-15* [2]; Guns/TL6 (Rifle)-17*
[4]; Guns/TL6 (Pistol)-14* [.5];
Leadership-13 [4]; Orienteering-11 [1];
Riding (Horse)-13 [2]; Savoir-Faire (Military)-12
[1]; Stealth-12 [1]; Strategy (Land)-11
[2]; Tactics-12 [4]; Teamster (Horses)-13
[2]; Wrestling-12 [1].
*includes +2 from IQ
LANGUAGES: German (native)-12 [0]; English-10
[.5]; French-11 [1]; Latin-9 [.5];
Polish-10 [.5].
EQUIPMENT
Klaus von Ravensberg dresses somewhat scruffily, not in the
artful disarray of aesthetic circles but with the
carelessness of a man who doesn't bother overly much. On
social occasions he wears 'regimentals', a dark blue tunic
with red facing, black trousers and helmet. Privately, he
prefers simple country suits. In battle, he carries a
non-issue S&W 'Russian' .44 revolver (officers were
permitted this; for stats, see p.HT124), a saber (treat as
broadsword), and a Mauser Artillerie-Karabiner 1871 (Malf
crit, Dam 4d+1+, SS 14, Acc 8, 1/2D 700, Max 2300, Wt. 7.6
lbs, ROF 1/4, Shots 1, MinST 12, Rcl -3. Holdout -6). When
out in the country he is likely to have a custom-made,
high-powered hunting rifle at hand. (He would have no
compunctions about using it in battle, too, but does not
take it on maneuvers since it's non-regulation. Stats would
be similar to a Remington Creedmoor or Sharps .50 rifle; see
p.HT125). Other than that he will have a penknife,
pocketwatch, cigar case and a few coins about his
person.
BIOGRAPHY
Born in 1849, Klaus von Ravensberg grew up as the son of a
minor noble in the depths of East Prussia, a Junker with a
surfeit of pride and a shortage of funds. An active and
vigorous boy, he was slated for military service and sent up
to the Kadettenanstalt to be prepared for his career. Always
rebellious and unruly, he obtained a reputation as a hard
case, but his natural talents made the instructors look past
this and declare him good officer material. He graduated in
1867, in the heady years after the Danish and Austrian wars,
and was deeply disappointed that he could not be part of
them.
Klaus' greatest love were horses. He excelled at the
steeplechase, cross-country riding and hunting, divided his
free time between the stables and the range, and entertained
hopes of joining the guards cavalry or Ulans. It was not to
be. His instructors decided, and the army agreed, that he
was not the man to officer in an elite regiment where he
would need, after all, to be socially presentable. Instead,
he was given the choice of Jaeger or horse artillery and
opted for the latter, going on to artillery school.
Barely out of training, young Lieutenant von Ravensberg went
into battle with II Battery of the 22. Horse Artillery,
entrained for Sedan. He was present at the surrender of the
French Imperial army before moving south to Paris to
complete the encirclement of the city. It was there - in the
depth of winter, mired in a seemingly endless campaign
against stiff resistance by scattered French units - that he
encountered the first artillery duel of his career.
Skillfully led and well-disciplined, his French opponents
decimated his men, slaughtered his horse teams and destroyed
two guns in the first hour of the exchange. A lucky shot
with a shrapnel shell killed the Hauptmann and two senior
Lieutenants, leaving him in command of a shattered and
panicked unit saved from destruction mercifully by
nightfall. Knowing he could not dare a night retreat, and
certain that the French gunners would massacre his soldiers
one the sun rose again, he decided to lead them in a
desperate night attack. Volunteers, armed with rifles and
sabers, moved quietly to the rear of the French battery and
surprised the dozing pickets. Saber drawn and pistol in
hand, he led his gunners in a charge that scattered the
enemy. They spiked the guns, blew up the ammunition, and
marched back in triumph. The one thing he would remember
forever was the look on the young French officer's face who
had surrendered to him. They hadn't dared to take prisoners
- it would have betrayed their pitifully small numbers - so
he had simply let him follow his men as they scattered into
the forest. An act of mercy like this did not come easily to
a natural hunter; he has come to regret it since.
Klaus von Ravensberg left the war highly decorated and
looking ahead to a successful career. However, he took
little interest in advancement, choosing instead to turn
down promotions that would have removed him from his beloved
horse artillery for field units. He began pondering the
impact of modern technology on warfare, a thought that
profoundly disturbed this believer in horseflesh and seeing
the whites in the enemy's eyes. The French steam-driven land
monitors were his particular nemesis. He became the driving
force behind the adoption of the British-designed 1.5 inch
Armstrong gun designed expressly to destroy these clanking
behemoths, and pioneered the independent small-unit tactics
that went with it. He made enemies, not something that ever
bothered him, but in the end was successful as a version of
the gun was adopted into Prussian service as the
Jaegergeschuetz 84 (see Appendix II, COTW #33c) for the
newly redesignated 22. Artilleriejaeger.
In 1882, after his overdue promotion to Major, he married
Marie von Gerlach, the daughter of a successful (and
ennobled) lawyer. The couple went to Baden-Baden that
summer. There, a Frenchman accosted him and his wife,
eventually managing to force him into a duel. Von Ravensberg
was no stranger to the 'field of honor' and ended the
exchange after the first shot by firing his pistol into the
air and leaving. Later, he learned the identity of his
challenger - Jean-Francois Delcasse. He had an enemy. It did
not bother him unduly.
In 1884, Delcasse returned to Baden-Baden, this time duping
the brother of Ravensberg's wife into challenging him. The
young man was an attorney, skilled with the pen and
preparing for his doctoral dissertation on Roman property
law, prior to entering the civil service. He stood no chance
against a professional soldier. A bullet to the abdomen
ended his life. The family was deeply distraught. When von
Ravensberg learned the details, he swore revenge. He has
prepared himself ever since, studying the career of Delcasse
- in the hated land monitors, of course! - and seeking out
his weak points. He will have his blood.
ENCOUNTERED
Klaus von Ravensberg is what could be charitably described
as a man of plain tastes. Crude even by Central European
standards, he likes his drink strong, his cigars dark, his
horses temperamental, and his reading light. There are few
things he enjoys more than spending a day muffled in fur
coats trudging through snowy forests after moose, boar, or
wolf, or riding cross-country in full career, roads be
damned. He is far from stupid, but his intelligence limits
itself to technical matters - he has neither refined tastes
nor intellectual pleasures. He is, however, a gregarious,
welcoming, warm-hearted man, and easy to like in a
backslapping, old-chap kind of way. His wife has given him a
certain veneer of civilisation, but once out of range of her
gentle ministrations - he dearly loves her, but cannot for
his life figure out what is wrong with eating sausages in
the drawing room or entering the library in boots - he
reverts to bachelor habits. His quarters in barracks give
the words "officer's mess" a new world of meaning.
PCs are most likely to meet von Ravensberg socially in the
usual haunts of officers and sporting men, or in the home of
some Junker holding a hunt. Loud, jovial and physically
impressive, he always stands out and will readily befriend
anyone who shares his interests. If this is not their cup of
tea, they may encounter him at various theatres or the opera
in Berlin, in the company of his lovely young wife. He will
be out of place and probably bored. (Either that, or making
gauche remarks. He loves Wagner and Shakespeare for the
sheer drama, but hardly ever actually pays attention to what
goes on stage.)
CANONICALITY
Klaus von Ravensberg uses the -50% limitation "only on the
battle-field" on his Bloodlust Disadvantage. This means that
he will always try to kill his opponent in a "real" battle -
but has himself under control as well as the next man in a
regular duel or one-on-one fist fight. His tech Skills are
TL(5+1) as outlined in GURPS Steampunk (p.ST9). He is
otherwise canonical.
WHAT IF?
Both Delcasse and von Ravensberg can easily be played in a
variety of tones, from cinematic ultraviolence ("I will get
him. Blow up the fucking building already.") or fierce,
brooding obsession to high tragedy ("Why didst thou not
speak, Desdemona?") and even high camp ("I am Inigo Montoya.
You killed my father. Prepare to die."). They should always
remain somewhat tragic, sad figures, though - trapped in a
vicious circle of violence and fixated on past events.
Von Ravensberg works best in a Steampunk or darkened Castle
Falkenstein game. He could be translated into an officer in
a similar situation - a Pole after the victory over the Red
Army in 1923, a Japanese officer in the early 20th century
with a Chinese or Russian nemesis, an Italian after the
Unification Wars, or a Korean in the 1950s. It's probably
not worth the trouble, though.
ADVENTURE SEEDS
Von Ravensberg's obsession is even less obvious than
Delcasse's, kept farther back in his mind. Nonetheless, any
PC making his acquaintance will be confronted with it at
some point, and may well be quite surprised. Its strength
(and the very real danger it places Delcasse in) is easily
underestimated in view of von Ravensberg's goodfellowship,
but he is quite smart and methodical, planning his
opportunities carefully. Unlike Delcasse, he will not be
content with ruining his opponent - he could, having amassed
enough evidence about the duel Delcasse engineered to get
him tried for murder - but he wants blood. At the moment he
is quite willing to bide his time, studying his quarry and
making fanciful plans, but if an opportunity should present
itself he will use it. A duel would suit him best - he would
rather not besmirch the reputation of Prussian arms with a
murder - though if Delcasse walks into his sights he might
well not be able to resist temptation.
Tally Ho!: In the spirit of Franco-Russian détente, a
Russian general has invited a group of French officers to a
glorious winter hunt on his estate in Poland. Along with
these official guests he has asked a number of friends and
relatives to attend, among them von Ravensberg. On the first
soirée, the thunderstruck major spots Delcasse,
resplendent in his regimentals, happily chatting with a
Russian baroness. For now, the two have limited themselves
to icy stares and pointed cutting, but tomorrow they will be
out in the forest with high-powered rifles, and accidents
have been known to happen... The PCs could be thrown in here
as guests - the affair is lavish, so no personal connection
with either Delcasse or von Ravensberg is required - or just
happen to be in the forest the next day.
- written by Volker Bach (bachv@paganet.de)
- editted and formatted by andi jones
(andi@angelwerks.com)
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