Gottfried Fredric Von Wolfhard
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| “To every child of the Order of Enlightenment reading this: Hold fast against the darkness; let your strength be a flicker of hope in the storm that is to come, like a shining star that glistens through the abyss. You will not hold alone forever; soon, others will see your strength and rally around you, and together, you will send evil reeling back into the Hell from which it came. So hold fast, warrior. Alder sees you, and he will not let a Fighter like you go alone into that dark night. He will be with you, even when all seems to be the most lost.”
- Gottfried's first speech as Vater of Alderism, 1550 |
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| Title(s) | Vater of the Alderist Faith |
| Nickname(s) | The Redeemed |
| Born | 1506 AFS |
| Spouses | Taffeta Blossom 1545 - 1547 |
| Issue | Theodor Von Wolfhard |
| Realm(s) | The Hadrian Empire |
| Race | Attian Humans |
| Culture | Hadrian |
Physical Description:
Standing at an average height of 183cm (6 feet), Gottfried Fredric Von Wolfhard has the appearance of a broad-shouldered brunette, having grown himself a stubble beard combined with a well-kept extended goatee and mustache. The man is known for his kind blue eyes and deep, calm voice that characterizes him as a suited storyteller. However, during moments that require sternness, a pious and aggressive presence overwhelms the man, displaying his devotion to his goals and duties. His physique embodies the characteristics of a hard-working man, having endured physical labor at a young age. His robust build is further enhanced by his military background, where he has trained and fought while wearing various types of light, medium, and heavy plate armor.
When seen by onlookers, Gottfried is seen wearing religious robes tied to the Alderist Temple or his Sentinel of devotion: Mortius. Throughout his life, he has worn priestly robes of the Cult of Mortius and, in his current role, holy robes fitting the position of Holy Vater. His attire includes various jewelry and trinkets befitting a member of the clergy, from a Rosarius, an Alderist nine-pointed-star necklace, to a silver ring with engraved High-Attian symbols on the middle finger of his left hand.
Characteristics
Gottfried is a pious and foreboding man who is utterly devoted to the Alderist faith and the destruction of the Order of Chaos in all its forms. He is a man who sees himself as an essential figure of guidance, wanting the best for the people of the Hadrian realm. Those who meet him experience the characteristics of a father figure, a man who displays kindness, care, and empathy to everyone who seeks his help. Yet, within him is a deeply rooted zeal that, when the time is needed, turns him into a fanatic like none has ever seen. In combat, he is hot-headed, aiming to seek and destroy the enemies of the faith and those defined by the Sentinel himself, screaming the litanies of death while fighting or supporting the troops.
He sees the world as gray, having experienced both the worst and the best in humanity and the world at large. As a father, he is often overprotective, hoping to have his son avoid the same mistakes he once made throughout his life. Despite all this and his role as Vater, he is not a man of words but actions. Wanting to bring further change for the sake of humanity instead of discussing it with the nobility and leading figures of the Hadrian State, as he is not a fan of politics.
History
| “Know why we try to keep the dead alive: we try to keep them alive in order to keep their memory with us. For no one deserves to be forgotten.”
- Gottfried during a memorial ceremony of the fallen of the Friederich Wall of Flüssland. |
Early life
Gottfried Fredric Von Wolfhard, son of Fredric Von Wolfhard and Ida Von Wolfhard, was born on the 7th Sunday of Edensrest, in the countryside of Hertzland, during the first Plague year of 1506. Born as the second child and only son, Gottfried grew up having to take care as the man of the household after his father had passed away in the final months of the Rotting Plague in 1511. Taught how to take care of the farm by their neighbor, who he grew close with, Gottfried learned how to work with sheep, horses, and goats, the farm's livestock, and rebuilt the farm after the damages caused by the plague.
During his life at the house, he had to take care of his three sisters, Erika, the oldest, Anna, and Rosaline, the youngest. But also a grief-stricken mother, which caused Gottfried to be confined on the farm, never able to travel far other than Norbüren- which was known as Hadriana at the time . He experienced from a young age what nobility was capable of when their desire for power took the better of them, witnessing the First Hadrian Civil War from up close. However, his desire to do more intensified after he met a knight adorned in green and white colors, displaying a wolf's crest on his chest, who traveled past Gottfried's home accompanied by a retinue of men-at-arms. It was then that Gottfried knew what he wanted to do as soon as he came of age.
Blood and regret:
The same neighbor brought him into contact with a local hunter, who taught Gottfried how to wield a bow and arrow. Roughly around the year 1520, when Gottfried turned 16, he signed up as a levy in service of House De Augaussi in Veronia. While his goodbye at the farm was hard and emotional, he taught his sisters what he knew, knowing they would be safe and able to now take care of themselves with the assistance of his neighbor. It would officially be the last time Gottfried would ever see them in person, as all three would eventually decide to travel the world as well.
During his time in Veronia, he was placed in a legion known as The First Company, composed of levy men and mercenaries. He was taught the ways of the sword, with one of Count Vivans' brothers often leading the training sessions himself. When the years faded into memory and the Second Hadrian Civil War passed in 1522, Gottfried stood at the side of the usurpers in front of Adelsburg, witnessing the meeting between King Roderick Withmond and Count Vivan De Augaussi in front of the gate. It was then that Gottfried knew what he truly signed up for, but he was too naive to admit the dark path he was stepping onto.
The years went by under the rule of King Vivan. The murder of King Roderick, together with the fracturing of the realm, caused instability and chaos within the Hadrian lands, now known as the Kingdom of Veronia. Gottfried's military experience went on with fighting loyalists of the Withmond dynasty and Hinterlanders in the Hintish Republic under the rule of Arnoud Van Leuveren, who openly proclaimed to be against the Augaussi usurpers of Hadriana. However, when at the beginning of the year 1524, King Vivan decided to reclaim the Swamp of the Magna Attia and disappeared with his whole army, most of the Kingdom fractured. With Queen Wendelin attempting to hold power, many of the nobles turned on each other, trying to lay claim to now lawless lands. The First Company fractured into bands of raiders and looters, Gottfried among them. With no one to pay them, the men, including Gottfried, turned to greed and desire for gold and riches.
Gottfried's life spiraled down into the darkness, being taken over by the same greed and desire as the rest of the roaming looters. None of the nobles stopped them as they were too busy with their own quarrels. Queen Wendelin had taken a small army, attempting to find her husband and king in the swamp, and died in the attempt. The Kingdom of Veronia was no more, and Gottfried used this to his advantage. Motivated by a few men to plunder a large farm, Gottfried entered a homestead and found only a farmer's wife and two children begging to be spared. Gottfried, not desiring to hurt them, located a cabinet with riches and religious trinkets. One of the children stopped him, standing between him and the family's riches Gottfried wished to take with him. Without batting an eye, Gottfried attempted to swat the child aside, using his mace and striking the child in the head, killing the boy instantly. The entire experience led Gottfried to have a crisis as he reevaluated his life choices and reflected on what he had become. Murdering a child in cold blood for profit was a line he thought he would never cross, and it filled him with profound sorrow. For weeks, he wept and mourned the actions he had taken.
It is said that during these weeks, wandering the land like a broken man, a voice called to him. Guided by this soothing voice, he followed it to Adelsburg, where he knelt before the altar of the Oracle Alder Himmelschwert. Gottfried decided to embark on a new life dedicated to his chosen Sentinel, Mortius, the Sentinel of Death. He resolved to join the Cult and atone for the sins he had committed. For him, serving in the clergy was the only path to redemption. This commitment sparked a zealous nature in Gottfried, shaping him into the man he is today.
From Acolyte to Black Abbot:
| “I have always learned that the Demonic leads to two crimes. You turn away from the path of righteousness and the light, and you abandon Alder as the object of your devotion. For the first, death is merely a just retribution. The second is a heresy so terrible that no punishment can be sufficient. Yet the search for an appropriate penalty continues and will be found!”
- Gottfried as Black Abbot of the Cult of Mortius, 1545 |
From 1525 to 1535, during the Hadrian-Raevendrecht War, Gottfried devoted his life to reconstructing the Cult of Mortius as a need to strengthen the clergy's role in the newly formed Empire grew. Finding new members proved difficult, as devotion to Alderism had weakened over decades of conflict and political struggles which only amplified after the coup and murder of Kaiser Philipp Von Lichtenfelts. Gottfried gathered the relics of Saint Marcilius ‘The Pious’ from the Cathedral in Adelsburg and reburied them in the newly built monastery on the hills of Schwarzwald in Veronia. The monastery was named the Schwarze Abtei (The Black Abbey), which directly suggested the stone's color used in the construction. Eventually, Gottfried rose through the ranks of Acolyte to Custodian. When the first members finally joined to continue the duties bestowed upon them by the Sentinel of Death, the rank of Black Abbot was granted to him by Vater Gregor I for his devotion to his duties and the loyalty he displayed towards both the clergy and his Sentinel.
Gottfried spent time traveling the realm for 5 years, taking the time to spread the word of Alder and Mortius to the common folk. Eventually, he met the young lady Taffeta, a baker from Norbüren. Swayed by his words and a wish to do more for the people, Taffeta joined the clergy and, soon enough, would work side-by-side with Gottfried in the Cult. The Fields of Mortius grew, and secretly inside the monastery walls, the two grew closer, eventually forming a romantic attachment to one another. This eventually caused the secretive birth of their son, Theodor, in 1545. Angered by Gottfried for breaking his oath of celibacy, Vater Gregor punished him by forcing him on another pilgrimage and a vow of silence for 2 years, and Taffeta to join the Sisters of Alda. There, she would raise their son, who would never be allowed to know that Gottfried was his father, never allowed to see him until he came of age. After two years had passed, Gottfried would still meet with her in secret, attempting to give clues to their son by giving him a personal stuffed animal toy to sleep with. From the sidelines, Gottfried would watch his son grow up, which would also cause fractions and a distance to form between him and Taffeta. She abandoned the clergy and moved to Lünburg during The Flüssland Peasant Revolt in 1547, siding with the rebel Markgraf Zladimir and revealing the details of the scandal of Gottfried to the public in order to shame him and the loyalist side of the clergy. Many of these acts of slander were lies, causing Gottfried to take action and actively partake in the conflict as the Vater was bedridden due to an illness. The Mortius Cult actively fought against any rebels found in Hadrian territory, attempting to convert some of the population of the north with minimal success. Eventually, without Gottfried knowing, Taffeta's love for their son caused her to make decisions that conflicted with her duties and faith. Gottfried would find out after many years that Taffeta had turned to foul arts of the Demonic in order to protect their son due to a rise in demonic activity of the Bone Lord. In the end, she sought redemption, feeling sorry for what she had done. She was magically cleansed by Lunarmancers in Luminion, overseen by Aeri'cill Cirlia herself. She said her final goodbyes to Gottfried, revealing the truth just before her death by the arcane powers in 1553.
Vater Gottfried I:
Vater Gregor passed near the end of the revolt. A new Vater had to be elected, and with a fractured clergy, none were worthy enough to the ruling State of the Empire. Gottfried was called forth, be it with an opposing view from the nobility due to his past of breaking his oath in the Cult. In the end, as he was the only worthy candidate not tied to any connections of the rebels of Flüssland, Gottfried elected himself Vater in 1550, aiming to unite the clergy again and continue its spread and influence across the realm. The title of 'The Redeemed' was given to him by fellow followers due to his past.
In the same year, he would lead groups of fanatics of the clergy in the battles against the Bone Lord in the Battle of the Friederich Line in Flüssland, where he would single-handedly slay a Bone Giant. He would fight on the front lines, preaching sermons to the Oracle and Mortius in the ruins of Raevendrecht. He even faced a demon in an assassination attempt in the great Cathedral of Alder itself, only for it to flee and disappear into darkness once aid had arrived. Because of this, Gottfried brought the Imperial Hexenjägers back into service under the clergy thanks to support of the Imperial Diet. This only strengthened the influence and faith the clergy had over the land and caused numerous Chaotic Witches to be uncovered and executed in the following years. In 1553, he fought side-by-side with Crown Prince Wilhelm and many more figures in the Naval battle of Al-Jabrid against the undead fleet. In these opening years of his reign, he appointed new Erzbishops, canonized new and old saints, and reinforced the devotion and ceremonies of the Alderist faith. Missionaries were sent to Anjyarr to promote Alderism beyond the borders, a significant effort that had not occurred in hundreds of years. And while all this took place, he would continue to raise Theodor as best he could, educating him and preparing him for the world he was yet to face. The clergy grew, slowly spreading its influence once more.
Trivia
- Gottfried is an avid fan of history, often delving for days at a time in old scrolls and recordings of recent and ancient history
- A personal desire for a beverage for Gottfried is alcohol. Fruity drinks such as wine are a favorite.
- During his time growing up on the farm, Gottfried had a pet sheep named Bertha, whom he helped raise. Unfortunately, he had to say goodbye to her when he signed up as a levy and left the farm
- Gottfried is fluent in the language of the Alderist Temple: High-Attian. A language now long since forgotten by the majority of the Attian population.