Tuesday 1 April 2014

A is for Adalbert "Casanova" Henschmann

If there is one guild that everyone living in or visiting Marienburg has certainly heard of, it's the Guild We've Never Heard Of. Contradictions aside, the Guild, headed by the organisation known as the League of Gentlemen Entrepreneurs, is the most established and far flung criminal organisation this side of Tilea.

Reigning over it all - less like a King and more like a greasy, heavy-handed mediator - is Adalbert Henschmann, or "Casanova" to the ladies. Or so he believes.

Henschmann is a heavy-set fifty-year-old standing at average height. He wears clothes of fine quality, but somehow manages to show a complete lack of taste in everything he wears, says and does. Despite his slicked-back hair (too much Bretonnian mousse, I'm afraid), and his phlegmy voice, he seems to exude an aura of menace and power far beyond his actual reach (which is, ironically, the cause of the length of his already incredible reach). It is one of the single most foolish things to do in Marienburg: getting on Henschmann's bad side. (Though, finding his good side is said to be the single most difficult thing, that is, after getting a free penny off a Wastelander).

When once asked what he wanted from life, "Casanova" replied simply and honestly; "I want more". As his only motivations are money, power and sex, and he is easily the second most powerful man in the city, this life aspiration isn't to difficult to achieve - some would say he had already achieved it. But not Henschmann. There is always more.

Despite being a cruel, slimy, despicable man, he is incredibly intelligent, and he knows the true source of power - mutually agreeable terms. He spends all his free time (that is, time not spent whoring, gambling, drinking, and being an all-round sleaze) settling disputes between the various crime lords that make up the League of Gentlemen Entrepreneurs in the hopes of avoiding a similar gang war to the one in which he stole power. But when someone crosses him, you can be sure they'll be hurt bad, and in spectacular fashion.

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