Kaunitz

World of Storm and Fury: Character Profiles: K-O: Kaunitz

His Grace Maximilian, Duke Kaunitz
Vice-Minister of State of the Eastern Empire


Race: Human
Email: Empire@worldofstormandfury.com
Age: 28
Gender: Male
Birthplace: Stary Zelna, Blenfelda

Appearance: Duke Kaunitz is a small man, handsome in a strong, collected sort of way, with unruly brown hair and boyish good looks. Not only is he quite young for his office, he looks it, dressed in formal dark velvet suits and cape for state dinners he appears to be almost a boy in adult clothing.


Strengths:

From his training as a Blenfeldan aristocrat, is a competent rider and has good skill with the sabre. He was a competent military commander in the wars against Lys, but was actually educated at Concordia University in Constantia, and is very intelligent and knowledgeable about world affairs. In part, he has used his intelligence and education to compensate for his small stature. And he is increasingly gaining the confidence of his Empress.


Limitations/Weaknesses:

Is a relatively small man, strong for his stature but still weaker than an average soldier. His looks are handsome in a boyish sense, hardly making him a dashing man. And he tends to not understand that others do not often follow his reasoning, leaving him frustrated at lack of agreement with what appears to him an obvious position, yet unwilling to continue to expound further (though, of course, he would be willing to make an exception for, say, an Empress...).


Magic Ability/Craft:

No magical abilities, but he has recently been granted the greatest treasure the Eastern Empire can bestow on a powerful aristocrat: He has a cutting from the Flower of Betrayal which he wears on a thin gold chain about his neck.


Background:

Born to a branch of the powerful House Arrafino, then the ruling family of the Kingdom of Blenfelda, his future seemed secure as a member of the Royal Council. When the previous Royal Councillor died, he was made Duke of Staunitz, a small holding in Zenda, a rural area of Blenfelda. The real power of this Dukedom was in fact the seat on the Royal Council. As with all Blenfeldan nobleman of rank, he led a couple of reasonably successful cavalry raids into Lys as a young man, earning his credentials in the military before turning to a political career.

But, with the formation of the Easten Union between Kordal, Lys and Nangrar, the Kordal-Lys-Driesland alliance was suddenly ended. Duke Kaunitz was one of the few who saw that under the changed circumstances, Blenfelda was in a perilous position, and Driesland had no reason to come to their aid. Unfortunately, he was unable to convince others in the Royal Government of their peril...

Lys lost little time before attacking Blenfelda, first with a punitive campaign in which they unleashed the Lys Dragon against Festung Blenfelda, then later that same year mounting a campaign of conquest. Duke Kaunitz led a scratch force of Zenda Light Cavalry during both wars, successfully harassing Lys supply lines while operating out of the secret fortress Blenfelda had built over the years under a hill in the forests of Western Lys. But when Lys cavalry discovered the fortress, he fled with his unit, and just in time, for that night the Lys Dragon flew against the underhill fortress, and spat fire and flame until naught lived on or under that hill.

With the inevitable surrender, the Royal Government of Blenfelda was dissolved, and the Duke was left with nothing more than an insignificant mountain holding in rural Zenda, and of course his mansion in Deerbruck.

Continuing to plan, rather than wallowing in defeat as many of his countrymen had, he followed the events of the end of the Eastern Union and the founding of the Eastern Empire, even traveling to Kordalburg with a personal cavalry guard which he quickly pledged to the support of the Lady Jillian, when it became known she was going to be made Empress.

He was present at the coronation of Empress Jillian, and knowing her penchant for balls and parties lasting into the morning, he made certain to hold such in her honour at his mansion every time Her Imperial Majesty would ride to visit her Father the Archduke in Deerbruck as she shifted her Court betwixt Kordalburg and Constantia. He made certain to reassure Lady Belinda of his good intentions towards the Empire, and over time became better known to his young Empress, frequently volunteering to undertake small tasks on her behalf.

Until, his groundwork lain, the confidence of the Empress in her current Ministers shaken by the unexpected news reaching her of attacks by Xevenox on her Fleet shipyards in the Morro Isles, Duke Kaunitz was invited to come to the Imperial Court in Kordalburg this past spring. Soon thereafter, he was appointed as Vice-Minister of State for the Eastern Empire.
Topics Last Day Last Week Tree View    Getting Started Formatting Troubleshooting Program Credits    New Messages Keyword Search Contact Moderators Edit Profile Administration