Baron Vilhelm von Aubrecker

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Baron Vilhelm von Aubrecker is a fictional character that exists within the Ravenloft campaign setting. In universe, he is the ruler of Lamordia[1][2][3][4][5] and resides within Lamordia in Schloss Aubrecker.[6][7]

Sources

Baron Vilhelm von Aubrecker's first (if very brief) mention dates back to the original "Black Box" of the Ravenloft Campaign Setting, Realm of Terror as the temporal leader of Lamordia. He is later mentioned in the "Red Box" Ravenloft Campaign Setting (Box) (publication date: 1994) and Domains of Dread (publication date 1997). Baron Vilhelm von Aubrecker makes his first (and only) full appearance in the module Adam's Wrath (release date: 1994), where his home is beset by Fleas of Madness. Adam's Wrath is also the first time where his physical decline is mentioned and the only time when outlander origin is mentioned.[8]

In Third Edition, he is mentioned in Ravenloft Third Edition (release date: 2001) and the Ravenloft Player's Handbook (release date: 2003). These sources mention his family has ruled for hundreds of years[4][5], though they are essentially how the world seems from a perspective uninformed player characters would know. In Gazetteer II (release date: 2003), the baron has become physically incapacitated due to a continuation of the physical degeneration first mentioned in Adam's Wrath and continued into the in-universe timeline advanced since that module was released.[9]

Background

Vilhelm is the father of Gerta, Hendrik[6], and Rudolph[10]. On the Prime Material Plane, he had a wife of unknown name, but she never entered the Demiplane of Dread.[8]

Baron Vilhelm von Aubrecker is not a true Lamordian. Rather, he is an outlander that was taken from some unknown world. Although he was a fighter of experienced prowesse, he was of peasant ancestry. Thus, he could never get what he desired: noble status and the ability to rule. Therefore, he hired a wizard to cast an ancient spell and grant him his wish of nobility and rule. The wizard cast the spell just as the Dark Powers formed the domain of Lamordia, causing the Baron and his family to be taken by the Mists and receive political rule over the domain. However, the baron's wife fled before the spell was unleashed, leaving her behind on the Prime Material Plane and causing the baron to miss her. He was granted his wish of noble rule, land, and followers, but at the cost of losing his love.[8]

As baron of Lamordia, Vilhelm settled into a life of courtly leisure and for the most part swore off his previous life as a man-at-arms. In his grief over the loss of his wife and sedentary living, the baron's physical abilities declined and he put on weight.[8] The loss of his children marked a further decline in his physical health. In 712 BC, Rudolph von Aubrecker was lost at sea, seemingly dead[9] (In reality, Rudolph's dying body was discovered and taken to Dr. Mordenheim, who transformed Rudolph into the Living Brain.[10] However, Baron Vilhelm never learned this detail) In 739 BC[9], a plague of fleas of madness menaced the land, including Schloss Aubrecker. The baron and his family became afflicted with the temporary madness, and Hendrik von Aubrecker died out in the cold, delusionally believing he was in the comforts of home.[11] The loss of his two sons had longer-term implications for an extended madness, and physical disease soon followed thereafter.[9]

In times of good health, Baron Vilhelm was was in the public eye a benevolent though distant ruler, more interested in courtly pleasures than actively controlling his land. By the time of Gazetteer II, he has become bed-ridden and is likely near death. Although he rules in name as a figurehead, his daughter Gerta von Aubrecker rules as his regent. Although young, she has shown more of an interest in active rule[9]

In Adam's Wrath

Baron Vilhelm makes an appearance in Adam's Wrath, where madness from the fleas gripped his household and caused the inhabitants to begin killing each other or fleeing out only to perish in the deadly Lamordian winter. Baron Wilhelm became paranoid with the delusion that his animals conspired against him. If and when he encounters the player characters, he believes them to belong to the secret society of flesh golems that reside at a secret monastery and begs them to leave him and his at-this-time young daughter Gerta alone. Depending upon how they react, the baron may relinquish the map to the monastery.[12]

Still in his mid-fifties at this time, the baron is not incapacitated. Although he has become too fat for his breastplate. He wields a magical mace in combat and, despite the text's attributions that his physical abilities have gone to pot, has some fighting ability but a reduced to hit bonus.[8]

Game Statistics

References

  1. ↑ Realm of Terror (Black Box) p. 75
  2. ↑ Ravenloft Campaign Setting (Box) ("Red Box") p. 22
  3. ↑ Domains of Dread p.28
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Ravenloft Third Edition p. 128-129
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Ravenloft Player's Handbook p. 146
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Adam's Wrath p. 31
  7. ↑ Gazetteer I p. 82
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 Adam's Wrath p. 37
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 Gazetteer I p. 75
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium Appendix I & II p. 78-79
  11. ↑ Adam's Wrath p. 30-31
  12. ↑ Adam's Wrath p. 35-37
  13. ↑ Gazetteer I p. 66

Data from the Ravenloft Catalogue

Adam's Wrath

Adam's Wrath - p37

Ravenloft Third Edition - pp128-129
Domains of Dread - p28
Ravenloft Campaign Setting:Domains and Denizens - p22
Adam's Wrath - p37
Realm of Terror - p75


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