Karameikos - Vaults of Pandius

Fort Doomtowards people when he wants to, as whenreceiving guests or when he wants to achievesome political goal or favour, but his charmis only skin-deep.From an outside point of view, Ludwig is anevil, totally self-centered man, utterlyuncaring for anyone but himself. In his ownperspective, however, he is the good guy --Ludwig sees himself as a protector of the true“Thyatianism” in its purest form, as held bythe Hattian conservative ideology. In fact,Ludwig believes that Duke StefanKarameikos is a very dangerous man -- atraitor to the Thyatians. The Duke, indeed, isbuilding a country that supports equalitybetween Thyatians, Traladarans and evenmixed “bastards”, as von Hendriks would callthem. “What's next? The Duke wants to mixThyatians with goblins and orcs”, is acommon quote -- quite ironic, since theBaron routinely employs goblinoids. TheDuke, in Ludwig’s eyes, is clearly both tooweak to support the Thyatian ideals, andpursuing evil goals.Ludwig knows that to demonstrate the errorsof the Duke’s rulership and win the hearts ofthe more conservative Thyatians, he needs toprove his point in practice. Thus, his plan isto portray the old Traladaran town of Halagas a perfect example of cleanliness andorder, where Thyatian superiority keepscontrol over conquered lesser people.Visitors are told that Freiherr von Hendriks is“educating" and "correcting" the Traladaranpeople to the "light of culture andcivilisation", but since many of them tend toretain their antiquated, superstitious ways,they need to be "ruled by a firm hand fortheir own good".fully convinced whatever comes out of his mouth isthe truth.Freiherr von Hendriks is formally a followerof Vanya. He surrounds himself withfanatical followers of that Immortal,primarily Hattians. Von Hendriksappreciates these kind of people since theyare easy to understand and control. Incontrast, he is deeply suspicious of peoplewith personal ethics or that questionorders, as he expects blind obedience fromhis followers. In truth, Ludwig vonHendriks only follows Vanya because helikes war and hates peace. He has nopersonal reverence for Vanya 3 . War is theway to achieve glory and recognition and tokeep the Thyatian spirit strong and fearedamong other nations -- "War is characterbuilding,"as Ludwig likes to say.His other prestige project is the immensecastle he is building northeast of FortDoom. Its gates and castle are to project animage of martial power and orderedcleanliness in contrast to Traladaranprovincialism, and demonstrate all thesigns that Hattian culture is holding true toThyatian principles. He has commissionedimmense marble statues, one of Vanya asthe triumphant goddess, and an equestrianone of himself, in field plate with shield andraised sword.Duke Stefan Karameikos is yet unaware thathis cousin Ludwig has been plotting hisdemise since childhood. Thus far the Dukehas been lucky to survive several attemptson his life from both his cousin Ludwig andfrom Traladarans. The Duke is stillconvinced his cousin Ludwig is a lawful andfaithful follower and that he is beingwrongfully accused by political opponentsas a result of the initial Traladaran rebellion.3 Vanya does not seem to mind, though.135THRESHOLD: The Mystara Magazine Issue #1