Adolf Kreyssig was born a peasant in the Empire but managed to work his way into the graces of Emperor Boris I Hohenbach in the early 12th century IC. For his devotion to the emperor, he was named commander of the Kaiserjaeger.[1a]
Originally this organisation was simply a group of woodsmen that prepared hunts for the emperor and his guests, but under Kreyssig's leadership it soon became the secret police of Altdorf that worked against any the emperor believed to a potential opponent of his rule.[1a]
History[]
Origins[]
Adolf Kreyssig came from very humble beginnings for a man who would later rise so high in the government of the Empire. According to some sources, he was born to a peasant woman who had seduced his father while on a hunting expedition in the Middle Mountains.
Secretly during his time as the commander of the Kaiserjaeger, the organisation of former woodsmen that became the secret police of the Imperial capital city of Altdorf, Kreyssig was in league with the Skaven of Under-Altdorf, which allowed him to learn much more about the city from their subterranean spies than would have been possible otherwise. He only ever got one look at his Skaven contact while communicating with it, but that in itself was enough to give him nightmares. He promised himself to hunt down the vermin beneath the city when possible. [1c]
Despite his considerable influence and power, the Elector Counts saw Adolf as nothing more than a peasant. During Emperor Boris I's meeting with the representatives of the Elector Counts after the Drakwald was overrun by Beastmen and the Empire lost Marienburg to the Norscans, Adolf tried to speak up during the intense argument, but the nobles were incredibly vexed simply by his presence.[1a]
Kreyssig later organised the Kaiserjaeger's response to the Bread Protests that broke out in the Imperial capital city after hordes of unemployed soldiers began to stream into Altdorf to protest in front of the emperor. Getting tips from inside the order of knights known as the Reiksknecht that the knights were going to publicly refuse to massacre the veterans, he ordered the Kaiserjaeger to set caltrops around them during the foggy morning. The expert hunters successfully entrapped the entire knightly order on the day of the protest, ordering them to surrender. The brave knights charged out regardless, most of them being felled by arrows or imapled on the caltrops, but a few managed to escape.[1b]
In the wake of this humiliation for the knights, Kreyssig captured Grand Master Dettleb von Schomberg of the Reiksknecht and imprisoned him. Despite a successful rescue attempt by several knights, the Grand Master refused to be rescued. Meanwhile, Kreyssig organised a hunt for the surviving veterans, ruthlessly slaughtering many of them and dumping the rest into prison. He also cracked down on healers and hospitals, knowing that many wounded survivors of the riots would head there.[1b]
Later, Kreyssig exulted at the execution site where Dettleb von Schomberg was to meet the headsman, knowing that this was a personal political victory for him. He watched as the Scharfrichter first refused to use a sword to execute the Grand Master, the traditionally honourable means of execution for nobles, and instead took up an axe, the means of execution normally used only for peasants. The executioner missed the first strike, causing Dettleb to writhe for nearly a minute before finally decapitating him. The crowd started to chant, "Shame!" and Kreyssig realised he had overplayed his hand. He knew the emperor would severely punish him for his overstep.[1b]
Using his Skaven informant, Kreyssig learned of a secret group of Elector Counts that were plotting to force the emperor to abdicate. He confronted the Grand Theogonist Thorgrad of the Cult of Sigmar for his involvement with the group, informing him of the fact that the he knew that the previous Grand Theogonist, Uthorson, was a Slaaneshi cultist. The priest begrudgingly agreed to execute the popular Arch Lector Wolfgang Hartwich, the man who was directly involved in the plot to overthrow the emperor, in return for Kreyssig not revealing the scandal surrounding the Sigmarite church's previous high priest.[1b][1d]
However, this merely kicked off a rebellion as the conspirators joined with angry commoners and militias from across the Empire. They besieged the Courts of Justice in Altdorf and even broke into the Imperial Palace, forcing Boris I to abdicate. Kreyssig rushed to rally the defences of the Kaiserjaeger as they penetrated the conspirators' lines, eventually fighting their way through the mob to Boris.[1b][1d]
A pursuit then followed into the tunnels of Under-Altdorf, as the conspirators tried to flee with what they belived to be Sigmar's magical warhammer Ghal Maraz and the decree of abdication the emperor had been forced to sign. Kreyssig managed an effective pursuit of the rebels within the sewers, cand eventually caught up to the fleeing knights and trapped them. However, the Skaven betrayed him and attacked, knowing it would sow further chaos in the Empire if the conspirators escaped. Unfortunately, all the tumult and fighting caused a large section of the tunnels to collapse.[1e]
Kreyssig was the only man who survived the cave-in, but he was horribly injured in the collapse. For many months afterwards, he had to lie under the care of physicians, bed-ridden before finally making a recovery and retuning to his duties.[2a]
Protector of the Empire[]
In 1114 IC, the Black Plague returned and began to ravage the people of the Empire once more. Emperor Boris I moved with his court to a palace in the Drakwald in the hopes of escaping infection. The emperor appointed Kreyssig Steward of Altdorf and Protector of the Empire, essentially turning him into the second most powerful man in the Empire and his de jure regent.[2a]