"Everything exists only as it pleases Us."
Boris I Hohenbach, reigning as Boris I, also infamously known as "Boris Goldgather," and "Boris the Incompetent," who bore the official titles of "Protector of the Empire," "Defier of the Dark," "Emperor Himself and Son of Emperors," and "Chief Defender of the Faith of Holy Sigmar," was the Baron of Kutenholz, the Duke of Scheinfeld, and the Emperor of Man from 1053 to 1115 IC.[8b][19l]
He was the last and by far the worst of the so-called "Drakwald Emperors." His reign was brought to its miserable end by the outbreak of the Black Plague and the onset of the terrible Skaven Wars beginning in 1111 IC.[1a]
History[]
Boris Hohenbach was elected emperor in 1053 IC as a young child, because the Elector Counts believed him to be young and weak, the opposite of his father Ludwig II. In truth, Boris had a keen sense of survival, and often pit rival nobles against each other, forcing them to unleash scheme after scheme against each other so that they could not unite to scheme against him.[21a]
Boris made himself into an arbiter between rival Imperial princes and potentates, a position which made him indispensable to them and allowed him to play them against each other in pursuit of his own designs. [21a]
In doing so, Boris I created ties of loyalty not built on respect and admiration, but on need and dependence. He also purposefully stoked rivalries among the Imperial Electoral Provinces by appointing excisemen in one province who were native to their rival provinces, causing these officials to exaggerate the tax yields of their hated rival province and taking the blame from the population when higher taxes were the result, rather than the emperor who had set the tax rate.[18c][19d]
Despite this, the scholars of the present Empire see Boris I primarily as a byword for and the embodiment of grasping avarice and dithering ineptitude.[17a]
Reign as Emperor[]
"An emperor is the law itself. We can commit no crime."
- —Boris Hohenbach[20j]
As emperor, Boris I's main concern was his own self-preservation and amassment of wealth. For this reason, he chose to do away with the traditional practices of recruitment. While other emperors had looked to the purity of noble blood, the venerability of age and the ties of families, all Boris cared for was loyalty and capability, fearing that men that felt entitled to wealth and station would turn on him.[20c]
He appointed Everhardt Johannes Boekenfoerde to the position of Reiksmarshal at a younger age than any before him, thanks to the young soldier's talent. He also appointed the low-born peasant Adolf Kreyssig to serve as the commander of the Kaiserjaeger, which soon became the emperor's secret police. Kreyssig became influential enough to be allowed to take part in court sessions, much to the anger of the nobility who refused to see him as their equal.[19a]
For reasons unknown, the emperor even made a horse into a duke.[17a]
Boris I was well known for extravagant additions to the Imperial Palace in Altdorf. The most impressive were the Kaiseraugen, a large panoramic window crafted by Dwarfs that offered a magnificent view on the River Reik and the city below. At this time, glass was a luxury only affordable by the great religious cults and the wealthiest nobility.[19a]
Other trophies included a famous fresco from Estalia, which had been painstakingly dismantled and transported across half the Old World, without being reassembled.[19k] He also altered priceless artworks, such as a the face of Sigmar in a painting from the 5th century IC, to resemble his own.[20k] His statue at the Königplatz was built by Dwarfs and financed by a special bread tax.[20k]
New titles and state offices were invented and sold, so now the Elector Counts vied with each other to acquire ever more grandiose titles, such as "Grand Prince" or "Grand Duchess Palatine". A quick bribe would see a troublesome free town's charter revoked by the emperor, the first news of which would come when soldiers of the local noble would seize control and hang the burgomeister.[8a]
Others joined the game as the Empire's religious cults began selling ecclesiastical offices. The emperor himself would even sell to commoners the right to spend the night in the Imperial Palace, renting out the chambers of a 9th century IC emperor, Jürgen the Opulent.[8a]
Some of these titles have lasted unto the present, such as the "junkherr" title sold in 1113 IC to the ancestors of the Altdorf House Hohenzoll merchants.[17c]
The emperor also disliked nonhumans, possessing none of his father's fondness for Halflings.[19l] He further continued the discrimantory policies of his father against Imperial Dwarfs.[14b]
Despite this, Boris I utilised Dwarfs as excisemen to collect his taxes, aware of the tendency of Dwarfs to avenge any slights against them. The Imperial Guild of Excise, Honour and Fidelity, more colloquially known as "Goldgather's Goldgrubbers", were universally hated and despised by the citizens of the Empire.[20g]
In 1066 IC, Boris granted the Reikland township of Kemperbad the charter of a freistadt or free town.[13b] This freed the town from its feudal obligations to the Elector Count of the Reikland and made it answerable only to the emperor.[16a] In exchange, Kemperbad had to provide rare wines to the Imperial court.[8c]
In 1105 IC, Boris I revoked the ancient law of the Cult of Sigmar against witchcraft to install a "Court Elementalist", after having been bribed with prodigious amounts of gold.[15a]
In 1105 IC, Boris I was warned by Halfling Fieldwardens that Skaven uprisings had been detected. The emperor reacted by declaring that the Skaven did not exist and any mention of them was treason.[14a]
In 1110 IC, following allegations of corruption within the Cult of Sigmar, Boris I moved the Imperial capital from Nuln to Altdorf.[10a] His friend Grand Theogonist Uthorson of the Cult of Sigmar was wisely denounced as a follower of the Ruinous Powers, inciting further outrage. Boris' troops bloodily suppressed the resulting riot, but resentments continued to simmer.[17a]
Imperial Feuds[]
Boris I further encouraged the rivalry between the ancient Electoral Province of Stirland and the relatively young province of Sylvania, by letting Count Malbork von Drak buy the title of voivode of Sylvania and encouraging his ambitions. This forced both Stirland and Sylvania to pay large bribes to the Imperial treasury to ensure that the emperor did not throw his political weight behind their rival.[19a]
In 1070 IC, Boris Goldgather imprisoned the members of the noble House Moltke of Salzenmund and granted the town and its surrounding province to his lackey, Voltimand Salzwedel, who received an electoral vote in exchange for large amounts of silver.[18a]
Boris I further pitted the newly created province of Nordland against Middenland, as well as the Westerland and Ostland.[19i] Further feuds were instigated between Averland and Solland as well as Wissenland and Reikland and Talabecland and Stirland.[19i]
Since he had taken up residence in Altdorf despite being of Drakwald ancestry, Boris Hohenbach also marginalised the Elector Count of Reikland, Sigdan Holswig.[19b] The emperor had come to see Altdorf as his personal suzerainty, taking much authority over it away from the rightful ruler.[19c]
By the time of eruption of the Black Plague in 1111 IC, the Empire teetered on the brink of outright civil war, held together only by the machinations Boris I.[9a]
Norscan raids[]
In 1109 IC, Norscan Jarl Snorri Half-hand attacked the Westerland, taking the city of Marienburg and proclaiming himself the "Jarl of Vestland".[8b] The Imperial lords of Westerland managed to hold out at Rijker's Isle.[7a]
Count van Sauckelhof of Westerland was forced to spend his days in the Imperial Palace at Altdorf, trying to convince the emperor to send aid to Marienburg.[18a] Boris I sent the Imperial Army under Everhardt Johannes Boekenfoerde to deal with the fleet of High King Ormgaard, yet did not finish the remaining Northmen, who instead continued to plague the coastlines of the northern Empire.[19a] The Norscan occupation only ended with the onset of the Black Plague.[7a]
War in the Drakwald[]
From 1106 to 1110 IC, Drakwald found itself under renewed attack from Beastmen.[8b][4a] Some had suspected that the emperor would make the city of Carroburg his seat after abandoning Nuln. A feud between Vilner and Boris prevented that, leading Boris I to take up residence in Altdorf instead.[20b]
When the Electoral Province of Drakwald was destroyed by the Beastmen's assaults in the years 1106-1110 IC, the emperor did nothing to help the people of that province, despite originating from the Drakwald himself. Instead, he confiscated the Drakwald Elector Count's Runefang and what holdings remained for the Imperial throne, until such time as he decided on a new heir for the province. [4a] In secret, he had no intention of ever giving up the Runefang.[13a]
It was strongly suspected by some of the other Elector Counts that the emperor had recalled Everhardt Johannes Boekenfoerde from rooting out the rest of the Beastmen in Drakwald, even though the warherd had been crushed in a field battle. They believed this because without the Drakwald as a province, its wealth and titles would remain controlled by the emperor. [19a]
At the same time, with Marienburg occupied by the Norscans, Carroburg became wealthier and wealthier, due to being the new end point of the river trade along the River Reik.[19a]
Others suspected that if the Norscans had captured the rest of the Westerland, then it would have been in the same position. This was further supported by the fact that Boris I had refused to appoint a new duke for the province after Drakwald's ruler was killed by the Beastmen.[19b]
Unrest in Altdorf[]
On the 12th of Nachgeheim in 1111 IC, Boris I held an audience with the Elector Counts. The Electors were infuriated at Boris' new tax on every able-bodied peasant. One shilling was required for every person between ten and fifty and half a shilling for those outside that range.[19a]
The Elector Counts were outraged at such an increase in taxation, but the next change left them completely infuriated. The class of the peasantry known as the Dienstleute was to lose its traditionally tax-free status. This group was made up of conscripted and enlisted soldiers. Such a change would force many of the Elector Counts to dismiss their soldiers due to the increased expense of maintaining their own armies, even as many of these men possessed no other skills or trade other than service in the military. Boris I did not care, seeing this change only as an opportunity to extract even more wealth from the nobility.[19a]
Boris I's new tax caused a great march on Altdorf by Imperial State Army veterans whose lords could not afford to keep them. Gathering under the leadership of Wilhelm Engel, these veterans would gather before the Imperial Palace to demand an audience with the emperor. Called "Bread Marchers", the emperor allowed these people to gather, deliberately stirring things to a crisis where the Dienstleute would need to be put down by the Imperial Army.[19c]
If that happened, it was suspected by members of the Imperial military that Boris Hohenbach would use this as a justification to exempt his own troops from the head tax, allowing only him to finance the largest military force in the Empire.[19c]
As the provinces buckled under a series of bad harvests, reports arrived in Altdorf of a plague spreading from the south. The emperor at first dismissed these reports, but then had the idea of using the plague to blame the Bread Marchers, painting them as responsible for bringing the plague to the Imperial capital.[19d]
When Kreyssig brought him news that the Reiksknecht intended to break their vows to the emperor and not participate in the planned massacre of the veterans, he sanctioned their order's dissolution and took any knight they could find in the capital captive on a charge of treason.[19e]As the city-state of Talabheim closed its harbour out of fear of the spreading plague, Boris I, in a fit of rage, sent the Imperial Army to reopen the port.[19f]
On the Vorhexen, Grand Master Dettlef von Schomburg of the Reiksknecht was scheduled to be executed for treason. Boris I attended, yet left when the spectacle turned against him due to his unworthy treatment of the grand master, who was executed with a common axe like a peasant rather than with a sword as his station demanded.[19g]
Demonstrations against the corrupt regime of Emperor Boris "Goldgather" immediately followed, with armed mobs attacking the residence of known officials of the Imperial Court.[19h] The revolts only worsened once the popular Arch Lector Wolfram Hartwich of the Cult of Sigmar was also executed for treason and conspiracy.[19j]
A conspiracy formed, headed by Prince Sigdan and supported by the nobility of Sylvania, Middenland, Stirland, Westerland, Drakwald under Konrad Aldrech and the Moot, as well as the Cult of Sigmar and several guildmasters of Altdorf. They sought force the emperor to abdicate and install Prince Sigdan as regent, with the support of the Grand Theogonist of the Cult of Sigmar. The cabal also sought to win over the Reiksmarshal.[19h]
After the Kaiserjaeger learned of the plot, the conspirators were forced to act swiftly, entering the Imperial Palace posing as Kaiserjaegers with a seemingly captured Sigdan, while a riot instigated by members of the Bread Marchers would draw the Kaiserknecht knights and the city's garrison away. [19j]
Within the palace, the conspirators stole Ghal Maraz, the magical warhammer of Sigmar that was the sacred symbol of the office of the emperor, from his vaults.[19k]
When cornered in the Harmony Salon by the conspirators, Boris I offered to submit to a trial by combat, with the Emperor’s Champion Peter von Kirchof armed with Beastslayer, the Runefang of Drakwald, as his representative. The rebels saw through the ploy and forced the emperor to sign his own abdication, yet the true Kaiserjaeger arrived in time to corner them. Only Erich von Kranzbeuhler, a knight of the disbanded Reiksknechts, and Baron Thornig of Middenheim escaped, with Ghal Maraz and Boris I's abdication paper still in hand.[19l]
In the end, the revolt failed when Baron von Klauswitz, representative of Stirland, chose to side with the emperor. In a cruel jest, Boris I briefly raised Konrad Aldrech to the position of Elector Count of Drakwald, before having him executed for treason with the Runefang of that office. Prince Sigdan chose to die in battle. The rest were executed as traitors, including von Klauswitz.[19l]
The people of Drakwald, for the role their short-lived Elector Count had played in the rebellion against the emperor, were punished with a tax that forced them to pay a shilling per ear. Those who could not pay had their ears cut off. The wealth and property of everyone else was also confiscated and their titles abolished.[20b][20c]
The Black Plague[]
Boris I's reign had left the Empire weakened, with the population half-starving and dispirited, many border forts abandoned and the army neglected.[1a] As such, it was ill-prepared when the Black Plague came in 1111 IC. The disease was first reported in the southern reaches of the Empire, causing many to believe that it had been spread by Tilean tradesmen.
The disease proved to be fast-spreading and fast-acting, killing its victims in days if not hours after the symptoms presented. No known medicine could help, and the speed of the disease's course provided no time to study it.[9b]
Tens of thousands died choking on their own blood, wiping whole Imperial villages and towns from the map. Great pyres and mass graves became a daily sight. Snaking columns of refugees attempted to flee their fate, but only succeeded in spreading the infection still further.[12a] Some sources also claim that the overcrowding of many of the Empire's towns at this time was responsible for the lethality of the plague.[6a]
Retreat to Carroburg[]
With the death of Konrad Aldrech, Emperor Boris Hohenbach had inherited that noble's lands and titles in Drakwald, including Schloss Hohenbach, the ancient seat of the family.[20a] In 1114 IC, the emperor fled the plague in Altdorf to the city of Carroburg. He named Adolf Kreyssig Protector of the Empire in his stead.[20a]
To ensure his loyalty, Boris I took Kreyssig's wife, Erna von Thornig, with him. While Kreyssig and his wife hated each other, Kreyssig's only claim to the pretence of nobility was through his marriage.[20b]
Within Schloss Hohenbach, only the richest and most influential people of the Empire were allowed. There, thoughts of the Black Plague and pustulated peasants were far away. The decadent nobility would laugh and drink and wait for the plague to finally die down.[20d][8a]
On Hexensnacht 1115 IC, Boris held a séance, where his Court Elementalist Karl-Maria Fleischauer summoned the spirits of the dead. The emperor was greatly pleased at the secrets the condemning spirits revealed about those in attendance, but less about Baron Thornig offering words of solace to his daughter and even less about the spirit of his father, the late Ludwig II, accusing him of bringing ruin upon the House Hohenbach.[20e]
As the Black Plague worsened in the rest of the Empire, Boris I commanded Fleischauer to enact dark rites to preserve the health of the inhabitants of the castle. Using a hideously mutated woman, the Elementalist fed the assembled nobles leeches that had fed on her blood, which he claimed would protect them against the plague if eaten regularly.[20f]
When the Black Plague finally reached Carroburg in Mitterfruhl, 1115 IC, the emperor held a large feast to help his courtiers forget the horrors they had committed to protect themselves.[20h] The plague, however, remained, spreading throughout the city outside the emperor's retreat. In response, Boris commanded the siege machines of Schloss Hohenbach to rain down destruction upon Carroburg, laying waste to the ancient city for his own amusement.[20i]
It was then that he heard the bells that tolled all around them, and the chanting, cowled figures that made their way to the castle, swinging censers that expelled clouds of grimy smoke.[20i]
When the first inhabitants of the castle were swathed in the fog and showed symptoms of the Black Plague, Boris was the first to flee, seeking shelter in the chapel of Sigmar. Fearing for his life, the emperor confessed his many crimes and made vows to reform.[20j]
Yet upon the next day, Boris I was back to his old self, plotting how to fill the positions of those that had already died with new men loyal to him. He was finally clubbed to death in a rage by Erna von Thornig with the stone hammer from Sigmar's altar.[20j]
The official history of the Empire, however, states that Emperor Boris I died of the plague,[1a][2a][5a][6a][8a][12a][22a], while another source claims that he perished on the sharp points of a Skaven shuriken.[9b] His death was reported as one of the only good things that the Black Plague had wrought upon the lands of the Empire. [2a]
Legacy[]
"One is never a stranger to one’s legacy."
- —Boris Hohenbach.[20b]
After the news of his death, Boris I's statue at the Königplatz in Altdorf was torn down and thrown into the River Reik. For weeks afterwards, jubilant processions burned dung effigies in his likeness.[20k] Boris I's death is still celebrated as a national holiday all across the Empire, called Goldgather's End. [11a] He is widely held as one of the most hated emperors to ever hold the office.[3a]
The play called The Troublesome Reign of Boris the Incompetent is a satire that illustrates supposed parallels between the present-day Empire of the 26th century IC and the corrupt reign of Boris Goldgather.[17b]
While Boris' noble house originated in the Drakwald province, he himself was not the Elector Count of Drakwald, an office held by Count Vilner until his death in 1110 IC.[4a][8b]
Afterwards, the most likely candidate to succeed Vilmer, Konrad Aldrech, died under mysterious circumstances, leaving the office of the Elector Count of Drakwald vacant until its outright abolition during the reign of Emperor Mandred II after the Skaven Wars.[3b]
It is probable that the current requirement that any candidate for the Imperial throne must also be an Elector Count of one of the Great Provinces became law after Boris Goldgather's death, likely as a reaction born from the calamitous experiences of the realm during his reign.
Canon Conflict[]
While several sources state that Boris I's reign began in 1053 IC, the 8th Edition Warhammer: Rulebook instead states that he ruled from 1109-1115 IC.[23a]
Sources[]
- 1: Warhammer Armies: The Empire (4th Edition)
- 1a: pg. 5
- 2: Warhammer Armies: The Empire (7th Edition)
- 2a: pg. 10
- 3: Warhammer Armies: The Empire (8th Edition)
- 4: Warhammer Armies: Beasts of Chaos (6th Edition)
- 4a: pg. 11
- 5: Warhammer Armies: Skaven (7th Edition)
- 5a: pg. 11
- 6: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1st Edition: Enemy Within - Shadows over Bögenhafen (RPG)
- 6a: pg. 11
- 7: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1st Edition: Marienburg - Sold down the River (RPG)
- 7a: pg. 21
- 8: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Sigmar's Heirs (RPG)
- 9: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Children of the Horned Rat (RPG)
- 10: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Forges of Nuln (RPG)
- 10a: pg. 6
- 11: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd Edition: Signs of Faith (RPG)
- 11a: pg. 31
- 12: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd Edition: Omens of War (RPG)
- 12a: pg. 31
- 13: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Core Rulebook (RPG)
- 14: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Archives of the Empire Vol I (RPG)
- 15: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Winds of Magic (RPG)
- 15a: pg. 71
- 16: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Death on the Reik (RPG)
- 16a: pg. 33
- 17: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Altdorf - Crown of the Empire (RPG)
- 18: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Salzenmund – City of Salt and Silver (RPG)
- 18a: pg. 8
- 19: The Black Plague: Dead Winter (Novel) by C. L. Werner
- 20: The Black Plague: Blighted Empire (Novel) by C. L. Werner
- 21: The Black Plague: Wolf of Sigmar (Novel) by C. L. Werner
- 21a: Ch. 3
- 22: The Loathsome Ratmen and All Their Vile Kin (Background book)
- 22a: pg. 77
- 23: Warhammer: Rulebook (8th Edition)
- 23a: pg. 172