Detlef Sierck
"Your Excellency, with respect, you are wrong. The dramatist tells the truth. It is the historian who lies."
- —Detlef Sierck, Upon My Genius[1a]
Arguably the greatest actor, producer and playwright of The Empire, Detlef Sierck is also the lover and companion of the Vampire mistress, Genevieve Dieudonné. He is probably a greater dramatist than Jacopo Tarradasch.
Biography[]
"Ours is a land chained by silence; ours is a time when the truth goes unspoken"
- —Detlef Sierck, playwright[6a]
Detlef was born in 2476 IC[1b], the son of a vegetable merchant in Nuln.
Giving proof of his extraordinary talent, Detlef gained fame and fortune in Middenheim. He was later hired by the Count of Middenland to write, perform and direct a theatre play called The History of Sigmar. Determined to create a masterpiece, Detlef saw no reason to spare in the expenses. Unfortunately an outbreak of plague cancelled the megalomaniac project.
Forced to assume all expenses and responsibilities, Detlef was ruined. Unable to pay, he was incarcerated in the Mundsen Keep, a debtor's prison, for the princely sum of "119,255 gold crowns, 17 shillings and 9 pence"[1c]. Here he met Guglielmo Pentangeli later Detlef Sierck's business manager.[2b][2c][2d]
Oswald von Konigswald made Detlef an offer which he couldn't refuse: all his debts would be paid, and he would be handsomely rewarded for the creation and direction of a new theatre play based upon Oswald's heroic feat: the slaying of Constant Drachenfels (which feat occurred when Detlef was only 4 years old)[1b].
Detlef accepted and wrote a play named Drachenfels which was performed at Castle Drachenfels before Emperor Karl Franz, Prince Luitpold, the Electors and other high-ranking officials.
His current home is the very successful Vargr Breughel Memorial Theatre, which enjoys the patronage of both Karl Franz and Prince Luitpold, although the former seldom attends plays.[2a][7a]
Some whisper that Sierck gained his literary talent by selling his soul to Morr, the god of death.[7a]
Notable Works[]
- A Farce in the Fog - A Farce in the Fog is a comic play with dark undertones.[2a]
- History of Sigmar - Its full title is, The True history of Sigmar Heldenhammer, Founder of the Empire, Saviour of the Reik, Defier of the Darkness.
- The Strange History of Dr Zhiekill and Mr Chaida - This play concerns a pure priest of Shallya who, tasting a forbidden potion, becomes a raging libertine. It is a translation and adaptation of an older play of the same name by the Kislevite dramatist V. I. Tiodorov, which Sierck considered to be of inferior quality. It was written c. 2506.[2a][8a]
- The Treachery of Oswald[8b]
- To My Unchanging Lady - A sonnet cycle, dedicated to Genevieve Dieudonné, widely considered his best work.
- Upon My Genius[1a]
Family[]
Detlef's father had always refused to talk about the days before he assembled the strong-arm gang who enabled him to corner the Nuln vegetable market by smashing the other traders' stalls. He had been too much of a miserable bastard to give his son any advice beyond "Don't go on the stage or I'll cut you off without a penny!". Detlef had heard that his father died of apoplexy during a meeting with the Nuln tax collectors, at precisely the moment when it was suggested that his returns for the last thirty years would bear a close re-examination. His mother had decamped to the coastal city of Magritta in Estalia and taken up with a much younger man, a minstrel more noted for the contour of his tights than the sweetness of his voice. She hadn't exactly encouraged his genius either.[1a]
Trivia[]
Detlef is frequently referenced in the Gotrek & Felix series, often when Felix Jaeger sees his circumstances as overly melodramatic.[4]
The name of the character is possibly a homage to film director Douglas Sirk.
Canon Conflict[]
Warhammer Companion from 1990 states that Drachenfels was defeated by Oswald in 2480 IC[3] and Detlef remembers that he was 4 years old at the time[1b]. The timeline appearing in the Boxtree books give Detlef's birthdate as 2471 IC and the date of Drachenfels' death in 2477 IC (the Boxtree timeline also states that Karl Franz was elected and crowned in 2491 IC instead of 2502 IC). Finally, the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Corebook 4th Edition dates the defeat of Drachenfels by Oswald at 2480 IC again.[5a]
Sources[]
- 1: Drachenfels (Novel) by Jack Yeovil
- 2: Genevieve Undead (Anthology) by Jack Yeovil
- 3: Warhammer Companion, pg. 91
- 4: Skavenslayer (novel) by William King, The Battle of Nuln
- 5: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Core Rulebook (RPG)
- 5a: pg. 275
- 6: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Forges of Nuln (RPG)
- 6a: pg. 5
- 7: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Altdorf, Crown of the Empire (RPG)
- 7a: pg. 177
- 8: Beasts in Velvet (Novel) by Jack Yeovil