"I like your work, Van Helping, and I want to make you an offer you won't want to refuse."
- —Ricardo Barolo to Aleksander von Helsing[1a]
Ricardo Barolo is a border prince and former Prince of Miragliano. He was defeated during the siege of Trantio while using a prototype Steam Tank named after him, based on the designs of the rogue Imperial engineer Aleksander von Helsing.[1a]
Unfortunately, the prototype used a Beastmen Bray-Shaman as a "power source" and the enraged mutant summoned a horde of Khornate Daemons during the battle to carry out his vengeance leading to the defeat of Barolo, who is said to have become insane after what he saw that day.[1a]
History[]
When the rogue Imperial engineer Aleksander von Helsing abandoned the Empire in search of more open-minded patrons in Tilea, his groundbreaking work attracted the unwelcome attention of Prince Ricardo Barolo.[1a]
Barolo made von Helsing an offer that he could not refuse. In exchange for an unlimited amount of funds for his research, von Helsing would create one of his miracle machines to conquer the city of Trantio, which has already emerged victorious too many times from Miragliano's attempts to seize it.[1a]
But the Imperial engineer refused, as he believed his work should help Humanity, not hurt it. Unfortunately, this choice led to von Helsing's death, as soon after von Helsing's corpse was discovered with Barolo's sword stuck in its back, grim evidence of what happened to those who defied the prince. Barolo stole the engineer's research and Steam Tank blueprints and gave them to his own engineers, demanding that they build a version of von Helsing's miracle machine modified to his own unique specifications. But in spite of his near-limitless funds, Barolo's engineers were equally unable to develop a power source for the machine.[1a]
Ricardo Barolo stands atop the Tilean Steam Tank named after him.[1a]
Yet in the face of Barolo's attempts to "persuade" them otherwise, less than a year after von Helsing's demise, work on the machine of miracles was complete, although Prince Barolo would live to regret never enquiring exactly how his engineers had managed to craft a workable power source.[1a]
Shortly thereafter, the Principality of Trantio was besieged by Barolo's forces. Barolo waited until his neighboring city-state had barely managed to stave off his initial deployment before he unleashed his secret weapon. He led the final charge against Trantio's defenders from his newly built Steam Tank against the weakened defenders. But just when victory seemed to be in Barolo's grasp, the secret of what his engineers used to empower his miracle machine was revealed.[1a]
A Beastmen Bray-Shaman, a foul mutant of Chaos, was unnaturally attuned to the Aethyr and able to manipulate the magical forces that Barolo's scientists had needed to truly power their machine. Driven insane by its incarceration within the Steam Tank to serve as its power source, and with an insatiable appetite for vengeance, the creature tore a hole into the Realm of Chaos with its sorcerous abilities which allowed a Bloodthirster of Khorne and other such Daemonic horrors to emerge into the mortal world. Then Daemonic onslaught rained havoc upon the unfortunate Trantine defenders.[1a]
The Daemons are dragged back into the Realm of Chaos after carrying havoc among the armies of Trantio and Miragliano indiscriminately.[1a]
Yet von Helsing earned his vengeance from beyond the grave when Barolo was driven insane in the grasp of the Greater Daemon of the Blood God. he was still screaming when the Daemonic incursion ended and all of the servants of the Blood God were dragged back into the Realm of Chaos.[1a]
What became of Barolo and his damaged Steam Tanks is unknown, but rumours claim that its blueprints have been carried to the Ten-Tailed Cat Inn in Taalagad by a witness of the hellish battle.[1a]
Appearance[]
Ricardo Barolo was an imposing man. He often dressed in clothes of a military nature that displayed numerous insignias and he preferred a helmet with a plume. His right leg was amputated and replaced with a prosthesis yet he effortlessly carried a two-handed greatsword on his back.[1a]
Trivia[]
Ricardo Barolo's name is a pun on an Italian wine named Barolo.
The uniform worn by Prince Barolo is inspired by a mixture of those worn by the cavalry lancers of Europe in the first half of the nineteenth century, known as the "Louis Philippe style" after the King of France of the same name, and those in use by the English army in the Zulu War during the 1870s.
Sources[]
Gallery[]
![Ricardo Barolo of Miragliano and Aleksander von Helsing debate how his inventions should be used.[1a]](/wiki/File:Ricardo_Barolo_and_Aleksander_Von_Helsing.png "Ricardo Barolo and Aleksander Von Helsing.png (897 KB)")
![The Ricardo Barolo Marvellous Machine of Miracles! prototype Steam Tank in combat against the forces of Trantio. [1a]](/wiki/File:Ricardo_Barolo_Marvellous_Machine_of_Miracles!_3.png "Ricardo Barolo Marvellous Machine of Miracles! 3.png (1,008 KB)")
![The blueprints for the Ricardo Barolo Marvellous Machine of Miracles! prototype Steam Tank[1a]](/wiki/File:Ricardo_Barolo_Marvellous_Machine_of_Miracles!.png "Ricardo Barolo Marvellous Machine of Miracles!.png (804 KB)")