The story of Hans Gotha IV really begins with the founding of the Von Geldhaar (Old Gothic speech for “Gold Hair”) family line a millennium before when the Gotha and the Ulf tribes built the Ulfschloss under Gotha the Great. King Gotha, from whom his descendants took their name after splitting from the Ulfs, was a mighty warrior who fought Greenskins and Beastmen in the frigid northern lands of the Realm of Life, wielding a mighty blade that Sigmar himself came down and gifted him with, Gotha led his household out from the small settlement at the base of the Ulfberg, the “Wolf Mountain”, and increased in number and established many settlements and clans under the Wolf standard. On his death the northern landmass had nearly all been subdued by Gotha’s house and became known as “Gotholm” “Gotha’s Home”. In one campaign he saved the life of a Duardin cogsmith who gifted him with an enchanted steed that could never tire and spat lightning from its mouth. Seven years before the death of King Gotha, he returned to the Ulfberg and under a vision from Sigmar began the construction of a mighty fortress and city, uniting the dwindling Ulf tribe with his own burgeoning one, the Gothic tribesmen honored their kinsmen by keeping the White Wolf sigil for their new city’s symbol. Gotha married his great niece Brunhelga, the Wolf Queen, and was raised upon a shield by his housecarls and proclaimed King Gotha I of Ulf and Gotha. Brunhelga bore seven sons to Gotha before his passing, and each grew into a warrior as mighty as their father. The eldest, Sigurd, inherited the crown while his brothers, according to custom, split the remaining inheritance of their father.
The Gotha Royal Arms, showing Gotha the Great on his Wunderhorse wielding a Sigmarite Runesword
So the House of Gotha ruled the Ulfberg for centuries, Kings eventually giving way to a council of Burgomeisters ruled by a Prince of the family line. The title of King became lost to the ages and the numerous laws, statutes, and edicts from various reigns prevented absolute monarchy from taking hold again as Princes were more easily governable and ruled by council. Among the various ancient chiefs that made up the clans of the Gotha tribe rose the Von Geldhaars. The first of their number was Albrecht the Fair. Handsome beyond reason, blonde flowing hair fell about a face said to be shaped by the gods themselves, his piercing blue eyes seduced many a maiden of his tribe and he begat but a single son, also fair of face and blonde as the sun’s light. That son had several more sons and daughters, and so on. Every generation descended from Albrecht was as beautiful as the last. But not all were alike in beauty of the heart. Some were vain and cruel, and some were given over entirely to the pleasures of the flesh, such as Wilhelmina the Unchaste, who held orgies in the dead of night in the caverns under the Ulfberg, til one night whilst coupling with her lovers they were attacked and taken by the dreaded Skaven, never to be seen again. She bore several sons and daughters and her surviving lovers Hans and Ernst raised them as their own. The amount of pleasure seeking “hedonists” in the Geldhaar family tree and their eventual rise to power has raised some questions among those who know the family’s mixed history of good and bad. Some Geldhaars, such as Hans Gotha, were noble, and far more disciplined in their personal lives, as well as devoted to Sigmar’s worship. Some five centuries ago, a nobleman of the Von Geldhaar house married Countess Gunhilda of Gotha, thereby joining the two houses when the main line of House Gotha failed to produce an heir two hundred years later.
Kronprinz Hans Gotha IV Von Geldhaar, Prince of Ulfberg, Sovereign of Fjordland, and Stadtholder of the Zeebund. Portrait painted shortly after his victory over Fjordland.
Whispered in the backrooms of the noble houses that are “enlightened” by the “new truths” of a certain wandering scholar, Erasmus Von Der Taag (Die Wunderwerker), the Royal House of Geldhaar has a dark secret that not even they are aware of. Something from the “World that Was”. A great evil, hedonistic and perverse, lies sleeping in the blood of the Von Geldhaars. Their near uncontrollable urges, their lusts, their failings, these are the legacy of the Royal line that every Von Geldhaar must fight to overcome. None more so than the current Kronprinz, for as the Wunderwerker has foretold, he is the new hope of the sensualists in secret. “His face bears the marks of a great champion, for he is fairer than any of his line, and his golden locks are a sign from our god of the perfection which is to come for all the true believers of the Ulfberg, nay of even all of Gotholm! He is the Avatar of Perfection, and he will bring licentious liberation to all our people!” (“Prophezeiungen über das Kommen des Avatars” Quatrain XIV, Erasmus Von Der Taag). However, as of yet the Prince remains unaware of his “fate” engineered for him by the Chaos gods.
Erasmus Von Der Taag, “Die Wunderwerker”
Hans Gotha IV Von Geldhaar reigns over a mighty city state and multiple dangers rear their heads from a dozen directions. The secret cults brewing under the roofs of a few noble houses are a small but growing threat compared to the more pressing issues of Skaven tunnels under the Ulfberg, Beastmen hordes springing forth from the Drachenwald to burn the farmsteads that feed the city, pirates attacking settler ships out of Zeebund, and the wars of conquest and unification against the other free cities of Gotholm. The dream of “Großgotholm” “Greater Gotholm” is ever on the mind of the Kronprinz and his loyal Stadtsmarshal, Von Heldenman. The recent war against the Principality of Fjordland has seen the Ulfberger Wacht achieve victory after victory. The disciplined regiments of spears and guns broke the Fjordlander’s armies twice, with the Stadtsmarshal bringing his army to the gates of Arendelle, the capital. Hans Gotha meanwhile led the knights of the Templar Orders and several picked regiments in a whirlwind maneuver to cutoff the reinforcing army from the capital and crushed them in lightning assault that left the Baroness of Fjordland no choice but to surrender her state to the Kronprinz. As it stands, the Freiestadt Ulfberg is entering a golden age of prosperity and power that may see her become master of the continent, and capital of a new empire. Only time will tell if Prince Hans can resist his inner urges and remain master of his own destiny.
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