'And many thought the Holy Man cruel, for he had counseled the man to kill the misbegotten child. "But is it not more cruel to let it live?' asked the Holy Man." - Friedrich Nietzsche, Holy Cruelty
Name: Otto von Fritz
Race: Human of the Empire
Birthplace: Middenheim, City of the White Wolf
Residence: Altdorf, the Grand Principality of Reiksland
Career: Warrior-Priest of Sigmar
Faction: The Empire; The Church of Sigmar; The Order of the Silver Hammer
Gender: Male and masculine
Age: Middle Aged (33 years old.)
Height: Tall (6’4”)
Weight: Fit (190 pounds)
Musculature: Toned; fast twitch muscle.
Dramatis Personae
Lector Otto Wolfgart von Fritz is as much of a Sigmarite as they come. He is a stoic follower of his faith, not permitting emotion or ego to overcome him. He is as stone as the many statues of the God Sigmar that he worships. Though the public may typify him as the zealous stereotype expected of a Sigmarite, there is a truly Aurelian quality to his demeanor. Though his words are reserved, he knows how to contain great meaning within a few, fortuitous words. As much as he is a warrior, he is foremost a Priest. Otto has a charismatic debonair in the tone of his voice which can rally his allies to action, and inspire conviction where there had been but impending doom only moments ago. But truly, he must be as terrible to his enemies as he is good to his people.
If one were to strip Otto of his clothing, they would find the lashes of a flagellant, and the wounds of a warrior to support his devotion. His right eye is scarred, still intact, but ruined. The eyeball itself is mostly a pale ball of scarred tissue. A thunderous red hue marks where the blow had been given across his face. In the palm of his right hand, there is what appears to be a birthmark with the iconography of the twin-tailed comet. Even on his gauntlet, a similar figure has been etched with acid into the leather of the palm, but only on the same hand.
From head to toe, the Warrior-Priest is adorned in the ceremonial robes of a Lector. The crimson and black drapes run the length of his body, while golden embroidery depicts various icons of Sigmar. The various passages from the Deus Sigmar run along the borders of the religious vestment, where the bound tome of the faith itself is linked to the girdle by a silver chain. A gothic style of plate armor encases his body, glinting in the sun with the reflection of arduously polished steel. Though occasionally, there are dents and scratches on the armor in-between sessions of repair. One would be drawn to the attention of impressive detail applied to the armor. Only a master metalsmith could have produced this masterpiece. Across the breastplate, chiseled into the breastplate is a relief of Sigmar striking down the Necromancer Nagash. The figures are contained within the space of a Maltese cross, which is surrounded by two more concentric circles, where it is engraved between the parallel surfaces, “Ye Shall Suffer Not a Heretic to Live.” Additional purity seals frequent the armour, each containing favored passages of Otto’s from the Deus Sigmar. Occasionally he may give them to strangers who show a growing interest in the faith. And last but not least, is a massive Warhammer known as ‘Absolution,’
The Relief of Sigmar and Nagash
Background & History
Upbringing and the Church
Otto von Fritz was born in the Grand Duchy of Middenland in the year IC 2488. Raised as a blacksmith in the City of Middenheim, Otto grew up as a Sigmarite minority, whereas the City of the White Wolf was devoted purely to Ulric. He enjoyed a pleasant life under the provincial rule of Graf Boris Todbringer, but his aspiration for faith in the Church of Sigmar eventually resulted in his leave. When Otto was of age to be a man, he sold all of his belongings and embarked on a journey through the Great Forest and Middle Moors of Middenland, perusing a pilgrimage to the White Abbey of Sigmar in Altdorf. For Otto, it was worth exchanging the safety of Middenheim for the dangers of the forest, for it meant freedom from the ambitions of the Ar-Ulric.
However, Otto’s pilgrimage did not go as intended. Close to the end of his 250 mile journey, the roads had been blockaded by marauding bandits. The town itself had been overtaken by a Chaos Cult of Khorne. It was at this moment that Otto invoked a sensation like never before; an aura of righteous fury which filled him whole; body and soul. Identifying the war leader, he drew forth his dagger and made conspiracy to assassinate him. That night he snuck into their camp, and slit the throats of the sleeping cultists, freeing the various villagers who yet remained to be used as ritual sacrifice. Then he went for the throat of the master, but was horribly thwarted. Once the warriors of chaos were awake, even with Sigmar’s blessings, Otto von Fritz fell prone to the attacks made by his foes. One of the Chosen brought down his axe in a furious blow, which dashed the pilgrim’s left eye and rendered him unconscious.
When Otto awoke, he was found at the bondage and cruelty of the occult. Sensing that Otto’s skill in battle was impressive for a mere peasant, the leader of the war party, Grismand Grimaxe, ordered for a pause in the torture of Otto von Fritz. He was dragged into the war tent, where he was forced to his knees. With his head jerked back, and a dagger brought to his throat by Grismand’s goons, the Chosen Warleader placed the span of his armored hand over Otto’s face. Grismand gave Otto a choice, either to be sacrificed as blood for the Blood God, or to shed blood and collect skulls for the skull throne. Without hesitation, Otto arose, shouting,
“I am Otto von Fritz, a citizen of the Empire. I came here as an enemy to kill my enemy, and I am as ready to die for Sigmar and the Emperor as I am to kill. We men of the Empire act bravely, and when adversity strikes, we suffer bravely!”
It was in this moment, that Otto thrust his right hand into a fire which was lit for sacrifice and held it there without giving any inundation of pain.
The zeal of Otto sent a mortal chill down the spine of even the Warriors of Chaos. Understanding that Otto’s will could not be broken, Grismand ordered for Otto to be executed as an example of those who defy Khorne. Unbeknownst to the two rivals, Otto’s act had also bought him time. As their executioner prepared to crucify Otto, those who he had freed formed a militia to save him. Amid the chaos that unfolded at the first sounds of battle, Otto lifted up the sledgehammer near the cross, and used it to shatter the knees, and then the skull of his foe.
Encouraged by the morale of the militia, Otto once more felt the calling of Sigmar manifest within him. So much was his faith, that as he held up his hammer to invoke the power of his God, the hand which had been burned was made whole once more – instead of the scar of a seared hand, was born in the palm a mark upon the flesh. The mark of a comet with twin tails.
With supplication to Sigmar, and awe at the majesty of such a miracle, Otto became a force of reckoning that day as he sent his enemies to the warp. Grismand Grimaxe, who had not the same courage or God as Otto, fled in righteous terror into the thickets of the forest.
With the aid of the militia, Otto von Fritz set the last of the prisoners free and continued his pilgrimage for Altdorf. One man among the captured had been a Priest of Sigmar himself, who had watched all which had unfolded and chronicled Otto’s bravery. This same Priest of Sigmar, Oswald the Zealous was his name, recommended Fritz for induction into the Order of the Silver Hammer.
Thus it was so that Otto von Fritz reached his destination, with good Lector Oswald and over twenty-three civilians that he had spared from the torments of Chaos and converted to the faith of Sigmar. Yet, great feats alone may never define a Warrior-Priest; for whereas Sigmar is a Warrior-God and his Priests are Warriors, the true strength that Sigmar requires of his subjects is their faith. Even the testimony of Lector Oswald the Zealous was not an affirmation of faith enough for Otto to be invested. Though by proving his faith, Otto would one day fulfill the purpose that burned within his heart.
Sigmarite
The clerics of the Order of the Torch were amenable towards Otto. They permitted for Lector Oswald to be his tutor. He was immediately inspected, as all who seek to join the faith, for marks of chaos or the dark magik. Yet he had proved that he was not afflicted, nor a heretic, nor of goblinoid blood. For thirteen moons, Otto remained within the White Abbey, learning from the creeds of the faith, reading and studying with scrutiny and devotion the morals of the DEVS SIGMAR. He shaved his head in a complete tonsure of baldness, wearing only the burlap of monks, and undertook vows of poverty, celibacy, and obedience. By the approval of the Church, Otto was crowned as a Warrior-Priest of the Church of Sigmar by Lector Oswald, whereupon he took up the confirmation name of Wolfgart, for his favorite Saint of the Church, Wolfgart Krieger.
Friar Otto Wolfgart von Fritz had yet to officially choose which path he would undertake as a Warrior-Priest of Sigmar. For four years he remained a parish priest, succoring to the needs of the poor and the distressed. Beyond giving sermons and sanctifying spirits with the holy word of Sigmar, the Friar was deeply invested with assisting the poor. It was not an unusual occurrence for him to drift from safety of the Cathedral Square to live among the poor of Altdorf, sympathizing with them in their miseries, and bringing peace to their troubled spirits by ensuring they had their keep. He regarded his vow of poverty with the upmost piety, and it was only natural that he was nominated for the Order of the Anvil.
For another year, Otto spent his time living on the far-edge of society in hermitic style. For a time, the name Otto Wolfgart von Fritz seemed a distant memory to the Church, until one day when gathering herbs from the forest of the Reikland, Otto overheard a conversation between Oswald the Zealous and a hooded stranger. They spoke of the destiny which was soon to be fulfilled, and the return of the Dark Lord of the Dead. Oswald was referred to as “Magi Malgus” and a plot was unfolded over a supposed plan to steal the relics of Saints and bodies of fallen martyrs from the crypts beneath the White Abbey in Altdorf. Shock overtook Otto, who at first was at disbelief over what he had witnessed. After deep contemplation and prayer, and investigation to ensure he had not been hexed, Otto knew what he had to do.
Ye Shall Suffer Not a Heretic to Live
Otto consulted the Order of the Silver Hammer, informing the Warrior-Priests and Witch-Hunters of what he had witnessed, asking for a party to monitor the crypts and to investigate the matter. It was an a dark night that Otto and fellow Witch-Hunters discovered that Oswald was indeed in league with evil, and perhaps one of the most nefarious kind. Magi Malgus, as he revealed his true form, upon being caught removing bodies from the Crypt, was an aspiring necromancer from the Mortuary Cult of Nagash that sought to use the bodies and relics as means of a ritual to become a Liche. With his dark magics, he nearly destroyed the inquisitors, but was ultimately delivered a killing blow by Otto Wolfgart von Fritz. For this, Otto finally found his rightful place within the Order of the Silver Hammer. Upon further exploration, Otto learned that Grismand Grimaxe’s Warband were not of Khorne, but of Krell; Chaos Warriors who served the purposes of the Lichemaster Heinrich Kemmler.
Since then, Lector Otto Wolfgart von Fritz has pledged his hammer and faith to destroying all the enemies of the Empire, and evil wherever it may lie. He is particularly effective against the undead, and has made it his personal vow to undo the Lichekind that continue to haunt mankind, even after Nagash’ defeat by Sigmar.
