Mareike Maus

*“Night and day, wind and storm, tide and earthquake, impedes man no longer. He has harnessed Leviathan. All the old literature, with its praise of Nature, and its fear of Nature, rings false as the prattle of a child.”*

-Mareike Maus

## History

Born in the Reich to a knightly family, Mareike Maus was an equestrian from birth. When her older brother was crippled in a riding accident, their father was filled with shame, for he had no children to continue his legacy. Maus surprised her family by joining the army, first as a cavalryman, and then in the newly formed Luftwaffe. The Reich's air force was still experiencing growing pains, having emerged as a branch of the Hexenjägers. Many in the army were scornful of air power, seeing it as a flashy waste of resources. Others in the Kreigsmarine wished to have a monopoly on long-distance operations, and lobbied hard against the conquest of the skies. Maus was quick to grasp the intricacies of engineering, and pioneered many inventions and strategies that would soon become commonplace. Within the span of a few years, Mareike Maus rose to command the Luftwaffe - there was simply no one as insightful or as skilled in the art of aerial warfare as she.

Maus' first action as Commander of the Luftwaffe as to take a fact-finding trip to Aglazdere, landing amidst the ruins of the sky fleet. She and her men scavenged numerous parts, and took countless sketches of various mechanical components. She would stop in the city of Abu Hasan, where she would hire several artificers for their expertise. She could not bring them back to the Reich, for they were mages - but that did not mean she could not learn from there outside the empire's borders. Since that time, she has bent the Luftwaffe to her will and design, pushing her men to greater and greater victories, but prompting whispers that the air force exists more as her paramilitary organization than as a legitimate branch of the military.

## Personality

When asked as a girl what she wanted to do when she grew up, Mareike Maus responded that she wished to be Fuhrer. She commands fanatical loyalty from her men, but has no allies outside the Luftwaffe. She is particularly disliked by other elements of the military, who consider her arrogant and hungry for glory. Maus has a tendency to run her mouth and air her opinions, and has provoked the ire of the Hexenjägers by stating on multiple occasions that she has no distrust of mages, and would employ them in the Luftwaffe if she was allowed to do so. When her independent streak inevitably provoked an investigation of her suitability for command, she daringly presented the Kaiserin with detailed plans for firebombing every major city in the Reich - logistics, supplies, weather, and targeting sites all accounted for. Torzhestvo, Utgard, Guildhall, New Arendur, and even the capital of Hauptstadt were all considered. Impressed, enraged, and astounded, the Kaiserin was determined to make use of Maus' talent, and appointed her as her equerry. Since them, Reise Forrawyn has come to loathe Mareike Maus on a personal level, and wants to make her submit to her; to see the proud air commander humiliated for once in her life.

## Great Awakening

After the fall of the Reich, Mareike Maus would take command of the IMS *Franz Forrawyn* and with the majority of Luftwaffe, depart to regions unknown. Before leaving, she would bestow the IMS *Bolgar der Zerstörer* upon those those Hexenjägers who wished to return to the Reich Nördlich, and the IMS *Prinz Baraddin* to Dietrich Stoppelbein, declaring that she did not want to leave any of her ships in the hands of the New Arendurians.

Mareike Maus perishes when she rams the *IMS Franz Forrawyn* into the Windwalker, driving it to the ground and enabling Thomas Salzwedel to kill it with the Twisted Fang.

## Ships

IMS (Ihrer Majestät Schiff) *Name*

* **Martyrs**
	+ IMS *Franz Forrawyn*: Docked in Hauptstadt, the Reich
	+ IMS *Aengrist des Eisengletschers*: Docked in Utgard, Jotunheim
	+ IMS *Rurik Tarrenforge*: Docked in Torshestvo, Nadezhda
* **Heroes**
	+ IMS *Bernhard Lang*: Docked in Hauptstadt, the Reich
	+ IMS *Mercy Varnham*: Docked in Guildhall, Guilddon
	+ IMS *Petros von Savaria*: Docked in Torshestvo, Nadezhda
* **Nemeses Mk. 1**
	+ IMS *Dolom Tkerekin*: Docked in Torshestvo, Nadezhda
	+ IMS *Volkan der Janitschar*: Docked in Ofenstadt, the Reich
	+ IMS *Fax Gallengrand*: Docked in Guildhall, Guilddon
* **Nemeses Mk. 2**
	+ IMS *Prinz Baraddin*: Docked in New Arendur, New Arendur
	+ IMS *Ymir der Koloss*: Docked in Utgard, Jotunheim
	+ IMS *Hohepriester Nefankha*: Docked in Utgard, Jotunheim
* **Paladins**
	+ IMS *Bolgar der Zerstörer*: Docked in New Arendur, New Arendur
* **Founders**
	+ IMS *Lanzo Voll*: Docked in Hauptstadt, the Reich
	+ IMS *Shorden Hiem*: Docked in Ofenstadt, the Reich
	+ IMS *Warrizek von Sarindel*: Docked in Hauptstadt, the Reich

The next class of ships, currently being built, will be called the **Peacemakers.** They will be named the IMS *Ilar Goronwy, t*he IMS *Flavius Luteus Scaevola*, and the IMS *Ricardas Rok.*