Gottschalk Raskoph

*"Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are polluted then the ocean is tainted. No mercy. No remorse. Just kill."*

-Gottschalk Raskoph

## History

Gottschalk Raskoph was a career soldier who rose through the ranks of the Hexenjägers by dint of his uncompromising loyalty, his impressive ruthlessness towards mages, and his popularity among his men. Raskoph's detractors were quick to point out that he did not object to illegal orders, nor did he shy away from war crimes... but that his superiors were all too happy to have someone to do their dirty work, someone whose silence they could purchase with honors and titles. By the time of the War of the Philosopher-Kings, Raskoph had risen to the rank of Brigadier General, and commanded the infamous Raskoph Brigade, which performed "punitive actions," typically arriving to settlements accused of harboring witches and meting out the Reich's punishment.

## Personality

A cruel man, Gottschalk Raskoph enjoyed the company of his men and took pains to be liked by them. Some accused him of only following the ideals of the Hexenjägers as far as they allowed him to tyrannize others; others insisted that he was a crude, dogmatic true believer. In any case, he was generally regarded as a skilled soldier with an orderly albeit narrow mind. A petty man, his genuine talents were subordinated to his spiteful and vicious instincts.

## War of the Philosopher-Kings

By the time of the War of the Philosopher-Kings, Franz Forrawyn had begun to see Raskoph in a less positive light. Having appointed him on the recommendation of others, he had put more trust in him than was warranted. In the end, Forrawyn ordered Raskoph to remain behind and command a skeleton garrison. To add insult to injury, he was to report to Vice-Commander Brunhilde Gerhardt, who he had previously outranked. Many questioned the Fuhrer for his decision, arguing that Raskoph and his brigade would be best loosed on the Nadezhdans like a pack of hounds. Forrawyn disagreed, comparing Raskoph to the dishonorable brigands who had composed the Hexenjägers of years past. The men chosen to accompany him north were chosen for their discipline and trustworthiness, not for their choler.

Raskoph spent the duration of the war chafing against the tight leash imposed by Vice Commander Gerhardt, who ignored his constant demands to search for spies and dissenters. His fellow offers, Special Agent Shorden Hiem and Vice Marshall Wolfram Panzer held him contempt, although his methods sometimes found an advocate in the Minister of Justice, Torvald Jonsson. When news of Franz Forrawyn's death came to the Reich, Raskoph considered supporting Jonsson's coup to become Fuhrer, but was dissuaded by Brunhilde Gerhardt.

## After the War

Gottschalk Raskoph and Shorden Hiem served directly under Wolfram Panzer during the war against New Arendur. Vice Marshall Panzer was a hands-off commander, seeing to his beloved Golem Division while allowing his underlings to attend to the war efforts. Hiem and Raskoph, previously rivals, suddenly discovered a sense of camaraderie on the campaign that been hitherto absent. It was Hiem who arranged the clandestine agreement with Flavius Luteus Scaevola and the Carcosai to secretly open the gates to the Hexenjägers, and Raskoph who led his men through the breach, scouring New Arendur house to house, street to street, sparing the lives of neither his own men nor the enemy.

After Shorden Hiem's departure to the north and subsequent death, Wolfram Panzer would appoint him as his equerry, in large part to remove him from a position of high command and keep him by his side at all times. It was not long afterwards that Brunhilde Gerhardt would meet her untimely end, and Wolfram Panzer was recalled to serve as Commander of the Hexenjägers. Panzer was surprised both that Gerhardt had died, and that he had been given the command - he had never been close to Reise Forrawyn - and presumed that he would have had longer to serve as Governor-General of Arendur. He appointed Raskoph to serve as Gauleiter in his absence, and recommended to the Kaiserin that New Arendur be permitted to assume a semi-independent government. Panzer had his reservations about Scaevola, but believed it necessary to enable the Arendurians to push back against potential excesses by Raskoph.

Gottschalk Raskoph would end up serving as the Gauleiter of New Arendur for twenty-five years, during which time he would come to be deeply loathed. He was paranoid and punitive, dismissive of the rights of the Arendurians and eager to takes sides against the underdog, no matter what the circumstances. Scaevola and the Church did their best to contend with the worst of his decisions, but were not always successful. The worst of his rule was for the first decade, after which he and his subjects managed to reach a weary mutual understanding. The Arendurians were beginning to embrace the worship of the King in Yellow and put the war behind him, and Raskoph proved to mellow somewhat with age. By the time the last five years of his tenure came around, he was regarded more as a spiteful and callous old man who tended to be more reactive then proactive, prone to lash out then lose interest. After his death, Reise Forrawyn wisely appointed the careful and prudent Dietrich Stoppelbein to take his place, opening a more harmonious chapter to relations between New Arendur and the Reich.