Frederick von Zahringen

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**Frederick von Zahringen** (also known as **Frederick IV of Baden** and simply **The Magister**) was a founding member and the leader of Zweihander as well as a member of The Cult of Transcendence.

## Appearance

Frederick IV is a handsome, lean German man with lucid blue eyes and long, graying thick blonde hair. He is fairly short by modern standards, but fairly built, having been trained in self-defense as a youth. He usually dresses very formally, wearing a suit and tie. He looks about 50, but is actually over 400 years old.

## History

### Early Life

Von Zahringen was born in Pforzheim, a city in southern Germany bordering The Black Forest, in 1455. His father was Margrave Charles I of Baden and his mother was Catherine of Austria, the sister of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor. From the beginning, Von Zahringen was destined for a church career and his father educated him as such. However, he was an ambitious child, and these ambitions often outstripped his destined position.

In 1470, he and Johann Reuchlinn were sent by Charles I to the University of Paris. The two became fast friends and Reuchlinn offered Von Zahringen an avenue through which he could pursue his ambitions, using Reuchlin's magic to help him strongarm his way into German politics. It was also through his friendship with Reuchlinn that he learned about the Necronomicon and the prophecies contained within.

### Bishop of Utrecht

While Von Zahringen was Bishop of Utrecht, he used his obscurity and the little magic that Reuchlin taught him to gain a considerable following in Baden behind the scenes, becoming a powerful figure in local politics. Despite his relative obscurity, Von Zahringen pulled the strings behind almost all major actions undertaken by the Realm of Baden, completely dominating his older brother Christopher I of Baden.

While paths between Reuchlinn and Von Zahringen split temporarily, with Reuchlinn becoming a teacher and Von Zahringen becoming a bishop at Utrecht, the two remained in close contact, and it was Von Zahringen who hid Reuchlinn after he discovered his life-draining spell, which he used to make both he and Von Zahringen immortal. The two would support each other for hundreds of years, with Reuchlinn serving Von Zahringen as his personal attack dog and helping him maintain his stranglehold over German politics and Von Zahringen sponsoring Reuchlinn's research and helping him remain in hiding.

### Zweihander

In 1632, Reuchlin was visited by the Outer God Nyarlathotep in a dream. In this dream, Reuchlin was given knowledge of Transcendence, a process by which it was believed that he could transcend the bounds of space and time and join the Outer Gods in the court of Azathoth. In the dream he also met the other founding members of the Cult of Transcendence, and together they agreed to plunge the world into war so that they might achieve the Transcendence spoken of by Nyarlathotep. He would share this knowledge with Von Zahringen and the two would found Zweihander.

For hundreds of years, Von Zahringen, a shrewd schemer and charismatic diplomat, worked up a network within the German states that would form the basis of Zweihander. He convinced many throughout the German states that Germany needed to be united and that only with Zweihander in control could that be accomplished. By the late eighteenth century, Zweihander controlled most of the German states. Over the ensuing century, Zweihander would become one of the most powerful factions in Europe.

## Abilities

### Skills

* Anthropology 30%
* Archaeology 30%
* Bargain 90%
* Conceal 80%
* Credit Rating 90%
* Cthulhu Mythos 10%
* Disguise 80%
* Fast Talk 95%
* Hide 60%
* History 80%
* Law 80%
* Library Use 70%
* Listen 90%
* Persuade 95%
* Psychoanalysis 90%
* Psychology 90%
* Sneak 60%
* Spot Hidden 75%