Werner von Goldberg

**Werner von Goldberg**, or just **Werner Goldberg**, is an officer of the Wehrmacht Heer of the German Empire, acting under the leadership of Erwin Rommel. He was known to be of half Jewish ancestry, or *Mischling* in Nazi terminology, who served briefly as a soldier before the German Civil War. His image appeared in the Berliner Tageblatt as "The Ideal German Soldier", and was later used in recruitment posters for the Wehrmacht, which only fueled his hatred for Nazism.

In 1940, when he was off duty, he was one of the people who witnessed the Attack on Berlin after a mysterious Gate opened up in Berlin and let out hordes of men in steel armor and dragons onto the people of Berlin.

In his campaign on the Continent, he often tries to take the peaceful Heart and Mind route towards the local populace, which is often hassled by Helga Mörder and her army of ex-Waffen-SS. This interference from Helga led him to go temporarily rogue after months of fighting to find an ally to help gain information about the Continent, which led him to Empress Guinevere after a call to aid. Eventually, this leads him to become the architect of the alliance between Germany and the Arthurian Empire.

## History

### Background

Werner Goldberg was born to a Jewish father and Christian mother. After Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, Goldberg's father lost his position under the Nazi law of April 1933, Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service, which expelled Jews from the German Civil Service.

The 1935 Nuremberg Laws classed persons with at least three Jewish grandparents as Jewish; those with two Jewish grandparents would be considered Jewish only if they practiced the faith or had a Jewish spouse.

Goldberg left school in 1935 and became an apprentice at Schneller und Schmeider, a clothing company jointly owned by a Jew and a non-Jew, where many of his colleagues were Jews or *Mischlinge*. Goldberg's maternal uncle joined the Nazi party and refused to be seen with the Goldberg family, even avoiding Goldberg's mother.

### Wehrmacht

He later joined the military in 1936 as a soldier in the Wehrmacht Heer. Shortly before the beginning of the German Civil War, Goldberg's photograph appeared in the Sunday edition of the Berliner Tagesblatt newspaper with the caption "The Ideal German Soldier"; the photograph had been sold to the newspaper by the official army photographer. It was later used on recruitment posters. He found it extremely ironic that they would use a half-Jewish man to represent the Aryan people but also grew to resent the Nazi's teachings.

During the German Civil War, he joined sides with the Wehrmacht under the command of General Erwin Rommel, quickly turning propaganda against the Nazis. During the war, when the Wehrmacht was losing, he became renowned for being the one who turned an entire garrison of loyalist Wehrmacht who was guarding a massive stockpile of experimental technology against the Nazis, quickly gaining his favor with the rebel Wehrmacht leaders and turning the tide of the war completely - though, he placed all credit in the Wehrmacht.

To supplement the losses of officers on the rebel's side, Goldberg was promoted to Captain (German: *Hauptmann*) and placed lead one of Erwin Rommel tank battalions. During the Fall of Berlin, he had a run-in with an SS commander by the name of Helga Mörder, having discovered her standing over the bodies of murdered SS leaders in a Waffen-SS base, but decided not to kill her after deciding she had useful information on the remaining SS, which he later bitterly regretted upon seeing her capacity for cruelty.

After the war, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel (German: Oberstleutnant) and was rewarded with his own lands and estates, allowing him to have the title "von" added to his name, giving him and his family to flourish in their new community, at only age 20. He remained in the service of Field Marshal Rommel for years to come but mostly laid himself back with the increased privileges of the nobility, learning how to command and even different languages of enemy nations, believing them to be a useful tool in the case of capture.

### The Gate

During the 20th of February, the year 1940, Germany was suddenly attacked after a mysterious portal rose up in the heart of Berlin and attacked the city, shocking the on-leave officer. Refusing to run, Werner instead hoped onto a tank in an effort to join in the defense of his birthplace, bearing witness to a dragon come out along with other mystical creatures. Werner managed to survive the attack with minimal injuries, despite being knocked out by a tank blast.

Werner was later assigned as one of two brigade leaders of Erwin Rommel's Tor Korps. He was thrilled at first but later fell into disbelief as he was in the same unit as his worst enemy: Helga Mörder. Despite the frustration, Werner led his men through the gate and mostly accompanied his commanding officer, secretly keeping tabs on Helga's army as she went elsewhere, partaking in the capture of Castle Dagonet and the construction of Camp Hindenburg. Many men from the Second Unit were furious with the fact Werner made the camp look like the Star of David, which is likely intended to gain the ex-Nazis' ire.

## Personality

A newly created lord of the German nobility, Werner von Goldberg is a loyal officer of the German Empire. Werner many times displayed fierce anti-Nazi ideals, oftentimes questioning the decision to recruit them into his army. His hatred for Nazis stemmed from their treatment of "non-Aryan" citizens and the fact they used his face on recruitment posters to describe how a German should look. Due to his resentment, he was very quick to turn against the Nazis during the German Civil War. He had often come to idolize German leaders from both the past and the present, such as Otto von Bismarck and August von Mackensen, wanting nothing more than to be just like them and bring glory to Germany. Despite being a staunch supporter of the German Empire, the Hohenzollern dynasty and the German Army, he has a more liberal viewpoint on how to handle foreign countries, which comes in conflict with the more imperialist, hegemonic members of the Wehrmacht.

Despite his desire to be the most respectable German officer, he displays a merciful side to himself during his first-ever officer assignment to lead his army into the Continent, where he always tries to make peace wherever he can and only fires a shot when threatened despite the fact the Tor Korps could easily conquer the entire planet with their guns. This is stemmed from the fact the people of the Continent are totally inferior to the might of the German war machine, seeing them as people who should be left untouched to the concept of modern imperialism, leading to him to have liberal feelings towards the whole war. This line of feeling brought him criticism from both Helga Mörder and Erwin Rommel, the former of which makes the case that his alliances to the locals are unnecessary.