Shorden Hiem

“*The wisdom of our times is thus - we know only that we are ignorant. Ignorant of what we have lost, ignorant of why we fell from the light, ignorant of what awaits us now among the stars. But what will shedding that cloak of ignorance cost us I wonder? Upon finding the truth, will we ascend to Olympian heights of glory, or flee in terror back into the shadowed oblivion of a new dark age?”*

-Shorden Hiem

## History

Born in the Reich Nördlich to educated parents, Shorden Hiem seemed destined for a life in academia, not a career in the highest echelons of the military. Earning a degree in the Hauptstadt Academy for the Sciences, Hiem surprised all who knew him by joining the Hexenjägers immediately following his graduation. It was an unglamorous decision. The Hexenjägers were feared by the populace at large and held in contempt by the elite in the capital; moreover, they made no distinction for any of their recruits. Hiem would enter as an initiate, and be subject to the trials that entailed. Nonetheless, Hiem endured, and proved himself a capable, ruthless, and ingenious soldier, albeit one who was poor at working with others. His talent was quickly identified by Franz Forrawyn, who appointed him as his adjutant to keep a close eye on him. In time, the Fuhrer would make Shorden Hiem a Special Agent, with mission parameters of his own, answering only to Forrawyn himself.

As a Special Agent with an academic background, Hiem was granted a weighty mission and extraordinary privilege. It was standard practice among the Hexenjägers to destroy anything arcane they came across, be that practitioner, item, or text. Hiem's role became that of an archivist or a preserver. Mages taken into his custody were kept alive and interrogated, artifacts put into sealed vaults and analyzed, and tomes extensively researched. In a nation where all traces of magic were annihilated, Shorden Hiem became a living repository of knowledge. Privately, many Hexenjägers whispered to one another that Special Agent Hiem was more witch than witch hunter, in possession of dark powers that should never have seen the light of day. In truth, Shorden Hiem, though not a practicing mage, knew enough magic to be one. For many years, he remained true to the Hexenjäger code of honor, steadfastly never giving into the desire to turn theory into practice. In time, he would slowly succumb to temptation to use his accumulated corpus of magic; at first innocuously, then in emergencies, and finally as a matter of course. Under the guise of his official duties, Hiem began to seek out occult knowledge for the sake of itself, all the while telling himself that it would be a tragedy if the legacy of the northern mage kingdoms would fade into obscurity. He strayed further and further away from his comrades, afraid of discovery, but always producing results. It was a marvel that despite the rumors and genuine transgressions, he was never investigated.

## Personality

Confidant. Shorden Hiem was immensely talented and fiercely loyal to the Reich, but did not believe that the rules applied to him. A rationalist, he believed himself in control of events, and did not see his world crumbling down around him. Even at the very end, he believed that he could find a way out, and conquer any adversities that beset him.

## War of the Philosopher-Kings

In the aftermath of Franz Forrawyn's death, Brunhilde Gerhardt was named the Commander of the Hexenjägers. Shorden Hiem, meanwhile, would be tasked with recruiting and training a new generation of men. An unorthodox figure in unorthodox times, he would work to recruit the best and brightest minds to his order, disregarding the pasts of the new initiates. Now able to recruit from Nadezhda and Jotunheim, he would attract artificers, warriors, ex-military, deserters, and oddballs who never fit into their homelands. It was Hiem's intention to reform the Hexenjägers, to transform them into a modern and technologically adapt intelligence agency, unlike the old fashioned knightly order it had been before. Hiem spearheaded initiatives to build greatworks using machines from Nadezhda and the Final Empire, making trains and zeppelins, coal and steam fuel, and black powder weapons. At a later point, the Hexenjägers would be contacted by members of a resistance in New Arendur, the Carcosai, who wanted his help engineering a coup by stealing a deadly weapon recovered by Brennen in the Northern Dome. Shorden Hiem was the coup's greatest advocate, and he helped secure Reise Forrawyn's approval, but so long as the action could not be traced back to the Reich. Brunhilde Gerhardt herself would fly one of the newly crafted dirigibles to the island of Catan to persuade Khamsa and his allies to perform the necessary heist. Khamsa would agree, but the heist would go badly wrong. The weapon was in fact three pieces of a larger regalia; an amulet, which remained in the hands of the Arendurians, a book, which fell into the hands of the Carcosai, and a mask, which Khamsa secured and after a long journey, delivered to Shorden Hiem.

## After the War

Within a few years, Khamsa would arrive in the Reich, bearing the Pallid Mask. The Kaiserin instructed him to give it to Shorden Hiem, who would destroy it or lock it away, for it was beginning to wreak a toll on Khamsa's own mind.

Under Brunhilde Gerhardt's command, the Hexenjägers would cross the sea and lay siege to New Arendur. The siege would last a month, until the Carcosai betrayed their countrymen and opened the gates. The Hexenjägers would storm the Tower of the Illuminated, destroying it and killing Jotunheim. Of the masters of the Illuminated, Arazon is slain in battle, while Tan Blackhand, Grundelthum Sunder, and Voidwatcher are captured alive. Doctor Curtin takes the contents of his laboratory and flees. The rest of the Illuminated’s research is burned in an event known as the Bonfire of Heresies. Many of the Illuminated renounce magic and turn on their colleagues, who are tried for war crimes and executed. Once Gerhardt secures the city, she seizes the Yellow Sign for himself from the vaults, and places New Arendur under martial law. The Carcosai welcome the Hexenjägers as saviors, and Flavius Luteus Scaevola is appointed to head a provisional government.

During the War Crime Trials, Heim served as the chief prosecutor for the Reich.

Constant proximity to the Pallid Mask causes him to descend into madness. Hiem becomes obsessed with the legendary city of Thule, the supposed home of the Hyperborean people, who he believed to the ancestors of the people of the north. Aware of this, Scaevola arranges for a second expedition, of which Shorden Hiem is a member.

The second expedition finds the city of Thule underneath the Northern Dome and comes face to face with Hastur. Hastur creates a copy of Shorden Hiem, which puts on the Pallid Mask and becomes the King in Yellow. Shorden Hiem returns with the other explorers, but sickens and dies.