Wilhelm Sebastian Glaverstone
Name: Wilhelm Sebastian Galverstone – Former Baron of Lexington
Alias: ‘The Banished Baron’ / ‘Merlin’
Race: Britannian
Birthday: 14th October
Age: 28
Hobbies: Wilhelm likes to play chess, and is an avid reader. He also paints, and has collected quite the collection of famous works over the years. He also possesses a keen interest in architecture, and has designed many buildings that he hopes he will one day get to build.
Powers/Abilities:
- Strategy-
Wilhelm has a talent for complex and meticulous strategy. Often this skill is focused on espionage and maintaining the hidden nature of the Ghosts, but he also lends his analytical eye to the military side of things, where his ability to see the big picture is an invaluable asset in planning long term resistance.
Strengths: Wilhelm is a highly intelligent man, well read and versed in classical education. His skills of deduction and extrapolation make him a great planner and plotter, and the Ghost’s most highly valued tactician. He is also a visionary, hoping to create a better world for the ordinary citizens. He stands by his morals absolutely, believing that in resorting to the tactics of a tyrant, you become a tyrant also.
Weaknesses: Wilhelm has struggled with poor-health since he was a boy, and is afflicted often by violent coughing fits and intense headaches. He often feels inadequate because of the physically crippling nature of these attacks, and becomes frustrated that his body cannot match what his mind would demand of it. His morality (whilst a strength of character) can impede his ability to make decisions that might lead to civilian casualties.
Rank: Britannian Renegade Leader/Leader of ‘Gawain’s Ghosts’
Character Info: Wilhelm Sebastian Galverstone is a man who, in a perfect world, would be happy with a paintbrush in his hand, a canvas in front of him, and a pleasant summer’s day. As it is, he is an outspoken opponent of the Emperor, a wanted traitor to his homeland, and the head of a network of like minded renegade Britannian men and women determined to bring down the old regime. How he came to be so is a matter much of the nobility still debate to this day; some say he is the victim of a misguided philosophy, the tool of terrorists, others that he is a bloodthirsty criminal, happy to see civilization burn around him.
In truth, it is simpler than that. Wilhelm was born the son of the ninth Baron of Lexington; a small fief to the south of Pendragon. After a public education, he attended the Royal Institute in the capital, where he studied to be an architect. Whilst there, he became immersed in radical political theory and philosophy. He became embroiled in debate after debate, delved into history, and actively involved himself in Britannian politics. It was during this time that he began to uncover evidence of the cruelty and oppression that underpinned the shiny veneer of Britannian prosperity and wealth that he enjoyed.
At the age of 23 he wrote a paper for social reform, and read it before the senate, but was shouted down by the other delegates, and became a political laughing stock for trying to argue the case of the ‘common man’. Unbowed, Wilhelm continued his fight, and along with other students and noted men of influence started a rapidly radicalizing reformist movement in Britannia itself. Naturally, this could not be tolerated by Charles, and the movement was forcibly dissolved by law, and restrictions brought in to the institute to stop further dissidence from occurring within Britannia’s own nobility.
For the next two years, Wilhelm witnessed firsthand the poverty and fear that most Britannians were subjected to under the Emperor’s and nobility’s rule. The death of his father elevated him to the position of Baron, but he was still a voice in the wilderness. It soon became apparent that change could not occur whilst Charles still held the throne. Wilhelm had seen enough suffering, when he saw the execution of Haumens whilst undercover in Area Eleven, he moved from words to action.
Wilhelm gathered his close friends and supporters on his estate in Lexington. The assembly voted to form an organisation opposed to the tyrannical rule of the Royal Family and the oppressive Britannian regime of fear and cruelty. The organisation called itself ‘Gawain’s Order’ in honour of an ancient Britannian Knight renowned for his chivalry and protection of the people, and elected Wilhelm as their leader.
While hosting a dinner party as a front for a meeting of the Order, the Lexington estate was raided by Charles’ forces. Most of the renegades managed to escape, including Wilhelm, but the group was uncovered and its members declared traitors and enemies of the state. The group reconvened in secret in the village of Nymegan and renamed itself ‘Gawain’s Ghosts’. Knowing he would need military men if he was to make the Ghosts a true force to be reckoned with, Wilhelm set about finding men and women he knew he could trust. He found a wing commander in Johann Van Owen, and along with funding from his own personal wealth and other dissident nobles, as well as contacts in scientific research, secured some top-secret military hardware for his men.
Ever since then Wilhelm has had the Ghosts pursue military action against Britannia, but also espionage and counter-espionage against Charles’ secret police and intelligence services. He has set up an intricate and complex system of informants and spies to gather information at all levels of the Britannian State, and maintains a firm grip on the pulse of Britannian politics and court life under the pseudonym ‘Merlin’. Though the military arm of the Ghosts is small, its political and intelligence links reach far, and produce real results.
Wilhelm spends most of his time on the Ghost’s submarine, which serves as their mobile command centre and his living quarters. Technically exiled from Britannia, he is driven more than ever to succeed in achieving his vision of a new, equal Britannia. His poor health constantly frustrates him, but his mind is as sharp as ever; and constantly seeks new ways to wage war against Charles the tyrant. For this reason he has relocated to Area Eleven, intrigued and eager to meet the enigmatic ‘Zero’, in the hope that their aims are mutually beneficial.
Wilhelm is, though, a very moral person at heart. He will not tolerate any loss of civilian life, no matter the justification. For this reason he is cautious of associating with the Black Knight leader, knowing that his methods are sometimes questionable, as well as his motivation for such action.
NPC: No