Ludwig von Heida-Weisse

Ludwig von Heida-Weisse
Full name	Ludwig Otto Karl der Erste von Heida-Weisse zu Kürstenberg, Kaiser von Sudöst Zibola, Herzog von Weisenburg, Beschützer des Ländes und die Menschen von Zibola, Geschützt von Gott.
Physical information
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Hair color and style	Blonde
Eye color	Brown
Skin color	White
Biographical information
Father	Karl von Heida-Weisse
Mother	Isabella von Knuble
Spouse	Helene of Cibola (m. 1716)
Children	Paul von Heida-Weisse (b. 1719) Hans von Heida-Weisse (b. 1720)
Date of birth	1687 AN
Place of birth	Kürstenberg Manor, Sankt Ludwigshafen
Date of death	N/A
Place of death	N/A
Residence(s)	Weisenburg, United Principalities of Cibola
Occupation	Kaiser

Ludwig von Heida-Weisse (full name: Ludwig Otto Karl der Erste von Heida-Weisse zu Kürstenberg, Kaiser von Sudöst Zibola, Herzog von Weisenburg, Beschützer des Ländes und die Menschen von Zibola, Geschützt von Gott. Translated as: Ludwig the First of Heida-Weisse of Kürstenberg, Emperor of Southeast Cibola, Duke of Weisenburg, Protector of the Lands and the People, Protected by God.) is a Saxon nobleman and current Kaiser of the United Principalities of Cibola. Granted the title by the Proclamation of Weisenburg, he also holds the title of Duke of Weisenburg and several other honorary titles.

Biography

Early Years

Ludwig was born in late 1697 AN to the Saxon nobleman Karl von Heida-Weisse and his wife Isabella. He spent most of his early years at his family's estate at the Kürstenberg Manor, near Vulcuria. He spent his early years attending prestigious schools and helping in the maintaining of the manor.

Upon graduating from secondary school, Ludwig enlisted in the Dragonerkorps Ludwigshafen and served during both the First and Second Ludwiggian-Monovian Wars, eventually reaching the rank of Sergeant. During the war, he most notably took part in the Battle of Hamstadt, where he commanded a battery that took part in the bombardment of the city. Although wounded in the right knee, he recovered in remarkable time and returned to the field.

After the reorganization of Sankt Ludwigshafen into the Republic of the United Cities in the Lanzerwald following the Union of Oudorp, Ludwig transferred to the 2de Krijgskorps of the Army of the Republic of the United Cities in the Lanzerwald. He served during the Lanzerwaldian-Whaler War, where he took part in Anti-Cossack operations and later took part in the attack on Mandible Hill. During the attack Ludwig was shot in the chest, an experience that nearly costed his life was it not for the presence of a nearby medic who was able to perform emergency surgery on the field. This experience left him with deep anti-Natopian sentiments as he blamed them for his injury and the deaths of several of his comrades.

Collapse of Lanzerwald

After being discharged from the Army in 1712 AN, Ludwig went on to take a job as a chief accountant in the municipal government of Nieuw Rotterdam. He held this position until 1716 AN, when his father passed away due to complications following a stroke. He returned to the Kürstenberg Manor, and managed it until the final collapse of Lanzerwald.

According to Ludwig's published memoirs, he saw the collapse of Lanzerwald coming. The years of political instability, failed coups, etc. led him to become with the Lanzerwaldian state. However, when Lanzerwald finally collapsed it brought dire consequences to Ludwig and his family. The Kürstenberg Manor was looted and destroyed by bandits looking to enrich themselves from the mostly defenseless manors that dotted the countryside. Due to the lack of communication infrastructure in the nation, he was unable to call for help from nearby (and by then disorganized) army units.

Expedition to Niuew-Rotterdam

After coming to terms with the collapse of civilized life in the area, Ludwig and several members of a nearby army garrison gathered together in the town of Kirchten. The group, dubbing themselves as the Kampfgruppe Kirchten, began to plot their next moves. Coming to the conclusion that they would not face any significant resistance to the coast, they decided that they would attempt to make their way to Niuew-Rotterdam.

The city of Niuew-Rotterdam had been left as an almost inhabitable pile of rubble after the collapse of Lanzerwald. Razzias had caused most of the existing population of the city to either be killed or sold into slavery by the hostile Cossack warbands that wandered this newly-abandoned land. The members of Kampfgruppe Kirchten, now numbering around 250 men of varying age and strength, descended upon the smoldering wreck that now housed a population of only a few dozen. Establishing a makeshift headquarters inside of a somehow relatively intact opera house, members of the Ludwig's entourage were sent out on patrols to secure the city. Many of those who remained through the Razzias were initially hostile to the group, as they believed they were just another group of raiders seeking to loot the city of what little valuable material remained. Ludwig, seeing how he had to legitimize his hold on the city, began to write a fiery speech to rouse the population in support of him.

"Mein Versprechen"

Ludwig, from a ruined balcony of the old city hall, watched as a small crowd gathered below him. Among them he saw the faces of a defeated people. These people had their homes destroyed, their loved ones slain, and their hearts broken. Ludwig, ever the pragmatist and learned, knew the power that oratory had over people. In the ruined city square, he stood over the old marble railing and began to speak:

"People of Niuew-Rotterdam! I have come not as a conqueror, but a liberator. I seek to rebuild this land, not plunder it. I want to bring prosperity once more to this land as I saw it in its days of glory once more. I swear an oath to you, and to our divine creator, that I shall be a just and fair ruler to the people of this city and to those who seek refuge here so long as you accept my rule and my life lasts. This is my promise to you. I promise to hold up my oath to you as long as you hold up your end. I seek your aid in making Niuew-Rotterdam a pearl in the Cibolan oyster once more. Accept me as your ruler, and I promise we will rise once more from these ashes."

The crowd spoke in hushed tones for a few moments, with Ludwig's men unsure if the crowd was about to break out in a riot. But the crowd, now around 100 or so people who had emerged from their refuges around the city, began cheering feverishly. These cheers, which soon became a tangled mess of Cibolan-Diets and Saxon, all shared one word in common: Ja.