"A whole eye and half a life I have spent fighting these things. Vicious, powerful creatures they are, the more terrifying because some have Human intelligence to work with their animal cunning and Chaos-spawned savagery. Yet the worst of it is not that some of them used to be Human -- the worst of it is never knowing which apparently normal, pious Human is a mutant in disguise. They act as the Beastmen's spies; aye, and sometimes as their assassins too."
- —Boris Todbringer, Elector Count of Middenheim and Middenland.[7b]
Boris Todbringer, whose regnal name was Boris X Todbringer,[10] was the Graf of Middenheim, the Grand Duke of Middenland, the Prince of Carroburg, and known as the "Protector of the Drakwald," "Warden of the Middle Mountains" and "Beloved of Ulric." He is the Elector Count of the Grand Province of Middenheim and Middenland and the self-declared and disputed ruler of Carroburg in the Empire of Man as well as the patriarch of the grand and ancient noble House of Todbringer.[8a]
Graf Boris was a great warrior and a brilliant statesman, and had been the head of House Todbringer for decades. The last years of Graf Boris were full of whispered rumours that personal and political problems weighed heavily on his mind. His battles with the Beastmen in the Drakwald Forest, in particular with the banebeast Khazrak One-Eye whose eye he took and in turn lost his own right eye to the year after, were a ceaseless struggle.[1a]
However, if these rumours were true, Boris Todbringer was a determined man indeed, for outwardly he remained as vigorous as ever, a fearsome fighter and leader. He regularly led the armies of Middenland personally, smiting his enemies with his Runefang and urging his soldiers to victory. When Karl Franz was elected emperor after the death of his father, only Boris Todbringer of Middenland opposed him. Boris lost the vote despite the support of the Ar-Ulric of the Cult of Ulric, but has since proved to be the most loyal and energetic of Karl Franz's Elector Counts.[1a]
History[]
"Boris Todbringer is a man of singular action and determined purpose: to rid the forest of Khazrak's bestial scourge."
- —Boris Todbringer, the arch-enemy of Khazrak One-Eye[11]
Boris Todbringer is a man of blunt truth and affirmative action, but in the election for emperor of 2502 IC he was outplayed by the "foolish young pup" Karl Franz and his allies. Finding himself in the political shadow of the Cult of Sigmar and denied the throne, Todbringer raged at the newly-anointed emperor until the Beastmen raids into the Drakwald reminded him that his sacred duties were more important than mere political squabbles, no matter the cost to his status.[11]
Like all Middenheimers and devout worshippers of Ulric, the god of war, winter and wolves, Boris Todbringer never takes a challenge lightly, and so brought total war to the Beastmen and their leader, the banebeast Khazrak One-Eye. The feud between them became the stuff of legend; Boris took one of Khazrak's eyes only to lose one of his own by the Beastlord's hand only a year later.[11]
This visceral struggle made Todbringer forget his political rivalry with Altdorf in favour of a worthier cause: fighting evil in the Drakwald -- the seemingly impossible task of cleansing the forest of its bestial taint and bringing security to the Empire's borderlands.[11]
Family[]
"As long as the fire of the Great Temple lasts, Middenheim and Middenland will never fall."
- —Boris Todbringer, Elector of Middenheim, speaking of the Flame of Ulric.[8a]
Boris Todbringer married very early; his first wife, Maria von Richthofen, died one year later giving birth to Stefan Todbringer, whom Boris named as heir to his title. A few months earlier, Boris had learned he was father to another, illegitimate son, Heinrich Todbringer, born to a lady-at-court. There are unconfirmed rumours that Heinrich was conceived the night before the graf's marriage to Maria.[4b]
Baron Stefan Todbringer was named the graf's heir a day after his birth. Unfortunately, he grew to be a drooling and palsied invalid, subject to fits of extreme violence and mania. However, his condition improved with the appointment of the Tilean doctor Luigi Pavarotti as Stefan's personal physician. In complete contrast to Stefan, the graf's eldest, illegitimate son, Baron Heinrich Todbringer, was blessed with considerable intellectual gifts and physical prowess. Despite this, his illegitimate birth disqualified him from inheriting his father's titles of Graf of Middenheim and Grand Duke of Middenland.[4b]
At the age of 47, the graf took a third wife, Anika-Elise Nikse, daughter of the Baron Werner Nikse of Nordland. Unfortunately, the marriage produced no children, and Anika-Elise died ten years after the marriage. The graf had one more illegitimate child, Katarina, born to a lady-at-court prior to his second marriage. In recent months, however, the graf has been losing his usually firm grip on things. The graf's grief at Anika-Elise's death has slowly degenerated through melancholia into virtual feeblemindedness, so that he now does whatever a majority of his advisers tell him.[4b][3c]
What made the graf's decline doubly tragic, was the business of his two sons -- the elder Heinrich Todbringer by an illegitimate liaison with an ex-lady of the court, and the younger Stefan Todbringer by his first wife. This has proved to be a most unfortunate mistake, for Stefan has grown into a pitiful invalid. A palsied, feeble-minded, and drooling idiot, caring for him is made doubly difficult and exacting because of his extreme agitation and occasional outbursts of attempted self-mutilation and violence against others.[3c]
The elder son, the bastardBaron Heinrich Todbringer, was -- by contrast -- a man characterised by considerable intellectual gifts and physical prowess. For some years Heinrich has been entrusted with diplomatic missions by his father, but this gifted man has been put in a desperately difficult situation by the enfeeblement of Graf Boris. Since he wasn't the legitimate heir to the title he now had two mentally and physically enfeebled relatives above him, and he felt unable to take over the graf's duties without such legitimation -- how could he?[3c]
In a desperate attempt to redeem the situation, and attend to Stefan's needs, a famous Miraglianese physician had been imported to Middenheim. In spite of having been there but a few weeks, Luigi Pavarotti has already gained a city-wide notoriety for his enormous "appetites", and is known universally (despite his Tilean origins) as "Herr Doktor." Remarkably, this Svengali-like character managed to stabilise the condition of Baron Stefan. Certainly, when Luigi was around, Stefan was remarkably docile. But although there was little hope that "Shaking Stefan" would ever be in a position to assume his father's mantle, Graf Boris showed no signs of wanting to alter his Edict of Succession (in favour of Heinrich, for example).[3d]
Unfortunately, both Stefan and Heinrich died a few years ago -- according to some, as a result of some plot by Chaos Cultists. Because of this, a great deal of diplomatic activity in the Empire focused on winning the hand of Boris Todbringer's illegitimate daughter Katarina -- called "the Princess" by Middenheimers, even though she was not officially permitted that title as a result of her bastard birth -- on behalf of young nobles from across the Old World. So far, no suitors have yet been found suitable.[5a][5b]
House Todbringer[]
"Give me an enemy I may meet with strong steel and stout oak in my hands, not a dagger in the night and an accounting-book."
- —Boris Todbringer, Elector of Middenheim.[7a]
Graf Boris Todbringer, House Todbringer are an Imperial noble family with a most distinguished lineage. They are distant relatives of the von Bildhofen family, descendants of Gunthar von Bildhofen -- brother of Emperor Magnus the Pious, the virtual saviour of the Empire in times still remembered in verse, prose and song.[3a][4a]
Graf Boris has ruled within the context of a semi-democratic government developed by his forebears; technically he enacts all laws within the city-state of Middenheim, but he has many advisors and interested parties (merchants, artisans, religious leaders, and others) who can make recommendations and representations to him through a variety of Bürgerlich Komissionen (city councils), or even directly in some cases.[3a][4a]
But the graf's enlightened approach to rulership has one important consequence to be highlighted -- Middenheim is, perhaps surprisingly, a rather liberal place. Its people tend to be tolerant, even trusting, and while some parts of the city are poor, not to say squalid, Middenheim is a better place to live than many other Imperial cities.[3a]
This political liberalism might seem odd in a fortress-city. It surely has much to do with the fact that the Todbringers have, for many years, taken care to listen carefully to their people when making and enforcing laws. The presence of many scholarly people, and the relatively harmonious relations between races in the city, also perpetuates the liberalism of Middenheim.[3a]
Relations with the Empire[]
Although Emperor Karl Franz I is supposed to maintain absolute control over the whole Empire of Man from his throne in Altdorf, Graf Boris, like the other Elector Counts, is able to do exactly what he wants. The only limits on his power are set by what his neighbouring Electors will let him get away with. Of course, in time of war, as declared by the emperor (assuming the Electors feel the cause is just), the graf is obliged to furnish an army for the emperor to command. But then again, if Boris didn't want to go to war, and he had good reason to believe that the other Electors weren't going to gang up on him (or couldn't afford to do so), then there would be nothing the emperor could do about it.[3c]
Currently, relations between the Altdorf and Middenheim courts are somewhat strained. Graf Boris didn't think much to the emperor's recent declaration that "there are no such things as mutants." He even went so far as to express the opinion to his chancellor that "the old fool has finally cracked!" Graf Boris' attitude to the emperor is coloured, of course, by the fact that he is a follower of Ulric (albeit not a particularly ostentatiously devout one) and he suspects that Karl Franz is little more than a puppet of the Grand Theogonist of the Cult of Sigmar. Hardly surprising then that High Capitular Werner Stolz (the High Priest of Sigmar in Middenheim) is not a welcome visitor to the graf's court.[3c]
Graf Boris is also closely linked to the minor province of Nordland. The ties of House Todbringer with this sparsely populated area date from the marriage of Brunhilde Todbringer to the then Baron Ludwig Nikse in 2368 IC. Since that time, relations between the two provinces have been strengthened by the marriage of Boris' father to Birgit Nikse in 2457 IC, and Boris himself took Anika-Elise Nikse (daughter of the current baron) as his second wife in 2502 IC.[3c]
Nordland now looks to Middenheim for its security, for trade links with the south and west, and provides, in return, the main source of Wood Elf/Human trade, political support, and the occasional regiment of archers.[3c]
Personal Advisors[]
To help with the day-to-day running of Middenheim, previous grafs have often surrounded themselves with all sorts of advisers. Graf Boris is no exception. The most important offices at the Todbringer court are those of chancellor (the man who likes to say "no!") and the Law Lords (three, very serious, self-important "experts") who advise the graf on the political ramifications of his decisions. Other advisers include the High Wizard of the Wizards' and Alchemists' Guild, and the three Midden Marshalls (responsible for commanding the standing army and the City Watch).[3c]
Religion[]
Graf Boris himself is a worshipper of Ulric, Middenheim's traditional patron god, not least because the Grand Theogonist of the Cult of Sigmar was in no small part responsible for his ancestor Gunthar not becoming emperor when Magnus the Pious died in the mid-24th century IC. However, Werner Stolz -- High Priest of the Cult of Sigmar in Middenheim -- is known to have very cordial relations with both the current Grand Theogonist and the two Arch Lectors of the Cult of Sigmar in Talabheim and Nuln (who are all also Electors).[3b]
These three Sigmarite grandees make a point of making at least one annual visit to Middenheim to meet Werner Stolz, and the political and religious tension between the cults is clear enough below the formal, seemingly placid surface. Stolz awaits any chance of putting one over, on Ar-Ulric and the Cult of Ulric, even here, in its apparently strongest power base.[3b]
Wargear[]
As the Elector Count of Middenheim and Middenland, Boris Todbringer has access to powerful magical items, armour and weapons fitting a man of his importance. He wears a full suit of Dwarf-forged plate armour and carries a shield.[1a]
Todbringer rides an armoured warhorse and is armed with the Runefang[1a] known as Legbiter.[9a] The Elector Count also wears the Talisman of Ulric on a chain around his neck. This is an ancient heirloom of the Counts of Middenland, it offers protection against magical harm and heals wounds.[1a]
Miniatures[]
Canon Conflict[]
In some sources, Boris' regnal name is enumerated as Boris II,[8b] while he is enumerated as Boris X in others.[10a] Possible resolutions for this difference could be that Boris is the second of his name to rule Middenland as grand duke, but the tenth of his name to rule Middenheim as graf, as Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition takes place during one of the eras in the Empire when Middenland and Middenheim are considered separate Electoral Provinces united under a single ruler.
Sources[]
- 1: Warhammer Armies: The Empire (4th Edition)
- 1a: pg. 72
- 2: Warhammer Expansion: Storm of Chaos (6th Edition)
- 2a: pg. 43
- 3: Warhammer City: Middenheim (1st Edition)
- 4: Warhammer Roleplay 1st Edition: The Enemy Within IV - Power Behind the Throne (RPG)
- 5: Warhammer Roleplay 2nd Edition: The Paths of the Damned I - Middenheim's Ashes (RPG)
- 6: The End Times IV - Thanquol (8th Edition)
- 7: Warhammer Roleplay 2nd Edition: Old World Beastiary (RPG)
- 8: Warhammer Roleplay 2nd Edition: Sigmar's Heirs (RPG)
- 9: White Dwarf 325 (UK)
- 9a: pg. 73
- 10: Warhammer Roleplay 4th Edition: Enemy in Shadows Companion (RPG)
- 10a: pg. 15
- 11: Total War: Warhammer (PC Game)