Leopold of Katze
Sobriquet: Leo the Winter Lion
Appearance: In life Leopold was attractive, a man in his middle thirties with golden blond hair and blue-gray eyes, and he was a pleasure for most women to look upon. Having died and been reborn to the darkness of the Underworld, Leopold's corpus reflects both his deeds and death. Originally thin and lithe, he has grown gaunt and pallid. Leopold's left arm is missing, a gory hole reveals the meaty socked where the missing limb should be and the angry looking wound continually discharges a sticky brown syrup that stinks like rotten hamburger. Leo's golden locks have bleached white and his eyes have turned a metallic-green and are faintly illuminated from within. He still wears the clothing and armor that he died in and his masterwork sword has followed him into the next life as a relic.
Behavior: The former first-son of House Katze is a caricature of his former self. He is driven by the dark desires that led him to his dreadful end and as a malicious soul, he haunts the place of his death, the family seat within the eastern woods. From beyond the grave, Leopold still plots to rule his family and all of Bavaria, but he knows he was betrayed by his younger brother Alard and his virgin bride Adeline of Berengar. As such, his darkest desire is to make them both watch as all they love is destroyed by his manipulations. In this, he needs allies on both sides of the Shroud, and his first stop after ripping himself free of his caul, is to call upon those men-at-arms who most recently died in his service. With a spectral retinue, Leopold who now styles himself the Winter Lion, seeks to overthrow the Stygian forces of the necropolis of Augusta Vindelicorum and rule from the Shadowlands.
History: Leopold of Katze was born in the year-of-our lord 1059. His father Norbert's eldest son, Leopold was received the lion's share of his father's attention. But as the first son of the Katze union, neither of his parents handled him as well as might have been expected and he became a cruel and unruly child. Brought up knowing the importance of his station, rather then the responsibilities it entailed, Leopold cared only for himself. When later sons and daughters were born to Norbert and his wife, Leo became a jealous sibling. While not outright malicious in youth, Leo learned all the wrong lessons about being nobly born and carried these error to his grave. In the spring of 1094, Augsburg became the focal point for the Bavarian nobility as they sought to struggle among themselves for power and status. When the city descended into the chaos of civil war, the House of Katze allied itself to that of House Berengar and Leopold found himself the lackey of Albert of Berengar. Finding this situation intolerable, he immediately began to plot against his liege and the wishes of his father by seeking out allies among the other noble houses. The Western Alliance formed by houses of Voss, Falkenrath and Hirsch were the first to agree to his terms of dominion over Augsburg. Thereafter, Leopold put his best foot forward in agreeing to marry Albert's virgin sister Adeline while preparing the groundwork for the invasion of the Western Alliance.
Rest in Peace: Despite meticulous planning and considerable skulduggery, Leo's younger brother Alard and his allies interrupted his plans at the last moment, forcing him into a desperate move against his own father. The confrontation between father and son within the familial seat turned ugly as Leopold sought the title of baron through patricide. Only the timely intervention of Alard and his nocturnal allies prevented his success. And Alard under the influence of sire Helena threw Leo from the window of the highest tower to his death on the rocks below.
