Wilhelm Stieber- Prince of Spies

Victoriana 3^rd Edition prominently features the world of espionage as a theme for campaigns. Cool as this is, I haven’t given too much space on this blog to Victorian spies. We’re ending that trend today with the perfect Victoriana Mastermind: Wilhelm Stieber.

Born 1818 in the Prussian Province of Saxony, Wilhelm Johann Carl Eduard Stieber worked as a lawyer in Berlin during the 1840s, specializing in the defense of political radicals in court. He was cheap, sympathetic to their causes, and won many trials. So highly did Berlin revolutionaries respect Stieber, they elected him to the Underground Revolutionary council. Unfortunately, Stieber was a paid informant for the police. He used his law practice to spy on radicals, and won many trials because he knew the prosecution’s case against his clients.

He continued working undercover, playing both sides as he rose in the Berlin Police. During the revolutions tearing through Europe in 1848, he saved King Frederic William IV from a mob. Whether or not he was in the right place at the right time, if he directed the mob towards the king, or even hired his fellow informants to surround the king’s coach is unclear, but in 1853, the king made Stieber Berlin’s Police Commissioner.

As Police Commissioner, Stieber’s ring of informants kept Berlin’s entire underworld at his fingertips. He cultivated prostitutes as spies, particularly women kept by important men, and he organized newspapermen across Europe to keep him informed of anything important that didn’t end up on the front page. He also traveled extensively tracking political radicals, investigating crimes, and personally handling politically sensitive cases.

In 1860, blackmailing scandals and false imprisonment charges led to his arrest and retirement. Three years later, Prussian Minster President Otto Von Bismark made Stieber his “Prince of Spies” and Stieber’s ruthless, corrupt, and efficient secret service served the future chancellor’s ambitions for the next twenty years. Before the Prussian invasion of Austria in 1866, Stieber spent the summer disguised as a merchant traveling the countryside. He recorded routes, terrain, and military supplies, and sold illicit illustrations to talkative Austrian soldiers.  His information helped Prussia win a decisive victory.

Stieber in Victoriana

Because Victoriana moves Otto Von Bismark’s career forward in time, we can certainly move Stieber forward with him. In alternative history, Stieber could be the “Prince of Spies” a decade early, armed with all the resources of the German Confederation.

Stieber makes a great villain because he worked both as the mastermind behind the scenes, and as an agent in the field. During his brief exile from Prussia, Stieber also reorganized the Russian Czar’s secret service (possibly while working for Prussia the whole time) and ran Russian expatriate spy rings across the world. So Stieber fits any espionage situation, doing anything, for anyone as long as it suites him.

Stieber’s greatest powers are his network of informants and his ability to ruthlessly using his knowledge. If the PC’s become an obstacle, he calls someone who knows or can find out all about them. Armed with knowledge, Stieber removes the PC’s from his path using black mail, framing a contact for a crime, public disgrace, or sending them on a whole different adventure.

It might be fun to introduce Stieber a benefactor. He could hire the PC’s to do a little digging, but once they find out they are spying on queen and country what will they do?

Wilhelm Stieber (Hard-Working and Brilliantly Corrupt Spymaster)

Physical: 6           Initiative: 12

Mental: 10           Health: 14

Social: 11             Quintessence: 24

AV: Aetherweave shirt and trousers (4 for 5 rounds after activation)

Damage: Rifle Cane (9) or Sword Cane (6), Derringer (4) or Concealable Knife (4),

Possible Special Traits:

Well Informed+4, Well Connected +4, Master of Disguise +3, Manipulative +4,

 

Waist Coat with three buttons inscribed with magical sigils: Gebo- +3 Black Dice to all attempts to catch Stieber lying, Eihwaz- +3 Skill Dice to manipulate a character into giving him information, OÞila +3 Skill Dice to run away from a threat,