Leopold von Trautmannsdorff

Overview

Count Leopold von Trautmannsdorff is a 56-year-old Viennese nobleman of considerable wealth and negligible moral courage. He serves the Brotherhood of the Open Measure as financial backer and political shield — not from ideological commitment but from a desperate, misguided hope that involvement in the cult would cure his chronic illnesses.

Originally, Herzfeld promised that the completed ritual would restore Trautmannsdorff’s health. Now, having seen too much to leave safely, he continues funding the operation out of fear of what will happen to him if he attempts to withdraw.

Status as of Session 6: Trautmannsdorff has been captured and is being held in Order custody. He is cooperating with the Order in exchange for guarantees of personal safety and immunity from prosecution.

Physical Description

A portly aristocrat with the soft hands of someone who has never worked. Thinning grey hair, watery blue eyes, a perpetually anxious expression poorly hidden beneath aristocratic hauteur. His clothes are expensive and well-maintained, but his overall appearance suggests a man whose health is declining — a slight stoop, labored breathing after minimal exertion, the pallor of chronic pain.

Personality

A coward who made a catastrophic miscalculation. Trautmannsdorff is not evil — he is weak and desperate. He originally joined the Brotherhood because he was dying (or so he believed) and was willing to grasp at any promise of salvation. Herzfeld exploited this desperation mercilessly.

Now Trautmannsdorff is trapped. He has provided funding, used his political connections to suppress investigations, and participated in Brotherhood meetings. He has seen parts of the Engine and knows of its victims. He cannot leave without risking exposure and punishment, but continuing to support the cult torments him with guilt he can no longer suppress.

Key Traits:

• Cowardice: His defining characteristic; he will betray anyone to save himself
• Desperation: Clinging to the hope that Herzfeld’s promises are somehow still valid
• Guilt: Deep, gnawing, occasionally breaking through in moments of weakness
• Self-delusion: Telling himself the victims are willing, that transcendence is real, that what he has done is justified

Role in the Brotherhood

Trautmannsdorff’s contributions to the Brotherhood:

• Funding: He has provided approximately 10,000 gulden over the past two years, covering materials, salaries, and operational costs
• Political Protection: His connections have been used to suppress police inquiries into missing persons and to misdirect official investigations
• Moral Legitimacy: His participation as a nobleman gives the Brotherhood a veneer of respectability that would otherwise be absent

Capture & Cooperation

As of Session 6, Trautmannsdorff has been captured by Order operatives (likely during an Intelligence operation by Lady Honoria Lyndhurst or her contacts). He is being held in Order custody and has agreed to cooperate in exchange for guarantees of:

1. Personal safety from the Brotherhood
2. Immunity from prosecution for his involvement
3. Possible emigration or relocation after the investigation concludes