Tharsig’s Exposition at Castle Wittgenstein
It’s tough to know the beginning anymore.
As far as I can remember, I’ve carried this mark on my chest.
It’s carried several meanings from me.
A scar from the goblin raid that killed my parents when I was a babe.
A secret mark of my heritage and the key to finding a family I never knew
A divine sign that destined me to greatness.
It turned out to be none of these things.
My past is lost to me.
Were my parents killed in a raid or were they sacrificed by a mad priest, a traitor to the Realm?
I was raised in a monastery dedicated to the Heldenhammer. How much of that was a lie?
Father Leopold sent out disciples to find a marked man - the rebirth of Sigmar. A vision led me to take this quest as my own. Leopold did not want me to leave, but my faith took me away.
My soul was lifted by our travels round the Empire. From the everyday miracles that fill the cities to the artifacts of the gods that crossed our path, I found that my faith in the Empire was justified.
I also learned the evil that infests it and me.
From Olden’s tales, I learned that this mark may be a sign of evil. It had never occurred to me before then.
In my own research in Altdorf, I found tales of witch hunters and cults alike searching for such marks.
I did not know that evil was present in me. These were just stories.
In the village of Gutlow, we found how such marks came to be afflicted on innocents.
I did not know that evil was present in me. This is merely a scar that came from Chaos.
When I was kidnaped in Talabheim, it was done by Evans de Averheim on behalf of Leopold. Suddenly, my past mentor became my foe. It was then I swore to kill him for this betrayal.
I made arrangement for my brothers still fooled into standing by him. These plans clearly did not work.
Still, I did not know that evil was present in me. This was the mad plan of a traitor
I continued to keep faith and search for Sigmar reborn.
It was in Shala’s spring that my fear began to be realized. The holy water boiled only when it touched my cursed mark.
Suddenly, I could feel the presence of evil. Haruth tempted me; the demonic tome we took burned me. The mark grew heavy.
It was seeing this mark that drove Jasper to further madness.
I pushed myself harder. In Altdorf, tomes spoke of strange rites that cults perform with the flayed skin baring such marks. The necromancer’s tome told of a massive warpstone that was now held by such a cult. With it, they can create more cursed marks and complete their blasphemous rites.
I spoke with Shayla of flaying this mark off of me and destroying it before such turn.
We planned too late.
Now, I know that evil is present in me. The Mystic Winds swirl round me and through me here. The meteor calls out through these Winds and makes this mark burn. I can feel it connecting to a place of the damned. Demons tear through such connections and kill those I’m tasked to protect.
Such evil cannot be allowed to exist.
My faith is still strong. I have opened the eyes of my brothers and now turn to my final act.
I will fulfill my vow of righteous vengeance.
I will face Father Leopold and cast him down as a failure into the hell he worships. If needed, I was drag him there with me.
