It has been 174 years since the last of the Von Carsteins met his end at the hands of Martin of Stirland at the battle of Hel Fenn. It has been 161 years since Gottlieb the Stern led the "Cleansing of Sylvania" and scoured the land with an army of witch hunters. And yet Sylvania remains as it was a cursed, benighted land where morrsleib's poison taints the soil and air and crops regularly fair. To have been born and grown as you did, untainted and unstinted was the product of unusual luck though of course it would have been far luckier to not have been born in Sylvania at all. Quick, clever and lucky you earned your gold by plundering it from ancient tombs, no simple task in Sylvania where the treasures of the dead are guarded by far more than traps. When you survived your first job you broke the average, when you survived your first winter you won a reputation as the greatest of your trade. Rather than winning you respect this saw you ostracized, but there were none who did not fear the wrath of the things you disturbed as your trade. You made your way across the border into the Empire, in time finding 'work' in the barrow hills of Talabecland, where you learned of the gods and accepted Rhya into your heart. Before long you had to move on from Talabecland as well, as the lords of that Duchy moved to prevent further rousing of the things that dwell in the barrows. It was fortunate for you that your reputation preceded you and you were offered a job in the Border Princes, where there is no shortage of ruins and no excess of scruples. Kléber Schulman, a bandit chief and self proclaimed "Emperor" was putting together an expedition to find and plunder a grand tomb he had heard rumors of and wanted foreign experts whose skills and loyalties could be trusted. Unfortunately for your hope of an easy payday (plundering a tomb not guaranteed to be filled with undead? With backup?) Kléber quickly proved himself not only capable of managing the difficulties of an expedition but also dangerously insane. Taking leadership was an act of survival not ambition, killing Schulman self defense of a sort. You never did find that tomb, whatever map existed only in Schulman's addled mind. But you've found a treasure of a different kind in his kingdom, if you can keep it.