Name: Andreas Below-Sternberg
Home: Innsbruck, Austria
Height: 6' 0"
Weight: 161 lbs.
Activities: Fencing, swimming, hiking, reading, dreaming, investigating and pondering strange things.
Quote: "Come now. I may be a shoddy excuse for an aristocrat, but surely I can still help."

Relationships: Alexander Below-Sternberg is the new head of the family. A dour, practical, ambitious businessman and regional politician, it is not surprising that Alexander could never get along with his younger brother. There was a time when he tried to reshape him in his own image, but he has given up on the task. Clearly, the two of them inhabit different worlds. So long as Andreas does not embarrass the family or hinder his career, Alexander is prepared to tolerate and even support him, but there is little warmth there – just family obligation.

Margarete Below-Sternberg is a middle sibling, roughly equidistant between Alexander and Andreas in age. She is a very independent sort. At first glance she is closer to Alexander in her enterprising spirit, and she does get along well with him when he avoids being too pushy about her tumultuous personal life. However, she is also on surprisingly good terms with Andreas, partly due to shared interests in literature and the paranormal, and has stuck up for him in the past. Unfortunately, she is seldom around or even particularly inclined to play peacemaker, being more focused on her contemporary art gallery in Vienna.

Kurt Drucker is Andreas’ closest friend, though they started out as fierce rivals in the local fencing school. This initial antagonism not only inspired Andreas to stick it out in fencing, but also led to mutual respect. Afterwards, the boys found that they have many other interests in common, though the more fiery and common as dirt Drucker had to go to some lengths to drag Andreas into misadventures. Recently, Kurt has also moved to Vienna to study history, though the two have kept in touch over the Internet.

Description: Andreas has settled comfortably into above average height in his age of 18. He has neatly coiffed dark blond hair, blue eyes, and lightly tanned skin. His build is lean and somewhat athletic thanks to his physical pursuits. His facial expression, while pleasant enough, tends to look a little distant and detached most of the time. However, he makes up for it with dramatic and expressive gestures. He dresses unostentatiously, but well, favouring darker hues. While not disdaining more modern clothing in casual circumstances, he does quite like practical traditional clothes, such as his gray loden jacket.

Personality: There is no question that Andreas has been molded and perhaps a little spoiled by his easy life. He never really had to struggle for anything, and he has been largely content with his idle existence. The upside is that he has always been exceedingly gentle and polite, even to a fault. It is usually much easier, and costs him very little, to give way, to concede, to let go. Some challenges may bring out his ire or his competitive spirit for a time, but he invariably reverts to his easy-going norm. He is also somewhat prone to mood swings, sometimes feeling very sociable and sometimes more melancholy and withdrawn, but until recently they have never been overpowering.

The tragedy in his family has not truly changed the core of his personality, but it has dented it. In addition to his mood swings becoming more frequent and extreme, he has also become increasingly aware of his failings. He has a sense now that he is wasting his life, but he has no idea what to do with it. Together with the failure of his investigative effort, this sense has been feeding his growing, gnawing self-loathing. On the surface, it manifests as self-deprecating humour, but it goes deeper than most people would realize. That is how he prefers it; he still maintains a carefree and amiable air, especially around people he doesn’t know or trust.

History: The Below-Sternbergs are an old and respected family of European aristocrats. Born from a union of Russian and Germanic lineages, they have long been a major presence in Central and Eastern Europe. The tumults of the 20th century have sapped their power and fame, but they have retained prestige, wealth and the admiration of their few remaining peers. They have also held on to Schloss Sternberg, a tall castle not far from the regional centre of Austrian Tyrol. It was in those historic yet comfortable surroundings that Andreas grew up.

His life has been a charmed one. As one of the younger members of his large family, he was the favourite child of his mother Helga, though comparatively overlooked by his father Nickolas. That suited him fine. With no real obligations, he went through life as a dabbler, trying out different hobbies and pastimes but committing even somewhat seriously only to a few. Everything changed a year ago when his parents and several of their associates died in an inexplicable fire in Vienna during a meeting of their esoteric aristocratic club. Distrusting the official version of an accident and suspecting anything from politics to magic, Andreas travelled to the capital to investigate... but in the end, found out nothing conclusive. Did he give up too early yet again, failing his parents, or was there really nothing to find? This sense of failure gnawed at him as he returned to a castle that no longer felt like home.

Strengths/Virtues: As a lifelong admirer of the writings of Charles Fort, Andreas is a consummate sceptic. He does not stop asking questions, at least inside his head, and always tries to think outside of the box and maintain a philosophical perspective. He is generally flexible and self-critical enough to avoid becoming fixated on any one idea or approach, no matter how appealing. Also, despite his ironic air, he does believe in adhering to at least some of the aristocratic virtues, such as courage and honour. Admittedly, those qualities have not been strongly tested yet.

Faults/Weaknesses: Andreas’ flexibility can be a fault. For the most part, he is too pliable and non-committal to make binding decisions in a crisis. It is much easier for him to follow someone else’s lead, or to wait and see how things develop. His mercurial personality can let him down too, if he becomes too moody and withdrawing, or else too manic and obnoxious. Then there is his charmed upbringing, which can create an obstacle of understanding between him and other people. Although he is more aware of all those flaws as flaws of late, he has found it difficult to fight them.

Powers: None.