Kitbash challenge - Vermintide

This is Eddard Rattenfäller.

I remember from my limited knowledge of the Empire that there were a few ‘Franzs’, ‘Vans’ and ‘Dorfs’ that all sounded very Germanic to my ears.

I looked up ratcatcher and lumberjack in German and came up with my bastardised surname that way.

I looked my painted mini square in the eyes and decided I wanted to give him a solid first name. I thought about Godwin, Bernard and finally Edward, but Edward didn’t quite blend with his surname so it morphed into Eddard.

Given his surname he comes from a region of the Empire that long suffered problems with rats and members of his ancestry had distinguished themselves in battle against Skaven hordes of the past.

The Rattenfäller family almost always had some of it’s prominent sons in the Imperial Army, the family were wealthy, but ultimately were looked down upon by other families of the Imperial top table. Even after making the ultimate sacrifice of losing family to various wars during dutiful service against the Empire’s enemies, the Rattenfällers were still ‘new money’ pretenders to some. Their wealth came from a successful Empire wide pest control businesses and sadly the stigma of such an industry bars them from making marriages into the more renowned (and sadly elitist) families and advancing up the social ladder.

Eddard faces the Vermintide by an unhappy accident. He had been told of complaints about poisons not working, their best traps being sprung and the bait taken and one of his father’s employees had been savagely murdered in a sewer. Eddard is a pragmatic, strong, trust worthy, son of one of the most wealthy branches of the family and had been trusted to investigate the pest control issues and chase the local constabulary for answers about the poor mutilated body of their youngest, keenest and sadly most unfortunate employee.

Eddard had wanted to join the army but his enthusiasm to become stronger, more resourceful, better skilled with a blade and a pistol, just made him more useful to his father. His father decided that Eddard’s younger brother Tomas would be sent to the army and that Eddard would project manage and oversee the smooth running of the biggest and most important regions of the business.

Eddard isn’t old, but feels his time passing by and yearns for adventures before he is too old to have them. Eddard would love to prove himself and in so doing improve his family’s standing to a higher level, where he feels they rightfully belong.

You can see that his own investigation into the murdered employee has brought him into contact with a larger rat than he has usually had to deal with. The blood trail from the severed claw will no doubt lead him to the nest. With a sense of trepidation rather than fear he heads into the dark. His keen senses are alive to the risks and he checks that his powder is dry as he ventures on… ?