Franz Joseph (original) (raw)

I'm sorry this took so long, I've had quite a lot in my mind recently. I swear that the game replies won't come this slowly. :)

I still haven't had time to do any historical research, so this description might develop later. (Currently this is almost completely musical-based. Shame on me.) My characters also tend to shape during playing, but here are some general things. I apologize for grammatical mistakes.

The Emperor, as is well-known, is a man torn between two things: love and duty. He had a very short childhood, as he was raised as a soldier from a very young age (he started a career as a colonel in the Austrian army at the age of 13). He was brought up to be hard, strict and dutiful, and he was taught to put the throne before anything else. Yet he can't help the fact that he was born kind-hearted and good-natured man. Thus, today he feels guilty when he puts the throne before his family because his heart tells him it's wrong, and he feels guilty when he puts his heart before the throne, because that is against everything he's been taught.

He was 24 when he got married. The engagement with Elisabeth was probably the first thing he did obstinately, and though he then was proud about it, and though he still loves deeply his difficult wife, he too is somewhat disappointed with the marriage. As a young man he dreamed that a wife would be the person to whom he could come after hard day at the office, to find rest and comfort. Although this might occasionally happen even today, the fact remains that today the marriage is just one more thing to make his life difficult.

His reign has been filled with wars and crisis. Nine years ago Franz had no choice but to sign the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary, the relationship with Russia is not particularly warm after the Crimean war, and the economic situation of the Habsburg dynasty could definitely be brighter. Then there is also the rebellious son and the difficulties of balancing between loving the wife and finding comfort with the mistresses... All in all, life is not easy when you are an emperor.