Mädchen Berger

Name:

Mädchen Berger

Occupation:

Consulting Detective

Place of Birth:

Munich.

Current Residence:

Munich.

Appearance:

A rather frail, elderly women with striking silver hair pulled into a tight bun.

Childhood:

Father was a senior police officer in Munich, mother a forensic pathologist.

Education:

Ludwig-Maximillian Universitat in Munich, where she graduated with distinction in the Natural Sciences.

Virtue:

Persistence and an Inquisitive Mind.

Vice:

A tendency to talk shop in great detail.

Style:

Analytical.

Personality:

Discrete, aloof and reserved.

Likes:

A challenge to her intellect.

Dislikes:

Publicity.

Most valued principle:

Bringing those guilty of a crime to justice, and exonerating the innocent.

Most treasured possession:

Her mother's old doctors case, in which she carries the tools of her own trade.

Most valued person:

Her son Hans, now an officer in the Bayernese Aeronavy.

Nemesis:

Alliances:

The Second Compact Alliance.

Romantic Life:

Married once to a soldier in the 8th Infantry Regiment of Bayerne, she is now a widow.

Social Goal:

To see her son marry a good German girl and give her grandchildren.

Professional Goal:

Romantic Goal:

Abilities:

Great - Natural Sciences , Perception Good - Education , Physician , Stealth , Tinkering , Poor - Physique , social Graces

Action most regretted:

Failing to capture The Ghost after he had broken into the Royal Palace in Munich.

Proudest moment:

Attending her son's passing out parade as a Lieutenant in the Bayernese Aeronavy.

Hits :

4

Damage Taken:

The Memoirs of Mädchen Berger

I know that in the twilight of my life my body is beginning to succumb to the predations of age, but my mind is as active as it has ever been. Unlike certain other amateurs that are entering the trade of consulting detective now I have had no diarist or biographer to record my exploits for posterity, but I have always been averse to publicity. Perhaps though it is time now, in my twilight years, to put pen to paper and write 'The Memoirs of Mädchen Berger'.

I suppose it was only natural that I should become a detective: my father was a senior officer in the Munich police force, while me mother was a forensic pathologist in the school of medicine at the Bayerische Akademie. For my part, I was educated at Ludwig-Maximillian Universitat, and it was there that my interest in the skills of detection was piqued following the murder of a tutor and subsequent arrest of one of his students. I realised that the boy could not have committed the crime because he was colour blind, and was subsequently able to prove that the scholar's death had resulted from an experiment he was conducting that had gone awry. The Mysterious Problem of the Clockwork Owl was my first case, but not my last. Once I had made my reputation solving the murder, I was frequently called upon to resolve other problems in the University.

On my graduation, it seemed only logical to set myself up as a Consulting Detective. With my parents' connections in the police, I was frequently called upon to serve as an expert witness and later for my assistance resolving cases where they had no leads. It was not just the police who used my services either: in the Shocking Affair of the Dutch Steamer 'Friesland', the Case of Werner the Notorious Canary Trainer, the Singular Affair of the Aluminium Crutch, and the Repulsive Story of the Red Leech, it was individuals in the society circles of New Europa that called upon my services. In the Epic Tale of the Politician, the Lighthouse and the Trained Cormorant, it was the Bayernese government that commissioned me to solve that highly political problem with discretion.

Perhaps then it was not so surprising that my talents should come to the attention of the Second Compact Alliance. I have little interest in politics: my main concern has always been to determine how a crime was committed and by whom. It is not my concern how the guilty are judged, merely in bringing them to justice and in exonerating the innocent. However, I cannot ever just stand by and allow a crime to be committed.

I have been married once but my husband Gerhardt, a rifleman in the 8th Infantry Regiment of Bayerne, was a casualty at the Battle of Königsgrätz in 1866. When the forces of the Second Compact nations defended Austria against Prussian invasion, he died courageously (at least so I am told) covering the retreat of his unit against the advance of the Prussian Landfortresses.

Against my wishes, our son Hans has chosen to follow in his father's footsteps, though he chose to enlist in the newly-formed Bayernese Aeronavy rather than the army. Still, he is my son, and I was incredibly proud when he graduated from the officer training college. With my family's involvement in the Second Compact, my own work now frequently involves the crimes of the industrialists and the Unseelie.

Sir Sebastian and I have met just once, when I was called upon to determine the manner in which a copy of the Second Compact Treaty text was stolen from the Residenz, the royal palace in München. Sir Sebastian had been following an agent of the Prussian Secret Service known as The Ghost, and believed him to be the thief. While I and a Sorcerer from the Grand Chamber of Eleusinian Mysteries discovered how The Ghost had managed to circumvent the security of the palace, the English gentleman recovered the missing document from the Prussian Embassy. No doubt that the damage had already been done, the text would have been copied or telegraphed to Berlin; and The Ghost was never caught. The incident did leave me with a great deal of respect for the Englishman's talents.