Re: Blood and Iron

The train ride to Transylvania from Berlin was a long but pleasant one. Bruno and Heidi's youngest children had been born only a few years earlier than the outbreak of war. And the last few years had not exactly been without fruit as well.

Bruno and Heidi were now at eight children, and presumably by the time he returned to his home next there would be a ninth. The eldest, of course, was Eva, who was followed by Bruno's current heir, Erwin, after which was the youngest of the first crop of children, Elsa.

From there were the three boys in the middle, who were named Josef, Heinrich, and Wilhelm. Followed by two more daughters, those two being Anna and Erika. Erika having only been born this last year, was the youngest of Bruno and Heidi's children.

Considering Bruno had not been home for the most part of the last two years, he had been a largely absent figure of his younger children's lives. This meant that there was a very obvious rift between them, and the elder children who had for the most part lived with their father in their home for the majority of their lives.

Eva, Erwin, and Elsa were all clinging to their father, fearing that the moment he vanished he would never return, as they were all too aware of the price in German blood that had been waged to avenge their Austrian allies, and the royalty which God had ordained the rightful rulers of the Österreich.

Whereas the younger children were far more aloof, having not truly known their father within their short memories, and thus were more intimidated by his presence. While slightly better than a stranger to them, he was indeed far too absent due to the poor timing of the war, for these kids to feel comfortable in his presence.

Or so was the case for the first few weeks following Bruno's victorious return from the Balkans. However, after the months he had been home since, and the extensive journey from Berlin to Bran, which was the small Transylvania town where they would be taking up their residence for the duration of their stay in the region. Bruno had become much closer to his youngest children.

Eventually, the family arrived at a historic monument, a castle from a distant era, one that had quite the legacy. For you see, the legendary Bran Castle had been the home of the Tepes Dynasty, meaning it was the residence of the infamous Vlad the Impaler, who had been the inspiration for Dracula.

In other words, this was Dracula's castle, which Bruno and his family would be staying at, as Transylvania had no actual modern palace for Bruno and his family to reside in during their time in Hungary.

When his family got out of their luggage, they saw the Banners of Austro-Hungary waving on a flagpole, with the colors of Transylvania just below. And watching this blue, red, and yellow wave with the winds of spring, Bruno suddenly came to a realization.

He now by right had the ability to form his own noble house, or I should say a Cadet Branch of his grandfather's house. The House Von Zehntner-Siebenbürgen. Siebenbürgen being the German name for Transylvania.

And the banner waving in the distance gave the man an idea for his own coat of arms. He would take a shield with the colors of the Transylvania flag in the background. And from there, he would add his family's own sigil on top of it, which was a black eagle displayed, with a golden beak, legs, and talons, along with white eyes and a red tongue.

The eagle also had a with gold Kleestängel. Which was a form of crest on its chest that ended with trefoil on both sides. If one wanted an example of this, they could look up the Tyrolean or Brandenburg eagles.

From there, he would add a smaller shield on its chest, which would house the banner of the Iron Division within it. In other words, a black background with a white Totenkopf of the Freikorps era from his past life.

After this, he would add a golden crown on the eagle's head, along with a scepter clutched by one of its talons, and an orb held by the other. In fact, now that Bruno thought of it, didn't this mean that the Austrian Kaiser just made him more or less a monarch capable of creating his own State Decorations?

Bruno would have to follow up with a conversation with Franz Joseph about this before the old man kicked the bucket, because if so, he might actually possess some form of autonomy, much in the way the German Federal Monarchy existed. And if that was the case, he would add whatever chain came from creating such an Order of Merit.

After standing in the courtyard thinking through these plans, Bruno also realized that when Austro-Hungary finally collapsed in the coming years, he would be right to be the ruler of Transylvania as its independent sovereign, which could put him at odds with the Kaiser.

This definitely complicated matters, and in addition to the lands he owned in Russia, he might just have to create multiple cadet branches of his grandfather's house for his three eldest sons to rule over. But that was a matter for another time, and Bruno realized this as Heidi grabbed his shoulder and brought him back to reality.

"This is quite the beautiful, albeit quaint old castle. Is this where we are staying?"

Bruno nodded his head, before taking his wife's hand into his own, and kissing it gently, before assuring her that this was indeed where they would be staying.

"Of course! You may not realize it, but there is quite the marvelous history within these ancient walls! This used to be the home of one of history's most notorious monsters. Now come let us get temporarily acquainted with our temporary residence. There is much work to be done to look after the region, and I am sure that by the time the war begins I can improve it in a myriad of ways!"

Heidi did not know that these were the walls which Vlad the Impaler once called home, nor did she really care about such ancient history. She was just happy to be in a real life castle, and not a modern palace.

It was almost like stepping into the distant past and reliving it from her own perspective. And as she walked through the halls of the castle, this is exactly what Heidi felt, as well as a few of her children, especially the youngest, as she made wild tales to them about knights, and Princesses, and trolls and dragons.

Of which Bruno heard and chuckled lightly, before shifting his head back to them.

"Heidi, don't fill the kids' heads with such nonsense. We are in Transylvania, here there be vampires! In fact, this is the castle that Dracula once called home!"

Even Heidi's face went pale as she heard these words, before looking at her husband as if he were making a cruel joke to her, before realizing he was very serious, as he had said moments ago that this castle was the residence of one of history's most notorious monsters. Her voice was almost filled with trepidation as she begged her beloved for clarification on the matter.
Enjoy new tales from empire

"Honey… You didn't…"

Bruno, of course leaned in close and held the woman's dainty chin, mocking her with a smug smirk before walking off.

"What? Don't tell me you're actually afraid of vampires my love? Relax, I can attest that Dracula was not a real historical figure. His character was merely based upon the man who once ruled over this castle. Sadistic as he may have been, he is long since dead I assure you of this.

Look at you. You look quite adorable when you are so frightened. One might even say delicious…"

Bruno's last words struck a nerve with his wife, causing her to pout as he walked through a dark doorway, seemingly disappearing into its shadows as he did so.

"That's not funny Bruno!"

But Bruno remained utterly silent as he continued to walk through the darkness, pretending his best to project an aura of dreadful mystique. That is until about five seconds later when he walked straight into a wall which he could not see due to the lack of proper lighting within the castle, and in doing so cursed up a storm as he coped with the pain in his foot.

"Mother fu-"

Heidi tried to contain her laughter as she reminded the man that their youngest children were quite literally huddled by her side, and in doing so cut him off before he could finish the word he wanted to say most of all.

"Language, dear!"

Bruno then walked out back into the light, pretending as if he had not just done something tremendously foolish, and instead insisted upon acquiring some candles from the local village as soon as possible.

"Heidi, do be a doll and tell our staff to fetch some much needed candles. It would appear we will be living without electricity for some time…"

Heidi could help but laugh at her husband's misfortune, thinking to herself that it served him right for trying to scare her and their kids with such a chilling story about the castle's history. And in doing so, she promised to convey his orders to the staff they brought with them for the duration of their stay in Transylvania.

"I'll be sure to let them know…"