Schmitz Von Walter

 became **th king of the Rune-Midgarts Kingdom in A.W. 511 at the age of 32. His grandfather was Eyck Von Walter, and his father was Braham Von Walter. He established the Royal Guards and was the one who commissioned the construction of a palace at Glastheim.

Because of Schmitz's infamous tyrannical rule as king, every Walter prince candidate has had to deal with a stigma of insanity from the other 6 royal families.

Story
The Walters family lost most of their power in the Court ever since they were defeated in the Prince Revolt, and were treated as a second-class royal family ousted from the kingly power competition. When Schmitz turned two, Braham had him adopted by the Gaebolgs, a first-class royal family, to bring him even closer to the royal throne. He was recognized as a legitimate successor to the throne when he became sixteen years old. His candidacy was further strengthened by his accomplishments and princely deeds. However, many in the Royal Court suspect that the Gaebolgs and Walters have conspired to promote Prince Schmitz as the next king.

After King Ouzel died in A.W. 509, the Royal Court set to the task of choosing the next king. Prince Schmitz was third in line to the throne, son of the influential Gaebolgs, and the most politically powerful of the three candidates. The court ministers and royal families discussed the throne issue for over a year, and finally agreed to crown Prince Schmitz as **th king of the Rune-Midgarts Kingdom in A.W. 511.

King Schmitz started his reign as an amicable, sagacious ruler, but slowly revealed his true intentions. He embarked in various domestic and overseas business projects and ousted many faithful retainers from the Royal Court. He filled the Royal Court with his followers that would give him their support, but their flattery would blind him to the reality of state affairs. King Schmitz also built an arena near Prontera to showcase adventurers that would kill demons for sport, thus winning the favor of his people. As more and more followers pledged their allegiance to him, King Schmitz rebuilt his palace, and wantonly spent money from the Kingdom Treasury to finance daily banquets and parties that caused financial difficulties for the Royal Court.

It was open secret amongst the Royal Court that Braham Von Walter was the king's biological father, but King Schimtz did not learn about this until Braham died. When he realized the secret of his birth, King Schmitz began to harbor mixed feelings for the Gaebolgs and Walters which escalated into an insane killing spree against the Lugenburg family. The Lugenburgs that were spared from death were banished from the Rune-Midgarts Kingdom.

Then King Schmitz then took great pains to restore the Walters, his biological family, to the heights of power. He dismissed the committee of high ranking nobleman that usually chose who was elected to the Royal Cabinet and Royal Court, allowing him to empower many members of the Walter family by placing them in the Royal Court. He also established the right for the king to choose his next successor. Although he showed special favor to the Walters, he was strangely unsympathetic towards the Gaebolgs that had raised him.

The king's erratic behavior worsened, and he soon grew displeased with the Prontera Palace. King Schmitz ordered his people to erect a giant castle three times larger than his old one in Glastheim, right below Mt. Mjolnir. The Prontera Palace had housed royal families for more than five hundred years and, although it had been recently been rebuilt, the Court was forced to collect more taxes from the people to finance this immensely expensive project. The new Glastheim Palace was completed in five years and King Schmitz immediately moved there, living an isolated life of decadent pleasure that was financed by taxes paid by citizens and adventurers.

Clearly an insane tyrant in his twilight years, King Schmitz sacrificed normans to demons in hopes of attaining immortality. He was finally overthrown in A.W. 529 by his cousin, Grenholm Von Gaebolg, that led a coup de etat against him. Grenholm's rebel troops defeated the royal army, and advanced unopposed to Glastheim Palace. Upon entering Glastheim Palace, Grenholm's soldiers encountered a demon army that King Schmitz had summoned from Hel. Many of Grenholm's soldiers perished in the violent struggle, but they eventually triumphed over their enemies. They saw the extent of King Schimtz's lunacy when they finally captured him in a small tower in Glastheim Palace: his body was mutated and misshapen since he had experimented on it in his quest to attain the immortality enjoyed by demons.

The ward captain entered the captive king's room a few months later and found that Schmitz had vanished. There was a large scale investigation and it was discovered that the king used a mysterious demonic power to hide in his room's mirror. With Schmitz finally deposed, Grenholm claimed the crown.

Many years later, Schmitz's spirit is visited by a Crusader/Paladin who presents him with a Royal Shield. He pities the Crusader/Paladin, saying that his faithful adjutant Heinrich has cheated him/her. He reveals that the shield served as the covenant for those who possess the qualities to become a Royal Guard. He surmises that Heinrich's undying loyalty to him possesses him to continue his task to recruit Royal Guards. With Schmitz dead, he has no need for Royal Guards and so continuing to recruit Royal Guards is pointless. However, the shield still remains and so Schmitz fulfills the covenant and promotes the Crusader/Paladin to Royal Guard.