Konrad Engel

Konrad Engel
Location
Region:	[[:Category: Characters|]]
Zone:	London
Location:	The Horned God
Relations
Faction:	[[Category:Council of Venice Characters]][[:Category:Council of Venice Characters|Council of Venice]]
Background Information
Species:	Human
NPC Information
NPC Type:	[[Category:{{{type}}} Characters]][[:Category:{{{type}}} Characters|{{{type}}}]]
Voiced by:	[[Tim Bentinck]]

Found drinking in The Horned God with Zamira Vata, Konrad Engel is a member of the "old guard" within the Templars. His widely shared views on the current management and methods of the Templars and the Council of Venice have earned him semi-banishment and removal from the "active-duty" list.

He has mentored Zamira Vata and they work well together, although they are known to debate topics loudly.

Missions

Involved in

Virgula Divina

Dialogue

Yourself

• Yourself #1

Konrad Engel: Now I am an embarrassment to our organisation,

Konrad Engel: but once I was a diplomat.

Konrad Engel: Heh. As if Templars could wage diplomacy other than by jackboot.

Konrad Engel: I served my time on the councils of Vienna, Berlin, Venice.

Konrad Engel: We pontificated with archaic words in dead languages.

Konrad Engel: Beyond our little parliaments, the mysteries were trampled, one after another. We did nothing.

• Yourself #2

Konrad Engel: The pride of the Templars has turned to rigor mortis.

Konrad Engel: I cannot unsee it now, huh?

Konrad Engel: Like an immaculate mouth with a front tooth missing.

Konrad Engel: We claim to stand against the darkness, but no,

Konrad Engel: we slump in our Renaissance chairs, picking listlessly at the velvet.

• Yourself #3

Konrad Engel: Yeah, but I have said enough.

Konrad Engel: I will douse my disappointment in another pint of what goes for beer around here.

Konrad Engel: Dull, tepid, and creamlike.

Konrad Engel: Not unlike the current state of inter-factional diplomacy,

Konrad Engel: but not what the trappists had in mind, I'm sure.

Zamira Vata

• Zamira Vata #1

Konrad Engel: I came back to London seeking inspiration, but found only disillusionment. Again.

Konrad Engel: Behind the "New Templars" stand the old guard, as rigid and stale as always.

Konrad Engel: There is little "new" about it;

Konrad Engel: even Herr Sonnac is a product of the past and of our eminent PR department and diligent market research.

Konrad Engel: Then I met Fräulein Vata here.

Konrad Engel: Young, yes. Brash, foolhardy,

Konrad Engel: eager to get her skull bashed in by steel or claw.

Konrad Engel: An idealist, as though there were still ideals to strive for.

Konrad Engel: Obnoxious, annoying, but-

Zamira Vata: Eh, you know I'm sitting right here, yeah?

Konrad Engel: But she showed me there is hope still for our organisation.

Konrad Engel: For a future beyond our current predicament.

Konrad Engel: In her, I see much of myself when I was a young man.

Zamira Vata: You have such a way with words, Konrad.

Konrad Engel: It was meant as a compliment Frälein Vata, for I was once an idealist like you.

Konrad Engel: I believed in what we stood for, and I was not afraid to get my hands dirty so that others would not have to.

Konrad Engel: Then it all became about politics, about pointing fingers and reopening old wounds.

Konrad Engel: You are free from that, free to make it all mean something again.

Konrad Engel: I am not embarrassed to say that Frälein Vata has given me hope again,

Konrad Engel: hope that even the Templars can change their ways to face the challenges of this coming age.

Konrad Engel: Even if past experiences have taught me otherwise.

Zamira Vata: Uh. Thanks, Konrad. That was actually very nice.

London

• London #1

Konrad Engel: London is an aberration in poly-factional politics,

Konrad Engel: a free port for all who pass through our geheime Welt, through this darkness beneath it all.

Konrad Engel: Nothing like Berlin, where the Templars are ruthless in their dissection of the city.

Konrad Engel: Of course, here in London, our organisation has abandoned every vestige of secrecy,

Konrad Engel: choosing instead to hide in the open.

Konrad Engel: Who would expect the pupped master to be centre stage?

Konrad Engel: Well, everyone, it seems.

Konrad Engel: There are walking tours that stop outside Temple Court every hour.

Zamira Vata: So? That just proves we've got nothing to be afraid of, nothing to hid.

Konrad Engel: No-no-no, my dear. It is no such thing.

Konrad Engel: It is only bitter proof of a bloated, stinking ego.

The Templars

• The Templars #1

Zamira Vata: Just 'cause you've become old and bitter don't mean you have to take us all down with you.

Zamira Vata: Everything is changing mate. It's not just the Templars anymore; it's the new Templars,

Zamira Vata: independent of heritage, skin colour or gender.

Konrad Engel: Oh, the naiveté of youth. It is heartbreaking.

Konrad Engel: My heart is literally breaking apart. Listen, you can hear it.

Zamira Vata: Fuck off.

Konrad Engel: For my retort, allow me to paraphrase Aesop:

Konrad Engel: "We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office."

Konrad Engel: Power and influence within an organisation such as ours has little to do with a person's worth,

Konrad Engel: but rather it is a reflection of their willingness to aptitude to deceive.

Konrad Engel: In some cases, even a political ploy.

Zamira Vata: You're saying Sonnac's a political puppet.

Konrad Engel: Sonnac is a capable politician,

Konrad Engel: and he got where he is today by way of both skill and compromise.

Konrad Engel: But he is also what we, what the Templars, needed.

Konrad Engel: A new face, a fresh voice,

Konrad Engel: enthusiasm, and sex appeal.

Zamira Vata: He has got that. And Lanark?

Konrad Engel: Ah, Lanark is more...complicated.

Konrad Engel: I have found myself in deep waters before on this topic,

Konrad Engel: it is why I drink here and not at the Temple Club,

Konrad Engel: in the pleasant company of more pliable and vivacious women.

Zamira Vata: Yeah, but I'm sure the Stuarts miss you too, Konrad.

Zamira Vata: Enough with the greeks, here's a quote to live by:

Zamira Vata: "I am the lizard king, I can do anything.

Konrad Engel: Ja. As dead as the Greeks, him, isn't he?

Zamira Vata: Pessimist.

Secret Societies

• Secret Societies #1

Konrad Engel: While my opinions may, at times, appear to be at odds with my affiliation, I will say this:

Konrad Engel: the less evil is the greater good.

Konrad Engel: I have had my run-ins with Illuminati in both a diplomatic, and...

Konrad Engel: in less of a diplomatic capacity, on numerous occasions.

Konrad Engel: Brazen, unethical and reckless are adjectives I would not hesitate to use.

• Secret Societies #2

Konrad Engel: My experience with the Dragon differs only in adjectives, not in actuality.

Konrad Engel: They are more tempered, but they are also arrogant and dangerous.

Konrad Engel: Diplomacy is a game of cat and mouse to them,

Konrad Engel: and they are never satisfied until the cat and the mouse both drown in their verdammte "wave."

The Council of Venice

• The Council of Venice #1

Konrad Engel: Like the first Roman Republic, the Council of Venice was a valiant idea,

Konrad Engel: constructed on a foundation of altruism and idealism,

Konrad Engel: supported by pillars of good intentions.

Konrad Engel: Alas, as the Republic before it,

Konrad Engel: the marble of its Senate has been tainted by ambition, corruption and nepotism;

Konrad Engel: its chambers rotting from the inside,

Konrad Engel: leaving nothing but an antiquated institution of spectacular impotence.

• The Council of Venice #2

Konrad Engel: It is not that her agents are all corrupt or inept. No.

Konrad Engel: For the most part, the diplomats apply themselves to the task with diligence,

Konrad Engel: and they believe in what they do. Unfortunately,

Konrad Engel: the very nature of the organisation rewards the pursuit of self-seeking agendas,

Konrad Engel: leaving those with truer intentions gagged and crippled by endless rolls of red tape.

• The Council of Venice #3

Konrad Engel: Should you attempt to spark any kind of critical debate, you can expect nothing in return

Konrad Engel: but a scalding reprimand from the very people who sent you there

Konrad Engel: and an extended "leave of absence."

Konrad Engel: All the while some red-faced freshman straight out of the academy occupies your chair,

Konrad Engel: chiming in with the chorus of "yay" or "nay" as handed down by the leaders of the committee.

• The Council of Venice #4

Konrad Engel: Call me bitter, but such are my experiences within those halls I once revered

Konrad Engel: and that for me held all the promise of the future.

Konrad Engel: I suppose one could argue they still hold the promise of the future,

Konrad Engel: just not the future I believed in.