Court magician and tutor to House Bethlen, later in the service of Prince Matthias. Died about three years ago. (S6)
He is a guess, not a lead
Uncle and Ismad only speculate that von-Haup might have been capable of a warp-circle ritual. Nothing confirms it. (GM) The wiki previously called him “Uncle’s Men’s candidate for the builder” of the Kraus’s Folly circle; that overstated it. He is a name two intelligence men produced when asked who could even do such a thing — not evidence about who did.
What We Know (all S6, via Ismad from Uncle and Maajid)
- Served as court magician and tutor to the Bethlens — the house that ruled Krenau until its massacre in 1720.
- Then entered the service of Matthias Melnich, Prince of Strelitz — Constanza Bethlen’s guardian. (Aaron confirms “Prince Mathias” is Matthias Melnich.)
- Uncle and Ismad speculate he might have been capable of a warp-circle ritual. The session notes render this as “a magician powerful enough to have created the teleportation circle” — but per the GM that is their speculation and nothing confirms it. No source places him at Kraus’s Folly, and nothing establishes he ever built a circle at all.
- To the best of anyone’s knowledge, he died three years ago — ~1736.
Why He Matters
He matters for what is established, not for the circle. The Bethlens’ own household magician moved, at some point after 1720, into the household of the prince who was secretly raising the last Bethlen. He was there for both halves of Constanza’s life: the family she was born into, and the man who hid her. If anyone knew who Constanza was before Madeline did, it was him. That is a real thread and it does not depend on the warp circle at all.
Speculation — now much weaker
The wiki previously ran this as “he is the obvious link between Constanza and the swordsman”: a circle built by Constanza’s family magician, above Halwa, would mean the Folly’s lord had access to Bethlen-adjacent talent. That rested entirely on him having built the circle, which the GM says nothing confirms. Keep the shape of the idea — somebody with Bethlen-household knowledge may be near the Folly — but von-Haup is not evidence for it. Do not plan around this.
Speculation
Two Krenau men died in the same year. Von-Haup (~1736) and Kristof Gruben (~1736). The Owl was dissolved and its members executed in Spring 1736. Three data points is not a pattern, but a house magician and a lord mayor of the same city dying in the year the West cleaned house is worth a check on how each of them died.
Speculation
“To the best of our knowledge” is Uncle’s Men hedging. The wiki should hold his death as reported, not verified. Compare Benedicto Malipiero — officially executed, and Uncle and Ismad doubt it anyway (GM). The campaign has a habit of producing people who were supposed to be gone.
Open Questions
- How did he die, and where?
- Was he still with the Melnichs at the end, or had he moved on again? Matthias was murdered in Spring 1734; Gunter succeeded.
- Did he survive the 1720 Bethlen massacre by luck, by absence, or by arrangement?
- Did he know Constanza was alive? He tutored her family. He then served her guardian.
- Could he actually perform ritual magic at all? Uncle and Ismad guessed he might. Nobody has checked. A court magician and tutor is not automatically a ritualist — see Magic and Casting Traditions.
Relationships
- House Bethlen — his first employers; massacred 1720. See Morrschatten, Krenau
- Matthias Melnich — his later master
- Constanza Bethlen — his employers’ heir, and possibly his student’s daughter
- The unnamed swordsman of Kraus’s Folly — no established connection at all; the circle link is Uncle and Ismad’s speculation (GM)