This article lists the various minor fictional characters who appear in After the Downfall. These characters are identified by name, but play at best a peripheral role in the series. Most were simply mentioned once, or had a very brief, unimportant speaking role that did not impact the plot, and never appeared again.
Karl Edelsheim[]
(POV in one scene)
Sergeant Karl Edelsheim was a career soldier with the Wehrmacht and fought for nearly four years on the Eastern Front. He was the top sergeant in Captain Hasso Pemsel's company for several of those years.
On 29 April 1945, Edelsheim and the survivors of the company were making a last stand in Berlin's Old Museum against the Russians. A heavy smoker and good scrounger, Edelsheim was smoking a cigarette he had made with dubious fixings and a strip of paper torn from Der Panzerbär when Pemsel pointed out a stone artifact in the museum.
As the Captain smoked a cigarette he borrowed from Edelsheim, he read the information placard out loud. Edelsheim, with mild mockery, suggested Pemsel sit down on it and see if it would transport him to another world. On a fatalistic whim Pemsel did so. To Edelsheim's surprise, the Captain vanished. In mad hope, he scrambled half upright toward the stone. This proved to be not enough and Edelsheim was shot between the shoulder blades. As he reached his hand out towards the stone, he died.[1]
Flegrei[]
Flegrei was a Lenello wizard. He was one of many wizards who bet a gold piece that Hasso Pemsel, who had not been shown to be magic-sensitive, could not ride a unicorn. All the bettors were shocked when Pemsel successfully mounted the beast.[2] Later, Flegrei went on a reconnaissance mission and was ambushed and killed by Grenye who castrated his corpse - at least, Pemsel hoped Flegrei was already dead by the time they did that. Pemsel and Aderno burned Flegrei on a funeral pyre.[3]
Friddi[]
Friddi was a Lenello infantry commander. During an expedition near the River Aryesh, a group of Grenye attacked the contingent, and King Bottero angrily wondered how they had got to that side of the river. Friddi suggested magic, even though this was an impossibility for Grenye, and no one present could come up with a better explanation.[4]
Klaus Frisch[]
Klaus Frisch was a Lutheran chaplain in the Wehrmacht. Hasso Pemsel remembered him as a dour non-smoker.[5]
Maximilian Eugen von Heydekampf[]
In 1893, Herr Doktor Professor Maximilian Eugen von Heydekampf went on an archaeological expedition to Delphi. There he discovered a previously unknown temple to Zeus. The ruins contained a number of artifacts including a Omphalos stone. Professor von Heydekampf brought them back to Berlin and placed them in an exhibit in the Old Museum.
In 1895, an imperial reception was held at the museum. Professor von Heydekampf mysteriously disappeared during this reception and was never seen again.
In 1945, as Berlin was being taken by the Russians, Hasso Pemsel deduced that the Omphalos had a role in the mystery, and traveled by it out of his world and into the history of another.
Lupul[]
Lupul was a Grenye peasant living near Castle Svarag, who was rounded up in Aderno's purge of suspected Bucovinan spies. When he heard another Grenye being tortured, Lupul confessed to spying for Bucovin. Aderno's advisor Hasso Pemsel, who disapproved of torture except when it was to extract information, arranged for Lupul to be executed swiftly and humanely by decapitation.[6]
Magar[]
Magar was one of a number of suspected Grenye spies rounded up near Castle Svarag. He denied that he had been running toward Bucovin when he was arrested, and said he had only been escaping from a fight with his wife. Aderno ordered Magar sent to the torturers for interrogation. Aderno's advisor Hasso Pemsel, who disliked torture but regarded it as a necessary evil, entreated Aderno to make sure that the torturers would ply their trade only for the purpose of seeking truth, and not for the fun of torturing.[7]
Shugmeshte[]
Shugmeshte was a Bucovinan whom Hasso Pemsel trained as a gunpowderman. Shugmeshte reported gleefully that the dragon-bone amulet had concealed the minefield from Lenello wizards, and the minefield had killed one and his unicorn.[8]
Sondrio[]
Sondrio was a Lenello soldier in the band who chased Hasso Pemsel after the latter had been deemed a traitor. Pemsel got the drop on Sondrio and cut his throat.[9]
Tsiam[]
Tsiam was a Bucovinan girl, quite beautiful by Grenye standards, who was sent by Lord Zgomot to warm Hasso Pemsel's bed. She had been the bedmate of the king's advisor Otset, but he had tired of her. Pemsel refused her advances, because he only had eyes for Drepteaza.[10]
Unaril[]
Unaril was a Grenye metalsmith. He was placed in charge of the first batch of artillery shells that Hasso Pemsel taught the Grenye to make.[11]
References[]
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