Captain Franz von Trotta

Written by Jacob Eugster Edited by Zach Batson

During the Italian wars of the 1850s, the young Kaiser Franz Josef often accompanied Imperial military staff into combat. This practice had fallen out of popularity with monarchs after the deaths of Tsar Alexander I of Russia and King Frederick William III of Prussia at the battle of Austerlitz in 1805. A young and brash monarch, Imperial Kaiser Franz Josef disregarded the advice of his military commanders, and often accompanied Imperial forces operating in northern Italy. On one occasion a poor Jewish-Slovenian soldier named Jakob Trotta unceremoniously tackled the Kaiser from his horse to protect him from an oncoming hail of gunfire. The Kaiser rewarded him with the title Baron Trotta von Sipolje, and elevated him to the rank of Captain.

Members of this family would go on to serve as the personal bodyguards for Kaiser Franz Josef for the duration of his very long reign. Three generations of Von Trottas served faithfully under the old Kaiser, and members of the family traditionally still serve a tour as the heads of the Kaiser's honor guard. After serving as such for at least five years, family members are allowed to request a transfer to active service, a tradition begun by Captain Franz Von Trotta II in 1914. Family members are routinely dispatched as the chiefest and most loyal agents of the House Von Habsburg, and in 1938 it is said that whenever you bow before a Von Habsburg, there is surely a Von Trotta watching you from the scope of a rifle. When asked about this rumor, the current Kaiser Otto has responded by saying that such matters are not to be discussed in the interest of public safety.

When Archduke Franz Ferdinand departed for Paris in 1938, his personal bodyguard, Captain Franz Von Trotta IV, did not go with him. Having been dispatched to Hungary on a personal errand of the Archduke, Captain Von Trotta was unable to protect him from the French mob. The Captain disregarded his previous orders and immediately set off for Paris in his personal transport. However, by the time he surreptitiously arrived in the city, it was too late, and the Archduke had been executed by Guillotine the previous morning. Unwilling to abandon his ward again, the Captain and his small entourage raided the morgue where the Archduke's body was being kept, killing 4 French soldiers in the process from his sniper perch in a nearby building. Upon his return to Vienna with the body, Kaiser Otto rewarded Captain Von Trotta with the Order of the Golden Fleece. In addition, as the current Baron Von Sipolje, Captain Von Trotta has been given all the resources needed to conduct espionage and counter-espionage against the French, to ensure that Franz Ferdinand is the final member of the family lost to violence.

Aligned Organization

The Holy Roman Empire