Baron Klaus Wulfenbach


 * "So I stopped it. And I did it my way this time.  No more negotiating.  No more promises.  No more second chances.  And I did it alone.  Because I had to.  And it worked."

The Baron
Baron Wulfenbach is reluctant tyrant of Europa. While he has functioned as the primary antagonist throughout the series and has been Agatha's foil, his character is more complex.

From all evidence so far, his only surviving family members are his very talented adult son, Gilgamesh, and a mysteriously absent wife, about whom he is quite closemouthed. The Baron himself is a construct, although it is possible that this is only true in a technical sense. The rules of succession of the Fifty Families may therefore make him ineligible to inherit or retain his title... but he's ruling anyway. The circumstances leading to Klaus's reassembly have not been revealed at this time.

The Baron is one of the most powerful Sparks of his generation. He would much prefer to be off exercising his gift by studying the nature of the Spark instead of engaging in politics, but he sees it as his duty to maintain the peace because he's the only one who can. However, his methods are slightly different than those his best friends, Bill and Barry Heterodyne, used to establish peace prior to their disappearance. While the Heterodynes aimed for more mutually cooperative politics based on diplomacy and second chances, Klaus has had far less patience for those who show themselves to be hostile or uncooperative. He maintains this "overgrown kindergarten situation" with a stern and exasperated hand.

Personal history
In earlier years, he studied with Dr. Tarsus Beetle at Transylvania Polygnostic University. He joined with the Heterodyne Boys and their constructs, Punch and Judy, for adventures — killing monsters, stopping out-of-control Sparks — and generally bringing an end to the chaos running rampant over the land which was ruining the lives of peasants and merchants defenseless against (e.g.) giant carnivorous pea-plants. At some point in this period, he started an affair with Lucrezia Mongfish, the Beautiful Daughter of one of their opponents, the evil Dr. Mongfish. Although he likely knew she had romantic interest in Bill Heterodyne, he was shocked at Lucrezia's acceptance of Bill's marriage proposal. Vowing to stop her from ruining his best friend's life, he found instead that she had drugged him and was about to ship him off to parts unknown.

The Other showed up within a few years of Klaus's disappearance. Some time after this, the Baron reappeared in Europa with an infant boy in tow, to find that all the work he had done with the Heterodynes had been undone, and things were even worse than before.

His family lands were ravaged during the aftermath of the Other War and his ancestral castle destroyed. He built a massive airship which in effect served as his new "castle", a slow-moving floating city in itself, reasonably named the Castle Wulfenbach. He started retaking Europa away from chaos by drawing a circle on the map around his ruined barony and declaring it his. Each year, bit by bit, the circle expanded until he maintained an iron-fisted peace over just about all of the eastern part of Europa.

When Klaus first returned from hiatus, people flocked to him, only too happy to take him up on his offer of protection. However, as time went on, and the Baron had to make increasingly difficult decisions, his popularity waned. People began to whisper rumours that he had been The Other, or speculated that he was responsible for the disappearance of the Heterodyne Boys.

He is now a controversial figure; some believe Klaus is best for Europa and serve him wholeheartedly, others grudgingly accept that he's better than the alternative, and a few brave (or foolish) souls plot his downfall for one reason or another.

In general, whatever faults Klaus Wulfenbach may have, what we have seen of the other Sparks of Europa powerful enough to challenge him argues in favor of the belief that he is far preferable as ruler than any alternative. His son, and presumed heir, Gilgamesh Wulfenbach, while not entirely without a ruthless streak, to be weighing the value of his father's methods.

And then there's Agatha.

Klaus and Agatha
Klaus first met Agatha when she was a student at Transylvania Polygnostic University. At that time, due to the effects of the locket she had been wearing, she was held in general contempt by most of the students and faculty there who were acquainted with her, and this colored Klaus' initial impression of her.

When Agatha broke through, constructing her first clank, she did so in her sleep, and did not herself realize that she was the one who had constructed it. Neither did Klaus, who assumed, when he captured both her and Moloch von Zinzer, that Moloch was the Spark who built it.

Klaus finally learned who Agatha really was at the same time as Agatha herself learned it, when he encountered her with her adoptive parents Adam and Lilith Clay, who were actually Punch and Judy. As this was the occasion of her escape from Castle Wulfenbach, his opportunity to make use of this knowledge was limited.

Even under the best of circumstances, Klaus regarded a new Heterodyne heir wandering about on her own in Europe as a grave menace to the peace which he had managed to establish. Given attempts by House Valois to establish a false Heterodyne heir as part of an attempt to conquer Europe, he wasn't far wrong.

The circumstances, however, soon deteriorated from the best to the worst. The next time Klaus faced Agatha, Agatha was under the control of Lucrezia Mongfish, whose personality had been superimposed on her brain. And she had with her a miniature hive engine containing a very special wasp that could enslave a Spark, with which she made Klaus a revenant. Ironically, this encounter also had the result of freeing Agatha from Lucrezia's control, as Klaus had Agatha's locket on his person, and Lucrezia/Agatha put it on, thinking it to be nothing more than a trinket. This did not prevent a battle between Klaus and Agatha, in which Lars lost his life saving Agatha's, and in which Klaus was seriously injured by a circus wagon modified by Agatha.

Klaus still believes Agatha to be the Lucrezia, and therefore the Other, and presumably intends to kill her at his first opportunity on sight. In his eyes, she has already had the one chance which is all he feels he can afford to give.

Klaus's spark
Every spark has a recognizable, somewhat hereditary style. Klaus's spark is more abstract than most. His preferred application of his ability is the study of the Spark itself, which he does, in part, through brain coring. However, his comments to Othar indicate that he would prefer to simply provide a spark with the tools they need and observe them over a long period of time. We have at least one example of his intention to sponsor a spark. He has also shown interest in the work of the spark children he fosters and at least Z|one student was sent to live aboard Castle Wulfenbach simply for the experience.

His spark also allows him to study the technology of others, which he then adapts and improves for his own use. This often means the end result is "bigger and better" than the original concept. (Castle Wulfenbach is an excellent example.)

As a man of science and education, the Baron not only maintains his studies, but occasionally contributes to the body of literature in the areas of his specialties. According to his son, the Baron wrote a monograph on how to communicate in the workplace. It was received with a great amount of... excitement.

Current events
To date in the publication of the histories, the Baron is dealing with the possiblity of a mass J&auml;germonster desertion when they find out they have a Mistress again; being tainted by a special Slaver Wasp designed to affect Sparks; and healing from massive injuries and subsequent burns when a chicken wagon dropped on him during his attempt to kill The Other (while she was in Agatha's body) once and for all. In spite of all this, his current goal appears to be the destruction of Castle Heterodyne with Agatha in it, because he believes her to be the Other. He's not exactly wrong.