Harald Gemunsen

It is the duty of the Knights Panther to protect the Empire, untroubled by political bias. Across the land, chapter houses garrison whole rosters of knights and their retainers, who stand ready to answer the call to war against those who would threaten the Empire, but only one has the power to call the entire order to war.
– Harald Gemunsen, the Grand Master of the Knights Panther.

Born within the Grand County of Osterlund to the Graf of Grimminhagen, Harald Gemunsen joined first the Pistol Corps of Middenheim, then the Order of the Knights Panther at a young age. Gemunsen rose quickly through the ranks, from initiate, to sworn knight, to preceptor in but a few short years, earning the respect of his peers and commanders all the while. With his skill-at-arms and eloquent leadership frequently noted by his superiors, Gemunsen became one of the youngest to ever be inducted into the Order’s inner circle.

In the spring of 2265IC, Gemunsen joined his Chapter Master, Otto van Walden, to accompany the Count of Middenheim himself and lead the Knights Panther to the town of Delberz. Here, a great mustering was underway, for the count had decreed that the armies of Middenland would venture into the Drakwald Forest to root out the insidious Beastmen warherds that gathered there.

The fighting itself went well and the count’s forces won many victories over the beasts of the forest, though van Walden would not live to see the campaign’s end. When the old knight was slain by a Ghorgon under the shadow of a great herdstone, Gemunsen’s rallying cry rang out, galvanising the spirits of his comrades in the face of fear. For his heroism, Gemunsen was rewarded with elevation to Chapter Master in van Walden’s place and given command of the prestigious chapter house of the Knights Panther in Middenheim.

In the years that followed, Gemunsen led his brethren to many victories and fought alongside an ever increasing circle of allies, forging bonds of camaraderie that extended far across the turbulent Empire. To the grim and taciturn Knights of Morr, he became a trusted defender of Morr’s realm and hunter of the shambling dead. To the ferocious Knights of the White Wolf, he became a paragon of the unity that should exist between the cults of Sigmar and Ulric, even earning the respect of Ar-Ulric, the high priest of the god of wolves and winter. To the Knights of the Fiery Heart, he became a devout son of Sigmar and protector of his realm.

Perhaps more importantly, Gemunsen’s campaigning far and wide won him many political allies throughout the divided Empire. In Middenheim, he regularly led his brethren in their duties as guards of honour for Count Sigismund. In the Reikland, he debated theology with Prince Wilhelm I and the Grand Theogonist. In Talabecland, he hunted in the forests beside Ludwig XIII. In Marienburg, he drank wine with the Sea Empress, Elspeth Magritta VI herself.

Thus, when the Grand Master Einricsson of the Knights Panther fell at the battle of the Midden Moors and the Chapter Masters of the order gathered at the temple of Sigmar in Altdorf to elect his successor, Gemunsen was the unanimous choice. Since then, he has led his brethren to glory and stands proudly as a unifying influence amidst the turbulent water of Imperial politics.