Former crown-prince of alternate history Austro-Hungary, former Sturmbannfuhrer of the Osterreichischer Totenkopf, known in history books as Der Metzger von Ostmarch.
Thaddius is a man of almost schizophrenic qualities. On one hand, he is a family man; he adores children, he's polite, level headed, always eager to help his friends ... a nice guy, in short, with few if any enemies.
Thaddius however is also the former head of a Nazi concentration camp, is guilty of some awful war crimes, has certain sociopathic tendancies and is, at times, blatantly both sexist and racist.
He never speaks of his past or his wartime experiences and he still suffers from the horrid burdain of guilt from all the wrongs he's done and the pain he's brought. He has no hope for himself in any afterlife and has fallen from grace with his religion. Yet he still strives for redemption within the German research project.
When seen he's usually sharply dressed in some manner of suit, with his trademark cane, black leather gloves and shoes, and the royal purple colored tie around his neck; the color of his former dynasty.
Thaddius von Ostmarch was born in 1915, born to Emperor Franz Joseph I and his wife Elisabeth of Bavaria. When barely one year old, during the height of the war, his father died - leaving the throne temporarily in the hands of his grand nephew, Charles I of Austria. Knowing that Thaddius was to take over when he'd come to age, Charles became nearly obsessed with the young child's safety, wanting to make sure that Franz's own blood would rule his kingdom. The terrors of war and the constant rebellions led to Thaddius leading a terribly sheltered life. Surrounded by his sisters and his aging mother, he had little contact with other males, learning to distrust - and as a child even fear - them; the only exception being Charles.
When the war ended, Germany suffered greatly from the Treaty of Versailles, while Austro-Hungary under the strong leadership of Charles did not. Even though shaky and unstable from it's many cultural differences and mini-rebellions, the army and their economy remained strong and Charles refused to accept any humiliating terms. However, he did agree to return Italian lands to Italy, and to pay a great deal of money to fund the first Red Cross missions, helping people throughout Europe deal with the aftermath of war and the surge of the Spanish Flu.
In the following years, Thaddius matured and grew, gradually getting more and more freedoms from his uncle. His mother died when he was eight, and one of his sisters fell victim to the Spanish Flu at 12 - she herself was 18 at the time and recently married. At 14, Charles allowed the young boy to begin 'military training', something Thaddius had been obsessed with as he grew up. The training was very light, but more than enough to bring Thaddius to the limit of his abilities; physical training, fire arms training, studies of military histories, tactics and great battles -- that and magic. He excelled in all fields, showing great potential as a mage. His skill surpassed all his teachers, but lack of actual magical energy within him was weak, for now keeping him from actually casting any advanced magics.
At 18, he was a full member of the army forces. At this point, in 1933, Nazi Germany had been born and Thaddius found himself as an avid supporter of the fascists and Hitler himself. The two met on several occasions, with Hitler admitting to others that he was quite fond of the boy, and saw great promise in him. Thus it was Thaddius who brought the SS, and the "Death's Head" division, to Austro-Hungary. He quickly rose to the rank of Sturmbannf????hrer(Major), and at 21 he had been given a division of his own; ?????sterreichischer Totenkopf (Austrian Death's Head). This is where his history becomes the darkest.
Under the guidance of the Nazi Warlock Joseph Zee, Thaddius learned that he could increase his own magical energies through harvesting them from the late dead. In this universe, when anyone dies, their magical energies slowly convert into other energies, often at seemingly random. Instead of having them go to waste, Joseph gathered a small group of magicians who invented a spell that could transfer them into a subject -- Thaddius. In 1941 during the second World War, and after having fought with his Division in both Poland, France and Italy, Thaddius returned to Austria to take control of a concentration camp. The following years are a blur to him, but the death toll exacted upon the 'unwanted' reaches just under 34 thousand. His magical powers are unmatched by any, and he becomes feared throughout Europe. He becomes Der Metzger von Ostmarch (The Butcher of Ostmarch).
In 1945 the tables turned. The combined might of Soviet Russia and the western Allies, now with the fascinating German Vril-Technology in their hands, crushed the Axis armies in France, Spain, Africa, Italy, Russia and Norway. All around them the noose drew tighter. Then at its climax, three things happened that would shape Thaddius forever;
Charles I kills himself in his study, fearing the humiliation and tortures that would surely follow should the Soviets capture him.
Berlin is devestates as Hitler's first and only nuclear bomb is detonated by him. Empowered by massive magical energies, the entire city is reduced, literally, to a crater that in the coming years forms Lake Berlin.
With Hitler's and Charles' death, Thaddius finds himself realizing that the fight is lost -- and the horrors that he himself, by his own hands, unleashed upon thousands of innocents. In a fit of rage and desperation, he kills Joseph Zee and his magi, obliterates his death camp and sets the few remaining survivors free.
After the end of the war, Thaddius fled and went into hiding, travelling through war-torn Italy, through the mech-graveyards of Sicily, through Egyptian held Lybia and from there to Spain and eventually to Argentina. There he was finally arrested by American special forces. He willingly surrendered and was brought discreetly to an American court. He was trialled and found guilty of war crimes, but given the option to instead serve a sentance working with the American government on their magical studies and research program. He accepted.
He's spent the rest of his life in America, not having aged a day and living in luxury, owning his own mansion somewhere in Nevada, hidden from prying eyes with powerful magics. He's now the head of the Magical Studies and Research Project, leading a large number of American and German magi researchers. To this day, he is still unmarried and has no known children.