Gustav Metzger

Overview

Herr Gustav Metzger is a 52-year-old master instrument maker and craftsman who serves the Brotherhood as the primary builder of the Harmonic Engine’s mechanical components. Like Dr. Reiner, Metzger does not understand the true nature of his work.

Herzfeld has told Metzger that he is building an experimental pipe organ for acoustic research. Metzger is skilled, professional, and has seen the brass tubing and bellows mechanisms but has never seen the biological components that are integrated with his craftsmanship. He has no idea that his instrument is designed to mechanize human suffering.

Physical Description

A stocky, powerfully built man with the weathered hands and strong forearms of someone who works with metal and wood. Grey hair worn short, a substantial grey beard, penetrating blue eyes. He dresses practically in work clothes — leather apron, sturdy boots, sleeves rolled up. His hands are stained with years of metal work and wood polish.

Statistics

Skills

• Mechanical Repair 80%
• Craftsmanship (Instrument Making) 85%
• Design/Architecture 60%
• German (Native) 90%
• French 45%
• Italian 40%

Personality

Professional, detail-oriented, and proud of his work. Metzger approaches the Engine commission as the culmination of his career — an opportunity to work on something genuinely innovative. He is skilled enough to be confident in his abilities and simple enough in his outlook to avoid asking dangerous questions.

Key Traits:

• Craftsman pride: Takes pride in quality of work; the Engine is his masterpiece
• Professional: Focused on the technical challenges rather than larger implications
• Incurious: Does not ask questions beyond what he needs to do his job
• Honest: If asked directly about his work, he will answer truthfully (without understanding its implications)

Daily Patterns

What Metzger Has Constructed

• Main brass frame and support structure: The skeleton of the Engine, built from brazed and welded brass tubing
• Bellows system: Three integrated sets of mechanical bellows for air pressure regulation
• Key mechanism: Levers, wires, and pivots designed to operate whatever will ultimately control the Engine’s “voice”
• Acoustic chamber: Modifications to the anatomical theatre’s stone walls, including bracing and acoustic enhancements
• Piping and sound-producing components: Brass tubes of various gauges and acoustical properties

Metzger has not seen and does not understand:

• The organic components (lungs, vocal cords, hands, brain)
• How his mechanical work integrates with the biological elements
• The true purpose of the Engine
• The victims’ role in the construction

Vulnerabilities

Professional Pride: Metzger’s greatest vulnerability is his pride in his work. If investigators can convince him that his craftsmanship is being used for atrocity rather than innovation, he will be devastated.

The Deception: Metzger will be profoundly angry when he learns the truth. Anger at Herzfeld for deceiving him, anger at himself for not asking questions, and potentially anger at the investigators for forcing him to confront what he has built.

After Learning the Truth:

• Initial denial (this can’t be true; I would have noticed)
• Rationalization (perhaps it’s not as bad as you’re saying)
• Realization and devastation (understanding the full scope of the atrocity)
• Either desperate desire to undo his work, or descent into depression/despair

Interactions with PCs

If Encountered at Workshop

Metzger will be professional but guarded. If questioned about his work, he will describe it in technical terms as “experimental acoustic research apparatus.” He will not volunteer that Herzfeld is involved or that the work is ongoing.

If Directly Asked About the Engine

Metzger will become suspicious. He will not reveal anything that might compromise the security of the project. He will, however, inadvertently reveal details through his technical explanations.

If Confronted with Evidence of the Biological Components

Metzger will initially deny it. “Impossible. I would have seen. Herzfeld would have told me.” When forced to accept the evidence, he will experience a severe moral crisis.

If Turned to the Party’s Side

Once converted, Metzger can provide:

• Detailed blueprints of the Engine’s mechanical structure
• Identification of structural weaknesses that could be sabotaged
• Technical explanation of how the mechanical elements integrate with the biological components
• Assistance in designing countermeasures or sabotage approaches

Combat

Metzger is not a combatant. He is large and strong but not trained in violence. He prefers to avoid confrontation. If forced to fight, he fights defensively, trying to escape rather than to harm. He will surrender rather than fight to the death.

Session Appearances

Metzger should not appear directly in early sessions. References to “the craftsman” or unusual mechanical orders to material suppliers can be uncovered through investigation. By Session 9–10, if the party is planning sabotage of the Engine, Metzger becomes relevant as either an obstacle or a potential asset.

Final Notes

Metzger represents the technical specialist who enables atrocity through professional focus and lack of imagination. He is neither wicked nor foolish — he is simply a skilled man hired to do skilled work, with insufficient ethical oversight. His conversion from unwitting accomplice to reluctant ally is possible but requires confronting him with the full weight of what he has built.

[!info] Keeper Only If Metzger is captured or turns to the party’s side before August 14, he can provide specific guidance on sabotaging the Engine’s mechanical components. A skilled saboteur working from his information could cripple the Engine before the ritual night, possibly preventing the operation entirely. However, if Herzfeld realizes Metzger has been compromised, he will eliminate Metzger and attempt to complete the Engine without him — which is possible but more difficult.

Relationships

• Serves Albin Herzfeld — Constructs mechanical components; believes project is experimental organ
• Contributes to Harmonic Engine — Constructs brass piping and mechanical elements