Edmund Rappen
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Ed Rappen is by far the most admired of all Guffingfordian bandits that rode around in the west of the nation. Feared by his enemies, respected by his friends (even the British appreciated his presence to some degree) he waged war on Luambo in The Luambo Wars and was a key person in the many raids in the last weeks before the conflict broke out. He did not have any scrupules, and killed a Luambo women as easily as one of their outstanding warriors. Hit by bullets too many times to count - he said about himself that only God could directly kill him.
Born in Bern, Switzerland somewhere around Spring 1866 his family at some point decided in 1870 they wanted to move away from Europe and ended up in Freestate Neu-Bayern. There the Rappen family was confronted with looting men pouring down the lush hills from Zarbia and at an early age he was confronted with death and killing. This situation dragged on and on until he and some of his friends (one of them was Xaviero Guerra) robbed the recently established Hoogenbosch Redmound Company in Hoogenbosch and immediately a search warrant was spread to get him. Dead or alive they wanted him, but Ed Rappen managed to escape to the relative safety of the no man's land between Kaiser Wilhelms Land and the Knootian colonies. There he remained until the heat was gone, and returned to Neu-Bayern only to find out his parents already left for Switzerland again.
This enraged Ed Rappen, but he dealt with his anger. He promised himself if he couldn't impress his parents, then he'd impress everybody else on this land. And that's what he did. His role in various gangs remain questionable, but his role in the Luambo War shines like a star. A gifted commander, a trustworthy man and honest - and ruthless and without mercy to his enemies. After the Independence from Knootoss he continued to ride his horse along with his friends over the western plains and hills (the City Watch called them his partners in crime) to pillage Luambo settlements; but his days of honour passed in 1902.
In 1920 he retired from public life and tried to live like any normal retired person but the itch to be free and ride into the wilderness remained. His spirit unbroken, his body aging Ed began to ride through the wild alone, learning many of the old ways of living and the history of the placed he visited. His life dragged on until 1931 when he was caught in Gloucterbury. The British did not have any solid reason to imprison him, but they found it better for themselves to get rid of Ed Rappen altogether. Banished from Guffingford, he tried to escape into the wild again but was caught by Lordling Dernhest, a British bountyhunter by sheer luck.
Ed Rappen moved back to Switzerland in 1932 where he married Eva Lökholm. Both of them lived a very peaceful life until Ed Rappen died in 1944.
