Von Stollen
Von Stollen is a key member of the Berman Empire and one of the major bosses in Fuga: Melodies of Steel.
He returns in Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2 as a supporting character to the children throughout their journey.
Biography
Viewing war as a game, Stollen got results through cruel and cunning schemes. General Von Baum is his friendly rival.
Stollen is an incredibly lanky and elderly Grey Hound Caninu. He dressed in a decorated uniform and keeps a cape over his shoulders. He appeared to be blind with how wall-eyed and washed out his irises were. Stollen also stood with a noticeable hunch.
History
Fuga: Melodies of Steel
He is first introduced along side Von Stollen playing a game of chess, when they are both alerted that a giant tank is heading towards their prison camp. The two ready themselves for battle in eager anticipation of destroying what they believe to be the Gasco Army's secret weapon, making a game of it together to see who will emerge victorious first. When the Taranis arrives and it is revealed to be piloted by children, the two are dumbfounded, but nonetheless try to destroy the tank.
The duo are defeated and their Gheists are destroyed but the two generals survive, and plead with the children for mercy. The prison camp is liberated by the children, but they do not find their loved ones. The children of the Taranis then demand to know where their loved ones from Petit Mona where taken in exchange for sparing the lives of the old generals, and the defeated duo tell the children that all prisoners they received were moved further south towards another prison camp to the southern most edge of the Free Lands of Gasco. Afterwards, the duo flee from the camp and are never seen again for the rest of the game.
Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2
One year after the events of the first game, Von Baum and Von Stollen appear again on the road out in the woods as the children are chasing down Jihl in the Tarascus. The old generals, having been stranded in hostile territory for the past year (and having lived near an abandoned Crusade temple the whole time), are overjoyed at the sight of the Tarascus, believing that Shvein Hax has returned to rescue them and return them home, only to be taken as prisoners of war by the children.
The duo are then humiliatingly confined to a spare closet near the Managarm, are are placed under house arrest by the children as prisoners of war. A deal is struck with the children and the old generals; Von Baum and Von Stollen will not be handed over to any Gasco Army patrols as long as they behave themselves, with the old generals also offering to exchange their lifetime of military knowledge and battle experience to aid the children.
The duo continue to stay aboard the Tarascus, later moving into the Exo-Taranis, and silently plan on taking the tank for themselves to return it to the Berman Empire, by first gaining the trust of the children and then betraying them at the right moment. (with AI Shvein Hax being aware of their plan the entire time without the generals being aware that they were being watched). After the children reach a port halfway through the game, Von Stollen goes out for a walk and happens upon a Berman soldier that has defected to Gasco. The man is alarmed, and Von Stollen blackmails him with a secret bargain in exchange for not revealing his identity to the public.
After Cayenne Riesling reveals he plans on reviving the Vanargand to destroy the Berman Empire, the old generals are shocked and appalled by this news, and continue to ride the tank with the children as they vow to stop him.
After reaching the port of Valinco, Von Stollen meets another man secretly in contact with the Berman Empire, and reveals that he has created an plan to escape from the Exo-Taranis with Von Baum to Pharaoh. The two generals decide not to make their move yet, in order to avoid creating suspicious from the children.
Later, during the battle with the Vanargand over Pharaoh, the two request that they depart the tank so as to not get in the way of the children's mission, feigning hurting their backs. The children are suspicious of them suddenly being "hurt", but ultimately let them go as they have more pressing matters at hand. The two "grandpas" wish the children a genuine good luck and goodbye, showing that the old generals had bonded with the children despite their initial dislike of them.
With the city on fire and the Gasco Army scrambling to fight the Vanargand, the two generals contemplate if their secret escape plan, a get away airship capable of holding the Exo-Taranis, is even still available. They decide to take it regardless, citing that they wouldn't have a way to steal the Exo-Taranis at this rate and valuing their own safety amongst the ongoing carnage. As the children have climbed their way into Old Paresia and the Vanargand begins to turn in midair to make the city and the children fall to their deaths, the old generals have a change of heart and return to aid them. Initiating a "trust fall", Hax lets the Exo-Taranis fall onto their airship where it secured and flown to the head of the Vanargand (Hax also reveals to the children that Von Baum and Von Stollen were planning on stealing the tank, but they forgive them). After General Merlot and Cannelle Muscat arrive to escort the children to the Vanargand's head, the duo hold the tank steady as it fights the Vanargand.
After the Vanargand is destroyed, the two old generals become key players in signing a peace treaty between the Berman Empire and Free Lands of Gasco.
Gallery
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Countdown illustration by Seiichiro Hosokawa
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Von Baum & Von Stollen as depicted in the Fuga manga
Trivia
- Both Baum's and Stollen's breeds of Caninu are of British origin. This is quite ironic as the Berman Empire is solely comprised of German breeds.
- The two elderly generals' uniforms are also strikingly similar to Britain's WWI uniforms. This makes their presence even more strange as Britain was one of the leading allies against Germany.
- In keeping with the food-themed naming scheme, Stollen is named after stollen, which is German fruit bread.
- Von Stollen and Von Baum have a small exchange with Hack Montblanc and Socks Million when they come across the children reading The Adventures of Sucre comics. They initially complain that such material rots the minds of the youth, but the two children refute this claim by offering to give their issues of the comics to the generals to prove that they are not rubbish. Both men eventually become hooked on the reading material (with Von Stollen even deducing that the two children intentionally withheld the last 2 issues of the 10 issue comic from them as a test to see if they would actually read everything).
