Ronald von Waldstein
Information
Name	Ronald von Waldstein
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Born	12 AGE Waldstein Palace
World	Asleep Universe
Occupation	Prince of Waldia (12 AGE - )
Native language	Waldian

Ronald von Waldstein (born Rommel; 12 AGE - ) is the Crown Prince of Waldia.

Appearance

Ronald has a slender, yet muscular build, and short brown hair with a neatly-trimmed beard and moustache. In his youth, his handsomeness and athleticism made him the subject of many a female crush within Waldia and beyond.

As a young man, Ronald would dress in ornate leather armour, painted in forest green and decorated with golden trim. These days, he retains the same colours - although he tends to wear silk jackets, accompanied by a small golden crown (which, in common with his father's, contains four different-coloured jewels, each representing one of the four provinces of Waldia).

Personality

As a young man, Rommel was fiercely independent, and often rebellious - as he sought to wriggle free from under the thumb of his overly-protective father. He enjoyed a great many adventures - but was very prone to overenjoying himself (particularly when it came to drink and women).

As he got older, Ronald managed to shake off his self-indulgent habits. He is now a devoted family man, much like his father - although tries his best not to as strict with his own children as Otto was with him.

Like his father, Ronald is a vegetarian. He hasn't always been this way - he used to enjoy eating meat whenever his parents weren't around - but he did eventually choose to adopt this diet himself, when he came to understand his father better. Unlike him, however, Ronald doesn't force vegetarianism on his own children.

Relationships

Archduke Otto - Ronald's father, who has ruled Waldia for his entire life. The two of them have always had a tense relationship, due to various personality clashes (for example, Ronald has always enjoyed hunting, whereas Otto is a life-long vegetarian). Furthermore, he was frustrated with the high standards that his father had for him in his youth (not to mention his constant interference in his personal life). However, after starting a family of his own, he came to realise that his father was simply acting out of love, and attempting to keep him on the right path.

Cheryl - Rommel's first girlfriend, from his teenage years. Even after they broke up (on the orders of Archduke Otto), they remained good friends, and continued to exchange gifts, and visit one another on a yearly basis.

Aliana - Rommel's second girlfriend, who stayed with him for nearly a year. Archduke Otto hoped that this relationship would lead to a marriage, and an alliance with New Atlantis; however, this didn't happen, as Aliana's personality and work schedule conflicted with Rommel's. These days, they don't maintain a close friendship, although they are at least on speaking terms.

Jocelyn - One of the many women whom Rommel enjoyed a romantic fling with in his young adulthood. They met at the dance at Aliana's wedding - after which Rommel offered to take her back to Waldia. However, she refused, as she didn't wish to be separated from her friend Chris.

Story

Early Childhood

Ronald (or 'Rommel' as he was initially known) was born in the year 12 AGE, to Archduke Otto of Waldia and his wife, Annika. He was the first of three children - followed by a brother named Jürgen, and a daughter named Sabine.

From a young age, Archduke Otto was very strict with Prince Rommel and his siblings. He required them to follow his vegetarian diet; forced them to finish their schoolwork before they started playing; and made them go to bed by 9pm every night. This firmness did ensure that all three of them achieved impressive grades; however, it wasn't much fun for any of them. Fortunately for them, Otto's rulership duties kept him from spending all of his time with them - and therefore, they spent quite a lot of time with their uncle, Tomas. He was far more lenient with the children than Otto was: he allowed them to eat meat (and even go hunting), and didn't care when they played as long as they got all their work done. Sadly for Rommel, when he was 9 years old, Otto found out about all of this - and kicked Tomas out of the castle.

As Rommel approached his 10th birthday, Otto kept a very watchful eye over him his siblings. He vetted all of their teachers and guardians very carefully, to ensure that none of them ever strayed from his rigid parenting decisions. Naturally, this was the most depressing year of Rommel's life - and, his school grades began to suffer as a result. In the end, Annika managed to persuade Otto that he was being too harsh - and so, he began to loosen up his treatment of him. He still didn't allow him to eat any meat; however, when he did complete all of his schoolwork, he gave him a small bag of sweets as a reward. At once, Rommel's mood and his grades improved: the sweets provided a powerful incentive to work harder, and he had a particular liking for the Blackcurrant Bonanzas.

Teenage Years

For the next three years, Rommel became the model student that his father always wanted to be. As a result, he was rewarded with more freedom - as well as his own thoroughbred horse, whom he named Heinrich. However, after he turned 13, his grades began to dip again - when he discovered girls for the first time. He didn't actively seek them out (indeed, they were the ones who made advances towards him) - but, he soon found himself spending more and more time with them. Otto accepted that he couldn't stop Rommel from going out with girls - but he did insist once again that he complete all of his schoolwork first (and as he was getting older, the work itself was becoming more and more demanding). This left Rommel with very little time and energy for going out - and so, many of the girls naturally lost interest.

When he was 14, things took a tragic turn for the worse - as a plague of woodpox swept all across Waldia. One fifth of the population lost their lives - including Rommel's grandmother Gisela, his uncle Tomas, and - worst of all - his little brother Jürgen. Rommel himself survived the plague - but he had to spend a month in the infirmary. These losses in the family devastated both Otto and Rommel - and brought them together like never before. Otto dedicated the next to years to helping both him and Sabine to excel at their studies. As a result of this intensive preparation, Rommel graduated from school with a First Class certificate, a few months after turning 16.

After completing his studies, Prince Rommel's first official task was to reform the castle's musical ensemble, which had disbanded after losing half its members to the woodpox plague. It was in this capacity that he met an Elvish musician named Cheryl - who became his first serious girlfriend. For the next two years, she stayed loyally by his side, accompanying him on his diplomatic missions to other castles - and impressing their hosts with her flute-playing. Sadly, it was not to last: when Rommel declared his intentions to marry Cheryl, Otto refused permission, stating that he was instead to marry a princess. Rommel attempted to argue Cheryl's case - but he was eventually forced to relent, and bring an end to the relationship. Both of them were devastated - and Cheryl left the castle altogether, to start a new life elsewhere.

Otto soon felt guilty about ending his son's happy relationship - and, in order to make amends, he set about trying to find him a new princess. He got in contact with several rulers, including Duke Nestor of New Atlantis, whose daughter Aliana had just turned 16. They agreed that Aliana would come to Waldstein - where she and Rommel would enjoy a spectacular first date, featuring a four-course banquet followed by a concert performed by the now-Cheryl-less music ensemble. Before the night was over, the couple announced plans to marry by the end of the month... but sadly, it was all downhill from here. Rommel discovered that Aliana was very spoiled - and so, he had trouble keeping up with her constant demands. As a result, the wedding was repeatedly postponed - and eventually cancelled altogether, as Rommel and Aliana agreed that they weren't right for each other after all.

Adulthood and Name Change

After the heartbreak of being forced to leave Cheryl, and the exhaustion of dealing with Aliana, Rommel decided that long-term relationships weren't for him. Instead, he dedicated his spare time to travelling around the continent - spending his days taking in the local sights and culture; his evenings getting drunk on the local ale; and his nights with any pretty ladies who would have him. Needless to say, Otto and Annika were thoroughly embarrassed with their son's hedonistic behaviour - but the way Rommel saw it, he was merely fulfilling the crushes that all these women had on him - and in any case, he would rather make lots of women happy than make one woman miserable. In the end, however, Rommel's parents did put a stop to it - after an Elvish thief named Olga tricked him into letting her into his room, and then, in the middle of the night, escaped with all of his valuables.

After recovering what they could of what Olga had stolen, Otto and Annika persuaded Rommel to have another go at a proper relationship with a princess. They introduced him to Agnieszka - a young, red-haired princess from the neighbouring kingdom of Great Rzikia, who shared his love of Blackcurrant Bonanzas. Perhaps it was a silly thing for them to bond over - but it did the trick, and within a year, Agnieszka and Rommel were married. At the wedding, to signify the fact that he was now a new man, who had left his past behaviour behind him, Rommel officially changed his name to 'Ronald'.

From that day forward, Ronald was devoted solely to Agnieszka - and the couple had four children (named Pavel, Tomas Jr, Magdalena, and Otto Jr). Ronald does not know how many of his numerous romantic escapades resulted in children - although he is aware of at least three, including a daughter he had with Olga. He is not involved in their upbringing - although, he has paid for first-class university education for all three of them, and he promises to do the same for any more children he later discovers. But primarily, he now spends his days preparing for eventual rulership - as, much to his frustration, his 77-year-old father remains stubbornly on the throne, despite his attempts to persuade him to abdicate.

Ronald has grand plans for when he eventually becomes Archduke - including a lavish new palace called 'Jürgenstein', to serve as a winter home for himself and his family. When work can start on his vision remains to be seen.

Trivia

Prince Ronald is fluent in four languages: Waldian, Modern Archonian, Kemmelisch, and Great Rzikian. He also has some knowledge of New Boreal and Novoatlantean.

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