Claus Hugo Strandberg, banker and industrialist, of the prominent Baltic Strandberg family renowned as bankers, industrialists, politicians, bureaucrats, diplomats and are present in most large Baltic industrial groupswas sitting and having his usual
coffee and cinnamon bun during the early morning in one of the charming cafés in
Königsberg, capital city of Balticum. He is also the current Head of the Alba Karinya subsidiary of Umbrella Corporation.
Today was a special day as he had the time off and was preparing to meet arguably the prominent businessman of Nemerie, namely Thomas Miral; the two would conduct a deal which meant that Mr. Miral would potentially acquire the rights to set up diverse hotels, apartments and other properties along the banks of the Königsberg waterside front. The thing was that Mr. Wallenberg was desperately trying to find investors but to no avail, until now. He was surprised that there weren't many interested considering the location was one of the best to set up properties (perhaps due to the communistic high taxes, bah), but oh well the corporation had to take the best alt. available considering the amount of land they own and maintain. Marcus took up his
Patek Philippe pocket watch,
"just before nine, good, very good indeed". Marcus to mention, also had very close and good connections with several politicians including the current Reichskanzler Gabriel Pomeroy.
One thing worth to note is that Claus himself is arguably the most controversial living member of his family, due to his reputation in the business world and the fact that he has been accused (though never convicted) of launching a complicated version of a classic Ponzi scheme in the family bank business and over the years embezzles billions of kroner from his criminal activities to the public. You see, as a teenager he showed all the signs of a high functioning sociopath: charming, charismatic, extroverted, and above all, trust-invoking and inspiring, a born leader and a first-rate charlatan. Strandberg studied economics in Königsberg, but never graduated beyond the baccalaureate degree. Instead, he created an elaborate web of fake, stellar academic credentials including a business MBA and a PhD in macroeconomics from the non-existing "Kronstadt University". However, when his later employers and even family members began questioning his credentials, Strandberg cunningly paid a convincing actress to impersonate an official of the fake university to "verify" his degrees. Claus Strandberg comes across as jovial, energetic and charismatic. Like all corporate sociopaths, he is persuasive, appears trustworthy and disciplined, and has the ability to make you feel the most important person in the world. However, if one decides to piss him off, he will cheerfully rob you blind, seeing human interaction mostly as a game of attrition, where winner takes all.
