Legendary alchemist/
diplomat/
con-man/
musician/
Illuminatus/
liar/
mystery. Born approximately
1710 and died in
1784.
Saint-Germain first came to
prominence when he appeared at the court of
Louis XV of
France. He told everyone that his
name was "Comte de Saint-Germain", that he had great
alchemical powers, and that he was able to
repair flawed
diamonds. Louis liked him (and his diamonds), and he sent Saint-Germain on a
secret peace mission to
Holland and
England. However, the English
captured him and
deported him to the
Austrian Netherlands. After that, he spent the rest of his life
traveling
Europe, going from one
royal court to another.
And still,
no one really knows who he was. It has been theorized that he was a
jeweler's son from
Bohemia or
Hungary who made up stories of his
mystical prowess in order to sell his diamond
coloring
techniques (and, not coincidentally, gave him the
opportunity to
con money and
acclaim from the wealthiest families in Europe).
Saint-Germain had other useful
talents besides
grifting. He was a talented
musician and
composer -- his
compositions have been compared to those of
Handel,
Telemann, and
Gluck. He invented "
Russian tea" -- a
laxative used by the
Russian Navy during a
Meditarranean campaign. He developed
dyeing techniques which allowed him to
counterfeit gems. He was
fluent in over a dozen
languages, and his feats of
memorization astounded the French court.
Of course, Saint-Germain's
eccentricities also helped gain him
fame. When he appeared in
public, he dressed only in
black and white. He liked to talk about
history in the
first person. A
senile countess'
recollection of seeing him (looking the same age) back in
1710 led him to claim to possess the
Elixir of Youth. He traveled under a
dizzying array of
aliases. He claimed to be a lost
prince of
Transylvania.
And since his
death, Saint-Germain's legend has only grown
stronger. It's said by some that he was a
Masonic secret master; that he taught
Mesmer,
Swedenborg, and
Cagliostro; that he helped put
Catherine the Great on the Russian throne; that he conspired against
George II of England; that he designed the
flag and
seal of the
United States; that he caused the
French Revolution; that he was the
prophet Samuel; that he was an
18th dynasty High Priest of Ra; that he was
St. Alban; that he was
Merlin; that he was
Roger Bacon; that he was
Tsong-ka-pa (the founder of
Yellow Hat Buddhism); that he was
Christian Rosenkreutz; that he was
Janos Hunyadi, a
Transylvanian hero; that he was
Christopher Columbus; that he was
Sir Francis Bacon; that he was
Marcel Duchamp; that he was a
vampire; that he's still
alive today, manipulating events
behind the scenes and creating
collaboratively-filtered databases...
Research from GURPS Who's Who 2, compiled by Phil Masters, "Le Comte de Saint-Germain" by Kenneth Hite, pp. 70-71.Lord of Nothings reminds me that Saint-Germain is also an important and immortal "plot device/secret leader/general badass" in the
Unknown Armies roleplaying game.