About Carolina

Carolina is a gifted philosopher and arbiter of justice, who, for many, exudes confidence and an aura of mystery. Born in St. Petersburg to a strict Protestant family, Carolina has grown to resent the Reformed church at a young age. She has intellectually pursued philosophy ever since. Her perception is insightful, her ideas original and her logic formidable. And she can push through change with iron willpower. Unfortunately, she often finds it challenging to find gifted minds like her, leaving nobody able to keep up with her relentless intellectualism.

Go to Carolina's story

About Carolina

Carolina’s story is one of knowledge and truth.

Carolina's tale starts when she is drawn into a quarrel by her best friend and lifelong soulmate Marie von Arx. Marie tells her about a devious financial scheme she uncovered. Carolina, however, calls her out on the absurdity of her outlandish beliefs. When Carolina visits Marie the next day, she finds Marie hanging dead from the ceiling and happens upon evidence and clues that corroborate Marie's story. Desperately in search of answers, Carolina makes her way to an investor party pretending to be a house maiden, where she steals a most-confidential document and a ledger that could expose the scheme of the century. The next day, she goes to Palais Ferstel to confront the scheme's central figure, Nathaniel Goldschild. In an ultimate showing of hubris, Nathaniel takes Carolina down to the gold reserves to show her the proceeds of his white-collar crimes, only to be arrested by Manuel Kronenberg, the corrupt and highest-ranking official of the k.k. Gendarmerie suddenly conspiring against Nathaniel. Carolina then finds a letter that incriminates Reinhold Mitterlehener, her colleague at the university. At first, he threatens to ruin her career but soon resorts to brutally raping her. Carolina grows obsessed with having him atone for his deed and confess to his sins. After Reinhold is violently forced to sign the debt amnesty, and he gets beaten, bonded, and stripped of all clothing, exposed to the eyes and jeers of the population, until murdered publicly, Carolina starts to seriously question herself and her motives. Although against her better judgment, Carolina joins the rebels on their way to Palais Ferstel, only to find out that the rebels are as avaricious as the clandestine members. Horrified by the violent nature of human greed, she suffers a complete mental breakdown and dies as the result of psychosis.

Read Carolina's entire story (Spoiler Alert!)
Read Gottfried's narrative arc

Affiliated Characters

Learn about Carolina's loved ones.

Marie von Arx

Carolina Romanova's best friend and lifelong soulmate. Marie embraces the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. She doesn't shy away from exposing her ideas to the dangers of controversy. But it also leaves her ego fragile, particularly when she feels threatened or when there is a chance that someone makes her look incompetent. But on all matters of political economy, she speaks her mind fearlessly and stands up for what she believes.

Alois Wolf

Alois is Carolina's most outspoken student who has grown a serious problem with conformity, not for the sake of being different, but because he strongly believes in his newfangled ideas, and can articulate it with conviction. No amount of punishment or scolding is going to decrease his rebelliousness. Not that professors haven't tried. Instead, it only intensifies his defiant behavior.

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Professor Schleck

Professor Schleck is one of Carolina's esteemed colleagues at the University of Vienna, who is often found interacting with, persuading, or helping people. He is known to be creative and original and has a reputation for being genuine in the way he expresses himself.

A short video about the characters

It’s Sunday the 14th of October, 1888, and in the city of Vienna, where the value of one’s bank account is more important than that of a human life, something doesn’t seem to add up…

Read about the narrative arc

Other Characters

Read about the other characters in The Greatest Debt

Manuel Kronenberg
Chief of police
Vienna’s racist, corrupt and highest-ranking official of the k.k. Gendarmerie, lacking any regard for the rights of whom he is accusing, who also happens to be the Minister of war.
Michael Splindegger
Minister of finance
Konstantin Goldschild
The Goldschild family’s most sadistic member who often executes the evil plans to his brother’s ruthless plots. Willing to do anything, he frequently tells copious amounts of life-destroying lies or simply eliminates his rivals when lies will not do.
Vincent Fontaine
Artist
A wandering, flamboyant and charismatic artist who changes during the course of a day. Vincent can wake and be one person and go to sleep as someone else. Found and adopted by the wealthy Fontaine family, Vincent grew up a dashing young aristocrat who soon got bored from his privileged life. To distract himself from his sense of ennui, he finds a great deal of joy in pushing the limits of social convention with his art and upsetting traditional expectations but is starting to unravel under the pressures of the cultured world.
Rocco Romano
Hired gun
A ruthless yet principled former mercenary whose life finally seems to catch up with him. Born on the lawless streets of Naples and into the infamous Bella Società Riformata, Rocco grew disillusioned with his brother’s authority and left his family at the age of sixteen, angry, damaged, and alone. The life of a mercenary is all he has ever known since, holding back none of his time and energy to complete each assignment with stubborn dedication, which also happens to be his core weakness that less scrupulous individuals eagerly take advantage of.
Nathaniel Goldschild
Banker
A banker committed to continuing his family legacy with an intense desire to be the grand designer and prime mover of the new financial world order. He has supreme confidence in his abilities and the authority to make the necessary changes.
Gottfried Todenhöfer
Psychologist
A soft-spoken, understated father and psychologist with a deep sense of idealism and integrity, whose sole purpose in life is to help others and fix society’s more profound problems. Born to a depressed German father and a hysteric Jewish mother, Gottfried has spent his whole life getting to the heart of mental illnesses, currently focusing on the pioneering work done on the human psyche. If he just wouldn’t focus so intently on his ideals, he might actually take care of himself and his daughters one day.
Carolina Romanova
Philosopher
A gifted philosopher and arbiter of justice, who, for many, exudes confidence and an aura of mystery. Born in St. Petersburg to a strict Protestant family, Carolina has grown to resent the Reformed church at a young age. She has intellectually pursued philosophy ever since. Her perception is insightful, her ideas original and her logic formidable. And she can push through change with iron willpower. Unfortunately, she often finds it challenging to find gifted minds like her, leaving nobody able to keep up with her relentless intellectualism.

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