Julia Benik

Early Life
Julia van Strahd was born into a noble family in Prussia in the mid eighteenth century. She was the firstborn child of her parents, and their only one for several years, due to numerous miscarriages from her mother. Due to this fact, she received a better education than most girls of her age, more akin to that of a nobleman than a noblewoman. When her younger brother Johann was finally born, Julia was twelve years old, and assisted her mother and the house servants in caring for him. A few years later, Julia began to receive suitors, and pretty and sharp witted as she was (and given the considerable wealth of her family), she had no end of interested parties. Generally shrewd and level headed, Julia wished to assess all her possibilities, and take the most beneficial husband she could find. However, these plans disappeared when she was courted by Hans Benik, a stunningly handsome gentleman gifted with tremendous charm and the voice of an angel. Initially attempting to resist his charms, Julia was eventually swept off her feet by the young man's ability to make her feel happy. She convinced her parents to allow her to marry him, and at the age of eighteen, she was wed.

Marriage and Motherhood
Julia's marriage to Hans was an extremely happy one. He filled her life with love, joy, and warmth, and her tremendous intellect and shrewdness made up for his unremarkable business sense. Julia ended up taking over running her husband's estates, a fact which Hans was took great joy in, lovingly calling her "meine geleibter Finanzierin" (my beloved financier). A few weeks into their marriage, Julia became pregnant. Initially filled with concern, due to the numerous miscarriages her mother had suffered, Hans comforted her, assuring her that all would be well. Sure enough, nine months later, Julia gave birth to a healthy pair of twins, a boy and a girl, who they named Nicklaus and Sofia.