Here we would like to present you the characters you meet on our web pages and that are helping you to find your way. Perhaps you already made their acquaintance, dear visitor, because Candamir, Vincent, Marianne, Siegfried, Louis, Jean, Hildegard, and William are also the computer opponents in the PC game “Catan – Cities & Knights.”

The Robbers

No doubt, every Catan player has held him in his hands countless times - the robber. Until 2002, he used to appear in the shape of a black, lathe-turned game piece, to plague the terrains of Catan and stall their resource production.

The truth is that the robber is a harmless fellow who is merely taken advantage of by the players, for the sake of their own benefit. He is pushed around from terrain to terrain, unable to escape his sometimes quite harsh destiny.

Click here to learn about the History of the Robbers!

Candamir

Candamir is the protagonist of the novel “The Settlers of Catan,” in which Rebecca Gablé tells the story of the first settlers on Catan. Candamir is a master carpenter and a down-to-earth character. Securing his resource income comes first for him.

His favorite saying: “The best diplomats are a sharp axe and a keen sword” testifies to his rather harsh tone. However, this should not belie the fact that his heart is in the right place.

On our web pages, Candamir is responsible for the area “Community & News,” but he’s also keen to inform you in detail about the Catan Adventures.

Vincent

Vincent is a born merchant. Therefore, he loves the Longest Road, while knights seem kind of suspicious to him. He is game for all kinds of trades. He is said to have sold his grandmother for a sheep, but that’s sheer rumor. His greatest dream is to become a trade master one day. His greatest nightmare are monopolists, which he refers to with the phrase “Monopolists are worse than robbers, which at least don’t take away more than they can carry at one go.”

Sometimes, however, Vincent needs a creative break from his trading activities. This is why he particularly likes the Catan Dice Game, which he presents you here. Of course, you also meet him when there’s something to sell or trade, for example, on our page with the accessories for the Catan games or in the introduction to the “Traders & Barbarians” expansion.

Marianne

Marianne has a big farm and a big heart. People who send the robber to her farm only temporarily fall from grace with her. It won’t take long until she offers a cup of her delicious apple cider again. It’s easy to imagine her controlling an extended family of twenty people comprising four generations, always staying calm and kind. She loves to build the Longest Road, because she wants to make sure that her farm always gets enough resources and commodities from Catan.

Marianne is not that often among the winners of the Catan Board Game, but she is always up for a game. On our pages Marianne good-humoredly guides you through the world of “The Settlers of Catan.”

Siegfried

Siegfried is more of an arrogant knight. He haughtily alleges to be far superior to everybody else, by virtue of his ancestors’ achievements and the fact that he even knows the names of these people.

If he trades with someone, it means that he is granting that person a favor.  If he places the robber next to someone, he is only collecting the tributes he is rightfully entitled to. This is something he often comments on with the phrase: “You are nothing but my vassal on this island; therefore, part of your harvest is mine anyway.” If his resource income allows it, Siegfried will always try to get the Largest Army. But, and this counts in his favor, he also can lose with honor and acknowledge the success of his game partners.

You can find Siegfried wherever knights play a major role on our web pages, such as in “Catan – Card Game for 2” or the “Cities & Knights” expansion.

Louis

Louis is a respectable Catanian craftsman. He is very irritable and tends to have choleric fits. Only if he leads the field, he can be quite charming sometimes. This is when he generously lectures his game partners with expressions from the craftsman milieu and tells his adventures as a young master craftsman in France. But the moment he falls a little bit behind, he seems to only have snotty answers ready. Then his favorite line is: “There’s no law and order anymore on this island!”

Being a craftsman with high quality standards, he abhors customer complaints and incomplete products. If you have a complaint about a product, want to replace a missing game piece, or have a problem with a game rule – Louis is there for you in the “Contacts” area. When he closes his eyes, however, he often imagines worlds far beyond the Catanian islands, somewhere out there in the depths of space... no wonder then that he can’t wait to present you Catan in Space!

Jean

Jean is a pretty pirate woman with an honor code characteristic to her guild. “Robbed is not stolen” is her motto when she uses the robber to appropriate other people’s resources. But for the same reason, she isn’t too resentful if she gets robbed herself. However, she detests Trade Masters, Spies, and Monopolies, because she considers them simply as dishonorable and insidious robberies. Negotiations and compromises are not Jean’s cup of tea. She says things straightforwardly, and if she finds someone likeable, it may happen that she kills a bottle of rum with him.

Jean introduces you to the world of seafarers, that is, the Catan Board Game of the same name and its expansion. Besides that she stands by your side in the "Help & Service" area.

Hildegard

Hildegard is the abbess of an abbey somewhere on Catan. One of her greatest wishes is to be venerated as a saint. Malicious gossip has it that she already made good progress by being sanctimonious.
Hildegard has no problem combining unctuous talk with furthering her personal welfare, and she often uses biblical quotations, be they adequate or not. When she takes something away from a game partner, she likes to accompany this act with the comment: “Please do not regard this as robbery! Regard it as a relief, granted to you so you can give alms to the needy.”
However, if someone takes something from her, she might wish him to turn into a pillar of salt.

Although occasionally it may take you a moment to get used to her attitude in the PC game “Catan – Cities & Knights,” Hildegard receives you kindly in the area “About Us,” where we offer you further information about Catan GmbH and Klaus Teuber. She also proves to be knowledgeable in matters of Catanian history – go to the page “Histories” in the “Catan Games” section to find out!

William

Magistrate William is a scholar and author of the famous treatise “The World as a Buildup Strategy Game.” He spares no effort for his university and his studies – occasionally, he may stand up to the waist in the mud to dig for treasures somewhere on Catan.
He likes to lecture his game partners, and he analyzes their behavior based on scientific laws. If William takes something from a game partner, he is only complying with the laws of nature; however, if a game partner takes something from him, it seems to be completely against nature. William is not an easy opponent in the PC game “Catan – Cities & Knights” – he has no preference for a certain strategy but adjusts it completely to his resource income.

William moderates our “PC & Consoles” area and is happy about each visitor he can inform about the electronic game versions of “The Settlers of Catan.” And since one of his more scientific endeavors is to map the world of Catan, he’s also the one to introduce you to the Catan Geographies!