Ze Pollack posted:

Poor Manfred. He went to so much effort to become the true heir of the Von Carstein name. And then the devs decided Momma and Poppa belonged in the game.

The character's not awful! He's the kid who decided he was going to claw his way to the height of the Midnight Aristocracy never mind how many more powerful vampires he'd have to kill to do it, including dear ol' daddy. He studied his books, he backstabbed when appropriate, he put his hopelessly crazy murderbeast of an older brother in charge for a couple centuries to give him cover for safer backstabbing, and as of modern day is the first vampire since Vlad to make a compelling case re: being the actual Count of Sylvania.

Konrad claimed the title, of course, but outside of Konrad's earshot he was considered more a roaming patch of hazardous terrain than any kind of actual rival for power.