Well I have decided...
Name: His Grace the Duke of Nueremburg, Derek Contyre, Marshall of the Armoured Guard of Hamburg, Baron of Nuestaat(in wissenland, read the Solland Effort to find out more), adopted son of Prince Seth Contyre of the Principality of Stattenland.
Portrait:Motivation: None that are his own. His father, Seth Contyre has, after much loss of life to both sides and financial difficulty, finally decided to attempt to end the blood fued between the ruling houses of Wissenland and the Solland rebels after centuries of confliction and unrest.
This marriage will be purely political and an attempt to open trade lanes between the northern Imperial provinces (of which Stattenland has a majority) and the Border princes(of which the town of Onore is the largest trading partner) and of course to attempt to stabilise the Empire on behalf of the emperor Karl Franz, who is a personal friend to Seth Contyre.
What would the baroness gain? The baroness would gain an influx of trading partners from the Northern Provinces and a very great deal of financial security. Stattenland became one of the richest areas in the empire after Grom the Paunch sacked Nuln and force the trade routes to be reorganised through Stattenland in order to restabilise the regions that were devastated.
Also, as Stattenlands population is over ten times that of the entire barony of Sonnefurt, they would have a great deal of Military protection and aid to call upon if they needed to.
Although it matters little when that aid is almost a thousand miles away. Another reason would be the enormous prestige for marrying into one of the oldest families of the northern empire with ties at courts all over the provinces and indeed also at Altdorf due to the aid that has been given to the imperial family fiscally and the monopoly of trade that the Contyre trading co, Dominates.
Marrying into the Contyre family would also give the Baroness a massive social boost, as she would become a duchess immediately and also the wife of the heir to Stattenland.
The baroness would also have access to manage the Barony of Nuestaat that has been recently aquired by the Contyre family and that Derek is in Wissenland managing.
What would the baroness lose? The respect of her betters in Nuln, seeing as the Contyre's aren't exactly on a first name basis with the current countess after taking part in the Solland Effort. Though they were the first to sign the treaty removing all armed forces from the region and have been paying tax to the de Crux family for the land they had loaned/bought, which, in a way stops it all from going to nuln and the countess.
Possibly also many of her people who are pro wissenland, pro sonnefurt and any other faction that favours no change, as she is marrying into a family that lives very far to the north.
Although, as with Vekram, you could turn the tables on this and argue that it is a sacrifice for stabilising the region.
Other reasons:The Baroness would remain in rulership of her Barony and share the responsibility with the barony nearby, she would barely see Derek after the first male is born as he would be busy learning his governing duties and of course, travelling back up to Stattenland for his family duties. That is of course unless she wishes to travel with him and see the holdings that she would come to rule over too when Derek takes over from his father.
Derek Contyre is a career soldier, his first rank was halberdier in the Provincial army and after several years of prowess showing he was adopted as first heir to Stattenland's throne, his abilities as a commander and swordsman have earned the admiration of Karl Franz himself and as a result has loaned the Runefang of Solland to him for a short while.
But he still has much to learn about governing people and living at court, something the baroness could teach him, considering she was raised to do just that.
But his slow points in governance are made up for his quick wit, charming outlook and his rogueish good looks. His smile is more cheeky than predatory but when he needs to be hard, his army discipline kicks in and he can bellow orders and recieve them like the best of men. His youth at first disarms, for he is only 27(2527) and to have done the things he has done to get where he is tells a story of very great potential and even greater future.
NuptualsAs Derek is higher ranked than she(Duke and Baron), the marriage would most likely require her to take Contyre as her surname, but Seth Contyre has insisted that she may also keep her surname of von Heisenburg as well(Contyre-von Heisenburg) but any children they had would have to be Contyre only.
As previously mentioned, the baroness would remain the ruler of Sonnefurt, but would rule over Nuestaat together with Derek, but she would be a complete outsider were Derek to become Prince of Stattenland, as he has been training for that day for many years, but, the more she travels to Stattenland with Derek, then the more people would come to terms with her and this would eventually allow her to rule with Derek.
Katarina would also recieve substantial shares in the Contyre-Statten trading company, which dominates much of the northern trade routes of the empire and has trading offices in kislev, marienburg and the border princes.
*edited to fit in with my background fluff*