Balthasar made his first appearance in the busy port of Marienburg, having bought passage on a merchant ship coming from his native Black Gulf. As he had paid for the journey with gold which he had transmuted himself, Balthasar left for Altdorf quickly before the effects wore off. The Colleges of Magic were his destination.

Since his early years, Balthasar had always been fascinated by alchemy, especially by the mystic search for the Philosopher's Stone. To turn vile metals into the noblest of all, pure gold, had always been an obsession for Balthasar. Driven by this powerful force, and sustained by a natural talent for manipulating the winds of magic, Balthasar rose through the ranks of the Gold Order. In Altdorf he spent many years studying and experimenting on how to combine Alchemy with the magic of Metals. His inquisitive intelligence and open-minded approach made Balthasar quite popular with the Alchemists' Guild, and even among the Engineers, who benefited from his research into new types of black powder.

One day a freak accident in his laboratory almost killed him and from that day he always appears in public completely covered in robes and wearing a golden mask. Some say that his entire skin turned to gold and others swear that he is horribly disfigured, but nobody knows exactly what happened to him. One thing is sure, the accident did not reduce his will to succeed in his research nor did it hamper his powers. On the contrary, he has risen to the position of Supreme Patriarch of the Colleges of Magic, defeating Thyrus Gormann in the ritual duel and replacing the prominence of the Bright Order with his beloved Gold.

From that day on, the winds of power have blown strong for the magic of the Metals and a new Supreme Patriarch, riding a pegasus and surrounded by a golden halo, has appeared on many a battlefield where the Emperor's troops are fighting.