Tyranny of Steel

Adela kneeled within the pews of the Grand Cathedral of Kufstein. Though the Church was empty at the moment beside the High Queen herself, the girl did not mind. Currently, the devout young woman was having a severe spiritual crisis, and only meditation in the Cathedral granted her some peace of mind.

Her husband, while the public face of the German Reformation, was in fact an amoral atheist, and she had known this for quite some time. Despite her attempts to save his soul, he seemed to drift further away from God with each passing day.

If it wasn ’t the copious amounts of alcohol and cannabis, then it was the debauchery that came with polygamy. Worst yet, Berengar had taken up a Muslim wife, not only did he tolerate her religious beliefs, but lately he seemed to spend an unfair degree of time alone with the woman.

Despite Adela ’s incessant preaching, Berengar only drifted further away from the light of God ’s will, and into utter darkness. She did not know if she had the heart to see the man she loved damn himself for eternity. Thus, she had turned to the church for reflection.

While the woman was praying in silence, she overheard a familiar voice call out to her from across the Cathedral.

”Your Majesty, I thought that was you. It would appear you are visiting more frequently these days. Tell me, is there something troubling your mind? ”

Adela looked over towards the direction of the voice and noticed Ludolf staring at her with a gentle smile. As the head of the German Reformation, this man led the congregation of the Grand Cathedral, and mostly spent his days fulfilling his duties as a priest. As for the governance of the Church, that was left to the many German Cardinals who had flocked to the Reformation after enduring the madness of two separate popes.