The Inquisition

The Rothschild family motto is a fascinating thing. This ancient family has an unwritten rule: before dying, each head of the family may leave one final saying for their descendants. The current head's father said this on his deathbed: “My descendants, pride, greed, lust, wrath, gluttony, envy, and sloth: these seven deadly sins. If you commit three or four of them, do not come to Heaven to see me. Go to Hell instead. If you commit all of them, well, I admit that you are my descendant, and I will protect you from Heaven.” And the protagonist will grow up in such a family. He will become the greatest heretic in this world of swords and magic, saints and heathens, dragons and beastfolk. Yet this heretic, who should have been burned to death, will wield authority over the Inquisition of Heresy. The final words left to posterity by this great heretic, whose likeness was printed on the playing card of the Black Emperor's Apostle, are somewhat enigmatic: The bravest man is not one who fears neither the emperor's crown, the pope's scepter, the profound starry sky above his head, nor the morality within his heart, but one who retains a little reverence. This is only my small plot of land, with a small temple and small deities. To bring comfort to the devout, the tolerant, and the rational, one by one: that is probably my greatest ambition.