Quoted By:
''Your eminence, I would merely ask for a simple blessing in our plight. After all, the faithful are in danger from the fire-worshippers.'' The old man looks at you with a look of contemplation before he answers. ''A blessing, then; have you not been blessed at home? Young sir knight? Or at least on the way here? But I suppose that if you wish for my blessing, I will grant it. May you find courage and strength in the face of darkness. For when the legions faced the hordes of the Witch-King, did they not fall back in fear but stand tall and united, ready to face whatever evil may come their way? Do not answer the question; I will also give you some advice. Do not trust the Mithradians; the court in Elisonikon eats those unprepared to face its intrigues alive; the church network of informants has told me that there are factions at the court that would rather not see crusaders in their little island chain; don't trust the Alatoroans either; the serene republic has agreed to keep the water free of enemy incursions, but they themselves have sunk the imperial fleet, leaving the very power vacuum in the region that allowed the infidel in the first place.''
He leans in and, in a conspiratorial tone, continues. ''I should also warn you of the more ambitious of your peers in the crusade. The bulk of them are second or otherwise not eligible to inherit a piece of land at home, so they try abroad. Of course, should the ever-fickled Mithradian court ever decide to overthrow the current dynasty, and if they decide to reverse course in their present policy of relations with us, the would-be kinglets would make for a far safer bet.''
It is a lot to take in. While you of course went on a crusade both out of the ideal and to see something of the world outside Greifswald, the idea that some of them are only here to claim land for themselves is an idea you find yourself holding in contempt. You are not naive, you know this happened on previous crusades and it will probably happen again, but you find the cutthroat nature of it to be beyond the pale.
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