Tyranny of Steel

Pope Julius was standing upon the balcony of his Palace within the Vatican. Tens of thousands of his supporters were gathered in the holy city to listen to the Vicar of Christ's decree. For many of the rulers of Christendom, what he was about to say came as no surprise.  Yet to the common people, his words were shocking, to say the least.

The Holy Father gazed at the massive crowd gathered before him as he uttered the words from his mouth; the speech he gave would not be expected of God's representative on Earth. Instead, his tone was filled with vitriol and hatred.

"Berengar the Accursed! I am confident this is a name that every one of you gathered here today is familiar with. If I am the Vicar of Christ, then this man, the self-proclaimed King of Austria, is the Avatar of Satan!

Through vile sorcery, he has conjured technology that has been destructive not only to the warriors of Christ but the citizens of Christendom! I am sure you are all familiar with the fate of Florence, for Berengar and his Army of Apostates have thoroughly destroyed the city! In the process, they mercilessly slaughtered everyone gathered within it by conjuring the fires of hell upon the faithful!

This was no simple act of war but a criminal act against all of God's children on this Earth! Thus in response to this crime against humanity, I hereby declare a Crusade against the Kingdom of Austria and the Berengar Heresy as a whole! I call upon every faithful Christian to take arms against this demonic scion and his heretical followers! For so long as Berengar the Accursed is allowed to remain in a position of power, the souls of every Christian are at the risk of damnation! God wills it!"

The moment the Pope said these words, the crowd of tens of thousands of Catholics began to chant the final words in unison.

"God wills it! God wills it! God wills it!"

The sight of which brought a wicked grin to Pope Julius' aging face; after witnessing the mob gathered before him, he knew that he would have an army capable of invading Austria within a few years. As such, he gave one final decree to the gathered crowd before departing towards the interior of his Palace.

"Go now, and make your preparations; it will be some time before the Armies of Christ are capable of waging war against the hellspawn that is the Army of Austria but make no mistake, we will muster the entire might of the Christian world against our foes!"

Having said this, Julius returned to the interior of his Palace, where he was immediately confronted by a variety of Cardinals who had watched his speech from inside. Among them was a man known for being against Julius' predecessor's harsh actions against Berengar.

"Your Holiness, declaring a Crusade against King Berengar is unwise. You know as well as I that the Austrian Army has seized the assets of the Medici Bank, and in doing so, left us destitute. We don't have the funds to build an army capable of such a thing!"

In response to this, Pope Julius spat on the ground before lecturing the Cardinal for his remarks.

"King Berengar, is it? Funny, I don't remember placing a Crown on the man's head. If I were you, I would be cautious about the words I choose, for legitimizing the Avatar of Satan is in itself an act of heresy!"

When the Cardinal heard this, his mouth dropped agape before questioning the Pope's sanity.

"You don't honestly believe the words from your speech, do you? Berengar can't possibly be the incarnation of Satan. I will admit he is a powerful adversary of the Church, but to think that he is some Hellspawn is truly insanity!"

Upon hearing his sanity questioned, Julius backhanded the Cardinal with his ring hand, leaving a bloody lip on the man who had so brazenly rebuked his words.

"You think it is such an impossibility? Then Explain to me where he gets the technology he has created! The man is either the greatest genius in history, or he has struck an accord with the devil! There is no other conceivable explanation! He is a lowly baron's son, and yet he has advanced Austria in agriculture, industry, weaponry, maritime technology, and every other metric I can think of beyond the scopes of what we know to be reality!"

The Cardinal wiped his bloody lip and hung his head in silence; he had no retort to the Pope's words. Certainly, there was something strange about the man known as Berengar the Accursed; despite his humble origins, he had single-handedly led Austria to be the most advanced Kingdom on the planet.

Berengar also seemed to be profoundly knowledgeable about scripture despite having no background with the clergy. He was so educated on the word of God that it was enough to translate the entire Bible into German and distribute it across his realm.

This had proven to be a great point of contention for the Catholic Church as many of their traditions and teachings had no biblical basis. Ultimately the Cardinal switched the topic. It was clear that Julius was enraged by the outcome of the Austrian War of Independence; as such, the Cardinal attempted to inquire about how the Pope intended to fund the Crusade.

"Your Holiness, with all due respect, you have called this Crusade too early; we have lost our most essential financial supporters! Without the backing of the Medici Bank, it will take years to gather the funds to create an army capable of storming Austria! How do you even plan to do this?

Julius gazed at the Cardinal with contempt; in his eyes, this man was not suited towards matters of the State. As such, the Pope outlined his plan perfectly so that even a simpleton could understand his reasoning.

"There are two reasons for calling this Crusade, years in advance of the actual invasion. First and most importantly, it gives us a reason to sell indulgences to the people en masse. Catholics from all walks of life will be lining up to provide us with their gold and silver in exchange for a few years off purgatory. We can quickly gather the necessary funds in at most two years by doing this.

Secondly, by declaring a Crusade against Austria and the Berengar Heresy, we are making it known that they are enemies of Christendom, as many such Kingdoms will be hesitant to trade with Berengar in the future. Though he will still have trade with the Muslims and the Orthodox, the overwhelming majority of his trade networks throughout Europe will come to a grinding halt!"

However, the Cardinal was not convinced by the Pope's plans; he knew that by now, the Austrian Thaler and Gulden had become a common currency in international trade. It would not be easy to persuade Austria's neighbors to halt their transactions with Berengar simply because he was an enemy of the Vatican.

Despite his reservations, the Cardinal chose to keep silent on the issue; he was starting to realize that it was highly likely that the Crusaders would lose this war, and in doing so, end the days of Papal supremacy in Europe. After all, Berengar remained undefeated in battle, and it was only a matter of time before he unleashed some ungodly weapon that would render their numbers completely useless.

As such, he sighed heavily before nodding his head; in doing so, he accepted his fate and that of the Catholic Church. With leadership like Simeon and Julius, it was only a matter of time before the era of Papal power came to an end. With this in mind, he put on an agreeable facade and spoke to Julius as if everything the man had said was inevitable.

"Thank you for explaining your reasoning to me. Your holiness is, as always, well informed on these matters, and I look forward to the day we bring God's wrath upon this Heretic and his followers. If you will excuse me, I have things I must attend to."

Julius nodded his head. Finally, he managed to talk some sense into this naysayer who had always spoken out against any direct action against Berengar and his Heresy. Little did he know that the Cardinal had utterly lost faith in the Papacy's ability to win this war and planned to defect to the German Reformation at the first opportunity.

As such, Julius had a malicious smile upon his lips as he thought about what he would do to Berengar after he got his hands on the young monarch. Berengar had caused too much trouble for the Papacy, because of this, the punishment would be severe. Of course, such a fate could only be achieved if he and his crusaders were victorious in their future attempt to dethrone Berengar.

Whether the Catholic Church and all its might were capable of such a feat remained to be seen. While the Catholic Church began its attempt to gain the funds necessary to raise a feudal army with a size capable of invading Austria. Berengar had started the process of industrialization; by the time the Catholic Armies and their Allies invaded his realm, they would be fighting against a far more modern force than the world had previously seen.

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