Q — Questions for the Princep

 

The mysteries surrounding Ludovic and Maximillian’s true plans.

In Padua, power rarely introduces itself.

Ludovic, known in certain circles as the Princep, carried an authority he didn’t announce. Along with Maximillian, his Master of the Horse, he arrived with purpose, spoke carefully, and left behind more questions than answers. Officially, their interest in the frontier town seemed simple enough: trade routes, regional stability, perhaps the occasional investigation into strange events along the Avon. But their actions rarely matched the simplicity of their explanations.

They asked unusual questions. About ruins upriver…about talismans tied to Karitamen’s forgotten legacy…about the self titled prince next door. Their inquiries felt less like curiosity and more like confirmation, as though they already knew pieces of a much larger story and were quietly testing who else might understand it.

That uncertainty bred suspicion. Were they protectors trying to contain something dangerous, or opportunists hoping to claim whatever power lay buried beneath the region’s troubled past? Even those who worked with them closely couldn’t be certain where their loyalties truly lied.

Which is why, whenever the Princep appeared in Padua, conversations tended to end with the same uneasy thought: What are they doing here, and why?