The Holy Empire and Orthodox Church are major figures in the story of the Rosenkreuzstilette series.
Story[]
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
The Empire and Church were known for persecuting Magi in the past before Rosenkreuz stood up to them, fought alongside his eight disciples against the Empire and the Church, and, at the end of a holy war that they fought, sacrificed his own life to have them accept the Magi as part of their military, which led to the creation of Rosenkreuzstilette. Since then, the Orthodox Church served as a place for Magi to train and study in.
However, the peace did not last, as the scorn and contempt for the Magi was too much for them to take, and the persecution began once more. The Magi were not willing to stand aside as they were brought back down and their former leader Rosenkreuz was disrespected. RKS began a rebellion against the Empire, but the rebellion ultimately proved to not be the answer to gaining acceptance from the Empire.
In truth, the official Emperor has so little power that the Empire practically "has no emperor" - its power actually lies within the Orthodox Church. The Church actually feared Iris Zeppelin's power and the fact that she was reincarnated from Rosenkreuz, not the Magi of RKS, and, hoping to stop her, sent several of its priests to dispose of her - all of which failed as Iris killed them. Kahl Palesch could also see through her mask and attempted to kill her as well. Iris knew of this and manipulated her father into believing that RKS was the target of persecution and that Kahl was out to kill her, so he made a pact with the Devil to protect her and imprisoned Kahl in his castle's dungeon and made it look like his imprisonment was the Empire's doing. Because of his belief that RKS was the target of persecution once again, he commanded Freudia Neuwahl to lead the rebellion against the Empire. The rebellion was finally aborted when both Spiritia Rosenberg and Freudia learned of Iris' true nature and intentions.
A few months later, the Orthodox Church, as instructed by its high-ranking Pope, whose influence soon eclipsed the Emperor's authority, rebuilt from the damage the rebellion caused, and its power grew as peace returned to the region. Dubbing the uprising as Walpurgisnacht, "the witches' banquet", he and his crusaders declared all Magi as heretics, menaces to society, and enemies of the state, and thus oversaw the creation of Schwarzkreuz and began witch-hunting Magi and throwing them into camps. The High Chapel served as one of the Empire's main bases of operations from where the witch hunts were overseen. Unknown to both the Church and Schwarzkreuz, however, Eifer Skute was manipulating them by posing as a member of the organization, as in reality she was a servant of Iris, who was planning to use Schwarzkreuz to capture huge amounts of Magi, and Magic so she could steal their mana and use it to fuse with Spiritia in an attempt to make a complete Rosenkreuz reborn. Eifer eventually betrayed the the Church and, alongside Iris, revealed the truth about the witch hunts done by the Holy Empire. During said truth, it was revealed that the real pope was murdered and replaced with a homunculus posing as him all along. The Empire and the Church were left in shambles due to the truth revealed by Iris and became neutral to RKS after her second defeat.
Members[]
- The Emperor (at least officially; the real power lies within the Orthodox Church)
- The Pope (deceased, replaced by a homunculus posing as him)
- Unnamed priest (killed by Iris in the beginning of Rosenkreuzstilette ~Grollschwert~)
- The members of Schwarzkreuz
Trivia[]
The Priest From the opening of Grollschwert.
- The Holy Empire is similar in appearance to Italian Renaissance, though far different in nature, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy in Europe.
- An unnamed priest (presumably a member of the Orthodox Church) is seen in the opening scene of Rosenkreuzstilette ~Grollschwert~, having been killed by Iris.
- While Count Zeppelin says that the Empire has no emperor and that its reins of power are held by the Church, the opening texts of Rosenkreuzstilette ~Freudenstachel~ state that the Pope's influence eclipsed the authority of the Emperor himself.
- The Emperor is one of the few characters to be unseen throughout the series alongside Rosenkreuz and the Pope.
Spoilers end here.