(Click the image to see with more detail)
As usual, I'm not completely satisfied with the execution or with the final result, but everyone has to know when to end at some point and move on...
And now a few words about the image: In the convulsive years between the declaration of the "Ninety-five Theses" of Martin Luther and the numerous wars of religion that ravaged Europe, during the 16th century, a secret meeting took place. A meeting about which very few know: The number and identity of the majority of the attendees is ignored; the subject that brought them together is ignored, as well as the issues that were discussed. It is said, however, that this meeting had a vital importance, and no less relevant consequences. Just as above, you can hardly make mere speculations. Some unambiguous and known facts, in any case, can help to give weight to these speculations.
It is known, for example, that the meeting place was the impressive castle of Smaragdrakenberg, in a mountainous spur of the Black Forest. Thanks to this data, it can be assumed that the host would be none other than the owner of the castle: Huldreych von Unheil, Graf of Rotestadt (in the picture, on the left), a small county that remained independent between the Duchy of Swabia and the margraviate of Baden. A few reliable data survive on the biography of Graf Huldreych. Some mention in the Chronicles of War between the Swiss Confederation and the House of Habsburg, rulers of the Holy Roman Empire, which highlights its belligerent character and its unblemished sense of honor. About the Graf of Rotestadt it was said that nobody had seen him without his armor for years... Rumors circulated about curses and enchantments or spells of nefarious result; of course, nobody dared to ask him directly.
Among the attendants of the conclave, it is known that were present, at least: Franz von Falkenstein (in the center, with a white staff), burgrave of the castle of the same name and master of fire magic; Kalonymus Kostakowicz (on the right, the bald guy with the black staff), szlachcic of the Mazovian voivodeship, in the Kingdom of Poland, and master of illusionism. The presence at the meeting of Princess Chiara dei Canivari, of the Serenissima Republic of Venice, is also known as the representative of a certain secret order of exclusively female membership.
The Graf von Unheil insisted that only those who "were great in power" be present, but in the end it was decided that the wise were also present, and not only the powerful ones. Therefore, the scholar and humanist Walter Wyckes of the Illumined Order of Hermes Trismegistus appeared. Finally, and only for reasons of protocol, a certain number of beings and creatures of a peculiar nature was invited. These, of course, had a voice but no vote.
