Steel Empire
Constance Council 2

Ecclesiastical figures argued late into the night about their arguments before ending the meeting that night; after a night of proper rest, the, they regrouped in an effort to further discuss potential solutions to the problems plaguing the Catholic Church today.

Instead discuss Heresy Berengar further because they have spent so much effort just to remain entrenched in their own position, he said, Pope Avilius downed the wine trophy before he brought about a growing schism with the Orthodox church over the issue of the Teutonic Order which, while favored by the Vatican Pope, was not looked upon fondly by Avilius and the Avignon Papacy. Therefore, he revealed his thoughts on the matter.

"The Teutonic Order has gone too far by forcibly converting Eastern Orthodox to Catholicism if things develop from where they are now in contact with Byzantium, and their sphere of influence will continue to decline. The support of the Hospitallers in the Byzantine attempt to recapture North Africa can only stop the permanent rift for so long. Something must be done against this Simeon-sponsored Crusade."

Like a true Frenchman, Avilius took a sip of wine as if it were water, not afraid to directly blame the crisis at hand as the fault of his rivals when in reality the Teutonic Order was an independent State and largely acted alone. Although Simeon never directly condemned them, after all, they were still a powerful force he could summon to impose his will on the increasingly secular Rulers of the German world; this does not mean that he, in fact, supports them, at least publicly.

This is the main reason Orthodox do not directly separate themselves from the actions of the Teutonic Order, as officially they are monastic states acting on their own accord without the public support of the church. Avilius gladly attributed their actions to Simeon and what he called the Papacy despite knowing this. Upon hearing these accusations, Simeon became enraged and immediately began to quarrel with his French counterpart.

"Lies and slander! I have never once supported a war against Orthodoxy! Those bastards have independent states and have used their power to declare this as a Holy War themselves!"

Simeon played right in the hands of Avilius, who was clearly trying to provoke Simeon's anger so that he would humiliate himself in front of the assembled Cardinals and Bishops. It seemed to work quite well, even the people in Simeon camp were quite embarrassed by his actions. Again, the voice of reason was left to the very charismatic Cardinal, who was pretty much responsible for keeping this entire Council civilized for the past 24 hours.

"Simeon, while I understand your reasons for not condemning the Teutonic Order, after all, none of us want to repeat what happened to the Templars. Inevitably I ask why are you not withdrawing funds from this Crusade in the North.if you are morally against it? I mean, the Baltics have been completely altered at this point, so what is the purpose of further funding the Teutonic Order's conquest of their Orthodox neighbors?"

Again, Simeon did not have the right answer to this; after all, Simeon did not have the right answer, he could not openly admit that he had underestimated the Orthodox church and that he actually supported the actions of the Teutonic Order because they imposed Catholicism on their Eastern neighbors. His contempt for the Orthodox is that they refuse to acknowledge his authority as the Vicar of Christ and thus the ruler over all Christians. This was one of the reasons he hated France today because they boldly declared Avilius as the only true Pope.

"yeah? We're all waiting..."

After a moment of silence, Simeon found what he considered to be a legitimate reason for his actions.

"The Teutonic Order is the custodian of the faithful in the German-speaking region; without sufficient funds, how can they combat the heresies that began to spring from within the German Empire and the surrounding region?"

Avilius laughed at this response and punished Simeon for his reasons.

"The Teutonic Order has been trying to change Orthodoxy in eastern Europe for decades! However, they have received funding from the Vatican all the time. The heresy that has sprung up in Southern Germany is a novelty that has only happened in recent months. You really think that's a legitimate reason for your actions?"

The charismatic cardinal sighed in response to these two old men and their unrelenting quarrel; Simeon is a control freak who wants to rule the world and has fewer brain cells than a goldfish when he is really angry, which is more often than not he is in such a state. At the same time, Avilius was a drunkard and lazy waster who got pleasure from antagonizing people, especially Simeon. None of these two people are fit to call themselves representatives of God on Earth. Nevertheless, at this moment, these two fools were the highest authorities in the Church; of course, they were, if the Western Schism is ended and one of these two incompetents is universally recognized as the Pope in the Catholic world, it will only mean disaster.

It became increasingly clear to the Cardinals and Bishops present as the conversation continued that the removal of these two pretenders and the simultaneous election of a new Pope would be the best way forward. However, no one wants to discuss this discussion at this time for fear of being ostracized for simply suggesting it. So, despite the obvious shortcomings of the two people declaring themselves Popes, they will continue to rule their territory for at least another year before things develop further.

Without a viable solution to the problem at hand, this constant bickering would continue for another week. In the end as in previous years, the Council of Constance, which had lasted to some degree since 1414, ended in a miserable failure. None of the discussions found the right solution, and all that worked was further divisions in the Church. Simeon would continue to antagonize Berengar over the next year, and Berengar would continue to spit on his face. For now, as in previous years, the meeting of the Ecclesiarchy known as the Council of Constance has ended with no noteworthy achievement.