Kepler von Kalzberg

Prince **Kepler von Kalzberg** is a Fühlgartian minor royal and the uncle of Erik von Kalzberg-Mitthel. He currently leads the Anti-Wyrsian Inquisition after being charged with war crimes in the wake of the Noreillen Incident. A former Monarchist, he now calls the current Monarchist alliance illegitimate and a mockery of the original cause that arose during the Fühlgartian Civil War. He is a minor leader in the ongoing Second Fühlgartian Civil War, ruling over a large amount of rural land near the Western Innyrian and Crestian border.

The third son of King Albin II of Fühlgart, he received military training and accompanied his brother, King Dietrich III, during the Sixth Fühlgartian-Wyrsian War, where he personally witnessed his brother's death at the hands of Cyrus Grey. He remained a military advisor to Dietrich's eldest son, now King Albin III.

During the outbreak of the Fühlgartian Civil War, he raised a retinue with which he accompanied Prince Reinhart von Kalzberg, Albin III's brother. Towards the end of the war, his retinue broke off, switching to guerilla warfare and disruption of Republican supply lines in northwestern Fühlgart near Neuesfeld. When Kalzberg fell and the Kingdom of Fühlgart collapsed, Prince Kepler fled to Western Innyria, bribing the Duke into allowing the founding of a Monarchist Fühlgartian community within their borders. Shortly after, the purging of House von Kalzberg began under the Republic of Fühlgart. Kepler's older brother Albrecht and younger brother Ludolf would both die in these killings.

It wouldn't take long for Kepler to establish himself as the leader of the Monarchist exiles in Western Innyria, though he refused the call to arms by his nephew, Erik von Kalzberg, around the outbreak of the Great War, as Prince Kepler refused to fight alongside the Kingdom of Wyrsia, which Erik had allied himself with. Instead, he simply waited out the Great War, sitting idly by and waiting for an opportunity. While he did not fight directly, he did fund groups with similar interests, such as the Fühlgartian Boys in the City-State of Whitecrest.

The death of Jan Luftschwert and the outbreak of the Second Fühlgartian Civil War was a great opportunity, and Kepler and his retinue crossed the River Suttock from Western Innyria back into Fühlgart proper. From here, he captured a few villages, though he lacked the troops to capture a proper city such as the nearby Neuesfeld. Instead, he had to settle on a relatively minor town, Friederberg, as his seat of power. Shortly after, Erik von Kalzberg, now styling himself King Erik von Kalzberg-Mitthel, invaded the Republic of Fühlgart from the west, capturing Neuesfeld. With Prince Kepler situated nearby, Erik requested his aid, which Kepler reluctantly accepted. While he disagreed with many aspects of King Erik's rule, working alongside the Monarchist High Council was – in his eyes – the greatest shot at re-establishing the Kingdom of Fühlgart.

Shortly after, Kepler was tasked to accompany Wyrsian general Kirian Sharpe of the Neuesfeld Expeditionary Force as they secured the remaining villages north of Neuesfeld that had not already been captured by Prince Kepler. While initially sceptical of working with the Wyrsians, Kepler gave it a go, yet was horrified to find that General Sharpe looted and extorted the locals for his own personal gain. He sent a letter back to King Erik, demanding the NEF to be recalled from the area, which Erik refused as he claimed he had no authority over the Wyrsian troops.

When Sharpe approached the village of Noreillen, near the border of Prince Kepler's own territory, the Prince rushed ahead and occupied the town, barring the Wyrsians from entering. This ultimately led to the Noreillen Incident, in which Sharpe and Kepler's forces would clash in a violent battle. Ultimately, Sharpe was killed and most of the NEF's troops were executed in retribution for their previous massacre of the male population of Noreillen.

When news of the incident reached King Erik, he blamed Kepler for provoking the NEF and charged him with war crimes. Subsequently, he was named a traitor to the Kingdom at large. Unfazed by the declaration, Kepler rebelled outright, calling the current Monarchist alliance an illegitimate mockery of the original nobler alliance and charged King Erik with being a foreign puppet. Soon after, Prince Kepler founded the Anti-Wyrsian Inquisition in Friederberg, with himself as the High Inquisitor.

Prince Kepler's Inquisition has experienced tremendous growth in the few months in which it has existed, growing from 300 to roughly 5,500. It highlights the continued distrust between the average Fühlgartian and Wyrsian citizens and has been a major thorn in the Monarchists' sides. All attempts to dislodge and destroy the Inquisition from Friederberg have been unsuccessful thus far.

With his ultranationalistic and anti-Wyrsian outlook being relatively common across Fühlgart, some have begun referring to the Prince as King Kepler of Fühlgart, though the man has made no claim to the crown himself. Yet.