Spymaster Einhart Lorenz

Spymaster Einhart Lorenz was the cunning spymaster at the head of the Imperial Intelligence when the Empire crushed Skolpa and his northern raiders. It is believed that the prophecies of the seer Hilda led Skolpa into that desperate final conflict, but some attribute the victory to the Imperial Intelligence and its spymaster. The truth cannot be known.¹

Spoiler: The campaign against SkolpaRevealSpoils: Mercenary Compendium · Say what you have read

Another account holds that the imperial intelligence bribed the oracle Nissia, from whose side Skolpa never strayed, and so lured him and his forces into a trap in which most of them were annihilated.²

In Mürekkep ve Çelik

In the campaign Mürekkep ve Çelik ("Ink and Steel"), Einhart Lorenz becomes the Empire's spymaster after the death of his predecessor, the Golden Lion, in the battle in which Emperor Conrad also fell. He is a man of average height in his thirties, with brown hair, a one-shouldered cloak like the one the Golden Lion used to wear, and knives at his belt. A tattoo on his arm can flow like a shadow and take the shape of whatever weapon he wishes.^{3 4 5 6}

The honour and the offer

Lorenz came to the bedside of the wounded Castor in the Marble Palace to thank him, in the Empire's name, for his attempt at a rescue during the battle, which Lorenz had not seen himself because he was fighting the Sinner elsewhere. He brought a document of honour under the imperial seal and a second offer: to make Castor a wizard independent of the Archon Academy, exempt for life from the tax on his magic. If Castor took the document when Lorenz left, it would count as acceptance; if he left it, as a polite refusal. After consulting his teacher Nocklin, Castor had a nurse write a letter that accepted the honour with pride but declined to leave the Archon.^{7 8 9 10 11}

Reputation and service

Castor later counted on Lorenz's support for his voyage of exploration, but Yotun warned him not to trust Lorenz too far, calling him snake-hearted. On Castor's mission to Neptune the intelligence side was run by an officer of Lorenz's who called himself Jonas Halber, and who told Castor that Mr Lorenz was fond of custom-made boots.^{12 13 14}

Spoiler: The order at NeptuneRevealSpoils: Mürekkep ve Çelik #14 · Say what you have read

Jonas explained that his order to take the young evoker Falkred el-Nassil away for questioning, attributed to Lorenz, was in truth an order to kill him. Castor won leave to examine the young man's mind and found no sign that secrets had been passed on, but the killing went ahead for fear of what might be learned in future, and a report of death in battle was prepared.^{15 16 17 18}

Castor had a pair of boots made for Lorenz at the Golden Heel, a gnome's shop in the city, each embroidered with an owl sitting on a branch. At a palace ball Lorenz called Castor aside, thanked him for the boots and said that his work did not allow him to wear them; they were later seen on his desk. He told Castor that the emperor would look kindly on his project of exploration, and warned him that the emperor was sensitive on the subject of his father.^{19 20 21 22}

Lorenz spoke of the Empire's heavy costs and of the need to keep its western armies armed and on the move because of the threat of Skolpa, against whom he said they had been planning for five years. He said part of his youth had been spent at the Archon, but preferred to leave in darkness whether he had left it or been sent away. Of the soldier Leonard, whom he wanted Castor to encourage, he said that he was not his friend, and was valuable for as long as he remained useful.^{23 24 25 26}

In Sürgün Günlükleri

In the campaign Sürgün Günlükleri ("Exile Chronicles"), a Mr Lorenz is described by the wizard Klobus as officially the guardian of the imperial family and unofficially the chief of imperial intelligence. Klobus told of the bloody times after the previous ruler's death, when rebellious nobles were found dead in accidents in their own homes, and said that the emperor rules with advisers behind the scenes, Lorenz among them.^{27 28}

His agent Foltest brought orders in Lorenz's name during Rainer Karga's rebellion: Rainer was to be killed in a duel to the death before the people, as a show of strength. The drow Ephorus said that in the tales of his own land an empty chair is kept at the table, on the assumption that Lorenz is already sitting in it.^{29 30}

Foltest presented the watching of rising warriors and wizards as what set Lorenz apart from earlier spymasters. He made Ephorus an informant, to report two or three times a year on his companions and on dangerous magical objects, and took a vial of his blood so that intelligence could find him if needed. News of such dangers, he said, should come to intelligence first rather than by sealed post, because Mr Lorenz keeps secrets that even the emperor does not know.^{31 32 33 34 35}