During the late Renaissance period, the Church dominates daily life across Europe. However, the arts are rising in prominence, while sciences such as mathematics and alchemy are changing the world. In addition, philosophy has turned to the deliberation of humanity. Nowhere is this more so than in the independent city-state of Tier. Located between the affluent Venetian Republic and expansion-minded France, it is ruled by a Duke whose great personal thirst for knowledge, fueled by the invention of the printing press, must be balanced against incessant pressure from the Inquisition to set aside the heretical new ways. Through his considerable skills as a politician, he has managed to keep all these threats at bay. However, with the danger steadily increasing, he has strengthened the community's defenses and commissioned the famed engineer Leonardo da Vinci to design new engines of war.