Getting to the messed-up bits.
…
Deacon Dietrich Vorn was almost everything that German witch-hunters looked for in their recruits: grim, indifferent to other people’s gore, ready to focus all their energies into fanaticism, and single-minded in their intellects. Alas, Vorn also had a taste for swiving whores, then blaming them for his sins. He had even more of a taste for never letting his superiors find out about either, which is why he arrived so quickly when Joseph had him discreetly summoned.
“You are fitting in with your new masters, I am sure.” It would have taken very little for Joseph to sound engaging, but he did not bother. Vorn was at best a resentful minion, suitable only for squeezing for information. “Tell me what you know, Vorn.” If Vorn resented not being called ‘Citizen’ — well, he did, then.
“I am, Citizen Représentant.” Shockingly, the usual servile sneer was absent from Vorn’s tone. Instead, he sounded pleased with the world. This alarmed even as hardened an intriguer as Joseph; after all, he had first-hand unfortunate knowledge of what made the man smile. “They have not shown me much of the new System, but what I have already seen of the equipment is amazing. So simple and obvious, when you see how the System was done. It will change everything.”
