[January 1st, 1512]

”....a horn on its head, straight up like a sword, and instead of arms it had two wings like a bat’s, and at the height of the breast it had a fio on one side and a cross on the other, and lower down at the waist, two serpents. It was a hermaphrodite, and on the right knee it had an eye, and its left foot was like an eagle’s.

A mere moment after the year turned in Moulines, a child was born to Louis, Prince of La-Roche-sur-Yon, and Johanna of Hachberg-Sausenberg. To observers the child appeared to be a monster - a portent of great pestilence and war. Depictions of this supposed monster have swept through Europe as Italy once more teeters on the brink of war, aided and amplified by the printing presses that have now become commonplace throughout the continent. Each re-telling of the birth muddles and distorts the truth, the story becoming more and more fantastical, each drawing becoming more arcane.

From Paris, to Toledo, to Rome, news spreads quickly. With the recent conflict between the Pope and Cesare as well as the outbreak of war between Mantua and Ferrara-Modena, panic spreads among some segments of the populace who interpret this child as a sign of terrible things to come. They call it ‘the Monster of Moulines’, and the educated quickly begin to turn to faith as a means to explain it. Eyes now turn to Italy, where the 'Monster' remains present in the minds of all.