No One Expects Bohemian Inquisition

Mostly because it was dissolved some 200 years ago. Or so they say!

Bohemian Inquisition or the Inquisition of the Holy Marilian Church was the most powerful law enforcement tool back in those days when government and the empire was tightly connected to the religion. Still to this day the term "inquisition" makes a lot of people shudder and think of damp dark dungeons with some sharp and glinting torture instruments. It was not always this way, however.
Inquisition started as a small unit of priests trained to find and put in front of trial heretics - the most depraved and secretive members of society. They were first detectives of a sort, often working under aliases to find out evidence about the most awful crimes that are almost always hidden under pleasant faces and a lot of money. The first inquisitors were trying to uncover child abusers, sexual predators, slave traders and other dangerous and depraved people. This is what brought resources and reputation to this office in the first place.
Unfortunately, things eventually got out of hands and the inquisitors slowly became what they at first hunted. Corruption wrought its way into the church as well but it was impossible for the cardinals to admit that even the Holy Marilian Church could be corrupted. Eventually those depravities were so grave that it lead to the fall of religious power and radical secularisation of the late Empire. The terror of the inquisition, however is still fresh in minds of common people.
There are rumours, that a tiny and very much secret task force exists that carries the torch of this organization. It is said that dissolving Bohemian Inquisition was just a publicity stunt and that none of the previous members and families involved in it were tried or convicted of any wrong. According to these rumours, hunts for heretics still continue and it is just a matter of time until the finger of church officials will point in your way. It doesn't exactly help that catacombs of the Spiral Cathedral remain tightly locked and off limits to the public.