Why is the high king of the human kingdoms not doing his job - and thereby allowing the church to fill the power vacuum in the human lands of alanda? This is a matter of some concern to nightingale and her friends: the c...Why is the high king of the human kingdoms not doing his job - and thereby allowing the church to fill the power vacuum in the human lands of alanda? This is a matter of some concern to nightingale and her friends: the church is becoming ever more overtly hostile to non-human sentients (of which there are several species in alanda) as well as to anything that that it does not at least indirectly control, such as gypsies and free bards.