Due to appointments in the extended family we didn't have a game session this time round to inspire the next chapter of Draconnic Shenanigans. Therefore we are going to dig into the dusty stacks of the Grey Clerks for some of the information that King Tatsuya is privy to. There is one in every team, the one who really did deserve to be in jail and who has no intention of reforming. Read on to discover the many sins of one Jeremiah Maat.
Personals of Interest
(Art not mine, all rights to the creator/owner)
Name: Jeremiah Maat
Age: Thirty nine
Birth Place: Unknown
Race: Human
Family: Father: Unknown, Mother: Unknown. Jeremiah Maat was raised in the Abbey of the Divine Mercy, having been found as an abandoned infant on the door step of the Gate House. Why he was abandoned will never be known as he was as hail an infant as could be wished, with no obvious birthmark or defect that would have set him apart from any other infant of his age. The best understanding for this early misfortune is the possibility that he was either abandoned by parents who were in abject poverty and therefore feared that they would not be able to raise him on their merge income or that his mother was unmarried and feared reprisals if she kept the infant.
Profession: Jeremiah Maat was raised to be a cleric of the Order of Divine Mercy, channeling the Will Hetur, the god of Healing, to relieve suffering, cure the sick and heal the wounded. However, the Abbey also housed a restricted section of tomes, books of ancient knowledge, forbidden texts, diaries of heretical magic users, the records of questionable cults and other such materials that are too dangerous for common circulation but are too valuable to destroy as the ideas they contain are likely to rise again and the knowledge of how they were torn down last time will be needed once more. It appears that unfortunately, Jeremiah has a tendency to disobey signs that give instructions along the lines of 'keep out', 'do not touch' and similar injunctions against meddling in things that should only be approached under the most dire of circumstances. As such his abilities seem to have expanded far beyond what is correct for a cleric of Hetur.
Location: The Abbey of the Divine Mercy is located about twenty miles east of Condessa and is south of the River Nayen. It is well appointed with a large church, rectory, kitchen, stores, buttery, fish tanks, mill,brewery cellar, weaving loft, infirmary, library, herbal garden, orchard and three hundred acres under cultivation. It also reserves the rights to cut lumber and herd pigs in the forest north of the river in an area of two hundred acres. It is also known that novices are sent into the forest to pick mushroom and seasonal wild food at the correct times. As such the Abbey also provides and controls a ferry service between the two banks of the river. Despite the apparent opulence of the Abbey, the Order of Divine Mercy holds their doors open to any and all that need help, with many of the farm hands who share their Abbey being the poor and dispossessed who were taken in for shelter. Indeed the Abbey is so large because it has expanded over many years to become the support system for those who have been struck by tragedy. This does not mean that the Abbey will tolerate idle hands, only the most disabled and infirmed are allowed to rest without productivity, even those of feeble mind being found tasks that are suited to their abilities. However, there are no time limits on how long their may resided within the walls of the Abbey, with may of the disabled residing there for life, doing what work they are capable of in return for shelter and protection.
Skills: Jeremiah can read and write several languages. He shows great aptitude with the esoteric arts, being named as cleric fairly young. He is skilled in the healing arts of Hetur but there seems to be a price tag attached to his abilities for those that he 'aids'. One of the first signs that all was not as it should be was when those that Jeremiah treated in the Abbey infirmary began complaining of mental disturbances and waking nightmares, of being plagued by visions of destruction and people being transmuted into unnatural crystalline statues that were all the more horrifying for the perfection of their details. However, Jeremiah also has a persuasive way with words and has a knack at rabble rousing and controlling crowds, often bending peoples perception of him in his favor. There has also been questions raised about certain financial events while he was at the Abbey. These are pending investigation but progress has been hindered by the recent fire.
Appearance: Jeremiah is a large man in every dimension. He shows the favoritism of the trencher and plate but the distaste of the more strenuous activities. As such he has more of an equator than a waist. He has a large, thick beard of black and beetling eyebrows. Recently he has been seen wearing the robes of the Abbot and carrying the mace of office, though he was not confirmed in this position and indeed, he was supposed to have been disqualified due to the nature of his secret studies and subsequent arrest. The robes are noted to be rather strained across the front.
History: As mentioned before, Jeremiah was left on the Gate House step of the Abbey of Divine Mercy and due to the Order's vows and beliefs he was taken in and raised as one of the foundling youngsters of the Abbey. Had he not been so dependent on the Abbey for his survival then it is doubtful that they would have kept him. As the child of a patron of the Abbey being schooled there, he would have been sent home in disgrace many times over, the childish vices of petty theft, lying and bullying unresponsive to the more gentle methods of correction. Gentle words and lessons in empathy and care went unheeded, the removal of privileges and increases of responsibilities where likewise ignored. In the end the Abbot himself resorted to caning the young Jeremiah after a 'prank' resulted in a fellow novice losing a leg, to try and at least make him nervous enough of punishment to obey the laws and strictures of society.
Then, in his teenage years, Jeremiah suddenly became the model student, throwing himself into the life of a brother with an eagerness that had been totally absent only months before. Some of the novice masters wondered what hidden transgression he was trying to evade, his fellow novices were nervous, the Abbot breathed a long over due sigh of relief. Jeremiah began to practice his public speaking with a will, swiftly swaying other novices to becoming his staunch supporters, some would say his cult members, even manipulating the opinions of some of the Elders of the Order. Though not all were convinced by his sudden change, as he practiced and gained experience, Jeremiah became better and better at influencing others. It was as he entered his twenties that Jeremiah's dedication became a fervor, with him often working long hours in the infirmary, especially with those that were only visiting the Abbey to have their hurts healed. That was when the first signs that something was seriously amiss began to show up.
The first was one of the traveling folk. Due to the nomadic life style and the time, the connection to the Abbey of the Divine Mercy and Jeremiah's care has only recently been established but the time line has now been established that six months after receiving care from Jeremiah at the Abbey, one of the members of the caravan slaughtered the other adults in a night time massacre that left the caravan as a battle field and the only survivors, the children, unable to speak. Most have become completely unable to communicate, locked into a world of horror and fear that defies any attempts to break them out of it. They are being cared for at the Abbey of Grace Haven where one of the girls has developed the talent for drawing and sketching in charcoal. It was her drawings that revealed the connection to the Abbey of Divine Mercy and Jeremiah. The level of realism with which she sketches the shadowy figures lend her drawings a disturbing quality.
The incidents of unfortunate 'madness' and 'hysteria' began to grow among those that came to the Abbey for healing, a strange malaise that afflicted some but not others, leading to some who would usually turn to the Abbey for care to avoid it. Some who were healed at the Abbey came away changed in other ways, a strange darkness growing in their eyes and a desire to 'prepare the world', though what they are preparing the world for is difficult to extract from them. Though they seem to remain productive members of society, their change demeanor has lead many to become estranged from their families, some even leaving their communities and disappearing into the wilds. If all of them are still alive is unclear, although some seem to have founded their own community, away from more cultivated lands. The area around the hills were they have settled is gaining an unsavory reputation for night time raids and dismembered cattle as well as human disappearances. Whether a purge is going to be necessary or whether their savagery can be harnessed to more productive results is yet to be seen.
Despite the unsettling events happening among those that left the Abbey, Jeremiah's rise amongst the Order continued, with him swiftly moving from Lay Brother to Choir monk. Those that questioned his dedication to the life of the Abbey were either swayed to his cause or suffered unfortunate accidents. Despite thorough investigate, none of these accidents appeared to be anything but a series of unfortunate events. The group of Novices that had gathered around Jeremiah also experienced rapid ascension in their careers, while those that later experienced doubts as to their affiliation with him suffered stalls in their progress.
It appears that Jeremiah's influence had dug deep into the structure and hierarchy of the Abbey of the Divine Mercy. As he moved from Monk to Heiromonk his power and abilities with the healing power just seemed to increase as did his ability at turning undead and the laying of restless spirits, with him being directly asked for in several incidences of necromancy activity. As Jeremiah's abilities blossomed the aging Abbot took him under his wing, relying on him more and more in the running of the Abbey and letting it be known that Jeremiah Maat was his preferred candidate for his replacement once he died.
Again, open voices of decent were silenced one by one, with unfortunate accidents now being joined with several scandals involving rival members of the clergy, one of which resulted in the rival being defrocked and exiled from the Order. However, by now, the pattern of mental disturbances in people Jeremiah had once treated was being recognized and the way that fortune seemed to favor Jeremiah and his circle of 'friends' was also drawing suspicion. Quietly and carefully investigations were begun, with no outer sign of the activities as Jeremiah worked his way from Sub-prior to Prior of the Abbey. If the Abbot was ever aware of this scrutiny on his chosen favorite is unclear but it is probable that he did not, especially as his health continued to fail.
It was after the Abbot finally succumbed to his last illness, that the concerned members of the clergy approached the secular authorities to deal with the rot in their midst. Thus it was that Jeremiah was only weeks away from becoming Abbot of the Abbey of Divine Mercy when the guards of Condessa kicked his door open in the middle of the night.
Since becoming a member of the King's Special it appears that Jeremiah has dropped all pretenses of being a loyal servant of the Order of Divine Mercy. The Abbey where he grew up was ravaged by a fire the night after the King's Special passed through the area, a single tome was stolen from its library and Abbot Julian Peer, a one time friend of Jeremiah who had suffered for leaving Jeremiah's circle, was found murdered within his own chambers.
Though some would call this circumstantial evidence, one must also take into account that Jeremiah has since been seen wearing the robes of the Abbot, items he has no right to be wearing and that were not in his position when he was arrested. Added to this is the fact that during the King's Special visit to the Wizard's Tower in the Dead Swamp Jeremiah has gained a highly unusual pet, though it is also speculated that 'familiar' might be the more correct term. He now has a giant moth that rides around on the pinnacle of the Abbot's miter that Jeremiah is wearing. This insect does not appear to be of natural origin as it is not of a species noted among the giant varieties of insects on Hestia and it also glows with blue patches of light down its sides under its wings. Its wings are thread through with lines of this light and its eyes glow constantly with it. Speaking to experts in the field, it unfortunately appears that, as Jeremiah no longer has any chance of truly becoming ruler of the Abbey of the Divine Mercy, he has decided to fully embrace the darkest aspects of the secret studies he has been pursuing and openly practice the necromancy associated with the god he now worships. The tome that was stolen from the Abbey's library was 'The Chaos Dragon Klu'ga-nath' (the report was seriously smudged here as if the writers hand had suddenly spasmed) a singularly dangerous tome that had been put under greater security after Jeremiah's arrest. It is most likely that this is the source of Jeremiah's power and corruption. He will bare careful watching and it maybe best to have his possessions searched at the earliest opportunity. The Chaos Dragon is known as one of the deities that encourages malice, murder and mayhem, gifting his followers with unnatural powers over the dying and the dead, as well as the ability to distort the minds of the living. Many races refuse to speak his name and his worship is an immediate death sentence in several countries.
It is the opinion of your agent that it will be necessary to keep Jeremiah as an active member of the King's Special for a prolonged period of time, until he either renounces the god he is worshiping or definitive proof of the danger he poses is forth coming.
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