The Reverend

The man known only as The Reverend was the Archeon of the Death Sect of the Harbingers, very little is known of him other than he is a contact of Zeroth and may have had some knowledge of Caliga and it's power; It may have been that he had been in contact with Zeroth long before he went to find his mezzite and The Reverend may have been a friend or associate of his mother Arla Van Dreesen.

### History

From what little is known of The Reverend he was an Irish Catholic whose grandfather may have been part of the Dawnshadow Coven; a secret sect within the House of Seasons during the 19th century who began to research The Sideways, through which the House itself pierced the veils of universes from our realm to Otherworld.

When the group supposedly disbanded the young Reverend turned to God in an effort to wash clean his family's sins, where he ran churches in Ireland for decades, but the more he took an interest into his grandfather's relics and books, the more he realised that he likely had magic potential too.

Being a latecomer to the world of magic he found tuning difficult , but nevertheless became further fascinated, perhaps in an effort to protect people or destroy potential threats from this supposed Sideways; but somewhere along the way he saw something, some piece of information of some truth that made him lose his faith in God, and turn to Death itself as a deity.

Chasing his grandfather's old contacts brought him into the fold of the Harbingers and the Death sect and eventually to Zeroth's mother Arla, whose power over Caliga was becoming more and more unstable. When they began to research the crystal and how it may be drawing power from The Sideways and how it may even contain a bizarre entity of some kind, it's power killed a whole village and Arla vanished, along with the sword in which Caliga was housed. Frustrated at how she took his research away the Reverend refused to help her ailing mind and find what he described as "The Cleansing Stones of Saebyeog." when she returned to him without the sword and mezzite within, the only information he could decipher was that it was left in an abandoned temple in Indonesia.

What happened to Arla exactly is unknown, but may have herself attempted to find these stones, with "saebyeog" Korean for "dawn" she may have attempted to travel to the country, but likely failed without the Reverend's direction and research.

When Zeroth contacted the Reverend, he sent Kai on a mission to Indonesia to recover the crystal, however Zeroth refused to let the Reverend have the crystal.

### Appearance

An older gentleman in his late 60's or so, The Reverend has sparse grey, balding hair and tinted glasses, despite losing his true faith in God, still retains his clerical collar that he wears with sharp, black suit resembling an undertaker's uniform. He has bluish grey eyes and bags under his eyes, yet his eyes are often described as highly focused and determined.

### Personality

A mysterious and deeply spiritual man, The Reverend claims to have "vast reams of frustratingly incomplete knowledge", and is described as having a constant determination for his goals that betrays his well-worked face. He is strict and often formal when it comes to activities and his work and is a known admirer of punctuality. Though the Archeon of the Sect of Death he has a great deal of respect for the dead.

### Powers and Abilities

#### Powers

**Magic:** The Reverend claims to have some potential to tune; however being introduced to his own magical potential during his early 50's, has not developed any proper spells or incantations outside of Sect of Death rituals, having limited knowledge of more complex abilities. Despite him having a vast amount of magical information, his limited magic experience means that many of the more complex spells he has tried, have all been failures or worse, dangerous accidents. As such The Reverend has accepted his limitations and aimed to be more careful and concise rather than powerful. Zeroth believed that, should he have embraced his magical potential earlier may have had the potential to become a spiritualist or even a necromancer, however the Reverend believes his true 'power' is in knowledge and not his tuning.

* **Tuning:** The Reverend can sense magical energy, which gives him the ability to know if someone or something possesses magical properties or potential.
* **Ritual Spirit Communication:** He can use his limited magic potential to attain light communion with the recently departed, and allow others to share his tuning potential to see or hear spirits however can only do so by rituals involving three or more people, and with sufficient preparation and magically imbued artefacts. This communion is limited to human spirits and many of his followers and sect members often feel drained after the ritual.
* **Limbo Perception:** He has recently claimed that he can see a strange parallel dimension laid on top of this realm, that he calls "the limbo" where spirits of those deceased still roam in a distorted version of our own universe. He claims this may have had some bearing in his old Catholic beliefs as a purgatory between Heaven and Hell, but after further research, thinks that the realm he can perceive is in fact real but "was not meant to be". It is here where the energies of those departed may roam should they be afraid to leave this realm altogether.

#### Abilities

* **Arcane Knowledge:** He is a keeper of various forms of rare information concerning lost magic rituals artefacts, much of which he is unable to use due to his extremely limited magic.
* **Ritual Master:** He has become an expert at setting up rituals that allow him aid in communing with the dead and act as a limited focus for his magic potential.
* **Eldritch Researcher:** He has become adept at researching and finding information regarding unusual or highly frightening events within the magic community and the use of magic by past magi for such means.
* **Clergyman:** He has worked for many decades in the Catholic Church through various ranks and has attained a knowledge of their inner workings and core belief systems and principles as well as the myths and stories of biblical references told within.

### Limitations and Weaknesses

The Reverend, despite having magic potential, has spent many decades denying his heritage, and when he finally came to accept his tuning potential, he was in his 50's, as such attempting to preform complex magic spells now lies beyond him, at least not without outside help such as long-prepared and carefully planned ritual gatherings with multiple attendants.

The Reverend's research often leads him to dead ends that has made him short and impatient when it comes to his research, and must actively remain calm and collected when preforming his rituals or using his sensory tuning ability.

The Reverend has suggested that he has multiple aliments including high blood pressure, the onset of early arthritis, back pains, poor eyesight and issues with his liver, much of which is associated with old age.