Simon VIII

### Appearance

Fairly flat features with a soft jaw line. Simon had a slightly rounded head with thinning hair by middle age. Short sighted he wore special magical lenses over his eyes held in place by a thin metal circle. Fairly slight of build his whole life he became very thin as he sickened in his old age. He was known despite his great pomp, honour and position to smile and laugh spontaneously and loudly.

### Reputation

Simon was very thoughtful and was extremely popular within the church and in political circles. He was a close confidant and ally to the Emperor Renis the pious. He was a mighty cleric and if legends are to be believed banished the greater demon of darkness known as Squalor along with the uncovering, disbanding and destruction of his followers the Hidden Heretics. Yet this was not the key part of why he is known as one of the greatest Cardianals it was rather his ability to affect the policy of the wider empire and his incredible sway over the Emperor and his court. it is said that only under Simon VIII were the Knowing Ones the Church of Celer's communication, some would say spy, network truly developed and organised effectively. Some think it was this latter point that led to his rise to Cardinal and his supposedly excellent relationships and circle of influence among the most powerful of Aurian nobility.

### History

702PE: Simon VIII was born to a noble family in Tor Celer as Anton Crisanac.

714PE: Anton was accepted as an neophyte into the Church of Celer.

719PE: While still a neophyte, or coin, Anton gained prestige among the leadership of the church due to his notable clerical power demonstrating Celer's favour, his popularity and networking among his fellows and his notable work increasing the revenue of his local chapel. Due to this he was elevated to Cellan or Priest of Celer at the young age of 17.

726PE: Anton as part of a Templar attachment to the Black Protectoran helps put down bandit raids in the Protectorates. Anton gained useful allies for the rest of his career during his era of working with the army. Of especial note were Lance Mark Jakob Denrov, a member of a very wealthy and influential noble family with whom Anton served and Peeta Irik an outrider who Anton healed from near death. Later Jakob helped Anton's poitical influence especially among the western nobility and in the military. Peeta performed the role of Anton's bodyguard when he was later raised to high rank in the church and was almost certainly part of the Knowing Ones once Anton took over leadership of that organisation.

729PE: Anton was raised to Silver Clerk. Shinning Anton, as he now was, was assigned to work with the Knowing Ones the church's information network. Though information about this group and their exact role was always scarce there was certainly great satisfaction in Anton's work there as he received open commendation in record for his successes.

731PE: Anton supposedly uncovered the Hidden Heretics in this year and successfully disbanded them and destroyed their leader the greater demon Squalor. Information on this was never widely available but at the end of the year Anton was renamed Simon and raised suddenly and dramatically to the rank of Golden Clerk. He was then put in command of the entire Knowing Ones organisation by the Cardinal himself.

738PE: Simon successfully foiled a plot by several Sarrifs secure for the wizard's guild the treasury of Matharon.

742PE: Simon voted in favour of the Mission to Torash initiative, whereby Cellan Priests were sent into Torash to attempt conversion of that nation state as a hopeful precursor to helping them into the Aurian Empire. This was not the first time this Mission had been attempted.

744PE: Simon was put in charge of the Vormach Valley sanctification. This area had a very devout population and had few buildings making it ideal for development. The church allowed Simon an incredible budget which he used to buy up land from various parties symultaneously. It was not realised until much later that by the end of 747PE almost every square league of the valley now belonged to the Church of Celer.

749PE: After the death of the Cardinal, Simon secured the nomination for coronation to the rank of Cardinal. He had the support of a huge number of his fellow Golden Clerks and was popular with the lower rank and file of the church and surprisingly with the wider masses who often knew little about clergy of rank. The Emperor approved the appointment and Simon was crowned the next year.

750PE: Simon was crowned Cardinal Simon VIII under Celer. He was far more politically and financially active than the last Cardinal.

750-755PE: Simon called in several political and financial debts owed to the church and his sway in law making circles and financial organisations became rapidly apparent to those with an understanding of the Empire's inner workings. This included the Emperor Jarlath, his Vizier, the Sapphire Wizards' Guild, the Protectorans leadership and of course the Audit Corporation. IN most cases they had to acecpt the church's and therefore Simon's growing influence and power. Some tried to combat it such as the wizards, some threw their lot in with the church such as the Empress Gemella Torvold and her brother Prince Renis, some simply paid up and kept their heads low. One interesting exception however was Baron Garred Brax who refused the Cardinal and claimed he owned neither the church nor Simon anything despite careful records. When the church tried to exert pressure the Baron sent them packing using his own troops and the Legion of Yellow Protectoran regulars assigned to his lands. This was an embarrassment to Simon who was frustrated at the fact the church had no miliatry strength of its own. When the state would not recognse the nature of the Church's loans, partially because Simon did not want to reveal the full nature of the church's favours to the Baron, the all-powerful Cardinal was utterly impotent to bring the Baron to heel.

753-761PE: The Conclave Dispute, a group from within the eight archmages that made up the conclave of the Sapphire Wizards' Guild attempted to remove the current Saffier. This was resisted and internally the guild had a cold civil war amongst the Sarrifs. This weakened the church's main rival and Tor Celer under Simon's leadership took advantage.

758PE: The Regicide group under direction of the archmage Interal assassinate the Emperor Jarlath and two of his children. As the final son Coriam the heir, was overseas the Empress (A major Church supporter) took over the control of the Empire as regent with her Brother Renis' able assistance.

759PE: Simon was quick to support this move and to help the throne in its time of need. With the Empress' mandate he approved the redirection of a huge number of the church's templar, clerics and paladins assinged to the military, and put them under Prince Renis as part of what would later be known as the Loyal Force. This allowed Simon to massively increase the number of paladins and combat clerics in active duty and allowed him an excuse to increase military and combat training/recruitment. Within a matter of months Interal was discovered and his followers destroyed along with him. The church received great renown for this while at the same time the wizards looked guilty and dangerous.

760PE: The Loyal Force were a political triumph for the church as they demonstrated the church's power and loyalty to the crown. Simon ensured their successes and those of the crown were considered church successes linking the two in the minds of the people and the Empress. Coriam returned to the Empire ready to be crowned and despite his best efforts Simon could not get the lich Lethe turned over to the church instead he was incarcerated in the Spectral Prison under the wizards' control.

761PE: Simon helped create the new role of Imperial Adjunct and helped see it filled by his ally and the Empress' brother Renis who was massively in his debt and incredibly devout on top of that. Renis himself was an official templar after all. This allowed the church control over the influence and growth of their major rival the Sapphire Wizards' Guild and along with the rise of a weak Saffier in Yerrith, the church was in primacy in the Empire.

763PE: Coriam died at sea. His uncle who was already running the Empire alongside Coriam's mother was then crowned Emperor Renis, known as the Pious. Simon carried out the crowning himself and it was said he smiled the entire day from sun up to sun down.

763-781PE: Reign of Renis the Pious. With the guild weak from the Conclave Dispute these years saw the rise of the Church of Celer. A new Imperial Vizier Chadek was 'chosen' by Renis, though heavily recommended by Simon. He was a powerful cleric of Knowledge one of the Theonists of Tor Celer. The church managed to position a large voting bloc in the Senate behind the 'pious' Lord Rodney Byrott. The Empress' power begins to wane from that very moment.

768PE: Chadek secures the Vormach Valley bursary from the Imperial Treasury, allowing Simon to massively increase his building plans in the valley and importantly plot the land out for the fortress of Ironhold.

769PE: Simon was rumoured to be behind the exposure of Chadek's rival in the inner council's links to Toran spies and the evidence of his embezzlement of imperial funds and his leaking of council discussions to unnamed individuals. This was later proved against him in closed council. He was immediately removed from his place, imprisoned and he was not ever seen again outside. His family estates were forfeited to the crown and set aside for charitable uses under the direction of the church.

775PE: With pressure from his council, Chadek, the Senate and the direct lobbying of the now extremely powerful Cardinal Simon VIII the Emperor allowed the creation of the Vormach. This was to be an independent holy state within Auria run by the Cardinal. The church was also now given leave to have its own official military, the Cellan Guard independent of the Protectorans. The Cellan Guard were grated the right to act under the direction of the church under arms throughout the Empire as well as of course the Vormach.

779PE: Simon was said to have been present when the Cellan Guard in sudden and overwhelming force stormed the keep of one Baron Brax. The Baron was arrested and escorted to the Vormach were he was tried for heresy, theft, embezzlement, dishonesty under contract, apostasy and bringing the church into disrepute. The official record read that the Baron recanted his previous arrogance and admitted his faults. He then assigned all his property, titles and privileges to the church in perpetuity as a sign of his grief and change of heart and himself became a monk. He never left the Vormach as he he was assigned to tend a chapel there and if legend is to be believed was assigned a great mosaic as his work of penance.

781PE: Simon retired from active political life and took up permanent residence in the Vormach Palaces.

788PE: Simon VIII died in his sleep apparently still smiling.