Anselm the Holy

### Affiliation

The Church of Sol; The Fifth Crusade; The Court of Locusts; The Brotherhood of Illusionists

## Physical description

### Gender

Male

Archbishop **Anselm the Holy** first ascended to head minister of the parish of Blackbridge after the disappearance of Father Tihomir in the Wosswood. Anselm aided agents of the Church who he himself had called to Blackbridge to investigate the disappearance of his predecessor. Briefly confronted by Tegwen, who harbored suspicions about the priest and the assassinations both due to her own involvement with the Infernal Pact, Anselm sent the Heroes of Blackbridge into the Wosswood. When Lemuel, a priest sent with Aldus to investigate the disappearance, discovered that a supposed Infernal Pact assassin had murdered Father Tihomir, Anselm sent the adventurers onward to Bregate, where they learned that not only had Bishop Niall been slain, but so had many other high priests throughout the clergy. The bishop's death lead to a reordering among the clergy; for his resourcefulness in dealing with the assassinations, Anselm was made Bishop of Bregate amidst the dawn of the Fifth Crusade. Anselm was, to all appearances, a man full of vigor and a dedicated priest with a strong voice. He even claimed to be something of a mentor to Lemuel, although credited Aeron with the proper respect.

Credited as the Fifth Crusade's architect, Anselm nonetheless joined the defense of the Dawn's Herald against their prosecutor, the High Marshal, influencing Reiner Faron's ultimate and final decision. Afterwards, the Bishop chose to stay at Carmarthen for a time, befriending Father Aeron and serving under Archbishop Harald. Anselm and Aeron eventually developed plans for an artifact called the Altar of Panacea, a holy device based off the design of the periapt of health and the transmuter's stone that would cure the diseases of all who touched it. The Dawn's Herald, along with Edmund Trencavel, secured the necessary parts through a fortunate discovery of a royal tomb beneath the Athenaeum.

The Altar was neatly completed after the Eclipse thanks in part to Anselm's ascension to Archbishop of Carmarthen after Harald's assassination during the events of that same dread Eclipse. With all of Noslith's clergy beneath him, however, Anselm began to show a darker side, drawing Aeron's suspicion and culminating in threats of excommunication for the priestly Knight-Commander Lemuel of the Dawn's Herald should he not surrender Elric's bride-to-be, Lady Eleanor Rayne. Refusing to hand over Eleanor to a corrupted knight and a corrupted clergy, the Dawn's Herald confronted Anselm at Carmarthen, resulting in a brutal and bloody battle between an empowered Anselm, the prepared soldiers of House Thrussell and the recruits and leadership of the Dawn's Herald when the Archbishop activated the Altar and revealed it corrupted as it emitted a great Rasping sound. The Archbishop proved too powerful and cunning of a foe, and though Princess Calanthe saw through his plans when she came to warn the Dawn's Herald of the encroaching Royal Army, he continued to reign in Carmarthen for a long time after, seeking to bring down Tegwen with the zealous Judicael caught in the middle so that he might bring down the crown for his true masters, the Court of Locusts.

Father Aeron's suspicions that the Archbishop was actually Yorath were proven correct in the end; Carmarthen was destroyed, along with the Solist Church, by the Deluge and the Sunscourge Heresy. Yorath had likely replaced Anselm a long time ago in preparation for the plans of Ashtoreth, replacing the acolyte when he served under Father Tihomir in Blackbridge; in the end, the real Anselm was likely imprisoned within Elden Fortress by Aeronwen while Yorath went about his wicked plans. Yorath, the Grandmaster of the Brotherhood of Illusionists, himself usurped control over the ruin of Caer Brydion and started a new Academy of Illusionists dedicated to his dark patron, Fraz-Urb'luu, fittingly, the demon prince of deception. The real Anselm's fate, meanwhile, is unknown.