High Priest Jacob

**High Priest Jacob** is the primate of the Church of the Ancestor, although his reputation for corruption is well known. In the past, Jacob has had some well-known and bitter rivalry with Abbess Glass.

## Appearance and Personality

High Priest Jacob is a small old man with short grey hair and a craggy face, who walks with a pronounced limp. Yet, his eyes are very sharp. He wears exquisite robes of dark material, a gold woven chain with an amethyst the size of a hen’s egg, and walks with a sick-wood staff, the end stamped with the alpha and omega of the Ancestor.

While it is not uncommon for high ranking clergy to be somewhat dishonest, Jacob is blatantly corrupt. He’s well connected at Emperor Crucical’s court, and toadies with all the great Sis families, especially the Tacsis. Jacob can also be sadistically cruel.

## History

High Priest Jacob regularly buys young children with the traits of the four tribes from Giljohn the child-taker to become Ancestor brotherhood novices. On one occasion, an ugly incident that occurs. When buying a child called Markus, Giljohn’s mule Four-Foot bites him. The High Priest insists on buying it, which Giljohn only agrees to with great reluctance. He then beats the mule to death while Markus tries to easy the poor animal’s suffering.

Red Sister

Nona Grey, a young peasant girl indentured at the Caltess Fight-Hall, is convicted of almost killing Raymel Tacsis, the heir of one of the wealthiest Sis noble families in The Empire. However, Abbess Glass manages to trick the guards at Harriton Prison into letting her take Nona and enrol her in the convent of Sweet Mercy. When the Abbess refuses to hand the girl over to the common legal authorities, the Tacsis family bribe High Priest Jacob into getting them the revenge they seek.

High Priest Jacob arranges for all four Archon of the Ancestor Church to travel from the four corners of The Empire to Sweet Mercy for the Church trial of Nona Grey and Abbess Glass. Both the novice and the Abbess are placed in an iron yoke, and locked in the recluse overnight. The next day, the High Priest tries to rushes through the trial and conviction of the pair. However, the Abbess argues that Nona’s conviction for killing the sociopath Raymel Tacsis was corrupt, and that any nine-year-old girl capable of killing a famed Gerant ring fighter would serve the Church well. The four Archons are convinced and conclude there is no case to answer, but High Priest Jacob overrules them, and proceeds to the sentencing.

Seemingly panicked, Abbess Glass now claims that Nona is the prophesised Shield of the Argatha. She agrees to take an archaic test to prove it, involving holding her hand just above a votive candle until her testimony is believed. During the long minutes of the trial, the Abbess roars in agony as her palm burns, but the High Priest is utterly determined to have his way. So Nona stops the test, and agrees to take the ordeal of the Shield Test instead.

With sadistic glee, High Priest Jacob insists that Nona must protect a person during the trial, and asks for a volunteer. Just when it seems that no one will step forward, Hessa volunteers. Through her Hunska speed, Nona amazingly survives the trial against three projectiles: a spear, a throwing-star, and an arrow. The High Priest accepts defeat with bad grace, but before he can leave Abbess Glass accuses him of having sold himself entirely to the Tacsis family. Jacob tries to brush off the accusation, but all four Archons agree and vote to remove him from office for his stupidity, greed, and malice. After Jacob storms out, Archon Nevis is elected the new primate of the Church of the Ancestor.