Septon Michael

Septa Jeyne

**Septon Michael**, born simply as **Michael**, was a septon of the Faith and a personal septon of Dorian Tyrell.

After his fall from grace with the lord, he travelled back to the lands of House Lyberr, where he was born, and served there in a small sept until his death in 106 AC.

## Appearance and personality

Michael appears to be much older than he is. His face appears drained by many years of sorrows and travel, but ever since he has settled in Bitterbridge, he has gained some dignity back to his appearance.

His hair is completely grey, as well as his beard. His face is filled with wrinkles, and his eyes are hazel, oft filled with sternness. He dresses in simple grey robes of his station.

Michael is an unforgiving man. Pious and strict, he sets a punishing standard of Faith for anyone he meets, including himself, and although he preaches moderation and abstinence, he practices those things himself. Disillusioned with the world, he navigates everything beside the Gods with disdain, all save for fellow man.

Yet, he reserves his love for the smallfolk. He keeps his hatred of the higher echelons of society a well hidden fact, and isn't above revenge when needed, including on those not participating in the crime itself.

## History

### Birth

Michael was the last child of an honest, working smallfolk family living in the lands of Lord Lyberr. His father Addam was a farmer, working his portion of the field without ever causing trouble, and his mother Shella was the village midwife. He grew up with two brothers, Willis and Vardis, as well as a sister Jeyne.

The family never caused anyone trouble. They paid their taxes, they obeyed the law, and Michael grew in the tight, warm circle that was his family's cottage. His village was big enough to have a sept of its own, albeit a wooden one with the Gods drawn on the walls, but a sept nonetheless; all of the children gathered there every day to listen to the stories of the old septon.

### Troubles

When Michael was 7 years old, his mother Shella passed away from an illness they had no money to treat. Michael recalls seeing all the women whose babies Shella helped deliver weeping as her body was laid to rest.

His father Addam was visibly distraught. Shella's death shook his world, and out of total and reverent love to her, refused to remarry. He was too distraught to plow the fields, so Willis, Michael's eldest brother, took the role of the head of the household.

Addam died only three years after his wife's death, likely from a broken heart.

### (Wish we could) Turn back time, to the good old days

Though the deaths of their parents shook them greatly, the siblings managed to get their lives back on track. Willis had married his neighbour's daughter, Alla and produced three children with her to inherit the cottage once he died. Vardis helped run the household, Michael spent more and more time with the septon, who was teaching him to read and write.

Meanwhile, Jeyne grew up to be a beautiful maiden. She attracted the attentions of many men, but refused to marry either of them; that refusal would prove disasterous in the case of one Ser Jaime Flowers.

### Fatal beauty

Jaime was greatly enamoured with Jeyne. He urged to make her his wife time and time again, sometimes appearing on her doorstep, but Willis and Vardis told him no many, many times. Finally, Jaime's patience ran out and one evening, when most were finishing up their work, he found Jeyne tending to a little garden her mother left her. He tried taking her away, but she fought back and her screams alarmed Willis, who ran out to defend his sister.

In a fight that ensued, Jaime was thrown off the property, but not before killing Willis. Then, in an act of a coward, he disappeared from the village to avoid punishment, but the damage had been done. Jeyne wept and wept, swearing she'd join the nearest septry if her beauty killed people like that.

### Failed hopes

Jaime had escaped, but hopes of him being punished for Willis' murder didn't. Thus, immediately afterwards, Vardis and Michael, and Willis' distressed widow Alla, all came to the Lord Lyberr, asking for justice for their brother. Lord Lyberr's response would carve its way into every fasset of Michael's life and fuel his hatred of nobility.

"He died in a duel," the lord said. "I don't have the time to deal with every little duel between smallfolks in my lands." Despite their begging, Lyberr would not relent. His judgment was final; he would not prosecute Jaime Flowers for the death of Willis.

Michael was shocked. His world had shifted; from a happy, trouble-less family, to the one where people go unpunished. In his mind, if it had happened to Lord Lyberr's brother, he'd ask for the killer's head, but since it wasn't a noble blood that was spilled that fateful night, he cared little. Every nobleman in his eyes became like Lord Lyberr - careless and cold, selfish and distant.

He prayed incessantly in the years after, for the Father to provide him a means to get his revenge, for the Warrior to give him strenght to do it. Then, solution came - he'd follow in the footsteps of his sister Jeyne, much to the dismay of Vardis, who could use a literate person in the house now he was head.

But Michael didn't budge. After Alla's death in 65 AC, Michael the peasant turned into Septon Michael, seeking revenge onto every nobleman he saw.

### Spreading the good news

Soon after getting his title, Michael set to travel Westeros, offering his services when needed. He avoided noble keeps as much as he could, and instead chose to stay in the houses of other smallfolk who offered him room for the night in exchange for some knowledge, religious or secular. He never asked for money, except for very rare cases he needed it.

He baptised children, oversaw burials, married people. He offered advice and consoled. That was, until a nobleman rebelled against the King.

### Rosegold rebellion (Michael and Dorian)

The rebellion forced Michael to never stay in one spot. He ran from battles like from a plague, and for most of it, he was successful; when he reached Oldtown, he chose to wait until the rebellion ended there. However, blockade came as a shock. He quickly hid with the women and children in the Starry Sept, under the guiding hand of Alysanne Tyrell.

There, he met Dorian, Alysanne's young son. Dorian was a pleasant, scared boy - a nobleblooded, but a child nonetheless - and Michael offered support, albeit faked. In a childlike manner, Dorian took it, accepted it and made use of it, and a wicked, strange idea began forming in Michael's mind.

Two years later, Gods delivered their revenge. Dorian was asking for a personal septon and Michael offered himself without a thought. Soon afterwards, he was travelling to Bitterbridge.

His work was subtle, but present. Dorian trusted him, and Michael channeled the hate - which had grown because of the sheer status the boy had - into quiet, but destructive attacks. Things which might've been forgiven to him weren't for the boy. Minor offenses became damnable, and forgiveness could only come from obedience to the Gods (and sometimes Michael as their representative.) Michael reshaped the boy, in a misplaced act of revenge against the one man who refused to help solve his brother's murder.

But recently, Dorian has started awaking his individuality from the slumber, which was outside Michael's plans. A hinderance. A threat that could prove overpowering unless stopped.

## Meta

Skills:

* Silvertongue
* Diplomacy
* Piety
* Manipulation

## Family

*Addam* (17-57), m. *Shella* (17-54)

* *Willis* (37-58), m. *Alla* (37-65)
	+ Sandor (56)
	+ Vayon (57)
	+ Della (58)

* Vardis (40), m. Beony (41)
	+ *Jyanna* (59-66)
	+ Mylessa (60)
	+ *Una* (64-69)
	+ Jack (67)
	+ Otto (70)

* Septa Jeyne (45)

* **Septon Michael** (47)