The High Septon

A man old enough to remember what the Faith once was, the current High Septon has tried to rebuild what was lost during the rule of Maegor the Cruel in his own way: the Swords and Stars were replaced with honeyed words and reluctant inclusion of the Faith into the Great Game, and, slowly, the ruins gave way to a new beginning.

And then Balerion, the same beast that had saw the Sept of Remembrance scorched, died in 98 AC - and now the High Septon sees an opportunity for the organization that he grew up in the shadow of to return to it's former height, believing the disease of Dragonblight to have been sent by the gods themselves.

## Appearance and Character

An aged man, he remains as of yet unstooped, and his brown eyes still seem to gleam with a perception that shows the current High Septon has kept the sharpness of mind that others seem to lose in age.

He is often dressed in all the silks and fineries associated with the position of the Seven's voice on earth.

## History

The current High Septon is a relic of an older time, having come to maturity during a period when merit carried more weight than circumstances of birth. Should things continue down their current path, it is likely the Inimitable One will be the last baseborn man to wear the crystal crown in the next century; nonetheless, the man that was born Qarlton of Oldtown persists.

The orphan of a brickmaker, he spent his childhood as a ward of the Starry Sept, fed by a septa in a soup kitchen and taught to read through recitals of the Seven-Pointed Star. Eventually, the boy turned to a teenager, and, nearly a man at seven-and-ten, by 42 AC Qarlton looked to become a septon in his own right - and then the Faith Militant Rebellion began, sparked by Maegor the Cruel and beginning a fire that would engulf all that the native of Oldtown had ever known.

Far from a fighter, the boy was spared the path of a Poor Fellow, and instead served as the aide to the resident septon of a chapter of Warrior's Sons in Lannisport; the High Septon is the last living member of this group, having been the only one spared death by incineration at the hands of Balerion during the Battle of the Great Fork thanks to a stomach flu. To this day, the High Septon believes such a temporary ailment to have been the work of the gods, and thinks that he was spared so that he may serve a higher purpose; such realizations in the wake of the High Septon's death in 43 AC spurred Qarlton into a life of politics-meets-religion.

He went to great lengths to connect with what senior members remained following the Cruel's purging of their ranks, making a name for himself as a charismatic and learned orator; when the position of Most Devout became vacant in 80 AC, Qarlton successfully managed to be appointed to it, having been nominated for the office by a fellow Most Devout that he had befriended during their time together in the Starry Sept. He was one of the youngest men in living memory to hold the position.

Not seeking to rest, the man of five-and-fifty years used his newfound resources to further grow his power base and begin to repair what had been broken: impassioned speeches by the newest Most Devout became a common sight from the steps of the Starry Sept, lords and ladies were often offered personal audiences (as to better ensure their role as allies to the Faith when the time came), and Qarlton oversaw programs of sanitation and education that made him well loved throughout the realm. In time, all spoke of the baseborn septon with a silver tongue and a heart of gold; when the High Septon passed in his sleep in 85 AC, much of the realm believed that Qarlton should add a crystal crown to his collection.

The Most Devout agreed, and that year Qarlton of Oldtown became the High Septon, "the Inimitable One" - the rest is a history that the man-turned-voice-for-the-gods still toils to craft.

## NPCs

* **Septon Alvar** of the Most Devout (AC)