Pale PC Backgrounds

Bishop Maynerd Chandler

Cleric-7 Sacred Exorcist-5

By Greg Ryker

Description

Maynerd is 5' 11" 185# Oerdian Man in his mid-thirties with Pale Skin, Black Hair and Grey Eyes. He wears feathered full plate and fine white silk clerical vestments with Gold Trim. He bears a finely crafted Tower Shield with Pale Heraldry and wields a glowing Silver Mace of Pholtus.

Background

Maynerd Chandler is the youngest of three sons born to Jocelyn, wife of Percival, a devoutly religious but somewhat impoverished candle maker in Hatherleigh. Due to the size of his family, the meagerness of the income derived from his father's profession, and the need to provide dowries for his two elder sisters, Maynerd's upbringing afforded little in the way of a patrimony beyond a pious upbringing, a religious education, and a respect for authority.

While his father proposed to continue using him as a worker in his shop, when he came of age, his mother covertly contacted her brother, his Uncle Neellius, a scribe who worked in the great library at Ogburg, to seek a suitable position for him. After some months of searching, Neellius was able to prevail upon an acquaintance to consider Maynerd for a position as acolyte at Hatherleigh cathedral.

At a clandestine meeting arranged by his mother while his father was away procuring wax, Maynerd impressed the young priest with his quite confidence and his already formidable grasp of scripture, hard-won through countless prayer-meetings led by his father. Maynerd was promptly accepted as a probationary acolyte, packed up his few belongings, and moved to the seminary neighboring Hatherleigh Cathedral. The shouting match that ensued when his father returned was a source of neighborhood gossip for years to come.

After years of dreary apprenticeship in his father's candle shop, exposure to philosophy, religious dogma, knowledge, and ethics were a welcome change. As an acolyte, he was quietly successful in fulfilling his duties without standing out from his peers. He demonstrated some of the qualities possessed by his uncle Neellius by being an avid reader in his spare time, absorbing a broad, although shallow, grasp of a wide variety of fields of knowledge. Exceptions were religious scriptures, which Maynerd assiduously studied at the prompting of his elders, and the study of Angels, Devils, Demons, and other outsiders, a body of lore which has fascinated him throughout his life, though this pursuit has sometimes alarmed his superiors.

When Maynerd reached his majority, he volunteered for a year of Missionary work to show his devotion to the One True Path. His experiences as a lay missionary helping the poor of Greyhawk brought him a new appreciation for life and the benefits of the spiritual and ecclesiastical work done by the Church. For the first time in his life, he was part of something that really mattered, and was able to help those around him. Maynerd extended his time as a missionary, eventually spending several years tending to the poor wretches that came to the order for succor, working in the soup kitchens, tending to the sick in the mission clinic, and otherwise ministering to those with no recourse but the Charity of the Church. Maynerd has strived to live the ideals instilled in him by his mentors of those days, an order of compassionate missionary priests whose innate goodness and charity sometimes put them at odds with their more dogmatic and doctrine oriented superiors. Yet Maynerd, who learned obedience at the hands of his father, has honored his vows of obedience to his Superiors, and this has helped him rise in the ranks of the Clergy.

When Maynerd was 29, he and his companions foiled a nefarious plot by a group of Xvarts to abduct and murder the poor children of Greyhawk. Soon after, his elderly Uncle Neellius died, leaving a small inheritance to each of the Chandler children, including Maynerd. While traveling to the Pale to pay his respect at the tomb of his benefactor, Maynerd demonstrated the power of faith by channeling the sun to destroy a group of Ghouls and Zombies who were terrorizing a small village in the southern part of the Pale. Since that time, Maynerd has felt himself chosen by Pholtus as a vessel for the protection of the weak from Undead and Infernal Beings.

Over the last few years Maynerd has lived the perilous life of an adventuring Priest, and has been called upon to perform numerous missions for the Pale in which he has consistently shown himself to be a defender of the Church's interests without taking sides in political battles between the Conservatives and Progressives. Among the common folk his deeds vanquishing undead and casting demons into the outer darkness have become legendary. In recognition of service to the Church, he recently attained the rank of Bishop on detached duty as an Exorcist in the Arch-Diocese of Hatherleigh and gives the occasional sermon at Hatherleigh Cathedral. Due to his role as exorcist and adventurer he is often called away on special missions.

As Maynerd has attained higher office, advocates of both parties have increased their recruiting efforts, so far to little avail. Some Pholtan Clerics who adhere to the Conservative party consider him to be a Progressive sympathizer, and various Progressives consider him to be a morale coward. Maynerd prefers to consider himself a follower of the One True Path, a path that flows from ones convictions and beliefs. Some speculate that he may soon be called to higher office, but his lack of sponsorship by either political party and his usefulness as a frontline soldier in the unceasing warfare against the demonic hosts of Old Wicked weighs against that possibility. For now, Maynerd is content in his role as defender of the faith against the infernal enemies arrayed against it.