Sir Vortimer

[Vortimer]

Stats

Full Name: Sir Clement Vortimer of Altmere
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Offices Held: Templar Knight and Ordained Priest of Cove
Hair: Short sandy brown, clean shaven
Eyes: Blue
Race: Human/Britannian
Height: Over six feet
Build: Muscular and athletic
Age: 28
Speech: Archaic Britannian

A Brief History

    he fiery battle priest Sir Clement Vortimer of Altmere was born into a family that ruled a fiefdom in rural West Altmere before the great Border Wars. The Vortimers had a prominent family name and were land rich but had little in the way of actual money. Clement's mother died in childbirth. Vortimer’s ramshackle family castle in Altmere, the fief, and the vassals all were inherited by his older brother Charles Vortimer the Younger. As a second son he would receive nothing upon the death of his father. The horror of primogeniture left Clement Vortimer with two choices — become an outlaw or join The Church.

    At fourteen years old the Lord sent Clement a bodily sickness which he laid with for three months. On his deathbed he was visited by pain, shortness of breath, and failing life. He had blessed thoughts of sweet release from the nagging nurse and the hovering monk that presided over his sickbed. One night he saw the red blood running down from under his white linen sheet, hot and fresh, plenteously and lively. Light shone through the window and it reminded him of his dying and ascending Lord Avatar. In a dream vision he saw the ankh running with crimson. In his own blood he spied the painting of the sword-cross that glistened with the blood of the Father of Wytches. From then on he felt a great ‘loathesomeness’ to die. By Avatar’s Light he regained his health.

    On the first day of the fourth month, he could walk again and received his calling. That morning he informed his father he would go to Britain and join the Church. The decision was met with praise and he was given crust of bread, a couple of apples, and the elderly family pony to make his pilgrimage. Upon arrival at the Cathedral of Light in Britain he took all the rites of devotion to the Holy Avatarian Church.

    He served for one year as a stable boy in the preceptory of the Grand Master. At age fifteen he received his letter of transfer to the Empath Abbey along with missive that his father had died. His head was shaven to tonsure and he was given his brown monk robes. For two years he lived amongst the brothers in a cloistered life studying scripture in the Lord's tongue and refusing indulgence. Soon he was summoned back to Britain and made a Templar Squire.

    Meanwhile the Border Wars raged on in Altmere and Charles Vortimer the Younger would die under the tyranny of Yewish rule. The family’s feral gothic castle was knocked down and the mortar and stone was collected and transported for use in the militia; that included the cornerstone with the family surname 'Vortimer,' the coat of arms, and date. The then ‘Friar Vortimer’ was far away in the crusades, slaughtering the heathen and savages. In those foreign lands he would acquire (steal) several idols, relics, icons of saints, and illuminated manuscripts, for the Templar brotherhood. Some are on display in the Church, others are kept locked away in the gated preceptory’s archive and coffers.
  
    Upon returning from the crusades Vortimer was stationed in Cove under the watchful eye of the imperious Sir Hugo, descendant of Saint Keldor. He arrived with Inquisitor Altair De Nostra of the Yew court and Sister Mirja Voulle. After the long arduous trials of knighthood he eventually became a Templar initiate and was finally summoned to Britain again to be inducted as a full Templar and ordained as a priest. He then returned to Cove in shining plated mail. Having earned his spurs, his war horse, and his leaded black Teutonic cloak, the templar was greater and more imperious than ever before.

A Painting of Father Vortimer

The Chivalry of Sir Vortimer and His Steed Eliduc

Medium: egg yolk as a binding agent, mixed with colored pigments to create tempera paint on canvas

Traits and Current Appearances

Sir Vortimer can be seen regularly in various parts of Cove, most often in the Church or the preceptory, or patrolling the shire on his warhorse, Eliduc. Like Father Tameris Deacon, Vortimer has been known to sit in on Covian Council meetings when the Bishop of Cove or the Templar Preceptor is unable.

'I beg you to keep your body as clean as when our Lord sent you into knighthood, so that you can come before the grail as a spotless virgin without the stain of carnal pleasures.'
 — La Queste Del saint Graal

Vortimer is a chaste virgin knight who has always refused women, for he believes himself to be the perfect knight whose body and spirit are untouched by carnal desire. His armour is always polished to shine and his tabard is always kept alabaster white. His complexion is free of boils and blemishes and his hygiene and bathing trump that of the local peasantry and most Covian army guardsmen. Despite the outward stamp of his body he certainly has a blotch or two on his soul, though he certainly would not think so. He has been known to twist faith to serve his own purposes. Occasionally this will shine through his his long sermons during Sunday mass or in incidents where lives are lost whilst he 'defends the faith.' He actively engages in relic trade and simony and has false pardons and indulgences shipped from Britain which he will peddle to Covians in addition to the one tenth of their income they must give as tithe.

Some records tell how after his appointment to Cove he occupied himself in securing the restoration of the rights and properties of his church, the revenues and prestige of which, in his view, have been impaired under the rule of the Covian Council.

He also is known for establishing lavish and elaborate displays in which he is the center. It is rumored that, in exchange for pardon and prayer, he hired minstrels or ‘little servants’ on Church coin, to write tales of heroism of his brother knights in metrical romances. One such Chansen de Geste, or ‘song of great deed’ begins like this ‘When Sir Vortimer goeth forth to ship/ with him and his clergy and fellowship...’ In addition, he certainly expects the Covian laity to address him as ‘Father Vortimer’ or ‘Sir Vortimer’ and will not tolerate disrespect for the Church or its clergy.

Vortimer does not fear death and believes he will be martyred one day. He believes in Ars Moriendi or ‘The Art of Dying’ and frequently offers advice (macabre horrors) to Covians on the protocols and procedures of a good death, explaining how to ‘die well’ according to Avatarian precepts.

He is highly prejudice and heralds Britannians to be the fairest of all races. Like his brothers he detests magic, from behind his helm vigilant unblinking eyes ensure that everyone in Cove who practices magic is branded with an ‘A’ for Arcanist. If they are not branded he ensures they are burned at the stake until death. He once threw open the doors to the Goblin, grabbed an Arcanist by his neck and led him to the barracks where he shacked the poor recruit down before sinking a red hot coulter into the lad’s upper arm.

‘This epic book that is my life is begun by Higher Being’s gift and his grace, but it is not yet performed, as to my sight.’
— Sir Vortimer

His true element is on the battlefield. As a lad, before joining the order he slew a petty thief that tried to steal his father’s livestock. As the blood gushed from the man’s body and the cardinal juxtaposed itself with the white snow, he knew that he desired a knight’s life filled with slaughter. He was a skilled armsmaster long before he took his vows. Indeed, the only time he leaves Cove is when he is called to fight in a crusade. He frequently shouts Latinae to incite passion within the Covian troops. He is an active seeker of battle to prove his chivalric prowess and any breach of faith, in his view, is a just cause for war. Thus he is extremely loyal to Baron Octiovus von Richter due to his funding of the crusades.

What Sir Vortimer does however, he does entirely out of faith. He truly believes that he is keeping the people of Cove safe from the ‘cloven-hoofed devils’ that run wild in the Covian-shire, seeking to bring man into sin. He follows the virtues and is pious, devout, and on rare occasions benevolent; though it is often undercut by his upholding of the ‘black and white’ laws of Cove. He and his war hammer act unquestioningly according to the will and whims of Cornelius Rege, Bishop of Cove and The Church.

Public View

Though little is known about Sir Vortimer’s cloistered life by the laity (indeed most people have never even seen his face), like the other Templars he has gained a reputation. It is thus possible that the warlike legends which have gathered around the name of Vortimer are due to some confusion of his identity with that of his martial predecessor. It may, however, be entirely legendary, being rather the crystallization of earlier Templar legends than the source of later ones, and its popularity seems to date from the latter part of the current century. Nevertheless his reputation precedes him.

Most, if not all Covians are aware of the ‘virtuous’ and 'good' deeds of Sir Vortimer of Altmere.

† ‘My Idea of a night out on Cove-town? Why, attending an Avatarian morality play followed by an excess of feast in which I doth piously observe but unconditionally refuse to indulge in, certes.’ †