A Dog Named Darfey

[Basil of Sabris 112]

A DOG NAMED DARFEY

 

It was a friar, of middling age and sturdy build, who stood upon the scaffold in the midst of Kaldonia. A solemn crowd had gathered around the podium, itself consisting mostly of smallfolk with perhaps a few of the lower gentry mixed in. The odd off-duty soldier was dotted through the crowd - a Bretagne horseman here, a Savoyard lancer there, a Winterguard for once having absconded out of the tavern. Most of those present knew well of the friar. With an unshaven jaw, receding blonde hair and donning a monk’s simple white cassock, over which he wore a dark brown cloak, he could have passed for any simple burgher priest.

 

 

But this was Basil of Sabris, son of Peter, or so he called himself. It was sometimes whispered he was once a Raevir who went by the name of Vasili Petrovich, but if any of the old trappings of the Orthodoxy remained on his person or in his speech they were well-hidden. The tone of his voice was strong but yet somewhat uncouth, but nevertheless it possessed no accent but that of the Imperial peasantry, the common working man who had been strained under the yoke of the well-born. Friar Basil was no Orthodox priest, that much was certain, and what he regularly preached from atop his scaffold was seldom in the favour of any doctrine but that of his own lower caste.

At last, he took his position and began to speak the words that those assembled had come to hear.

“Belief, worship, papal infallibility, sanctity and veneration. Those are the doctrines of the faith that our realm is beholden to follow. I know just as much as any of you that those are the precepts of the Lucienist faith, and that in place of these precepts we have iniquity, sloth, popery, sin and idolatry.

 

The Church of the One True Faith, and the sect of Lucienism, is a sham! I have seen for myself the court of the Papacy. I have seen the red and gold vestments our High Pontiff is bedecked with, but no doubt you have not, for he shows his face so rarely it is hard to tell whether he is still living. Holed up in some residence of which we know nothing, our High Pontiff schemes and plots, endeavoring to cause ill to some rival at the expense of the common people! What wretched knaves are we to abide this?

I have seen how he controls the Papacy, deftly ensuring that the electors Archbishop Regulus and Bishop Henry will not act against him through bribes or other favours, and I have seen how he plots even to this day for the latter to be his successor. I say this - the true Papacy perished with the last legitimate High Pontiff, Lucien Secundus, twenty years ago when his electors attempted to force him out of his papal seat - a grievous sin, for a High Pontiff serves until death - and then when he would not relinquish it willingly and obtained the support of King Heinrik, they poisoned him, just as they are poisoning the people with their filth, hoping to drown you in their iniquity!

I have seen the riches possessed by the Papacy - the stagnant Papacy, mind you, which does nothing when its people are desperately in need of spiritual guidance. I have seen for myself the invasion of nonhumans in the days of old. Sophia’s Rebellion, the Royal Rebellion, the Zion Alliance, which were themselves orchestrated by several disgruntled subjects of the Empire who schemed to seat respectively a woman, an elf and another elf on the Imperial throne! And who is the architect of these grievous sins. who bade them each to do it?

Darfey, our High Pontiff. He rolls around in sin like a pig hungry for more and more power, and slowly he amasses it through evil dealings. His catspaws, Winter and the Fellows of St. Lucien worship him as if he is God born of human flesh! Idolatry, I call it, for Lucienism is dead, and in its wake we have Darfeyism. I say to thee openly and without hesitation that should St. Lucien, the founder of Lucienism, and St. Adrian, the author of its doctrines, look down from the Seven Skies upon the den of shadow that the Church has become, they would order us earthly beings to purge it with fire and sword.

And I say to you people that we do just that! There is but one man who I would recognize as head of our Church and avatar of God, and his name is Peter and is crowned already as the sovereign of mankind! He is our master in all things but that of spirit, and I would have him cast his loving hands upon that as well, for any monarch of our country is most certainly he who should dictate our faith! I have forseen our victory, for the crimes of Darfey and his catchpoles cannot be permitted to go without justice and punishment. We must storm the Church, slay the corrupt bishops, burn this wizard Darfey at the stake and bury Darfeyism, this heretical popery, in the ground once and for all!"

The cries of ‘Ave Kaedrin,’ ‘Death to Darfey,’ ‘Praise Peter,’ resound within the crowd of peasants, cheering for Father Basil as he descends from his platform.

 

[WuHanXianShi14 0]

(Is that Jorah Mormont as a priest?)

[seannie 7443]

(Is that Jorah Mormont as a priest?)

no its the hound obviously )

[Altiak 1648]

Lord Kovachev attends the assembly, while being encompassed by Raevir compatriots. Smirking, the youth and his retinue cry out in agreement, departing soon after.

[Esterlen 4499]

 

Edmond de Savoie watches the friar's almost prophetic words from amongst the crowd, his hands clasped together neatly. Further to his left is his brother Olivier and the Imperial chancellor, Donatien of Brunswick. A somewhat dour smirk is writ upon his serious face as he watches the spectacle with icy eyes, murmuring something to his brother.

 

"We ought to tell the Emperor of this."

[Haribo 385]

d, 

 

Arnolf Kovachev scratches his long white beard, contemplating the friar's words. 

 

"Maybe this man is true, but this is grave accusation against Church. I think about this more, da."

[Cracker 4570]

A mix of pride and comfort manifested itself in the conscience of Siguine Barrow. There were men outside of the Raevir sphere of influence whom saw the corruption at work; sloth, greed, and further vices muddled together in the corruption of Lucienism, a failed experiment which proved man could not be trusted with the voice of God.

 

Yet, the words rang truer proclaimed than mulled in his conscience, and Siguine Barrow also felt a magnified repulsion towards those were attached to Darfey by the hip. The House of Winter and the Order of St. Lucien both clung to the words of Darfey as flies to sweet sap, but the former's prestige and royal lineage can be entirely attributed to the Vochna's actions, and the latter had relied on countless pardons and state funding in order to prosper into an order that drew parallels with the infamous Rose.

 

Yet both chose to cling towards their Darfey before the hand that reared them into the forces they are, and for what? A church with so little moral authority that it is mocked in the cups of the commons and unknown to its nobility? A church corrupt at its core where only those whom bend to Darfey's ambition are permitted seats in its college? A church which connived to kill kings by their own hearth?

 

For once, the bastard put his hopes in the Imperials to rectify a wrong that grew unkempt like a weed in the gardens, a blight upon Orenian culture and faith.

 

_____

 

Acolyte Jimena "Juicy J" Festino and Yakov the Ruskan both come closer to peace in their respective afterlives, soon realizing their sacrifices in the name of King Franz, the Martyr whom died fighting the tendrils of Darfey, may not have been in vain.

[Watyll 1104]

Man nods at the words of a person who is obviously not an alt.

[Aetosion 2062]

Man nods at the words of a person who is obviously not an alt.

havenokism!!

 

Edward is also annoyed at the High Pontiff's inactivity, but he realizes that OOC exams take precedence over the Fringe. He does not, however, equate the absence of Darfey from the public eye to the sinful excesses suggested by the priest.

[Avacyn 1712]

 

Lord Harrison Briarwood listens to the man with a keen interest, glancing downwards to the ground, before dragging his gaze over to his close friends, the men of de Savoie. He mutters something to himself before making his way over to the trio to stand with them.

[Proddy 2415]

"Throw Darfey down a well! Let country be free!" A patriotic Raevir man exclaims, exiting in cue as his lord does.

[Charles_Grimlie 1072]

"It will be soon that we may never have a High Pontiff, this is solely due to another always attempting to dispose the last." Says Holy Ser Rosencrantz.

[Birdwhisperer 1174]

Moved to the Great Library. It shall be sorted into appropriate category shortly.