Archbishop Pinthroy

The origins of the Most Holy Church of Lumaya are humble, and largely lost to time and memory. From a single Lumayan temple in Narbuk, the Church spread across Teleria, gaining followers and influence over the centuries during the Age of Hellfire and the Demonspawn invasion that precipitated the Second Great War. During this time, the Church was a symbol of hope, and its Warpriests were to be found on every battlefield. But they were not alone in their devotion to Lumaya. There was also the Sacred Order. In the earlier days of the Church, before its power was as assured as it is now, its relationship with the Sacred Order was a fraught one. The nascent Church feared the that the powerful Order might consume them in its fervor and haste to spread the faith. Even as the Second Great War came to an end, the Church was already mobilizing to face this perceived threat to its sovereignty. They were determined to bring the Order to heel by any means necessary, and put it in what the Church saw the its place in Lumaya’s grand scheme to be – as facilitator and defender of the faith, rather than its master. But the then-Abbess of the Sacred Order, no stranger to Church politics, was all too aware of the Church’s feelings and moved quickly to counter — or at least delay — any attempt to curb the Order’s dominance. The Abbess commanded agents of the Order spread throughout Kaerok and the Free Cities, working to undermine trust in the Church, and weaken its influence over local political affairs. Nowhere was this more evident than in Narbuk — the very heart of the Church’s power. While the conflict was restricted mostly to propaganda and fierce debate, brawls occasionally broke out between militant monks and the warriors of the Sacred Order in the months that followed. Eventually, the conflict threatened to spill over into secular affairs, as both the Order and the Church attempted to garner support from the King of Kaerok, as well as the rulers of Free Cities such as Delanos and Arnoc. Indeed, the situation had become so volatile that some among the Order feared that the Arbiter herself might take notice. A solution was called for — a unifying figure was needed, to end the fighting and unite the Sacred Order and the Church once and for all. One was found. His name was Pinthroy. A Church Warpriest of some distinction, Pinthroy was famous for both his dogged devotion to Lumayan doctrine as well as his ferocity in battle. He had carried the Light of Lumaya into the darkest of tombs and the murkiest of fens, rousing his followers with fiery sermons and militant rhetoric that focused less on Lumaya’s love and more on her wrath. In his impassioned speeches, he railed not only against Demonspawn and Undead, but also the ‘repulsive’ Orcs and Lizardmen, and the ‘abominable’ first Skinwalkers. As a consequence of his activities, Pinthroy had often worked closely with the warriors of the Sacred Order, and was well-respected by them. He was also much loved by the lay clergy of the Church, who believed him to be the ideal to which all priests of the faith ought to aspire, even in spite of his extreme prejudice toward non-Humans. In short, Pinthroy was the perfect candidate to be the Archbishop of the Church of Lumaya. Respected by both sides, with an awareness of what the Order was and how it best functioned. A man like him could ensure peace between the two factions and an end to the conflict. Of course Pinthroy, being the man he was, did not see the offer of elevation to high office as a reward. He preferred to be in the field, away from the political struggles that dominated the upper reaches of the Church hierarchy as well as that of the Sacred Order. Indeed, the very fact that his appointment was a result of sectarian infighting only made him more reluctant. Despite his protests, Pinthroy was soon installed in his new offices, and though it took him some time to become used to his new position, he eventually came to see the wisdom behind his elevation. He realized that he had had been invested with the power to spread and push his ideals much further than he ever could have done as a Warpriest. The years that followed proved the Abbess correct in her estimation of Pinthroy, for under his stern guidance, the Church of Lumaya grew closer than ever to the Sacred Order. No longer working against each other, the two swiftly expanded their reach and influence across Anhelt. But under Pinthroy’s guidance, the seeds of the brutality that would come to define the Order in future centuries were thus planted.