Gregor von Volker
 | |
| Title(s) | Vater of the Alderist Temple |
| Nickname(s) | N/A |
| Born | 1501 AFS |
| Spouse(s) | N/A |
| Issue | N/A |
| Predecessor | Patriarch Alexios |
| Successor | N/A |
| Rule | 1536 - Present |
| Realm(s) | The Hadrian Empire |
| Race | Attian Humans |
| Culture | Hadrian |
Vater Gregor von Volker I, born as Gregor Walder, is the first Vater of the reformed Alderist Temple in the Hadrian Empire.
Physical Description:
Gregor is an Attian middle aged man, with a noble bearing and a determined gait. The fact that half of Gregor’s face is covered by a silver mask is the first thing that you would notice, he wears it because of the scarring an illness in his youth left behind. He has thick dark brown hair cut short, piercing black eyes enhance his grim and shadowy expression, which hides a profound knowledge. He usually wears his papal clothes partly made of a sumptuous metal armour, with rich red and black embroidery embellished with a golden 9-pointed star and an emblem that consists of a sword and a single open eye.
Characteristics
Gregor is an intellectual man, and believes himself to be just that. He often refers to himself as a living encyclopedia, though the many years of isolation and his intellect have made his mind hyperactive and full of inklings and forebodings. Nevertheless Gregor prides himself upon his unshakeable faith, it doesn't matter what may happen nor anything else that is of this world. Gregor's faith is immutable, a granite truth. Nothing that happens ever truly shocks him, as he is a firm believer in the pre-determination that the Alderist faith teaches. Though underneath the armour of a staunch priest lies a more nuanced version of the Vater, Gregor has a pragmatic approach to faith and tries to hide the fact that he tends to give more weight to institutions and people in his choices with rhetoric, rather than blindly following the dogmas and truths of the faith. What is beneficial to the Temple is beneficial to Alder, that is his true belief.
History
Gregor Walder
Born in Adelsburg into a family of minstrels, his still young parents were among the first to be affected by the Rotting Plague when Gregor was only five years old. As the horrible disease consumed them, they noticed that it had miraculously stopped in their son, following repeated prayers addressed to Aristea. Before dying, Leopold and Brunhilde Walder entrusted their son to the Temple to raise, knowing they would die. Gregor never really knew his parents, of whom he only has vague memories of the lullabies he heard in his cradle as a child. He grew up among the clergy of Adelsburg, spending most of his time among the books of the Curia, becoming passionate about the most varied and disparate interests, as well as Alderism. At the age of 16, he joined the clergy as a novice and chose Volker as his sentinel because he saw his goal and destiny in his wisdom and ability to read the world. After spending most of his time between books and theological studies, he made his fortune in the politics of the Alderist clergy, as he was considered by the many rival factions without charisma and of little political weight: an ideal candidate in a Temple divided by many disagreements. In a short time he then became Erzbishop of Adelsburg and afterwards Vater, acclaimed by the clergy of Adelsburg.
Gregor von Volker I
Elected Vater in an antiquated Temple which was struggling to be heard, Gregor identified decentralization and a lack of independence as the main problems he had to face. Gregor was responsible for the reduction of the police freedoms of the cult of Mortius, the reform of the imperial inquisition, a position that was in disuse, and the foundation of the order of Templar Paladins. This controversial reform, aimed at providing the Vater with a personal guard, generated criticism among nobility for the fact that he began to recruit and re-educate some former criminals, including Nihil von Rosatia, the first and most (in)famous of the Templar Paladins. Gregor therefore decided to regulate the introduction of a minor celibacy for the Erzbishops, and to reassure the nobility by guaranteeing their "Herolds" the exclusive position of Grand Master of the Templars, providing the aforementioned with the possibility of receiving fiefdoms from the state.