Brother Gilles

Glasgow / Ventrue

Gilles was born the bastard son of a wealthy Burgundian noble. To hide his own shame, Gilles' father arranged a position in Mother Church, far from home: The remote, rebellious end of a foreign empire seemed appropriate. The lad was raised in a now-forgotten monastery, whipped daily for his curiosity and homesickness, until he caught the attention of the order's ageing Seneschal. Given outlet, Gilles's hungry mind quickly developed a gift for organization and numbers. When he was fifteen, Gilles entered the holy order, and his mentor entered a quiet retirement.

That is as it was for Gilles's life. He continued to quietly run the affairs of the abbey, ensuring that the day-to-day lives of the brothers were undisturbed by outside affairs, all the while amassing a bulwark against interference by ensuring the monks' products found their way to the hands of those who appreciated them most, in a financial manner.

Gilles himself was ancient, on his sick bed, and despairing that his own protégée would ever understand the needs of the order, that he received a dark visitor. He knew immediately that this was no ordinary visitor, not by any faithful insight (his faith in god was never more than an ember at best), but because he had heard of this unnaturally pale demon clad in black furs who so badly terrified the residents of the nearby city. Prince Martin needed Gilles' organizational skills to help him keep track of his domain. He didn't give Gilles the option of refusal.

The next centuries passed slowly for Gilles: His Sisyphean labor to bring stability and prosperity to Glasgow was forever dashed by the demands and appetites of his sire and his princely court. His Blood Bond (he refuses to think of it as an oath) wore thin. Then came the dynastic struggle, and Martin leaned on Gilles to bleed the countryside dry. Then, he was kidnapped.

Malcolm held Gilles close for two years, speaking with him nightly, showing him the fruits of his labors, destroyed and desecrated, by Prince Martin and his Cronies. Though Gilles struggled mightily to return to his sire's side, Malcolm prevailed: That part of him who was still the inquisitive Seneschal didn't want to be free. Finally, his bond broke, and he looked back at his life with a mixture of horror and despair. A year later, he presided at Malcolm's coronation, then served as the Brujah's ambassador to London, earning his new patron Mithras's blessing.

Today, Gilles serves as Malcolm's Seneschal, dutifully fulfilling the role his sire embraced him for, but now with the power and rights that go along with the responsibility. Though he never previously considered that he was on the "wrong side" of a dynastic schism within the Ventrue, over the past few centuries the Mithran Ventrue have made it abundantly clear. Now, Gilles is the perfect ally for the Brujah Malcolm, at least as long as other Ventrue bloodlines don't become involved. In that capacity, he is often capable of soothing the Prince's wrath in the face of minor provocations, so long as he is convinced that the Prince's wrath needs soothing.

Appearance: Gilles is thin and wiry, with a dried up face that surely should feature a pair of magnifying glasses perched on the tip of his Roman nose. He would probably stand about 5'10" if he stood straight, but mortal age and immortal habit have permanently shrunk his frame. His thick grey hair was shaved into a tonsure several days before his embrace, a feature that earns him the occasional snicker in Elysium. Gilles usually wears unassuming greys and browns as reminiscent of his monk's habit as current fashions will allow, but in much finer fabrics. Even after the passage of centuries, he still prefers the unassuming title "Brother" to "Seneschal," or other more grandiose titles.

Surprisingly, for someone his age, Gilles is usually seen with some sort of electronic media, what he calls his "ledger." This has evolved over the years, as he was an early adopter of PDA's, E-Readers, and even electronic glasses. He is always accompanied by a mortal expert who provides tech support, and somewhere on his person is an old fashioned paper notebook and an expensive pen.

Roleplaying: Brother Gilles is a study in self-control. He seems to notice everything said around him, but almost never takes offence openly. Instead, should the owner of a rash word need his help in the future... At all times, Gilles remains blandly polite, giving the impression that if he wanted to, he could have his interlocutor dug up during the day and destroyed, but only if he wanted to.

Brother Gilles' Statistics