Friends and Enemies: Archimandrite Danil Palomnik

DANIL PALOMNIK
The venerable Danil the Pilgrim was made archimandrite of the Monastery of the Sacred Transfiguration in 1664. His appointment by the Metropolitan was the final blow in the career of schimonk Iakov Gagarin Alekseyevich, a notoriously difficult to deal with monk with an independent turn of mind.

Danil is an old man with a long history in the Orthodox Church. He was raised on a backwoods farm where he taught himself both Old Théan and Old Church Teodoran from the books his father occasionally purchased at market. Danil is known to be an exceptionally holy man, so devoted to the teachings of the Prophet that when his father was slaughtered by bandits, he did not raise a hand against them in anger. He was a captive of a band of Fhideli murderers for six years where he served as a sort of priest and confessor. When he finally escaped, he was taken in by the Church and began his long and storied career.

The latter half of his life was spent in the Monastery of the Sacred Transfiguration, and much of that was spent engaged in a particularly obscure war of theology with Iakov Alekseyevich. Both men of humble beginnings, Alekseyevich's insistence on the correct doctrinal readings of old holy texts drove Danil to fury. Danil felt that Alekseyevich, some thirty-five or so years his junior, should at least conduct himself with the basic tenets of respect. Alekseyevich, however, published his correspondences by reading them out loud at chapter meetings. Eventually, Danil cursed Alekseyevich in public and took an oath of silence until the man should be expelled from the monastery.

When the old abbot died, Iakov Alekseyevich put himself forward as a candidate. Supporting his candidacy was the abbey's cellarer, Dmitry Vasileyevich, a noble bastard from the city. By blasting his opponents as heretics, misguided, or downright unbelievers, the two men paved a way for Iakov to claim the abbacy. He won the election, and waited to be confirmed by the Metropolitan.

Danil Palomnik, unable to stomach the thought of serving the loud-mouthed Alekseyevich, had written several scathing letters to the Metropolitan before the election. When he arrived, rather than approving the results of the brothers' election, he named Danil Palomnik the abbey's archimandrate, stating reasons of "desperate measures to be taken against enemies of the Faith."

Archimandrite Palomnik responded by immediately punishing Iakov and Dmitry, removing them from positions of authority in the abbey and reducing their rank to that of mere novices. Iakov, unable to stomach this insult, began to preach against the archimandrite to the abbey's local clients—farmers, knights, anyone he could reach.

Late one evening, Dmitry was warned that the two monks were to be stripped of their station in the morning, made defrocked priests, and turned over to the Stelets for punishment as agitators against the state. They fled in the darkness, preferring the ignominy of escaping to the west than to the death-by-torture that awaited them at the hands of the Gaius' troops.

Friends and Enemies: Solmünd Morgenkraii

So, I've gotten back into 7th Sea with an in-person group. While I eagerly await the coming of the second edition (with its New World, Sarmatian Commonwealth, etc.) I figured I'd give a little writeup of some of the folks who are going to be making appearances in this game.

Firstly, let us begin with the most interesting characters: enemies.

Solmünd Morgenkraii
Like many wealthy Vendel merchants, the Morgenkraii created a crest to wear and display prominently on their seat in the Leaguehall. Solmünd is known as the Morning Raven, and lauded as a fierce opponent of piracy and a strong arm of the Merchant's Guild in the League. His family were originally furriers from Oddiswulf, but he himself became a well-known scribe and eventually bought his way into the Merchant's Guild.

In 1660, Solmünd got himself appointed to an admiralty to rid the Vendel waters of the rampant piracy that plagued her ships. From Eisen raiders to Vesten jarls, Solmünd promised to sweep the waters of Vendel clean. A particular focus was the island of Soroya, long known for playing host to Vesten fleets of longships. After spending half a year gathering intelligence, Solmünd decided to act.

He borrowed a huge sum from the League treasury and spread word that the League had just completed a massive purchase from Queen Elaine of Avalon. Six ships were laden with gold and treasure. Solmünd publicized the notion that the fleet was a symbol of national pride, having broadsides printed throughout the islands. "With this, we purchase a navy of unstoppable power!" Then, he let slip through back channels that, due to a personal conflict with Lord Mayor Thørginn Auskrai of Kirk he was unable to fully man the ships and that half of the cannon on board were mockups of wood to deter pirates.

It's true that the ships were poorly manned, and undergunned. With this in mind, he sailed them through the Soroya waters. When the Vesten raiders, unable to pass up such a prize, captured the Fury of Oddiswulf, the Hope of the League, and Theus' Bounty, they discovered untold wealth aboard. They also discovered a huge supply of Eisen liquor. In the village of Finnsulf, there was much drinking that night.

In the early watches of the morning, the Vesten bloated with their victory, Solmünd Morgenkraii's true fleet encircled Finnsulf. His men shipped to shore, cutting off all the roads out of the town. The first the Vesten ever knew of his presence was the opening salvo of the ship's cannon from half the League fleet.

Morgenkraii saw every man, woman, and child in Finnsulf put to the torch, the cannon, or the sword that day. He recovered the Vendel treasury, and let his actions stand as a lesson to the Vesten; 15 jarls were slain.

Morgenkraii is said to be a deadly shot with a pistol and a genius when it comes to logistics and tactics. He has flaxen blond hair, but dark eyes tending toward a storm-wracked gray. He wears the traditional black and white of the devout Objectionist members of the League and always carries four flintlocks on his person—two at his left hip, and two more on a leather bandolier.