Kolnyr Clergue

History
Kolnyr Clergue, before his embrace, was far from an ordinary French priest. To fully understand this vampiric man of the cloth, one must look centuries ago to a much darker time, a time of faith, fire, and fear. His family's origins extend back to the early fourteenth century, to the enigmatic Pierre Clergue. Pierre Clergue, an incredibly charismatic relatively weathly peasant, used his resources to aid and profess the heretical Cathar faith. For crimes against the church, diabolism, and rumored perversion, he was arrested and imprisoned by the Roman Catholic Church.

For historians, the record ends here, as it is widely believed that Pierre died in prison. However, due to his standing and influence over the hearts and minds of the people in the troublesome village of Montaillou, the Church graced him with mercy, and a contract. Pierre was given a choice, he could either face the inquisition, be excommunicated, and executed with his soul in eternal Damnation, or he could devote the rest of his life, and the life of his descendents, to serving the Church against Satan.

Pierre, in actuality, chose to save his soul, and lived the rest of his days as the mysterious "Witchsmeller Pursuivant" of Montaillou. It is said that over three-hundred fell before his one-man inquisition before he died. Meanwhile, his three bastard children were firmly under the care and protection of Montaillou's Church-appointed Bishops. Under them, they grew into skilled Withsmellers, and continued their father's work.

Over the centures, as the flames of the inquisition began to cool, the Catholic Church's place in political society began to wane, many of these fanatical groups died out. However some remained, stuck in their archaic, rigorous ways. Such is the case with the "Holy Wreath Order" of Southern France.

The Holy Wreath Order is managed by the descents of Pierre's legitimate children, and are responsible for maintaining the three Witchsmeller bloodlines. This is because, they believe, if one should fail, then the Divine Contract made centuries ago would be ruined, and the souls of all of Pierre Clergue's descendents, legitimate or not, would be doomed to suffer in the Devil's Domain.

The Holy Wreath Order has maintained the facade of directly working with Rome for centuries, and has succeeded thus far in keeping their hunters in the dark. From a hunter's birth until they are eighteen, they are kept in a Private Catholic academy, where they are firmly indoctrinated and trained. To people on the outside, it has the appearance of a quaint and cloistered "old-school" Catholic University, however it is much different. Along with a rigorous Catholic education, each student is given a thorough education in hunting all of Satan's minions, including heretics, witches, demons, werewolves and vampires. At their eighteenth birthday they "graduate" and are paired with a Holy Lady in Waiting (in really, a call-girl), to produce the next generation. After that, they are sent out into the world as Catholic priests, while covertly receiving orders from the Holy Wreath.

After spending some time in eastern Europe, Father Koln left his "brothers" Raphael and Gabriel for America. His first assignment there was to investigate and eliminate a supposed group of powerful Witches, descended from the infamous Katherine Harrison of Connecticut. After months of planning, as the priest found himself right outside his target's home, he found himself unable to go through with it. These people, whom were supposedly in league with Satan, seemed like a normal family with three happy daughters, just with slightly different beliefs. Perhaps his order made a mistake? He thought about simply requesting to hunt elsewhere, but he knew that one of his two "brothers" would be tasked with the same job. He had no choice but to fake it. Under cover of darkness, he set fire to their home, after making sure no one was inside. He even made sure to let the cat out before lighting the match. From a safe vantage point, he prayed for the wellbeing of this family as he snapped a picture, signed it "Amen- K" and mailed it back home.

After the "success" of this, the Holy Wreath Order then decided to have Father Koln hunt bigger game, namely vampires in Denver. However, here is where he bit off a little more than he could chew. Due to some carelessness on his part, and being at the wrong place at the wrong time, Father Koln now finds himself as one of the damned, as a Malkavian no less!

Appearance
Koln, judging upon his immediate appearance, seems to be a kindly, approachable, young priest. His figure is rather unimposing, but not ordinary. He is dressed in black, this of course includes his holy uniform and coat, along with his top hat. His hair, the same color as his clothes, is neatly combed and parted. However his skin is very pale, so much so that it is common for people to be taken aback, mistaking him for a ghost upon first glance. His face is clean shaven, has a warm smile, and has cool, yet piercing, green eyes. His tone is light and soft, and even joking at times. However, his mannerisms and language, although kindly, seem anachronistic with modern society. Indeed, he seems to have wandered from a much more fantastical time hundreds of years ago.

However upon further inspection it would seem there is much more to this priest. Tucked under his arm are three books, the first being the expected Bible, but there are two other worn tomes whose titles you have to squint to decipher. The first one is a dusty hardcover book faintly titled "Malleus Maleficarum" and the other, a thin black volume, says on the cover "Contra Hereticos - Archbishop Hugh de Rouen." Inside one of the pages of "Malleus Maleficarum" you can barely make out a folded newspaper from the obituaries section. This folded column, seemingly used as a bookmark, has some something scribbled on the top it, "Lioncourt." If you ask him about these books he is quick to change the topic to lighter matters.

Talking to him you realize that he is very well traveled. He speaks with a French accent, and likes to talk about how he spent much of his time preaching and teaching in New England. Just recently he moved to Denver and makes the occasional sermon at local churches in the area, which usually goes way over the heads of the people there. Despite that, he welcomes questions by people in general, and is not above having a drink with another good soul and discussing all problems paranormal and normal. Routinely, if he is seen outside, if he is not playing with kids in the park or lecturing at a nearby Catholic school he could be found inside a concerned family's home, blessing and/or exorcising. Despite this, he is still a mystery to the people of Denver, even to his own fellow priests; he always manages to skillfully evade questions of what exactly he is doing there.

Prominent Features
unique features of Koln