Player: Mark J
Rank: Archbishop (Rank 5)
Religion: Church of England
Reputation: Graced
Email: william_frewen@albion.chaosdeathfish.com

The Archbishop of York is one of the most remarkable and brilliant men of this generation. A good friend of the young King Harry and an inspired diplomat The Most Rev. William Frewen has achieved so much in so little time. Since a religious fervour awoke within him in his early youth he has pursued a holy career in the English Church and was soon appointed to Archbishopric of York. Now he serves as a key advisor of the King on both religious and secular matters.

Church of England Archbishop of York (Rank 4.5)

“The Life of His Grace William Frewen”, a work written by a monk from Carlisle

His Grace is know and famous for many things, though fame and fortune were never sought for he lived a good and Christian life. His opposition to Catholicism and the betrayal of the good standing which they might have enjoyed made him work tirelessly to ensure that the heretics might never threaten our Kingdom again.

For the Queen and her son he acted selflessly and passionately, earning the moniker of “Royal Troubleshooter”. Heretics and evildoers across the country he pursued to the end and his work on the Heavenly and Demonic hosts has enlightened the Kingdom and Church…

… The greatest Churchman, Archbishop and Courtier our Kingdom has know.

The Archbishop is known to have been the key instigator of the required limits on conjuration.

A work humbly prepared by the Archbishop of York, William Frewen to provide a grounding in some supernatural matters for members of the Anglican Church and selected others.

It is my firm belief that those beings that we see in the world and call angels are indeed sent by the Lord to do his work. To this end, it is my understanding that He has bestowed each of them with a specific task or purview. Since they have been appointed these duties by God Himself, they naturally cannot appreciate the concept that the execution of these duties may not always be the correct course of action.

For an example of this being a problem, consider the argument between the angels Phanuel and Semangelof when the unconscious Bishop Mary of Leicester was recovered from her (ostensibly Jesuit) captors in the spring of 1605. Whilst I could not at that time understand their language, the angels were obviously equally convinced of the virtue of their intended course for Mary and could not compromise between themselves. The argument was eventually ended by the Spirit of Albion releasing Bishop Mary into the custody of Sir Alexander Cross, the angels not daring to interfere in the affairs of a man with such manifest destiny (Sir Alex later became an angel himself following judicious application of magic and the guidance of the Host).

Angels can also become trapped within humans, leading to all manner of ill effects such as the angel temporarily taking possession of the human body with the mind unaware of what is going on. Bishop Mary again provides an example, because I later learned that the angel Uriel was trapped inside her and I believe it is this fact which was causing such a disagreement between the other angels who manifested at the time.

There is also some evidence that angels can be persuaded to adopt courses of action that we would not consider holy - indeed the playwright Rebecca Brandage (nee Lanik) bore twins sired by an angel in 1607.

The angels can be classified into different orders, with different powers and responsibilities. The lowest orders contain mere Angels and Archangels; whilst these are beings of tremendous power, they have most affairs in the world of man and as such are lowest by their proximity to the sin of our world.

Michael is an Archangel with the task of smiting the enemies of the Lord (and perhaps also enacting the Lord’s vengeance on those who would harm his servants). Michael fought alongside the English forces that liberated the Dutch city of Antwerp in autumn 1605; he also was of great assistance to me personally during my time in King Harry’s court. Phanuel is an angel of a particularly scholarly cast who takes great interest in mortal redemption, particularly holding himself the tutelary angel over those who have taken the first steps on the path but know not where to turn next. He is particularly keen on good works and chastity.

Semangelof is an angel of the Old Testament Smiting variety, who takes a particular interest in children. The myths say that he guards some ancient compact with the demoness Lilith concerning the safety of newborns in particular. It is likely that he has attached himself to someone interested in esoteric and mystical matters, and it is an ill-kept secret among those with sufficient Doctrine that Semangelof seems to take a great and passionate interest in the affairs of the Jews (we try not to tell the congregations about this too much, it’s bad for our image).

The angel which was trapped with Mother Rachel de Courtney, former Abbess of Dartney refused to reveal its name to me. It worked for purity and this work manifested itself by the angel taking possession of Rachel’s body and then conducting ritual murders. I cannot say whether this angel had strayed from the Lord’s path or whether this punishment was indeed intended by the Lord, but I feel we should perhaps consider His mercy in this sort of case, sparing the potential victims if we can.

The magic of Sorcery need not be universally reviled for along with the power to summon demons comes the power to banish them. Indeed, I have discovered a sorcerous rite of banishment.

I have made sure that the tokens required for this rite to be cast (ancient Rowan wood from consecrated ground and Holy Water) are widely distributed amongst the Churches of the land; ensure that you provide them to a sorcerer if they are requested of you for their need is likely to be dire.

There is also a hierarchy of infernal creatures, which I believe goes (at least in part) Imp, Duke, Archduke, Prince. There may be another class of demon between Imps and Dukes of Hell.

You should also note that there is a cane entrusted to the Master of Cain’s College, Oxford (ex-officio) which has a sort of compass which can divine the presence of demonic influence affecting an individual. If you ever have need for this most useful device, I encourage you to seek it out!

I will now recount the events at Daresbury manor when the Baron deemed it prudent to summon a Prince of Hell. We do not know if this creature was Satan himself or perhaps a lesser demon; we also do not know if it was killed or merely removed for a time.

The Baron Daresbury gathered to him the most proficient fighters in the land (Lord Luca Braganza and Lord General Edward de Vries) along with the angelic Sir Alexander Cross, the Catholic Bishop of Arundel (for he possessed a most powerful artefact), Bishop Mary of Leicester (it seems that Daresbury already knew that Uriel was trapped within her), the Theurgist Octavius Dawkins, the Sorcerer Theodocius Dawkins and myself (he hoped that the Archangel Michael would help me). He gathered us without revealing his purpose, for Daresbury indended to slay Lucifer himself.

Daresbury’s ritual certainly involved the Catholic Cardinal Otromano who was possessed by an Archduke of Hell; the ritual culminated in Otromano’s death and the blood which poured from his neck became the Prince of Darkness.

The Prince promptly destroyed the Archduke, but it does not seem that this was a necessary part of the ritual. Daresbury attacked immediately but was thrown back and the Prince announced itself thus:

“Now I am free I shall reign for a thousand years upon this Earth and then topple the Towers of Heaven. For I am the Satan, Ba’al, ruler of the Mortal World and Emperor of Hell.”

Whilst the fighters attacked, I joined the magicians in attempting to release Uriel from Bishop Mary. This was moot as the Prince bit off her head and released the Seraph; the two began to duel as Uriel’s array of floating flaming swords defended us from a multitude of demonic spawn which the Prince unleashed from a great chasm he struck in the floor. Though weaker than the flaming swords they seemed numberless, piling there corpses before the angelic foe and building a rampart of their dead. The Prince roared again and cried out “Soon all Hell will be empty and none shall be able to stand against me” before slitting Daresbury’s throat with the pronouncement that this was a “reward”.

Arundel used his artefact (a Crozier) to stun the Prince and Sir Alex and Lord de Vries used the moment to attack, embedding their swords in the Prince’s demon flesh.

It seemed that a hole was torn in reality as the swords glowed blue and red. (Sir Alexander’s sword glowed blue and the Blade for the Star of Morning pulses with a supernatural bloody light.) And on its own seems to claw deeper into The Prince’s body. Sir Alexander’s sword shattered producing an almighty cry from the demon then all light and sound was extinguished.

Daresbury’s estate was turned to a grey, desolate place and the demon was gone.