Lucas Ableforth
Lucas Ableforth was a the son of a tanner on the outskirts of Unknown. His precise date of birth is unrecorded, and so is documented under a stub date of the 1st Octasis 1300 MH in Church records.
As a young child, Ableforth could not safely be kept in the tannery and so was left in the care of the local priest. ‘Local’ is a relative term and it was still nearly half a day on foot from to the church, as such, Lucas was often left for days on end without seeing either of his parents and was educated almost solely in theology for much of his early life. It was far from a poor existence, the boy excelling in both reading and writing.
When he was finally old enough to be put to work in the tannery, he hated it. The oils and smells being unpalatable to the budding scholar. He fled from his family home deeper into the city and his parents simply did not look for him. He was found banging on the door of Unknown, begging to be given a job in the archives of the cathedral’s grand library. A rather bemused saccerdos eventually let him in and was impressed by his knowledge of faith, granting him a service as an archivist.
His eventual rout to cardinal was unconventional, as he never once gave a sermon, or lead prayers, instead he developed a habit of castigating the occasional sceptic, making a point to engage with many heathens that other avoided. He never earned robes, but became a saccerdos through revelation after nearly two decades in the Church. A tortured Hythnetic soul spat curses on the streets of the capital and the quick witted archivist engaged him in a battle of wits and guile. By the end of their verbal sparring, the Hythnetic was worn down and collapsed, prostrating himself before Ableforth and henceforth dedicating his life to the service of the Great Lord. The man, Ynled, would become one of Ableforth’s closest friends, and when he was appointed a cardinal in 1344 MH, Ableforth rewarded him with a position as an advisor.
In the latter portion of his years, Ableforth took interest in opening education to the masses, and with the fortuitous purchase of land, opened the Ableforth School in 1351 MH. The school was secular by design, as the Cardinal was of the strongly held belief that education would lead naturally to the belief of the Great Lord, in reality however, it was virtually impossible for someone who wasn’t a practising Cathirian to gain admission to the school. He would pass away in 1362, at the alleged age of 61.