Sainted Father Duno Deerwest

Sainted Father Deerwest, by Thy Grace, preserve me from this evil!

— Desperate last prayer of a man helpless before a demon

Sainted Father Duno Deerwest belonged to the Acolytes of Boki, an order of monks devoted to Boki, the goddess of secrets.
He became the greatest warrior against demons and devils of the Allgods Temple.
Father Duno honed his evil hunting craft until the day he was too injured to carry on, but he never gave up the fight.
Instead, he took to training his fellow Acolytes all he had learned, forever changing the Acolytes into the defenders against demons and other evils they are now.
He is the Saint most prayed to of the Saints within the Allgods Temple history.
It is this work for which he was sainted by the Arch-Father of the Allgods Temple after his death.
But, it is what he did in secret in the latter years of his life that made him the greatest hero the world never knew.

THE BRETHREN

After a few years of training fellow Acolytes, Father Duno gathered to him a small group of his most dedicated students he called the Brethren. It was to them he finally told the complete truth of what had happened when he confronted the great demon Ra'atik'kwa. He then explained that their greatest foe was not the demons, but the L'Ahnz, who are mages secrectly dedicated to find the way to eternal un-life. Though this was forbidden in Boki's teachings it was what they were doing to achieve this eternal un-life that made them so terrible. Even worse, this was an enemy the Brethren could never directly face. The L'Ahnz were just too many. Instead, they had to learn everything they could about the L'Ahnz and work to sabatoge their plans in every other way they could.

Battling the L'Ahnz

At first the Brethren caused L'Ahnz business ventures to fail, restricting their wealth. They carries out heists to steal important objects or papers when they were being delivered. They took to spying on servants and getting them so drunk they talked about secrets. These servants never remembered nor suspected anything happening as they always woke up safe in bed but terribly hungover.
The Brethren watched the L'Ahnz grow in prestige. To finance their goals, the L'Ahnz allowed others to join their order; all the while withholding the knowledge of their secret devotion to un-life. These new members brought riches and power to the L'Ahnz, who quickly became the ranking order within the High Guild of Magic.

Into The Vaults

It was during this rise within the High Guild that the Brethren learned of the Great Ritual the L'Ahnz were trying to carry out. A ritual that spanned generations of planning and would enslave those in the world who survived to the L'Ahnz. Father Duno and his Brethren got themselves hired into The Vaults as clerks in hopes of finding an answer.

The Librarian

Years passed and Father Duno eventually became The Librarian. He discovered The Vaults were actually a living thing that could be taught of a future danger. This would be a long and complex process as The Vaults was not a sentient being or even something that could be considered to have a thought. Father Duno died before the training of The Vaults was complete. The Brethren carried on his work for another one hundred fifty years. They did this by ensuring that one of them was always The Librarian. Which ever of them was chosen as the Librarian also became leader of The Brethren.

Victory

When the Great Ritual was finally carried out, The Vaults reacted before the ritual could finish, creating The End Of Instant. As terrible as this was, it saved the world.
Since then, the Brethren continues to watch out for the L'Ahnz even as the world begins to settle into a new era. With the murder of Thimys Fairchild, the most recent Librarian, who will lead them has yet to be determined.

Becoming a Novitiate

Duno Deerwest was born in the tenements of Bluedell, a small trade city on the bend of the Darkwater River. He was born to a washer woman mother and porter father.

At the age of ten, when all children finished their primary teaching at their local chapel, the clerics who taught them declared their chosen path.
Young Duno was honored with a Letter of Acceptance to the Applecamp Monastary, given to only one tenement child each year.
As monastaries and temples went, Applecamp was very small and insignificant but to the tenements of Bluedell, it was the pinnacle of achievement for a family to send them their child.
Young Duno not only proved to be an excellant student, he was driven, even as a child, to become an acolyte.

Becoming an Acolyte

It was an arduous study on top of his duties of servitude and the physical training to bring balance between body and soul.

Duno excelled at his training as he poured everything he had into learning. Becoming an Acolyte meant everything to him.
When he turned twenty-two, young Duno became an acolyte, earning the title of Brother. It was at this age he began his fight against demons which he excelled at.

Becoming an Enlightened Master

At the age of thirty-three, Brother Duno became an enlightened master, earning the title of Father.

At the age of forty-six, Father Duno battled the Vile-Lord Ra'atik'kwa and nearly died as he drove the archdemon back into The Rift. What he told no one for a long time was that it was not the archdemon that had nearly killed him, but the Order of the L'Ahnz magi.
Publicly, he pretended to have no memory of the battle with Ra'atik'kwa. Well aware that the L'Ahnz was ready to kill him the moment his secret was revealed, he maintained the lie.
Though he hated lying, Father Duno felt he had little choice. What he had seen the L'Ahnz do at The Rift filled him with dread and worry over what they would do to the world if they were not stopped.