The Clever One

The Clever One, previously known as Septon Bryce, is the current High Septon, having surrendered his name and assumed the office in 433 AC. He is best known for reforming the Faith Militant with the blessing of Rhaegar II, and for wedding Visenya Silvermoon and Aegon VII. Prior to becoming High Septon, he served as Rhaegar II's Master of Laws from 430 AC to 433 AC.

Appearance & Character
The flaxen locks that once earned him his epithet have faded to grey, and his youthful features have melted away. The crown of his head has long since gone bare, though that often goes unnoticed due to the crystal crown that often rests upon it. He wears the regalia of his station well, carrying himself with the dignity and pride that only one who has come from nothing can have.

Early Life
If one were to tell anyone present in the room where Bryce was born that he would one day tutor Kings and be the mouthpiece of the Gods, you would hear nothing but laughter. That room--a ramshackle fisherman's hutch just outside the walls of Lannisport--is one that no noble has ever set foot in. In fact, it's likely gone entirely unnoticed, or was only mentioned in passing as an unfortunate eyesore, or a testament to inferiority of the smallfolk.

Nevertheless, it was in that room that Bryce was born. The seventh son of a poor fisherman and his wife, Bryce did not seem destined for much. His first memories are of gutting fish, sweeping floors, and accompanying his mother to the fishmonger's square to try and hawk the day's meager catch. Many nights, he went hungry. And when winter came, he often went cold.

His life was only to get harder before it got better. When the Hammer Uprising took Westeros by storm in 388 AC, his father was swept up in the riots that erupted in Lannisport. It was easy for a man like him to fall into such a movement: when his life offered no room for advancement, and when he lived so close to a literal mountain of gold, the way the Warsmiths railed against corruption and fought for the interests of the poor was very appealing. Whatever his political beliefs, the results were the same: his father met the Lannisport city guard, and was left in a pool of his own blood, along with many others.

Bryce's brothers had to fill the void left behind. His eldest two brothers took up their father's trade, sailing out into the bay to cast their nets, while the others sold their wares in the square. Bryce, on the other hand, was largely able to continue his life uninterrupted--just with a few more hungry nights.

Then came the Great Famine. His mother, her health having declined since the death of his father, was the first to die. Three brothers followed her--their bodies little more than withered husks. Two more died when rogue Ironborn raiders came ashore. The last went much like his father had: after taking up banditry in an attempt to feed the both of them, he met his end dangling from a Lannister's noose.

And then Bryce was alone.

Orphans have three options available to them. First, they can starve. Second, they can beg. Third, if they're lucky, they can enter one of the orphanages run by the Faith.

Bryce was lucky. Days after his brother's death, he crawled up the marble steps of the Golden Sept, thin as a rail, his cheeks sunken in. A Septa pitied him enough to care for him despite the orphanage already being far over-capacity.

And so Bryce lived. He spent the next two years of the famine sheltered away in the Faith's orphanage. He became the favorite of the lay brothers and sisters there, and whenever time and resources permitted, they would shower him with affection and teach him what they knew. It was from Brother Jaime that he learned to read and write, from Sister Rebekah that he learned his numbers, from Brother Robb that he learned the finer points of the Seven Pointed Star. By the time the Famine finally came to an end in 394 AC, Bryce had found a new home. When the Septons began searching for new acolytes later that year, Bryce was among the first to apply. Despite his youth, a good word from the lay brothers and sisters saw him through.

The Faith
A Septon's studies is not for the faint of heart. While the Citadel of Oldtown is arguably the largest center of learning on the continent, Septs in large cities are a close second. He learned about the stars and the seasons, the old texts of the Andals, and the secrets of mathematics, though he did not have much of a mind for any of them. What did soon become clear was the mind he had for oratory. As the young man slowly grew into adulthood, he perfected the art, giving stirring (practice) sermons to rooms full of instructors. When his compatriots, third and fourth sons of nobility, unwanted daughters, and the children of wealthy merchants, came to question their place in the Faith, he comforted them, too, and in so doing earned a loyal following.

That is not to say that Bryce did not get into his fair share of trouble when his teenage years came. Though the lay brothers and the clergy alike did their best to keep a close eye on the boys and girls in their care, they were not omnipresent. There were several nights where Bryce and others sneaked from the cloister, making their way through the taverns of Lannisport and otherwise finding themselves in unsavory situations. Bryce himself was never caught.

He spent the War of the Three Thieves in the seclusion of the Golden Sept, studying the sacred texts of the Faith and the histories of the Kingdoms and the Faithful. By the time the war ended in 402 AC, Bryce was a full Septon at last, blessed with the seven sacred oils and sworn to celibacy. With the Seven Pointed Star in hand and his rough-spun robes clinging to his form, he began his life as a wandering Septon, traveling up and down the coast of the Westerlands.

The Scarlet Winter arrived a few weeks later. He spent the next three years doing all he could to mitigate the crisis, arranging for shipments of food from those few villages that had excess to those villages that had none, blessing the newborn babes unfortunate to be born in that cursed season, and preparing for burial those who did not survive. He mostly did the latter.

When the winter finally abated in 405 AC, he stayed on the road, but his wanderings began to take him farther than the borders of the Westerlands. Over the next five years, he traveled as far north as the Neck and as far south as Yronwood, covering most of the ground in between. When the Mummer's War erupted in 407 AC, he was there, too, always just a day behind the Lannister host to treat the sick and offer last rites to the fallen. Even though the war was brief, with the rebels defeated decisively at the Battle of the Fords, Bryce still had his work cut out for him.

While wandering Septons do not occupy the most prestigious post in the Faith's hierarchy, Bryce earned a reputation for himself through his stirring speeches. He often found his name preceded him, with travelers from the village before always seeming to speak of him in the next village. By 410 AC, word of his travels had reached even the Most Devout. Septon Joffrey, one of the more senior members of the council, summoned him to King's Landing in the closing days of that year. When Bryce arrived, Joffrey took him under his tutelage, intending to groom him for a position in one of the many Septs throughout the Crownlands.

Bryce had different ideas. Upon arriving in King's Landing, he was struck by the city's ''backwardness. ''Though it was two or three times larger than Lannisport (or at least, it felt that way), many of its denizens lived in destitution cordoned in Flea Bottom. Worse, the Faith did little to help them. It did not surprise him, then, that the followers of the Red God were growing in the city; they at least did something to help the city's poorest citizens.

Bryce dedicated himself to bettering their lot. Every hour he did not spend studying or working in the Great Sept, he spent organizing charitable works and preaching to the poor. He became famous among the city's poor, revitalizing the faith of many who had began to waver. He posed a direct challenge to the inactive leadership of the Most Devout, using his influence among the lesser clergy and the lay brothers to siphon off resources towards charity.

The Most Devout did not look favorably upon Septon Joffrey's new protege, though he was able to defend Bryce for a while. When he finally died in 418 AC, though, the Most Devout was quick to take advantage of the situation and move Bryce to run the newly-vacant Golden Sept in Lannisport. Unable to deny that the ability to run his own Sept would greatly improve his ability to help the less fortunate, Bryce was convinced, and accepted the appointment.

Lannisport
It had been a good many years since Bryce has set foot in his hometown, and not much had changed. Bryce immediately set about improving the conditions of the Faithful in Lannisport