The Unexpected One

The High Septon, known informally as The Unexpected One owing to the peculiar circumstances that marked his ascent to the position, and as Arthur prior to his election, is the current head of the Baelorian branch of the Faith of the Seven. Elected in the 10th Moon of 407 AC following the suicide of the previous High Septon, the Reclusive One (impolitely referred to as The Spineless One), little is known about his life beforehand, though most agree he spent most of his days as a begging brother, making him a stark departure from those who usually sit the Most Devout.

Appearance and Character
No one can say that Arthur doesn't look his age. A life on the road, with whatever meager provisions his flock could provide him, saw to that. It lends a certain mystique to him: long, white hair and a wizened face frame eyes alive with fire when he speaks on matters of justice, or of faith.

History
Arthur was born to humble beginnings, beginning his life as a screaming babe in a village in the Kingswood that almost no one has heard of. A farmer's son, like most of the men in Westeros, had he remained there, he would have become a man, inherited his father's farm, had children of his own, and died, all without ever having walked more than five miles from his village.

The Gods did not see fit for his life to be ordinary.

Arthur was never the strongest boy in his village, nor the quickest, nor the most dextrous. However, he did have the sharpest wit--though it often found itself applied to less-than-noble purposes. Life was good in those years of the Mead Summer, where the sun was always shining, and where plates were never empty.

At the age of ten, his family made the short journey up the Kingsroad to the Blackwater Tourney. It was there that he met Septon Boremund the Badger. The Septon of the Stoney Sept, the man was a little too far from the Kingswood for Arthur to really have heard of him, but when he attended one of Septon Badger's sermons, he found himself immediately enthralled. The Badger took a liking to the boy, as well, seeing in him the potential for something greater than a life in the fields.

It was with some sorrow that Arthur's parents released him into the care of Septon Badger, for even if they knew that this path would improve his lot in life, it is never an easy thing for parents to say goodbye to their children. Come the end of the tourney, the family said their goodbyes, and Arthur traveled north to the Stoney Sept.

There, he learned things he had never dreamed of learning. He was quick to learn his letters, and once he had a grasp on them, took to reading anything he could get his hands on.

But a (relatively) short jaunt from Raventree Hall, it was only natural that Septon Badger and his most trusted acolytes would at some point encounter the Royal entourage during their tour in 360 AC. A boy of just 18, Arthur, now in the final steps before he would become a full Septon, was smitten by Lenore Blackwood, as well as by the Royals themselves, and the dragons they rode.

In 361 AC, Arthur at last became a full Septon. Inspired by the deeds of Aenys and his new bride, he decided that his life was better spent on the road than cloistered away. Just a few days after the ceremony, he set off barefoot, and with a bowl around his neck.

His travels took him as far north as White Harbor, and as far south as Sunspear. He traveled from village to village, officiating weddings, funerals, and other religious events in those towns too destitute to have their own Septons in residence, as well as blessing the elderly and newborn babes alike. For almost three decades, Arthur traveled, laying his head in the same place for only a month or two at a time.

It was on these wanderings that he returned to the Kingswood in the mid-380s. Coming from poor roots himself, and having spent much of his time among the poor and destitute, Arthur was outraged at the state of affairs when he arrived in 386 AC. It wasn't long until he fell in with the Warsmiths, using his knowledge of medicine to treat members who had been wounded in combat. He stayed with the group throughout the Hammer Uprising, and was present for most the major events. He was, however, seriously wounded while helping the injured across the river in the Fording of the Rush, and forced to lodge in a nearby village. By the time he recovered from his near-fatal wounds, the uprising had come to an end. To this day, Arthur considers the wound, which has left him with a serious limp, a blessing from the Seven: had he gone unharmed, he would have died with the rest of his brothers in arms.

His stay was a blessing in another way, too. While wounded, Arthur was taken into the home of a local widow. The widow of one of the few tradespeople in the village (and therefore, not quite as poor as the other inhabitants), Margarery was of an age with Arthur, and the mother of three children, two of whom had joined the Warsmiths after they forded the river. They became fast friends almost immediately, and as Arthur healed, friendship turned to romance.

For six long years, Arthur forgot his vows of celibacy, and lived in sin with Margaery. It did not end until 394, when Margaery died in the Great Famine. Her meager wealth was not enough to keep her fed when fields went barren. Feeling the need to repent for his sins, Arthur traveled north to Quiet Isle, where he joined the monastery.

He stayed there for six years--one for each year he had spend living in sin. His days were filled with fasting, prayer, silent contemplation, and reading. He would not leave until 400 AC. Remembering the horrors he had seen during the Hammer Uprising, and remembering how the Warsmiths had been treated by the nobility, Arthur came to the conclusion that his skills were going to waste as a begging brother. With that in mind, he returned to the Crownlands, where he became one of the septons in residence at the Great Sept. There, he began to spin his web, using his rhetorical prowess to great effect,

When the Scarlet Winter came, he helped facilitate food aid to the people of King's Landing and the Kingswood. He saved some. Many more died.

At the end of the Scarlet Winter, Arthur was elected to the Most Devout to fill the vacancy left by a member's death during the Winter. In this role, he has so far gone mostly unnoticed, though he is known to be relatively close to the High Septon.