Berechiah

File:BerechielTwo.png

Berechiah, from the stained glass window in his basilica

Virtue

Berechiah was recognised as an exemplar in 302YE, fifty years after his death.

Biography

An extremely contentious figure in life, his death did little to change this. Berechiah exemplifies the often unpopular idea that the Vigilant should be prepared to do whatever is neccessary to protect their people from outside threats. Raised in a Tassatan orphanage, he lived much of his early life as "Shifty" Bertolli de Tassato, he left the League in his forties and joined the nation of Highguard, taking residence in a little-known chapter not far from [Bastion#Sybella_Cross|Sybela]] where he finally became Berechiah.

Signs

The Assembly of Vigilance cited the following signs of Berechiah's exemplardom:

• First and foremost, for all that his methods were considered underhand and borderline illegal, there was no doubt that Berechiah's benevolence repeatedly protected the Empire from external and internal threats and corruption.
• That Berechiah inspired others is also without question. In addition to those he directly patronised, his writings were published after his death and served as a blueprint for the followers of Vigilance in detecting threats before they became too great.
• These writings also form the bulk of Berechiah's legacy. In some circles, they have lead to him being heralded as a "modern Vardas" - a Vigilant investigator who embraces the tools of civilization rather than those of the wilderness hunter. Pragmatic priests also point to the schools and orphanages across the Empire that Berechiah set up or supported in his life - and claim these are a much more significant and lasting legacy than any amount of books extolling the use of blackmail as a tool of the Vigilant.
• Berechiah made a very public pilgrimage to the White City towards the end of his life. A lifelong supporter of the aspirationalist movement in the Synod, there is little doubt that this was an exceptionally cynical move by a man aspiring to be recognised as an exemplar.
• In a similar vein, several of Berechiah's supporters argued that as nobody had had any past-life vision of being the exemplar he clearly satisfied the sign of liberation - although more as a cynical attempt to demonstrate their opinion as to the foolishness of this sign than any real attempt to prove his exemplarhood.