Claude Renier was born in the city of Nuveau Avignon, the largest city in the nation of Nuveau France across the Atlantic from the seat of the papacy. His mother was the serving maid of the governor of the nation. His father was the governor - Father Jean St. James. Of course, within the Church it was against doctrine for a priest to father a child, so St. James ignored the boy for the first part of his life. His mother knew better than to make waves with the Church, and kept him hidden - claiming that his father was a frontiersman.
As Claude grew older, however, it became apparent that he was brighter than his fellows. He learned to read both French and Latin at a young age and began to follow the local priests around asking all kinds of questions. His mother was instructed to place him into the seminary at age 14 - the youngest age they would accept - and St. James began referring to the up-and-coming young man as his "nephew" and eventually appointed him his personal Confessor. When St. James was called to join the College of Cardinals, he brought Claude with him.
That could have been the end of Claude's story. However, the College of Cardinals was actively involved in Malraux's otherworldly Crusade - the Holy War. A bigger War than any of the skirmishes that had been fought with the Muslims, Mongols, or the Aztecs. Indeed, Malraux was converting entire worlds with his Crusaders, saving their souls.
For years Claude was convinced that Malraux's Crusade was a worthy one. After all, had the Church not saved the entire world of Magna Verita? Was it not right to cast Satan out of any other worlds in God's creation and bring Salvation to them as well? He acted as St. James's messenger as well as confessor for 5 years.
Then came Crusade XXV, and everything changed.
Claude was assigned to the scouting party along with a number of others in St. James's retinue. It was a political maneuver on St. James' part, since he was trying to get closer to the head of the Papacy. He sent Claude as his most trusted servant to watch over the others and make sure they did as they were ordered.
The scouting party landed on Crusade XXV, a world roughly equivalent to Renaissance Earth. On this world the Church ruled Europe not with an Iron Fist, but through the consent of the people. There were no peasants, like his mother had been, but instead everyone in the nation believed in certain inalienable rights that every person had been granted by God. In short, it was the closest to Paradise that Claude had ever seen.
And he watched it get destroyed. He watched the Crusaders come down the bridge and into Crusade XXV. He watched the peaceful people of the world get cut down by pikes, swords and bows. He watched as their technology was destroyed and they were either forced into servitude or killed. And he did nothing.
Something inside Claude changed that day. He began to question the policies of the Papacy (only to himself, of course). He began to take note of how people were treating each other and how different it could be. The memory of Crusade XXV faded over time, but the feelings he felt never did.
Years later, the Crusade came to Crusade XL. Claude was again sent on the scouting party - his 10th in all of the years he had worked with St. James - and what he saw shocked him. The people of the world used all kinds of magic and consorted with all types of Dark Powers. They had images that spoke to them from inside boxes, telling them what to do. They harnessed dark powers to move steel boxes on wheels around without horses or other pack animals. If any a world needed to be cleansed it was Crusade XL.
And, as the crusade started, it felt right. Unlike Crusade XXV, these people had souls that were in jeopardy. Even though they seemed to be a people who believed in inalienable rights - as XXV had - they were corrupt and decadent, and their dark technology frightened Claude.
Then, a few days into this Crusade, the skies went dark. Thunder and lightening rolled across the land. Claude watched around him as buildings changed - growing up as skyscrapers from simple huts. He watched the animals around him sprout mechanical parts and the people around him do the same. He himself began to change, cybernetic parts came from nowhere into his brain and new terminology entered his mind. He knew what cybernetics was. He knew that these steel boxes weren't demon driven - merely internal combustion driven. He saw that the demon image boxes weren't driven by demons, but merely had an electron gun within them that painted pictures along a glass tube at such an incredible speed that the images seemed to move. New thoughts and ideas entered his brain and he was afraid.
Caught up in his fear, he noticed a small girl screaming in terror as her dog became a cybernetic monster before her eyes. The dog turned, growling and drooling as it came up to the girl, and it was clear that whatever his old loyalties were he had none now.
Reacting almost without thought, Claude ran towards the dog. As it attacked the girl, Claude was able to pull it off with an incredible burst of strength and wrestle it to the ground, knocking it unconscious in the process. He then proceeded to use his medical knowledge to stitch the gaping wounds in the girl's body back up, even though previously his medical knowledge had been limited to leeches and bleeding principals. Instictively, he knew what to do and he knew how his cybernetics could assist him.
Claude took the girl back to her parents, who turned out the be resitance members. They did not trust the priest, of course, but were happy to have their child back. Claude returned to the College of Cardinals on Crusade XL, ready to continue with whatever mission his superiors needed him for, and to determine what had happened to the world
Claude arrived back to hear the Pope, Jean Malraux I, announce over the miraculously installed Net that God had shown him a vision, and that his Holy Cyberware was the instrument that God was using to further his will. Malraux also insisted that this new blessing would enable them to take their Crusade farther than they ever had before.
Claude immersed himself in the new doctrine - easy to do within the Virtual Reality of the Net - and discovered that despite the amazing technology that God had provided, nothing had changed regarding how people were to be treated. Peasants were still peasants, and the Church was still the Church. Claude began seeking out Resistance channels on the Net - at first just to hear what the heretics were saying, later to try to assist them. The more he heard of the Resistance, the more he wanted to help them.
Two weeks after the Great Blessing, Claude's Resistance leanings were discovered by the Hospitallers. The leader of the Hospitallers, Maurice Velya, decided to make an example of him. After all, the bastard son of a Cardinal makes a great target, especially if he's a former peasant. St. James, unwilling to sacrifice himself politically to save his apparently traitorous son, allowed Velya to make the arrest.
Fortunately for Claude, Resistance members within the Hospitallers got word to him of the impending arrest. Claude was able to escape with the assistance of some of the Resistance, although their daring daylight escape was so amazing that the Hospitallers insist that Infernal intervention must have been a part of it. They do not yet suspect that it was a traitor in their own ranks that enalbed the seemingly diabolic escape.
Meanwhile, Claude has left the country. He currently feels that it is unsafe for him to remain in France during the Crusade and has traveled to the US. He is intent on visiting the city that sits where New Avignon sits on his world - Atlanta, Georgia, and seeing how different it may be. In addition, he is suffering from a Crisis of Faith. He knows now that the religion of the Cyberpope Malraux is a false one, but how does he reconcile the beliefs that he has with the miraculous cyberware he now wears? And how can he reconcile the desire he sees for all mankind to work together in harmony with the vision he has of a jealous God? These are only some of the questions that prey on the man's mind while he travels to meet his destiny.
Fr. Claude is a tall, stout man, pushing 35 years old, roughly 6 feet in height and well over 200 lbs. in weight. Being the personal confessor to a Cardinal has kept him healthy, although he is a bit overweight from the rich food that he has had available since coming to Avignon from Nueveau France. His work as a scout for Crusades as well as the time he has now spent on the run from the Hospitallers has kept him from getting too overweight for his own good.
Claude has dark hair and features, and there was some speculation that his mother had Native blood in her family tree. Prior to his escape from the Hospitallers, Claude kept a tonsure shaved from his head and wore no facial hair. Since his escape, however, he has grown a full beard and is allowing the tonsure to grow back. He has also contemplated dying his hair blonde or red to avoid detection.
Although not covered bodily with cyberware, there are a few pieces that are noticable if people look for them. Near his collar bone is a Neural Jack for Net access. He also has 3 chip holders under the hair above his right ear. He tends to keep a few skill chips handy, as well as a few memory chips and data chips with various bits of information on them.
Fr. Claude has a fairly grim personality - after all, everything that he has been taught and believed for his entire life has been shown to be a lie. However, he can laugh and enjoy himself when he doesn't allow his questions to overwhelm him. He has discovered a need to come to other's defense, and becomes agitated when there is nothing he can do to help them. His years as a confessor have allowed him to become a good listener, but he feels that he cannot allow others to hear his sins. He is incredibly ashamed of his work on the Crusades and seeks to redeem himself for the cultures and people he helped to destroy.