With the death of Aristide Baveaux, Crieux House needed a new master. With time of the essence, the Senior Knights debated the merits of several candidates, but the only matter on which they agreed was that the current political situation called for a man respected by the nobility but not actually a member of the upper class. The debate returned again and again to a young local knight currently serving as a Sergeant in the Charouse house. Alexandre Mahone du Crieux was known as a front-line leader with a habit of training his young charges in the field. He had personally aided the Charouse patrons escaping the city and then managed the city’s food stores during the worst of the revolt, using warehouses to set up a temporary hospital during the uprising. With the help of several Wandering Knights, Alexandre had managed to quell most of the problems in the south-eastern section of Charouse.

A messenger was sent to summon the young Sergeant Knight. He arrived with an equally young Adept Knight from the Charouse house, named Phillipe Ambrose du Gloyure. The two men had met as initiates and been close friends throughout their careers. Genuinely surprised by the offer, Alexandre’s acceptance was conditional: he would never be forced to deal with any paperwork and his lifelong friend Phillipe would be promoted to Senior Knight. After spending the evening in conversation with the two young knights, the other Senior Knights accepted these conditions. Alexandre had the heart and the spirit of Aristide, along with a large portion of his social grace. In Phillipe they found a different sort of knight. He held to the mental pursuits of the Order, thinking through problems and creating ways around them rather than taking the straightforward path.

The two men agreed on an initial course of action, which was to aid the local population as best they could afford. They acquired provisions and medicines for the citizens of Crieux. Wandering Knights attached to the chapterhouse were recalled to aid in policing the city while the Musketeers re-established themselves. Initiates were sent to help rebuild burned out areas of the city. Phillipe spent a small fortune of his personal accounts to help with these matters. Some members of the House questioned such an open stance, but Alexandre responded by declaring, “Crieux House has always stood proudly in the open as an example of honesty and help and hope. We will not slink off into the shadows when we are needed most.”

Alexandre has always been the athletic hero. Even in his childhood, he spent his time protecting other children and behaving responsibly. He was born the son of a poor merchant who hoped for a better life for his only child. He was sent to school but it was quickly determined that the young man lacked the temperament for sitting still. Alexandre began training with the sword at age seven under the direction of a retired musketeer who rented a room from his father above their store. The musketeer was also a retired member of the Rose and Cross who filled young Alexandre’s mind with tales of heroics (which frequently led the young lad into more than his share of trouble.) The man, who only answered to the name Marc du Paix, taught the boy the skills he would need to serve as either a knight or a musketeer. Alexandre succeeded on all counts except one – he never learned how to read.

When Alexandre came of age, Marc sponsored the lad for admission the Order. On his first day, the new acolyte met Phillipe Ambrose du Gloyure and the two formed a pact of brotherhood. Alexandre would help Phillipe with the physical aspects of the training while Phillipe would help Alexandre with the traditional scholarly training. The two have been a team ever since, and when Phillipe’s Domini was killed on a mission, Alexandre pressed his to guide them both in their training.

The title of Sergeant was a pleasant position for Alexandre, once he decided that the initiates had no need to stay in the chapterhouse. Standard training with Alexandre quickly became a series of patrols around Charouse looking for ne’er-do-wells and ruffians. His charges were quickly saddled with the nickname “Rosebuds” and they refer to each other simply as simply “bud.” Trainees under his guidance have developed a much closer sense of co-operation than in most other chapterhouses, a proud achievement in Alexandre’s eyes and one he plans to make just as common at his new post.

Alexandre is a pure Knight. He was raised on the tenets of the Order and strives to exemplify them everyday. He is also completely trusting that when properly motivated, the rest of humanity will espouse those same ideals. He knows there are criminals and corrupt individuals in the world but firmly believes that with the right influence they could be turned into productive citizens. He trusts Phillipe and his knights totally and without question.

When called to action, Alexandre is usually the one who grabs a sword and charges forward. He is most at home leaping through a window or swinging from a chandelier. If something needs to be done, he will round up some knights and plant those white roses himself, if need be. Unless Phillipe comes up with a plan, act first and think about it later is his course of action. Most importantly, Alexandre follows his heart.

Aside from being illiterate, Alexandre really has no secrets. Phillipe came up with the plan to protect the warehouses in Charouse but insisted that Alexandre take the credit.

Alexandre Mahone du Crieux: Hero ( 7th Sea™ )
Master of Crieux House
Brawn: 2, Finesse: 4, Wits: 3, Resolve: 3, Panache: 4
Reputation: 56
Arcana: Exemplary
Advantages: Montaigne, Avalon, Castillian, Combat Reflexes, Connections (Ally – Phillipe ), Membership (Rose and Cross), Membership (Swordsman Guild), The Secret, The Vow.
Courtier: Dancing 4, Diplomacy 5, Etiquette 5, Fashion 2, Oratory 5, Politics 2
Doctor: Diagnosis 3, First Aid 3, Surgery 3
Servant: Drive Carriage 3, Etiquette 5, Fashion 2, Menial Tasks 2, Unobtrusive 1
Streetwise: Shopping 1, Socialising 3, Street Navigation 4
Athlete: Climbing 2, Footwork 3, Leaping 3, Rolling 1, Side-step 3, Sprinting 2, Swimming 2, Swinging 4, Throwing 2
Commander: Ambush 2, Diplomacy 5, Incitation 4, Leadership 4, Strategy 2, Tactics 3
Desaix (Apprentice): Double Parry 5, Feint 5, Lunge 3, Exploit Weakness ( Desaix ) 3
Fencing: Attack (Fencing) 4, Parry (Fencing) 4
Knife: Attack (Knife) 2, Parry (Knife) 4
Pugilism: Attack (Pugilism) 1, Footwork 3, Jab 1
Valroux (Master): Double Parry 5, Feint 5, Tagging 5, Exploit Weakness ( Valroux ) 5

Alexandre Mahone du Crieux ( d20™ )
Montaigne Wanderer 6 / Valroux Swordsman 3: CR 9; SZ M (humanoid); HD 6d8 plus 3d10; hp 62; Init +1 (+2 Dex); Spd 30 ft; AC 12 (+2 Dex, Uncanny Dodge); Atks: rapier +7 melee (1d8), main gauche +7 melee (1d4); SA Evasion, Ward of the Albatross, Uncanny Dodge (cannot be flanked), Off-handed Fighting, Raise the Stakes; SV Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +5; Str 11, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 14; AL LG; Skills: Appraise +2, Balance +6, Bluff +6, Climb +4, Diplomacy +4, Heal +4, Jump +6, Listen +4, Profession (merchant) +4, Ride +2, Search +4, Sense Motive +4, Speak Language (Montaigne), Spot +4, Swim +4, Tumble +6, Use Rope +4; Feats: Exemplary (virtue), Leadership, Membership – Rose and Cross, The Secret, The Vow, Weapon Focus (rapier), Weapon Focus (main gauche), Weapon Specialisation (rapier), Weapon Specialisation (main gauche)

Phillipe was born the son of a successful scribe and translator. He was raised reading the classics and sped through his formal education. His father expected him to follow his trade but there was something Phillipe wanted even more. He wanted to be famous and wealthy like his father’s clients. Lacking the credentials of nobility, Phillipe resorted to the method he found in books. In other words, he set off to become a hero. He spent a short amount of time trying to learn the basics of swordplay, but the nuances of swordsmanship eluded him.

He eventually travelled to Charouse hoping to find some way to become heroic in the finest city in the world, but all he found was poverty. Eventually, he decided to travel to Crieux and resigned himself to life as an apprentice scribe. A week after he arrived, Phillipe stumbled onto a mugging one evening. Having long abandoned hopes of heroics, he grabbed the nearest flowerpot and knocked the thief out. Faith renewed, he continued his vigilante patrols in the evenings until the Knights of the Rose and Cross discovered him. They watched him for a year and were still unsure about his prospects when he approached them at the Crieux House with a complete treatise on his qualifications for membership.

After gaining admittance to the Order, Phillipe found a partner to help him become the successful hero he always wanted to be - Alexandre Mahone du Crieux. Alexandre gained the glory and completed the noble deeds Phillipe needed to secure their promotion within the Order. As tyros, Phillipe protected his physical shortcomings with Alexandre’s skill with a blade. He also finally found a method of securing his fortune by collecting rewards from the patrons he helped beyond their normal tithe. This plan almost caused his dismissal from the Order when his Domini discovered the plot. Phillipe would have been thrown out upon his return to the Chapterhouse had his Domini not been killed interrupting a bandit raid the next night. He convinced Alexandre’s Domini to finish his training and kept a lower profile until they were both promoted to knighthood.

As a wandering knight, Phillipe learned to ingratiate himself with his superiors by helping them handle sundry tasks and finding ways to improve communications between houses.

Phillipe’s overriding characteristic is efficiency. He can respect and even enjoy doing menial things properly and taking the time to do them right; however, he will always strive to find a better way to get work done. Even the falsified documents in the Crieux house have been codified using combinations of ink and paper stock. He takes his duties seriously and works for the best result for his knights the same as Alexandre.

Phillipe is not the sort of hero one normally finds in the Rose and Cross; he is the thinker. He prides himself on being the sort of man that makes the others able to do their job. Despite his embezzling, he has never taken any action that would harm the Order, which he honestly does love. Unfortunately, these awful thoughts creep into his head at night and whisper how much better the Order would be under his control. He also uses Alexandre’s trusting nature to guard himself. He knows that his years spent at the man’s side will protect him from anything but direct evidence and he has always been wise enough to prevent that from existing.

Unbeknownst to Alexandre, Phillipe served as a courier to the Order. He transported both messages and sizeable amounts of money from house to house. Along the way, he began to funnel small amounts into a personal retirement fund. He never took enough to be noticed and used his skills as a scribe to hide the losses. Over the years he has amassed a small fortune. To protect himself, he always selected his tyros from foreign lands, trusting their difficulty with the language to help him explain his way around any questions.

The plan worked better than Phillipe could have hoped until he selected a young Castillian named Domingo. Domingo had been trained in accounting by his own father and uncovered Phillipe’s creative book-keeping. Phillipe tried to reason around the accusations and even attempted to bribe the young tyro with an immediate promotion to knight, but the young man was resolved to report his Domini. Desperate, Phillipe drew a pistol and threatened to kill the young Castillian. Domingo turned his back and said, “My conscience bids me to report your actions, you will do what you must, Domini.” Domingo’s death was attributed by Phillipe to an attack by Objectionist fanatics. No one questioned the report.

Emboldened by his success, Phillipe dropped his plans to retire and instead began working to establish himself in a better position. He took on work assisting the Adept Knights of the 42nd Street house, claiming that Domingo’s death had robbed him of his desire to travel. After a short while another young Castillian named Rodrigo de Salamanca looking for information about his brother’s death approached him. Hoping to defuse the young man’s desire for revenge or at least to misdirect it, Phillipe sponsored young Salamanca into the Order and asked to serve as his Domini. Travelling with his new tyro also offered an excellent alibi when an Adept Knight of the 42nd Street house suffered an “unfortunate accident.” Phillipe had long ago placed himself as the front candidate to replace the man and was soon handling all the bookkeeping for the Charouse house. A year later, Phillipe had managed to arrange another accident for a Sergeant Knight in the house and pressed for his lifelong friend to retire from the road and join him in Charouse.

Since that time, Phillipe has been grooming Alexandre’s actions to gain him fame within the Order. He had planned to gain him the promotion in Charouse but the events of the Revolution moved his timetable up considerably. The promotion to head of Crieux House was a pleasant surprise and has started his thoughts toward more accidents. He now has designs on making Alexandre the next Grandmaster of the Order, not necessarily in the immediate future, but in time. He has also started looking into property to purchase in the Highland Marches for himself. After all, Miles Valroux du Martise isn’t getting any younger.

Phillipe has embezzled enough money to rival anyone short of the most prosperous noble families. Had the Revolution not come about, he could have purchased himself a title. That was all he wanted at first but with time, his vision changed to protecting the Order he himself was harming.

In his lifetime, Phillipe has killed three men: the bandit who killed his Domini, his tyro Domingo, and the Pyeryem user he hired to kill the Adept Knight in Charouse. He has never regretted the first and accepted the last as striking a blow against sorcery, but he is haunted daily by the murder of his tyro.

Phillipe was plotting to remove Aristide Baveux from looking over their shoulders when the terrorists got to him first. He has started formulating plans for Hughes Sices du Sices but first he needs to cement Alexandre more solidly as the candidate for his replacement as Grandmaster. Additionally, there have been too many losses of late for the Order and even Phillipe cannot justify adding to them now.

The Crieux House “disinformation” program is exactly the sort of thing that Phillipe was born to handle. Not only is he good at fabricating false information but it perfectly hides his financial machinations.

The most tragic thing about Phillipe Ambrose de Gloyure may be that had he stayed the course of an honest Knight, he very likely would have become the best prospect to run the Order.

Phillipe Ambrose du Gloyure: Villain ( 7th Sea™ )
Senior Knight of Crieux House
Brawn: 1, Finesse: 2, Wits: 5, Resolve: 4, Panache: 3
Reputation: 21
Arcana: Beguiling
Advantages: Montaigne R/W, Avalon R/W, Castillian R/W, Eisen R/W, Vendel R/W, Vodacce, Connection ( Ally – Alexandre ), Linguist, Membership ( Rose and Cross ), University
Courtier: Dancing 1, Diplomacy 4, Etiquette 4, Fashion 2, Gossip 3, Oratory 3, Politics 5, Scheming 4, Sincerity 5
Doctor: Diagnosis 3, Examiner 3, First Aid 2, Surgery 3
Forger: Calligraphy 4, Conceal 3, Cryptography 4, Forgery 4, Papermaker 1, Research 4
Merchant: Accounting 5, Haggling 2, Scribe 4
Servant: Accounting 5, Etiquette 4, Fashion 2, Gossip 3, Haggling 2, Menial Task 2, Seneschal 5, Unobtrusive 3
Scholar: History 2, Law 4, Mathematics 4, Philosophy 4, Research 4
Athlete: Climbing 1, Footwork 3, Leaping 2, Sprinting 1, Swimming 1, Throwing 1
Dirty Fighting: Attack 1, Attack (Improvised Weapon) 3, Parry (Improvised) 2
Fencing: Attack (Fencing) 2, Parry (Fencing) 3
Firearms: Attack (Firearms) 3

Phillipe Ambrose du Gloyure ( d20™ )
Montaigne Courtier 5 / Spy 3: CR 8; SZ M (humanoid); HD 8d6; hp 41; Init +0; Spd 30 ft; AC 10; Atks: rapier +4 melee (1d8), pistol +4 ranged (1d10); SA Alias, Brilliant Getaway, Contacts, Gossip, Sneak Attack +2d6, Style and Grace, Talent; SV Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +5; Str 10, Dex 11, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 14; AL LE; Skills: Appraise +4, Bluff +8, Decipher Script +4, Diplomacy +10, Disguise +6, Forgery +12, Gather Information +10, Hide +2, Innuendo +4, Knowledge (local) +4, Knowledge (politics) +4, Listen +4, Move Silently +4, Open Lock +4, Perform +2, Read Lips +6, Ride +2, Search +4, Sense Motive +10, Spot +6, Speak Language (Avalon, Castille, Eisen, Montaigne, Vendel, Vodacce); Feats: Beguiling (flaw), Exotic Weapon Proficiency (firearms), Iron Will, Linguist, Membership – Rose and Cross, University, Weapon Focus (rapier)

• The players arrive at Crieux House to find the place is chaos. Alexandre has gone off on a mission with a number of the younger initiates and has not been heard from in two days. Most of the other active knights are assigned to patrols or other duties and only a few have been able to start a search for the errant Master.

• While visiting Crieux House, Phillipe gives the knights a task to deliver a parcel to one of the other chapterhouses while on their travels. He amply provides them with expenses for the trip, but insists that they do not tamper with the documents and deliver them by a certain time. While not exactly suspicious, such a task not usually couched in such secrecy within the order.