Father Cerran
Father Cerran is a minor character from Black Crusade. He is a member of the Empyrean Church, having been assigned to serve as the spiritual guide and counselor for Birne some four years before the events of the novel. He knows (or at least believes) that most of the townspeople are not true believers in the God Most High- they attend religious services and prey but in truth still cling to the old ways of belief. Still, he maintains that the Church does not wish to go after herbalists, wise women, or other benign forms of pagans. The Church in his view goes after spellcasterss, necromancers, consorts to fiends, and summoners of foul beings, all true witches, the true individuals Cerran says he must keep an eye out for.[1]
Besides holding regular sermons at church services, Father Cerran also holds funeral services and speaks eulogies[2], such as that of Rolan Reveaux.[3] He also seems to have some skill as an exorcist, as he was called to exorcise the spirit possessing Silma Reveaux.[4] It is unclear if prior to the exorcism that he knew of the secret witches of Birne that came from its founding families. He did not express this knowledge to Sir Diederic de Wyndt when they spoke on the matter of witches in Birne[1],
except for a possible hint in mentioning he could not lead the townspeople to salvation. The secret was a well-kept one, known only to members of the founding families.[5] On the other hand, at least one other of the Empyrean Church's clergy, Father Marten, concealed the existence of a witch in another community in order to keep paranoia from consuming its people and bringing in the overly zealous Empyrean Inquisition.[6]
