Pater Coal

Pater Coal is a level 101 Hobbledehoy High Cleric Supreme of Emberus and a non-combatant temple official based at Club Vanquisher. He guides Carl through divine obligations, treats afflictions, and provides church services. During a foot-washing sacrament, the System AI temporarily possesses Coal's body to communicate privately with Carl. Coal is a small human-appearing figure with long white hair. Although he is usually even-tempered, his disputes with clerics such as Potsy reveal a sharp temper and strong sectarian loyalties. His non-combatant classification limits ordinary violence against him without making him politically unimportant. As a senior Emberus cleric, Coal maintains direct contact with the deity and interprets Carl's quests, taboos, and risks. He helps suppress or cure slugpox and explains temple procedures. His guidance is useful but remains shaped by a religious institution whose gods can impose lethal demands. Coal uses a ritual foot washing that conceals conversation from divine or broadcast observation. During the rite, his eyes turn milky and the System AI takes control. The AI speaks through him, behaves provocatively, and supplies clues about Geyrun, Apito's memorial crystal, Katia's crossbow, and Donut's oak bracelet. Pater Coal is not an alias or permanent avatar of the AI. Once the possession ends, he resumes his own awareness and office. Treating every later statement by Coal as an AI message would erase the explicit boundary between the cleric and the temporary user of his body. Coal helps Carl obtain church-backed resources and financing and continues to provide temple access. Later characters compare other AI possessions to the Coal incident, confirming its importance as a precedent. No reliable later notice records his death, so he remains alive at the latest confirmed appearance.