Father Ingo Quiring

Woe to him who would not be true, even though to be false were salvation. Yea, woe to him who, as the great Pilot Paul has it, while preaching to others is himself a castaway.
—Herman Melville, “Moby-Dick,” Chapter 9

Father Ingo Quiring

Statistics
Age 60, Nationality: German, Birthplace: Essen 1785. Call of Dagon Stage 3, Successful Baptism; Sessions of Confirmation: 14/16.

Combat

*When using his Potzdam musket with .69 caliber balls, apply a –5% modifier to his Firearms roll and reduce the damage to 1D12.

Skills
Climb 55%, Cthulhu Mythos 25%, Fast Talk 60%, First Aid 45%, Intimidate 25%, Jump 30%, Leadership 65%, Listen 50%, Locksmith 5%, Natural World 70%, Occult 45%, Persuade 75%, Pilot (Boat) 40%, Psychology 35%, Religion (Catholic) 90%, Renown 20%, Seamanship 10%, Sea Lore 15%, Science (Astronomy) 45%, Science (Biology) 35%, Science (Chemistry) 35%, Science (Geology) 80%, Science (Mathematics) 45%, Science (Paleontology) 30%, Spot Hidden 60%, Stealth 55%, Survival 75%, Swim 25%, Throw 30%.

Languages: German native; English 75%, French 65%, Latin 60%, Italian 50%, Greek 45%, Spanish 35%, Russian 20%, Icelandic 5%, Elder Thing 2%.

Spells: Bind Soul*, Compel Flesh, Find Gate, Wrack.

*Note: Quiring’s Bind Soul Spell has a longer duration that the official version described in The Grand Grimoire of Cthulhu Mythos Magic. The bodies of Quiring’s bound souls decay at the significantly reduced rate of 1 CON/day. Furthermore, the 5 POW points invested in the spell are restored when the Bind Soul concludes. (i.e., Quiring’s natural Power is 85.)

Description

Nearly six feet tall but walking with a stoop, Ingo Quiring has wild gray hair radiating from a balding pate, bushy black eyebrows, and piercing black eyes. A Jesuit geologist, Quiring has the appearance of a maddened professor, dressed in soiled garments adorned with a threadbare opera cloak. He speaks English with the precision of a British don, but when excited or distressed, his words are clipped by a distinct German accent. He frequently peppers his speech with phrases borrowed from Latin and Greek.

History
Born in Essen to a family of wealthy industrialists, Ingo Quiring enraged his father by forsaking the family business and joining the Jesuits—the only religious order that understood his need for a disciplined God. The fact the order had officially been suppressed by Pope Clement XIV only added to the allure, and Quiring continued his studies in Prussia, Belgium, and eventually St. Petersburg. Like many Jesuits, Quiring’s religious beliefs coexisted with an intense scientific curiosity. He studied math and physics at Göttingen and Natural Philosophy at Cambridge. Quiring was ordained in 1815, shortly after Pope Pius VI restored the order.

To Quiring, the earth itself was God’s Holy Book, and his natural genius for geology led him to a new understanding of God’s hidden scriptures. Viewing both stasis and catastrophe as “a pair of ignorant jackasses pulling against each other,” Quiring saw the earth as a living, ongoing creation millions of years old—maybe even billions. It also helped that God spoke directly to Quiring, imparting His intimate secrets in a language of violent seizures and hallucination.

In 1837 Father Quiring saw a “dissected map puzzle” of Europe, a type of wooden puzzle which jumbles an image into contoured blocks for reassembly. (The precursor of the jigsaw puzzle.) A blinding seizure came upon him. All at once, Quiring realized the earth was divided into interlocking, subterranean masses that floated upon an ocean of magma. Realizing the sheer insanity of the notion, Quiring deferred publication of his “dissected earth theory” until he could provide incontrovertible evidence.

After a fruitful expedition to Iceland studying volcanoes, glaciers, and the rift valley at Þingvellir, Quiring set his sights on the Galápagos Islands. He arrived on Albemarle in early 1840, setting up camp near Banks Cove. Once he’d gathered enough evidence to show the islands were the “product of volcanic displacements originating from the subtle movements of profound subterranean masses,” he planned to compare geological specimens and fossil records from South America and Africa—surely they had once fit together somehow?

Madness
Unfortunately for Quiring, his seizures were not the result of divine inspiration, but a combination of epilepsy and schizophrenia. In Iceland, he began to suspect that his mal de Saint Jean was becoming less manageable, and his mental state was gradually deteriorating. The voices in his head spoke more frequently, but made less sense. Furthermore, they were pushing him towards some unknown goal in the Pacific Ocean. There was also the fact that Quiring was treating people differently. He had become ruder, more callous. Where once he looked upon his fellow men with empathy and compassion, now he found them almost intolerable. Upon reaching the Galápagos Islands, Quiring barely recognized himself. He prayed to God to deliver him from this encroaching madness.

And God answered his prayers with fire and convulsion. When Quiring came to his senses, he found himself in a cave, its walls inscribed with scripture.

The Testimony
Quiring’s fascination with the writing was immediate, as was his fixation on the author of this “Volcán Wolf Testimony.” Here was a mind not unlike his own, a mind touched by divine inspiration and unafraid to gaze upon God’s total Creation. It took him months to interpret the Testifier’s diagrams and half-invented languages, but eventually he unlocked the Zodiac Door and discovered Y’ha-n’thal. Learning how to open the Gate from Lowell’s instructions, Quiring came face-to-face with the Elder Thing on 15 March 1840. Not knowing if the creature was an angel, devil, or something else, he climbed into the communicant’s tank and made first-stage Contact.

Quiring doesn’t remember leaving the tank; apparently he’d experienced another seizure, one that had carried him all the way back to the cave. When he regained consciousness he was reciting from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, strutting across an imaginary stage before a skeletal audience assembled from the remains of Lowell’s shipmates. And the line upon which he came to his senses?

Thou, my slave,
As thou report’st thyself, wast then her servant;
And, for thou wast a spirit too delicate
To act her earthy and abhorr’d commands,
Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee,
By help of her more potent ministers
And in her most unmitigable rage,
Into a cloven pine; within which rift
Imprison’d thou didst painfully remain
A dozen years; within which space she died
And left thee there; where thou didst vent thy groans
As fast as mill-wheels strike.

There it was! From that moment on, Quiring referred to the Elder Thing as “Ariel,” believing it an imprisoned spirit, daemon, or faery from an ancient race. After a few more sessions in the “Cloven Pine,” what started as a fanciful metaphor became increasingly real. Like Lowell before him, prolonged contact with the Elder Thing drove Quiring mad. It’s not that he believed he was living The Tempest, of course—just calling himself Prospero did not make it so, and Ariel was no mere sprite of the air—but the framework offered a comfortable delusion, and helped him focus on the important matters at hand: learning what he could of the natural world and returning home triumphant. Of course he wouldn’t become the Duke of Milan, but certainly the scientific equivalent! Quiring would be heralded as the modern Francis Bacon, posed to lead the world into a New Atlantis, spreading Enlightenment to the four corners of the earth.

The Republic of Caliban
Every monomaniac needs a cult, and Quiring has spent the last few years attracting a group of followers called the Republic of Caliban. Although guided by Quiring’s vision and committed to “liberating” Ariel, each Caliban has a personal relationship with the Elder Thing, and each is mad in his own unique way. A brief history of the Republic of Caliban is found in the “Chapter 4—Background” section, while their individual personalities are detailed in “NPC Profiles—Republic of Caliban.”

The Black Island
A little over a year ago, Quiring began dreaming of a mysterious Black Island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Ariel seemed aware of the island, and strengthened his suggestions that the Jesuit complete his Confirmation and start the process of Communion. This meant getting into Ariel’s tank and allowing his body to be altered. Calling upon his dwindling reserves of freewill, Quiring began stalling. Surely the Republic wasn’t strong enough? They needed new members, while existing members needed to complete their Confirmations. Quiring’s resistance forced the Elder Thing to consider a new course of action. If Ariel couldn’t possess one of the Calibans, he’d have to be freed from the Cloven Pine and physically transported to the Black Island. Only there could Prospero “break his staff and drown his book.” Only there could Prospero reach the Epilogue and be free, truly free…

The Role of Ingo Quiring

Ingo Quiring and his Calibans are the main antagonists of Chapter 4. The group becomes aware of the player characters during the Lowell Expedition.

Quiring’s Goals
Quiring’s main goal is to learn what he can from Ariel, then free the daemon from the Cloven Pine and carry him to the Black Island. Once there, Ariel has promised to rewrite The Tempest as Faust, granting Prospero all the knowledge and riches he desires. The arrival of Montgomery Lowell is an unexpected event that radically changes the plans of Quiring and Elder Thing alike. For Quiring, Lowell represents the true Prospero, the original wizard of the cave, the Testifier himself. Lowell must be captured and detained, then seduced into giving up his remaining knowledge. If this means that Quiring forms a temporary “partnership” with Lowell, so be it! Once Lowell has outlived his usefulness, Quiring will dispatch him as easily as Zeus consigned Kronos to the oblivion of Tartarus.

Ariel’s Goals
The Elder Thing sees things quite differently. As described in “Chapter 4—Background,” Lowell only needs one more session in the tank to complete his Communion, an act that allows the Elder Thing to transfer its consciousness into Lowell. If the Good Doctor can be persuaded to take that step, the Elder Thing no longer needs Quiring or his republic of madmen. If it means shedding its rotting body and escaping Thal’n’lai, “Ariel” is more than happy to wear the mask of “Sarah” again. Father Quiring understands that Lowell is Ariel’s favorite, but has no idea what comes after Communion. This allows the Elder Thing to play Quiring as a fool, prompting him to bring Lowell to Thal’n’lai as soon as possible.

Quiring and the Player Characters
Father Quiring’s relationship with the player characters is largely decided by the results of the Caliban’s sneak attack on the Lowell Expedition. (See Chapter 4, Encounter 13.) Whether or not the attack is successful splits Chapter 4 into two distinct paths.

The Player Characters are Captured
If the sneak attack is successful, the player characters are captured by the Republic of Caliban and imprisoned in the slave pit. Lowell is granted special status, with Quiring attempting to earn his trust and respect, then re-introduce him to the Elder Thing. The other player characters are expendable; but will be treated humanely as long as Lowell cooperates. If Lowell is not present, refuses to cooperate, or if the Keeper is just sadistic, Quiring may select another player character to make Contact with Ariel. After all, if he can convert more sailors into Disciples, the Republic of Caliban will soon be able to take over a ship and sail to the Black Island!

The Player Characters Remain Free
If the sneak attack fails, The Lowell Expedition is free to assault the cave and dispatch the Calibans one by one. This scenario presents the Calibans as antagonists to be defeated in battle, and results in less contact, conversations, and negotiations with the Republic and its members. Quiring is not encountered until the very end of the chapter, at which time his personality and motives may be unimportant—he’s just one more obstacle to overcome.

Alternate Possibilities
While these two scenarios are the most likely, every playthrough is different. There may be scenarios where Lowell is captured alone, or certain player characters are captured while others remain free. These situations may be attractive to the Keeper because they allow Quiring and the Calibans more time onstage, revealing them to be more complex than “crazy cultists” tossed up as cannon fodder.

Possessions
Most of Quiring’s prized possessions are written into the narrative of Chapter 4, including his ornate Bible, silver crucifix, the journals that make up the “Volcán Wolf Testimony,” and two scrimshaw puzzle-boxes used as components for Bind Soul. Quiring also owns a Model 1809 Prussian Musket, a so-called “Potzdam” musket that resembles the famous Charleville 1777. Chambered for .71 balls, Quiring has been reduced to firing the more common .69 balls. This extra windage adds a distinctive rattle to each shot, and reduces the musket’s accuracy by –5%. Quiring disdains hand-to-hand combat, but if pressed, he poisons the Potzdam’s bayonet with Sycorax. (See “Drugs, Intoxicants, and Poisons” for its effects.)

Notes & Inspirations for Ingo Quiring

If White Leviathan were a movie, Father Ingo Quiring would be portrayed by Patrick Magee, who should be set free to chew the scenery at will. The image of the “Potzdam Musket” is actually a modern Pedersoli replica made in Italy.

But this rough magic
I here abjure, and, when I have required
Some heavenly music, which even now I do,
To work mine end upon their senses that
This airy charm is for, I’ll break my staff,
Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,
And deeper than did ever plummet sound
I’ll drown my book.
—William Shakespeare, The Tempest

White Leviathan > NPC Profiles
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Author: A. Buell Ruch
Last Modified: 12 August 2023
Email: quail (at) shipwrecklibrary (dot) com
White Leviathan PDF: [TBD]