Reinhart "Ram" Gregory
Reinhart Gregory (a.k.a. Ram)
Reinhart "Ram" Gregory has been the Grand Affineur of The Society of Cheesemeisters for the past 20 years. He has been considering retiring from the position for the past year, but does not have to make a decision until the Longest Night Levee.
Ram and his wife, Nellie Gregory, have 9 children, who have given birth to 27 surviving grandchildren, with more on the way. Their first great-grandchild is said to be due around the time of the Levee, a particularly bad omen.
How Ram got his Horns
During Ram's youth, the Gregory family was not prosperous. An uncle had unfortunately lost most of the family wealth to gambling. As the youngest Gregory, he witnessed his older siblings lose themselves to drink and poor business decisions. He was always outspoken that his family could be better. At the age of 10, after his oldest brother passed due to drink, he discovered that any money his family was making was going straight to a member of the town council. His first attempt at publicizing the corruption was laughed down by the general public. However, it was noticed by a few Cheesemeistsers that not all was well. Ram kept researching and attempting to find out how deep these bribes went. Eventually, he discovered that his crushNellie and her family, although rich beyond what Ram would ever expect, were suffereing under worse bribes and blackmail. Nellie's family was once the largest cattle breeders in Dairy. Although they still had huge production numbers, their homestead was falling into disarray. Eventually through hard work and becomming a member of the Cheesemeisters, Ram was able to bring the corruption charges to the town council and have the members of the criminal gang brought to justice.Rise in the Society
Young Ram's keen observation skills were a boon to the Cheesemeisters. He quickly showed an apptitude to working across the boundaries of the town of Dairy. He would often be very stubborn about moral issues he felt were correct.Marriage and married life
Ram still cared for Nellie greatly after the disruption of the city council, however his personal beliefs prevented him from moving forward with thier relationship. He did not want to continue the cycle of people being indetured to others based on previous family actions. He was concerned that if he proposed, she would feel obligated to marry him, whether or not she wanted to. Nellie ended up cornering him while "Watching for Stardust" at the Longest Night Levee the year after the disolution of corrupt town council. After their wedding, they moved into Nellie's familiy farmstead. Ram rebuilt the tunnel to the Cheese Cave. Against tradition, Ram insisted that Nellie help rebuild both the tunnel and the farmstead. Ram and Nellie are a model married couple for the people of Dairy-On-Moonrise. There were some rumours that there were problems as they didn't have thier first child right away. The work in restoring the farmstead and ensuring that the other families affected by the corruption of the town council were safe took most of their energy in those first years.Wasting Disease and the death of his first grandchildren
In 1527, a Wasting Disease spread throughout Dairy-On-Moonrise. It struck the young livestock and children under 5, causing them to lose weight and energy, even though they would continue to eat greater and greater amounts of food. The children and livestock would eventually die. Ram lost all three grandchildren during this time. Young families stopped trying to have children as they weren't surviving. Production of meat, cheese, and leathers was fast becoming a problem as the diseased young livestock could not be used, and would have to be slaughtered. The fires to destroy the slaughtered cattle were sickly green and smelt like rotten meat. A young Wheyling leaning towards the Sunrise path, Simon Chesterton, discovered that the disease was being transmitted by contaminated food, and the bread and treats being baked for the children to attempt to improve their weight was actually making the problem worse. As a Wheyling, Simon was unable to bring his results to the Affineurs directly, as he was "too young and inexperienced". After his third grandchild developed the disease, Ram was desparate for a solution, and was pouring over historical records in the Cheese Cellar to see if there was any previous mentions of this kind of disease. Simon heard of this, and snuck into the library to speak with Ram directly about his findings. Simon's string-map showing how the contaminated food could be traced to one particular area of Dairy-On-Moonrise convinced Ram that there was something to this theory. Unsure if the problem was physical or mystical, Ram and Simon threw themselves into research on how to prevent the disease from spreading farther. Ram convinced his fellow Affineurs in Moonrise that emergency measures must be taken. The contaminated farms must immediatly stop farming grain. All feed, flour and seeds that could not be confirmed to have not come from that area must be destroyed. All exports must stop until the disease is in control, and any exports from the affected area must be tracked down and the final purchasers notified. Simon and Ram had their theories confirmed when the contaminated supplies were burnt. A sickly green colour of flame and smell of rotten meat came from the pyres, confirming that the food was the source of the issue. Shockingly, Ram also convinced the Grand Affineur to call a meeting of the full leadership of the Society in the height of summer, to work with the Affineurs of Stardust to provide fresh uncontaminated supplies, as well as to pass on the knowlege of how to recognize contaminated supplies. This had not happened since the inital decision to build the Cheese Cellar. Unfortunately, there was no cure for the children who had already developed the Wasting Disease, as eating clean food did nothing to reverse the effects of the contaminated food. Ram lost his third grandchild shortly after the first supplies arrived from Stardust. His leadership during the crisis of the Wasting Disease led to Ram being made the Grand Affineur upon the death of the previous Grand Affineur two years later.Grand Affineur
As Grand Affineur, Ram focused on rebuilding the confidence in the food suppies or Dairy, as well as attempting to track downt he root cause. He was in a dark place for the first few years of his appointment, working long hours late ito the night in the Cheese Cave. Nellie, breaking all tradition, snuck into the Cheese Cave with their first grandchild born after the Wasting Disease. This event, which would have been embarassing to any other Grand Affineur, was what started Ram's turnaround from his depression. Realizing that the world would continue, he began to develop techniques and ceremonies to prevent this catastrophy from happening again. He ensured that all Cheesemeisters would use a Smolder Dish to ensure goods were safe before trading. The amount of record-keeping was greatly increased, including tissue-layered maps based on the string-maps that had determined the source of the Wasting Disease, as well as short-hand glyphs to reduce large amounts of information into just a few characters.Physical Description
General Physical Condition
As a soon-to-be great-grandfather, Reinhart has tried to keep up physical activity, however his age is catching up to him. He has lost weight and developed a slight hunch over the past 5 years.
Apparel & Accessories
- Monocle
- Rings of the Great Affineur
- The first Smolder Dish
Relationships
Current Location
Previously Held Ranks & Titles
Year of Birth
1466 UC
84 Years old
Birthplace
Spouses
Nellie Gregory
(Wife)
Siblings
Children
Sex
Male
Gender
Male
Eyes
Green, squints due to age
Hair
Grey, kept short
Height
6'2"
Belief/Deity
Curdology
Aligned Organization