Vergilian XIII

Virgilian is the Synarch of the Holy Terran Chantry -- its highest religious official -- and sits on the Imperial Council. A gaunt, craggy man with a gray face and bloodless pale eyes, he dresses in black and white robes and a tall white cap. Hadrian Marlowe considers him a potential enemy and suspects him of coordinating with Augustin Bourbon to entrap him over a recovered knife-missile.

Despite his formidable public authority, the Synarch's true power is more limited than it appears. Hadrian reflects that the Synarch is in practice an ambassador -- first among equals -- representing the Synod of high priests who govern the Chantry from their cloisters on Vesperad. The Grand Inquisitors answer to the Synod directly, making them in some respects more powerful than the Synarch himself. When the Synarch is absent from a subsequent Council hearing, his political pressure is channeled through the Minister of Justice rather than disappearing entirely.