Hermann Gelleboeling

Hermann was born into a poverty-stricken family of miners in the slums of Hatterscheid. Unsurprisingly he followed his family into their traditional profession when only a teenager, with barely an education to his name. Mining remained his life for many years until one day an itinerant Didecist preacher visited the slum that he called home. The neglected workers congregated around the preacher, if not for genuine devotion, then at least for some distraction to their otherwise monotonous lives; Hermann was among them. The preacher extolled the love the gods had for the working man, especially the love from Caprica and Libras. The preacher spoke with such a passion that even the most jaded of onlookers were enraptured by sermon. After the sermon had ended the preacher opened a makeshift clinic and offered to treat the locals to the best of his ability. Before he had realised what he was doing, Hermann volunteered to help the preacher with his work. And so for the succeeding months, after each shift at the mine, Hermann would go to the clinic and help treat the patients, many of whom were fellow miners injured due to the poor working conditions. So impressed was he with Hermann’s work, the preacher recommended that Hermann enroll at Hatterscheid’s seminary. Armed with only his burning faith in the gods and his fellow man, along with the preacher’s letter of recommendation, Hermann enrolled at the seminary and studied for many years before graduating as a man of the cloth.

Upon graduation from the seminary Hermann was sent back to his slum to establish a new church. Though Hermann was initially elated at his assignment, he was soon struck with grief after arriving and discovering that the old preacher had died during his absence. However, the grief only further propelled him onwards to his newfound purpose in life. The new church was established in the abandoned community centre. After Hermann’s first sermon, which was well-attended by old friends and family, the old preacher’s clinic was reopened in addition to the establishment of a soup kitchen. Besides preaching the good word, Hermann spent his time organising trade unions and using his legal contacts from his time at the seminary to leverage safety regulations for the local mine workers. All of this work contributed to a resurgence in devotion to the gods (especially Caprica) among the outskirt slums of Hatterscheid. On the other hand, Hermann’s agitation for the poor resulted in increased hostility from mine owners and other capitalists; there was even the occasional death threat levelled towards Hermann. In spite of his wishes, some zealous workers formed a protection militia for Hermann, though ironically he was nigh untouchable in the slums.