Louis du Monte bani Quaesitor was the Hermetic representative to the First Cabal. He was killed when the Cabal was betrayed by Heylel Teomim.
Biography[]
Du Monte was born and raised in House Quaesitor, but lost his parents and many of his closest friends when their covenant was attacked by the Order of Reason. He responded to this trauma by withdrawing into his studies for a long period of time. Du Monte was a calm, open-minded person who became skilled at seeing all sides of a conflict, and he eventually became a close ally of Baldric LaSalle.
During the Grand Convocation, du Monte and Porthos Fitz-Empress sparred over whether the Order of Hermes should enter the Council as a single Tradition, or if each House should be considered separately. Porthos believed du Monte to be fundamentally opposed to the Council of Nine Mystic Traditions and did not want him appointed to the First Cabal. However, there were few other logical choices, for du Monte was experienced in the Order's internal politics and had a broad knowledge of magic and religion that few could rival.
To the rest of the Cabal, du Monte was reserved to the point of coldness, forming few close friendships; however, Teomim trusted his judgement and regularly deferred to him to settle disputes, a habit the rest of the Cabal soon picked up. He also formed a bond with Cygnus Moro and, to a lesser extent, Fall Breeze. However, du Monte harbored a hatred of the Church that put him at odds with Sister Bernadette, and his natural xenophobia strained his interactions with Fall Breeze, Walking Hawk, and Daud-Allah Abu Hisham ibn Muqla al-Baghdadi. He gradually came to distrust all the other Traditions, and believed that continued involvement in the Council would destroy the Order of Hermes entirely. According to Teomim's testimony before his execution, du Monte was actually prepared to defect to the Order of Reason near the end of the Cabal's journey.
When Teomim betrayed the Cabal, however, du Monte fought to defend his comrades right up until the point his body was consumed by Paradox.
