Septons of the Night's Watch

[Flagg]

We know Castle Black has a septon, Cellador. Is he a black brother himself, or just a priest assigned to Castle Black by the Faith?

I assume in the latter case, he must have pissed off some powerful members of the church to get assigned to the frozen ass end of the world.

[coldwind]

Aemon is both a black brother and a maester, so it seems feasible Cellador is both, but I don't recall a passage stating one way or the other.

[BeardedDork]

One of the PCs in an upcoming convention scenario I'm writing is a septon who was compelled to take the black. So I was also mulling this one over. The bigger question I had was what about the prohibition against septons using swords, would that still apply to Brothers of the Night's Watch? (My scenario is set very shortly after the Red Wedding) Presumably they would receive the same long blades training as everybody else.

[Legate]

I don't know about this. My first impression would be that Maesters and Septons would be accepted into the Watch as they are to take up a post suited to their already extensive training (medics, logistics, admin, spiritual well being, etc.). These types aren't expected to use a blade in anger (but then I haven't read all the books). But, I suppose if they had an Other bearing down on them they would swig for the bleechers.

If I were to make up a Septon for the Watch I would have be a little more of a Hawk, out spoken, then the rest of the Brotherhood, maybe train with a sword on the sly somewhere. Such a character, if found out, would probably be quietly "assigned" to the Wall.