Alphonse Bordeaux was born in the province of Demense in 1800 IE, in the far southwestern portion of Aequor. The Bordeaux family was a merchant family of modest wealth, and Alphonse was the second son of Markus and Lenora Bordeaux. With (eventually) four mouths to feed, it was decided that Alphonse would be given over to the Church for education. No one particularly expected that he would be anything other than a lay clergyman, but Alphonse was someone that would make quite a habit of outperforming peoples' expectations.
Alphonse took to the study of the Faith like a fish to water. Even more so, he proved to have an uncanny knack for understanding the actions and motivations of others and the consequences they incurred. He soon established for himself a reputation as both a bright pupil and a leader among his peers. He was swiftly taken to Rikton where he began the formal education to become an ordained Priest. During this time, one of his early teachers was a young Priestess named Sirrah Cantire. The two would end up being longtime friends and allies within the Church. So great were Alphonse's talents that he was ordained as a Priest at the age of 19…a full two years younger than normal. Much to the surprise of many, Alphonse took his first assignment as an assistant to a member of the Holy Inquisition.
After a few years serving as assistant to an Inquisitor, Alejander shifted away from the Inquisition and instead took up work within the diplomatic arm of the One Faith. Despite the shift, he was quickly promoted to Bishop at the age of 27. For the next several years he proved to be a most effective diplomat, not only with the other nations of the West, but also within the Church itself, often interceding in internal struggles and rivalries and bringing both sides to a reasonable accord. He took a young Priest named Lucien Ramius under his wing, who would become his great friend and protégé and a strong Cardinal in his own right. He won himself many allies and no small number of rivals and enemies along the way, but few could deny that he was a man that was destined for great work within the Church. Still, he did not confine himself to diplomacy. He would often spend a few months at a time studying and working within various segments of the Church. A winter with the healers. A spring with the financiers. Summer with the archivists. Indeed, he was elevated to Archbishop at the age of 34 despite this "diverse" education, continuing his work largely in the diplomatic realm, traveling across the civilized west building ties with the Church and the Kingdoms. At age 40, he was elevated to the position of Cardinal, and appointed as the head of Rikton's diplomatic efforts.
When the High Priest passed on in 1844 IE, it was no small shock that the young Cardinal Bordeaux was submitted among the candidates to succeed him. He was surely a man of great talent, but many questioned whether he truly had the experience needed to be the Holy Father. For several weeks, the Council of Cardinals bickered and jockeyed, and throughout that time Alphonse sat back…and quietly undermined or disqualified every serious opponent while never once endorsing himself, nor publicly denouncing any other. He slowly and surely managed to present himself as the "compromise candidate" between the various factions, and ultimately, despite a select few who were vehemently opposed to the idea, was elected as the new High Priest of Rikton. He took the name Alejander II, and immediately set to making a huge mark for himself.
Just a month later, Alejander II scored what has been noted as one of the greatest diplomatic coups of recorded history when he convinced Aequor to effectively "sell" the Duchy of Demense to the Church. Coupled with smaller grants from Galenthia, Kentaire and Rikton itself, the nation of Four Corners was born as a "neutral ground" where commerce and diplomacy could occur even between factions that were otherwise hostile towards one another. The new City-state grew rapidly in wealth and influence, and if a High Priest's siblings ended up being significantly enriched in the process, well…surely it was The One's blessings upon them, no? After all, it would look awfully bad if the High Priest's family was impoverished.
For many, the creation of a new nation would have been enough of an accomplishment to secure a grand legacy, but Alejander was far from finished. A few short years later, tired of the seemingly endless war between Galenthia and Aequor, Alejander figuratively grabbed both nations by the ear and forced them to the negotiating table with the threat of excommunication. Under his stern guidance, over thirty years' worth of war came to a screeching halt in only 12 hours. Alejander II was hailed by many as the man that had saved the Civilized West from itself.
Alejander's talents proved ill-suited to halting the Succession War in Galenthia, however. While officially the church decreed it an "internal matter" for Galenthia, they quietly lent support to House Arkanin in its' neutral position, not only giving it the strength to maintain that neutrality, but building favor with that house when it emerged strong and intact at the end of the war. Alejander also worked with Cardinal Lucien Ramius to keep Aequor from attempting to take advantage of the struggle by invading. A position that did not endear either man to some elements in Aequor (though King Maris was of the same mind), but ultimately kept an already-bad situation from becoming much worse. Meanwhile, the distraction of Queen Kyrena in the north meant that Alejander II was forced to funnel many of the Holy Knights northward, joining with more secular defenders of Aequor at the Siege of Benide.
The revelation of the true forces behind the Succession War in Galenthia was greatly disturbing to Alejander, and so he tasked Archbishop Sirrah Cantire with bolstering certain "special" defenses within that nation to try to prevent such a thing from occurring again. Sadly, when the war finally concluded, Diplomatic matters in Four Corners prevented Alejander from seeing to the coronation of the Rose Queen, something which he was deeply regretful for. Still he worked tirelessly to continue expanding the reach of the Faith, bolstering the nations against the heathens at their borders and strengthening their souls against even darker forces where he could.
Nevertheless, for all his triumphs, Alejander's tenure has not been without controversy. He lives as richly as any King (perhaps even more so) and has no compunctions about wielding the massive wealth and influence of the Church however he sees fit. Some see him as a meddler, others as a hypocrite who indulges in the perks of his office too freely. Some wonder if he worships anyone more fervently than himself…but none can deny that he is one of the most powerful men in the Civilized West, and even as the twilight of his life approaches, his will be a name that is long remembered.