A Masterclass in Introducing a New Character

I am re-reading some of Bernard Cornwell's The Last Kingdom. One of its most colorful characters is Father Pyrlig, a Welsh priest that also knows how to use a sword (notice how Cornwell gave this character a "but", making him immmediately more interesting: he is a priest but also fights in a shieldwall)

This weekend, I re-discovered the scene in which Pyrlig is introduced into the series, and it is a masterclass in establishing a new character:

He was a British priest from Dyfed, a priest who spoke Iseult’s native tongue and also knew both English and Danish. I was ready to hate him as I hated Brother Asser, but Father Pyrlig stumbled into our hut next morning booming that he had found five goose eggs and was dying of hunger. ‘Dying! That’s what I am, dying of starvation!’ He looked pleased to see me. ‘You’re the famous Uhtred, eh? And Iseult tells me you hate Brother Asser? Then you’re a friend of mine. Why Abraham doesn’t take Asser to his bosom I do not know, except maybe Abraham doesn’t want the little bastard clinging to his bosom. I wouldn’t. It would be like suckling a serpent, it would. Did I say I was hungry.’
He was twice my age and a big man, big-bellied and bighearted. His hair stuck out in ungovernable clumps, he had a broken nose, only four teeth, and a broad smile. ‘When I was a child,’ he told me, ‘ever such a little child, I used to eat mud. Can you believe that? Do Saxons eat mud? Of course they do, and I thought I don’t want to eat mud. Mud is for toads, it is. So eventually I became a priest. And you know why? Because I never saw a hungry priest! Never! Did you ever see a hungry priest? Nor me!’ All this tumbled out without any introduction, then he spoke earnestly to Iseult in her own tongue and I was sure he was pouring Christianity into her, but then he translated for me. ‘I’m telling her that you can make a marvelous dish with goose eggs. Break them up, stir them well and add just a little crumbled cheese.

I wish I was able as a game master to have my NPCs produce such a torrent of monologue. But even so, I can take some inspiration from it. Let us analyze what is so good about this scene:

• There is the inherent contrast of Uthred wanting to hate Pyrlig, but Pyrlig looks pleased to see him.
• More contrast is added when Pyrlig as a priest confesses to a pronounced dislike for a fellow priest and uses non-too devout imagery to illustrate that point
• The fact that Pyrlig is hungry and wants something cooked is threaded like a running gag through his monologue -- you get a clear sense of Pyrlig multitasking between talking to Uthred and making sure that his breakfast is being prepared exactly the way he wants it.
• Pyrlig's love for eating well is also immediately made part of his backstory, of why he became a priest (a motivation which happens to agree with Uthred's prejudice against the church).

Next time as game master, I think I will try out how it works out to have an NPC "multitask" in his conversation with the characters to provide some extra color to the scene. I will have him or her adding frequent asides to somebody else while talking to the characters. Let's see how it goes!