First Confessor Oste van Brekke

Oste van Brekke is a character from Black Crusade. As the leader of the Empyrean Inquisition, First Confessor Oste van Brekke is one of the most influential people in the Empyrean Church. Before Pontiff Cornelis's fall from grace, only he was more powerful than the First Confessor.

As commander of the Redbreasts, Oste van Brekke's responsibility was to see that his forces brought heretic fugitives Sir Diederic de Wyndt and Violca were brought justice. Yet to him a greater threat rotted away the Empyrean Church from within, a heretic the First Confessor could do little about so long as the Pontiff endorsed him. That heretic was the outlander, heathen priest Father Lambrecht Raes, a witch hunter but nonetheless one that used perverse and heretical methods to do so. Ultimately, Oste van Brekke forged an uncomfortable and tense alliance with Diederic and Violca against Father Lambrecht: guidance to the Empyrean Basilica and pardon for their sins in return for the exposure and defeat of Lambrecht.

Diederic and Viocla entered the church through donning armor stolen from the Redbreasts. However, they were barred entry from Pontiff Cornelis by his guards, and the imposters' charade was revealed. The intruders cut their way through the guards and confronted the Pontiff, calling for Lambrecht's location. Yet Lambrecht intervened, using dark and foul magic, with the pontiff's permission, to animate the dead remains of the fallen guards and create webs to immobilize the intruders. All manner of disgusting and unnatural vermin scurried forth to devour Diederic and Violca alive. However, First Confessor and his men interceded, calling out Lambrecht's witchcraft and the Pontiff's willful allegiance with such a damned wretch. In the ensuing battle, Lambrecht was badly injured and disarmed from the Grimoire, but he escaped through the underground passages beneath the Basilica. The First Confessor ordered his men to free Viocla and Diederic to spare them a gruesome death to black magic, though ultimately intended to have them executed However, Diederic and Viocla convinced the First Confessor to let them give chase to Lambrecht while he took the Pontiff to the prison for his collusion with Lambrecht. The heretic priest later met his doom thanks to a combined party of the two former fugitives and a small contigent of Redbreasts. As for the Pontiff, First Confessor Oste van Brekke intended to put him on trial and have his title, rank, and powers stripped away.