Alright so I've basically figured that Pontifex is Isengrim from the Reynard Cycle, but I'm not sure when to drop that information or just sort of imply it. The Isengrim thing works for two reasons: 1 he's a wolf, 2 he's a priest. And I'd set him up as a trickster type or something, to justify his hot/cold relationship toward Moone and to give him something potentially nasty to do to Moone since he's the only one capable of being pulled in by Moone's tides; Isengrim being the nemesis of a trickster figure kinda deconstructs that in a neat little way and gives the character a lot of crunch.
I still need to write any scenes where Pontifex does anything remotely trickstery