Godfather Auteur
The fourteenth incarnation of Auteur was known as Godfather Auteur, being both a Godfather of Faction Paradox, and a conventionally godfather-esque figure to Intrepid, Kifah and the Gendar.
He was eventually imprisoned by the Faction for his beliefs within his own Shadow Spire, where he stayed for a long time writing madly, until the destruction of the Eleven-Day Empire. Thereafter, the Spire became a haven for a cabal of surviving Faction members. He met his end when he attempted to bond his biodata with Apep, who was too powerful for him and consumed him.
Biography[[edit] | [edit source]]
Joining the Faction[[edit] | [edit source]]
Auteur's previous incarnation, dying, was found by the Faction. Laughing madly despite his injuries, he claimed that "Life itself" had stolen his skin from him. Gideon, who pleaded with his compatriots for Auteur to be allowed to join the Faction, (PROSE: Going Once, Going Twice [+]Loading...["Going Once, Going Twice (short story)"]) highlighting him as "the greatest artist there is", so that they could save his life. (PROSE: White Canvas [+]Loading...["White Canvas (novel)"])
Taking the name "Auteur", he replaced his missing skin with shadow-skin. Instead of having a conventional ceremonial mask, Auteur allowed the shadow-skin to peel off at his head and reveal his actual skull. (PROSE: A Bloody (And Public) Domaine [+]Loading...["A Bloody (And Public) Domaine (short story)"])
Imprisonment[[edit] | [edit source]]
Though they initially made him no less than a Godfather, the Faction eventually got annoyed with Auteur and his beliefs and imprisoned him at the top of the Shadow Spire, (PROSE: A Bloody (And Public) Domaine [+]Loading...["A Bloody (And Public) Domaine (short story)"]) with the last straw seemingly being an incident where he "nearly rewrote the entire Facton into mindless clockwork soldiers for the sake of a plot twist". (PROSE: The Complete History of Faction Paradox, Vol 1 [+]Loading...["The Complete History of Faction Paradox, Vol 1 (short story)"]) Though ruling that even though his beliefs were incompatible with Great House orthodoxy, they still involved "mastery" of history, and were therefore anathema to the the Grandfather's dogma, they chose merely to imprison him. Mother and Father were assigned as his wardens. (PROSE: Going Once, Going Twice [+]Loading...["Going Once, Going Twice (short story)"], The Story So Far... [+]Loading...["The Story So Far... (short story)"])
Even then, Auteur continued writing and scheming as he listened to the whispers of the loa that teemed around the tower. He incorporated what he learned into his writings and home videos of history and alternative histories. (PROSE: A Bloody (And Public) Domaine [+]Loading...["A Bloody (And Public) Domaine (short story)"]) During his imprisonment, Auteur wrote an Abecedarium (PROSE: Auteur's Abecedarium [+]Loading...["Auteur's Abecedarium (short story)"]) as a result of a deal made by a later version of Auteur with the Collective of the Retconning Crocodiles. (PROSE: Resurrection of the Author [+]Loading...["Resurrection of the Author (short story)"]) It was later found on the Cupid Homeworld during Christmas, 2020. The inhabitants, the Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids, regarded it as a Christmas miracle, despite Lord Thymon suspecting that there was something wrong. Celebration-665 gave a reading of the abecedarium to the other Cherubs, but partway through, he read a warning message broadcast over a metamedial network, which warned not to let Auteur to have access to their reality's story. Celebration-665 dismissed it as part of the story. Celebration was left baffled, and the other Cherubs without words. Bibliophile-962 confiscated the book, storing it away in the restricted section of the Cupid Archives. Celebration then won back the Clockwork Cherubs with offers of cake. (PROSE: Auteur's Abecedarium [+]Loading...["Auteur's Abecedarium (short story)"])
Gideon sometimes visited Auteur, but as time passed their relationship grew more distant and the visits became less frequent. On the day of Gideon's final visit, Auteur was inspired by a recording of Morlock (and the usual loa whispers) to write a story about Lolita manipulating Count Dracula into becoming the Enemy. Auteur took delight in the premise, angering Gideon. After Auteur finished the story, Gideon left the Spire only to be consumed by Auteur's loa before returning to the wider universe. (PROSE: A Bloody (And Public) Domaine [+]Loading...["A Bloody (And Public) Domaine (short story)"])
While still focused on Dracula, Auteur received a message from Archimedes Von Ahnerabe, asking for everyone Graelyn had met and befriended across the realities to send her video greetings to make up for her having to spend her birthday in quarantine. Auteur claimed that he had tried to arrange for Dracula to meet Graelyn as a birthday treat, but he had refused; he had subsequently been "informed by Father and Mother that [he] was simply talking in [his] sleep". After explaining this in the video, he devolved into ranting about how he would make an encounter between the two happen yet, using his full powers as a storyteller. Graelyn, somewhat disturbed, cut the video off without watching the rest of it. (PROSE: Birthdays are Made for Memories [+]Loading...["Birthdays are Made for Memories (short story)"])
The Family of the Shadow Spire[[edit] | [edit source]]
After the destruction of the Eleven-Day Empire, Auteur's prison became a haven for surviving members of Faction Paradox, (PROSE: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing [+]Loading...["Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (short story)"]) who took on the name of Family of the Shadow Spire. Although nominally still a prisoner in the lantern room of the Spire, Auteur was one of the leaders of the Family, with Mother and Father having, by then, degraded into mere shadows of their former selves who acted like fanatical loyalists to the Faction's propaganda, but were easily manipulated by Auteur.
At the time of the Armistice, Auteur attempted to free himself from the Spire and ascend beyond time to become the indisputable author of history. Having already written the narrative of things to come, Auteur waited in the Spire with Mother and Father as Kifah and Gustav obtained the Unanchored Osirian Apep in the First Auction in Heaven. Once Apep was in his grasp, Auteur ordered his loa to kill Mother and Father and began a ritual to bond his biodata with Apep's.
However, Apep had already been snaking through Auteur's narrative and altering its outcome; in the last moment, Apep sucked Auteur's shadow-skin away from him. After he began painfully falling apart, Apep snapped his jaws around him, seemingly killing him. Due to the temporal disturbances caused by Apep's arising, an echo of Auteur still managed to speak to Intrepid for a few moments more. Aware that "this wasn't [his] story anymore," Auteur spent his time taunting Intrepid, speaking in his true voice ("gargled shards of glass, more like the crunching of arthritic bones than voice") with no French or other eccentricities.
After one last grumble about "…characters, never staying to the f*cking script,” Auteur faded away "into the past; never again to touch the future". (PROSE: Going Once, Going Twice [+]Loading...["Going Once, Going Twice (short story)"])
Legacy[[edit] | [edit source]]
In a mind-bending contest between the Monochrome Auteur and the Goddess of Gendar, the Monochrome Auteur was reverted back to this incarnation. He was self-occupied, ranting about how much better he was than his future incarnations, and the Goddess summoned F.I.D.O to assist in his defeat. She hurled him into a fire, reverting him to his previous incarnation. (PROSE: The Two Auteurs [+]Loading...["The Two Auteurs (short story)"])
Appearance[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Goddess of Gendar thought he looked "rawer" and "livelier" than the Remembered Auteur, with flesh and vessels "pulsating" under his shadow-skin, with dirty yet intact robes. (PROSE: The Two Auteurs [+]Loading...["The Two Auteurs (short story)"])
