The Hollow Childe
The Hollow Childe, known to close acquaintances as just "Hollow", was a "half-human, half-demon" girl who was foretold as a possible Antichrist in a widespread prophecy. Gideon, a member of Faction Paradox, took her in and intended to raise her in Auteur's Town, hoping to direct her powers as he wished.
However, thanks to the friendship of Graelyn Scythes and Citizen 176, she ended up developing into a benevolent, compassionate person who used her powers to protect those she loved and rejected her fate as destroyer of the Universe. She entered a romantic relationship with Citizen 176 and eventually found a new home with her on the Needle.
Biography[[edit] | [edit source]]
Origins[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Hollow Childe was said to be "half-human, half-demon", although Gideon believed that the non-human part of her parentage may simply have been some other entity who was thought of as a demon by "these people" (by which it was not clear if he meant humanity in general, or the specific cultists who clustered around the Childe). She was the subject of a prediction recorded in many places across the universe, which read "The Hollow Childe Will Stand at the End of the Universe, Laughing Amidst the Tears…". (PROSE: White Canvas) By 2011, the Vault stored a tablet with a copy of that same prophecy. (PROSE: A Worthy Successor)
Her powers manifested from an early age, including the ability to hover, spit blood from her mouth, and leak "black fluid" from her eyes. However, she had yet to unlock her full power. A group of cultists amassed around her and tried to speed the process along by committing mass, ritualistic suicide, despite the Childe trying to talk them out of it. The slaughter had no effects, but did allow Gideon to find the Hollow Childe.
He brought her to Auteur's Town, promising to educate her in how best to use powers. Hoping to keep her suitably resentful and alienated, however, he did not take a personal hand in this education, merely leaving her to live on her own in a large, dilapidated mansion and giving her books such as The Apocalypse for Dummies and So, you’re destined to bring on the apocalypse: A Beginners guide with pictures. At first, the Childe avoided socialising with the few other children in the Town, using her meager powers to scare away anyone who tried to get too close to her. However, by the time she was ten, Graelyn Scythes followed F.I.D.O's advice in attempting to befriend the other two lonely, strange children in the Town: 176 and the Hollow Childe. Both were highly receptive, instantly organising a sleepover at Graelyn's place, and would go on to become fast friends over the following seven years.
Thus, "Hollow" grew into a compassionate person who wanted to use her powers for good and had no desire to bring about the end of the universe. Gideon was enormously upset about this, and believed that Auteur had deliberately allowed this to happen and "ruined the Antichrist" because she was jealous of her cousin's protégé and, as always, felt a pathological need to "break everyone else's toys" because she "thought hers were nicer".
As they reached their teens, Citizen 176 and "Hollow" also became infatuated with one another, and the two even kissed around the time Graelyn was fifteen, though even after that it took them a while to fully admit to deeper feelings. When they attended the premiere of an Archimedes movie together, only for Archimedes Von Ahnerabe himself to nearly escape from the screen, Citizen 176 had front-row seats to Auteur losing her temper and using her gauntlet to turn the cinema attendant into a book, a sight which she interpreted as a murder (not yet knowing that fictionalised beings could be restored to reality) and found quite traumatic, breaking down crying. As Hollow comforted her, they shared another kiss and 176 confessed to Hollow that she loved her.
When Graelyn, aged seventeen, finally remembered her original life in full, she quickly met up with 176 and Hollow to discuss what she'd learned and what to do about it. Hollow and 176 told her that they'd been looking forward to telling Graelyn in the morning about a secret movie screening organised by Skinflint, which proved to the perfect opportunity for the girls to sneak into the back of the cinema and, after everyone was gone, screen a number of 10,000 Dawns movies to summon the characters back into reality, starting with Archimedes. The group, now joined by Archimedes and Celeste Roth, then went to Auteur's office to confront her. After Auteur briefly turned the situation to her advantage, everyone in the Town except for Auteur and Graelyn was briefly fictionalised, but Graelyn soon outwitted Auteur and then used her own gauntlet to properly undo all the fictionalisations.
Subsequently, attending the negotiations for the Christmas Needle Agreement like Graelyn due to their part in the events that had led up to it, 176 and Hollow were offered a new home by Miranda Dawkins herself at the Needle, which they accepted, though promising to stay in touch with Graelyn. (PROSE: White Canvas)
