Auteur

Godfather Auteur was a skinless Homeworlder member of Faction Paradox who declared themself the Homeworld's "Observer Effect" wrought flesh. They took the title "Author of the Spiral Politic", believing that everything they wrote really happened and that anything they hadn't written about which did happen was "not valid". (PROSE: A Bloody (And Public) Domaine, Going Once, Going Twice) Auteur had a significant history of renegade activity before joining the Faction. (PROSE: White Canvas, Going Once, Going Twice)

Early exploits
According to rumours, Auteur was a Mapper of early Great Houses history who was driven insane following being forced to watch the outside Spiral Politic from an office on the Homeworld and map it via the observer effect. Before even sprouting a second heart, he realised that he could abuse the Observer Effect to make anything real if he looked in the right place. Similar to other renegade Mappers, he took a name which was a variation on the word "astrolabe", (PROSE: Going Once, Going Twice) Astrolabus. (COMIC: Voyager)

When Auteur was banished from the Homeworld for his beliefs, he left with his House cousin Gideon. (PROSE: A Bloody (And Public) Domaine) Auteur stayed close friends with Gideon through several incarnations. She ruled planets, created wonders, and got away with defying everyone. She also developed a taste in brushes made from the hair of a Vo'lach Prime animal. (PROSE: White Canvas) Gideon eventually left Auteur to join Faction Paradox. (PROSE: White Canvas, Going Once, Going Twice)

In her second-to-last incarnation, Auteur once prepared a ritual to bring the end of the War in Heaven by turning all of the 10,000 Dawns into fiction and harnessing its narrative weight. Knowing she would later join them, Auteur turned to Faction Paradox for help. After antagonising the Original Mammoths against the Dawns by planting on Gendar a Firmament crystal prophecy concerning the Mammoths' fall, Auteur stole a gauntlet from the Homeworld and used it to cut holes in reality big enough for the Mammoths' painted warriors to travel to the Dawns and freeze them in time. To fulfill the prophecy, Auteur arranged for the gauntlet to become stuck to Graelyn Scythes. Disguised as an emissary of the Great Houses, Auteur met Graelyn and Archimedes Von Ahnerabe and took them from the Dawns to the home of the Mammoths; joined by Aesculapius and Coloth along the way. Auteur's ritual became basically complete when Graelyn confronted Taranis, and everyone present began fictionalising. However, Graelyn prevented the ritual's completion by ensuring that her own story wasn't complete, leaving her the last survivor of the 10,000 Dawns.

Refusing to give up on the ritual, Auteur decided to create a suburban Town in the White Canvas to raise Graelyn (who had reverted in age to a baby) and get Graelyn to write down the end of her story and complete the ritual. Along with being mayor of this Town, Auteur acted as a surrogate parent to Graelyn, growing attached to her. She created F.I.D.O to act as a friend to Graelyn. Once Graelyn was older, Auteur attempted to make Graelyn finish writing her story by becoming her art therapist. As the years passed on, members of Faction Paradox such as Gideon and Mullion began arguing with Auteur that her Town was a waste of Faction resources. Decades after her work on the ritual began, Auteur gave up on tricking Graelyn and decided to make a deal. Agreeing to fictionalise her own universe before fictionalising Graelyn, Auteur accidentally made her past and future selves fiction and thus also herself. The only real person left, Graelyn used the gauntlet to undo everything Auteur had done.

The Christmas Needle Agreement was negotiated in the wake of Auteur's scheme. Back where she was before the ritual started, F.I.D.O suspected Auteur would destroy herself trying to find another place like the White Canvas. (PROSE: White Canvas)

Auteur's next incarnation was a wizened old man with a greasy beard and two clumps of white hair on either side of his bald head. He had a propensity for saying phrases in French. (PROSE: Going Once, Going Twice)

Joining Faction Paradox & Imprisonment
In his final incarnation, Astrolabus attempted to cheat death by stealing star charts from Voyager, (COMIC: Voyager) an agent of Life. (PROSE: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing) With the charts tattooed to his skin, (COMIC: Once Upon a Time-Lord) Auteur tried to hide in a small slice of reality but was found. He would later say that "Life itself had stolen his skin". (PROSE: Going Once, Going Twice) Graelyn Scythes and F.I.D.O came to Auteur as he was dying and saved him by contacting Faction Paradox. (PROSE: White Canvas) Gideon recognised Auteur and pleaded on his behalf to let him join the Faction. (PROSE: Going Once, Going Twice)

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 own skull.

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) his old TARDIS. (COMIC: Voyager) He was kept from leaving by Mother and Father. (PROSE: Going Once, Going Twice, The Story So Far...) Auteur listened to the whispers of the loa that teemed around the tower and used them in his writings and home videos of history and alternative histories. 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 and was consumed by Auteur's loa. (PROSE: A Bloody (And Public) Domaine)

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) 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 in an ancient circular language that programmed history, Auteur waited in the Spire with Mother and Father as Kifah and Gustav obtained Apep in the First Auction in Heaven. Once Apep was in his grasp, Auteur ordered his loa to kill Mother and Father and prepared to bond his biodata with Apep's. But Apep had already been snaking through Auteur's narrative and altering its outcome; instead of becoming god, Auteur had his shadow-skin eaten by Apep. After he began painfully falling apart, Apep ate him too. (PROSE: Going Once, Going Twice)