User:Aquanafrahudy/Thirteenth Auteur

Auteur's final regeneration in their original allotted life cycle was a man, (PROSE: White Canvas) presumably the "wizened old man with a greasy beard and two clumps of white hair on either side of his bald head" (PROSE: Going Once, Going Twice) matching the appearance of Astrolabus as encountered by the Sixth Doctor (COMIC: Voyager, etc.) who was documented in another account as a having propensity for saying phrases in French and once scribbled into a grimoire by candlelight, notwithstanding Intrepid's suspicions that this entire aspect of Auteur's past was a fabrication which had only later become real due to the Observer Effect. (PROSE: Going Once, Going Twice)

Having had his skin taken by Life, (PROSE: ) he was taken in by Faction Paradox at the recommendation of Gideon, an old friend. (PROSE:, ) However, he was too mad even for them, and was imprisoned in the Shadow Spire, where he whiled away his days. (PROSE: ) After the War in Heaven was over, he became the leader of the remains of the Faction, but was eventually killed by Apep after he sought dominion over all of time and space. (PROSE: )

Biography
Matching the documented history of Astrolabus, (COMIC: Once Upon a Time-Lord) this story further asserted that in his final life, Auteur had attempted to cheat death by stealing star charts from an agent of Life, (PROSE: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing) leading to "Life itself" taking his skin from him. (PROSE: Going Once, Going Twice)

One way or the other, a flayed Auteur found himself at the end of his rope in a "crumbling reality bubble of his own making". (PROSE: Going Once, Going Twice, White Canvas) However, he was found by F.I.D.O and Graelyn Scythes, who had travelled forward in time from the day of the White Canvas's unmaking, based on F.I.D.O's intuition that his Mistress — now Master — would place himself in mortal peril in the future in an attempt to recapture the glory of the failed plan. With F.I.D.O helping to stabilise his condition, they took the dying man back to the White Canvas and then notified Gideon. Auteur noted that by this point, he couldn't even remember whether he had properly been initiated into the cult yet. (PROSE: White Canvas)

Joining the Faction
The dying Auteur was then 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) highlighting him as "the greatest artist there is", so that they could save his life. (PROSE: White Canvas)

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)

Imprisonment
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) 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. Mother and Father were assigned as his wardens. (PROSE: Going Once, Going Twice, The Story So Far...)

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) During his imprisonment, Auteur wrote an Abecedarium (PROSE: Auteur's Abecedarium) 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) 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)

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)

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)

The Family of the Shadow Spire
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) 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)