Auden
Auden is a grey-haired man with tanned skin and piercing eyes that seem to stare toward one's very soul. He speaks with the certainty of someone who has seen things that cannot be unseen, and his convictions come across as absolute. He is the founder and leader of the End of the World Cult, a community of believers settled at the Border in the Northern Clime, and he governs that settlement from a building known as the Palace with an authority that no one within the community has thought to challenge.
His teachings center on the balance between life and death. He claims to have witnessed the wickedness of the world firsthand and to have received signs that led him to the location that would become the Border, a place where the boundary between the living and the dead grows thin. There, he found remains that spoke of a site bridging two worlds, and he built a community of like-minded believers around that revelation. His acolytes are trained daily in both hand-to-hand and ranged combat alongside their spiritual education, and he sends them into the wider world to hunt Full Dead and Unborn as part of their sacred duty.
Nobody can say for certain where Auden came from. Some whisper he was exiled from the gangs of Old York. Others claim he arrived from further south after a bad encounter with the Full Dead that changed him permanently. His true origins remain a mystery he shows no interest in resolving. What matters to Auden is the mission, and the mission is maintaining the border between the living and the dead at any cost.
His teachings center on the balance between life and death. He claims to have witnessed the wickedness of the world firsthand and to have received signs that led him to the location that would become the Border, a place where the boundary between the living and the dead grows thin. There, he found remains that spoke of a site bridging two worlds, and he built a community of like-minded believers around that revelation. His acolytes are trained daily in both hand-to-hand and ranged combat alongside their spiritual education, and he sends them into the wider world to hunt Full Dead and Unborn as part of their sacred duty.
Nobody can say for certain where Auden came from. Some whisper he was exiled from the gangs of Old York. Others claim he arrived from further south after a bad encounter with the Full Dead that changed him permanently. His true origins remain a mystery he shows no interest in resolving. What matters to Auden is the mission, and the mission is maintaining the border between the living and the dead at any cost.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
The details of Auden's past are a collection of rumors and contradictions. He may have come from Old York, cast out by its gangs for reasons unknown. He may have traveled from somewhere further south, where an encounter with the Full Dead left marks on his mind that never healed. Whatever the truth, by the time he arrived at the Northern Clime, he had already formed the convictions that would define the rest of his life.
He followed signs that he interpreted as divine guidance, tracing a path to the location that would become the Border. There, he found evidence of something older, remains and markers that suggested a place where the wall between life and death had always been thin. He took this as confirmation of his vision and began gathering followers. The community grew around his sermons about the necessity of balance, about the duty of the living to hold the line against what waited on the other side.
For years now, Auden has led without opposition from within. His paranoia about external threats keeps the settlement armed and trained, and his charisma keeps its people devoted. He leads from the Palace, trains alongside his acolytes, and sends them into the wastes to do the work he believes the world requires. Whether his vision is genuine prophecy or the conviction of a damaged mind, the settlement he built on it is real, and so are the fighters it produces.
He followed signs that he interpreted as divine guidance, tracing a path to the location that would become the Border. There, he found evidence of something older, remains and markers that suggested a place where the wall between life and death had always been thin. He took this as confirmation of his vision and began gathering followers. The community grew around his sermons about the necessity of balance, about the duty of the living to hold the line against what waited on the other side.
For years now, Auden has led without opposition from within. His paranoia about external threats keeps the settlement armed and trained, and his charisma keeps its people devoted. He leads from the Palace, trains alongside his acolytes, and sends them into the wastes to do the work he believes the world requires. Whether his vision is genuine prophecy or the conviction of a damaged mind, the settlement he built on it is real, and so are the fighters it produces.
Founder and leader of the End of the World Cult at the Border.
Children
