Pontiff Augustin

‘It’s mine. All of it. All of Velyzar will prostrate themselves before me. This artefact has chosen me to wield its power, and only I can. I will cleanse this city of its filth and administer divine judgment.’ – Pontiff Augustin * Augustin was never promised a normal life. His mother’s pregnancy was fraught with illness, and his father had abandoned them before Augustin was born. He was barely five years old when his mother sold him to K’Lethi Cultists for a handful of copper. She claimed she wanted a better life for him, but the truth was he was simply too much of a burden for her to bear. As Augustin reached adolescence, the Cult tasked him with infiltrating the Sacred Order and reporting back on its secrets. A scrawny orphan no-one noticed? The perfect spy. Augustin cared little for either organization, but never pushed against his fate. After years of writing report after report for his Cult masters, he was sent by the Sacred Order to Velyzar as a missionary – a ‘reward’ they claimed, for his years of dedicated service. The Cult saw it as an opportunity to expand their reach. Augustin simply did as he was told. It did not take long for Augustin to despise his new home. No sooner had he set foot on the docks than he was mobbed by the poor and downtrodden seeking a blessing or a prayer. They grasped at his gilded white robes, dirtying them with mud, excrement, and blood. Augustin cursed those who dared touch him; he cursed his luck, his mother, the Sacred Order, and the Cult of K’Leth every day. Then, as though his curses were heard, Augustin’s luck turned. Augustin was wandering the markets of Velyzar when he found it just lying there in a stall’s collection of junk; a small golden flask with glowing blue eyes and spikes either side of a would-be mouthguard. As he walked past it, something stirred in him. It was as though the flask bore into his soul. It called out to him, desperate for him to pick it up and save it from the mire – and it promised to do the same for him. Without thinking, Augustin grabbed the flask and drank deeply of its contents before hiding it in his robe. Floods of untold power rippled through Augustin’s body. Augustin finally felt seen, and his purpose became clear. He was fated to be a pawn no longer – his true purpose was to rule. It was what the flask demanded of him, and he was all too happy to oblige. Augustin strutted through the streets of Velyzar with a newfound confidence. His meekness was gone, erased by this otherworldly power he felt inside. He discarded his bloodied and impure white robes, trading them for the purple and black, befitting a powerful leader. He abandoned the Sacred Order and the Cult of K’Leth, instead converting the poor and leaderless into his own followers. He would raise three fingers to the sky and conjure miracles in broad daylight; healing the sick, granting wealth to the poor, and emboldening the downtrodden. Augustin drew the ire of both his former organizations, but he didn’t care. He was seen. He was admired. He was worshipped. The flask whispered to him of the ‘Isu’; Augustin listened to it as it spoke of secret knowledge, and gods beyond the realm of Teleria. Augustin paid a merchant to replicate the flask, to serve as a decoy should someone attempt to steal it. His beloved flask went everywhere he did, compelling him to kill, to steal, to betray, and to manipulate his way into a position of power among Velyzar’s elite. To those who listened and worshipped, Augustin was benevolent. To those who did not, he had them torn apart by his frenzied followers during sermons in market squares. Despite these open displays of his power, Augustin rarely faced repercussions; his followers saw it as necessary and for those who did not follow, Augustin’s overwhelming presence was often enough to scare them into silent submission. The Knights Revenant could have killed him for such flagrant displays of corruption and murder, but somehow stay their blades. The Sacred Order long to kill him for his self-proclamation as Pontiff, but knew such a move would cause uproar. Augustin could not care an iota less about either organization. He could amass entire armies, and no-one would dare touch him. For the first time in his life, he had power, and nothing in Teleria could take that away from him.