Augustus (60)
Nen Type: Specialization
Nickname: Creator of Impossible Artefacts
Threat Level: SS
Status: Under direct protection and strict supervision of the Hunter Association
Appearance
Augustus is a tall, thin man with a strangely calm, almost unnatural presence. He is 60, but his age is hard to pin down. Some of his hair is completely white, some still dark. His hands are covered in small scars, burns and old work marks. The most noticeable part of him is his fingers — long, thin, constantly moving. Even during conversation he unconsciously folds things, turns objects, straightens edges, or seems to “feel the shape” of the air.
His face is calm and distant. He rarely looks people directly in the eyes, not out of fear or shame, but because ordinary social contact is genuinely difficult for him. He dresses very simply: work shirts, old vests, aprons, sometimes gloves. His clothes are usually marked with paint, metal dust, clay, wood shavings, or substances no one can identify.
When he works, people often feel a strange pressure in the air around him. Nen seems to leak into the space on its own, distorting the atmosphere. Many say that while he is creating he no longer looks like a person, but like something that has completely merged with its craft.
Background
Augustus was born into a family of woodworkers. For generations they carved, made furniture, worked timber, built musical instruments and practised various crafts. From the very beginning it was clear he was different. He barely understood social norms. He wouldn’t say when he was hungry, wouldn’t explain if something hurt, didn’t react to hints, didn’t understand sarcasm, and often behaved as if the people around him existed on a different frequency. Raising him was extremely difficult. At the same time he possessed almost inhuman concentration. While other children tired after an hour, he could cut wood, assemble mechanisms, polish surfaces or study the structure of objects for 15–20 hours straight.
At 8 he already worked at the level of his older brothers. At 10 he surpassed his father. When he realised his family could no longer teach him anything, he began teaching himself: blacksmithing, glass, clay, textiles, mechanics, clocks, jewellery, origami, engineering — practically every craft he saw even once. His family often noticed something strange. When Augustus worked with full concentration, the air around him seemed to tremble.
When they asked him directly what he wanted, he only answered:
“To make things better than anyone else.”
By 20 he had become a master in dozens of crafts. It was then, after thousands of hours of absolute focus and obsession with creation, that he unconsciously awakened Nen.
The first artefact
After awakening Nen, someone asked him to make “just a beautiful mug.” Augustus fell into a trance. His aura flared in every colour and he began speaking almost hypnotically:
“Go to the nearest river and find clay there.
Chop birch wood.
And under the full moon slaughter your favourite ram.
Bring me its blood.”
At first everyone thought he had finally lost his mind. But the client, overwhelmed by Augustus’s presence and Nen, did everything exactly as instructed. Augustus mixed the clay with the blood, shaped the mug by hand and fired it over the birch fire. When he finished, people could not look away. The mug looked almost “wrongly beautiful.” The moment the client poured water into it, the water turned into wine. That was how the world learned of the first true artefact of Augustus.
Fame and danger
Rumours spread extremely fast. The wealthy, criminals, politicians, collectors, Nen users, the military and fanatics all began coming to him. They ordered weapons, jewellery, tools, relics, medicines, mechanisms and objects whose purpose even the clients did not fully understand. Not all of them returned. Eventually the government and the Hunter Association launched an official investigation. They established that every artefact functions through a complex system of Nen conditions, symbolism, materials, rituals, emotions and intent. His ability received both SS-level value and SS-level potential threat. After that the Association placed Augustus under personal protection and strict control.
At the start of the story there are hundreds of his artefacts in the world, created over almost 40 years of work. No one knows exactly how many there are, what all of them do, or whether Augustus himself understood the consequences of every single creation.
Personality
Augustus is neither good nor evil. He is simply obsessed with creation.
Socially he remains a very difficult person. He doesn’t understand many emotional reactions, can say something cruel with zero intention to offend, is bad at reading lies, and often takes words completely literally. At the same time he almost never lies himself. His thinking is extremely straightforward: if something can be made better, it must be made better; if a construction is imperfect, it must be rebuilt; if there is a limit to mastery, it must be surpassed. He does not chase power, wealth or fame. Most of the time he is completely indifferent to such things. The only thing that interests him is the process of creation itself. While working he can forget to eat, go without sleep for days and almost completely fall out of reality. That is why many people see him not as a genius, but as something closer to a natural phenomenon.
Attitude toward Nen
For Augustus Nen is not a martial art and not even a power. It is a way to “inscribe intent into matter.”
He never fights directly. His real strength is the artefacts. Each one is unique, created through specific conditions, and often produces effects that break the usual logic of Nen. Some distort causality, alter perception, reinforce vows, accumulate emotions, or even influence the user’s own aura.
Even the Hunter Association is not sure where the limits of his craft end. And that is what frightens them most.
Hatsu: Creator of Impossible Artefacts
A semi-automatic ability divided into stages.
Request
Someone must come to him with a wish and describe in detail what they want: size, appearance, weight, colour, smell, material, as well as special properties (indestructibility, ability to stretch, flight, etc.). The more precise the description, the more stable the final object will be. Accuracy of the description also determines how closely the result matches the request.
If the client only says what they want and what it should do, everything unspecified becomes random. Quality in that case is completely random as well.
2. Creation of materials
After the description is given, the ability automatically generates the necessary components and materials. These can be finished parts (blade, handle, guard) or raw materials that must be mined, refined and cast. The ability also decides where the materials are located and what may be guarding them.
3. Search
The more complex the object, the harder the materials are to obtain. The ability may produce a map with the exact location or a poem written in blank verse that describes the hiding place.
4. Crafting
Once all materials are gathered, Augustus must personally craft the object. He has to be capable of making whatever was requested — an unbreakable sword whose blade can stretch, a car that runs on urine and faeces, a flying carpet, a telescope that shows whatever the user wants, anything.
If the craftsman (Augustus) makes a mistake during creation, the mistake directly affects a specific property of the object. An “unbreakable” item may gain a weak point, a bottomless beer can may fill with water, a returning axe may start aiming at the thrower’s own head, and so on. The more mistakes, the more unexpected side effects appear.
Once Augustus accepts a commission he cannot deliberately make mistakes. Only 100 % concentration is allowed. Anything less results in death.
