Isaac Outterridge

*“Deep within every man there lies the dread of being alone in the world, forgotten by the gods, overlooked among the tremendous household of millions and millions.”*

-Isaac Outterridge

## History

Born in New Arendur, the eldest of his siblings, Isaac Outterridge belonged to a family of educated professionals. His father was an ardent supporter of the Arendurian Empire, and his uncle was an officer in the Arendurian Army. Outterridge was a studious child, and his parents expected him to join the Illuminated and receive magical training, despite his interest in theology.

## Personality

Isaac Outterridge had his own interpretation of the divine, in which he asserted the existence of a holy trinity, composed of Hastur, the King in Yellow, and the Feaster from Afar. He scorned the aesthetes for their veneration of the King, which he considered unreflective idol worship. Outterridge despised the warlocks as well, who he though were trying to attain faith on the cheap with their pacts; trying to tread a measure with the gods for a bargain price.

## War of the Philosopher-Kings

A child during the war, Isaac Outterridge's formative views came during a time of turmoil and devastation. He was young enough to avoid being drafted when the Reich declared war on New Arendur, and subsequently conquered them.

## After the War

Growing up in occupied New Arendur, Isaac Outterridge's trajectory towards magical schooling was derailed, not that he minded remotely. He attended St. Franz's College in Forester's Town, focusing on the study of Theosophy in preparation for joining the priesthood. As a student, he was part of the Society of the Buried Lives, but in time distanced himself from the aesthetic way of thinking. He came to vehemently disagree with the gnostics as well, who presumed to understand divinity. After joining the Church of Transcendental Theosophy, Outterridge joined the minority Evangelist sect, who were composed of genuine clerics opposed to the Orthodox warlocks. Despite his membership among the Evangelists, Outterridge won respect in some quarters for his philosophical depth, strength of conviction, and scholarly aptitude. He was quickly assigned to the branch of the Church concerned with matters of scripture, dogma, and theological interpretation, and slowly rose through the ranks, becoming a Bishop and at last, a Cardinal.

## The Great Awakening

Isaac Outterridge languished as a a relatively obscure Cardinal for a number of years, seen by those who knew him as a political non-entity, a scholar concerned largely with technicalities of dogma. Nonetheless, he had accumulated allies along the way who saw him as shrewd, dependable, and focused; valuable qualities in a church populated by schemers, aesthetes, and outright madmen. Chief among these allies were Helga Answith, who respected him for his dependability, as well as many in the Arendurian Army who appreciated his unwavering support - a lingering impulse within him born of his father's patriotism and his uncle's war service.

After the death of Flavius Luteus Scaevola and the disillusion of the Reich, Isaac Outterridge would be chosen by Helga Answith to replace Leo Calixte Desjardins as the Prefect of the Council of Dogma. The new Pontiff bristled at the interference in his domain, but Answith bluntly replied that there was no way she would allow him the same unrestricted power of espionage that he had wielded under Scaevola.

After the deaths of Leo Calixtus and Helga Answith and the ascension of Isaac Icarus as Warmaster of New Arendur, a secret conclave of surviving Cardinals would elect Cardinal Outterridge as Pontiff Constantius I. No one ever bothered to call this so-called Pontiff by his regnal name, for the battle of the two Isaac's was too amusing to pass up.