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HISTORY Auguste Renoir was born just above the poverty line, which in the unstable city of Esprevere was more of a gaping canyon than a line. He was the third and last child in his family, and his parents both supported their delicately balanced lifestyle by working for government offices. Not really aristocrats and not poor by any means either, the Renoir family faced little hope of ascending and the constant threat of falling even lower. Though his older siblings were bright, promising spots of light for his parents, Auguste was more challenging. From a young age he had vision problems and became frustrated with school, but rather than try to make up for his handicap Auguste stopped trying and his marks reflected his lack of effort. It strained the relationship he had with his parents who wanted badly for all their children to succeed, and Auguste quickly gained a reputation for being stupid and a slacker amongst his parents' associates. Though there was no lack of love in the Renoir household, the relationships were often unhappy as Auguste's parents pushed him to try more and he simultaneously avoided putting out the effort and felt jealous and resentful of his brother and sister. Eventually his parents gave up and stopped leaning on him, and Auguste settled into a life of mediocrity and a love for religion which eased the difficulties of life and gave him purpose. He was a devout follower.

Though his siblings became successful and made their own way in the world, Auguste had to be handed a job by his father in his office. His interests turned to private activities, most notably small bits of invention. Showing a magical spark for the pursuit, Auguste quietly excelled at making small magical items. Finally his focus turned to correcting his shortcomings, and from his parents' perspective it seemed as though their son suddenly developed an interest in collecting eye glasses. After many failed attempts and a lot of broken eyewear, Auguste completed a pair that didn't totally fix his vision, but improved it greatly. Excited with his new freedom, he began to pursue formal archery to assert his new eyesight. All the while he continued to try and improve his glasses.

While Auguste was busy worrying about his eyesight and lackluster life, Esprevere's situation worsened. The poor grew poorer and the rich grew richer, and very little was being done to fix it. The upper classes tutted over what a shame it was, but the religious leaders said that it was the goddess' will, and she was looking after the downtrodden and all would be well. This was good enough for most people, but there were some in the lower classes that were not touched by the religious reassurances. One of these people who continued to object was a passing acquaintance of Auguste's who saw a potential ally in the unhappy young Pennier. At that time Auguste was a low level bureaucrat who had very little future to look forward to outside of the legal offices and spent most of his free time hunched over a workbench or kneeling in church.

Auguste was close friends with a young Pennier from a higher class family and the daughter of Auguste's father's boss. Justine Eléonore Desbois was working her way up through the ranks and ended up alongside Auguste and the two became an unlikely duo that wasn't expected to last long after her impending promotion. She was there when Auguste was talked into attending a speech in the lower districts, and accompanied him to make sure he would remain safe, despite his arguments that he would be fine. It was Blaise Labarre that took to the makeshift stage, and Auguste was won over almost instantaneously. Though he didn't quite commit to the cause, it seemed romantic and important to him and he was present on and off at meetings.

This feeling of purpose and the chance to do something important was very seductive for Auguste, though Justine was less than ready to throw her life away for what, to her, seemed militant and suicidal. She tried to talk Auguste down but didn't manage to before a conflict of interests arose. The revolution was growing violent, Blaise Labarre was too bold, and the church needed trusted servants to find out who was in charge and bring the people back under control. Justine and Auguste were offered positions in this new unit, figuring that they seemed like reliable candidates for loyalty to the church and state. Auguste was known for his religion and lack of opportunities for occupational growth, and Justine's family was very well respected.

At the announcement of the offer, Auguste did not graciously accept, and instead argued in a very uncharacteristic manner that what Labarre was trying to do was in the name of Ravelle and the goddess. He made a quick exit as the situation went downhill and Justine desperately followed to try and talk some sense into Auguste. She wanted to go back and apologize, thinking it was still possible to salvage the situation. She explained that this was probably Auguste's one chance to be something important, but he disagreed. For him, he thought that the most important thing he would probably ever do would be to join the Fin de Saison movement. Despite him passionately urging her to join with him, she refused. With that final argument between them, Auguste left to join the revolution and Justine returned to make amends.

Auguste at first totally disappeared off Justine's radar for a few months, but when he emerged the situation was frightening. Auguste had befriended Blaise Labarre not long after officially joining, and the two became close confidants. At first Auguste was frequently seen by Blaise's side as he spoke, but soon he became nearly as vocal as his companion. Blaise was known for being the brains of the Fin de Saison and the unquestioned leader, while Auguste was more notorious as the warmer heart of it. He preached of the goddess' support for what they were doing and compared to Blaise's harsh words he had a silver tongue. Blaise depended on him to make their dramatic actions seem softer. Blaise pushed for his friend to truly appear saintly and the propaganda worked as many praised Auguste for speaking the true intentions of the goddess.

Meanwhile Justine climbed the ranks as Auguste became more and more notorious, finally being labeled a heretic by the official church of Esprevere (along with those in the Fin de Saison as a whole). Whenever they met again it was after one of the rebellion's violent demonstrations and the pair would be forced to come to half-hearted blows that ended with neither ever being hurt. All of these events culminated in an assassination attempt on the royal family, which Justine was enraged to find Auguste present at. Justine and her unit were sent to counteract this, and the majority of the rebels were captured or killed, including Labarre. Justine chased down Auguste and finally cornered him.

The talk was surprisingly civil and emotional, and Auguste surrendered. He confessed to Justine that he loved her, but she said that she just didn't feel that way about him, not to mention that he was now a traitor to the crown. In the end, Justine informed him that he would definitely be executed if she brought him back and so let him go if he swore to her that he'd just leave and disappear somewhere. Auguste does as she asks, only staying around long enough to witness Blaise's execution out of loyalty. After that, the 21 year old Auguste fled to Murzim.

As many do, Auguste found work in the guild and soon became an apprentice to Yric Thurston who was the current leader of the ranged division. Working on his inventions on the side, Auguste made plenty of money selling them and became an upstanding citizen. When Thurston decided to retire, he pushed for Auguste to take over for him. It wasn't hard, as Auguste had been around for a few years and was very competent and well-liked, and at 25 he was made head of the ranged division.

Auguste's life went smoothly after that, ans he kept his former life private and continued to attend the much more relaxed church on Murzim and pursue a quiet life despite the guilt he felt for leaving. However, less than a year later he was recognized by a fellow Pennier from Esprevere and momentarily it seemed that what he had worked on building in Aschere was going to fall apart. Ravelle demanded that Murzim arrest him and send him back to face justice, but instead Murzim refused. Deciding to flex it's political muscles, Regent Ileas Tolbire said he would not comply and that Auguste was a productive citizen on Aschere and didn't need any justice. Though his reputation changed drastically, Auguste's lifestyle remained mostly unchanged even after this announcement.

((Joined the Fin de Saison at 18, he fled and Labarre was executed at 21, joined the guild later that year, made division head at 25, a little less than a year later he's recognized but not arrested.))

COMMON KNOWLEDGE By now it's well known that Auguste was an important religious revolutionary in Ravelle that escaped execution after many violent demonstrations. Those within the Pennier community have a few more details, though. They know that he was the major rallying figure for the cause and for many he was considered some kind of a saint. { Insert what he was fighting for! } Regardless of what people think about this aspect of the Ranged Division leader, it does gain him quite a bit of notoriety.