| “ | We must say no more, no more will our homes be taken and our families starved. No more will we be left to die in the gutters, this city belongs to the people, we must seize it back. Stand together, stand together, a new dawn is coming. | ” |
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Orion | ||
Aldous Northcrest-Hucks (aka Orion) is the charismatic and righteous leader of The Graven. Aldous is described as the so-called 'voice of the people', who stages a rebellion against the ruthless Baron. He later becomes one of the final antagonist's of Thief.
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Orion is a large, charismatic man referred to as 'the voice of the people' by the desperate civilians themselves. As a child Orion had a poor and troubled upbringing on the streets of The City and his passionate anger towards unfair treatment resonates with those around him. The restless mob doesn't really know Orion's roots but his tone and message are clear and relatable. Before things will get better, the Baron must fall. Orion professes to have the answers to The City's problems with one of the biggest being the relentless advance of the mysterious sickness known as the gloom. To protect himself from the attentions of the Baron and the Thief-Taker General, Orion operates from the unseen back streets and hidden alleyways of the city. His main base of operation is a secluded part of Black Alley where he administers to the sick and needy with a small band of his most faithful followers known as the Graven. Orion's ability to connect with the people's pain soon means that the ranks of the Graven swell with common folk desperate for change and a new beginning. As he continues to push for this change, Orion's relationship with Garrett grows through circumstance; he believes Garrett able to help The City through its troubles. This ideology of course, sits badly with a master thief who professes to have no interest in politics or the people. |
Background[]
Aldous was conceived in the spring of NRy781, as the illegitimate son of Harland, the ninth Baron of the Northcrest lineage and his wife's maiden Elspeth Hucks where he was born nine months later. In NRy799, as rumours began surrounding the imperial court, Elspeth was banished from service at Northcrest Manor where she took the young Aldous with her and the pair ended up living on the streets of The City.
Growing up poor and rough, Aldous learned of his heritage from his mother and gradually grew bitter of his half-brother Elias Northcrest's dispassionate and ruthless reign over The City. After his mother perished to the cusp of poverty, Aldous swore vengeance against Elias. He later found work as a helper in a struggling hospice located in the Stonemarket District.
Concept art
Events of Thief[]
During the ritual to channel the primal, Elias invited Aldous to partake in the channeling.[1] However, due to Garrett and Erin's intervention, the ritual failed, and the primal energy was trapped inside Erin.[2] Despite the Baron's experiments on Erin, Aldous managed to take Erin and assumed the identity of Orion, a charismatic rebel who wished to free the citizenry from the Baron's tyranny.[3] Garrett is first introduced to Orion via Basso. Orion wishes that Garrett steal a book from a brothel known as the House of Blossoms. Once Garrett gets the book, he does not hear from Orion again until he decides to interrogate the Baron about Erin's whereabouts. By then, the city is in full revolution, and Orion's Graven mob is storming Northcrest Manor. When Garrett speaks to the Baron, the Baron reveals that he is Orion's brother, and that Orion is using Erin to complete the final ritual for his own benefit.[3] Garrett catches up to Orion, but not before the Thief-taker general arrives, allowing Orion to escape with Erin.[4] Garrett catches up to Orion after dispatching the General, and attempts to persuade him to release Erin, to no avail. In the end, the primal stone within Erin overcharges, killing Orion.[5]
It is unknown what happens to the Graven after the events of the game.