Character from He Who Fights with Monsters by Shirtaloon
A Great Astral Being obsessed with physical reality it cannot inhabit — building a stolen world in the deep astral one kidnapped dimension at a time.
The Builder is the primary cosmic antagonist of the series — a Great Astral Being that yearns for physical reality but cannot coexist with it. Its solution is characteristically grandiose and horrifying: steal astral spaces from existing worlds, give them brief self-sustaining capability, then anchor them to its own constructed world in the deep astral. It cannot act directly, so it recruits mortal agents through a combination of power offerings and star seed implantation — devices that give it a foothold in a victim's soul. The Builder that currently holds the position is actually the sixteenth replacement; the original was removed under unknown circumstances. The current one was a mortal named Zithis Carrow Vayel who was ascended to the role. Great Astral Beings cannot die, making the original's fate a genuine cosmic mystery.
Cannot manifest physically — interacts through recruited agents, star seeds, and vessels like Thadwick Mercer. Its influence manifests as clockwork constructs and star seeds that burrow into victims' souls.
Also known as: The Builder, Zithis Carrow Vayel