Grim Amos
The Judge
Favored District: Brightborough Center
Paradigm: Obligation & Termination
Season: Midwinter
There’s an old saying, that only two things are certain: death and taxes. Grim Amos is that duality made real, austere in his judicial robes with an antiquated mask for a face. While other Patrons’ presence is usually marked by a sudden and striking anomaly, Amos works quietly and efficiently, creating the greatest effect with the least effort.
His ledgers contain all manner of legal bindings and, most notably, the names of the dead and the balance of time each living thing has remaining. Because of his association with law enforcement, he’s commonly called on by the Brightborough Police, although Amos himself has never punished Attaway residents for their criminal activities.
At Attaway (and in Brightborough), Grim Amos is very rarely considered a personal Patron, though people still pay tribute to him and all the families invoke him in their work. Runners ask for his blessing when forming new business partnerships in hopes for making them last (and ward against double-crosses), for example, while Growers pray that he stay his hand while performing surgeries and in times of emotional crisis.
There’s a gathering of folks representing all the Families of Attaway, dressed to the nines, sitting around at one end of a long table. Some of them quietly adjust the firearms, knives, and clubs hidden in their clothes. Others lean back in their chairs, thumbing idly through stacks of IMPs -- one hundred, two hundred, three hundred…
The folks on the other side of the table are looking at a typewritten document, looking back and forth between it and a map of Brightborough with colored pins in it. Their leader finally looks up at the delegates from Attaway with a reluctant sneer. One of the Runners asks, “Do we have a deal?”
The other leader looks back at his own crew, runs a hand through his hair, thick with too much pomade, and sighs. “Deal.”
Money is exchanged. A Grower stands up, pricks her thumb and that of the other leader with a golden switchblade, and writes her name in blood at the bottom of the agreement. She speaks:
“And so Amos binds us.”