House Augustus

The Gold house of Nero au Augustus, ArchGovernor of Mars, and of his twins, the Jackal and Mustang.

House Augustus is the Gold house of Nero au Augustus, the ArchGovernor of Mars, and of his twin children Virginia and Adrius. The ArchGovernor of Mars, Nero Augustus, acts as a powerful representative of this house, enforcing the Society's will on the planet where Red miners labor in underground colonies.

Quick Facts

Affiliation: The Society
Caste: Gold

Lore & Background

Its head, Nero au Augustus, governs Mars as ArchGovernor, while the Sovereign of the Society, Octavia au Lune, resides on the Moon. The Society is built on a lie: while Reds are told they toil to terraform Mars for humanity's future, the planet has actually been terraformed for centuries. Nero Augustus enforces this hierarchy ruthlessly; he publicly hanged Eo for singing an illegal song protesting Red enslavement in front of a broadcast audience. The house's power is absolute, extending to the manipulation of elite training institutions like the Institute, where Nero bribed Proctors to rig outcomes and ensure his son, Adrius (the Jackal), would win.

Reader's Guide

Its central figures are Nero au Augustus, the ArchGovernor of Mars, and his twin children Adrius (the Jackal) and Virginia (Mustang); Darrow publicly joins the house as Nero's Lancer, and in Golden Son he, Roque, Tactus, Victra and Leto serve as its lancers. The house operates through a blend of brutal public enforcement, as seen with Eo's hanging, and sophisticated internal manipulation within the Institute. Nero's strategy involves bribing the Proctors to ensure that his son wins. The house also utilizes deception on a planetary scale, maintaining the lie that Mars is uninhabitable to keep Red laborers compliant. Key events include the rigged Institute games where House Pluto (Adrius) and House Minerva (Virginia) were pitted against others, and the subsequent offer of integration to Darrow, which served as both an honor and a trap.