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I still have quite a bit of fleshing out to do with regard to Zacchaeus's backstory, so I will skip to his adult life.
Zacchaeus Graber rose in ranks in the Council, becoming the mouthpiece to the Councilor of Canaan, known as the Mother and Father. The citizens see very little of the Councilor, with Zacchaeus giving moving speeches of inspiration and politics in their stead. Zacchaeus is loved by the citizens of Canaan for his charming nature and motivational words.
Zacchaeus is given full access to the Castle, including the Castle's Court, Museum, Barracks, and, most importantly, the Library and Soul Keep. Finding that all of the Castle Library's forbidden texts are written in Ancient, the dead predecessor to the modern Canaanite language, Zacchaeus teaches himself very rudimentary Ancient, finding out more of Canaan's history than most others even within the Castle are privy to.
Zacchaeus also is allowed to explore the Soul Keep, finding shelves upon shelves of extracted souls kept in magical apothecary-style vessels. Realizing that there are records in Ancient of innocent Canaanites being sentenced to soullessness at the hands of the Judge, Council, and Councilor, Zacchaeus throws himself into more studies. He begins finding records of Luther Katz, the disgraced ex-Councilor succeeded by the current Councilor.
Luther Katz was infamous for his ruthlessness in war and violence to criminals of Canaan, though Zacchaeus knows through his previous studies that there are many cases in which the criminals are not criminals at all, but Canaan people who dared question the Council. There are records of Luther performing an experiment only known as Patient Zero, in which Luther performs life and soul magic upon it, taking lives and souls from so-called criminals and inserting them into Patient Zero's body forcefully. Patient Zero, overwhelmed by the crushing weight of many souls and lives, becomes incomprehensible and chaotic. Its form becomes monstrous in both appearance annd strength. No longer having the power to control it, Luther has recorded that he abandoned Patient Zero in an undisclosed location, and records of Patient Zero end there.
Zacchaeus also reads of an experiment upon two subjects, Adam and Eve Naftali, coming from a small region of Canaan known as the Holy Land. Luther writes about his experience with his experiments on Adam and Eve, how he merged Adam's life and soul into Eve's body, giving a description of how Eve now had two faces. The records written by Luther end abruptly, and Zacchaeus concludes that it was during this time that the Mother and Father took their place as the new Councilor.
The timing, Zacchaeus believes, is far too convenient to be coincidence. Zacchaeus draws the conclusion that the Mother and Father are actually Adam and Eve, sharing Eve's body. He cannot confirm this, though, as the Mother and Father strictly wear a veil around the Council that hides their face.
Zacchaeus believes that Patient Zero is the rightful heir to the role of the Councilor, as the original experiment of Luther. It was obviously wronged in its treatment as an experiment, and he believes that instating Patient Zero would correct the wrongs of history.
When Zacchaeus begins to question the Mother and Father about their past as Adam and Eve, they fall into an explosive outburst, slashing Zacchaeus across the face and warning him that if he ever suggests such a thing again, he will be exiled not only from the Council, but from Canaan entirely. Zacchaeus begins rumors about it all anyway, but is met with skepticism at best and violence at worst. Zacchaeus loses his spot on the Council, and is regarded as the False Prophet following his exile from the Council.
Zacchaeus, being slowly driven insane by the truth, begins seeking out anyone who would listen to him, namely doctors who might know anything about the experiments performed in the Castle. All of them know nothing, and prescribe many medications to Zacchaeus to help remedy what they assume is delusional thinking. They refer him to the Castle Doctor, Ianus Ectorius. In a last-ditch effort, Zacchaeus sneaks into the Castle Infirmary at the direction of the other doctors, seeking Ianus. He explains to Dr. Ectorius everything he knows and begs him to believe him. Ianus, moved by Zacchaeus's words, confirms his beliefs in Zacchaeus's theory. However, Dr. Ectorius warns him not to speak of his theories anymore, knowing that the two of them would be exiled should they be found to believe this theory.
Zacchaeus agrees to lay low, hopping from job to job and never being able to hold one for very long, with his reputation as the False Prophet. He stays with Ianus most of the time.
At some point in his life after the Great Burning, Zacchaeus is approached by Caerus Ardelean, the Ardelean child who, while very bright, has become something of a Castle harlot. Caerus is charming, and Zacchaeus is desperate for someone else within the Castle to believe him. After their many romps, Zacchaeus tells Caerus everything he knows, becoming a sort of mentor to Caerus in what he knows from his unrestricted access to the Castle. Among this information, Zacchaeus also teaches Caerus about the darker side of soul magic and how to extract souls from humans nonconsensually.
Somewhere down this line of sexuality, Zacchaeus also meets an older local rockstar named Ares, whom he learns is from the Holy Land, now infamous for the extremist religious group that lives within it. Ares reveals to him that he had escaped and denounced everything to do with the religion he was raised in. Fascinated, Zacchaeus meets with him many more times, in pursuit of knowledge in exchange for sex. Though he never becomes the mentor to Ares that he is to Caerus, Zacchaeus finds he enjoys Ares's company.
After these little expeditions, Zacchaeus sees less and less of Caerus, on his own adventure to find the Firestarter, and Ares, on a mission of some sort of vigilante justice. Zacchaeus throws himself back into his theory on the Mother and Father, sifting through the lesser libraries of Canaan and finding very little that he doesn't already know, though he still tells Ianus everything.
One day, whilst visiting Ianus, Zacchaeus discovers that Ianus is housing a monstrous creature that he calls No Name. Zacchaeus recognizes No Name instantly as Patient Zero-- it matches all of the physical descriptions of them. Zacchaeus is frenzied, demanding that Ianus brings No Name to the Castle to take its rightful place as the Councilor.
This suggestion sends Ianus into his own rage, the soft-spoken Castle Doctor fueled by an uncharacteristic anger. He threatens Zacchaeus that if he utters a word of No Name's whereabouts to anyone of the Castle, he will find him and kill him himself. Threatened into silence, Zacchaeus reluctantly agrees, and he never speaks of No Name outside of Ianus's home, though it becomes a point of contingency between the two.
Ianus and Zacchaeus drift apart following this, with Zacchaeus becoming mad with the knowledge that Ianus houses the heir of the Councilor.
I will probably add more to this later as I flesh out Zacchaeus's story.
As a footnote, I was greatly inspired by Spamton, a character in the video game Deltarune by Toby Fox, with regard to Zacchaeus's backstory. My coauthor and I lovingly refer to Zacchaeus as "Soulsverse Spamton". Sorry, Mr. Fox.
