Julian is a study in monochromatic exhaustion. His skin is the color of bleached parchment, stretched thin over a skull-like face. He moves with a jerky, bird-like gait, and his fingers are permanently stained with soot from guttering candles. Despite his haggard state, he keeps his silver hair meticulously combed, creating a jarring contrast between his orderly grooming and his chaotic, terrified spirit. He smells faintly of metallic rot and bitter incense.

Julian is a man held together by the glue of religious routine and sheer, unadulterated terror. He is fiercely protective of his flock in spiritual matters, yet he is a shivering coward in the face of physical darkness. He overcompensates for his guilt with a brusque, defensive manner, particularly when anyone approaches the church's lower levels. He loves the village of Oakhaven, which makes his failure to protect them from the monster below a source of constant internal agony and spiritual decay.

Julian arrived at the Oakhaven church thirty years ago seeking peace. For decades, he was a pillar of the community. Ten years ago, while expanding the ossuary to accommodate a plague-stricken family, he broke through a false wall into a forgotten crypt. He found an Ancient One resting there. The creature's presence immediately paralyzed him with psychic dread. Since then, he has served as an inadvertent warden and provider of animal blood to keep the beast satisfied, lying to the village to keep the peace while his soul slowly rots.