The man known as Daniel Owens, now the librarian of Hush House, was not born as people are generally born. His parents were two Lantern Long, immortals who had long since given up their physical forms to reside permanently in the Mansus. Due to their nature, Daniel's parents were subject to the same laws as all other immortal beings, like other Long, Names, and Hours. One of the most dire laws of these immortals is that it is forbidden for them to reproduce. For, if they do, they will become subject to the Crime of the Sky, which dictates that, upon giving birth, the immortal parents will at once be irresistibly compelled to consume their own offspring. Furthermore, this compulsion will not desist until the offspring is dead. After this takes place, the affected Long, Names, or heavens forbid, Hours turn Alukite. There are many names for this condition: in essence, even devouring their own children will not sate the hunger that now resides within them. It's a very dangerous matter, a very severe punishment for going against nature.

However, when Daniel's parents found his mother with child, she and her lover, in desperation, hatched a plan so that their child could survive. Lantern Long reside in the Mansus. They cannot inhabit the Wake, the physical world. So, if they could expel their child from the Mansus and make it so immediately upon his birth, he would be pushed into the physical world, then he would be, at least temporarily, safe. They wouldn't be able to follow, thus they would not be able to devour. And so, through rituals unknown, this is what they did. Before the ritual, they contacted the Obliviates, that order of Long who forsake any chance of committing the Crime of the Sky, who drink from the River Lethe so that the world might forget them. They informed the Obliviates where the child would appear in the Wake, and so, when their ritual succeeded, and their offspring manifested in the physical world, the Obliviates were there and waiting. They did not blame the child for their parents' crime, and so they took him in.

And so the boy who eventually would be known as Daniel Owens lived among the Obliviates for a time, sheltered by those who still held to the Chains of the Ordo Limiae. There were certain precautions taken to ensure the child's safety. He was not permitted to leave the hermitage where his benefactors stayed. All mirrors had to be covered in his presence to prevent his parents from accessing him via scrining, a process in which Lantern Long use mirrors to affect the world around them. In some cases, they can even initiate something called transinhabitation, where they can partially possess a person who inhabits the physical world. Finally, they performed certain oneiric rituals to prevent the child from straying into the Bounds of the Mansus in his dreams. The Obliviates knew that even now, even after all they had done to protect the child, that his parents were on the other side, desperate, clawing at the walls, trying to reach their son to devour him. It was vital that the boy be aware of the danger and the means by which he might protect himself. Needless to say, he grew up quite neurotic.

Still he remained in relative safety for a time and grew to adulthood with the Obliviates, a mortal among immortals. Sequestered in Port Noon, he was tutored in topics both mundane and occult and in his adulthood would maintain written correspondence with others in the Know. Yet the Obliviates couldn't protect him forever. Eventually, Daniel's parents found a way through the ritual protections. They lured him in his dreams into the Bounds of the Mansus and there they set a trap. Daniel only escaped through sacrificing a part of his spiritual body in the Mansus and leaving it to be devoured in his stead. Yet, despite his survival, he would be forever haunted by what he experienced. In that moment, he saw his parents for what they were: damned, suffering. These people who had tried to give him the best shot they could at life, now being driven mad by their endless desire to feed on him. And they would suffer for as long as he was alive. Perhaps longer if they made the same mistake twice. The experience had a profound effect on Daniel psychologically, mingling his fear and anxiety with a sense of compassion and duty towards his parents.

There were physical scars as well. Even though his physical body remained untouched, his right leg was partially paralyzed upon his waking, and has been ever since. After this incident, the Obliviates realized they could not do enough to protect Daniel. Still, he was skilled and well-studied in the Invisible Arts, and they believed they knew a role where he could be safe. And so, the Obliviates helped him secure a position as the next Librarian of Hush House There he would be under the protection of the Hours themselves.

Yet, mere safety is not enough for Daniel. Every hour that he lives, he knows that his parents are in the Mansus, in a hell of their own making. And so he has two purposes for being in Hush House, for taking on the mantle of the Librarian. One is for protection, yes, and the other is to forge a weapon—a weapon capable of slaying his parents and ending their eternal suffering.