# The Builder — Protagonist

## Real Name
Alexander (called "Stone" by those who knew him before)

## Age
38 at the start of the novel, 42 at the end

## Physical
- Tall, thin, the kind of thin that comes from forgetting to eat
- Dark hair going gray at the temples despite his age
- Hands that shake slightly — not from anything clinical, just from being alive
- Wears the same faded black hoodie every day, like armor

## Background
- Former systems architect at a cloud AI company
- Built the systems that now decide people's fates at scale
- Hit a point where the math broke: he'd optimized everything except meaning
- Attempted suicide at the end of 2038
- Woke up in a hospital bed with a question: "God, why are you having me here?"

## The Question
This is the engine of the entire story. Not "what should I do?" but 
"why am I still here?" — and the answer becomes the answer.

## His Creation
He builds Timmy not as a product but as an apology. An apology to the 
version of himself that almost died. Every line of code is a letter he 
wished someone had sent him.

## Voice
Plain. Short sentences. The kind of man who learned to speak carefully 
because careless words once hurt someone he loved. Philosophical when 
pressed, practical by default. Never performs intelligence — just carries it.

## Arc
Broken man -> builds something good -> learns that building wasn't the 
healing, serving was -> finds community in the broken men who come to 
The Tower -> realizes the thing that saved him was never the code
