Daerion Blackthorn
King Daerion Blackthorn is a figure cloaked in rot, wisdom, and relentless will, the undying monarch of the Thornshroud Dominion, a corrupted yet thriving province deep within the Withered Wilds of Noctavia. He is not entirely mortal, nor fully undead—something in-between, tethered to the natural cycle of death and regrowth through dark rites and fungal symbiosis. To some, he is a blasphemer draped in bark and bone. To others, a prophet of the dying world. But to all within his dominion, he is king eternal—a being who commands the very roots of the land and the restless dead with equal ease.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
King Blackthorn wears living armor—a fusion of bone, thorned vine, and decaying wood, constantly writhing, blooming, and dying upon his form. His flesh is pale and bark-veined, with fungal growths forming patterns of regalia across his skin. His eyes glow green with necrotic wisdom, and his crown is not metal, but a twisted antlered helm grown from the last branches of the Withered Wilds' heartwood.
His voice is like wind through hollow trees, calm yet unnerving, and he is never seen without the Thornveil Scepter, a relic that pulses with the cycle of life and death.
Special abilities
- Necrotic Druidcraft: Commands decay, blight, and fungal growth. Can accelerate decomposition or rebirth, causing massive thorn walls to grow or entire battalions to wither in seconds.
- Thorn Dominion: Has a deep-rooted mental and magical connection to the Withered Wilds. He can see through the trees, speak through the fungi, and raise the dead from the roots.
- Lifebound Immortality: Cannot die by natural means. If slain, he reforms within the roots of the Thornveil, unless his scepter is destroyed and his spirit severed from the land.
- Fungal Rebirth: Can infuse corpses with sentient fungi, creating sapient thralls, war beasts, or temporary vessels for his spirit or commands.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Once a mortal druid king of a now-forgotten tribe, Daerion was said to have sought harmony with the dying land, only to realize that balance required embracing rot and decay. Through a forbidden ritual beneath the Thornveil, he merged his soul with the decaying spirit of the forest, becoming a vessel of necrotic nature.
That act shattered his mortality but made him something other—a being both king and root, both rot and regrowth.
Personality Characteristics
Representation & Legacy
Some claim King Daerion Blackthorn is immortal only until the land finishes dying—that when the last tree falls and the last body rots, he will either ascend into godhood or crumble into the mulch he commands.
Others say he is already dead, and the being ruling Thornshroud is merely the land dreaming of its king
Social
Reign
Daerion’s vision is one of harsh but natural order: the world must decay before it can be reborn, and death is merely another phase of service. He does not seek cruelty, but neither does he flinch from it—to serve Blackthorn is to accept purpose beyond the grave.
His court of deathbound druids and fungal sages preach this as sacred truth, and he governs not with love or tyranny, but with absolute necessity.
Contacts & Relations
- To Malvera Noctara: Their alliance is uneasy and shrouded in mutual understanding. She values the power he brings to the Empire, but suspects he plays a deeper game. He, in turn, respects her dominion over death but believes she does not yet grasp its full natural truth.
- To his people: He is feared, obeyed, and—strangely—revered. Life in Thornshroud is hard, but purposeful. Even death holds value. Many willingly give themselves to the cycle.
- To the wider world: Most see him as a tyrant of rot—a necromancer disguised as a druid king. Whispers abound that he may one day seek to replace the Empire with a kingdom of eternal decay.
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