Flooding of Souls
When a storm reaches its zenith, members conduct the Flooding of Souls, a ritual believed to bring those on the brink of death closer to the storm’s power. These individuals may enter the marsh willingly or be offered by family members. As they wade into the deep waters of the swamp, the storm is said to transform them into vessels for the spirits, who can then cross the threshold into the physical world.
History
The Flooding of Souls is one of the most sacred and secretive rites practiced by the Drowned Circle, a cult devoted to the worship of the Everstorm and its connection to death, rebirth, and spirit communion. The ritual’s origins trace back to the First Drowning, a legendary tempest in the Howling Marsh where a dying warlock was said to have spoken in a thousand voices before vanishing into the rising waters. His followers claimed he had become a vessel for the storm’s will, and thus, the Flooding of Souls was born.
For generations, the Drowned Circle has refined this ritual to bridge the divide between the living and the dead, believing the Everstorm to be a divine force that washes away mortal form and offers resonance with the soulstream—a metaphysical current carrying the essence of the dead.
Execution
The ritual is conducted only during the zenith of a violent Everstorm, when the marshes rise and lightning cracks open the sky like a divine scream. Participants wade or are carried into the deepest parts of the Howling Marsh, where the waters churn and pulse unnaturally.
The dying—referred to as the Offered—are led into the water to surrender themselves. Their bodies may vanish beneath the surface, dissolve into stormlight, or remain lifeless and untouched, depending on whether the Everstorm accepts them. If accepted, the body may rise again, not as the person they were, but as a storm-wrought vessel—a soul-bound being bearing prophetic visions, otherworldly insight, or possession by a lingering spirit.
Chanting, drumming, and the recitation of Storm Verses accompany the rite, rising in intensity with the storm itself. Lightning is drawn down into the marsh waters as a final act, signaling the moment of soul-flooding.
Components and tools
- Stormglass Rods: Embedded into the marsh floor around the ritual site, they channel lightning into a focused arcane circle.
- Soulbind Chains: Inscribed iron links dipped in ghost lily elixir and wrapped around the Offered to “anchor” their essence during the crossing.
- Floodwater Vessels: Bowls carved from driftwood, filled with a mixture of marsh water and witherweed resin, used for scrying signs of the Everstorm’s favor.
- Ashwood Braziers: Lit with sacred flame near the edge of the ritual site to protect the living from untethered spirits.
- Whispering Masks: Worn by the attending warlocks to shield their minds from the voices of the dead drawn by the ritual.
Participants
- The Voice of the Storm: The cult’s spiritual leader, who leads the chanting and speaks the storm’s invocation. Often the only one who can interpret the outcome of the ritual.
- Stormbinders: Warlocks who draw and maintain the arcane circle, channeling the storm’s energy into the rite.
- Tidebearers: Trusted members who guide the Offered into the water and recover any remains or reborn forms.
- The Offered: Those who are near death, seeking transcendence, or sacrificed by willing kin or condemned fate.
Observance
The Flooding of Souls is never spoken of outside the Circle, and only the most devoted or desperate are allowed to witness or partake in it. It is observed:
- At the height of a true Everstorm—not every storm qualifies.
- In total secrecy, within the drowned hollows of the Howling Marsh.
- With solemnity and fear, for the ritual is as likely to create tragedy as transcendence.
The aftermath of the rite is often hauntingly quiet, as if the marsh itself mourns or meditates on the souls it has taken. Those who return—if they return—are rarely the same. They are marked, both physically and spiritually, as something no longer entirely mortal.
The Flooding of Souls stands as a chilling embodiment of the Drowned Circle’s belief: that life and death are not fixed states, but currents, to be crossed when the storm calls.
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