Hollow Council
The Hollow Council is the death-bound ruling body that advises and enforces the will of King Daerion Blackthorn, sovereign of the Thornshroud Dominion. This eerie and powerful assembly is composed of beings who have shed the limitations of mortal life—whether through necromancy, ancient vows, or druidic rites of decay. They are not nobles by blood nor bureaucrats by training—they are the voices of death itself, and they govern through fear, wisdom, and eternal service.
Structure
The Hollow Council is intentionally small, consisting of seven members, each selected not for loyalty or lineage, but for their mastery of a specific aspect of death, decay, and transformation. While King Daerion’s word is law, the Hollow Council’s influence is immense, particularly in the day-to-day governance of the Dominion.
Typical Council Members Include:
- The Thorn-Speaker: A necrotic druid who embodies the decaying forest and speaks for the will of the Thornveil itself. Often robed in moss and bone, the Thorn-Speaker communes with twisted nature.
- The Bone-Seer: A mummified oracle bound in corpse-silk wrappings, capable of divining fate by casting bones or reading the patterns of rot and fungal bloom.
- The Maw-Tender: An emaciated revenant who oversees the Mire of Unmaking and its rituals of decomposition. Silent and shrouded, they rarely speak except to give final rites.
- The Wraith-Vicar: A soul-bound spirit draped in funerary chains, once a high priest of a forgotten god. Now, they serve as the spiritual voice of undeath, guiding rituals and indoctrination.
- The Rotbound Archivist: A skeletal scholar whose bones are etched with runes. Keeper of forbidden texts, they advise on historical continuity, magical law, and ancient pacts.
- The Hollow Fang: A spectral warrior and enforcer of the Dominion’s laws. Once a mortal general, now bound to a suit of rusting armor, they mete out judgment on enemies within and without.
- The Emberfall Delegate: A unique position often filled by a spy, diplomat, or undead emissary from the Kingdom of Emberfall. This position is rotated frequently and is typically a puppet of King Daerion’s machinations.
Culture
While King Daerion Blackthorn makes the final decision in all matters, the Hollow Council is:
- The silent bureaucracy of the Dominion—each member governs a specific facet of rule: from law and faith, to resource management, and necromantic research.
- Charged with maintaining the balance between decay and growth, ensuring that the land neither crumbles too quickly nor stagnates without change.
- A source of arcane and spiritual knowledge, often consulted in times of crisis or divine revelation.
- Enforcers of the Dominion’s death rites, Melding Trials, and Rot Festivals, overseeing their purity and purpose.
All members are bound by powerful necromantic oaths. Some were once mortals who willingly gave their lives to join the council. Others are beings raised or transformed through ancient druidic or arcane pacts, forced into servitude by King Daerion himself.
To serve on the Hollow Council is to abandon one's name, legacy, and mortal ambition, trading it for endless purpose in death.
Assets
The Hollow Council meets within the Blackroot Spire, a twisted tower of petrified wood, bone, and thorn, rising from the heart of Blackthorn Keep. The tower’s upper chamber is a circular sanctum, its walls engraved with funerary rites and silent oaths. At its center stands the Throne of Hollow Silence, where King Daerion hears the council’s whispers—words never shouted, only spoken in tones befitting the dead.
Comments