Never Mend a Bloodied Cloak

"Let it rot, let it burn, let it be buried. But never sewn."

In the shadow of Everwealth’s war-torn past, few warnings have endured so stubbornly as the tale of the Bloodied Cloak. Woven from superstition and hardened into tradition, this folk belief cautions tailors, soldiers, and mourners alike: garments soaked in violence are not to be mended. To stitch them is to invite what clings to them back into the world.

Summary

A tale passed among seamstresses and gravediggers warns against repairing garments that have been stained by blood, especially those worn during betrayal, execution, or sudden death. It is said that to thread such cloth is to bind the pain, rage, or sorrow of the fallen into the fabric itself, passing it on to whoever next wears it. These cursed garments become vessels of grief, often inducing nightmares, irrational fury, or madness in their wearers. The tale transcends class or station, no noble cloak nor pauper's shroud is safe.

Historical Basis

The roots of this belief can be traced to the aftermath of The Great Schism, when garments, weapons, and banners were salvaged from battlefields to clothe the destitute. Reports of those wearing reclaimed cloaks succumbing to violent hallucinations, spectral whispers, or homicidal impulses gave rise to the tale. Particularly in areas near ruined forts or scorched villages, the warning took hold quickly among survivors who sought to bury their grief rather than clothe themselves in it.

Spread

The tale is most commonly observed in southern Everwealth and border settlements, where war left the deepest scars. However, variations of the custom exist in Dwarfshire, Catcher's Rest, and even parts of central Kathar. In Opulence, wealthy families pay extra for “blood-sifting,” a ritual cleansing of garments said to strip them of spiritual residue, though even then, few tailors will risk the work.

Variations & Mutation

In the north, some believe only cloaks worn at the moment of death are cursed. In Gullsperch, the curse is said to lie not in the garment but in the thread, if you stitch with a grieving heart, the garment remembers. A darker version tells of a weaver who unknowingly created an entire line of funeral robes from war-stained cloth, and every person buried in them rose as a Hollow Mourner, silent undead who wander in search of unfinished ends.

Cultural Reception

Though many now view it as simple superstition, older generations still refuse to touch stained garments, and tailors in smaller towns will not keep such cloth in their homes overnight. Among warrior circles, to be buried in one’s bloodied cloak is considered honorable, but to pass it on to the living is seen as an affront to both the dead and fate itself. At funerals, burned cloaks are often offered to the flames alongside rosemary sprigs to ensure peace.

In Literature

The tale inspired the infamous poem “Ash-Seam Bride”, in which a mourning woman fashions her wedding veil from her lover’s fallen uniform, only to doom her family to madness and stillbirths. It has been reinterpreted in plays, ballads, and tavern folklore as both romantic tragedy and grim warning.

In Art

Visual depictions often show thread as red serpents coiling through fabric, or cloaks stitched into shadowed figures with hollow eyes. In Catcher's Rest, a stone relief known as The Seam of Sorrows depicts a row of figures passing a cloak from one to another, each face more distorted than the last.

Interactions with Daily Life:

• Tailors will often burn bloodied garments on sight, no matter their make or origin.

• Soldiers may leave a bloodied piece of their cloak behind before battle, believing it spares their fate from being sewn into it.

• Widows often bury their spouse’s cloak intact, untouched, as an act of respect and spiritual closure.

• Superstitious travelers burn found garments on the road rather than claim them, even in the cold.

• A traveling merchant once tried selling reclaimed cloaks from a battlefield. By dawn, his tent was torn to shreds and he was found drowned in his own washbasin.

Date of First Recording

The earliest written account appears in a gravedigger’s journal dated to 12 CA (post-Schism), found in the ruins of Blackhook Fort. It describes a tailor who “stitched the death right back in,” followed by strange deaths in the village within the week.

Archetypes of Everwealthy Myth:
The Veiled Crone.

• A keeper of forbidden knowledge who dwells at the crossroads of fate, offering wisdom at a price.

• Harbinger of Consequence: The tale serves as a caution against tampering with remnants of tragedy, warning that not all things are meant to be made whole.

• Guardian of the Threshold: The belief underscores a boundary between life and death, between peace and unrest, mending becomes an act of spiritual trespass.

• Embodiment of Grief: The cloak, like the Crone, carries sorrow forward, reminding the living that some wounds are not theirs to tend.