The Remnants: Abyssal Shadows of Luminarch Haven

The Remnants: Abyssal Shadows of Luminarch Haven (Contains Spoilers)

The Remnants are lingering abyssal entities that were never fully purged when Fontaine and his allies cleansed the demiplane of Zarkuth’s rule. They are shadows of what once was, feeding on fear, doubt, and the subtle fractures in the demiplane’s reality.

The Remnants: Castes of Forgotten Darkness

Though all Remnants are echoes of Zarkuth’s fragmented essence, they manifest in different forms based on the emotions, fears, and memories they feed upon. Each caste has a unique function and presence within the Hollow—and all are equally dangerous in their own way.

The Mourners

“They do not scream. They weep for what never was.”

Role: Watchers, omen-givers, despair-inducers.
Appearance: Wispy, cloaked silhouettes with veils of shadow that trail like smoke. Their forms flicker in and out of focus, and they often hover just above the ground, silent and still.
Behavior:
Do not speak.
Emerge during moments of emotional loss, grief, or memory collapse.
They are drawn to dying creatures, fading souls, and places of great historical trauma.
Abilities:
Aura of Despair – Creatures within 15 feet must succeed on a Wisdom save or have disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks for 1 minute.
Fading Gaze – Locking eyes with a Mourner forces a creature to relive its worst memory (psychic damage + temporary Stunned).
Echo Walk – Can teleport between shadows of grief, especially where someone has died or mourned.
Tactics: Rarely attack. They weaken parties emotionally, creating openings for other Remnants.

The Blighted

“What was twisted cannot be untwisted. It only breaks further.”

Role: Berserkers, corrupted echoes, chaos engines.
Appearance: Hulking, malformed Remnants composed of shattered armor, bone, and shadow. Their limbs are asymmetrical and unstable, constantly shifting.
Behavior:
Fueled by rage and destruction.
Manifest during heightened conflict, war memories, or hatred.
Often appear during emotional outbursts or when someone gives in to violent urges.
Abilities:
Rending Claws – Slashing force damage that also temporarily disrupts magic (causing the next spell cast to misfire).
Abyssal Scream – Once per short rest, releases a cone of psychic force that knocks creatures prone.
Unstable Form – When slain, the Blighted explodes, forcing nearby creatures to make a Dex save or take necrotic damage.
Tactics: Engage immediately, often targeting the strongest opponent. They’re feral and relentless, but not mindless.

The Whispersworn

“They speak with your voice. They wear your thoughts.”

Role: Infiltrators, manipulators, parasite spirits.
Appearance: Vague humanoid shadows with slender limbs and eye-like voids across their surface. When bonded to a host, they appear as shadows just behind the person, only visible in reflections or dreams.
Behavior:
They attach to mortals, feeding slowly on thoughts, fears, and memories.
Often go unnoticed until it’s too late—the host may act strangely, forget things, or experience mood swings.
Abilities:
Whisper Infiltration – Can possess a humanoid host over time, beginning with mild influence and escalating to full control.
False Memory Implant – Can replace a memory with a false one. (Only revealed through magic like Greater Restoration or intense investigation.)
Mirror Echo – Can appear and act through reflections, shadowy surfaces, or dreams, even when physically distant.
Tactics: Avoid direct conflict. Instead, they sow distrust, sabotage plans, and turn allies against one another. A group unaware of their presence may never suspect a party member is being manipulated.

Remnant Evolution

If a Remnant absorbs enough emotional energy, it may evolve into a higher-tier form:
A Mourner may become a Wailborne Oracle, capable of triggering legendary despair.
A Blighted may form a Fusion Echo, made from multiple distorted spirits.
A Whispersworn may fully overwrite a host, creating a Hollow Vessel (an NPC or PC no longer themselves).

Where Do the Remnants Dwell? (Their Hidden Sanctuaries in the Abyssal Hollow)

The Remnants exist in places where the Abyssal taint was never fully erased, where reality is still unstable and echoes of the past linger.

1. The Rift Cradle (The Sealed Scar of the Abyss)

This massive, cracked monolith was once a direct portal to the Abyss, now bound by ancient arcane seals left by Fontaine.
Though mostly dormant, it leaks whispers and energy, allowing the Remnants to influence those who stray too close.
The seals are weakening slowly, not through brute force, but through belief—the more people fear or remember the Abyss, the more power the Remnants regain.

2. The Void-Echo Caverns (Where Time and Thought Break Apart)

A network of tunnels deep within the Hollow, where the walls shimmer with phantom memories from the demiplane’s Abyssal past.
Time does not flow correctly here—shadows move on their own, voices speak from events long past, and those who enter may find themselves lost in moments that never existed.
The Remnants exist naturally in these echoes, able to manifest through fragmented emotions, regrets, and forgotten fears.

3. The Wailing Reliquary (A Cathedral of Forgotten Worship)

Once a place of devotion to an erased deity, its name long lost, but now it has been twisted into a vessel of Abyssal remembrance.
The air is thick with whispered prayers that no one remembers speaking.
Statues of forgotten figures shift when unobserved, their faces changing to match the fears of those who enter.
The Remnants have begun nesting here, tethering themselves to long-forgotten divine energy, warping it into something unholy.

Abilities of the Remnants (How Do They Influence the World?)

The Remnants cannot interact with the material world directly—at least, not yet. Instead, they rely on subtle manipulations, deception, and corruption to weave their influence back into reality.

Core Abilities

Whispers of Doubt – They seed false memories and paranoia, making victims believe things that never happened. (Like the Goblins thinking Fontaine was controlling them.)
Shadow Puppetry – They cannot fully possess people but can briefly hijack emotions, causing irrational fear, anger, or obsession before vanishing again.
Reality Distortion – They alter written texts, spoken words, and memories, making records of the past unreliable. A professor might recall events differently each time.
Manifestation Through Belief – The more people acknowledge them, the stronger they become. If someone fears them, believes in them, or speaks their name, they gain influence over that person.
Dream Infiltration – The Remnants slip into dreams, whispering half-truths and horrors, convincing their targets to act on impulses they believe to be their own.

How Are They Gaining Power? (Why Are They Emerging Now?)

For centuries, the Remnants were weak and fragmented, but recent changes in the demiplane have begun to awaken them:

1. People Are Starting to Remember

The demiplane’s newer generations never knew the Abyssal past—but some scholars, cultists, and accident-prone students have begun rediscovering traces of it.
Every mention, every record, every fear gives the Remnants a foothold in reality.

2. Fontaine’s Overuse of Magic

Fontaine’s constant experimental magic (Arcane Rush fields, the Proving Trials, and research) strains the fabric of the demiplane.
Reality is thinning. The Hollow’s deepest places are more active than ever before.

3. The Ashen Veil Cult (Unwitting Servants of the Remnants)

The Ashen Veil, a cult that worships Zarkuth, unknowingly feeds the Remnants power by calling upon the Abyss.
They think they are summoning Zarkuth back—but they may just be giving the Remnants the power to act freely once more.

What Is Their Final Goal? (The Endgame of the Remnants)

The Remnants do not want a simple return to Abyssal rule. They want something worse:

The Reformation of Reality

The Remnants do not want to “return” the demiplane to the Abyss. They want to reshape it into something new, something twisted.
They seek to merge the dream-state of their existence with the waking world, rewriting Luminarch Haven into a shifting, unreal nightmare where past, present, and future collapse into chaos.

The Devouring of Fontaine

Fontaine, as the demiplane’s anchor, is their greatest enemy. They cannot touch him directly—his willpower is too strong—but they can erode his control over the realm.
Plan: Slowly undermine him by influencing his students, faculty, and even the environment, making him doubt his own stability.

What Do People Know vs. The Truth?

The Awakening of Zarkuth? (The Great Lie)

What People Believe:
Zarkuth the Unmaker was slain, destroyed, erased when Fontaine took the demiplane.
The Truth:
Zarkuth is not dead.
He is imprisoned, fragmented, and dreaming—locked within the Rift Cradle.
The Remnants are NOT his servants—they are his broken pieces.
If they grow strong enough, they could reunite into a being of terrible power… but they might also become something entirely new.

The Remnants: Abyssal Shadows of Luminarch Haven