The Beginning

The Malevolent

The malevolent entity is a primordial force of darkness and chaos, tied to the corruption of the Gloomwood Forest. Once imprisoned by the ancient spirits that ruled the region, it cursed the forest and its guardians with its dying breath, ensuring their eventual destruction and its return.

• Nature: A disembodied force, feeding on fear, despair, and corruption, it seeks to dominate the forest and all who dwell within it.
• Influence: The entity manipulates dreams and emotions, whispers to the weak-minded, and twists flora and fauna into grotesque forms.
• Corruption of Isolde: One of the witches, Isolde, has been subtly influenced by the entity, making her a key agent in spreading its power.
• Goals: To fully manifest by corrupting the forest's heart and extinguishing the remaining power of the elder spirits.
• Powers: It induces nightmares, corrupts environments, and empowers servants like the Dark Riders to act as its enforcers.
• Weaknesses: The entity remains partially bound, relying on intermediaries. Rituals or artifacts tied to the elder spirits can disrupt its influence.

The Ancient History of the Malevolent Entity: The Devourer

Origins

In the distant, unrecorded past, before the rise of mortals, the Devourer existed as a shadow on the edge of creation—a primal force born from the void between light and dark. It was not a god but something older, a nameless hunger that consumed without end. Its true form was unknowable, but its presence was marked by whispers in the silence, flickers in the dark, and the withering of all it touched.

The ancient spirits of the Gloomwood, then at the height of their power, were among the few entities capable of resisting its influence. These spirits maintained the balance of life and death, light and shadow, and stood as guardians against forces that threatened their domain. But even they could not destroy the Devourer; they could only bind it.

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The Names of Fear

Over the ages, the Devourer gained many names among those who glimpsed its terrible power:

• The Bringer of Silence: Where it passed, life ceased. Birds fell silent, leaves stopped rustling, and even the air seemed to hold its breath.
• The Thing Waiting in the Dark: In the deepest shadows, its presence lingered, a lurking fear that gnawed at the mind.
• The One Outside: It was always described as beyond—beyond understanding, beyond the natural order, beyond the safety of what is known.
• The Devourer: Its hunger was insatiable, not for flesh, but for the essence of life itself.

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The Crimson Roses

• Wherever the Devourer’s presence seeped into the physical world, carmine-red roses bloomed. These roses were unnaturally large, their petals soft as velvet but edged with thorns as sharp as knives.
• Their scent was sweet yet sickly, carrying an undertone of decay that clung to the air like a ghost. The fragrance was said to lure prey closer, dulling their senses and filling them with a false sense of calm.
• These roses were not mere plants; they were extensions of the Devourer’s will. Their roots burrowed deep into the earth, sapping the lifeblood of the land and leaving it barren.

Symbolism of the Roses:

• The roses became a harbinger of death and corruption, marking places where the Devourer had gained a foothold.
• Legends speak of the roses blooming near the bodies of those who died under the Devourer’s influence, feeding on their lifeblood and growing larger with every soul consumed.

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Connection to Lifeblood

• The Devourer’s hunger was for lifeblood, not as a physical substance, but as the very essence of existence—the vitality and spark that sustains life.
• When it consumed, it did not simply kill; it erased. Those it touched were drained of their vitality, their bodies left hollow, their spirits torn away into the void.
• Blood sacrifices were sometimes used to appease or bind it, but these rituals carried a terrible cost, often leaving the land and participants cursed.

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The War of Binding

• Eons ago, the Devourer encroached upon the Gloomwood, drawn by the vibrant life force of the ancient spirits who ruled there. The spirits waged a desperate war to repel it, a conflict that scarred the forest forever.
• Unable to destroy the Devourer, the spirits devised a ritual to imprison it. They wove their own essence into the fabric of the forest, binding the Devourer beneath its roots and sealing it away from the material world.
• This binding came at a cost: the spirits weakened over the millennia, their power dwindling as the Devourer’s curse gnawed at the edges of their prison. The forest itself bore the scars of this struggle, with patches of corruption and decay spreading as the Devourer’s influence seeped through.

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Whispers of Its Return

1. The Curse:
2. As the spirits waned, the Devourer’s whispers began to creep into the dreams of those in the forest, luring the weak-willed and the ambitious.
3. These whispers promised power, immortality, and freedom, but always at the cost of lifeblood and servitude.
4. The Roses’ Return:
5. Carmine-red roses began to bloom again in the dark corners of the forest. Villagers who ventured too close claimed to hear faint whispers and see movement in the shadows.
6. Some believed the roses could grant power or knowledge, leading to tragic tales of those who plucked them and were consumed.

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The Devourer Today

• Though still bound, the Devourer’s influence grows stronger as the balance of the forest is disrupted. Its whispers grow louder, its roses bloom more frequently, and the corruption spreads.
• The Devourer’s ultimate goal is to shatter its prison and fully manifest, consuming the forest, the village, and eventually, the world itself.

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Legends and Rumors

1. The Binding Tree:
2. Deep in the heart of the forest, an ancient, gnarled tree is said to be the anchor of the Devourer’s prison. Its roots are wrapped in carmine roses, and its bark seeps black sap.
3. Some believe destroying the tree will free the forest; others claim it will unleash the Devourer entirely.
4. The Ritual of Red Thorns:
5. An ancient ritual, long forgotten by most, is said to be the key to either strengthening the Devourer’s prison or breaking it entirely. It requires the lifeblood of a willing sacrifice and a rose plucked from the Devourer’s domain.
6. The Devourer’s Herald:
7. Legends speak of a chosen servant, marked by the roses, who will herald the Devourer’s return. This figure is said to wield great power but is doomed to be consumed once the Devourer fully manifests.

Legends Tied to the Roses

The Wailing Grove

• A grove deep in the Gloomwood is said to be filled with the carmine roses, their thorny stems climbing like vines over the bones of those who failed to escape.
• Locals speak of hearing faint, mournful cries among the roses at night—said to be the voices of those consumed by the Devourer.
• Legend holds that plucking a rose from this grove curses the individual to see the faces of those they have wronged, driving them to madness.

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The Rose-Guardian

• In some tales, the largest of the carmine roses is said to house the spirit of a guardian—a once-mighty spirit corrupted by the Devourer.
• This guardian, often depicted as a humanoid figure entwined with thorned vines, defends the roses with unmatched ferocity.
• Defeating the guardian is said to yield a single, uncorrupted bloom capable of restoring balance to a blighted area, though no one has ever returned to confirm the tale.

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The Rose of Remembrance

• An ancient story tells of a grieving mother who sought to undo the Devourer’s influence over her child, taken into its domain. She plucked a carmine rose and carried it as she wandered the forest, her lifeblood dripping into the soil.
• By sacrificing herself beneath the Binding Tree, she created a single white rose that bloomed amid the carmine ones. This rose was said to have power over the Devourer, though its location remains unknown.
• Some believe the white rose blooms once every hundred years, its petals glowing faintly under moonlight.

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The Rose-Bound

• Certain individuals marked by the carmine roses—those who survive their venom or make a pact with the Devourer—are known as the Rose-Bound.
• These figures bear thorn-like scars on their skin and are said to have unnatural resilience and power. However, they are forever tethered to the Devourer, their lifeblood slowly draining as the roses feed on them.
• Villagers fear the Rose-Bound, believing them to be harbingers of death and decay.