Warlocks

To become a Warlock is to tie irrevocably to a greater entity that is known broadly as a Patron, this is the requirement. As to what a Patron is can vary, but its requirement is a sufficiently powerful and often otherworldly entity that is willing to break off a small portion of itself and give it to a mortal. The majority of the time, Patrons are otherworldly, coming from the external planes of reality outside of the World, more often coming from the distant stars where reality is based on the morality and conceptual as opposed to the base stability of the Material. As such, anyone looking to become a warlock is putting themselves in contact with their prospective Patron, and becoming noticed is a hazardous proposition to begin with, as often such forces can vaporize the soul by casual accident. If the warlock still wishes to capture a sliver of their Patron's power, with only marked exceptions, the two parties will enter a Pact, where the warlock must abide by the whims of their Patron. It is from the Patron and the power of the Pact that a warlock's tap into the arcanum is formed, and warlocks walk a hazardous line that straying from the Pact and their Patron's favor can lead to a very swift end.
Due to the danger inherent in becoming a warlock, with a variety of other options to tapping into the magics of the World, it must be only the most truly insane who become warlocks. It must be recalled that only the smallest minority of people gain any sort of power, and even those that are able to become clerics and wizards rarely scale past surface level power. If the overwhelming majority are powerless against forces that wander the World that are infinitely stronger, such as giants, dragons, and the countless horrible beasts, taking on a Pact for a chance at some modicum of influence over the World to protect themselves and those around them, it becomes a much easier sell. Even those that have successfully grasped some of the arcanum before, wizards, bards, eldritch knights, may swear themselves to a Pact to grasp at greater power, pushing past the natural limits they were already bestowed.
As a rule, Warlocks do not form large groups, and the nature of their gambit for power puts them often at odds with contemporary organizations. As such, warlocks work as individuals, with the nature of their work between themselves and their Patron. Warlocks thus are often wanderers, adventurers who bring about the change they want to see through the might of their Patron. It is imperative to remember that a warlock's power comes from and is limited by the Pact, parallel to how a Paladin is defined by their Oath.
The most common entities that become warlock Patrons are as follows:
Archfey. As parallel reflections of the World and the place where all creature's minds go when they dream, The Twilight and Dark Dreams are the home of creatures that are molded by the stuff of imagination, curious and whimsy. To spend enough time within the Dreamings to form a connection with a sufficiently powerful fairie is to have lost a certain amount of their connection with the waking world. The terms of the Pact one forms with an Archfey are often disconnected from the reality as the way they think the World works and how it actually does aren't always in tandem, and due to the absurd chaos of these Patrons, warlocks of this Pact often experience whiplash of their Patron applauding their warlock's work only to admonish them the next day as their whims shift once more. The only thing that can please an Archfey without fail is the propagation of their absurdist reality leaking into the real world, be it the chaotic whimsy of a light fey, or the bleak melancholy of a dark fey.
Celestial. There are creatures within the Great Sphere that are forces of elemental goodness. These beings are of light, hope, kindness, charity, and love. To serve the powers of the Upper Planes isn't an uncommon path, with heroic Paladins and Clerics of Light and Life, but to form a warlock's Pact with these entities is uniquely different. Such a warlock has reached out and touched the immeasurably brilliant light of Heaven and been so moved by it they will commit their whole soul to its furthering. Such warlocks bring holy vengeance against abominations, undead, fiends and the creatures that bring pain and suffering upon the World. They also bring guiding light and soothing healing to the innocent and downtrodden. Often this warlock is struck by a melancholy, desiring nothing more than to go to the blissful heavenly paradise forever, but the tenants of their Pact drive them forward to bring goodness into the world before they depart.
Dragon Emperor. In the time before the Mystic Age began, the World was dominated by primordial elements, which took the form of the great and mighty everlasting Dragons. The mightiest of the dragons were known only as the Dragon Emperors, their domains consisting of continents, their bodies mountain ranges. The time of their uncontested rule eventually ended, and the Gods formed the Great Balance, making the World into a structured balance of all aspects of reality together in harmony. The dragons still remain to this day, immortal and likely the most powerful force in the World still, though their dominance has millennia ago past. Their power still draws the desire of mortals, and warlocks may form a Pact with the natural residual power that was left behind by the Dragon Emperors themselves, often bestowed by a very much alive ancient dragon. As such, the terms of the Pact often involve the furthering of a particular breed of dragon's goals, such as the wrath and ruin of a red dragon, or the corruptive manipulation of a green dragon.
Fathomless. A warlock of the Fathomless is tied to the inexorable depths of the oceans, or to the water moon Merida. It is less the waters themselves and more the immense unknowable creatures that hold the deepest depths as their domains, the blackness of the trench drawing the warlock's soul ever down. These warlocks may also harbor a connection with the tempests, the tenets of their Pact pushing them to further the ruination of the surface world, washing away all that is both innocent and corrupt into the fathomless waters. There are many powerful sea creatures that may bestow their power upon a warlock, with a famous story being bound to such a being in exchange for being saved from drowning in a shipwreck. There are most benevolent creatures and gods of the deep however, and their tenets may have the warlock as a warrior against the creatures of the abyss peering up at the light surface with many avaricious eyes.
Fiend. This is the most stereotyped of the warlock pacts, and the most common as making a Pact with a fiend is in the public consciousness, with deals with the devil showing up in all folklore as a cautionary tale. This hasn't stopped numerous unfortunate souls from reaching out to the darker powers for the power to turn the tide of their lot in life. While the most popular option takes the souls to the Hells and the binding law of devils, some are foolish enough to reach into the chaotic evil of the demons, most often out of vengeful rage to bring ruin upon those that wronged them. Regardless of the intentions by the warlock, making a Pact with a fiend does entail a tragic end, since the Patron is by definition destructive and corrupting Evil. Furthering the goals of a fiend as such is frowned upon in society, and thus those that forge this Pact will bring the power of damnation upon all those the Patron desires.
Genie. Genies are the highest echelon of elementals, and form societies that have set hierarchies. At the top of this hierarchy is the nobility, the most powerful of all genie kind who are the lords of their respective elemental realm. The four elemental planes form the four Elemental Moons that orbit the World, with Char's fire the closest and brightest, followed by Tethys, Merida and Aeronia. The genies are thus in order the efreeti, the dao, the marid, and the djinni. To make a pact with a noble genie is to further the ambitions of these powerful elementals, performing the errands that a genie would need done on the Material World that cannot be accomplished on their respective moon. Warlocks of this particular Pact can also be sneaky usurpers, grasping a handful of elemental power and harnessing it for their own whims, attempting to stay outside of the notice of the noble genie who rules over that power.
Great Old One. This is perhaps the most dangerous of Pacts to strike, as tapping into a Great Old One is striking at a well that is and will never notice the warlock's presence, and as such the Pact is more a usurpation. A warlock going this route will reach out into the darkest well among the infinite abyss of stars and find the eldritch entities beyond time and space and reality. They will grasp at a minute strand of this entity's power, claiming it for themselves and forming a Pact around the maddening influence that contact with this alien brought about. As such those that pursue this Pact are often horribly insane and powerful to begin with to even be aware of the blasphemy they are performing. With the powers they find, warlocks of the Great Old One seek to inflict madness and misery upon the World.
Hexblade. This is the least hazardous of the warlock Pacts, and is often formed by already powerful warriors to push their skill as a combatant into greater heights. The Pact formed is a tangling of the Arcanum itself, grasping the warlock's soul and tying it together with their mystic weapon acting as an anchor. Since its often the warlock's own soul that is setting the terms of the Pact, adhering to it is hardly difficult for a Hexblade. This becomes more complicated when the weapon upon which the Hexblade sets its Pact with is already intelligent, and as such the warrior will be adhering to the wishes of the sentient magic item. Famous sentient weapons that Hexblades can take up include Angul, Blackrazor, Dawnbringer, Moonblade, and Whelm, though many more legendary armaments exist. Powerful Hexblades may even pour their being into their mundane weapon in order to achieve a form of immortality by living on within their now sentient magic item.
Undead. Horrors stalk the night, haunting tombs and abandoned homes, preying upon all things of warm life. The undead are cruel mockeries of life, infused with raw Negative Energy that pushes ichorous black blood through shriveled veins. The power of undead is a cloying grasp upon those living, hungry eyes jealously ravening after what they no longer have, life. On the lowest end, there are the hordes of zombies, ghouls, wights and ghosts. However, there are truly powerful undead, deathless monsters that haunt vast stretches of the World in their grim horror for eternity, competing with the most powerful entities, be it the bravest paladin or a terrible dragon. Liches, mummy lords, vampires, even the terrible Nighthaunts are sources of undead might that a warlock may tie a Pact with, drawing a source of necromantic power. Vecna, the Lich God is also a popular Undead Patron. The Pacts that warlocks forge with the undead are the furthering of dread and despair in the World, giving the living a reason to fear the darkness, even if the warlock is still a living mortal itself. At most well-meaning, such a warlock may take this Pact to save their own skin, at worst, from a desire to bring misery to all others around them.


Undying. Warlocks of this pact are the only ones who are part of a greater organization known as the Undying Court. These individuals form Pacts with the forces in the Boneyard, the transitory realm where souls pass on and are judged before being sent to their proper afterlife. These warlocks are formed from the Reborn, and have a task from which they are sent back to the mortal realm to complete. Often, they are tasked with dismantling those that would cheat death, bestowed the powers to resist death themselves until their task is complete and they may return to the Boneyard for further instruction. These warlocks are antithesis to the undead. Often the most powerful undying warlocks work in tandem with revenants loyal to the realm of the dead.