Hollow Mourners

Places of tragedy are common in the world of Varda, with its history reaching back thousands of years. In such places where catastrophic death has occurred, strange entities born from The Weave may be seen. Known as Hollow Mourners, these beings haunt the sites of old battlefields, plague-stricken settlements and sites of natural disasters. With a silent melancholy, they are both a warning and a reminder of the past’s pain.

Appearance and Behaviour

Standing approximately 12 feet tall when standing, a Hollow Mourner is a towering humanoid figure. Their shape distorts and wavers due to a strange, swirling black energy that makes up their form. They typically have a hunched posture and move slowly, accented by their long, gangly limbs. This unsettling appearance is further enhanced by their featureless faces, which only have two glowing orb-like eyes. Lacking any pupils, these pits of brilliant light gaze out as they pierce the darkness. Hollow Mourners also have a mouth, which is seldom seen. This matches their eyes, and when open, a luminous gaping maw is all that is seen.

A Hollow Mourner will be found at a site of mass death, and typically they will be sitting or standing still. The only movement they exude tends to be the swirling magical energies that make up their form. Sometimes a Hollow Mourner will walk a slow pace around their haunting site, their movements deliberate and sorrowful, exuding an aura of grief. Wildlife seems to naturally avoid the sites of a Hollow Mourner, which creates an unnerving silence in the surrounding area.

For the most part, Hollow Mourners seen timid an unthreatening, if not eerie. They are easily disturbed though, with intruders being seen as a threat. In such instances, Hollow Mourners react violently, turning to face the interloper and extending their mouths far wider than looks natural. They will then emit an otherworldly “scream” which is said to have the effect of paralysing people in terror. The scream will continue on, and as it does the entity begins to fade, parts of its form flaking off and evaporating into the air. It remains screaming until it has fully dissipated in this manner.

This is not the end of the Hollow Mourners influence, however, and simply its last corporeal act. The energy exuded from its final scream will seep into the ground around it, awakening any corpses as undead creatures. These tend to be lesser Undead such as Zombies, Ghouls and Skeletons, although other more powerful creatures have been recorded. What a body is reanimated to seems to be mostly based on their state of decomposition, but this an often seem random. Some theorise that it may have something to do with how the individual died or who they were in life. These facts matter little, as the freshly raised dead will claw their way to the surface and immediately attack any living beings nearby.

Signs of Presence

Hollow Mourners are only found at sites of great tragedy, where many have lost their lives. Their appearance seems random at times, and sometimes centuries can pass at a site before they appear. In rare cases, multiple Hollow Mourners can appear at once, although they mostly seem to be unaware of each others presence. Signs to detect a Hollow Mourner at a location to avoid disturbing it are as follows:

• Lack of wildlife and an eerie quiet where one would usually find life
• A faint sense of unease and melancholy, felt even by those unfamiliar with the site’s history
• Residual magical energy, detectable by experienced mages, often tinged with despair
• Swirling mists or shadows that linger unnaturally near the ground

Known Lore (In-World)

Many regions of Varda will seldom see a Hollow Mourner, and they appear more common in places of the world where the veil to other Planes of Existence is thin. For these regions, they are seen as spirits from beyond, come back to grieve the tragedies that occurred in the location they haunt. Many stories told to children say that these guardian spirits should remain undisturbed as they mourn the dead.

Attempts to attack or banish Hollow Mourners are always met in the same way – with the entity's signature scream and the creation of the Undead. Weapons seem to find nothing to collide with, and magic is simply absorbed by their ethereal form. All lead to the unleashing of the vengeful undead.

Travellers who encounter a Hollow Mourner are often warned to turn away, avoiding any interaction to ensure their safety. In regions like The Shattered Realm, where these entities are most common, locals have come to accept them as part of the landscape, treating them with quiet reverence and fear.

True Origins

The following is for world-building purposes only – no Character or mortal found within Varda will be privy to such information (although Divine or Otherworldly Beings may be).

The living believe that Hollow Mourners are spirits of the dead, come back to grieve tragedies of the world. This is all folklore, and the truth behind these entities ties directly to the magical energies of The Weave. This Plane of Magic permeates throughout The Material Plane, but most of the time only slightly. In some locations, there is a thinner veil between the Planes, such as within the Shattered Realm after the tragedy that befell Ethessia.

The magical energies in such locations can bleed into the Material Plane and latch on to the emotional and magical residue of mass death. This creates a Hollow Mourner as the forces coalesce and act as an outlet for the accumulated energy and sorrow. Although they can last for quite some times, eventually the Weave will stabilise again, and the Hollow Mourner’s presence will fade away.

Type
Medium Undead
Location
The Shattered Realm
Wherever mass death has happened and the veil to The Weave is thin