Swgrclan 2632 Share Posted April 21, 2016 The Darkhollow & The Yoresigil The Vigil of Mortal Men & The Affliction of Necromancers and Undead In the beginning, Man was blessed with a mark upon his soul known as the Yoresigil. The Yoresigil acted as the monitor of mortal essences and the autonomous dominion over the bodily processing of Lifeforce, the dark quintessence of all life. Referenced as that which “kindles the flame of life”, the Yoresigil essentially exists to keep the flow of Lifeforce in the body in order and prevents the balance of Lifeforce within oneself to become erratic and therefore lead to the deaths of natural Men. Without the Yoresigil, mortalkind would be unable to flourish, for they would bear no means to keep their Lifeforces contained within their bosom. The Yoresigil “Bearer of the Yoresigil, know thy mark shall always keep vigil.” [ The Yoresigil, a soulbound mark that guides Lifeforce through the body. It’s representation of flame suggests relation to the philosophical flame of life, which burns bright and true to signify mortal health and balance.] The meddlings that came with the ages of Man proved to disturb the fabrics of the Yoresigil. With the first coming of the Daemon of Ruin, the world was afflicted with a curse in which all dead were fated to rise again, soulless. This was a result of Iblees’ latent power; an inadvertent blight upon the world, which came to know no master for it continued to rouse the fallen ages after the Fallen One’s imprisonment and epochs beyond. With the coming of this curse came the first case of the Yoresigil’s contortion; as a connection between the body and the soul, it acted as a means for the identity and the inner-machinations to apply to the designs of Lifeforce - to guide it and inspire developments within mortals, allowing all Men to grow unique but as per the nature of their blood. With death, the soul is lost, and without the soul the Yoresigil’s flame is destined to die. But with the rise of soulless, ghoulish undead, the Yoresigil is forced to survive as meagre embers instead of a flame, for in place of a soul lies accursed soul shadows - mimicries of souls which ghouls and spectrals and all mindless arisen dead hold. The purpose of the Yoresigil is contorted, and its light of life dimmed, for all it acts as under these conditions is merely a gateway of Lifeforce into the soul shadow. The soul shadow, the husk of a soul, is said to crave the Lifeforce of corporeal beings to keep them and in some cases sane; and thus the Yoresigil is revitalized for this purpose. Embracing darkness, it is malformed into the Darkhollow. The Darkhollow “Bearer of the Darkhollow, embrace the path thou hold fate to follow.” [ The dimmed Darkhollow, the malformed form of the enflamed Yoresigil. Much like how a soul shadow exists as a fragmented, false imitation of souls that pass from mortal bodies, the Darkhollow is merely a Yoresigil roused from the ashes of death, forced to function once more under gelid, unnatural conditions.] But the Darkhollow is not solely reserved for soulless undead; it’s nature is the same, whether or not the undead retains their spiritual essence, for the process is the same: the Yoresigil dies, and its flame embraces ash. By being awakened, it rouses darkened, and thus becomes shadowed and sullen. Greater, transcendent corporeal undead, or physical, corpse-like undead who bear souls, like Liches, Darkstalkers and the now-passed Wraiths suffer the mark of the Darkhollow; it is the nature of their being to crave Lifeforce. Their souls are warped by undeath, and cannot truly sustain an undying form, thus the Darkhollow demands tributes of Lifeforce. Without Lifeforce, the Darkhollow dims moreso, and the soul cracks and falters, leading to the insanity of transcendents and their possible deaths. Spectral beings, both soulless and soulbearing, are free of the Darkhollow’s curse, and rather are attuned to its nature. With no insatiable body to feed, they are instead unshackled by the Darkhollow’s presence, allowing them indefinite existence after death. The distortion of the Yoresigil is known by some as a great disturbance, while others consider it merely the embracing of darkness; it is something that can exist in both mortals and undead. Necromancy, the eldritch power predating many other forms of magic, is known for its ability to use Lifeforce to rouse the dead and warp Necromancers into sullen beings as a result of its use, but this is merely an allusion to the Darkhollow’s formation. By draining and expending Lifeforce, the natural Yoresigils of mortal Necromancers are twisted and imbalanced, leading to the erratic nature of their life essences. Necromancers constantly struggle to retain a balance within themselves, for by expending Lifeforce it causes a “cork” to release from them; this is a simplistic reference to the nature of the Darkhollow. By using Necromancy, the flame of their Yoresigils dim, and their soul clamors as their bodies yearn for the essences that drift from them. Thus, Necromancers encroach upon a state of being much like the solemn dead that their powers permit the rising of. Even their very beings reflect a relation to the undead - without Lifeforce, their mind and body deteriorates as their Darkhollows draw upon their quintessence in order to keep their form from falling apart. The only difference between living Darkhollow bearers and undead ones is that mortals may succumb to this affliction through death; it quite literally rots them out from within. But masters of Necromancy consider the Darkhollow something to covet, for it both links mortalkind to the undead and allows for their reign over Lifeforce - a power which many occult philosophies proclaim an “innate power of Man alone”. It is not known if the Yoresigil and Darkhollow are directly linked to the manipulation of Lifeforce, whether vaguely or by being its source of power, but there lies a definite connection. For mortals, the Darkhollow is able to be cured. By committing to prolonged practices of self-restraint, meditation and the preservation of Lifeforce within oneself through abandoning the seductive powers of life essence manipulation, the Darkhollow may mend and become kindled once more until the subject’s flame of life is restored from contortion, allowing the Yoresigil to return to its natural form. For corporeal undead, both soulless and soulbearing, the Darkhollow cannot be cured. It is because they are what they are - walking corpses. Long have the practitioners of Necromancy struggled to determine how to discard the deathliness of undeath and allow the undead to embrace the warmth of life without mortal limitations, but the means to do so eludes them. Such a theorem is innately flawed in the first place, for even if an undead returns to some form of natural, enfleshed life, it does not assure the restoration of the Yoresigil; merely that these revitalized undead would retain the shadowed mark upon their soul as a burden and that they would suffer as Necromancers do, having to resort to the powers that allowed the absorption of Lifeforce. Such is the burdensome nature of undeath, but if life is returned once more to them, would that not mean the restoration of their living, enflamed mark is possible? In truth, it is not known if a Yoresigil really needs a soul to exist as it does. The studies of one known as the Ashkeeper Abdiel, whom heralds a gray covenant of sanguine shroud-bearing undead, take after the old meddlings of ancient undead Necromancers known as the Old Lords. These Old Lords sought to devise a means to revitalize soulless undead, and thus bring them back to life - revitalizing their Yoresigils, and thus living eternally without the suffering of the ancient curses. Such a thing has not been devised yet, and the Ashkeeper’s Undead Sodality seeks the possibility of one such method to this day. Only in these days, epochs after the days whence the occult once strived, shall the eldritch nature of the Darkhollow be realized. A new generation of Necromancers and undead shall come to rise, embracing the disparity of their stygian mark. The light of flame is not for them. ~:;:~ I wrote this lore for the purpose of putting an interpretive layer of depth over Necromancy and the undead races that currently exist. A majority of this canon - bar the actual Darkhollows and Yoresigils that to which it is dedicated to - isn’t to be taken literally, as I just want a solid aesthetic to take shape. I guess that means, whether or not this lore is accepted, it’ll be referred to IC anyway, as the knowledge of these two soul marks are based on the knowledge of the ancient occult. 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salvo 1831 Share Posted April 21, 2016 Bearer of the Darksign... 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malaise 1569 Share Posted April 21, 2016 Like it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
𝙻𝚞𝚟 XO 3062 Share Posted April 21, 2016 It's lit. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
youdude 104 Share Posted April 21, 2016 Lord of the souls. Dark craft. Dark lord of the soul craft. Dark souls x Lord of the craft fanfic. +1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swgrclan 2632 Author Share Posted April 22, 2016 Just to clarify, this process already technically exists. I think I have an irreparable condition where Dark Souls terminology automatically weaves into my writing, but if it was unclear, the Darkhollow is why Necromancers and necromantic undead races must gain Lifeforce in order to keep themselves stable. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swgrclan 2632 Author Share Posted May 2, 2016 Accepted. (Will be moved to implemented lore shortly.) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delmodan 851 Share Posted January 3, 2019 Lore has been shelved and moved to the appropriate subforum. If you have questions about why this specific lore has been shelved, please contact me via forum PM or over discord at Flamboyant#8856 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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