Veilguard
The Veilguard of the Badlands
Origin: Darraknoir (ritual),
Badlands (ritual)
Lifespan: 400 years on average, can live upwards of 600 years
Veilguard over 200 years old will need permission from the Lore Team
Pros:
Have use of a soul-bound katana
Magic: Fire
Magic: Ice
Magic: Movement restriction
Cons:
Sensitivity to Sulphur as it destabilizes their magic
Eventually their relic-shard will kill them
Origins
Since their beginning, what was know as The Radicals ruled and governed the way Veilguard were: brutal and merciless, specialized and indiscriminate. They killed and maimed all that strayed from humanity’s pure and feeble path. However they themselves took a path to become monstrous, hypocrites to their own oath. They ruled as specialized militia back then, ruling with an iron fist and steely resolve from Rotheim Old, a massive fortress in Darraknoir.
Every few cycles of the twin moons, Elders of the Radicals would descend into villages and towns of the Veiled waste, taking children as payment from the townspeople in order to create new protectors of the realm. These children would become the next generation of the Guard.
In their youth, they were trained in the art of the sword after having a “relic-shard” embedded in their spines. These relic-shards given time to grow and fuse with their body and spirit as they are trained. They were taught how to defend themselves from the monsters of Darraknoir, and what the Radicals deemed monsters. During their downtime it became common practice for these students to challenge each other in duels, often leaving early scars so that they could begin to mimic their teachers. These brutal training regimen left children conditioned and ready to take on whatever dangers awaited them outside the walls of the fortress.
By age eleven, each neophyte underwent the Veilskin Crucible, an ordeal not of potions, but of spiritual excision. A Veilguard initiate must face the Veil Echo, a reflection of their worst self, a spectre pulled from the unseen world beyond the mortal veil. To overcome it is to shed their former humanity and merge fully with the relic-shard embedded in their spine. This process is known to break most. With only one in ten survive the merging, their bodies are altered by the shard’s alien design. These survivors become Veilguard in truth: fast, precise, emotionally blunted, and able to glimpse into the Veiled Wastes.
In the Badlands, newer orders of Veilguard have abandoned the old bindings. There, recruitment is consensual, often drawn from battle-hardened volunteers or cursed outcasts seeking redemption. While a few fringe Radicals still whisper about returning to the old ways, most in the Riftlands regard them as dangerous relics. A growing number of Badlands Veilguard even fight alongside non-humans, spirit-bound, wraith-touched, forming uneasy alliances in the face of far greater horrors that fester beneath the sunless sands.
The revolt and downfall
Though often mistaken for foreign swords, the weapons of the Veilguard, long, slightly curved blades resembling katanas, are not forged of steel, nor of any earthly ore. Each is born from a fragment of the same ancient shard: a relic of the Rift, split long ago and distributed among generations of Veilguard in sacred ceremony.
These shard-blades are not crafted, but grown and shaped during the Veilskin Crucible, a rite wherein the initiate is bound to their personal shard through trial, reflection, and suffering. Once the bond is forged, the shard is drawn out of their soul in physical form, becoming their blade. Its shape echoes their spirit. Its edge reflects their truth.
The blade is quenched not in fire, but in the essence of the Veil, then tempered in the bearer’s blood, anchoring it fully to their body and mind. The bond is not magical, it is ontological: the blade and the bearer are the same being, two halves of a singular presence.
No other may wield the blade. Should another try, the weapon reacts violently, searing the flesh, unmaking tissue and thought alike. It will only allow itself to be touched by the one soul it knows.
When a Veilguard falls, whether to blade, beast, or the Crucible's failure, the blade remains with them. The shard, seeking to reunite with its vessel, buries itself within their bones, fusing once more with the flesh it knew. These fallen Veilguard are never cremated nor laid in tombs. They are entombed by the Veil itself, the blade and bearer finally made whole again in death.
Only once in history has a blade ever refused reunion—an event marked in both Radical and Tolerant histories as a dire omen.
Traits
Veilguard are, at their very core, human and only human. They are a caste of beings that embraced the changes that ritual and mutagens would bestow upon them, mutating themselves so that they would be able to battle the monsters and the forces of darkness that they see as a blight upon the lands and an evil that requires that need to be cleansed.
These mutations give them a better constitution than your average human. They also possess the ability to heal wounds and injury much better and tend to be immune to many more minor ailments, unless they have been exposed to high amounts of sulfur. They also possess the ability to use magic through the way of sigils that they cast. They also have an extended lifespan that can allow them to live between five hundred and six hundred years.
Weaknesses
Exposure to sulfur will eventually be their end, destabilizing their Relic-shard and causing a painful and quick end, while this does not happen until much later in their extended lives. Additionally exposure to high amounts of sulfur, such as that in gunpowder and some bullets, can cause them weakness, fatigue, and a loss of their accelerated healing, causing them to heal at the same rate as a normal human.
Relic-shards can only work correctly on humans and if attempted on any other caste, they will find themselves either dead or extremely injured as the magic reacts poorly to the spirit of any other caste.
If a relic-shard is removed from a Veilguard’s spine they would not fully recover. Some are left paralyzed as their spine is severely damaged, having been intertwined with their body and spirit. There are tales of those that have fully abandoned the Veilguard Order and removed their relic-shard though these tales are sometimes considered rumor or hear-say to those that wish to go back to the life they had before. Many Veilguard that leave the order instead never call out their soul-sword and attempt to avoid magic at all costs, trying to blend back in with human society.
More Information
The Veilguard’s Sword
Although not actually a katana, the Veilguard use a sword that looks very similar to the katana that can be found beyond the Badlands. These swords are made from minerals only found within the mountains of Darraknoir, the mines of which as a closely guarded secret known only to the most trusted of Veilguard. The blades themselves are forged over the hottest flames for one-hundred days and nights, then quenched in a mixture of special waters, tempered with the wielder’s own blood to forge a bond stronger in nature than magic itself.
These blades are ever wielded by a single Veilguard. Their trusted weapon forever at their side as they wage war upon those they see as abominations and a danger to humankind. A Veilguard can never be parted from their sword; the sword would burn the flesh off of any that tried. After the Veilguard has died in battle or otherwise been consumed by the mutagen that gives them their strength, the blade is buried with them where it becomes fused with their very bones.
Magical Proclivity
While all Veilguard have access to elemental magics because of their mutagen, there are a small few that dive deeper into magic to help bolster their abilities further. Typically favoring elemental magic, there are those that study more defensive and offensive spells to give them greater power when fighting their enemies. It is very rare to see anyone in the Veilguard dive deeper into other magics as it is seen as a disrespect to their oath and the ritual they took to become Veilguard.
Relic-shards
In order to take on the Veilskin Crucible, a Relic-shard must be placed into the base of an
neophyte’s (one wishing to become Veilguard) spine. These take time to mature and are only given out by elders within the Veilguard. Not any Veilguard can create a Relic-shard, as it requires great skill in rift manipulation and magic. These relic-shards are crafted by pulling in void energy from active rifts using a piece of sulfur that has been magically infused and covered in very specific, and precise, runes. If it is not done correctly, the recipient of the relic-shard will be killed almost instantly.
The downfall of the relic-shard is its destabilization when it encounters other highly sulfuric components, like bullets or gunpowder. This causes fatigue, and weakness in a Veilguard for a period of time and in extreme cases an inability to connect with their magic or their soul-sword.
Veilguard that found themselves across the Rift in the Badlands found themselves with a new form of weapon: guns. While proving useful against monsters, creatures, and shifters alike, it is not uncommon to see a veilguard with heavy hand wrappings or masks in order to prevent exposure to gunpowder on their skin.
While some Veilguard sport accelerated healing, when it comes to gunshot wounds, they may heal at a slower rate, similar to humans. Luckily, most have been trained in the art of melee weapons and prefer their soul sword when in battle against the creatures of the rift.
While many Veilguard live long past the expectations of a normal human, the relic-shard in their spines will eventually be their end. After destabilizing for too long with unavoidable contact with sulphur in foods and the natural world, they face a violent and painful end as it attacks their nervous system, major origins, and eventually (and quickly) die.
Radicals and Tolerants
Veilguards take two very extreme varieties. These come in the form of the Radicals and the Tolerants.
Radicals follow the old ways: anything that is not Human is an enemy to be purged. While hypocrites with their own bodies changed from the Veilskin Crucible, Radicals rarely work with any other caste but that of humans. They stick to the old ways and turn up their noses at the monsters that are allowed to walk the streets. While all Veilguard focus on the Rift and the monsters that pour from it, Radicals will not bat an eye to take on a known Vampire or werewolf pack if they present themselves. Knowing they are unwelcome in some communities in the Badlands, Veilguard who choose to follow the path of Radicals know that they will be viewed as the enemy but they believe their path most righteous.
To those that leave the Veilguard for other ventures, they are looked at by Radicales as betrayers to their order in the highest regard. Radicals are known to hunt those that leave and attempt to remove their relic-shard so they no longer have access to their magical blade or abilities.
Tolerants are here to help: focusing less on those changed by curses or magic, Tolerants are here to help all in the Badlands from the monsters that pour from rifts or those changed by chaos that have lost control and attack the innocent. Tolerants work with people of all castes, while perhaps a little hesitant of Vampires, they have no fears of werewolves or saurians. That is, unless they lose control or choose to become the monster that Radicals believe they are. A Tolerant has no hesitation in fighting for the innocent and defending their home.
To those that leave the Veilguard for other ventures, they are not looked down upon by Tolerants. Everyone's path lead different direction, so as long as they continue on the path to helping, and not hurting, a Tolerant may be curious of someone who has left, but would never take away what they so rightfully earned.
Before you decide…
Should you choose to become Veilguard, please note this is the only caste that automatically comes with a “government job”. Veilguard can answer calls across the Badlands for those that /callblades. While this is a mostly lawless land, Veilguard can sometimes be viewed as antagonists, especially those that choose to take the Radical path.
Additionally, Veilguard cannot create another Veilguard without special approval from the Lore team.
We ask that you carefully review all of the above lore and information about Veilguard before choosing this caste. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to open a ticket with our Lore Team!