Order of the Crimson Shroud

The Order of the Crimson Shroud (Euluska: Kruöru Sartha) was a necromantic, hemomantic cult active in Gildegra/Rakkimar during the mid-200s Collapse Era. They sought the legendary Shroud of the daemon Heinrich, which was foretold to grant its wielder immortality and command over death. They were led by the charismatic twice-lived Malachar Blackthorn.
== History ==
The Order, formed in the 240s C, worshipped the daemon Heinrich 'the Mad Lich'. They all aspired one day to become like him - so powerful that they could free themselves from the petty cycle of life and death and decay, and ascend above the shackles of mortality. They believed they had to raise legions of the dead to form an army and reclaim his Shroud, the only physical remnant he left behind on the world. This veil was worn by him during the Violet Catastrophe in Datria, when over 100,000 people died in one day. His believers thought that the veil had absorbed the souls or essences that day, the single largest loss of life in history between two sunrises to that point. Whilst most interpretations of Heinrich's veil were of it being a Violet Veil discoloured by the purple chemicals in the air that day, the Order and some others saw it more as a Crimson Shroud, soaked in the blood of the fallen. They knew it was the only remnant of his glory left on the world, and legends said he built an intricate mausoleum somewhere in Rakkimar where he ascended to the heavens. As such, they searched Gildegra for places the tomb could be. In 245, they erroneously identified that it probably lay beneath the Essu village of Ushtirn. They attacked and burned down the town, but incurred heavy losses from the brave defenders' last stand. A young local Essu man named Moredred killed Malachar, though Moredred suffered a nasty injury to his foot. The cult went into hiding for eight long years, until in the near year of 253 they resurged again, their priests having raised Malachar from the dead. 
=== Resurgence ===
They began to target Solvenger, this time sure the Shroud lay thereunder. They kidnapped and zombified local travellers (including Seela's trappers) and prepared rituals at Inuksuk Point in Qanoyaq Sound, but were soon noticed by the whaler Kitchi who rapidly alerted Moredred and the Wildecards. There, the Wildecards killed the ritualist warrior Xorthu, and wounded the necromancer Esthric. The Wildecards returned to Solvenger to find that Sedna had taken over the Solvenger Barracks, with the cult concluding that the Shroud lay in the caverns beneath the Barracks. They killed Sedna's possessed soldiers and cultists, and exorcised her. The night after, they prepared Blackthorn Fort for the incoming siege they had learnt of. Erik of the group sold his soul to the Devil to plead for success in the defence of the town. With this luck, Nael rem Arvus, (whose mentor was once a high-ranking member of the cult but became an apostate) dug down and opened the vault of Heinrich's tomb. Within, he had to drown his best friend Erik, and sacrifice his hand, but he acquired the Shroud, and with it, mastery over death. The cult attacked in the early hours of the next morning, delayed by Yarak's machinations and hindered by a blizzard that Saint Esmerelda the Fair called down at Valen's behest. With the help of legions of the undead, necromantic knights, and a Cacophone mass daemon, they attacked. After a long and bloody siege and decisive battle involving Yarak's tongues of flame destroying many of their legions, Malachar and all the cult were struck down by the defenders. However, Malachar's body was turned to ash as the Devil sent his Seventh Wing to try to steal the Shroud, in vain. With the Siege of Solvenger over, the cult was stamped out and no more. Nael rem Arvus carried the object of their desire, and they languished in Hell.
== Other Information ==
The Order practiced necromancy, hemomancy, maniaemancy and umbromancy - the magic studies of undeath, blood, madness, and shadow, respectively. Some of their members had even died and been brought back again, a twisted facsimile of life.
The cult were Rakki-speaking (Rakki was the lingua franca of the area), but members might be drawn from the multitude of ethnic groups in West and East Rakkimar, as well as the northern Danderillon. (This includes the long list of: Owakara, Kusk, Houc, Volov, Elk, Yupisuut; Vreigardt, Yuren, Essuit, Brackian; Rakki, Saev, Ongbrane; Kaseriniit, Qagqaaliit, Seiit).
== Notable Members ==
* Malachar, their charismatic leader, who was fashioned in a mockery of the angels.
* Esthric, a bone-shaping necromancer
* Kordelja, a skeletal paladin
* Sedna, a fugue banshee
* Xorthu, a mute pale giant
* Valaska, the 'lutist' - a spider-human bard
File:Malachar of the crimson shroud.png|Malachar
File:Valaska e.png|Valaska
File:Tuungaq.png|Tuungaq, undead narwhal
File:Sedna.png|Sedna
File:Crimson Mass.png|The Rabble
File:Crimson Loyalist.png|A cultist
File:Crimson Celebrant.png|Celebrant Xorthu
File:Crimson Paladin.png|Kordelja
File:Crimson Summoner.png|Esthric
File:Crimson Skeleton.png|A skeleton
Category:Factions