Aderic's Repose

**Aderic's Repose** is a large burial mound and graveyard on the cusp of the Northgate River, situated due west from Gilneas City and just south east of the Headlands. It is a significant site for the peoples of the Kingdom of Gilneas, as it is the burial ground for many of their important figures, such as the patriarch Aderic, for whom the graveyard is named. The graveyard served as a major waypoint during the Gilnean exodus following the Invasion of Gilneas.

It is unknown the exact number of dead buried within the repose or who rests there. The ground is referred to by multiple notable Gilnean figures that it is holy ground, and is ultimately chosen as the resting place for Prince Liam Greymane after his heroic sacrifice during the Battle for Gilneas City. The site was also noted as being used for the mass pyre that burnt the corpses of those who fell during either the battle for the city or who could be recovered. It is unknown if this was done to avoid reanimation, as no val'kyr were present during the invasion, or if this was done to simply place the bodies at rest. It is known that the spirit of Aderic watches over Gilneas from this area (as an offering was made to him as Liam was laid to rest); and that the hasty evacuation through the graveyard (which displaced several graves) was enough to rouse long dead spirits.

# Everen's Interpretation

**Aderic's Repose** is a large burial mound and graveyard on the Bay of Gilneas, situated due west from Gilneas City. It is a significant site for the peoples of Gilneas, as it is the burial ground for many of their kings, princes, and religious leaders - and served as a major waypoint during the Gilnean exodus. Notably, it is one of the largest necropoli in the Eastern Kingdoms and is believed to date back to the Pre-Imperial Period, and to have been first constructed by the practicioners of the nebulous 'Old Ways' of Gilneas.

## Paganism

It is hypothesized by Gilnean historians and Druidic Reconstructivists that the burial site held a rich spiritual and magical significance to the early Gilnean peoples - a significance that lasted into, and became syncreticized with, the settlement of Gilneas by 'civilized' peoples and the influx of the Holy Light into the Gilnean Peninsula. Most of these theories espouse a perspective of the burial ground as constituting an ancient necropolis, specifically located away from settlements and centred around a great central stone - which may still be seen towering over the burial mound.

The fringe theories of Professor Everen Corelas, espoused during his time as a lecturer on theology and history at the Royal University of Stormwind, remain an unsubstantiated but distinctive approach to the site. His 'Deathly Mirror' hypothesis suggests that the site was specifically located across the bay from the nascent capital city of Gilneas - at that time, according to his theories, a crannog settlement - and built to act as a mirror of the primitive city, consecrated for the dead. Its positioning across the western sea, the shared artificial circular nature of the two sites, and the deliberate construction of a specialized subterranean passageway between the two are all, under this hypothesis, signs of the site being ritually significant to the Gilnean pagans who initially constructed it. Built in the same circular manner as the city and linked via a symbolic passageway into the underworld, the theory posits that during the 'ancient' practice of Hallow's End a sacred procession would be lead into the underworld and the city's spiritual mirror, to give anointed gifts to the dead - a practice ostensibly continuing today in modified form.

1. ↑ Per Quest: Patriarch's Blessing, the practice of offering consecrated gifts to appease the spirits of their ancestors remains in modern Gilneas.