Vellatorum

## The Vellatorum

> Accept my blessing, and be remade, as all things are.
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> Bolin, during the Vellator Trial

The **Vellatorum** is a decentralized religious order from the Northern Freehold. Founded shortly after the Witching Hour, Vellators are enhanced lycanthrope warriors who are blessed by the god Bolin, and granted extraordinary abilities for the use in combat and in hunting threats to the Freehold. The first Vellator was Torgeir Norwyn, the son of the legendary hero Eadric Northwind.

As the Vellatorum has no one leader and is a highly-irregular organization, there is only a loose structure of rules and ethics to follow, but all Vellators are bound by their connection to Bolin. It is a tradition of House Norwyn that heirs to the Freehold will complete the Vellator Trial at the holy site of the Hellym Well, thus ensuring that every Jarl of the Freehold since the time of Torgeir is a Vellator.

As lycanthropic warriors, Vellators share some traits with the common lycanthrope werewolf, though they are able to control their shifting between man, half-beast, and full wolf, and are unaffected by the phases of the moon. When in their half-beast form, most Vellators will gain an extra 1-2' of height, and their wolf forms are the equivalent size of a Dire Wolf — The size of a pony, or small horse. This is said to be Bolin's gift to his warriors, though the mileage may vary from Vellator to Vellator when it comes to their control over this most mysterious aspect of their duties.

One of the most well-known aspects of the Vellatorum is its tenuous relationship with consent among initiates. Traditionally, a Vellator prospect must consent to undergoing to the ritual at the Hellym Well, to pass into the Feywild and become a Vellator. However, it is not uncommon that Druids of the North, seeking to make more Vellators to protect the Freehold, will throw unwilling candidates into the well against their will, where they will either drown or pass the trial. Before Jarl Halvard III Norwyn officially outlawed the practice of slavery in the Freehold, something that was already on the decline, it was not uncommon for druids to own slaves that they would send into the Well. Jude Copperfall is a known Vellator who was made against his will.

Vellators are said to have a connection to the land of the Freehold itself, as their order was born to defend it from the horrors of the Widdonwoods, particularly the mythical Witchmen.

## Known Members

### Contemporary Members

> Main Article: Known Vellators
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* Halvard III Norwyn
* Ivor Norwyn
* Hadvir Norwyn
* Jude Copperfall

## Culture & Customs

Vellators are, by nature, a solitary group. Though they all belong to the same order, it does not mean they feel much kinship with one another; the circumstances of the average Vellator's creation ranges from expected to traumatic, and it's not uncommon for some Vellators to leave the Freehold entirely after their creation.

### The Vellator Trial

The trial that creates a Vellator is simultaneously simple and complex. It is different for every candidate who enters the Hellym Well, and the outcome of the trial often heralds the future the Vellator will lead.

## Playable Stats

> Please note this section is OOC and refers to the playable class in the Tabletop campaigns.
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Vellators are the game equivalent of the Blood Hunter class in-universe, making it so that the only way a Player Character could play a Blood Hunter is to have them be a member of the Vellatorum. However, all Vellators, and by extension Blood Hunter characters, are restricted to the Order of the Lycan Blood Hunter Order. Otherwise, they operate normally as Blood Hunter characters and do not have any further restructions.