The Pulse of the Earth
Deep within the green heart of Varnhold, where the forest slowly reclaimed the lands once burned by the Mage Hunts, Eldarion was born among a tribe of Firbolgs who sought to heal what centuries of slaughter had left behind.
The Firbolg Hierarchy of Varnhold
The tribe was guided not by dominance, but by remembrance. Every Firbolg carried a fragment of the forest’s memory within them, and their place among the tribe reflected the role they played in its renewal.
The Verdant Elder: Also known as Rootwarden, the spiritual leader and voice of the forest’s will. The Elder guided the tribe through the cycles of decay and rebirth.
The Thornkeepers: Druids and shamans who performed ancient rites of restoration. They shed their blood so the land might awaken again.
The Seedborn: Hunters, gatherers, and caretakers of the living world, attuned to the creatures and flora that sustained life.
The Hollow Ones: Those touched by corruption or decay. The tribe did not banish them, for they believed these souls carried the forest’s unspoken memories.
The Saplings: The young, raised by the tribe rather than by a single family, so they might learn the language of wind and soil.
Eldarion began his life as a Sapling. Yet from an early age, the Verdant Elder sensed something different in him, something deeper. His pulse carried not just life, but also death and memory. He was sent to serve the Thornkeepers, to learn the sacred rites that fed the land with vitality.
The Heart’s Whispers
The forest of Varnhold was alive, but never at peace. Its rebirth came through violent bursts of wild magic, short-lived and unpredictable. The Firbolgs called these events the Heart’s Whispers, believing them to be the dreams of the earth itself. They were rare, yet unforgettable.
The Crimson Bloom: An entire grove flowering overnight, every petal red as blood, its scent driving nearby beasts into madness. The Mirror Rain: Raindrops that reflected not the sky above, but the faces of those long dead.
The Silent Howl: A night when no creature dared breathe, and yet the trees swayed as though something immense was moving through them.
The Breath of Ash: A hot wind that carried whispers of truths never meant for the living.
The Pulse Beneath: A trembling heartbeat felt through the ground, echoing within roots and bones alike.
To the tribe, these were omens. The earth still remembered the pain of its ruin. To Eldarion, they were a call. He felt the rhythm within them, a pattern that resonated with his own heartbeat. He began to seek these events, standing within their storms, offering his blood to the soil, believing that through sacrifice the land could remember what it once was.
The Rite of the Old Grove
In time, the forest answered. During a renewal rite beneath the roots of the Old Grove, Eldarion joined the Thornkeepers to awaken the soil. As he bled into the earth, he felt its hunger rise. The pulse beneath his feet grew stronger, louder, almost alive. Then it demanded more. The ritual spiralled out of control. The ground split open, vines erupted like veins, and one of the Thornkeepers was consumed by the forest itself. His life was devoured and returned as a grotesque effigy of bone and bark.
When the others arrived, they found Eldarion kneeling before the horror, covered in sap and blood, his own and the fallen druid’s. The tribe named him Tainted Sap, the one who heard what no heart should.
The Verdant Elder spoke a final judgment:
“He hears what no heart should. The land remembers through him, and memory is death.”
Eldarion was exiled under moonlight. The sap of black thorns was carved upon his neck, marking him as unclean. He was forbidden to return until the forest itself called his name again.
The Captive and the Kobold
He wandered east for many moons, following the faint rhythm that guided him through root and rock. The pulse grew strongest near Linsburg, and so he crossed its borders. Near Thornmere, however, his presence drew the attention of the Inquisitorial Guard of Purity. His strange connection to the land and blood marked him as unnatural, and he was captured.
Word of this reached Councillor Strix of the Adeptus Literaris, a cunning kobold known for his fascination with rare talents and forbidden studies. Hearing of a Firbolg who could command the flow of life itself, Strix intervened.
Through influence and manipulation within the Inquisition, he secured Eldarion’s release… in exchange for his cooperation in certain unconventional experiments.
Now Eldarion walks beside Strix through the streets and laboratories of Linsburg, assisting his colleague while quietly searching for the true source of his calling—the pulse that beats beneath all living things, and the memory buried within the soil of Varnhold.