Graveborne
"Ash and stone, spirit and vigor"
History
The Graveborne are a race of lost souls, once created by the divine hands of Raiar, God of Rebirth. They possess immense physical strength and resilience, along with a deep connection and understanding of the other planes.
In ancient days, the creation of Graveborne was a celebratory affair. During the solstice, when the veil between worlds was at its thinnest, AshenVale would gather for the Rebirth festival. The people would craft intricate stone bodies, place them in a field, and scatter the ashes of their loved ones. Each body would be adorned with runes and patterns, representing the deceased's most beloved things—flowers, birds, horses, or any cherished symbols that reflected their life. It was a time of reverence and hope, as lost spirits would come to be reborn under the gaze of Raiar. Clerics from the Temple of Raiar also possessed the ability to capture and transform lost spirits that had become malevolent or troublesome, binding them to a new body, so they could be reborn and shaped anew by the will of Raiar.
With their creator long vanished, the Graveborne now face an uncertain existence, caught between life and death, memory and oblivion. With the god’s disappearance, the power to create new Graveborne has passed solely to their own kind, in a delicate, mysterious process known only to them.
Without the divine hand of their creator, the Graveborne must rely on their fading knowledge of a complex ritual, requiring the cooperation of two Graveborne. One must trap the spirit of a lost soul, while the other binds it to a carefully crafted body of stone. The body of stone must also be crafted by a Graveborne, as any meddling by other Kin in its creation seems to somehow break the vessel. However, this ritual comes at a cost—each time a Graveborne creates a new stone body, they feel a fragment of themselves slip away, leaving them forever diminished. As such, the making of new Graveborne is never done lightly, for the weight of such an act is felt deeply by those who understand the fragility of their kind.
Over time, Graveborne experience a slow fading—a gradual retreat from the physical world, as if their very essence begins to erode. No one truly knows whether this marks their final death or if they are simply entering a state of dormancy, waiting for a force or event yet to come. When a Graveborne's soul has been stretched too thin, they will leave Ashenvale and move to the Ashgrove —a solemn, sacred resting place where their stone-forged bodies lie still, surrounded by the weight of mystery and sorrow.
Now
Few graveborne remain today, and most of them have become morose and sluggish since the Sundering. They never stray far from Ashenvale or their sacred grove, but still view it as their sacred duty to protect the city and uphold Raiar's beliefs. They are revered by the humans who live close to them, as protectors and the will of Raiar incarnate. When a new Graveborne is created, it is a solemn but joyous occasion, with the Graveborne who crafted the body being celebrated and remembered in the hall of ancients. But this ritual is only done in the most dire of circumstances, when a spirit has gone foul and is endangering the population.
The Graveborne live in quiet uncertainty, wondering if they too will fade away or if a new chapter in their existence awaits. They are a race shaped by loss and longing, ever seeking connection with their lost God, and they carry within them the weight of a world that no longer remembers its past.
Graveborne connecting to nature
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