The Ashen Baron

As mysterious as he is dangerous, the Ashen Baron is the master of the Funereal Manor and a thorn in the side of the church of Resounding Truth. For reasons unknown, the Ashen Baron gathers soldiers for his army of Faltered by spreading the Grey Pox amongst the Fringe Folk and periodically leads these undead troops towards the Heart of Hate in events known as Wakes of Embers.

He does not seem to be affiliated with the Adversary, as his insistence upon assaulting the Heart would indicate, unless he means to free the imprisoned god. What is known is that the baron is a formidable wielder of magic, as evidenced by the Funereal Manor itself, and the dreadful orb he wields in battle, which releases pulsing waves of destruction that scour men of their flesh and their very souls.

Speculative history

Some claim the Baron is a wizard of old who has somehow succumbed to the corrupting influence of the Black Forest and is compelled to try and free the Adversary as a result. Other tales, preferred especially by travelling bards, tell of a girl that wandered into the Black Forest and her father. Learning of her disappearance, the father followed her in only to find torn shreds of her dress hanging on the gnarled branches of the dead trees. The man spent weeks searching the cursed woods with his neighbors and others from the village, but one after another, his kinsmen gave up the search until he continued the searching alone.

Unable to accept that his darling daughter had most likely faced a terrible end, the desperate father packed up what little belongings he had and ventured deep into the corrupted forest, never to return. Those with a penchant for the dramatic like to hearken back to this old cautionary tale whenever the subject of the Ashen Baron is brought up, insinuating that the baron is that very man, still convinced that he can save his daughter through the dark magics he now practices. These individuals cannot explain how the Barons actions are conducive towards such an end, however.

Orb of Obliteration

The Baron's personal weapon, dubbed the Orb of Obliteration, is a magical artefact that seems to be able to channel the Tapestrums energies directly into the real Nascindor, completely bypassing the need for the Baron to project into the tapestry, a feat that no other wizard or even the Sorcerer-Kings of old have been able to replicate. This means that his use of magic is much more expedient and requires less focus. The Baron can eradicate an entire formation of Seekers in the time it would take for a Warsage to heal a single man.

Connection with the Grey Pox

It is theorized that the Ashen Baron has learned how to tap into the corrupted magic of the sullied Tapestry of the Black Forest, and that it is infact the source of the destructive power of his dread orb. Some learned men and women also posit that the Grey Pox, the supernatural disease that he plagues the Fringe Folk with, is the result of these dire magics.

The exact method is a matter of debate, but some think that he has actually found a way to snatch the essence of a person through the Tapestry, which is then taken into the Funereal Manor. The empty husk, now devoid of its vital energies, begins to wither away and instinctively seeks the energy that was taken from it, which would certainly explain the physical symptoms of the Grey Pox, as well as the fact that victims of the supposed disease feel compelled to seek out the manor.

What happens inside is unclear, but some theories claim that once the Baron has both the ”soul” and the body, he rejoins the two in a profane ritual that binds some of the forest's corruption into the very bones of the hapless victim, rendering them an osseous thrall, utterly under the spell of the Baron. Why the Baron collects these poor souls and attempts to assault the Heart of Hate with their aid is unknown, and scholars do not even presume to be able to divine such a vile beings motives.

When those blazing eyes turned to gaze upon me, I felt my heart falter.

With just a look, the Baron reduced me to a frail, cowering babe.

–Seeker Hawkeston, after the barely successful repulsion of a Wake of Embers