The Searing

When the Ashen Baron brands his victims with the Glyph of Subjugation, those victims join the ranks of his skeletal legions known as the Faltered.

At this moment, these osseous warriors ignite with an undying baleful fire that wreathes their skeletal forms. This blaze is known only as the Searing, and it roars eternal unless the Faltered itself is destroyed.

Perpetual Fire

Once a Faltered has ignited, it will burn for as long as the glyph on its skull remains whole. The unnatural fire cannot be extinguished via any known means as it seems to not require oxygen. This means that not even complete submersion in a body of water will snuff out the infernal flames.

This is especially dangerous because the flames of the Searing can ignite objects and creatures other than the Faltered warrior itself, and it retains its unquenchable nature as it does so. Anyone ignited in this way will be cremated unless the Faltered that spread the Searing to them is destroyed.

Wildfires

When the Faltered amass and start their steady march towards the Heart of Hate, these events are known as Wakes of Embers. It is during these that large swathes of the Black Forest are set ablaze in quickly spreading wildfires that can only be contained by destroying the warriors that make up the wake.

The Black Forest can burn for all humanity cares, but the chance that the fire spreads outside of the borders of the cursed woods is a very real one and thus the Seekers have a vested interest in stopping the flames before they reach the edge of the forest.

Master of the Searing

The Ashen Baron seems to have control over the baleful flames of the Searing, causing his warriors to flare up with intense heat with the flick of a wrist or causing individual warriors to superheat and detonate in an explosion of all-consuming fire and shards of bone.

He has even been observed to extinguish the Faltered, causing them to fall into a state of inactivity. Just as easily, with a snap of his gauntleted fingers, he ignites them again and the flames leap from the skulls of his servants once more.

Since the Baron creates the Faltered from the physical remains of the victims of his Grey Pox whose Essentium he siphons from their bodies, the fuel for the infernal flames of the Searing is believed to be exactly that; the very souls of the poor unfortunates who fall victim to the machinations of the Baron, forever doomed to burn in silent agony.

Keep your distance once you engage.

If that fire spreads onto your armor, remove it immediately. If you ignite, we cannot save you.

–A Seeker instructor to a class of squires and neophytes

by Midjourney

_{A patrol of Faltered warriors, the Searing spreading into the trees as they pass.}