TSSArtifactBook21

The Founding of the Wraithguard

The Krithgor giants hold the greatest regard for their ancestors and heroes, a fact which made Rallos Zek's curse upon them so painful. In the blink of an eye, the majority of the Krithgor heroes were slain and turned to Shades of Zek when King Beltron Wulfnor rose from death to became the first Shade.

Then, when the Krithgorian ancestors and honored dead began to rise and attack the living they were faced with a moral dilemma. To disturb the dead and kill their own heroes was unthinkable, yet they did not want to give themselves over to the shades either.

Many believed that it would be best to allow the Shades of Zek to take them. They had dishonored themselves by abandoning Rallos Zek when he called to them and it was a heresy of the worst kind to disturb the dead. Most did not know what to do. Each night the Shades would come and destroy many of their kin. They knew soon they would all die and join the cursed.

But some decided to act. Malgar, a lorekeeper of great foresight, worked to find ways to defeat the Shades, or at least find protection from them. Malgar managed to touch the mind of one shade and learned a configuration of runes that seemed to repulse them.

With some practice and reconfiguration of symbols, some found on the shades' skin, he created plans to build a runed-carved stone wall to protect Valdeholm from the shades.

While Valdeholm still had some protection, it became clear that these passive defenses alone were not enough. A small group of Krithgor asked Malgar for help to forge weapons and armor that might aid them to kill the shades, and he did so, all with the same runes of repulsion.

Every night, this band of warriors set out to battle the shades and prevent them from passing through the city gates. They called themselves the Wraithguard.

It wasn't long before word of this group of vigilantes reached King Odeen Wulfnor's ears. He and many of the leaders of Valdeholm were shocked. Killing the Shades, they said, was heresy because they were still considered heroes. Many called for the death of those that went out to fight, but Odeen understood the problem more deeply than most and, after speaking privately with Malgar, ordered the heretics cast out of the city. The king promised to arrange supplies to be granted the Wraithguard, acknowledging that they are all the lies between the shades and the extinction of the Krithgor. But Odeen could not politically support the shade hunters.

The Wraithguard, shunned by their kin, were forced to take up residence in the homes outside the city's runed wall. The king then decreed that the Wraithguard were no longer to be thought of, they were to be ignored as if they never existed.

The Wraithguard were chagrinned, but knew well enough to read between the lines. They knew the king was putting great trust in them, and it was an honored task, though he could and would never say it aloud. They shouldered the shame, though to most of them, there was no shame in protecting their people.

Because of the ongoing threat and the constant loss of Wraithguard warriors, those accused of crimes in Valdeholm that are to be executed are given the option to join the Wraithguard instead. Thus, the Wraithguard gains reinforcements. Some even choose exile out of a sense of duty. Malgar himself walked out of the city the day after the runed wall was completed. He now works with the Wraithguard to develop new ways to destroy the shades or remove the curse and restore his people.

When a Krithgorian chooses to join the Wraithguard willingly, that individual is honored as a hero on the day of his departure and then never spoken of again.