The Hollowed Knight

Kael

The founder who held the line at Ravenspire, was left behind, and chose power over death.

turncoatdeadHumanWarriorThe Dragon Slayers SocietyThe Sigil KnightsThe Concordium

Archetype

Jungian archetypeThe Shadow

Everything Eadric fears he could become. Kael is the brother who stayed when the order was to retreat, and let the abandonment rot him from the inside.

PersonalityESTJ

Decisive, proud, hard on weakness in others and himself. He needs the line to hold, and when it breaks he needs someone to blame.

The story

Kael was Eadric's closest friend and the fiercest of the four founders, a knight who wore his helm even at the fire and asked the hard question at the founding: is surviving enough? At the first Siege of Ravenspire, when Eadric ordered the retreat, Kael stayed to hold the line with Ysella. She died. He did not.

The Dragon Kin took him and offered a choice: death or power. He chose power, and it split him. The part of Kael that could not bear the choice failed the Rite of Shadows and became a hollow shade, haunting the ruins of Gildmere Abbey behind the Revenant's Mask, luring pilgrims to their deaths. The part that survived served the Dragon Kin in a dragon-maw helm and called it strength.

Eadric laid both to rest. He forgave the shade in the Abbey and watched it fade. Years later, summoned in blood-red ink to Blackthorn Keep, he faced the man, refused his offer to join the Dragon Kin, and drove Vigilance through his chest. Kael's last words were not a curse but a command: finish what we started. He was buried beneath the banners of the Sigil Knights.

Appearance

Tall and powerfully built, in his early forties, with long unkempt black hair and pale skin gone grey. As the Hollowed Knight he wears blackened steel plate with jagged ridged edges, sickly green light leaking from every seam, and a helm shaped like a dragon's open maw. His eyes glint faintly green.

Signature

A broad, notched sword wreathed in low green flame, gifted by the Dragon Kin. In his hollowed years he was said to carry Despair's Fang, a blade that pulsed with hunger.

Bonds

killed by
Eadric of BlackmereKilled by his brother-in-arms at Blackthorn Keep.
brother in arms
YsellaHeld the line at Ravenspire with her; she fell beside him.
bound to
MalakarAccepted the Dragon Kin's power after his capture.

Words

I did not fall, Eadric. I was left behind.

Ideals won't save Albion. Only power will.

You led us because we believed in you. Don't stop now.

Appears in

Tale 3 · The FoundingThe Founding of The Dragon Slayers SocietyFour broken fighters meet in the hills of Albion. A black wyvern attacks that night, and at dawn they swear an…Tale 4 · The Road of TrialsThe Hollowed KnightIn the ruins of Gildmere Abbey, Eadric confronts the hollowed shade of Kael, his closest friend, and offers fo…Tale 16 · The Road of TrialsThe Mirror of BetrayalThe Mirror of Betrayal shows Eadric the Siege of Ravenspire as Kael and Ysella saw it, and asks whether he can…Tale 18 · The Road of TrialsThe Tower of Forgotten TruthsIn the Tower of Forgotten Truths, Eadric learns where the Dragon Kin come from, and receives the Sigil of Trut…Tale 21 · The Road of TrialsThe Whispering WellWith the Harbinger risen in the west, Eadric seeks the Whispering Well. It offers him Kael and Ysella alive, f…Tale 23 · The Road of TrialsThe Shadow of Blackthorn KeepA summons in blood-red ink leads Eadric to Blackthorn Keep, where the friend he mourned for years is waiting, …Tale 33 · The War of ShadowThe Silent VigilRykard disturbs the Silent Weaver's vigil to ask how Malakar's return can be stopped. She lets him touch a thr…

Web of bonds

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