⸺
The Hollow King
that which waits beneath the Ashenwaste
The Ferrum do not ask you to fear him. Fear is the wrong word for a thing that does not act in time.
Read what follows. Understand what waits. That is enough.
Turn the page.
Book the Third
⸺
that which waits beneath the Ashenwaste
The Ferrum do not ask you to fear him. Fear is the wrong word for a thing that does not act in time.
Read what follows. Understand what waits. That is enough.
Turn the page.
I
the Hollow King · the First Tyrant · the Buried One
Ulgareth was not born. He emerged from the deep earth, a being of void and hunger, and he ruled Thairen as its first tyrant. For an age uncounted he held it. Then the seven peoples broke him.
He cannot be killed. He can only be buried. His body was shattered in the Sundering nine thousand years ago, and the pieces were sealed beneath the Ashenwaste.
But his spirit endures. Every seven years, he gathers strength and rises again — not as a single foe, but as a tide of the Unbound. In the presence of his hosts he manifests as a shadow-form, a crown of black iron suspended in void, a voice that speaks in every listener's own voice.
You build kingdoms. You forge banners. You swear oaths that last a lifetime, and call it history. I have watched your kingdoms rise and fall for forty-six turnings of the wheel. I am patient. I am patient as the deep earth is patient. attributed to Ulgareth, recorded after the 31st Watch
II
his soldiers, neither living nor dead
The Horde's foot. Souls taken into Ulgareth's service — neither alive nor dead, bound to his will. Their bodies are animated by his hunger.
They do not eat, they do not sleep, they do not tire. They cannot be reasoned with. They can only be destroyed.
And even destroyed, their bodies return to the Ashenwaste to be remade. Every Watch the Unbound rise in greater numbers.
It is said — though the Ferrum will not confirm it openly — that every soul lost to Ulgareth's service in the war is added to his army for the next. a Ferrum novice's common lament
III
his named lieutenants, fallen of every people
They were not born to him. Each was once of the seven peoples, and each was turned. The Ferrum keep the chronicle of how.
Vethys, the Ash-Maiden
formerly human queen of Vellanmere. A beloved queen, beautiful and wise. In the 9th Watch Ulgareth came to her in a dream and offered her power to save her starving kingdom. She accepted. Her people survive. She has led the Horde's shock troops for eight centuries.
Gorrum the Devourer
an ancient troll-king from before the Sundering. Preserved by Ulgareth's power and now hungering — literally — for flesh. The Horde's siege-breaker. He eats the dead of both sides.
The Faceless One
identity unknown. Moves among the seven peoples as a spy and saboteur, wearing whatever face is needed. Some argue The Faceless One does not exist, and is a rumour Ulgareth sows to keep the alliance paranoid.
Thaxis Blackflame
a Wyrmsworn exile, fallen in the 31st Watch. His scales are black; his fire is corrupted. He still burns with ember-flame, but the fires no longer warm — they only consume.
Iron-Mother Skarn
a Warhost warchief, taken in the 22nd Watch. She led her clan into Ulgareth's service. Her reasons are unknown. The Warhost will not speak her name aloud.
The Sixth
exists in rumour only. No living witness has seen them and returned. The Ferrum have a single sealed scroll regarding the Sixth. It has not been opened in forty Watches.
IV
the place where he is buried
A vast plain in the centre of Thairen where nothing grows. The earth is gray, powdery, and cold. No bird flies over it. No wind blows across it.
The Ferrum maintain watchposts on its edges, but none enter.
This is where Ulgareth is buried. This is where the Unbound rise. The Ironkeep is built upon its northern edge for one reason — to be the first to see them come.
A Ferrum watch-captain, asked what it is like to stand the eastern watchpost for a long shift, is said to have answered simply: you hear him breathing.
V
why this cycle is unlike any before
The Ferrum are troubled.
In the recent cycles the Horde has grown larger. The Unbound have shown capacities not seen in earlier Watches — coordinated tactics, ambush patterns, deliberate use of the terrain.
It is as if Ulgareth is learning. As if he has been preparing for longer than any living eye has seen.
We stand at the edge of a Watch that may redefine Thairen. First Lord Malachar Vorn, on the eve of the 47th Watch
— recorded by the Ferrum