Svernom

Overview

Svernom is an Ombric. He was once a member of the royal guard of the Underworld. This was an important position. The royal guard protected the throne and maintained order through force. Svernom was skilled and trusted.

But, at the time, the Underworld was ruled by a tyrant. The king demanded absolute obedience. The guard carried out cruel orders without question. Over time, Svernom witnessed acts of injustice and cruelty against the people of the Underworld.

Now, the underworld is in turmoil as the king is dying. Despite this, Svernom has no desire to return. He has chosen exile over returning to a life of oppression.

History

Svernom broke his oath. He refused to follow orders he believed were unjust. This was the gravest betrayal possible for someone in his position. The king saw it as treason.

Svernom was stripped of his rank and cast out from the Underworld forever. He was severed from everything he had known. His home was gone. His position was gone. He was abandoned in the mortal realm above.

The magic of the Underworld had sustained Svernom. Without it, his body began to change. He became spectral. Neither fully alive nor dead. He exists between worlds now. His face bears horrific injuries from this transformation, marks of what the exile did to him.

Nature

Svernom is an outlier among the spectral. He is neither fully alive nor dead, but he exists in the world. Unlike Osrith the Unbound, he is not stuck in purgatory between worlds. He walks the mortal realm. He interacts with people. He conducts research. He exists.

Svernom is stoic. He has a good heart beneath his hardened exterior, though he rarely shows it. He sees the world clearly because he exists outside of it. He exists between worlds. Part of him still remembers the Underworld. Part of him will never belong to the mortal realm.

He is neither alive nor dead. This makes him unique. This makes him isolated. But it also makes him free in ways that both the living and the dead can never be.

Philosophy

Rather than despair, Svernom chose to study. He became a researcher and scholar focused on spectral phenomena. His unique position, caught between life and death, gives him knowledge that no ordinary person could have. He documents hauntings, apparitions, and the nature of forces that exist between worlds.

His research is his redemption. By understanding the nature of spectral existence, he hopes to find meaning in what was done to him. He was cast out for doing what he believed was right. Now he seeks truth in a world that rejected him.