Folk Lore 14: Grey Wight
... the haunted barrows contain more than old bones and legends!
Remember Andrs
Whose Spirit wandered beyond the Pale
There once was a Time when darkness conjured more than mortal fear of the night. Evil ambitions once dared to possess the corpses of fallen heroes as new weapons in wars of might and magic. Primal, unspeakable horrors rose from their final resting places of shallow snow and iced earth. Answering the call from beyond, Undead are the undying nemesis of the living. Casters and Entities summon these corpses to do their bidding, spreading chaos and contagion in their wake.
As new Spells and Words of defilement emerged, Burial Rituals became complex and sacred observances meant to protect the Spirits and corpses of the deceased. New defenders of the dead appeared, known as Grave Warders. These individuals were tasked with watching the grave stones of the fallen, inscribing them, and securing the resting places of the dead. While each Culture had unique practices, one such emerged after a legend of loss and legacy. This is the Folk Lore of the enigmatic Grey Wight.
Here lays the warrior Ephsin
Live and died by his blade
Origin & Significance
Once, there was a man whose name had been stolen by Time. Yet he did live as the Entity known as the Grey Wight is proof of his existence. Spoken of in Folk Lore as a roaming wanderer, he conversed with Spirits and named the dead by engraving epithets on Runic Gravestones. He was among the original Grave Warders of the Myth Folk Tribes of Isaleir.
Gifted with Words, he was thought to be an early Scribe, before he accepted the trials to become a Grave Warder. Along with his family, they traveled with the band of Grave Warders, living as nomads for many seasons. His feats included countless runes and inscriptions to the dead, the ability to see and speak with Spirits, and safe-guarding burial sites.
A man endures the cold,
Inscribing Words to stone,
Above the sleeping heads,
Of the forgotten dead,
Speaker of restless bones,
A friend to honored old,
Digger of frozen graves,
Resting place for the brave,
Yet it was in Death's stead,
The mortal coil was torn,
With red Runes of dread,
By the Spirit of the Cairn.
Keeper of the Graves
The accompanied poetic Edda is from the 4th Era of the Folk of Isaleir. Fragments of this poem, known as the Grey Wight, confirms the Life of a man before he was either slain or possessed by the being referenced as the Spirit of the Cairn.The Grave-Keeper, as some Folk refer, was accounted as the first of an original band of Warders assembled to patrol and protect their barrows. Other sections of the poem reveal his Life and connection to family. By virtue of Life and Death, this familial bond made the Grave-Keeper a stoic figure in Mythic Folk Lore and a traditional role found in Folk communities.
Grave-Keeper was a Title given to any who were prepared to face the challenges of excavating or protecting burial sites. Massive mounds and graves have been found marked with Runic Gravestones, which held an inscription and a ward within the Words to prevent Spells of Undeath. Yet their enemies could also scribe and erase these Words.
Grave of the Keeper
His Life wasn't without many challenges. He made several enemies protecting the barrows for hundreds of years. Of those enemies, he had drawn the attention of a rival Grave-Warder. Enraged, the rival defied the Band of Grave Warders trust, releasing an evil Spirit from a cairn that possessed the rival and unleashed havoc for four months. In the end, the Grave-Keeper was said to vanquish the evil Spirits but suffered an ultimate demise.The malignant Spirit of the Cairn had cursed the name of the Grave-Keeper, so that none would recall who he was. His wounds were cursed to bleed, slaying the noble Grave-Keeper. His children were said to have forgotten. New names formed by Myth Folk honored his Life, and his heroic yet tragic sacrifice.
His grave stood as a monument for some Time before the Grey Wight returned.
A rival betrayal,A slate of stone marked in bloody scratches was all that remained.
Forbidden open cairn,
Cursed of revivals,
A final Death, undone,
Of 200 twin moons,
Scattered across the lands,
Broken pieces were hewn,
Never made whole again,
Shattered in bitter strife,
The rival takes the knife,
What was his name is Life,
Taken from sons and wife,
A formidable foe,
On the cusp of pale night,
Only stones, bones know,
The Will of the Grey Wight.
With the tragic death of the nameless Grave-Keeper, many Stories arose surrounding his legend. It's believed that the Folk Lore's stanzas reveal his defeat by his rival, where other interpretations warn of the dangers of envy, obsession, and madness. The Myst Folk perspective of the same myth values the familial role of the Grave-Keeper, and further personifies the rival as a villainous figure, jealous of his family. Nonetheless, since the poem exists in fragments, none are entirely sure of the fate of either figure in the myth.
Spirit of the Cairn
Ectoplasm, Haunting Cairns
Depending on the region, each Culture had its own Burial Rituals, which related how a body would be preserved after Death. The Sijinn Elemental Tribes popularized the use of jars and pots in their burials, surrounded by layers of frozen clay, stone, or other materials associated to each Tribe. This practice of preservation was unique to the Death cycle of the Sijinn and were referred to as Spirit Cairns.
Yet these graves and the vessels within could be defiled. Cairn Haunts are the trapped residual will of the deceased, manifested in a coat of Ectoplasm. While Cairn Haunts are more akin to a Loci, they're mindless incorporeal Undead that seek to corrupt and possess the living with their malevolent energies. By origin, Elemental Haunts appeared as other Cultures discovered the cairns.
What is typically understood about these primordial Spirits is that they form from Ectoplasm contained within not only the grave but the cairn itself. Improperly building a Spirit Cairn from the wrong materials or Rituals invites a Haunt to manifest and release from the cairn. Until then, it exists as an Ectoplasmic discharge, waiting to attach itself to the living. It is bound to an area around the cairn, as other Loci.
Other methods may be used to create more powerful Haunts. As it relates to the Grave-Keeper, scholars of Folk Lore believe that the Grey Wight was born from the rival's contact with an Elemental Haunt of Earth. In its' death throes, the Haunt attempted to transfer itself to the nameless Grave-Keeper, but due to some unknown event, synthesized. Nameless, he became his own resting place, as the myth goes.
Muragam, a Life well lived
For a cheat and a thief
Mythos & Culture
After the Life of the Grave-Keeper fell the shadow of the Grey Wight. Believed to have been infected with Titanothage, the Grey Wight appears as an imposingly tall and slender figure robed in grey vaporous Ectoplasm. With the illusion of a body surrounding skeletal limbs, the Grey Wight has been noted to appear in barrows and burial grounds where it leaves behind runic Grey Tablets before unearthing the bones from their lasting resting place.
These tablets crush lesser cairns or tomb stones into a pile of rubble, where the Grey Wight then excavates the deceased, leaving behind only a blood-stained Rune. Even protected sites are dispelled by a Grey Tablet with bleeding red Words. Yet in the epithet there's always some truth left behind of the Spirit that once dwelt within. The Grey Wight is a possessor of bones. The exhumed become Barrow Wights- the common form of this type of Undead.
The Barrow of Wights
Neither living or dead, this Entity walks between Worlds, through the liminal space of Ley, where it has constructed a dismal Dungeon of eternal fog and darkness.Known as the Barrow of Wights, this haunted Realm contains multiple layers that reach into parts of the Under-World and the Midlands. Endless catacombs of grey stone stretches across a thousand barrows, haunting islands of enveloping vapors that consume adventurous Spirits.
Vanquished or exiled Wights may gather here where they restore their old bones.
Wights, Bone Possessors
Evil Spirits inhabit the bones of the living and the dead, haunting barrows and old graves. Sheathed in Ectoplasm, all Wights are bound to the Mortal Realms through the weight of bones.Will of the Wights
Wights are ravenous creatures that stalk and slay the living. If a Wight doesn't inhabit the bones of the slain quickly, the cursed bones spawn a new Wight. When a Wight isn't in possession of a body, it becomes incorporeal, returning to a base form known as a Will o' the Wight.
An ectoplasmic orb the size and shape of a skull, a Will o' the Wight returns to the Barrow of Wights inevitably. Until then, it seeks new bones to haunt. A Will o' the Wight's curse possesses the living, destroying the Spirit, reviving the Wight.
The curse of Wights is thought to have proliferated from the Grey Wight's will.
An ectoplasmic orb the size and shape of a skull, a Will o' the Wight returns to the Barrow of Wights inevitably. Until then, it seeks new bones to haunt. A Will o' the Wight's curse possesses the living, destroying the Spirit, reviving the Wight.
The curse of Wights is thought to have proliferated from the Grey Wight's will.
Neutral Grey Artisan
The Grey Wight walks as a giant amongst skeletal shambles and withered Wights. Adorned in vaporous veils of sticky grey Ectoplasm, the Grey Wight is a horned Entity with a featureless face and skeletal fingertips drenched in red. Baneful green eyes illuminate within the sockets of the skull beneath the grey spectral folds.The Grey Wight carries tablets on his back; in his hand, a primitive spade shaped like a spear. Attached to his spade, several Soders and a mallet are suspended on a ring. These large tools are used to unearth bodies or to communicate with the living.
Messages from Beyond
One such message is sprawled across the Dungeon Door to the Barrow of Wights. The Light you bear will not follow from the Barrows.
Cryptic messages warn others of impending peril yet the motivations of the Grey Wight remains an enigma. At Times, he appears to the grieving and offers serenity in script. Others have been dragged into the Barrows where their bones were strewn across the floor. Some believe he's a Spirit of diligent vigilance, dedicated craftsmanship, or obsession.
With the remnant tools of his trade, the Grey Wight continues to carve and create potent Runes related to Death Magic.
In the After-Life, the Grave-Keeper couldn't stop carving Words; this relentless craft may've been what saved him from Death.
WIP- TBD
Section is under development! The myths of the Grey Wight unfolds! Thank you for your patience! Sagas of the Grey Wight
WIP- TBD
In memory of Garse Ray,
Cherished, devoted Father; hallowed Spirit, Rest in Peace
Legacies & Social Impact
Interpreters of the Will
Those who seek to interpret Grey Wight look for Words in places of Death, pain, and grief. These statements contain fragments of a greater story told by the Grey Wight, according to some.While the Grave-Keepers formed as an effort to protect their burial grounds, the cult of Pale Inscribers were apathetic doom-speakers and chosen emissaries of the Grey Wight. By reading Grey Tablets and following the Grey Wight through old battlefields, they created a group of songs known as the Pale Canticles.
Inscribed on bones dispelled of their talismans, these songs revealed new, powerful Runes and Spells, as well as new understandings of the Grey Wight's nature.
O' silent skull,In the end, only these Canticles survived; the cult dissolved by the following Age.
Break the seal of senses,
In pain, madness!
Rattle the Singing Skull!
Of Runes and Grave Warnings
Despite a connection to Death, Grey Wight seems opposed to the existence of Wights within the Mortal Realms. Hermits have studied the Runes of the Grey Tablets, allowing different interpretations than groups such as the Pale Inscribers.
Emissaries of Grey Wight seek defilers of graves and punishes them. They become Undead Hunters or Grave Warders, eradicating nests of evil Wights.
Emissaries of Grey Wight seek defilers of graves and punishes them. They become Undead Hunters or Grave Warders, eradicating nests of evil Wights.
WIP- TBD
This section is currently in development. It'll cover more specific Words and Runes provided by the Grey Wight. Thank you for your patience! EX Legends & Myths
Broken-Tail and the Grey Wight
Winno Broken-Tail was a Buniru Grave Warder of the 4th Era. He lived a long life with a condition that separated him from other Buniru- his namesake. A broken tail prevented him from performing leaps and bounds as his brethren. Still, the sturdy Buniru was a bold and resilient companion with many legends dedicated to his name. He traveled the frigid lands as an icon of Buniru bravery and ambition.During one of his nightly patrols, he noticed the presence of the Wights in an old barrow. The recent death of a small Buniru created a Sweet Wight- a type of innocent Wight, but with no place for her Spirit to go, Broken-Tail provided her comfort. On this night, Broken-Tail was ready to defend the little Spirit from the Barrow Wights.
With a cudgel of Aefalagis, the Wights were banished. Yet it was the Grey Wight that appeared with a host of Sweet Wights dwelling within the folds of his spectral form. Broken-Tail understood that the little Wight had to go with the Grey Wight. In return, Broken-Tail received an assurance of her soul in the form of a Grey Tablet.
Fear not, Broken-Tail
Children are spared the grave burden of WightsInscription of the Broken-Tail Tablet
The Buniru Perspective
This timeless Buniru legend lives on in the perspective of the Buniru. They believe Grey Wight helps those who are afflicted with the madness of Wights, by collecting them, and helping them move on to the next Life through the Barrow of Wights. The name "Winno" came to be associated with this legend and represented those willing to understand the true nature of Wights.Undying Words
This Article details the legend of Grey Wight, as well as the profession of Grave-Keepers.
The Word is Immortal.
Mythologia
Origin:
Folk, Myth
Upkeep:
Fragmented
Folk, Myth
Upkeep:
Fragmented
Region:
Isaleir
Discovery:
Burial Sites
Isaleir
Discovery:
Burial Sites
Epoch:
Mythic
Mythic
Established:
Ice Age
Ice Age
Legendarium
Classified:
Poem
Distributed:
Folk Lore
EX- Myths:
First Wights
Poem
Distributed:
Folk Lore
EX- Myths:
First Wights
Community:
Grave Warders
Published:
4th Era
EX- Myths:
Broken-Tail
Grave Warders
Published:
4th Era
EX- Myths:
Broken-Tail
Roles & Titles
Grave-Keeper
One who tends graves; defenders of Death. Trained in Ritual Techniques.Lexicon
Names
Garse (M) Garsi (F) Gorse (N)
Noble tender of graves; Folk, MythRegion: Isaleir
Morphs: Gars
Morgu (M) Marga (F) Murgo (N)
Keeper of barrows; Folk, MystRegion: Mythia
Morphs: Morg
Winno (M) Winni (F) Winn (N)
One who walks with Wights; BuniruRegion: Mythia
Morphs: No
Varro (M) Verra (F) Virru (N)
Cairn-Keeper; Ornosi, SijinnRegion: Mythia
Morphs: No
Iconography
Art History
Grey Tablets
Inscriptions made on plates of stone using cursed Red Runes. Artifacts.References
Entry for Spooktober 2025
Answering: "Barrow"
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Arc Sagas' universe and the Arx-Core D10's System (TTRPG) are © Myth-X, 2023–2025. AI assets generated via perchance.org or Elara-AI; all AI Images edited, watermarked by Myth-X. Iconography sourced from RPG-Awesome or Font Awesome. Content is hosted and displayed via World Anvil.
All rights reserved. Redistribution or commercial use without express permission is prohibited.
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