Tallowmirth

Tallowmirth, the Earl of the Afterfeast, is an ArchFey whose laughter rings out as he sucks marrow from the carrion he devours. Resembling a towering, hyena-like gnoll with a patchwork pelt of graying fur and balding skin, his form is lean yet bloated in the belly—like one who has gorged himself too long on what others left behind. His yellow eyes shimmer with sickly mirth, and his claws are always slick with grease, marrow, or the remnants of something freshly devoured. He wears finery stitched from tattering silks, bound by a belt of jawbones that clatter and click as he moves.   Within the Court of Carrion and Decomposition, Tallowmirth is both gourmand and philosopher, the scavenger lord who presides over what remains when all is done. To him, the banquet’s end is not the true end, but rather the start as the scraps and remains of the feast are not to be put to waste. His dominion extends over not the hunt or kill, or even the feast, but rather the aftermath where what is discarded or left behind is not put to waste. His voice is oily and rich, promising that nothing—no meal, no life, no memory—need ever truly go to waste. He claims that decay is the truest form of gratitude, and that those who eat what the world discards become part of its eternal renewal.   It has been said that Tallowmirth once feasted beside Yeenoghu, and stole a fragment of his appetite before fleeing into The Feywild. That divine hunger, refined by the magicks of the Fey, became wit and cunning rather than madness. He is known within his court for his humor and his infectous laugh that seems to reside in his kind.   Tallowmirth was lured into a trap designed by Prince Prospero of the Oleander Throne, where he was captures and then kept alive as he was vivisected to great part of the magic and wards for Prospero's Great Clock within his domain. His open chest revealed his heart's beat causing the ticking of the great clock while his lungs were the timing bellows inflating and deflating with air, his essence giving power to Prospero's designs. During The Fortnight Festival, the Court of Carrion and Decomposition led the guests to Prince Prospero's manor under dubious pretenses. There, the party was able to discover and free Tallowmirth, which dismantled the wards that kept the twin courts out. Gossamer explained that the lack of information of the circumstance was to ensure that the fey courts would attend and witness firsthand the perversion of the Oleander Throne and their intentions to harvest the fey for the magic they possess.   Wounded, but not slain, Tallowmirth was taken by the Court of Carrion and Decomposition to recover, if such a thing would truly be possible.