Veilbearer

• Exceptional memory and mental fortitude
• Training in resisting magical and psionic intrusion
• Fluency in one or more dead or divine languages
• A proven loyalty to a patron power (divine, arcane, or political)
• Completion of a rigorous truth-trial (detailed below)

• Must be at least 25 years old (mental maturity is key)
• Must have no surviving immediate family (or forswear them)
• Cannot be a known criminal, though they may be accused after induction
• Must pass a Truth-Stone trial without succumbing to madness or revelation

The final appointment occurs in a moonless night ritual called The Drawing of the Veil. The candidate is blindfolded and brought to a hidden sanctum, where they are made to speak a single truth they’ve never told anyone. After this confession, they are offered one of the Veils of Binding, which, when donned, seals their vow of silence through magical and divine enforcement.

A senior Veilbearer or a divine avatar officiates the ceremony. Once complete, the individual is considered erased from public record.

• Guard the location or details of forbidden knowledge
• Bear witness to crimes, confessions, or truths without speaking them
• Ensure forbidden lore is not misused or rediscovered
• Accompany dignitaries or powerful figures as silent witnesses
• Confess only to divine proxies or authorized reliquary keepers

• Carry memory-crystals, scrolls, or psionic relics tied to lost knowledge
• Participate in magically-enforced silence courts, where secrets are recorded but not spoken
• Deliver sealed truths between factions, acting as unbreachable messengers
• Tend to sacred vaults, forbidden libraries, or entombed gods

• Magical protections (immunity to Zone of Truth, Detect Thoughts, etc.)
• Sanctified housing and sustenance from the Reliquary or patron church
• Deep respect from certain circles (though feared or hated in others)
• Access to long-forgotten lore, even if they cannot speak of it
• Possession of a Veilbearer Sigil that allows passage through certain ancient wards

• The Veil of Binding: A silk-like mask enchanted to suppress vocal magic, emotions, and even identity if needed.
• Whispershard Pendant: Stores “unspeakable” thoughts, allowing silent telepathy with authorized figures.
• Scroll of Unknowing: If a Veilbearer is captured, they can read this to magically erase the knowledge from their own mind.
• Simple robes in charcoal, indigo, or ash-grey—never adorned.

Rare and dangerous. Can only be done through:

• A divine unbinding ritual (performed by Elyndra or Aurenos clergy)
• Willful sacrifice (permanently sealing the bearer into a reliquary)
• Ritual execution (called The Severing of Silence) if betrayed their vow
  Dismissed Veilbearers are either mind-wiped or confined forever.

• First established after the Shattering of Dwelmspire, when an apprentice leaked a spell that tore apart a city.
• During the Silent Schism, three Veilbearers broke their vow and triggered a short but devastating religious war.
• The last known public Veilbearer was seen 200 years ago, but their existence is often suspected during regime changes or divine upheaval.

• Viewed as saints, martyrs, or cursed pariahs depending on region
• In Virellia: feared and kept at arm’s length—"those who silence the tide"
• In Embergarde: seen as necessary shepherds of dangerous magic

Common superstition says that “If a Veilbearer watches you sleep, the gods are deciding your fate.”