The Shrouded manipulate the the Gray Void, using the Domain's necromatic energy to empower their weapons and destroy or control the undead. Many view the Shrouded with suspicion, but they have repeatedly proven their worth when facing Walking Corpses. Even the Grovekeepers accept them.
Shrouded knights use chi-attuned weapons and fortify themselves with sigils and wards that drain life and energy from their foes. Shrouded with a less martial focus use necromantic energies to inflict debilitating curses, shatter the bindings that drive the undead and call forth minions to defend them in battle. Many powers of the Gray Void must be activated with blood sacrifices.
Some Shrouded use the life force, Anima, from fresh corpses to empower their spells. Corpses used in this way instantly decay into dust and cannot be raised as undead. Raising a character whose corpse has been drained is very difficult.
The Gray Void is antithetical to the Great Forest. Adepts may not use powers of both Domains.
The Gray Void is not ruled or guarded by an Ascendant or embodied Child of Singularity. Rather, the entire Domain is a sentient manifestation of unlife. Spells that draw on the Gray Void are exercises in will, not formulaic constructs that channel power. With each invocation the Shrouded forces the unliving Domain to do his or her bidding. Minor spells draw little attention, but the Shrouded must sacrifice life essence to appease the Gray Void when they use more powerful invocations.
Mindless undead are empowered by fragments of the Gray Void that escape or are drawn from the Domain. Most are driven by blind hunger, not for flesh, but for purpose. They are drawn to motion and heat and energy like moths to flame. Intelligent undead are tainted by intention taken from an outside source: the fleeing soul of a dying Dwarf, the last struggles of an animal slain by a pack of ghouls, or the wails and screams of a lost child. To the Shrouded, mindless undead are tools to exploit; intelligent undead are infected abominations that must be destroyed.
The Shrouded all follow their own paths to power, but most are also part of the Shrouded League, which disseminates information concerning undead threats, provides basic training to new adepts, and organizes responses to Shrouded persecution. The organization is less a religion than a guild.
The League's primary base of operations is the Gray Keep near Woodway in the Free Cities. It also maintains lodges in Ironhold, Highbridge, and Southshore. A council of five leaders directs League activities and manages the Gray Keep. Councilors serve five-year terms and one seat comes up for election each year. All League members in good standing are eligible to stand for a seat and may vote at the annual meeting held at Gray Keep.
League members are expected to pay a tithe of 250 GP each year, which grants them access to the organization's library in the Gray Keep and food and lodging while they visit League facilities. Students at the keep often have a sponsor who pays their first year's dues.
Members must:
Membership is divided into ranks.
While the Shrouded League is not a religious organization, they do view a few dates as important to their order.
These days of balance are considered ideal for performing complex Gray Void spells.
Attendees usually arrive a day or two before the meeting and use the time to discuss League business, lobby for councilor candidates, or propose new students. Meeting business includes:
The Shrouded League uses a flag made up of three horizontal bands that are, from top to bottom, dark gray, pale gray, and dark gray. League members wear cloaks or scarves of the same colors. They also wear League pendants: polished hematite in a black iron setting. Gray Keep staff may wear pendants or cloaks decorated with a stylized keep icon. Students wear scarves decorated with the same mark. Veterans and campaign survivors may decorate their cloaks with black iron veteran's bars and campaign symbols. Councilors and Keep guards also wear symbols indicating their positions within the order.