Hangnail
When the great Kesh froze her sovereign orb and traced the solar rays with her own soot and silver, her chalcedony and onyx, contrary to what the laws of time dictated by summer’s bright light may say, the world didn’t completely die out in this new winter. Crops would wilt, surly enough, but the curse had an opposite effect on the woodlands. The shadow under the canopy, the winds atop the rivers, and the cool in the woods were all enhanced. Beasts would flourish, roads were lost, and apparitions roamed. The world grew cold, the harvests wilted, and the hope to find a new land to cradle oneself was snuffed. A deadly connection. But a new rhizome emerged as the footpaths wilted and the tree roots expanded. Drunk on the blood.
New enemies to the people were found, the greedy and the useless. Of course, as is typical of humanity, this only applies to the poor. New lords had risen following the fall of the Highking, and these little lords were struggling and desperate. It is thanks to these beasts in kingly clothing I receive my wand. The roads to Mormarth were lined with crucifixes, wooden crosses, all adorned with bones, bodies, and peasants. Through each corpse an iron spike was driven through the wrists. Most nails were reused but some were left behind, ripe to be pillaged. Mystical power, sacred power, is held in these items. Some have been known to grind them into a dust for remedies, others would keep them as talismans to protect from malevolent apparitions. The greater the sense of innocence in the victim, the more potent the nail’s power… and oh so many were innocent.
With my nail, torn from the hands of a milk maid to a diseased flock incinerated for their dirty milk, I relish in sublime magick. With my nail, taken in hand, I can now instruct to page my memorisation and instruction for a true acolyte:
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* First it is necessary to source a body from a sacred burial site. It is to be exhumed at night within the week of its initial passing.
* If possible a flower left by a loved one must be sullied at the grave.
* Stagnant water must be used to wash the corpse of any hallowing. Leakage from irrigation ditches or the sallow taille from a swamp is optimum.
* Only with this the process of driving the crucifixion nail through each hinge in the body can begin. It is recommended to start with each clavicle and then each joint thereafter, making your way down the body and ending at the ankles.
* Following this the joints must be disconnected; torn apart using a saw or pulled apart by rope tied to a cog wheel.
* With this each joint must then be reattached using a brass ring and the flesh sewn back together.
* Finally a name must be chosen. The power of a name is a power that goes without saying, for if the puppet should ever learn their own name, the spell will break. For this reason it is recommended to sully or destroy any tombstone marking your sourced cadaver so that the puppet may never read this information for themselves, and to stitch a hood or otherwise disfigure the puppet so that the source isn’t recognised by any who may be able to name them. For myself, I use the name of a glimmerist whom I met at a crossroad. They gifted me with arcane sight and their true name. In exchange this devil will forever live on in my acolytes.
A page from a grimoire found within a hollow witch elm north of Colton village. Part of Mr S. E. Guivian’s private collection of arcane literature in his personal library in Mormarth. Donated by travelling mercenaries.