> "Beneath every thriving kingdom lies a grave."
—Old proverb, now banned in all Nine Domains.
Long before the rise of the Nine Ancient Ones, when the world was wild and unmeasured, there existed a lone Order—keepers of balance, watchers of what should never return. They were nameless, faceless, and sworn not to power, but to silence. Their role was not to rule—but to bury what must not live again.
The well behind the village was not always a well.
It was once known as a Sealpoint, one of nine scattered across the early world. Each was built atop a Lineage Node, a vein of ancient energy tied directly to the First Ancient One—the one who fell before the Nine rose in his place.
Where the Domains now thrive, these Sealpoints slumbered. Each was locked by Bloodline Binding, designed to only answer to those marked by the First's forgotten legacy.
Centuries passed. The Sealpoints were hidden, overwritten by towns, ruins, and dirt. This one—the Ashwell—became a place where villagers tossed bones and ash after the old wars. They believed it cursed. Animals refused to drink near it. Children born close to it often died young or were born… different.
What no one knew was this:
The Ashwell wasn't dead.
It was waiting.
Waiting for the line to awaken.
Waiting for the shard to return.
Waiting for the next oathbearer to descend—and offer what they could never take back.