World of Aletheia
Status: Near-extinct remnant species
Scale: Extremely rare (3–5 groups)
Primary Terrain: Specific ruin-complexes and lattice-scarred sites
Core Nature
- Freed from enslavement, but bound by duty
- Haunted by ancestral guilt
- Fear leaving due to perceived weakening
- Hate staying because of what it represents
Role
- Watchers, not rulers
- Intervene only when corruption risks escalation
- Protect power they wish were gone
Tragedy
- They do not know how to destroy the evil
- Believe doing so requires power, knowledge, or artifacts they lack
- Would help outsiders destroy it — even if it ends them
- Unknown truth: most could survive if weaned off ruin influence
Narrative Function
- Living moral consequence of the Cataclysm
- Guardians of uncertainty
- Proof that survival is not the same as healing