Owb

Commonly called owbs, or lesser owbs by more powerful owb prophets, most of these mysterious creatures focus on manipulating caligni culture. Among calignis, an owb hides from mortals they deem beneath them-even including calignis in their charge. An owb prefers to select one caligni leader to control from the shadows, manipulating them using charisma and magic. Through coersion of such agents, owbs maintain a steady hand in the politics of the community, either blessing and breaking pacts with other creatures or acting as intermediaries and ambassadors between calignis and powerful external entities.

These ancient denizens of the Netherworld appear as grayish humanoid torsos covered in translucent funereal veils of shadow. Silent and mysterious, they float about, absent of legs to hold them aloft. Never speaking a word aloud, they instead reach into the minds of nearby creatures to whisper curses, threats, and strange bits of forlorn augury.

These haunting creatures are revered by calignis as proxies of the Forsaken—a strange array of ancestor-like demigods whom many calignis worship. Some even believe owbs are the Forsaken manifested, and that they are able to subtly manipulate creatures on the Netherworld without leaving behind any indication.

A multitude of owbs visit and even remain to advise caligni communities, as varied in personality as the Forsaken. All owbs share a hatred of light and color, except for the flickering glow of the burning cold magic they can hurl as a weapon. Owbs who live among calignis tend to prohibit the use of light and color, using their curse of darkness to quench violators if necessary. The only other similarity across all owbs is their entrenched desire to manipulate their charges through mind-reading and deception, though such manipulation can be either subtle or overt.