Stormcallers
Stormcallers are parasitic cultists who follow the Weeping Dragon, one of four Dreadgods. They seek to advance in the sacred arts through its power.
Contents
Four Cults
There exists on Cradle a cult for each Dreadgod. Each Dreadgod cult is comprised of parasitic sacred artists who follow their chosen monster and benefit from the destruction it creates. The Path of each different cult use aspects from their specific Dreadgod, borrowing power from it to create Blood Shadows, Living Lightning, etc. etc.
- Redmoon Hall, with their Blood Shadows in a thousand different forms, follow The Bleeding Phoenix
- Abyssal Palace, their faces concealed beneath hoods and stony masks, follow The Wandering Titan
- Silent Servants, whose mouths are bound, follow The Silent King
- Stormcallers, who ring their arms in scripts that crackle with lightning, follow The Weeping Dragon
(-Underlord, epilogue)
Stormcaller Descriptions
Stormcaller madra is yellow and blue lightning. These cultists crackle with lightning. Their Goldsign is scripted rings of blue-gold lightning, ringing their biceps. (-Underlord, epilogue)
The boy . . .wore a pair of blue armbands Forged from vivid yellow-and-blue lightning. Stormcaller madra. Ziel and the boy stared at each other for a long moment. Ziel saw the shining dragon that flew on unnatural stormclouds of madra. Bolts like the ones wrapped around this man’s arms had slithered through doors, hunting victims. Lightning from the Sage's fingertips had wrapped around him, searing his spirit... Ziel shook himself as something stirred in the ashes of his heart. (Uncrowned, ch 14)
Cult Members, Stormcallers
We know only a handful of Stormcaller cult members:
- Therian Nills competed in the 18th Uncrowned King Tournament. He “was an ordinary man. He had started as a farmer. . . (book 8, Wintersteel)
- Underlord, Calan Archer also competed.
- And the Storm Sage, the cult leader, whose name is not yet given
The Storm Sage
The Sage of Calling Storms is the leader of the cult. The Storm Sage is evil, mutilating Ziel’s spirit and forcing him to watch his Dawnwing Sect get slaughtered, some years ago on the Iceflower Continent. The Sage only appears in Ziel’s memories so far, and we do not even have a name yet. Could the Sage even possibly be a woman??
Ziel's duel with the Sage of Calling Storms had been for nothing. He had lost, of course. Even at the height of his power, he was no Sage. And instead of killing him, the leader of the Stormcaller cult had mutilated him. Cutting apart his spirit and stitching it together...wrong. Afterward, he had been allowed to live. Forced to live, almost. He was no threat to the Storm Sage, no threat to the Stormcallers without a sect behind him, and certainly no threat to the Weeping Dragon. He had drifted along like a dead leaf on the wind, formerly one of the proud geniuses of the Iceflower continent. (Uncrowned, ch 14)
To mutilate Ziel’s spirit, the Storm Sage had mis-used the research findings of Monarch Tiberian Arelius, studies conducted on the Pure Storm Baptism (Wintersteel ch 14)
The Storm Sage also attacked Akura Fury at Sky’s Edge. Four cult leaders at Herald or Sage rank, versus one newborn Monarch. (Wintersteel ch 26)
Chunks of the surrounding mountains hurled themselves at Fury, courtesy of the Abyssal Palace Herald. The Herald of Redmoon Hall struck with waves of bloody needles like crimson cloud banks, while the Herald of the Silent Servants cut at Fury with endless slashes of a white sword that lit up the sky. The Stormcallers had no Herald, but one Sage. It was hard for Lindon to follow the exact details of the fight, but the Sage of Calling Storms seemed to be wrestling against Fury’s authority, opposing whenever Fury made one of his echoing commands. Lindon could feel the will pressing down on Fury, constraining him. The newborn Monarch kept fighting. (Wintersteel ch 26)
Underlord Calan Archer
Weeping Dragon flew, a storm followed, as it agitated the
water, wind, and lightning aura for miles around. This
technique had been modeled on that one, and it
allowed Stormcallers to slowly dominate a battlefield.
-Wintersteel, ch 16
Calan Archer participated in the 18th Uncrowned King Tournament. Years earlier, he had been in on the slaughter that killed Ziel’s Dawnwing disciples. He was older than Therian by almost ten years, and he looked like he belonged in the tournament. He was thick with muscle, his Goldsigns crackling around thick biceps. The scripted rings of blue-gold lightning looked like they were about to burst off. His hair was blond so pale that it was almost white, and he had a scar across one eye socket. (Wintersteel)
Death of Dawnwing Sect
Some time ago, the Weeping Dragon passed over the Iceflower Continent and vicious Stormcallers wrought havoc in its wake. Ziel lost his entire Dawnwing sect to the Stormcallers. The Sage also mangled Ziel’s spirit / core.
The memory of the Weeping Dragon taking up the sky, its living lightning decimating his students and friends, had played in his mind so many times that it had scraped him raw. Dreadgods couldn't be blamed for the destruction they caused; he might as well shout at a hurricane for daring to flood his house. It was the Dreadgod cultists that had stoked his rage, as they looted and pillaged in their master's wake. They had chased down the fleeing Dawnwing sect as rain and thunder poured from the sky. Ziel had stayed behind to hold them off as his junior disciples and students escaped. It hadn't worked. As it turned out, one of the Weeping Dragon's lightning strikes had caused a landslide that wiped them all out. (Uncrowned, ch 14)
Pact with Reigan Shen
In the epilogue of Underlord, the conniving Reigan Shen recruits the four cults to his cause, to represent him in the upcoming Uncrowned King Tournament. In subsequent books he uses them in various schemes, ultimately to gain the power of Subject One, who is also a Dreadgod — the first one ever, locked inside the Labyrinth. He doesn’t tell them the whole truth.
