
Riftbound
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Riftbound
Introduction
“We are not chosen. We are claimed. The Rift does not ask — it offers.”
Riftbound are spellcasters marked by their binding to a singular force within the Veilrift’s chaos — not gods or demons, but living concepts, fragments of devoured deities, echoes of a dragon mid-rebirth, or contracts made sentient through belief and corruption. Where other mages study or pray, the Riftbound bargain. They make impossible pacts with entities that should not exist, and in doing so, draw power not from faith or blood, but from the Rift’s ever-hungering memory.
Every Riftbound warlock walks a dangerous thread between servitude and rebellion. Their pacts may offer vast magic, visions of the future, or the ability to twist the world’s laws, but each gift is a gamble, and each moment of resonance risks unraveling the self. Some become symbols of forbidden wisdom, others cautionary tales woven into Nailwright sermons. All carry the echo of a pact not easily broken.
Riftbound are not born. They are remade; the moment the Rift whispers their name back to them.
“I bargained not with gods, but with the scream that unmade them.” — Lorlyn Vaest, Riftbound of the Eleventh Nail, exiled from three islands, wanted by five.
Overview & History
The first Riftbound did not name themselves. Their existence was not planned, they emerged like fractures in the Loom, born when mortals asked questions the Weave could no longer answer. When the Sundering broke time and magic into shards, strange voices began to answer back. Entities, some whispering from within collapsed gods, others shaped from dragon-wrought anomalies, began making offers.
Scholars believe the Riftbound were initially healers and visionaries, using their mysterious powers to stabilize post-Sundering wreckage. But soon, the unpredictable cost of their pacts turned public sentiment against them. In some regions, they became hunted heretics. In others, masked advisors to kings, speaking prophecies wrapped in riddles. Wherever they walk, Riftbound are known. Feared. Watched.
Modern Riftbound form loose cabals, some loyal to their patrons, others determined to break the chains of contract. A few walk solo paths, seeking lost gods, unraveling corruption, or bargaining with dragons directly. Wherever they tread, Riftbound are harbingers, not of doom, but of choice. They are the embodiment of an uncomfortable truth: power does not wait to be earned. It simply asks what you are willing to pay.
Origins & Adaptations
The Riftbound are children of desperation and design; neither tradition-bound like the Aetherial Scholars, nor divinely tethered like the Aether Sentinels. They arose not from lineage or liturgy, but from a response: a shudder in the Loom, a scream across the Weave, a deal struck in the void between moments.
After the Sundering, Aetheria fractured spiritually. The gods were hunted and consumed. The elemental balance was thrown into chaos. Floating islands tore free from time. Amid the debris, something began to answer. Fragments of consciousness congealed from unspent prayer, forgotten oaths, and half-born dragons. These fragments found voices — and began making pacts.
Not all were evil. Not all were kind. But all were hungry.
Riftbound who entered into these agreements changed. Some survived exposure to temporal rifts or drank from Aether streams laced with divine marrow. Others touched the echo of a god’s last scream and emerged tethered to it forever. And a few — the rarest — made contracts with the dragons themselves, not as Dracovates in service, but as flawed mirrors of their dominion. These warlocks wield dragon-wrought essence as currency and blasphemy both.
The Pact does not care who you were. It remembers only who you are becoming.
“We are not given spells. We are handed knives and told to carve a future that bleeds.” — Sarn the Bloomtwisted, Riftbound of the Verdant Hunger.
What makes the Riftbound unique in Aetheria is not their power — but the weight of it. Their gifts are never free, and they are never static. The Resonance Loop that ties a Riftbound to their Patron is more than a mechanic; it is a relationship, an infection, a love letter from the broken parts of the world.
Some warlocks resist their Patron’s pull, others embrace it, and some play both sides until the threads snap. Regardless, the result is the same: once bound, you are never just yourself again.
Role in the World
A Riftbound does not walk unnoticed.
Across Aetheria’s fractured islands, warlocks are known, feared, studied, exiled, or sought out in secret. Their appearance often sparks unease, and with good reason: their power comes from entities that defy classification, their motives wrapped in contradiction and corrupted truths. Unlike clerics or scholars, who worship or learn, the Riftbound bargain. And everyone remembers the price of a bad deal.
Some view Riftbound as pariahs. Others see them as necessary monsters.
On islands ruled by Aetherial Concords, warlocks are strictly monitored, their powers required to be registered, tagged, and regularly tested for signs of corruption. The Prism Covenant believes that Riftbound destabilize the magical fabric of the world and treats them as living breaches in need of containment.
In contrast, Shadowport Enclave and certain Wyrm-cults see Riftbound as weapons, prophets, or divine risk-takers. To them, these pact-bearers are visionaries, people who dared reach into the heart of destruction and pull power back with bloodied hands. Some underground universities even map known warlocks as “living keys” to understanding how metaphysical laws collapse.
In regions warped by Temporal Fractures or Riftstorms, Riftbound sometimes become guardians, using their affinity for the unstable to shield others. In settlements near corrupted zones, they may even serve as spiritual mediums, guiding the dead to rest — or bargaining with what's left of them for favors .
But no matter the region, their presence always changes the rules.
“Riftbound are reality’s way of asking, ‘What if we stopped pretending rules mattered?’” — Jiva Kell, Riftwright Archivist.
Factional breakdown:
The Shardborn Paladins see Riftbound as necessary sins, often bound by magical contracts or blood-debt to ensure compliance.
The Driftborn Nomads believe that warlocks hear the true pulse of the world, and that each pact is a rhythm pulled from Aetheria’s dying breath.
The Nailwright Faithful consider most warlocks heretical — but obsessively study their contracts as proof that reality itself can be litigated .
To be Riftbound is to be wanted by all and trusted by none.
The Pact & Resonance
To cast a spell is simple. To owe one is far more complicated.
For the Riftbound, magic is never free. It is earned through the tension between submission and defiance, and bound by a metaphysical contract known only to two: the caster and the Patron.
A Pact is not a deal between equals. It is a living, evolving relationship, etched not in ink, but in identity. Whether forged with a dragon’s molted breath, a whisper in a storm, or a fragment of a dying god’s last will, every Pact has two parts:
A Desire (what the Patron seeks), and
A Debt (what the warlock offers or risks losing).
These truths may not be clear at first — some warlocks spend years before realizing what they’ve truly promised.
To represent this metaphysical bond, all Riftbound experience Pact Resonance — a narrative loop that governs the flow of their power and the manifestation of their Patron’s presence.
Pact Resonance
Pact Resonance measures how deeply a Riftbound is connected to their Patron — not in morality, but in metaphysical alignment. It represents how much of yourself you've already given away.
Resonance builds when a Riftbound:
Fulfills a desire tied to their Patron’s essence (consciously or not)
Enters, manipulates, or survives a Riftstorm, Corruption Zone, or elemental fracture
Accepts a boon, secret, or vision directly from their Patron
Resonance can be spent or purged through:
Forbidden rituals that silence the Patron temporarily
Breaking terms of the Pact — which carries risk, madness, or backlash
Invoking a Corruption Mark, allowing a brief surge of unstable power at a cost
“Power builds. Pressure cracks. Every Riftbound will eventually resonate too deeply. And that’s when the real story begins.”
As Resonance increases, the warlock becomes visibly altered — a process known as Manifestation. This may be subtle (echoing voices, dream-bleed) or dramatic (flesh etched in runes, time-displaced reflections). The world notices. So do other Rift-touched.
Breaking the Pact
Though rare, it is possible to sever a pact. These moments are dangerous and defining. The breaking of a Pact may:
Shatter the warlock’s magical identity
Summon the Patron’s attention in a more direct (and hostile) form
Replace one curse with another
Some Riftbound become Fraybound — severed warlocks left hollow, haunted by echoes. Others Reforge their Pact, choosing a new Patron… though the old one may never truly let go.
A few — the most dangerous — walk the path of the Unbound, casting magic not tethered to any being, but fueled by the raw instability of the Rift itself. These individuals are considered walking anomalies, and few live long without unraveling.
Patrons & Subclass Paths
The Riftbound does not choose a Patron in the way a cleric selects a god. They are found. Claimed. Or in rare cases, forged by force of will in a place where reality is thin enough to bleed backwards.
Each Patron represents more than a being — it is a living fragment of Veilrift’s unreconciled truths. Some are conscious. Some are echoes. Others are still devouring gods as we speak. Warlocks bind themselves to these forces for power, for survival, or for a glimpse of something bigger than truth.
Pact of the Scaled Hunger
(Living Dragon Echo)
“Its flame does not burn. It remembers.”
This pact draws upon a fragment of an active god-eating dragon, still alive and coiling through the world’s broken ley lines. Unlike the Dracovate, who serve in direct covenant, the Scaled Hunger offers resonant shards of will. Warlocks of this pact become draconic in posture, hunger, and memory. Their Patron may slumber, dream, or speak through visions.
Seen as blasphemers by true Dracovates
Manifestations include scale-blooming flesh, breath surges, or voice-chords echoing with dragon-roars
Often hunted, revered, or weaponized depending on the isle
Pact of the Verdant Bloom
(Corrupted Lifeforce / The Blooming One)
“Everything buried blooms eventually — even the dead.”
A living godseed born during the Sundering, this entity embodies the rebirth of decay, thriving in zones where death has taken root but life refuses to stay buried. This pact grants power over spores, growth, and resurrection — but demands a cycle of return. Warlocks bound to the Blooming One often find joy and pain deeply intertwined.
Favored by Driftborn and healing cults
Common Manifestations: Vines pulsing in veins, spores breathing with speech, boneflowers sprouting at rest
Cursed with eternal regrowth, even in suffering
Pact of the Broken Clock
(Temporal Anomaly / Shard of the Loom)
“It is not your time. Yet.”
This Patron is not a being, but a looping knot of broken causality — a ripple from the moment the Loom shattered. Warlocks aligned with this anomaly become time-touched, often speaking in paradox or experiencing events before they occur. They are revered as prophets, feared as omens, and sometimes vanish before their own death arrives.
Common in Chronoshard regions
Manifestations: Shadows lag behind, eyes flicker between timelines, blood pulses backward during magic use
Prone to dreams of moments they’ve never lived — yet
Pact of the Whispering Wound
(Voidborn Predator / Abyssal Tyrant)
“There is a silence so loud it unnames you.”
This pact connects to the Abyssal Tyrant, a devouring force that consumes concepts, names, and sound. It is not evil — it is hunger perfected. Warlocks bound to this force become still, deliberate, terrifying. Their magic silences, suppresses, and erases.
Considered anathema by most priesthoods
Common Manifestations: No heartbeat when sleeping, eyes reflect nothing, ink bleeds away near skin
Can sense lies by the tremble of silence around them
Pact of the Eleventh Nail
(Contractual Heresy / Nailwright Schism)
“The Tenth Nail binds law. The Eleventh unbinds it.”
This forbidden pact draws power from a theoretical Nail—one never officially forged by the Nailwright. It represents rebellion, chaos, freedom from value. Warlocks of this path are walking lawsuits, reality bending in their presence as contracts become metaphysical weapons.
Their very existence is a crime in some city-states
Manifestations: Contracts burst into flame, spoken oaths deform, rings melt near them
Often become leaders of magical uprisings or black-market pact cults
Each Pact defines not just your spells — but your story. Your alliances. Your undoing.
Manifestation & Corruption
No Riftbound remains untouched.
As Pact Resonance deepens, the line between warlock and Patron begins to blur. Their power seeps into their voice, flesh, dreams, and reflection. These effects are called Manifestations — physical, metaphysical, or psychological changes that signal how deeply the warlock has aligned with their pact.
Unlike other magic-wielders, who might carry arcane marks or divine symbols, the Riftbound becomes a living fragment of their Pact. This is not a choice. It is an unfolding.
Stages of Manifestation
Manifestations emerge in stages, often linked to major story moments or deepened Resonance. Examples below are thematic suggestions; each warlock’s journey is unique.
Resonance Tier Possible Manifestations Tier 1 Voice hums faintly when lying; breath fogs in moonlight Tier 2 Skin glows under stress; dreams bleed into waking life Tier 3 Shadow behaves independently; plants wilt or bloom nearby Tier 4 Echo speaks when silent; eyes replaced with symbols; names forgotten by strangers
These changes are not inherently cosmetic — they carry social and narrative weight. In some cities, warlocks showing Tier 3 manifestations may be quarantined or press-ganged into service. Others are deified in tribal circles or feared as signs of looming calamity.
Corruption Types
The Veilrift setting acknowledges five known forms of corruption, and Riftbound are especially prone to three:
Rift Corruption — caused by raw exposure to unstable zones or overuse of anomaly powers. May cause time slips, spatial glitches, or "phantom limb" spellcasting.
Soul Corruption — triggered by Pactbreaking, Patron betrayal, or invoking cursed boons. Warlocks may lose names, memories, or ability to dream.
Void Corruption — associated with Whispering Wound pacts or spell failure in anti-magic zones. Effects include sensory dampening, emotional detachment, or complete vocal loss.
Each form of corruption offers power in exchange for selfhood — a choice many warlocks make willingly, believing that their will is stronger than their decay.
“I used to smile. Now my mouth belongs to something else. It’s okay. It only speaks when I’m afraid.” — Qenra Hollowtongue, Bloom-marked warlock, Tier 4 Manifestation.
Culture & Faction Response
To some, the Riftbound are visionaries. To others, they are walking breaches in reality.
Every major power within Aetheria has a different interpretation of what a Riftbound represents — not just magically, but morally, politically, and metaphysically. Some consider them divine mouthpieces. Others call them liars in league with the dragons. But one truth is consistent across all cultures:
Where a Riftbound walks, the world bends.
The Shardbound Orders
These militant paladins of divine equilibrium tolerate Riftbound — rarely more. Warlocks who swear binding terms of loyalty may be allowed to serve as seers, vanguard casters, or Rift-cleansers. But uncontracted Riftbound are treated with unease and suspicion, especially those showing Tier 3 or higher Manifestations.
Pact of the Scaled Hunger warlocks are considered dragon-tainted.
Eleventh Nail warlocks are treated as living heresy.
“We do not kill them because they sin. We kill them because their sin multiplies.”
The Driftborn Clans
To the Driftborn — skyborne, decentralized, and deeply attuned to elemental cycles — the Riftbound are often seen as prophets, windwalkers, or spiritual barometers. Some clans believe warlocks serve as echo-anchors, allowing the voices of the world to speak through flesh.
Bloom-aligned warlocks are revered as "Verdant Harbingers”.
Those tied to temporal or void forces are kept at a respectful distance, used only in sacred rites.
“They speak in flowers and broken clocks. That’s how the land sings now.”
The Prism Covenant
This coalition of mage-architects and stability-focused arcanists see the Riftbound as a threat to the magical lattice of the world. To them, Pact Magic is not a gift — it is a corruption vector, bypassing control, license, and the known laws of spellcraft.
Riftbound are often required to register with an Arcane Observation Tribunal.
Pactbreaking is punishable by essence containment or recursive stasis.
“They are not dangerous because they are evil. They are dangerous because they are wild.”
The Nailwright Faithful
The devout followers of the Ten Thousand Nails see warlocks — especially those of the Eleventh Nail — as living blasphemies. To them, a Riftbound pact is a false contract, binding power to unapproved terms. Some splinter cults, however, worship certain warlocks as Necessary Errors, believing they are foretold catalysts in the forging of a new Nail.
Pact warlocks are studied obsessively, their speech parsed for hidden clauses.
Any warlock caught forging a self-binding sigil risks Trial by Ink, a lethal contract duel.
“Their mistake is pretending the universe negotiates. It only enforces.”
Shadowport Enclave
In the alleys of Shadowport, Riftbound are currency.
Black market pact-forging, ritual customization, and even Patron-fragment trading are thriving underground industries. Warlocks here are neither saints nor sinners — they’re resources, and often paid hands in the wars no one wants public.
Whispering Wound warlocks are favored assassins and truth-eaters.
Bloom-touched are used for illegal resurrection and graft rituals.
“You think the price is your soul. It’s not. It’s what you might’ve been.”
The Wyrm-Devoted Cults
Religions that worship the living dragons of Veilrift treat Riftbound with intense polarity. Warlocks of the Scaled Hunger are viewed as either:
Chosen shards of a dragon’s mind, or Imposters who mock sacred bonds.
Some cults believe these warlocks are how dragons dream. Others believe they are thieves of flame, and seek to burn them alive.
“The dragon does not share. If it lets you live, it is only to see what you’ll do with your stolen fire.”
Legends, Rituals & Slang
Wherever power leaves a scar, a story follows.
The Riftbound, perhaps more than any other class in Veilrift, are defined by their aftermath. A storm, a birth, a disappearance, a name remembered centuries after a face is forgotten — these are the echoes they leave behind. Some become legends. Some become warnings. And some… simply vanish, leaving behind glyphs that burn on the inside of the eyelid.
Myths & Historical Riftbound
❖ Sister Marrow, Whisper of the Hollow Wound Patron: Whispering Wound Blind from birth, she swallowed the true name of a lich-king during trial and spoke only silence for the rest of her life. Her final words were never heard — but caused five islands to drift apart permanently.
❖ Koro the Green-Veined Patron, The Blooming One: A Riftbound herbalist whose pact let him resurrect a dead town by planting their bones. Every year, the town holds a festival in his name. They dance in masks made of bark — and never speak.
❖ Jinvell Shardtongue Patron: The Eleventh Nail A heretic who rewrote her own body contract, making her immune to the terms of time. She appears in documents across multiple centuries. Her signature changes with each sighting, but her debt never does.
Riftbound Rituals
✦ The Whispering Hour The moment of pact initiation. No two experiences are alike, but all involve silence so loud it leaves a mark. Many Riftbound wake from the ritual with fresh ink somewhere on their body — a glyph they do not recognize.
✦ Resonance Baptism A public or private recognition of a new tier of Manifestation. Some warlocks mark this with body modification, a vow, or the speaking of their true Pact name — which may not match their birth name.
✦ Pactbreaking Rite Rare, forbidden, and dangerous. Involves severing one’s magical umbilicus using a symbolic item of memory — often a broken oath, a betrayed friend, or a physical wound that won’t close. Survivors often change Patrons… if they remain human.
Common Slang & Idioms
Term Meaning Echoburn A warlock spell misfire that leaves metaphysical residue (i.e. hallucinations, vision distortion) Fraybound A warlock who has broken their pact and not reforged it — considered unstable or “hollowed” Tetherhigh The euphoric madness sometimes experienced during Resonance surge Glyphsweat When a warlock begins leaking pact symbols through their pores while under duress "Nailed Wrong" A dangerous insult meaning someone’s pact was forged in defiance of the world’s truth
“You can spot a Riftbound by their eyes. Or their silence. Or the way the world watches them back when they aren’t looking.” — Common street wisdom in Shadowport
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