Midnight Caste
In the resplendent darkness of the hour of midnight, the Unconquered Sun lies dead until his morning resurrection. Luna and the Five Maidens stand guard over Creation, but their light cannot prevail against the shroud of night. Members of the Midnight Caste embody this grim majesty. Even as the darkest night rustles with the murmur of insects and nocturnal predators, so too do the Whispers of the Neverborn claw and scuttle up from beneath Creation, hungrily stalking the living world through their chosen priests of annihilation.
Midnight Exaltations best complement broken faith or unholy zeal. It does not matter how the soul cracks to its breaking point, as long as it faces the bleak certainty that life is a futile lie. This epiphany shatters some souls, but a select few revel in freedom from the uncertainty of hope, and these withered souls may Exalt among the Echoes of the Abyss. This intrinsic understanding of death, a faith set apart from logic, can bring Abyssals of Resplendent Darkness into conflict with the scholarly Daybreak Caste. Some Midnight Castes also envy the ease with which Daybreaks master the dark miracles of necromancy.
In their zeal, Midnight Castes sometimes decide that most Deathlords want to rule the world more than they want to destroy it. This realization can lead renegade Silent Children to strike out on their own by forming death cults, making alliances and even demanding fealty from weaker peers. Needless to say, the Deathlords take great insult in being so maligned (or, perhaps, in being so transparent). Even renegades who seek redemption sometimes continue on this path, secretly hoping that a holy man will defeat their dark theology and either destroy them or lead them back to the light. On the other end of the spectrum, some renegades seek to purge the taint within them by spreading the praises of the Unconquered Sun. They destroy all who do not submit to their zeal, even as the Resonance of their hypocrisy devastates the wretched faithful who look to them for guidance.
Loyalist Midnights see themselves as righteous martyrs, enduring the burden of life to guide everyone else into death. In Creation, the death cults that grow like tumors around the Children of Silence provide their circle with spies, assassins, Essence and a haven in the living lands. The fervency of the caste disturbs those Deathlords who see their masters' hatred reflected in the eyes of their priests. True faith is hardly universal among the caste, though, and some Children of Silence merely seek to join the Deathlords as unholy emperors of the dead. The very worst of the Blasphemous believe that even the peace of the grave is a lie for fools who think they can escape the universe's pain. These monsters don't want to deliver the world into the gentle embrace of Oblivion. They just want to piss on the ashes of the world and howl the last laugh into the smoking wind.
Anima Banner: As Zeniths radiate light, Midnights consume it. Their caste marks open like a third eye upon their brows, widening into a blackened disk rimmed in blood, through which glimpses of the Neverborn's collective gaze flicker with incomprehensible hate. Many anima banners are featureless black vortices, yet maddened onlookers know the animas of Those Who Speak Blasphemous Truths are watching them.
Anima Effects: As her action, a Midnight Caste can reanimate a corpse as a zombie by touching it and spending five motes. Ten ticks later, the cadaver rises as a zombie extra. This effect becomes reflexive and gains a 10-yard range once the Abyssal spends 11–15 motes of Peripheral Essence. Once per action, the Midnight Caste's anima automatically reanimates one corpse within range, at no further Essence cost. These zombies are under the Abyssal's control but they steadily decay, suffering one level of aggravated damage per day until they disintegrate completely.
A Midnight Caste can also slay mortals with the pure power of Oblivion. As her action, a Resplendent Darkness can spend five motes and indicate a mortal within 10 yards. That mortal suffers dice of unsoakable, aggravated damage equal to the Midnight's Essence.
Caste Abilities: Echoes of the Abyss spread the gospel of Oblivion with Performance and Presence even as they resist its grasp with Integrity, Resistance and Survival.
Associations: The colors of yellow and cobalt, the southern direction, the corpse-element of jade, the half moon.
Sobriquets: Those Who Speak Blasphemous Truths, Echoes of the Abyss, Children of Silence, Resplendent Darkness, The Blasphemous
Concepts: cult mastermind, demented harlequin, embittered monk, herald of apocalypse, invincible nomad, revival preacher, voice of the Neverborn