ARCHITEKT LUMEN VARROS
“The Blood Architect of Fablewood”
Blood-Mage • Artificer • Lives in Fablewood • From Embervault
Current Location: Virelin’s Rest, deep in the Fablewood in a blood mage tower
SUMMARY
Lumen Varros is an infamous Embervault mechanist who broke from traditional forge-engineering to pursue blood arcana — a taboo branch of magic that merges machinery, organics, and living essence.
Their greatest creation was a war-automaton designed for the Canavan military campaigns, powered initially by blood-flow matrices and later retrofitted to use mirrorstone soul-current.
When Silverwake discovered the design’s “irregularities” (i.e., delightful chaos), the automaton was banned by the Santifiers of Silverwake.
Rather than face trial, Lumen fled Embervault and built a crooked, spiraling wizard tower on the outskirts of Virelin’s Rest, where they now study blood magic.
BACKGROUND
Origin: Embervault, Canava
Lumen Varros was once a star prodigy of the Council of Sparks — the anarchic engineering congress of Embervault that deliberately introduces chaos, asymmetry, and “technological spite” into Canava’s war machines.
Where most Embervault inventors use crystal current or combustion foci, Lumen pursued a radical idea:
“Blood is a resource, just as souls." This was in line with the ideology of Lantern Priests, but mostly for mirrorstone. Blood shed a new light on the act.
THE BLOOD-AUTOMATON: MODEL HK-S (“HELION KNIFE-SINGER”)
Purpose:
A line-breaker war construct built for trench warfare against Thorgun troll clans.
Designed to operate indefinitely in the field, refueling with enemy blood.
Key Features:
• Biovascular engine: Tubes of living metal pulse with absorbed blood or mirrorstone current.
• “Knife-Larynx” — a resonant chamber that emits terrifying shrill battlefield tones.
• Adaptive asymmetry: No two units are identical; each naturally mutates.
• Gnome-compatible helium port, originally for emergency venting…
➝ Now used for balloon animals.
Why It Was Banned:
The automaton’s internal systems proved:
• impossible to abide Serendahl’s standard of symmetry
• unpredictable at best, the opposite of orderly
Silverwake issued an immediate decommission order.
The Council of Sparks responded by:
• shrugging
• naming it a “misunderstood prototype”
• repurposing one to inflate parade balloons
• sending the rest “somewhere far away”
Which turned out to be Fablewood, near Virelin’s Rest.
LUMEN VARROS IN THE FABLEWOOD
Current Activities:
From their moss-coated, half-collapsing tower (shaped like a tangled artery), Lumen:
• studies quiet natural forms
• tests whether trees can hold blood-sigils (mixed results)
• performs healing bloodwork for injured rangers
• consults with wizards on creature anatomy
Their Reputation in Virelin’s Rest:
• Rangers: “Strange but helpful; their magic works.”
• Wizards: “Fascinatingly irresponsible.”
• Reformed Pirates: “We like the balloon tricks.”
• Halfling Gambler: “That blood-thing beat me at cards once. Still pissed.”
• Rootwraiths: Seem to tolerate the tower. A very good sign.
• Unicorns: Avoid the area
THE AUTOMATON IN THE CIRCUS
Name: HK-S “Helius”
(Though it calls itself “Knife-Singer Alpha-Recursive Unit #12,” only Lumen cares.)
Current Role:
• Balloon animal artist
• Fire juggler
• Emergency security for the Prop Foundry.
Behavior:
It loves children. Children love it. Adults find this concerning.

RELATIONSHIPS & PLOT HOOKS
1. The Council of Sparks (Embervault)
They want Lumen back — not to punish, but because the Council needs their notes for a new naval artillery idea.
Hook:
PCs are asked to find Lumen’s tower and retrieve “a book with a screaming lock.”
2. Silverwake Sanctifiers
They consider HK-S a violation of divine geometry.
Hook:
Sanctifiers arrive in Virelin’s Rest asking PCs to help identify heretical machinery.

PERSONALITY (LUMEN VARROS)
• Brilliant
• Absent-minded
• Emotionally charged
• Pretends to be normal
• Deeply anxious about breaking reality