Talon Artifact Lore Pt. 2 - 2025

this information was transcribed from the texts found with the items - thank you Stitchy

THE VOW RING OF BLACK HOLLOW

You do not wear it to be seen. You wear it to disappear, even from yourself.

To the one who finds this, if you're reading this, then the chain has already been passed, and my time has ended.
I wore the Vow Ring for thirteen winters. The metal never warmed. It was like carrying judgement around your neck, a circle forged not for decoration but for damnation.
It was made after the Hollow fell. You know the tale, or you think you do. Five brothers of blood turned on the circle. They thought Talon was a stepping stone to coin and crowns. Wu didn't curse them. He didn't send blades. He just made the ring.
Melted from the keys they once used to open our doors. Cast with the lead they buried in our allies. Worn not to show loyalty, but to bind it. Not to others, to silence.
Only those who took the veil could wear it. Thirteen days stripped of name, food, speech. Alone with the dark. If you emerged, the ring was placed on your neck before a fire none of us could see, only feel. Some called it ritual. Wu called it removal. Of ego. Of past. Of self.
They say if you break the oath while wearing it, you vanish.
I don't know if that's true, but I haven't seen Thorn since he let the twins live in Shady Belle.
And I started hearing birds at night that don't belong to this season. So this letter is my offering to you, or to no one.
If the Vow Ring finds your hand, know this:
It will not protect you.
It will not save you.
But it will remember.

THE MEDALLION OF SHADOW.

Worn only by the vessel of The Shadow.

When I first heard the voice, it was not in words.
It was in silence that pulled tighter than breath.
A hunger that did not feed, only followed.
That was Shadow.
Not a spirit. Not a demon.
But something older than either.
A will buried beneath the world's bones - waiting.
I did not summon it.
It found me.
And when I finally let go of vengeance… It stepped in.
And I became the first vessel.
The medallion of Shadow is not a symbol. It is a key, a gate between this world and Shadow.
When worn, the bearer does not lead.
They channel.
Shadow speaks through dreams, intuition, and silence.
Those it chooses begin to change their voice, their gaze, the rhythm of their steps.
They no longer think for themselves… Yet everything they do is for perfect clarity.

**Known Vessels of Shadow **
Wu, the First Vessel (1861-1890)
Marked by sorrow, he spoke Shadow into existence in the waking world. His presence alone caused powerful men to confess sins they hadn't yet committed.
Anna, the Hollow Voice. (1915-1940)
Shadow took root in her silence. It is said she never blinked. The birds would fall from the sky when she entered a village. Yet she brokered peace with nothing but her presence.
The Nameless Sovereign. (Date unknown, Disappearance Unconfirmed).
No face remembered. All we know is this, the medallion was seen worn again, briefly, after years of silence. A figure cloaked in obsidian, untraceable even within Talons own ranks. Whispers claimed Shadow returned in desperation not to guide, but to warn. Others believe The Vessel never relinquished the Medallion… Only vanished into the world once more.

This is no organization.
Talon is a body.
Shadow is it's breath.
And the Medallion is the mouth, through which it speaks.
To wear it is not to rule, it is to vanish.
And to become the will of something far beyond kings.

-

THE VESSEL OF QUIET FLAME.

Rite of the original five.

I've only laid eyes on it twice, and both times the room felt colder for it. The bowl is black as dried blood and older than it should be. It's metal is warped at the edges, and it's twin handles are worn smooth by fingers long since gone. They say you can't see your reflection in it. I believe that it's not meant for you to look into. It's meant to look into you.
Wu used it first when the original five stepped forward to take the oath. He called it the Vessel of Quiet Flame, though no one ever saw him light it. The ritual was simple, but final: place your name inside, bleed into the basin, burn what tethered you to the world, and breathe in what remained. When the flame dims and the smoke clears, the leader, the current vessel of The Shadow steps forward. They say only three words, "For The Cause".
If the initiate is ready, they answer the same. No hesitation. No fear. Just resolve. Then, from a small compartment beneath the bowl, a pill is presented. Smooth, dat and always warm to the touch. The initiate swallows it without question.
Within moments, they fall unconscious. When they awaken, the others are gone. The mask lies beside them. Their new name is already chosen.
They are Talon.
It now sits beneath the Roost, sealed behind brass and bone. Only opened when the Circle agrees one is ready, not to lead, but to vanish.
"This bowl does not hold offerings. It holds the weight of what you gave up"

COINS OF DUST AND SILENCE.

They're coins, yes, but not in the way the world above thinks of them.

To Talon, these aren't meant for markets or hands that haggle. They were minted in shadow, not in cities. Circular with a square center, cast from dull, aged brass, and marked with symbols no one has officially translated, and yet every operative seems to understand.
They're used to buy silence, purchase tools, access information, and on a rare occasion, settle debts within the Circle. Payment in this form is not an exchange; it's a gesture.
A signal.
One coin might earn you a stolen archive from the Vault. Another might grant you safe passage through a cell's territory. Three? That might open doors you didn't even know existed.
I've seen them passed without words in the middle of a firefight. Slid under teacups. Sewn into linings. Buried in coffins.
They mean: "This is sanctioned."
They mean: "This came from within."
No one hoards them. To hoard is to be seen. And Talon does not deal in pride.
We do not count them. We know them by feel.
"Coins fall through the world, but the weight stays in our hand."

THE DISC OF EMPTY NAMES.

It is not carved, it is erased.

The Disc of Empty Names predates even Wu's exile. Discovered at the heart of a ruined stone ring atop the cliffs of Gudu Range, the disc was unearthed by early forerunners of the Talon order, and feared immediately. Unlike other relics, it bears no mark of origin, no signature of creation. It's glyphs shift subtly in the light, and no one has ever been able to translate them, because none ever remain the same long enough.
Wu referred to the disc only once, *"There are names we forget to protect the world. This disc remembers them all." *
It is said the disc stores the erased, names and identities that once we're but we're wiped in the service of the Cause. Operatives that willing vanished, sacrificed their stories, and became instruments of the Shadow leave behind no record, except from the faint echo, absorbed by the disc.