Brother Cowl — Keeper of the Unlit Shrine
“Lay the candle down, traveler—here, in the quiet, even grief can see.”
Name: Brother Cowl (Merral Corvan)
Race: Human
Role: Penitent shrine-keeper
Appearance: A spare, middle-aged man wrapped in a patched charcoal habit with a deep cowled hood that hides most of his face. Road-worn sandals, ink-black prayer beads, and a weathered ash-wood staff polished by years of use. His hands are candle-scarred and always smell faintly of tallow and myrrh. When he lifts his head, pale gray eyes catch light like wet slate.
Backstory
Born Merral Corvan of Gloomshade’s cooper guild, he took vows after a nightfire gutted his tenement and claimed half his neighbors. Rumors say he entered the smoke and led eight children out by singing a dusk hymn no one recognized. He rebuilt the alley’s forgotten street-niche into an “Unlit Shrine,” a place where mourners leave guttered candles to rest, not burn. Cowl believes the dusk between lights is sacred—where the living and the dead can speak without shouting. He offers blessings, last rites, and a merciful ear to those who fear the night… and, when needed, bars things that hunt grief.
