Vigils¶
"They also represent a poison pill for anyone conquering a Sancturi settlement." — The Hollows (S325)
A Vigil is a five-sided obelisk made from many Mithis objects melted down together and carved with Clostroc Runes, which hold in check the Taint that Mithis gives off. Nearly every Sancturi settlement has one, every Sancturi temple keeps one, and the Penitus Monks tend them. Left untended, a Vigil lets the land around it fall into a Hollow, which makes them both the empire's safeguard and its trap for conquerors.
Also called: Mithis Obelisk (S146, S325).
Making¶
Mithis in the Sancturi Fifth Age breeds Taint and Hollowing. A Clostroc Rune "isolates the effect of the Taint so that it cannot spread outside of its object. The Rune will eventually wear off, but during that time the Mithis operates as normal Mithis energy without producing Taint or Hollowing effects" (S325). Because the runes must be renewed, the empire gathers its Mithis in one place: "Sancturi dispose of Mithis by melting it down and combining it into a single Mithis Obelisk carved with many Clostroc Runes. These obelisks are located across the empire, often in Sancturi public spaces" (S325; also S146). The runes are described under Rune Magic.
"Vigils are obelisks constructed from a conglomeration of many Mithis objects melted/forged together into a single object so as to be easier to maintain Clostroc Runes on. They are generally five-sided in honor of the Five Gods of the Sancturi" (S325; also S146), the Sancturi Pantheon.
Worship and sacrifice¶
"Commoners are encouraged to come and pray at the Vigils and there are usually 5 small altars around obelisk where commoners can make their own blood sacrifices to empower the Vigil. If the settlement has a chief patron (as most do), the altar to their patron god will be larger" (S325; also S146).
Souls go into them as well as blood. Witches burned by the Sancturi are executed "under the supervision of Namakan Runecasters, which entrap their souls to ensure that they are never reincarnated (these are added to Vigils)" (S318). The runecasters are those of Namakan Runecasting.
Keepers¶
"Every Temple has a Vigil (Penitus), Temple Guard (Bannerguard) and Covenant Office" (S321). Among the Penitus Monks' best-known duties is "oversight and management of all Vigils (obelisks which manage Mithis). Monks which perform this role are often Clerics, Warriors or Runecasters" (S321).
The poison pill¶
A Vigil binds a settlement to the empire. There "is almost always at least one located there, and without Runecasters or Sancturi priests to maintain the runes, the area will quickly hollow" (S325). The same fact makes it a target. In the plot hook The Poison Pill, the Brotherhood of the Sun plans "to turn a Vigil in a large town against the imperium by sabotaging its Runes and assassinating the head monk (the only one experienced enough to recognize and repair the runes in the town)", with a Namakan runecaster willing to do the work if his family is freed from slavery (S131).
In the Sancturi Campaign the witch Zaela, through her spokesman Igli, offered the party a bargain: sabotage a Vigil in a border town, and "Zaela has promised to deal with the pact" laid on them (S161, S162). A campaign arc on restoring the god of magic was to open when the party "find a clearly magical object that can't be melded into a Vigil (obelisk)" (S202).
Gap
No source describes a particular Vigil, its size, or what happens to the souls bound into one. Whether the party sabotaged the border-town Vigil is not recorded in these notes.