#stormveil

[bellepeppergirl]

Stormveil and the Hornsent

I believe that Stormhill and Stormveil Castle were once apart of Hornsent territory.

Prior to the DLC's release, we were able to read about Stormveil once belonging to a "Lord of the Storms." Many, myself included, believed this referred to the Stormhawk's, and while this is still possible, I think it was actually a member of the Hornsent.

The Stormhawks seem to only answer to true lords; note that the Stormhawk King ashes we get do not rule Stormveil, but answer to Nepheli, who does the actual ruling. So I think they also served the Stormlord.

The Hornsent have a connection to birds; some of the Hornsent warriors wear bird armor or otherwise have wing motifs on their weapons and armor. On top of that, the Hornsent warriors we fight and the Lion Dancer all use the elements of lightning, wind, and frost - all of which tie into storms. Certain items from the DLC also boost storm-related attacks.

I might need to follow this up with a full on investigation of Stormveil to see if i can find anymore physical evidence, but it's possible that Marika's forces, or Godrick's, have already done away with anything that may relate to the Hornsent. Though Stormveil does also connect to a Divine Tower, which very much seem to be left over architecture of the Shadow Realm.

[tarnussy]

[tarnishedinquirer]

Person of Interest: Radahn

Name: Radahn Title/Alias: General, Starscourge, Red Lion Race: Demigod Gender: Male Occupation: Warlord (former?) Affiliation: Red Lion Soldiers Notes:

Fought Malenia to a stalemate in Caelid

Wields gravity magic

Infected by the Scarlet Rot

Still commands loyalty from his men

What does "Starscourge" mean?

Rides a tiny little horse. (Gravity magic?)

Pursued Godrick from the capital until he took refuge in Stormveil Castle.

[book-casee]

Stupid and boring idea: "People in the Elden Ring world shouldn't fight with fire against people using storm skills because the wind will put the fire out!"

Amazing and awesome idea: "people in the Elden Ring world shouldn't fight with fire against people using storm skills because the fire and the wind will mix and twirl together and become a much more unruly obstacle for both people, making it impractical."

[darksouls2-gendercoffin]

the other day I was talking to my wife about how amazing Stormveil Castle and Godrick himself are as devices for giving players a bunch of foreshadowing into major players and events in the lore long before we’d otherwise have a chance to learn about them.

for starters, the sheer amount of sacred relics and random trinkets Godrick took with him, many of which we find strewn around Stormveil, serve to introduce us to a ton of stuff, including both the concept of the godslaying Black Flame and Marika’s capacity for illusion and deception. The Mimic’s Veil item description establishes the latter point after making it clear that Godrick stole a bunch of shit when he was run out of town in Leyndell.

When Godrick was hounded from Leyndell, the Royal Capital, this was one of a multitude of treasures he took with him. Also known as "Marika's Mischief".

‘mischief’ isn’t solely defined as playful trickery. Merriam-Webster includes “a specific injury or damage attributed to a particular agent” as one of its meanings, which is where bands like Ghost get lyrics like “this wretched mischief” when referring to sin being punished by plague, and where we get colloquial phrases like “don’t do yourself a mischief”—don’t get hurt, basically. this item isn’t saying Marika is a goofy prankster or that she’s a malicious liar (though I do think deception and manipulation are major character traits of hers that she either encouraged in or passed onto many of her descendants), but it’s saying this is something she caused to come into being, is responsible for, or is otherwise connected to. this is for many players the first implication we get at any kind of proper characterization for Marika, and it’s just tucked away in a random room you might have rushed through in order to avoid fighting the knight that guards it in an enclosed space.

in addition to learning the name of the Godskin Apostles from the Godslayer’s Seal, you also find the Godskin Prayerbook in Stormveil, which establishes the concepts of both black flame (especially notable if you started as a prophet and already know there’s one kind of fire magic, and that it’s considered a taboo) and the fact that you, or somebody else, can kill gods with it. you also get told the book is bound from human skin, which is a really common writing convention used to establish that a faction or type of magic or magical practitioner is a Bad Guy in some way—bad guys make stuff out of people, good guys make stuff out of stuff, or so this trope is used to imply.

Prayerbook bound in supple skin. Incantations of the god-slaying black flame are written within.

and those are just two items! a new player usually meets their first omen in Stormveil and you can learn a little bit about omens from the Omen Cleaver’s item description, the misericorde introduces the concept of war-surgeons (I didn’t realize Varré was one until I got the war surgeon’s set in Moghwyn, so that was an extremely impressive long-form setup and payoff for me), you get your first update on Godwyn’s status since the opening cutscene from the Prince of Death’s Pustule and from dialogue with Rogier, who also introduces glintstone to anybody who didn’t start as an astrologer or prisoner, and (while this doesn’t happen in Stormveil specifically) if you talk to Kenneth Haight about Godrick he even name-drops Malenia! Godrick is so fascinating to me (he’s always been a huge “this guy sucks, I adore him” character in my eyes in the most positive way I can convey that) and the way he’s used in the story is so fascinating. Godrick and grafting and so many things about him may be entirely contained to Stormveil and Limgrave, to the point that it can feel like he doesn’t have much of an affect on the wider world at large, but I think that’s the point: realizing the scope of his vision and strength are so limited and seeing how much bigger the world is based solely off the things he stole is such an effective way to make his corner of the world feel tiny by making you realize, or at least wonder, just how big the rest of the world really is. it’s so well done and thinking about all this stuff—and I even left out some stuff, like how you potentially learn about both living jars and the Crucible for the first time in Stormveil, too—just makes me really appreciate Stormveil’s environmental storytelling all the more.

[sir-virtem]

roaming around stormveil reminded me how much love that place because is like drangleic, eachtime I found new stuff I miss the last time I was there.

NOW WITH THAT SAID I HATE HOW THEY MISSMANNAGE RESOURCE IN THERE, LIKE SHIT, THEY DON'T NEED TO PROLONGATE THE TOWER BEYOND WHERE ACTUALLY ENDS, THEY DON'T NEED PUT DECORATIVE BUILDING THAT DON'T CONNECT TO THE INNER ROOMS, I GET THAT GODWYN - GODEFROY AND WHOEVER WAS BETWEEN THESE TWO WANTED TO FLEX THEIR WEALTH ADDING MORE TOWERS AND PUT THAT MUCH GOLD EVERYWHERE BUT AT LEAST MAKE THEM MATCH WITH THE ROOMS.

Also I forgot that the pit near the church had a collapsed tunnel that lead to the inner north wall, I wonder what could had been there~<3

[wanderingmausoleum]

would anyone who has access to the elden ring character models be willing to do me a huuuge favor and get me some images of the stormveil banner/tapestry godrick wears across his back at the start of his cutscene? or even better, grab the texture used for it/the banners hanging around stormveil?

it’s hard to see the full pattern and i’d love to get a clearer picture of it for cosplay purposes!

edit: thank you tarnussy for providing these great screenshots 🫶🫶

[phantom-wolf]

Here's the uncropped version cause idk if it will ruin the quality

And some extra cause my friend is watching me play/ picking what I do. So confessor it is

[elden-ring-item-descriptions]

Stormhawk Deenh

Ashen remains in which spirits yet dwell. Use to summon the spirit of Deenh the Stormhawk.

Spirit of a fierce hawk that faithfully rendered lifelong service to the old king of Stormveil long ago, when the true storm raged. Its cries embolden its fellows in battle, and the tempestuous winds that encircle it shred through foes.

[recusantchicky]

stormveil godrick arena pillar vs stone coffin pattern

[knightofleo]

Tai Tomisawa | Stormveil Castle from Elden Ring

[adapperblob]

After an excellent weekend it's time to get back to racing the DLC! Will we make it to Mohgs palace in time? Before we can even find out we are going to have to get passed Godrick!

[tarnussy]

Official Elden Ring Adventure Guide #1 - Stormveil Castle & Stormgate

[tarnishedinquirer]

Beneath Stormveil

Here the damage seemed the worst. In places, the walls were red and raw, almost as if they were bleeding. I continued down and reached a room with a very interesting painting.

It was Stormhill, before Stormveil Castle was ever built. The world looked so much wilder and more vibrant back then. The colors were deep blacks and rich greens, not the washed-out greys and pale greens of current Limgrave. The place that would once become the Chapel of Anticipation was part of the mainland, separated by a waterfall rather than a chasm. There's no trace of the black stone pillars that underlay the entire land. The Stormfoot Catacombs are open, with no door. And, while something was gleaming gold, it sure didn't look like the Erdtree.

Yet the Divine Tower and bridge were already there, and already so ancient the bridge had started to crumble. Curious.

After examining the painting as much as I could, I unlocked the door back to the Site of Grace and continued downward.

This was by far the oldest and most neglected portion of the castle. It's unlikely it would get any light except at high noon. The only creatures down here were vermin. Giant bats and rats, the scavengers and dwellers in the dark.

Now that I was down here, it became clear that this was a dumping ground for the castle above. Specifically, it seemed that all the statues removed in the various ideological purges were just shoved into the abyss.

There's the expected statues of women holding ewers or missing their hands, but there's a few statues that stand out to me. They're almost completely buried, so possibly the oldest statues ever dumped down here, and depict hooded figures either holding a book or holding a dagger. Unfortunately, I don't have any context to interpret them. Maybe I'll find some more later.

A scarab almost misses my notice, were it not for the sound they make. I track it down and it's carrying an unusual Sorcery called Rancorcall.

I say it's unusual because using it would require almost as much faith as intellect. That unnerved me a little. Sorcery is supposed to be the result of consistent, observable phenomenon. Concrete things that may be more difficult to observe and comprehend, but are ultimately just as real as a sword. To apply your intellect to the task of how best to surrender it to a higher power seemed perverse to me.

The voice said:

Sorcery of the servants of Death. Summons vengeful spirits that chase down foes. Once though lost, this ancient death hex was rediscovered by the necromancer Garris.

Going on my theory that scarabs only appear where abilities like ashes of war, sorceries, or incantations are used, and somehow they gather up some invisible residue to make their spheres, I would suspect that Garris must've been here at some point. Perhaps this is where he even developed his techniques? I doubt he's still here.

To draw a connection, I found the Rancor Pot recipe in the Tombsward Catacombs. It has a similar effect of summoning vengeful spirits, though different methods. Am I to assume Garris might also have been there? That might explain how Deathroot got inside...

Now I came to a cliff overlooking a root-choked and damp chamber below. Bones littered the floor. Some were stacked up in drifts, but there were also complete skeletons resting in what looked like old, rotted canoes. Perhaps a vestige of some water burial in the past? At one time, they might have sent the dead over the waterfall that once ran through here. Once that dried up, they instead just buried the dead in their canoes.

But what interested me most was the grand baldachin, now rotted and torn, draped across the chamber beyond. Something important must be there.

Before I could approach, a terrible creature burst out of the ground. I'd seen its ilk once before, in the Fringefolk Hero's Grave. An Ulcerated Tree Spirit, a great writhing snake-root, like a serpentine mandrake. Even as I knew its movements, it was still so erratic that it was hard to predict at times. As it slammed me against the walls, I knew now where the drifts of bones had come from.

Once I had slain the beast. I was free to recover its treasures, both here and in the chamber beyond. Much like the last, it dropped a Golden Seed.

As for the chamber... I can scarcely describe it. I'll try to sketch it but I don't think I can do justice to the sheer presence of this thing. Despite looking like a stone carving, I knew on an instinctual level that it was alive.

It was a face, or approximation thereof. Yet it could not have been more inhuman. It at once looked floral, fungal, and animal. The lower half of the face was like an oyster mushroom, and from there emerged thick tendrils like thorny vines. The upper half had a disturbingly human nose but two oddly angled eyes, or at least eye sockets. The lids themselves were empty.

The whole thing burst through the stone wall on a thick body like a salamander, though if it had arms, they had not emerged from the wall. And its was very clearly a violent entry, with rubble piled up around it. Nearby, there was a bloodstain, and a corpse holding an item in its hands.

Oh hell. The bloodstain was Rogier. If he can't see Grace anymore, then can he even come back? Is he just dead for real now? I couldn't even see what got him but it looked bad. It lifted him up and seemed to impale him from multiple angles. I hope he's okay. I actually kinda like the guy. It was rare to talk to someone both intellectual and down to earth like that.

The corpse had a... Prince of Death's Pustule?!

A fetid pustule taken from facial flesh. It is said that this pustule came from the visage of the Prince of Death, he who used to be called Godwyn. As First Dead of the demigods, it's said he's buried deep under the capital, at the Erdtree's roots.

It is said, it is said, it is said. I hate it when the Voice uses weasel words. Who says?

If Godwyn was the first to die, then it is his death that created the Deathroot. Deathroot sprouts similar faces to the one on this pustule. The same milky white eyes, the same thorny tendrils... There was a couple things that puzzled me. I noted fish fins on the Deathroot growing in various catacombs and Summonwater Village. Despite its aquatic appearance, this face held no trace of such details, resembling an amphibian more than a fish. Second, while the Deathroot and Pustule share the milky white eyes, this visage does not. Instead, its sockets are empty.

Third, if we take the voice at face value and say that Godwyn actually is buried under the capital... why did this face burst out of the southeast wall? The capital is to the northeast. I can buy the Greattree roots spreading throughout the Lands Between, but I'd still expect such a creature to burrow through from the correct direction. The only things off that direction are the Stormfoot Catacombs and the Fringefolk Hero's Grave. And since the painting confirms that at least one of those was here before the castle, I find myself doubting if this is even Godwyn at all, or some other, forgotten Prince of Death.

I'll review my notes about those places and see if I can gain any insight, but arbitrary skepticism doesn't do any good. I have to assume that this is Godwyn, or at least an aspect of him, until strong evidence presents itself otherwise.

Still, to quote the only cleric I ever got on with, "Doubting is what I do."

With my investigation concluded, the only way to go was up. Thankfully there was a conveniently placed, if alarmingly tall, rope ladder. I began what was sure to be a very long ascent.

I had at last gotten answers on the rot infecting Stormveil, but they only left me with more questions.

Who are the dagger and book statues? Why were they purged?

If Godfrey built the earliest Stormveil, who built the tower and bridge?

Is that face Godwyn? If not, who could it possibly be?

If it is Godwyn, why would it come from the wrong direction?

Why does this face look so different from the other faces? Why is it missing its eyes?

Who is Garris? What was he doing beneath Stormveil?

What happened to Rogier?

Why was he looking for this?

[how-and-why-do-i-know-this]

Ah, Stormveil. We meet again.

[thistoowillpasss]