Outside of Karrnath, the religion known as the Blood of Vol is rarely practiced in the open in the Five Nations as a whole, and it is actively persecuted within the borders of Thrane. Yet Stormreach lies outside the purview of the Five Nations. Seekers here live and worship without fear of reprisal. Xen’drik is the only true home that many Seekers can or will ever know.
As a result, the faith has grown disproportionately popular in Stormreach. Its adherents practice openly (and often with great pride) and are granted every protection under the law, which is to say that the Storm Lords have accepted the religion’s presence. It even has a public temple of its own, located in the Grindstone ward of Southwatch. Called Rosewood by its congregants, the temple sits within the skeleton of an ancient ruin. To save on cost, the builders worked the construction of the new building into and around the ruins of the old, and when they were finished, covered the entire structure in rosevine, a rare crimson-hued ivy from Xen’drik’s interior. In game terms, the plant grants the entire building a massive coat of vine armor (SX 136).
The Blood of Vol isn’t an especially hierarchical faith in Stormreach, and its adherents largely worship on their time and terms.But it still requires someone to lead rites and maintain Rosewood for the congregation. These duties fall to a quiet herbalist named Berrinessa (N female human adept 9). The local Karrns think very highly of Berrinessa and are fiercely protective of both her privacy and her wellbeing. (One widely circulated story relates how thugs once tried to mug her and were, for their temerity, promptly stoned to death by half the population of Grindstone.) Just about anybody who has been in Grindstone for more than a day knows that if anything untoward should befall Berrinessa, the entire ward could very well erupt in violence. Although Berrinessa is certainly the most public Seeker in town, the three most influential keep their true religious leanings to themselves.
Foremost among these is the Seeker who sits among the ranks of the Storm Lords. After that comes Lady Miravella Uruvai (CN female elf necromancer 7/blood magus 4), the head of the local Thuranni enclave, and Toven d’Cannith (N human aristocrat 1/wizard 9), a Cyran who led his house in Stormreach until Merrix d’Cannith sent a representative to depose him. All three of these figures keep their faith a closely guarded secret. They never appear at Rosewood, even though the faith is practiced openly in the city. They try to discredit or destroy anyone who makes noises about their being connected to the faith in any way.