Before the elves came, Farlnen was just bare rock and sand. The sun doesn’t shine there, and no living thing could prosper in that cursed place. But a land with no sun sounds mighty nice if you’re a vampire, like Lord Varonaen! So he steers the elves to Farlnen, and when he gets there, he breaks his ship to splinters and he scatters the splinters across the stony ground. He kills his own sailors and waters the wood with their blood, and they sprout up as darkwood trees and bloodstained roses. All the night-gardens of Farlnen, it was Varonaen who planted their seeds. And if the Bloodsails kill you on the sea? They’ll keep your bones to work an oar, but they won’t let your flesh go to waste; cargoes of carrion make their way to Farlnen to feed the bloody gardens.
Lord Sylian Varonaen is the oldest member of the Grim. The Varonaen were allies of Vol long before the Mark of Death appeared, and Sylian Varonaen was one of the first vampires created on Aerenal. Where Vol studied ways to imbue humanoid creatures with the energies of Mabar, Sylian Varonaen explored its effects on plants. Varonaen was fascinated by those strains of flora that managed to adapt to Aerenal’s Mabaran zones, and he improved on these with his own hybrids; in fact, it was he who refined the strain of darkwood that Aerenal exports to this day.
So it was no accident that Varonaen and his exiles came to Farlnen. The elves knew they needed a powerful Mabaran zone to continue their research, and Varonaen came prepared. The story quoted above is apocryphal, but it holds seeds of truth. Varonaen brought his hybrids with him across the Lhazaar Sea and established the first night gardens. He planted darkwood groves, and in the centuries that followed, he developed entirely new strains of vegetation that could thrive in the unique conditions of Farlnen. The stories exaggerate when they say darkwood is watered with blood, but some of Varonaen’s creations do thrive when fertilized with the flesh of the dead. Some of his experiments are just plants, but others could be considered both Plants and Undead; Varonaen has created assassin vines that drain the lifeforce of creatures they constrict, and a shrieker that howls with the cry of a banshee.
Personality
Lord Varonaen played a vital role in founding Farlnen. The people rely on his hybrid plants as a source of both food and lumber, and the exotic spices and wines produced from his creations are unique exports sold by Bloodsail merchants. Despite his part in ensuring the survival of his people, Varonaen has never asserted his power over his peers; his plants are his sole obsession, and he has spent the centuries working on his gardens. He has the manner of a mild, friendly scholar—but he feels no compunctions about creating plant life that feeds on the living, nor about sacrificing strangers in this work.
Using Lord Varonaen
There was a time when Lord Varonaen traveled in search of exotic blooms, but on such a journey, he was destroyed by the Deathguard of Aerenal. His vampire form was reduced to ashes, but Varonaen had bound his spirit to his garden, much like a lich’s phylactery. He was reborn in Farlnen as a wraith (albeit a unique one with spellcasting abilities; the stat block for Lord Varonaen is provided below). While he often remains in this incorporeal form while doing his work, he has crafted a body from darkwood and can animate this vessel when he wishes to interact with the physical world.
Varonaen hasn’t left Farlnen since his death, and it may
be that he can’t travel far from this soul garden. However,
adventurers could encounter his creations in Farlnen or
beyond, or they might need an exotic elixir that can only
be produced from his undead plants. He could even have
an interest in consulting with an adventurer renowned as
a master alchemist or a remarkable druid.