Skaldrim Helmvoid

Skaldrim Helmvoid is armour after the person has become a rumour. Blades strike him with the sound of tools on a locked winter door, and nothing answers from within. Kharod understands the gate-truth of him, the lesson that some thresholds do not open because no living will remains to bargain with. Nhalgrin understands the colder terror: a shelter emptied of warmth but still standing, still forbidding entry, still keeping count. Skaldrim smells of cold plate, old soot, leather gone stiff with damp, and the mineral breath of tunnels no lamp has comforted. He holds ground without pride and advances without rage. Soldiers facing him often find themselves speaking too loudly, as if noise could persuade emptiness to become human again.