Shadowy Husk

General information

A pitch-dark soldier. Once a proud warrior of an ancient underground nation, it is now nothing but a husk that only bears memories of battle. All shall decay in the end, and this is all that is left of the Black Serpent Knights amidst the merciless march of their sins, curses, and time itself.

Backstory

These silent monsters were originally members of Khaenri'ah's Royal Guard under their captain Dainsleif before the nation's fall. Ever since the Cataclysm, they have been suffering from their curse, losing most of their humanity in the process. And now they are differentiated by the level of their degradation.

Appearance

It is not much different from it's cursed fellow knights. And only the unconscious eyes, which have a characteristic pale blue color, covering the entire eyeball. Empty eyes, but this look still chills the soul. Perhaps there is no trace of the old face behind this battered armor. It seems as if over the centuries it has grown together with the armor into one whole. In fact, this Knight can be recognized as a man because of voice. Somehow it can use cryo in combat. Its weapon is a bow. The weapon in its hand seems more like it was meant to protect rather than slaughter.

Mindfulness

Those like it have long since lost all awareness of what is happening, seeing a distorted reality before them and knowing only one thing - to protect. Although it seems more conscious. Perhaps the echoes of a past life hover in its crippled memory a little brighter than those of its fellow.

Location

At some point in time, a group of Black Serpent Knights led by their commander Halfdan gathered in the Chasm's mines. Although the group was suffering from the curse, they were still able to remember Dainsleif's order to protect the people of Khaenri'ah at all costs. Large groups of hilichurls, former civilians of Khaenri'ah, were making their way to the underground depths of the present-day Chasm, somehow aware of a special fountain inside Nameless Ruins, which was able to remove some of the curse.

About Nameless Ruins

Nameless Ruins is a subarea located in The Chasm: Underground Mines, The Chasm, Liyue. There are massive mounds of solid dark mud at the floor of the ruins (which do not act like actual Dark Mud), and at the roof of the cave is an upside-down ruin that contains a water pool. The architecture of the buildings in the Nameless Ruins: geometric and triangular shapes, gold stripes, vertical sliding doors and columnar structures.

Associated with the Abyss

The Abyss Order, aware of the fountain's properties, attempted to use an amplification device in the hopes that they could restore the consciousness of those affected by the curse, despite being aware that the chances of success were low. The device instead caused pain to the knights and hilichurls, but Halfdan sacrificed his life to stop the device and passed on peacefully. The statuses of the remaining knights are not addressed, though in-game, they can be encountered and defeated in the Chasm.