INDIGO SERVITOR

As every being learned in theology knows, humanity is possessed of four immortal souls, two of which escape the corpse after death and two of which remain. While the Ka (Blue Soul), and La (Golden Soul) leave the material plane and ascend into the cosmos, the Anh (Alabaster Soul) and Ba (Crimson Soul) remain in the corpse. It is these cadaver-bound souls that are utilised in the secret rites of resurrection performed by the Lectors of the College of Indigo Tigers, and are key to the creation of the beings known by common folk of Vaarn as Indigo Servitors. 

The Anh resides chiefly in the guts, and many sages teach that the Alabaster Soul slowly escapes the body after death in the form of maggots and fungus, which it generates inside corrupted flesh.  The corpses prepared for use by the Indigo College are therefore embalmed with special emollients and unguents to seal the Anh inside the flesh, and the corpse’s guts are likewise filled with five sacred herbs and sewn shut in order to placate the Alabaster Soul. The Crimson Soul, the Ba, travels through the body in blood and resides also in the heart and liver; the Indigo College stimulates the heart with currents of anbaric force and introduces a certain alchemical substance into the blood of the nascent servitor, in order to awaken the Crimson Soul and force it to carry wit and memory around the body once more. 

The resulting creature is not quite a man and not quite a corpse, instead hovering at the edge of life like a weak sun that never quite rises. Once they have risen again, the twice-born are baptised by a Lector of the College and are instructed in their duties. The precise nature of this instruction is the subject of many fearful rumours, but the result is a servant who is blindly obedient, utterly fearless, and requires no payment of any kind, not even food or drink. The utility of such a being is obvious, and many are employed as porters, cleaners, fire stokers, miners, and sentries. 

The twice-born have their downsides as well. They are clumsy and slow, and interpret their instructions very literally, their lack of a Blue Soul meaning they have little creativity of their own. Most cannot speak more than a few words, and have problems distinguishing between the past, present, and future. They do not eat or drink, but the ritual embalming that preserves their form must be renewed every year or their Anh will begin to spawn fungus and maggots inside their bodies and escape. The performance of this ritual is restricted to Lectors of the Indigo College, and they charge a modest fee for the upkeep of their creations. 

The countenance of these Servitors is unsettling to look upon and they are usually kept veiled and robed, with the tell-tale sweet smell of their embalming unguents wafting from within. To become such a creature is a fate unenvied and thus the College of Indigo Tigers draw their supply of fresh corpses from the poorhouses and gaols of the New Hegemony, a practise which allows dead criminals and beggars to finally become useful to someone.