Ruinkeeper

The Belurocian Empire's pacts with the lower planes offer power at a cost not all can pay.

But Ruinkeepers can.

They channel dual forces that should never coexist—earth magic that shields, death magic that withers. One arm raised, summoning stone barriers that deflect incoming arrows and blades. The other extended, radiating necrotic energy that drains life from everything nearby, friend and foe alike.

Ruinkeepers are of the Belurocian military—dark knights, dragoons, and esquires who show both magical aptitude and emotional discipline. The training is brief and brutal. Channel earth and death in tandem. Hold both without flinching. Accept that every moment you stand beside your comrades, you're draining them.

Most importantly, develop the calm that comes with fatal certainty.

They know their magic will wither their allies. The necrotic aura doesn't discriminate. The soldier standing shoulder to shoulder with them will feel their strength sap, their wounds refuse to close, their vitality leak away like water through cracked stone.

Ruinkeepers channel anyway.

Soldiers learn to fight alongside ruinkeepers with gritted teeth. They accept the drain as the price of survival. When the enemy strikes, when assassins close in from the shadows, when death comes from angles they can't see, the ruinkeeper's wards stands between them and annihilation.

Even if standing beside the ruinkeeper slowly kills them.

The Belurocian Empire's overlords deploy ruinkeepers strategically, using them where protection matters more than comfort. Where keeping the line intact is worth a few hours of recovery afterward. Where the alternative—watching soldiers fall to enemy blades—is worse than watching them stumble with exhaustion from friendly magic.

Some ruinkeepers serve for years. They become known in their units. Soldiers learn to position themselves just far enough to minimize the drain while staying close enough for the wards. Trust builds. Not despite the withering, but because of it. The ruinkeeper never pretends their magic is safe, and they never lie about the cost.

Still, some ruinkeepers do break. The weight of constantly sapping those they're meant to protect erodes them from within. When this happens, the Magi Cimmerial simply replaces them. The empire always has more recruits and more soldiers willing to become vessels for contradictory power.

In the Belurocian Empire, power demands sacrifice. Ruinkeepers sacrifice those beside them, one drained breath at a time, knowing it's the only way to keep them alive.

You can see it in their eyes. In the calm expression that never wavers, even as their death magic withers friend and foe alike while their wards hold fast.

They will weaken you. They will save you. And they will do both without hesitation.