The avir are deathless sentinels, bound in eternal servitude to guard ancient tombs, crypts, or sacred reliquaries. In life, the аvir were ardent servants devoted to a cause, vowing to serve it even in death. Their oath enables their essence, channeled through a magical symbol, to remain eternally on the mortal plane. However, only their burning conviction remains, the rest of their former selves burned away—an avir knows only its cause and how to serve it.

Eternal Pledge. Pious saints, holy warriors, or cult fanatics—regardless of their particular beliefs, zealous and determined individuals can swear an oath to guard a specific location or object in death, just as they have in life. They willingly pledge their loyalty upon a magical glyph of the Deathless Sentinel in an initiation ritual held within the warded space. Upon their death, their body is brought to the glyph and a special funerary ceremony is held.The ritual is completed by carving the same mark of the Deathless Sentinel on the devotee’s forehead, binding their soul and bones to their cause. When the mark is etched into the body’s skull, the skeletal remains flare with the fiery energy of the Deathless Sentinel, engulfing the body of the devout completely. Any flesh burns to cinder, leaving nothing but bone. The power of the glyph, fueled by the devotee’s conviction, prevents their soul from passing into the Great Cycle. Instead, it magically binds the soul to itself. The power of the enchantment and the sworn oath calls them back into undeath. They become an avir, and their eternal watch begins.

Power of the Glyph. A glyph of the Deathless Sentinel guards each warded location, where many aviri are bound to it. Their remains lay seemingly inanimate in tombs, urns, or decorating ossuaries. The magic glyph could be carved on any surface, and it could be exposed or hidden. The glyph’s enchantment has a specific trigger, determined by the caster of the ritual, which causes the glyph to flare and awaken the aviri, calling upon their vow. Their skeletal remains assemble and bind together again in the eternal zealous fire of their oath. The aviri are relentless, and won’t stop or rest until the intruder is eliminated or driven away for good. Shattering an avir’s bones merely delays it. Their burning oath, sworn in life, brings them back time and time again, reassembling their remains until their task is completed. Once the threat has been dealt with, the avir return to rest, continuing on with their timeless vigil.

Destroying an Avir. The glyph of the Deathless Sentinel holds the power of the oath and the soul of the chosen ones. As the glyph is the source of their eternal undeath, the only way to truly defeat an avir is by severing its link to the glyph. This can be done by defacing the mark on the avir’s forehead, which acts as a conduit for the magic of the glyph. However, this only stops a single avir; the others who still have their mark intact remain bound to the glyph’s power. The magical glyph of the Deathless Sentinel burns in ethereal whisps of flame when active, but dispel magic spell or an attack with a magical weapon breaks the enchantment, releasing all aviri bound to it from their service and returning them to the Great Cycle.