Hollow-Order is a radical faction that emerged from the Deepdark crisis within the Earthbound-Order, the dominant religious institution of the dwarven Holds. The Hollow-Order holds a heretical but increasingly influential belief: that the Deepdark creatures are not an aberration but the Primordial-Ones’ intended successor species, and that the creatures’ emergence represents not a disaster but an “unfolding” — the next stage in the world’s evolution.
Origins and Growth
The Hollow-Order emerged in the years following the Deepdark incursion, as dwarven scholars and Deep Speakers grappled with the creatures’ nature and the inadequacy of traditional ward-craft against them. The faction coalesced around a group of ward-smiths and deep-miners who had been stationed at or near the Deepdark’s origin point.
Unlike most heretical movements, the Hollow-Order did not emerge from theological scholarship alone. Its early members were practitioners — ward-smiths who had watched their wards fail, miners who had seen the stone “weep” before the creatures emerged, and those who had heard the Deepdark signal and found it, disturbingly, comprehensible.
The Order has grown from perhaps a dozen members in its first decade to approximately 40-60 members today, concentrated primarily among ward-smiths and deep-miners in the lower Holds. Its membership is loosely organized, with no central leadership structure — a design choice that makes it difficult for the Stone-Throne to suppress.
Core Beliefs
The Hollow-Order’s theology represents a radical reinterpretation of traditional dwarven earth theology:
- The Primordial Design: The Primordial Ones did not merely shape the world — they designed it as a living system with multiple succession phases. The current phase of mortal dominance is ending, and the Hollow Ones (as the dwarves call the creatures) represent the next phase.
- The Unfolding: The Deepdark is not an attack or a corruption. It is an “unfolding” — the world’s magical energy depleting, the stone’s natural state reasserting itself, and the creatures emerging as the stone’s new stewards.
- Stone as Living Archive: The Earthbound Order already teaches that stone is a living memory. The Hollow-Order extends this to its logical conclusion: the creatures are not separate from the stone but are its most recent expression — a biological manifestation of the stone’s will.
- Rejection of Mortal Supremacy: Traditional dwarven theology places mortals (specifically dwarves) at the center of the stone’s memory. The Hollow-Order rejects this anthropocentrism, arguing that the Primordial Ones never intended mortals to be permanent stewards.
The Deep Song Reinterpreted
The Hollow-Order’s most distinctive practice is a heretical form of lithomancy that involves “listening” to the Deepdark creatures’ signal rather than resisting it. While traditional Deep Speakers use the Deep-Song to detect geological stress and ward against threats, the Hollow-Order Deep Speakers use it to engage with the creatures’ signal.
According to Hollow-Order practitioners, the signal is not random noise or a command to destroy. It has a basic grammar — a structure that can be understood and even predicted. The signal’s primary message, they claim, is not a call to destruction but a call to “return to the deep stone” — a directive to all stone-based life forms to withdraw from the surface and return to the earth’s depths.
This interpretation has led to three schools of thought within the Hollow-Order:
- The Withdrawal School: Believes that mortals should voluntarily withdraw from deep mining and allow the creatures to reclaim the tunnels. This is the most moderate position.
- The Synthesis School: Believes that mortals and creatures can find a way to coexist in the deep stone, with mortals learning to “sing” in the creatures’ language. This position is considered dangerously radical even by many Hollow-Order members.
- The Supremacy School: Believes that the creatures are the Primordial Ones’ true creation and that mortals should be replaced entirely. This faction is explicitly condemned by the Earthbound Order leadership.
Contact Attempts
The Hollow-Order has conducted at least three documented attempts to establish controlled contact with the Deepdark creatures through deep-song rituals. The results, according to survivors and witnesses, range from unsettling to disturbingly encouraging:
- The First Contact (30 years ago): A group of five Hollow-Order Deep Speakers descended into a sealed shaft near the Deepdark’s origin point and conducted a deep-song ritual for three hours. The ritual was broken when two members collapsed, their bodies showing signs of rapid petrification. The survivors reported hearing “a voice that sounded like the stone itself speaking.”
- The Second Contact (15 years ago): A larger group of eight practitioners conducted a ritual at the Throat’s perimeter. The ritual produced no creatures but caused the Throat’s signal to intensify dramatically for approximately one hour. Three participants reported experiencing shared visions of “stone cities beneath the stone.”
- The Third Contact (5 years ago): A small group of three practitioners attempted to communicate through the Hall of Echoes in the Sunken-Sanctum, which was still accessible before the Order sealed it. They reported hearing “the stone singing back” — a phrase that Hollow-Order members use to describe what they believe is the creatures’ response.
The third contact attempt is particularly significant because it occurred inside the Sunken-Sanctum, suggesting that some Hollow-Order members have managed to breach the sanctum’s outer defenses. Several Earthbound Order ward-smiths who worked in the Sunken-Sanctum before its sealing have since vanished — whether they defected willingly or were coerced by Hollow-Order sympathizers remains unknown.
Underground Networks and Recruitment
The Hollow-Order’s decentralized structure extends beyond leadership into its operational model. Rather than formal chapters or cells, the Order maintains what members call “echo networks” — loose webs of trust-based relationships that operate through personal recommendation rather than formal membership rolls. This makes the Order exceptionally difficult to infiltrate:
- The Ward-Smiths’ Whisper: The primary recruitment channel operates through underground ward-smith gatherings where practitioners share technical problems with Deepdark wards. Those who show sympathy for the Hollow-Order position are gradually drawn deeper into its philosophy through private conversations at these informal meetings
- Deep-Miner Brotherhoods: Several mining guilds in the lower Holds have been infiltrated by Hollow-Order sympathizers who use their positions to identify recruits among miners experiencing firsthand the Deepdark signal’s effects. The Brotherhood networks are particularly effective because they operate outside formal religious or political structures
- The Silent Choir: A controversial practice within certain Hollow-Order circles involves conducting deep-song rituals in complete silence, where participants communicate through hand gestures and stone-tapping rather than vocalization. This practice is said to produce more direct contact with the Deepdark signal but has been condemned by the Earthbound Order as heretical magic
The Ward-Smith Schism
The most significant internal conflict within the Hollow-Order has emerged over the question of ward-craft itself. Traditional ward-smiths create wards designed to keep creatures out, but a faction known as “the Listeners” argues that wards should be redesigned to facilitate communication rather than exclusion:
- The Listener Position: Led by a shadowy figure known only as “The Deep Voice,” this faction has been experimenting with hybrid ward-craft that combines traditional Earthbound Order techniques with Hollow-Order deep-song principles. Their goal is not to weaken existing defenses but to create new types of wards that can detect and communicate with the creatures without provoking aggression
- Traditionalist Opposition: The majority of the Hollow-Order, while sympathetic to communication, rejects the Listeners’ approach as too risky. They argue that any attempt to modify ward-craft toward communication could inadvertently weaken defenses or send messages to the creatures that encourage further incursion
- The Earthbound Order’s Dilemma: Some senior ward-smiths within the mainstream Earthbound Order privately acknowledge that traditional wards are inadequate against the Deepdark creatures and have begun exploring hybrid approaches without publicly aligning with either faction
The Hollow-Order and First Empire Knowledge
A growing faction within the Hollow-Order has turned to First Empire knowledge for theological support, arguing that ancient dwarven texts contain references to cyclical world phases that prefigure their beliefs:
- The Deepdark Archives: Several Hollow-Order scholars have studied First Empire archaeological records from beneath Khazad-Dum, discovering references to a “Great Returning” — a prophesied event in which the earth’s original inhabitants would reclaim the surface. The interpretation of these texts remains hotly debated within both the Hollow-Order and mainstream dwarven scholarship
- The Stone-Council’s Response: The Stone-Council has been cautious about the Hollow-Order’s use of First Empire sources, recognizing that these texts could either validate or undermine their position depending on how they are interpreted. Some council members have quietly funded independent research into the same archives to establish authoritative interpretations before the Hollow-Order can claim them as validation
- The University Connection: Several University of Valoria researchers studying First Empire texts have independently reached conclusions similar to those of the Hollow-Order, though without the theological framework. This coincidence has raised concerns among both Earthbound Order and Stone-Throne officials about the possibility that the Deepdark’s emergence is indeed part of a larger natural cycle
See Also
Earthbound-Order, Deepdark, Primordial-Ones, Stone-Throne, Deep-Song, Dwarven-Holds, Sunken-Sanctum, The-Throat, Clan-Greystone, Tremor-Record, First-Empire, Khazad-Dum