On the surface, the Blood of Vol appears to be an ancient religion devoted to the figurative and literal meaning of blood— the mysteries of heredity, death, and the undead. It consists of small groups of followers scattered across Khorvaire who know nothing about the true motives and goals behind the religion; they simply believe that blood is the source of life and that undeath is a path to divinity.
Beneath the surface, the true horror of the Blood of Vol plots and schemes. The true followers (as opposed to the common folk who unknowingly help hide the deceptions) revere the ancient lich Vol (NE lich [elf half-dragon], wizard 16), self-proclaimed Queen of the Dead. The Blood of Vol flows into the distant past, to Aerenal and Xen’drik, the continent of secrets. A powerful necromancer, Vol seeks to manipulate bloodlines and revive the power of long-forgotten House Vol—the Mark of Death.
Vol nurtures her schemes of conquest and revenge in the halls of Illmarrow Castle, in the frozen north of the Lhazaar islands. In Karrnath, her priests control the Crimson Monastery in Atur, the City of Night. Other strongholds, temples, and secret shrines are scattered throughout the continent, and one hides even in the ancient elf homeland of Aerenal.
Twenty-six hundred years ago, Vol was the heir to the fortunes of House Vol, whose members carried the Mark of Death. Her family attempted to mix elf and dragon blood to put an end to the wars that rocked both civilizations. Erandis d’Vol was the result of these experiments, a half-dragon created from the arcane union of her elf mother and green dragon father. She was hidden and raised in secret as both House Vol and the green dragon sought to find a peaceful end to the conflict. However, the revelation of Erandis’s existence had the opposite effect: Elf and dragon alike saw the mixing of the species as an abomination. Finally, the two sides came together on one issue—half-dragons and the House of Vol had to be destroyed.
As the Vol family was slaughtered, the matriarch used her powers over death to make sure her beloved daughter survived. Erandis became a lich, and now remains as the single memory of her family’s ancient glory. She still bears the dragonmark of Vol upon her withered flesh, but without life within her, the mark is just a decoration; she has not been able to invoke its power since the day she became an undead creature.
Vol’s plans have multiple facets and layers. She uses her loyal followers to gather information throughout the land, to whisper suggestions in the highest halls of government, and to watch for any sign that her family mark still flows through elf blood. She plots revenge against both the elves of Aerenal and the dragons of Argonnessen. She seeks to revive her family mark and take her place as a true god of Eberron.
Vol’s duped followers include many members of the common races from all walks of life. Her true followers include both living creatures and the sentient undead, and many of her most trusted priests are vampires, mummies, and liches willing to bow down before her.
To further her plans, Vol created the Order of the Emerald Claw. Few know of the order’s connection to the Blood of Vol, seeing it simply as a fanatical Karrnathi terrorist group.