Kovaas
Kovaas are a rare consequence of ancestral guardians risking themselves in war; the extreme durability of sacral stones means most defeated guardians fall to the ground without incident and their sacral stones can be retrieved to rebuild them. In rare cases when the sacral stone is destroyed, the ancestral spirit inside is driven insane and turned into a kovaas. A kovaas clings to the fragmented shards of its destroyed sacral stone or ancestral guardian shell as if desperate for a tangible body and lashes out at the living. These ancient ghosts seek revenge upon those who destroyed their revered forms, revenge upon the empire they wasted countless years serving, and revenge against the people who could not maintain the sanctity of their former sacral stone. A kovaas exacts its rage against all it encounters, casting its victims’ souls to the oblivion it has escaped, and feed on the deaths it causes.[1][2]
The skorne treat these creatures as a grave threat to their society. To the skorne, a kovaas embodies a corruption of one of their most honoured achievements and hallowed states. The destruction of an ancestor's mind is deemed one of the greatest losses a house can endure, not to mention the great harm the kovaas can inflict. Several times in skorne history kovaas spirits have caused tremendous destruction. The most famous is the lesson of Lord Tyrant Norvaak, the supreme aptimus of House Bashek, who, in 1400 BR, shattered the sacral stones of three tremendously powerful ancestors to set kovaas spirits on Halaak as a curse against his rivals. Norvaak died as he released these spirits, but they unleashed tremendous destruction.[1][2][3]
There is no way to destroy a kovaas. Even if its physical form is utterly destroyed, the spirit will endure and will strive to reconstruct itself as long as a grain of sand from the original body endures. Specialised rituals known only to senior extollers can bind a kovaas into a new sacral stone, but this process, which often claims the lives of those attempting it, will not restore the spirit's shattered mind. The new stone essentially becomes a prison and must be sealed away lest the spirit escape once more.[1][3]
Kovaas manifest unusually frequently around Zaal, current leader of the extoller caste. By his unique lore and mastery of spirit, Zaal alone can control kovaas. He is also somehow capable of banishing them to nothingness as they give forth one last howl of frustrated torment, though only Zaal himself knows their ultimate fate.[2]