Venin of Fourth Wing

It just occurred to me that my articles on Fourth Wing might be a little spoilersy, so if you don’t want Spoilers through the second book of the series, turn back now! I’m going to be going through what has been revealed about the Venin so far in the series and coming back later with some stat blocks for these baddies.

This article has been updated to include links to the stat blocks I have developed for the venin so far.

The Venin are the main antagonsists of the Fourht Wing series, as revealed by the end of the first book.  They create, command and ride wyvern.  Wyvern are similar to dragons, except they lack forelegs.  Think of the dragons from Game of Thrones vs. the dragon from Damsel.  Venin are also called “Dark Wielders.”  They draw their magic from the earth and probably count as lawful evil from a D&D perspective.  Venin can sap life from the ground they touch and all living things in contact with that ground. They have a sickly, gaunt appearance.  To me they fit the archtype of the necromancer/lich.

Venin have a hierarchy:

• Initiate – The lowest ranking of the Venin. They can create wyverns and pull energy from the ground. All Venin, including the initiates, are skilled at combat, and adapt rapidly to their opponent’s tactics.  Even as initiates, Venin are immune to dragon fire.
• Asim – Distinguished by the progression of eye reddening, with red veins.
• Sage – Sages have red eyes with a spiderweb of red veins extending toward their temples. 
• Maven – They are the generals of the Venin. They are interested in recruiting those with powerful magic abilities.

Venin Powers

The Dark Wielders have a range of abilities.  They throw daggers of fire.  Venin either have telekinetic abilities, allowing them to hold people aloft in the air or force them to the ground.  They can induce pain in others.  The touch of their hands can draw life from an individual human.  Becoming a Venin heightens one of their senses.

All of this should be pretty easy to put together in a stat block. The trick may be in balancing their power. That means I have to know what level the Dragon Riders will be.  I think I have a sense of it, as they start out as commoners when entering Basgiath.  Back with more soon! In the meantime, you can check out some of my other Fourth Wing articles.