Pact of the Hollow Court

Not every Warlock kneels before a demon, an ancient horror, or a distant godlike intelligence.

Some are invited to dinner.

The Hollow Court exists where the Mistwood Coast becomes difficult to distinguish from the spirit world. Travelers speak of lanterns glowing between trees where no road exists, music carried against the wind, masked figures drinking beneath branches that were empty moments before, and elegant gates appearing in fog where maps show only forest.

Those who enter such places occasionally meet the Court.

Those who leave may discover that they have agreed to something.

Sometimes they remember making the agreement.

Sometimes they do not.

A Pact of the Hollow Court Warlock has entered into a supernatural relationship with one or more powerful yokai associated with the Court. The patron might be:

• Lady Yureiko herself;
• a masked fox lord;
• a moonlit crane spirit;
• a river princess;
• a mist-born magistrate;
• an ancient tanuki trickster;
• a spider courtesan;
• a forgotten shrine noble;
• or an entire faction of the Court acting through intermediaries.

The bond is rarely expressed as simple servitude.

Hollow Court relationships are more likely to involve:

• favors;
• promises;
• hospitality;
• debts;
• exchanged names;
• symbolic gifts;
• obligations;
• inherited bargains;
• or seemingly casual conversations whose wording later proves dangerously precise.

A Hollow Court Warlock therefore learns one rule very quickly:

Every courtesy may also be a contract.

Origins in Aetheris

The Pact of the Hollow Court is most strongly associated with Seiryūjima and the Mistwood Coast, where the boundary between mortal and spirit realms is already known to grow thin. Travelers there report ghost lanterns, mysterious music, hidden shrines, and impossible pathways. The Hollow Court itself is an established yokai power in this region, powerful enough that the Azure Chrysanthemum Accord treats it as a strategic concern rather than a collection of isolated spirits.

The precise age of Hollow Court pact traditions is not supported by the current source material, so I would leave that intentionally uncertain in canon.

Different Court stories contradict one another.

One tale claims mortals first bargained with the Court before Seiryūjima had a name.

Another insists the Court formed only after mortals began cutting roads into the Mistwood.

A third claims there was never a single Hollow Court at all—only many yokai houses that mortal scholars incorrectly grouped together.

All three versions may be true in some fashion.

What is known is that the Court is politically divided. Some yokai seek coexistence with Seiryūjima. Others increasingly favor confrontation. That division matters enormously to Warlocks.

A patron favoring peace may use a mortal agent to:

• preserve old compacts;
• prevent shrine desecration;
• negotiate with villages;
• expose aggressive yokai;
• or maintain boundaries between worlds.

A militant patron may expect the Warlock to:

• sabotage mortal expansion;
• recover sacred territory;
• punish oathbreakers;
• disrupt roads or settlements;
• or weaken institutions seen as instruments of mortal encroachment.

A Warlock may even discover that their patron belongs to a Hollow Court faction different from the one they believed they served.

Philosophy and Doctrine

The Hollow Court does not possess a single moral philosophy.

It possesses etiquette.

That distinction is critical.

Court magic revolves around several recurring principles.

Names Have Weight

A name is not merely a sound.

It is recognition.

Connection.

Permission.

A true or personally accepted name can become a magical route into a creature's identity.

Hollow Court Warlocks therefore treat names carefully.

Some adopt multiple names.

Some refuse to give strangers their birth names.

Some regard nicknames as spiritual armor.

Hospitality Creates Obligation

To enter another's home is to accept rules.

To eat offered food may mean accepting protection.

To accept protection may mean accepting debt.

To insult a host may be worse than drawing steel.

The Hollow Court treats hospitality not as decoration, but as metaphysical structure.

A Promise Is a Door

Words create pathways.

A creature that promises something has defined its own future.

Hollow Court magic specializes in exploiting that definition.

Masks Do Not Always Conceal

Sometimes a mask reveals which self is currently speaking.

Hollow Court yokai may treat identity as situational rather than singular.

The face worn at war may not be the face worn during negotiation.

Both may be genuine.

This philosophy shapes the subclass's illusion and transformation abilities.

Roads Exist Because Someone Recognizes Them

The Court's strange relationship with Mistwood paths produces a distinctive form of spatial magic.

A Hollow Court Warlock may not teleport by overpowering distance.

They simply take a road that ordinary creatures cannot perceive.

The Moral Tension

The Hollow Court should never become simply "the evil yokai faction."

The existing source specifically establishes the opposite: it is not wholly evil and not wholly trustworthy.

This gives the subclass its central roleplaying tension:

Can you trust a being whose morality may be sincere, but whose understanding of obligation is utterly different from yours?

A Hollow Court patron may keep every promise perfectly.

That does not mean the promise meant what the Warlock thought it meant.

Visual Identity

Hollow Court Warlocks tend to manifest magic through elegant, eerie, highly symbolic forms.

Common colors include:

• lacquer black;
• moonlit silver;
• deep violet;
• mist gray;
• pale jade;
• dark crimson;
• midnight blue;
• and foxfire green.

Typical visual motifs include:

• lacquered masks;
• crescent moons;
• drifting mist;
• foxfire;
• paper charms;
• folding fans;
• bells;
• moonflowers;
• black branches;
• hidden gates;
• mirrored water;
• falling leaves;
• and long spectral sleeves.

Their appearance may change subtly when invoking patron magic.

A Warlock's eyes may briefly become foxlike.

A shadow might grow antlers.

Hair may float in nonexistent wind.

A paper mask might appear over the face for a heartbeat.

Footsteps may leave no mark except a thin trail of mist.

At higher levels, their magic increasingly resembles the Court itself intruding into reality.

Role in Aetheris

The Pact of the Hollow Court is primarily a Controller / Infiltrator Warlock.

Its strengths lie in:

• illusion;
• disguise;
• social manipulation;
• mobility;
• name magic;
• enemy repositioning;
• anti-reaction effects;
• magical bargains;
• and battlefield misdirection.

It is less focused on raw sustained damage than some Warlock patrons.

Instead, it excels at determining:

• who may move;
• who may attack;
• which identity is trusted;
• which road is real;
• and which promise has suddenly become binding.

Subclass Integration

Shōrin Dominion

Hollow Court Warlocks occupy an uncomfortable place in Dominion society.

Some are respected as spirit intermediaries.

Others are suspected of divided loyalty.

A magistrate may ask:

"Do you serve the Dominion?"

A Hollow Court Warlock may truthfully answer:

"I have never promised that."

Which rarely improves the interview.

Azure Chrysanthemum Accord

The Accord recognizes the Hollow Court as a major regional force and an unstable one. Lady Yureiko herself is considered neither ally nor enemy.

Accord reactions to a Hollow Court Warlock vary by branch.

Lantern Court

Most interested in understanding the patron relationship.

Lantern scholars may ask:

• Was consent freely given?
• What terms were spoken?
• Was a true name exchanged?
• Can the pact be ended?
• Does the patron possess rights under an older compact?

Jade Fang Covenant

More suspicious.

A Jade Fang hunter may accept peaceful yokai but will watch carefully for corruption, possession, or coercion.

House of Silk Lanterns

Relations can be fascinating.

The Silk Lanterns value courtesy, hospitality, negotiation, and subtle influence, while Hollow Court extremists have also targeted the House as an instrument of mortal cultural expansion.

A Silk Lantern and Hollow Court Warlock may understand one another's methods extraordinarily well while disagreeing completely about their purpose.

Veiled Tide

The Veiled Tide distrusts anyone capable of changing face, name, and route with supernatural ease.

They also hire them.

Religious and Philosophical Relationships

Hollow Court Warlocks do not necessarily worship their patrons.

Many explicitly do not.

The relationship may instead resemble:

• fealty;
• apprenticeship;
• adoption;
• hospitality;
• sponsorship;
• debt;
• marriage compact;
• inherited obligation;
• or political alliance.

Some Shōrin shrine traditions regard these pacts as acceptable if clearly defined and freely entered.

Others consider them dangerously reckless.

Rival Factions and Enemies

Common enemies include:

• hostile Hollow Court factions;
• oathbreakers;
• spirit poachers;
• shrine desecrators;
• slavers;
• occult traffickers;
• aggressive mortal expansionists;
• yokai hunters who refuse distinction between hostile and peaceful spirits;
• corrupt pact-makers;
• and creatures who steal names without consent.

A Warlock may also eventually become the enemy of their own patron.

That does not necessarily end the pact.

Contracts can survive friendship.

Pact of the Hollow Court Features

Warlock Level	Feature
3rd	Hollow Court Spells, Mask of the Accepted Guest, Name-Tether
6th	Mist Between Footsteps
10th	Borrowed Name, Courtly Immunity
14th	Palace Behind the Mist

Hollow Court Spells

The following unique spells form the patron's signature spell suite.

They are Warlock spells for you.

The full designs are the dedicated Hollow Court spells already established for Aetheris.

Hollow Court Spell Suite

Spell Level	Spells
Cantrip	Foxfire Whisper, Borrowed Face
1st	Moonlit Invitation, Name-Tether
2nd	Mist Between Footsteps, Courtier's False Courtesy
3rd	Mask of the Hollow Court, Steal the Road
4th	Banquet of Empty Seats, Borrow the True Name
5th	Moon-Gate Crossing, Hollow Court Compact
6th	Palace Behind the Mist, Unmake the Given Name

Whenever your Warlock rules grant access to a spell level, these spells are available to you as Warlock spells.

Your subclass features may reference these spells directly.

Mask of the Accepted Guest

Your patron teaches you that the easiest way into a guarded place is sometimes to become someone who belongs there.

Action Type: Passive / Action
Uses: Proficiency Bonus per Long Rest for supernatural masking
Duration: 1 hour
Scaling: Improves at 10th level

You gain proficiency with Disguise Kits.

If you already possess it, gain proficiency in one of:

• Deception;
• Insight;
• Persuasion.

You also learn Borrowed Face if you do not already know it. It does not count against your Warlock cantrips known.

Accepted Guest

As an Action, you surround yourself with a supernatural glamour for 1 hour.

Choose a plausible social role, such as:

• servant;
• traveler;
• minor official;
• merchant;
• shrine attendant;
• messenger;
• entertainer;
• pilgrim;
• household retainer.

Your physical clothing and equipment appear appropriate to that role, though their actual properties do not change.

For the duration:

• you have Advantage on Charisma (Deception) checks made to maintain that identity;
• mundane observers do not automatically question your presence solely because they do not recognize you;
• and creatures have Disadvantage on Wisdom (Insight) checks made solely to determine that your presented identity is false.

The glamour does not fabricate official authority beyond what your disguise could reasonably support.

It does not create knowledge you do not possess.

A guard may believe you are a shrine courier.

They may still ask which shrine sent you.

You regain all uses after a Long Rest.

Name-Tether

You learn that a willingly spoken name can become a thread.

Action Type: Bonus Action
Uses: Proficiency Bonus per Long Rest
Duration: 1 minute
Scaling: Improves at level 10

Choose one creature within 60 feet whose personally accepted name you know.

The name must have been:

• spoken by the creature;
• given to you by someone it trusts;
• learned through legitimate research;
• or otherwise genuinely connected to the creature.

A random label or invented name does not work.

The creature makes a Charisma saving throw against your Warlock spell save DC.

On a failed save, it becomes Name-Tethered to you for 1 minute.

While tethered:

Known Direction

You know its direction while it remains within 300 feet and on the same plane.

Familiar Weakness

Once per turn when you damage it with a Warlock spell or Pact weapon, add your Charisma modifier to one damage roll.

No Easy Falsehood

The creature cannot gain Advantage on Deception checks made against you.

Tethered Pursuit

If the creature becomes Invisible while within 60 feet, you know its direction until the tether ends.

The creature may repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns after taking damage from you, ending the effect on a success.

You regain all uses after a Long Rest.

Mist Between Footsteps

"The road is not hidden. You simply have not been invited to see it."

You begin walking the minor hidden paths of the Hollow Court.

Action Type: Bonus Action
Uses: Proficiency Bonus per Long Rest
Duration: 1 minute
Scaling: Distance improves at 14th level

As a Bonus Action, pale mist gathers around your feet for 1 minute.

For the duration, you gain the following benefits.

Hollow Step

Once on each of your turns, you may teleport up to 15 feet to an unoccupied space you can see.

You must begin or end the teleport in at least one of the following:

• Dim Light;
• Darkness;
• mist;
• smoke;
• foliage;
• heavy rain;
• moonlight;
• or an area created by an Illusion spell.

This teleport requires no additional action.

At 14th level, its range becomes 30 feet.

No Footprint Behind

Your movement does not provoke Opportunity Attacks during a turn in which you use Hollow Step.

Mist-Shrouded

Immediately after using Hollow Step, you become Lightly Obscured until the beginning of your next turn.

This does not function against a creature that can see through magical mist or has Truesight.

Borrow the Road

Once during each use of Mist Between Footsteps, you may bring one willing creature within 5 feet of you when you teleport.

That creature appears in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of your destination.

You regain all uses after a Long Rest.

Borrowed Name

You have learned that identity can be worn just as easily as a mask.

Action Type: Action
Uses: Once per Short or Long Rest
Duration: 1 hour
Scaling: None

Touch a willing creature, or touch an object strongly associated with a creature whose name you know.

For 1 hour, you may assume a supernatural echo of that creature's identity.

Choose up to three of the following qualities to borrow:

• voice;
• scent;
• handwriting;
• magical aura;
• apparent species;
• apparent age;
• facial appearance;
• mannerisms.

Your size cannot change by more than one category, and your statistics do not change.

For the duration:

False Divination

Divination magic of 5th level or lower attempting to determine your identity, creature type, or mundane appearance returns information matching the borrowed identity.

Perfect Voice

Creatures have Disadvantage on checks made to identify you by voice alone.

Borrowed Manner

You gain Advantage on Performance or Deception checks made to impersonate the borrowed creature.

Identity Slip

When a creature successfully determines that you are disguised, you may use your Reaction to force it to make a Wisdom saving throw.

On a failure, it becomes uncertain of what it saw and cannot communicate that you are an impostor until the end of its next turn.

This does not erase memory.

Courtly Immunity

Years of navigating yokai etiquette make you difficult to dominate through the same techniques you employ.

Action Type: Passive
Uses: At-will
Duration: Permanent

You gain Resistance to Psychic damage.

You also have Advantage on saving throws against:

• being Charmed;
• magical effects compelling you to speak truth;
• magical effects attempting to read your thoughts;
• and effects that alter your identity or memories.

In addition, creatures do not gain magical Advantage on Insight checks made against you unless the source specifically defeats Illusion or enchantment effects.

Palace Behind the Mist

"You believed you had cornered me because you still thought this was your battlefield."

You temporarily allow a fragment of the Hollow Court to overlap the mortal world.

Action Type: Action
Uses: Once per Long Rest
Duration: 1 minute
Scaling: Capstone

As an Action, you manifest the Palace Behind the Mist in a 30-foot-radius sphere centered on yourself.

The Palace moves with you.

For 1 minute, the area fills with:

• moonlit corridors;
• lacquered screens;
• hanging lanterns;
• masked yokai silhouettes;
• impossible stairways;
• mist-covered bridges;
• reflected pools;
• and doors that open onto places that should not be nearby.

You and creatures you designate when activating the Palace see through its layout instinctively.

Hostile creatures do not.

Court Without Roads

The Palace is Difficult Terrain for hostile creatures.

Your chosen allies ignore this Difficult Terrain.

Lost Corridor

At the start of each hostile creature's turn inside the Palace, it makes a Wisdom saving throw against your Warlock spell save DC.

On a failed save, choose one effect:

Misplaced

Teleport the creature up to 15 feet to another unoccupied location within the Palace.

Veiled

The creature is Blinded until the start of its next turn.

Courtly Silence

The creature cannot take Reactions until the start of its next turn.

Wrong Door

The creature's Speed becomes 0 until the start of its next turn.

A creature can suffer only one Lost Corridor effect per turn.

Master of the Hidden Road

Your Mist Between Footsteps teleport requires no specific lighting, mist, or terrain condition while inside the Palace.

Its range becomes 30 feet.

You may use it once each turn without expending a use of Mist Between Footsteps.

Nameless Before the Court

Creatures affected by your Name-Tether have Disadvantage on saving throws against your Lost Corridor effects.

In addition, your Name-Tether no longer ends when the creature succeeds on a repeat saving throw while the Palace remains active.

Instead, successful repeat saves suppress the tether until the beginning of that creature's next turn.

Audience of Masks

Once during the Palace's duration, you may use a Bonus Action to summon spectral courtiers around one hostile creature within the Palace.

That creature makes a Charisma saving throw.

On a failure, choose one Court Judgment.

Guest

The creature cannot willingly attack you until the beginning of your next turn unless you damage it first.

Debtor

The next time the creature damages one of your allies before the end of your next turn, it takes 4d10 Psychic damage.

Intruder

The creature is Frightened of you until the end of your next turn.

Oathbreaker

The creature cannot teleport, become Invisible, or leave the Palace by planar travel until the end of your next turn.

Once Audience of Masks is used, it cannot be used again during that activation.

Mistbound Escape

When the Palace ends, choose one unoccupied space you can see within 60 feet.

You and up to a number of willing creatures equal to your Charisma modifier may teleport there.

This final movement does not provoke Opportunity Attacks.

Once you use Palace Behind the Mist, you cannot use it again until you finish a Long Rest.