Subject One. The original Dreadgod, imprisoned beneath the labyrinth. Source of all hunger madra. Creator and sustainer of the four Dreadgods. Once a man who volunteered for the first hunger binding, warped beyond recognition by the process.
Other Names: The Slumbering Wraith, Father of Hunger, the Fifth Dreadgod
Type: Dreadgod (imprisoned) Location: Western labyrinth, beneath Sacred Valley, behind the Nethergate Status: Alive (imprisoned)
The fifth Dreadgod and father of the other four. Their progenitor, the original, from which they were all formed. Located in the western labyrinth beneath Sacred Valley. So long as Subject One exists, the four surface Dreadgods cannot be permanently killed.
Type: Dreadgod (echo) Appearance: Six-armed, skeletal, desiccated man on a throne of fused flesh Eyes: Glassy black with white irises Status: Dead (core binding removed)
A skeletal, desiccated figure seated on a throne of fused flesh in a massive chamber at the labyrinth’s deepest point. Six arms. A gaping hole in his chest where his core binding once resided. Originally a man who volunteered for the first hunger binding out of fear and the allure of endless power. The researchers who created him admitted they were “wrong about virtually everything.” He forgot his own name. His echo, activated by
Origin
Subject One is referenced in notes recovered from the Transcendent Ruins. The labyrinth’s entire research purpose was to study and duplicate Subject One’s unique madra type. The bindings found in dreadbeasts throughout the Blackflame Empire contain traces of the same hunger madra that originates from Subject One. [SK Ch.12]
A team of researchers came to the labyrinth, which was already ancient beyond memory, to use it as a secure site. They built seals to focus all hunger aura in the world into a controlled space. Within that space, they experimented with fusing hunger bindings into living creatures, suppressed by the “great formation” — the Sacred Valley suppression field, the largest script formation ever created, spanning hundreds of miles. [RP Ch.21; WS Prologue]
Subject One volunteered for the first binding, driven by a combination of fear and the allure of endless power. The process warped him beyond recognition. The researchers were, by their own admission, “wrong about virtually everything.” [RP Ch.21]
The Dreadgod Anchor
Subject One waits at the bottom of the labyrinth, deeper than anyone has gone in uncounted years. He is called the fifth Dreadgod, the first, the Father of Hunger, the Slumbering Wraith. The Sword Sage contended with Subject One’s will during his exploration, which weakened him beyond even the suppression field’s effect. [RP Ch.1]
Subject One anchors the other Dreadgods’ immortality. So long as he exists in the labyrinth depths, the four surface Dreadgods cannot be permanently killed. Removing the anchor makes them mortal — no weaker, but mortal. [RP Ch.1]
Hunger is a unified force. “One force, one entity, one existence.” When Subject One spirals, all four Dreadgods spiral simultaneously. The core bindings connect them through metaphysical pathways, and power radiates between them. This is why no Dreadgod can be permanently destroyed in isolation: the system regenerates through its connections. [RP Ch.21]
As he spiraled, so did the four greatest subjects. They escaped to the surface; he was locked below. The last generation of Monarchs killed the beast of earth — the Wandering Titan’s predecessor — but the other three inherited its power and devoured the remaining Monarchs. Hunger weakened as Monarchs died, and the Dreadgods slept more. Subject One lost himself. Then new Monarchs rose and failed to leave. [RP Ch.21]
The Labyrinth Defenses
Subject One’s attacks manifest as gray-white ghosts: dragging arms, loose jaw, empty eye sockets, groaning in pure hunger. Technically Striker techniques with enough will invested to act like independent spirits. Deep inside the labyrinth, even a Monarch’s spiritual perception is suppressed. [RP Ch.1]
With his full attention focused, Subject One can invest his ghoul constructs with soulfire-level power. He commands an endless arsenal of historical fighter echoes: black-and-white copies of Heralds and Archlords who once entered the labyrinth, powered by his concentration and hunger madra. He can choose who passes and who is blocked, sending wave after wave against those he rejects. [RP Ch.19]
The Mummified Hand
Shen snapped off the last joint of the pinky finger and flicked it to the Bleeding Phoenix, giving the Dreadgod direction toward Subject One beneath
The Sword Sage stored Subject One’s arm in his void key. A white-fingered hunger arm that sinks into wood like soft mud.
Shen’s Betrayal
Subject One cast Shen out of the labyrinth in his last moments, but knew the Monarch would return. “Betrayal is the nature of Monarchs.” [RP Ch.21]
Shen emerged from the labyrinth with Subject One’s core binding and activated it before the assembled Monarchs. The Hunger Icon manifested in the sky: a widened mouth full of sharpened fangs. Authority screamed through reality, warping the world in an invisible vortex, color leeching from everything. Shen’s plan: fuse with the core binding and become the new Slumbering Wraith. The activation sent power along metaphysical pathways to all four Dreadgods, granting them unprecedented intelligence. [RP Ch.23]
Subject One’s Echo
The echo was transparent but conscious, speaking with lucidity for the first time in ages. Rage crossed his face at the sight of his own body, then weariness, then longing. He could hear
He revealed the Dreadgod truth: hunger aura is corruption, a manifestation of selfish ambition created by the presence of Monarchs on Cradle. The Dreadgods will die only when there are no more Monarchs. All Monarchs know this. Anyone who might advance to Monarch must swear secrecy or “not make it.” [RP Ch.21]
His command to Lindon was desperate and absolute: “Kill them, banish them, convince them, it matters not! Make them leave!” [RP Ch.21]
Subject One’s Blessing
“As the first child of hunger, I give you my blessing.” Subject One softened the labyrinth’s authority for
When Lindon asked his name so it could be remembered, the echo paused. “I’m… I don’t… I don’t remember.” His nightmare: that he had been trapped only hours, and that it simply felt like an eternity. [RP Ch.21]
Lindon promised: “I will tell your story nonetheless.” [RP Ch.21]
The Wraith Horn
Death and Aftermath
After Subject One’s death at
The Dreadgods could only die permanently when no Monarchs remained on Cradle to generate the hunger aura that sustained them.
Quotes
By Subject One
[!veil|RP 21]
“Betrayal is the nature of Monarchs.” — Subject One [RP Ch.21]
[!veil|RP 21]
“The Dreadgods will die only when there are no more Monarchs.” — Subject One [RP Ch.21]
[!veil|RP 21]
“Kill them, banish them, convince them, it matters not! Make them leave!” — Subject One [RP Ch.21]
[!veil|RP 21]
“As the first child of hunger, I give you my blessing.” — Subject One [RP Ch.21]
[!veil|RP 21]
“I’m… I don’t… I don’t remember.” — Subject One, when asked his name [RP Ch.21]
[!veil|RP 21]
“My nightmare is that I have been trapped here only hours, and that it simply feels like an eternity.” — Subject One [RP Ch.21]
About Subject One
[!veil|RP 21]
“I will tell your story nonetheless.” —
[RP Ch.21] Wei Shi Lindon
[!veil|RP 1]
“He would empty this place if it took him a decade. Because in the end, he would do what no one else had ever done, and seize control of the greatest weapons ever created. The Dreadgods. All five of them.” —
[RP Ch.1] Reigan Shen
[!veil|BL 13]
“That should be enough for you. Now you know the way home.” —
, feeding Subject One’s fingertip to the Bleeding Phoenix [BL Ch.13] Reigan Shen
Trivia
[!veil|SK 12]
- The labyrinth’s entire research purpose was to study and duplicate Subject One’s unique madra type. Soulsmiths in the Blackflame Empire worked with degraded copies of these hunger bindings for generations without understanding their origin. [SK Ch.12]
[!veil|RP 21]
- Subject One forgot his own name after an eternity of imprisonment. The records cannot determine what he was called before the experiments. [RP Ch.21]
[!veil|RP 21]
- The researchers who created Subject One described their work with the assessment: “We were wrong about virtually everything.” [RP Ch.21]
[!veil|RP 23]
- When Subject One’s core binding was activated, the fifth birth pod in his chamber — corrupted, half-melted, gray-white — contained only gray dust and ash. [RP Ch.18, Ch.23]
[!veil|DG 17]
- Subject One’s arm, found in the Sword Sage’s void key, could eat Dreadgod calls for help — a feat described as unprecedented, suggesting a fundamental authority over hunger that even the surface Dreadgods did not possess. [DG Ch.17]