The Specimen Storehouse is the chamber inside Shadow Keep's western wing where Marika's natural philosophers, working in tandem with Messmer's army, preserved Hornsent specimens captured during the cleansing. The Storehouse's existence is canon's clearest evidence that Marika's purge of the Realm of Shadow was not pure extermination, significant numbers of Hornsent (and divine-beasts) were taken alive, sealed in jars, and studied for what their bodies could teach about the Crucible's older life-forms. The Hornsent the Tarnished encounters in Belurat's late stretches are escapees ; the ones at the Storehouse never escaped.

What makes the Storehouse the canon's most morally compromised single location is that it split Messmer's own intimates. The Fire Knight Hilde Spirit Ash flavour text records the rupture : 'Hilde was a dear friend to Salza the sage, and joined those who urged that the specimens be preserved.' Salza, in turn, the Salza's Hood entry states, 'refused to burn down an old ruin, at the risk of his own life.' That old ruin is the Rauh ruins ; the specimens are the Hornsent in jars. Salza, Hilde, and a small dissenting fraction of Fire Knights argued that the Storehouse should not be torched alongside everything else. They lost the argument, partly. Some of the Storehouse burned ; some of the jars survived. The Tarnished walks past both rooms.

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Spirit AshFire Knight Hilde

A spirit who belonged to the Fire Knights; an order which answers directly to Messmer. Hilde was a dear friend to Salza the sage, and joined those who urged that the specimens be preserved.

ArmorSalza's Hood

Hood of Salza, sage of the Fire Knights. A disciple of the elder Wego, he refused to burn down an old ruin, at the risk of his own life.