Seer

Viewers of fate who have special needle and thread that allows them to understand what is to come. They wear blindfolds.

Threads of Fate

Fate, as an esoteric, poioumenonic energy, is woven in the form of invisible threads that flow throughout all of reality. They are often disrupted by other energies - fortune, misfortune, serendipity, ibbissu, or others - but those with special skill and tools can feel them, touch them, and view them.

Tapestry of What Is to Come

What the threads of fate combine to form is the Tapestry of What Is to Come (Nasij Ma Sayati). It is a complex tapestry where colors, forms, and measurements have meanings only a few understand. The interpretation of the tapestry tells what fate there may be.

When viewed, it appears to be a vast conglomeration of threads that, when taken as a whole or from a distant view, appear to be a woven tapestry the size of the sky, depicting scenes of cosmic birth, death, and rebirth. If viewed closely, the trillions of individual lives that thread together to form the story of reality are visible. A seer can trace the threads within the tapestry and see what lies ahead for individuals.

Unseeing and All-Seeing

To view the tapestry, a seer must learn how to see without their eyes. They do this first by training with a blindfold or other device that blocks their eyes. If they cannot see already, they must train themselves to sense the threads in a similar fashion. Sight beyond sight is required, but also the ability to touch the invisible threads of the tapestry. This is done by first working with actual threads to know the feeling, then working up to more esoteric threads. Training to see without one's eyes requires years of meditation, working with actual thread, and the use of special drugs found in the deep deserts of Mahad or elsewhere. Due to the mental strength required to do this, seers go through extreme periods of deprivation of the body and heart, often going out into the deep desert or other harsh environments to live on their own for years. The average seer takes decades to learn to see the threads. Once they do, their next task is to learn how to do so safely, for being all-seeing has its risks.

The Forbidden Threads

Once one can see the threads, one needs to learn which threads to look at and which not to. There are some threads that are dangerous to follow. It is considered wise not to interpret one's own death, for instance, but other threads are dangerous because they can trap a seer. Beings who have fate resonating within them may draw others into their thread if viewed too closely, and some beings, such as Divines, the Eldritch, greater elementals, and the mafi girma, to name but a few, are powerful enough to know when they are being viewed - and to retaliate. These threads are, of course, rarely interwoven with the average person's threads, but one must know the risks all the same. Other forbidden threads include certain places where fate becomes knotted due to interference, and places where the tapestry is disrupted by other powers. It can be deeply traumatic to view a place disrupted by ibbissu, for example.

Finally, one must never, ever attempt to view the whole tapestry at once. This will break the mind of even the most powerful seer.

Guiding the Threads

The best way to view the threads is by having someone ask questions. This will draw the seer's attention toward certain threads that are relevant to the questions at hand. The more specific, the better, though the answers will always be draped in interprative language due to the nature of the tapestry.

Disbelief

One of the characteristics of fate is that it is rarely believed. A seer must learn to trust the tapestry above all if they are to view it even a little bit, and thus, they can then interpret it. But when they speak of fate to others, they take a PRS penalty to convince them of its truth due to fate's nature.

Threading

A seer can sense the threads and therefore affect them. Even viewing them can affect them. Seers must train to be careful when viewing so as not to affect too much, and they must be very careful if they choose to touch a thread. They often do this to better follow it, but they must be very gentle. Any damage to the thread or major shifts will alter fate.

Prophecy

A seer who looks at a broader view of the tapestry (not the whole, but a broader view than following an individual thread) may interpret what they see to speak a prophecy. See Prophecies for some of the most famous ones. Prophecies are usually cryptic due to the nature of the tapestry, but they are often less susceptible to fluctuation and disruption due to how vast they are. Thus, they are more often accurate.

Inventory

Seers work with a few basic tools:

Thread

The thread of fate is an esoteric manifestation of the energy of fate. Seers use actual thread to get a feel for it, to learn to feel for it instinctively, to condition themselves to know its texture, then begin to use special esoteric threads called maslak until they can feel the actual energy as a thread.

Needle

In order to better follow an individual thread, seers often use special needles made of quickwolfram solidified by fate itself to prick a little thread up to feel it better as an individual strand rather than part of the full tapestry.

Blindfold

Blindfolds are usually made of maslak if they can be, but any blindfold that adequately blocks out light will work. Once a seer has seen the threads, they may not take their blindfold off without having to work for years to regain their thread-sight.

Ma'albasar

Ma'albasar is the "water of sight" that is found in deep deserts within mirages. Specialists seek it out and bring it back to the seers in exchange for profound, deep prophecies.

Variations

Some variations include

• Bihaar: a seer who guides a ship on the seas, the skies, or in space.
• Bila lisan: a seer who betrays their people and uses their powers for personal gain, usually a con artist.
• Biraeam: a seer who keeps a garden of special plants that are part of the tapestry or provide for it.
• Gazer: a minor seer who uses crystal balls to view the future at a carnival or sideshow.
• Ghabiun: a fool who speaks prophecies that no one believes.
• Haris: an archivist of prophecies.
• Hayim'aemaa: a wanderer of the deep deserts who sees nothing physical but knows all fate, bonded deeply to the deserts and the beasts there.
• Laaeib: one who weaves the threads of fate into a game of destinies.
• Mualif: one who fictionalizes their prophecies in order to hide them, writing stories that tell the future.
• Rasul: a seer who travels and spreads their words far and wide.

Jasusum

The elite spies of the Mahadi rulers who employ them, they use their viewing powers to spy on their enemies and to know how to get past their most powerful protections, but at a very profound price - they know the time and place of their own deaths.

Mahzia

Some seers, usually women, work as concubines to the very powerful in their regions, telling fortunes and giving pleasures. They are feared and have a special role in their societies.

Similar Occupations

Other users of fate include

• Burj al'Dalw: a person who seeks the water of sight in the deep deserts and brings it back to the seers.
• Card Reader: one who reads tarot cards for the entertainment of others, usually a street performer.
• Cassandra: a prophetess-crone who is never believed.
• Enaree: an androgynous soothsayer shaman or priest.
• Ghazi: archers whose arrows are fated.
• Kalb al'Bahr: a qursan guided by fate.
• Mazi: a ghazi assassin.
• Nashl: a fated thief.
• Oracle: one who reads fate rather than weaves it, using mantological arts.
• Rijal: a fated warrior.
• Sipahi: a rijal archer.
• Sixspinner: one who uses footspinner insects to weave fate.
• Spinner: one who weaves fate rather than reads it.
• Sultan: an ordained ruler.
• Tarot Reader: a reader of tarot cards who plays a complex game.
• Umculi: one who plucks music from the threads of fate.
• [Wahy: a male djinn oracle.
• Widluios: a fili who reads fates.
• Xov: northeastern Dabusenese artist who weaves fate but burns them when they are false.
• ɣeɖula: a dancer whose movements are fated.

Societal Role

Seers are revered advisers in many cultures throughout Mahad, but hated by those who seek to conquer and dominate the peoples of the continent. Many distrust them, and they have a reputation as self-serving liars (which is usually completely untrue) amongst those who do not have them in their cultures. Amongst the cultures where seers are revered, there is a covenant between them that they will only use their powers to serve their people or for the bettering of the world. However, this is often betrayed due to the extremely difficult circumstances seers must live in due to repression or the requirements of their occupation.

Skills

Common skills include

• Weaving
• Sewing
• Blind-fighting
• Meditation
• Tea making
• Drug making
• Desert survival

Stats

Modifiers from base of nation/species:

PRO -1
ATH -2
STR -2
AWA +6 Sight 0
WIL +5
STH +1
PRS +1 Prophecy -6