Blind Seer Champion Lore
The Blind Seers are sightless prophets who have carved a nomadic life in Durham Forest doted upon by coteries of servants who still possess their natural sight and following the migratory paths of the arknells, small birds of prey associated with powers of foresight, and considered to be harbingers of portent. Hunting these birds is a feat of great skill, only achievable by those whose foresight is so honed that it has become akin to vision itself. The soothsayers use every part of the arknell in their rituals, wearing their purple feathers in elaborate headdresses and eating their entrails to induce intense visions. The sect believes that these visions are granted by the spirits of their forebears whose souls dwell in the arknells. By killing the arknell, Blind Seers believe they free the spirit and can then commune with them to receive visions. When a Blind Seer dies, every part of them is venerated and shared with the arknells, their blood drank, their flesh consumed, and their bones crafted into ritual blades, so they are kept in the cycle of memory and tradition forever.
Many come to seek the wisdom of the Blind Seers and many are turned away. Most of the soothsayers do not covet gold or silver, silks or furs, but rather the betterment of the Dark Elf people. They see the greed and lust for power in so many their kin and despair, longing to point them on a path of compassion. Thus, only those who are deemed worthy are welcomed.
Fahari of the Blind Seers was abandoned as a child because she was blind, and was found by some of the sect’s servants and taught the ways and rites. Her skill at communing with the forebears was uncanny, and she soon ascended to a position of influence, counseling the elder on the leadership of the sect and directing the soothsayers’ servants.
One ritual Fahari took part in began as all did. She found and killed an arknell, and the petitioner came forward and asked their questions. When Fahari bit into the flesh of the arknell she knew immediately something was wrong. The stench of burning hides hit her first. The screams of the wounded and dying were next. When she opened her eyes, she was there. The tents of the Blind Seers were aflame, the screams were those of her sect. She knew the elder by his voice. He was pleading. He knelt before a fire as a shadow of an Elf flittered behind him. Fahari strained to see who slit his throat but saw only a silhouette wearing an arknell-feathered headdress. When she awoke from the vision she felt as if she had been punched in the gut. She knew she had to prevent the destruction of her group, the only family she had ever known.
The vision replayed in Fahari’s dreams. One of their own would betray their sect. Everyone became a suspect. As years wore on Fahari noticed that bone blades essential to the Blind Seers’ rites were disappearing, that those who came to beg for prophecy were increasingly not of pure heart and mind. The worm of greed was eating away at one of her fellow soothsayers, she was sure, but could trust no one bar the servants, those not privy to the rituals. They slipped between the tents of the Blind Seers, hearing and seeing much. It was from these spies that Fahari learned the elder’s secret.
Every week, strangers picked through the camp, past the guards and into the elder’s tent. One night, Fahari hid in the shadows outside and listened to their conversation. The elder and the stranger discussed the arknells, and who in the sect was willing to sell secrets. He talked openly of the Blind Seers’ ceremonies, of how the arknell was killed and how much flesh would induce visions. When the elder spoke of the bone knives the stranger asked how much it would be to buy. The price he named was high, but the stranger did not haggle. She heard the clink of gold and her rage was a white hot lance.
Fahari’s servants acted on her command after a month of careful planning. They set the tents of the named traitors aflame and killed any who moved against them. Fahari smelled the smoke from her vision, and tears streamed down her cheeks. She sought out the elder and found him. In front of all the remaining sect she held a knife at the his throat. His denials fell on deaf ears. She opened his neck with a defiant roar and the prophecy was fulfilled.
Now, Fahari works to rebuild what had to be destroyed. She seeks the stolen secrets of her sect and hunts to reclaim their ceremonial blades, to rebuild their secrets, and punish the greed of those who would steal from the Blind Seers.