Observer on High
Atop an endless tower in the center of the Plane of Light, The Observer on High watches the world. From here, it takes in its most beautiful aspects, while urging its followers to create greater works of beauty, and to remove all that is hideous. Above all else, the tenets of light hold that beauty is the highest purpose of creation. While simple on the surface, like many of the lord's philosophies, this one has deeper nuance to consider.
For The Observer, beauty is not just vain material appeal for the eyes. It is a plethora of things that inspire and bring joy - a gesture can be beautiful, and someone can be a beautiful person without being physically attractive. The heartfelt gift that brings one to tears, the pure innocent heart, the unexpected act of mercy in the face of hostility, these are also things of beauty to strive for. After all, positive emotion is as much a part of Light as its mesmerizing glow.
Some scholars have noted certain similarities between the tenets of light and fire. Themes of changing oneself and the world for the better, of maintaining hope and enthusiasm, resonate with both. At the same time, the two Lords have frequently come into conflict - it is said that when The Eye was first created, The Observer desired a world of constant, unchanging beauty, and The Source of Chaos was the first to oppose this. Perhaps because they illuminate the world and hold such a strong connection, they simultaneously cannot tolerate their differences.
Interventions of The Observer upon The Eye are relatively infrequent, but when they do occur, they are far from subtle. Searing pillars of light parting the clouds and vivid waking visions of things to come mark its presence. When it needs to be especially direct, it may even possess a mortal medium, whose eyes and mouth let out a blinding white glow for the duration, or appoint a powerful elemental of light to deliver its word. It is somewhat unique in this regard amongst the Elemental Lords, and some suspect that this has to do with Light's connection to knowledge and sentience.
Divine Domains
Light, Beauty, Happiness, Love, Pride, Sight
Tenets of Faith
- Preserve and appreciate the beauty of the world
- Create works of beauty to improve the world
- Act with positivity and show genuine love
- Undo the ugliness of the world
- Be an example of beauty in appearance and action
List of Gifts
Spark of Inspiration: This gift attunes an individual to beauty and positive motivation, giving them a special bonus equal to their Elan level for the Art and Music Secondary Abilities.Cost: 5, Requirements: Elan 10 Joyful Presence: Those who possess this gift find that they can easily bring out positive emotions in others if they try. This can take the form of making others laugh, consoling them, or simply being good company, but the character is always vaguely guided towards whatever method will work best for the situation.
Cost: 5, Requirements: Elan 20 Eyes of the Light: Attuning to The Observer grants the character a strong sense of sight. Those with visual impairments will find these impairments gradually fading, while those with ordinary vision will steadily gain a bonus to Notice for purely visual challenges equal to their Elan level. For full blindness, this process of recovery may take years or months depending on Elan level.
Cost: 10, Requirements: Elan 30 Gift of Prophecy: The Light can grant knowledge of future events, which typically take the form of dreams or waking visions. The higher the Elan level, the clearer and more accurate these visions will be. The limits of this advantage must be interpreted by the GM, and naturally, the predictions can potentially be changed with the knowledge granted.
Cost: 10, Requirements: Elan 40 Proof of Blessing: Apart from their more subtle endowments, gifted individuals may also be capable of producing and shaping light, as well as changing its color. This ability becomes more refined with higher Elan, allowing illumination of the area around the character and even the capacity to convey information through writing or holograms.
Cost: 15, Requirements: Elan 40 Sunshine: This gift can infuse positive feelings into an individual if the character speaks to them or spends time with them. The target may resist these feelings with an MR difficulty of twice the gifted character's Elan level, with a bonus of up to +40 at GM discretion if they are especially contrary to the emotion. If passed, the check will not need to be repeated unless the character makes another attempt after their Elan has risen.
Cost: 15, Requirements: Elan 50 Perfect Sight: The Observer does not suffer imperfections in its followers' ability to perceive the beauty of the world. Bearers of this gift that do not possess the See the Supernatural Advantage will gain it, and those that already possess this capacity will gain a bonus equal to their Elan level to any Psychic or Magical resistances to illusions of a visual nature.
Cost: 15, Requirements: Elan 60, Eyes of the Light Flashes of Vision: The seemingly omniscient nature of light allows the character to know roughly what will happen in the next turn, allowing a +30 bonus to all Opposed Checks on account of knowing their opponents' intentions. The ability may be used once a day for every 10 points of Elan the character possesses. It may also be used passively at GM discretion to anticipate unexpected dangers and eliminate surprise, in which case two uses for the day are deducted.
Cost: 20, Requirements: Elan 60, Gift of Prophecy Luminary: At this level of attunement, the gifted character can be recognized as a being of Light by elementals and supernatural detection. They gain an extra point of Perception and Power.
Cost: 10, Requirements: Elan 70 Infusion of Beauty: Characters with this gift may inject the essence of light into beings and objects, transforming them into a more beautiful form. Beings will gain an Appearance of 10, while objects become pristine works of art regardless of their original state. As a consequence, this increases the Presence of objects to reflect their higher quality. This effect may be used on a total sum of Presence per week equal to ten times the Elan level of the character, steadily ensuring that they are surrounded by beauty wherever they go.
Cost: 10, Requirements: Elan 80 Destruction of the Grotesque: Those with a particularly powerful bond to The Observer can destroy the hostile intent within others with nothing but a glance. They may force any being acting on negative emotions to pass an MR Check against twice the Elan level of the character to continue the action in their presence. Once passed, they will be able to continue their actions without further checks for the rest of the day, but if failed, they will cease to feel the emotion that caused their harmful actions.
Cost: 25, Requirements: Elan 90 Endless Beauty: The chosen of The Observer on High is capable of amplifying the positive feelings of those in their vicinity. No one with a lower Presence than the chosen one will be able to tarnish the beauty of the area around them or experience negative emotions. Beings of negative emotions are driven from the chosen one's presence, lest they risk having their essence transformed until they are unrecognizable, capable of only beauty and happiness.
Cost: 10, Requirements: Elan 100
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