Seers

You will find your death, one way or another.

--Deathwalker Saying

Though I have no evidence that the Seers are aware of the different varieties of magic on Svene, they have the most extensive collection of texts, including complete texts about the ancient gods. Furthermore, like the planet itself, the Seers are divided into thirteen groups.

Training

As you can imagine, the Seers are most likely connected with the old gift of sight. Each person in a Seer community, at the age of twelve, chooses one of twelve sight gifts to study:

• seeing through walls

• seeing the future

• seeing the past

• seeing far off places

• seeing truth

• seeing disguises

• seeing hidden objects

• seeing through others' eyes

• seeing others' dreams

• seeing long distance

• seeing thoughts

• seeing emotions

Study in this sight gift is added into their normal coursework at school, and when they have completed normal schooling, they usually continue to study their sight gift under someone more experienced for several years, and may also join groups of people who have developed the same wight gift, with which they practice.
The thirteenth sight gift--the ability to see death--is not chosen, but is taught to the second child of every Seer family. When the second child is born, the Seers give them to the Deathwalkers, who raise these children in a school together all of their lives. They begin studying their craft at a very young age. A month before a Deathwalker student's eighteenth birthday, they take a vow of silence. Two days before their birthday, they hold a vigil through the night, and the day before, they fast. At midnight on their birthday, they go alone into the wilderness near the school and do not return until they have seen their own death. Those who no do return die in the process. After a Deathwalker has returned, they have the ability to witness the deaths of others, and are sent on missions to either to prevent these from happening to to ensure they do.

Structure

The Seers have a top-down structure, though there are checks in place intended to prevent one person from becoming too powerful. The head of the Seers are the Deathwalker Council, eleven Deathwalkers who send Deathwalkers on their assigned missions and also maintain order among the Seers. They make rules for Seer communities to follow and they serve as the highest court among the Seers. Members of the Deathwalker council serve for life. When the death of a member nears, that member may choose a new member to replace them, but this must be approved by a unanimous vote from the the other Council members. Individual Seer communities are usually run by similar councils, though the members of these councils do not have to be Deathwalkers, and the councils will sometimes reflect the countries the communities are in (for example, some Seer communities have separate legislative and judicial councils.) Though the Deathwalker Council appointed the first Seer community leaders, they do not generally involve themselves in the workings of individual communities unless necessary. The Deathwalker Council also makes new appointments in Seer communities if the local council cannot come to a consensus.
The one position that is exempt from this process of appointment and voting is the leader of the Deathwalker Council, which is an inherited position. The Seers believe that not only is the holder of this position directly descended from the first Deathwalker, but that the family was given a right to lead their people by Death himself, and he granted that line immortality, a gift what can only be removed by Death himself (as is done when each member cedes the position to their child). Many believe that the leader of the Deathwalker Council speaks regularly with Death, and thus, a decision made by the leader is final among the Seers. Nevertheless, there have been few stories of the Deathwalker Leader using this power. In fact, the Deathwalker Leader is often known to abstain from attending meetings of the Deathwalker Council.

Location

The Deathwalker Council is located in Abova, and most Seer communities are located nearby, though they are found all over the world. They are often located in areas surrounded by rough terrain. Though they use some magic to make outsiders see something other than what is there, the Seers' secret depends primarily on being located off the beaten path. There are half a dozen Deathwalker schools, two of them located in Abova, and others scattered around Svene. They are often large buildings located a short distance from the Seer communities, on a large area of land, though much of land is allowed to run wild. It is this land that students take their first Deathwalk in.

by George Hiles

_{The Deathwalker school in Abova.}