Grower
The Grower is a semi-religious figure who features prominently in the prophecies of The Watcher.
Abilities[edit]
The Watcher wrote that The Grower would possess apparently supernatural capabilities, like the ability to travel through time, and link without Books. He also described The Grower as the person who would restore D'ni after its destruction. One passage in particular lays out everything that The Grower was supposed to do:
When the tree dies there will come a new one.
A grower to learn of the death.
A grower to see new life.
A grower to bring the gathered.
A grower to restore the least.
A grower to move through time.
A grower to link at will.
A grower to follow the shell.
A grower to banish the darkness.
A grower to graft the branches.
A grower to join the paths.[1]
Claimants[edit]
Since The Watcher wrote about them in 4500 DE, two people are known to have claimed to be The Grower.
Kadish[edit]
Shortly before the fall of D'ni, a former Guild Master named Kadish attempted to claim that he was the Grower. He built a massive machine on the Age of Ahnonay to convince other adherents to The Watcher's prophecies that he had the ability to travel through time, back to the D'ni's original home world of Garternay.[2] His claims drew considerable attention, especially in the upper classes of D'ni society, but his attempt at fame was suddenly cut short by the destruction of D'ni in 9400 DE.
Yeesha[edit]
Over two hundred years later, Yeesha learned of The Watcher's prophecies. Her family's history seems to fit many of the descriptions in them: her grandfather, Gehn, could be seen as the rebuilder of pride; her father, Atrus, as the burdened one; her mother, Catherine, as the Writer of Dreams; and her brothers, Achenar and Sirrus, as the sons of the burdened one.
Convinced that she was The Grower, Yeesha worked to bring the bahro—"the Least"—back to the D'ni cavern, and from them she learned to do many of the things that The Watcher foretold. She has been observed linking without the use of a Book. In a note left in Kadish's vault in Kadish Tolesa, she even claimed to have "rescued" Kadish from death by traveling through time. Yet, in an arrogance brought on by pride, she ultimately failed to fulfill The Watcher's prophecies of restoring D'ni and bringing light back to the Cavern. While Dr. Richard Watson freed them of their bondage to the D'ni in 2005 CE, the bahro are still embroiled in a civil war. In 2007 CE, that war threatened to destroy D'ni itself, and only a small handful of explorers remain there after the DRC's own attempts to rebuild failed as well.
