Watcher

From Guild of Archivists
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Watcher
Watcher symbol.jpg
Symbol of The Watcher
Race D'ni
Personal details
Born 4334 DE
Died 4606 DE (disputed)

The Watcher was a D'ni prophet, supposedly born mid-link while his family escaped the mining disaster on Trases in 4334 DE. He claimed to have a special ability to see through time. He wrote a book of prophecy—Words—based on these visions. His true name is unknown. The Watcher's Sanctuary is named after him.

Life[edit | edit source]

In 4334 DE, during the reign of King Loshemanesh, the mining Age of Trases was severely damaged by a native Age-dweller improperly operating D'ni machinery. During the evacuation from this disaster, The Watcher was rumored to have been born while his mother was in mid-link.

In 4500 DE, during the reign of King Ji, The Watcher recorded his visions of D'ni in a 625-line work of freeform poetry entitled Words. Much of the book dealt with the signs that would foretell a great destruction that would one day visit D'ni, and the "Grower" who would one day restore it.

Death[edit | edit source]

The Watcher was reported to have died in 4606 DE, yet there were persistent rumors that he had been seen and spoken to by many people after that time.

King Ji's second wife, whom he married in 4565 DE, was rumored to have been the daughter of the Watcher, though this was never confirmed. When she vanished in 4645 DE, some said that she had gone back to her father, who had supposedly died 39 years earlier.

Prophecies and predictions[edit | edit source]

In 5102 DE, during the reign of King Emen, Words was believed to have predicted the mysterious death of the daughter of Faresh, then head of the D'ni secret intelligence agency, the Relyimah. Public interest in the book continued to grow through the reign of King Me'emen.

King Jaron was also rumored to have had a great interest in the prophesies of The Watcher. One of those prophesies stated, "because of tunnels D'ni has changed forever", and Jaron seemed to be obsessed with the exploration and expansion of the cavern. He may have been attempting to fulfill that prophesy, as King Ja'kreen had done by constructing the King's Arch and the Temple of the Great King.

While the popularity of Words rose and fell somewhat with the times, it kept a significant following over the millennia, and many copies were in existence at the time of the Fall. Just prior to the Fall, a former Guild Master of the Guild of Writers named Kadish proclaimed himself to be the Grower foretold by The Watcher, and went to considerable effort to fulfill those prophesies, as had King Jaron in the past.