The effects of Places of Power can be felt by anyone and everyone. A particularly strong one can have an immediate effect on a person who has never grasped the concept of Magia, and prolonged exposure to even a weak Place of Power will eventually affect the exposed person. There are however individuals, who possess a predisposition towards detecting the fluctuations within the structure of Magia on a much more profound level. Those people, are called the Seers. Albeit the name isn’t perfect: there is nothing to see, other than on a metaphysical level.
The Seers are not a binary construct. They are a spectrum, and a very wide one too. Although it is currently believed that one cannot “become” a Seer, as in the predisposition is something to be born with, this raw potential, due to its varying degree of strength and knowledge of Magia, might be revealed at a different time in life, differing from person to person. On top of that, something as simple as defining the abilities of the Seer, especially concerning the line where the un-Seers are ending the Seers begin, has proven to be too difficult. As of today, still, the only way to discover the identity of the Seers is to wait until their abilities show on their own. It is otherwise impossible to determine the natural predisposition before the Seer’s first discovery of a Place of Power. And those potentials must be added, do vary greatly. From simple increase in the profanity of the effect that the Places of Power have on a Seer, all the way to being able to locate a Place of Power from a certain distance, without laying the eyes on it. Paradoxically, despite the fact, that as all data suggest, the stronger the potential the less frequent it occurs, the more powerful Seers are known in greater number than weaker ones. This is due to the very fact, that the chance of identifying a Seer increases with the natural potential the Seer possesses.
The very first Seers appeared immediately after the shift which created the disbalance in Magia in the first place, approximately 3600 years ago. Naturally, at the time, the understanding of the disbalance was greatly limited. The primary concern of the various warlocks, shamans, and sorcerers, was limiting the effect the shift had on their abilities, rather than observing the effects that simultaneously occurred. Nevertheless, Seers of the day have been unknowingly been locating Places of Power for centuries, until the very first work on the subject was written. The crude and incomplete assertion of the anomaly that appeared over 700 B.C. Has merely laid foundations for the future expansions of the knowledge. It is important to mention, that understanding the phenomenon has never truly been revolutionized. The slow accumulation of information and knowledge filtered through the often dull and rarely quick process of deciphering those very information and knowledge and transforming it into wisdom combined with the fact, that even the most profound utilization of that wisdom wouldn’t bring the user any more glory and of course power than the ways and paths already well established discouraged many of the greatest minds of the past from focusing their resources on the phenomenon. As such, the progress in the development of the Doctrine, so what we know as the set of fundamental yet ultimate rules and instructions, has been slow at best. Nevertheless, over the centuries some advances had been made. The Places of Power have been identified and catalogs this whole time, and Seers have been able to recognize their potential though often were unable to put a name on their abilities. Still, the actual progress has been made over the last thirty years mostly. The potential of the proper utilization of Places of Power has been agreed upon as the size of the population increased. Because of that, a natural conclusion is that those involved with Magia who had a particular interest with Places of Power have been among those encouraging the Magia Society to become more open in their ways and involve themselves in a greater degree.
The rules and means of the conduct of the Seers are still in development. The currently followed ways of determining and approaching the Seer, as well as the methods which he uses to operate, are considered to be temporary, nevertheless, they have proven themselves to be well thought through.
When it comes to determining and approaching the Seer, the situation is much simpler when the potential Seer is aware of the Magia. In those cases, it’s usually the Seer himself who first acknowledges their abilities, as he is already taught to pay attention to whatever quality the Magia might possess and express. As such, the determination is conducted by self, and approaching is replaced by a verification. That can be done in various ways: a registered Seer verifying the potential Seer’s newly made assessment, bringing the potential Seer to a catalogued Place of Power for him to conduct an assessment “in the blind” etc. The conclusion is usually obvious and binary. At this point, the testing ends and the Seer is either recognized or not, and on that conclusion, either registered or denied such privilege.
If the potential Seer is unaware of the Magia, the situation is naturally more complicated. First, even just finding a potential Seer is a difficult task. The outbursts of his power are often ignored and discarded as a simple change of mood instead of an effect of a disbalance in Magia. Nevertheless, on occasions, a potential Seer, especially a powerful one, expresses some doubts and concerns about what later is recognized as an influence of a Place of Power, and what the Seer himself describes as an unexplained sudden mood shift. Approaching such a candidate is another thing. Usually, it occurs after a verified Seer conducts his own assessment of the potential Place of Power. After that, he is allowed to approach the newly found Seer, should the verified Seer’s conclusion confirm the original opinion. From here, it is solely up to the Seer to move forward as believed is best.
Once the Seer is recognized and registered, he is allowed access to all the assets the Seers possess. Due to the nature of their work, they do not require a significant amount of resources. The main one is, of course, a platform to communicate at and a catalogue of the recognized and established Places of Power. Recently, particularly in the last decade, more and more Seers decide to find a companion for their expeditions, to immediately have access to a second opinion. Although this isn’t required yet, the speculation is that because of the successes of the method so far, it will soon be mandatory for the expeditions to be conducted by no less than two Seers.
The Seers have been rising in ranks of the Magia operators in recent years. Because of the increase of population, and as mentioned before, the obvious benefits coming from proper utilization of the Places of Power, the insight offered by the Seers has gained more recognition. Nevertheless, as passive users of the Magia, their influence on the Magia society is still marginal. It is believed, however, that as their numbers will grow, and they will, the role of the Seers will only become greater, and hardly anyone would call it a bad thing, for the Magia society, or the world altogether.
Dark Halls of Kolyam 