A Dissertation on the Seeress

As presented by Mistress Aiode in the year 722.

The lands of Iliapin are ripe with many tales and fanciful stories of gods and heroes. Most are regional, tied to a particular group of humans or area. Though those of the aelves, such as the one of Willow, exist throughout their kind. Yet those tales concerning the Seeress seem to be known all throughout Iliapin.

Like the varied people of Iliapin, so the myths of the Seeress vary. They may describe her as young or old, alone or in the company of young girls, a bringer of good tidings or bad omens. There is little in the way of commonality among these tales of her.

What is interesting about her is that it seems as if there is no part of Iliapin that does not have at least one story about her. In addition, when trying to date these stories, rarely does it seem that two ever overlap. If they do, there is a question about the exact dates, as the tellers of these tales rarely concern themselves with that detail.

Because of the number of stories about the Seeress, and the apparent sequence of these stories, I can only conclude that the Seeress, in fact, exists, even if she is nothing more than a construct of fancy. A thread woven throughout the fabric of Iliapin…

... The earliest mention of the Seeress is from around the year 250, where a foreign woman of “white skin and hair of fire” visited several small villages northwest of the Kingdom of Flaoya. There she warned of a drought and famine in the coming years and to make preparations for it. Some people heeded her warnings and made preparations, while others did not. When the drought came, some people were prepared, and thus the devastation was not as bad as it could have been.

There are other stories, however, that pre-date this one that mention a woman claiming to predict the future. These stories seem to date some 50 years prior and appear around Toba, Jun’kar, and other areas around the Forest of Aran. They speak of a raven haired woman advising people on courses of action to better their lives....

... However, not all tales of the Seeress are of her being benevolent. Some tales talk of her bringing woe with her, such as the now nearly forgotten hamlet of Duhan…

... Can this be the same woman? Only the uneducated, those who take superstition as fact, would say it is. More likely explanations would be that this is a series of women from some, yet unknown, order, or women who are building on and using the stories of the Seeress. In the former, how are new members chosen? If the latter, for what reason and to what end?

If this is some order, the answer may lie in the stories of the Seeress manifesting herself when some girls are born and claiming them....

... It is reasonable to conclude that since these girls appear to be raised by the Seeress, that they succeed her in some fashion. Perhaps similar to how the title of “Inbul” passes from one sage to the next within our order of The Sage of Elhrub…

... Some tales around the Seeress mention her claiming baby girls born to other women as her own, but what becomes of these girls? There are tales of girls claiming to be the daughter of the Seeress, but they depict these girls either as being in their teens or early adulthood at the oldest…

…. The questions about her still abound. Who, or what, is she exactly? Where does she come from? What is her goal? What causes her to manifest? Why do Aranians and aelves hold her in high regard? Why do they seem so guarded about discussing her? It is as if protecting some secret....