The Eye of the Night

In-Game Book Text
A legend told by the Sandfury cyclops.

In the long ago, they worshipped the Eyes. Two Eyes were placed into the sky so that the cyclops' would not have but one eye.

Instead, they could use the Eye of the Night and the Eye of the Day. The Eye of the Day, however, was cruel and would sometimes take the power of anyone who stared at it disrespectfully or for too long.

Therefore, the Eye of the Night was held in higher esteem.

There were the Seafuries and they lived on the lands of the Ocean of Tears, worshipping the Eye of the Day. Beneath its gaze, they harvested the bounty of the seas and fought off predators that landed on their shores.

Some lived in the secret places of Ro, where they hid from the Eye of the Day, calling themselves the Sandfury. They worshipped the Eye of Night, who benevolently provided them with water, food and shelter.

The Eye of the Day knew that they did not worship it and became harsh and bitter. It set out to destroy its rival.

The visionaries were concerned, for there were strange portents in the bones. By throwing fish bones onto the sand at high tide, the Seafuries would read the future.

The bones lay twisted and unreadable. Perplexed, they made offerings to the Eye of the Day, but the meanings shown by the bones were still clouded.

The Eye of the Day shrouded itself and hid from them.

In the desert lands, the Sandfuries did not use bones for divination. Bones were strewn about, remains of those who failed to fear the Eye of the Day; they meant nothing more than the swirling sands.

Instead, they looked to the Eye of the Night and chanted as they stared upward. One eye meeting the Eye and looking for answers to questions they did not have words to ask it.

"The Eye is in pain," said one Seafury visionary in concern. "We must prepare to send it more offerings. The little ones with sticks and stones will do."

And so the Seafuries prepared to take offerings rather than wait for the offerings to come to them on their vessels of wood and cloth and iron.

They kept the offerings penned on the beach beneath the shrouded skies.

The jealous eye of the Day sent long tendrils towards the Eye of the Night, hidden from the view of its worshippers.

It coiled the golden wisps around the Eye of the Night and began to squeeze, until the Eye of the Night, always the gentler of the two, cried and divided into two parts.

Then, the Eye of the Day released it from its grasp and coiled its tendrils around itself again, satisfied.

Far below, the Seafuries did not see a change. The portents were still confused and chaotic.

Even after the sacrifices were made, they were unsure how to appease the Eye of the Day. Danger, falling, pain.

Perhaps they had not sacrificed correctly. Perhaps the Eye of the Day hungered for the bodies of the disbelievers.

And so ships were prepared to transport the Seafuries from their island home. They would take and sacrifice those who worshipped the Eye of the Night.

Once only those who worshipped the Eye of the Day were left, then it would be appeased. The fish bones would be able to tell the future with accuracy and the Seafuries could return to their way of life.

Though the Sandfuries did not know their danger, they sensed a change in the Eye of the Night and watched it fearfully in the darkness.

Some sickness gnawed at it both from within and without. The Sandfuries did not make offering to the Eye. Instead, they told stories about her (for to them, she was as mother, goddess and lifemate) and chanted softly so that she would know they still believed.

In the day, the first stones fell. Though they could not see the Eye of the Night, the visionaries realized their mistake. Though they lived near the sea, they were not as skilled in managing ships as others.

They dodged what they could, but the rain of stones continued, sometimes burning only a hole through a ship, while at other times tearing it asunder.

The Eye of Day ignored their cries.

In the desert, the Sandfuries watched chunks of the Eye shining through the night skies.

"Oh, mother and maiden! We are your true children!" they cried, begging for her forgiveness. To show that she would always be their Eye, she caused a stone of magical power and beauty to land amongst the Sandfuries, leaving them unharmed.

And that is how the Seer Stone came to Ro.