Zelek

Domains: Divination, Time, Fate

Zelek is the great seer. He peers through the mists of time, discerning lessons from the past and deciphering glimpes of the future. His followers seek to understand past, present and future and are valued the world over for their insights.

Mortal Life

Zelek was born high atop a mountain to a family of monastic mages who spent much of their lives in quiet contemplation. As he grew up he learned to revere the stillness and silence of solitude, using it to glean wisdom from the wind itself.

He emerged as an Osis during his sixteenth year, and his command over magic awed his people. They afforded him the tutelage necessary to realize his abilities, and by the time he was seventeen Zelek was a powerful diviner.

Within three more he was raised to head of their order, because his immense wisdom impressed all who met him. Zelek spent the next six decades studying divination on that mountain, and unlike the rest of the Stewards he didn’t venture to so much as a single catalyst. He believed all the secrets he needed could be learned without ever leaving the mountain.

When Zelek awoke to find himself atop Mount Shyar he greeted Rei with a smile. He had forseen this day, and knew what Rei would ask of him. Before the god could speak Zelek spoke two words that altered his fate forever. I accept.

Rei didn’t bother explaining what it was he wanted Zelek to do, or even why he was raising him to be a Steward. Zelek had already glimpsed visions of a possible future when an elder god returned to ravage the world. He knew what was at stake, and set out to discern enough of the future that he might prevent such an eventuality.

Elevated by Rei

After his elevation Zelek returned to Mount Shyar to dwell in a fabulous city that Rei had created for the Stewards. He was aware that more followers would swell his power, but had no desire to spend his days converting men to his cause.

Yet he knew that such strength would be needed, so he began to visit each of the major cities in the land. He brought word of the future, and taught hundreds of disciples to glean the secrets of time. Many proved promising, and before long an entire temple had sprung up around Zelek.

He encouraged his followers to recruit others, and once he was satisfied that they could run things without him he retreated back to the solitude of Mount Shyar. He used his powers to bestow dedications upon his followers, and was rarely seen for the next several centuries.

To this day Zelek is the most reclusive of the Stewards, and the only one not seen by his faithful on a regular basis. Yet because of the nature of his powers he and his followers are always in high demand.

Orders of Zelek

Flame Readers– On one of his few sojourns from Mount Shyar Zelek visited the tribes of nomads living in the blasted lands. He taught their most gifted shamans the secrets of flame reading, the art of divining the future by staring into fire. It is one of the most accurate ways to divine the future, and to this day flame readers are highly sought the world over. Hasra has even gone so far as to enslave them where possible, though Zelek reputedly takes a dim view of this practice.

The Sightless– the Sightless are Zelek’s far more common order, at least in the West. They wear white robes and dwell in marble temples located in every major city across the west. They gain their name from the fact that the senior members of the order often put out their own eyes, because they believe that seeing the present interferes with their view of the future.

The Sightless are given incredible latitude and respect, because they possess a unique talent others rely heavily upon. In each of the major cities a special room is set aside. Tablets are placed on the floor of this room every morning, each containing a message, news or other vital information.

The Sightless in the outlying temples scry on these rooms every morning, and then transcribe all the information from the tablets. In this way knowledge can cross great distances overnight, when it would normally take weeks or months of travel to reach the far corners of the West.