The Great Eye

“Above, it never sleeps. Below, none escape its gaze.”

— Sermon of the Veiled Astrologer, Year of Ashfall.

 

Celestial Description

High in the northern heavens burns a cluster of seven argent stars forming the unmistakable oval shape of an eye. Within it, a dim red star glimmers at the center, the so-called Pupil of Wraak, said to flicker whenever vengeance is fulfilled upon the earth. Sailors use it to chart courses through treacherous waters, assassins pray to it before taking aim, judges avert their gaze from it before pronouncing sentence.   On cloudless nights, the constellation seems to shift, the pupil turning, seeking, searching, though astronomers claim it to be mere illusion born of weary eyes and too much darkness.  

Divine Origin: The Tale of the Eyes

In the Book of Sundering Justice, the priests of Wyroku recount how their god was once blindfolded by his own hand, that he might judge without prejudice. Yet Wraak, born of the anguish of the wronged, tore away the blindfold and stole Wyroku’s eyes, burning them into his own sockets. Thereafter, Wraak beheld all pain and injustice ever wrought, and became consumed by it.   Unable to bear the torrent of suffering, he plucked forth a third eye from his own skull, forged from fury and divine ichor, casting it into the heavens so that its watch might be eternal. This, they say, is the Great Eye, ever open, ever seeking redress.   But in the Scriptures of the Whispering Moon, followers of Geheime tell another story. They claim she stole one of Wraak’s eyes while he slumbered beneath a storm of blood and vengeance, hiding it among the stars. To them, the Great Eye is not a sentinel, but a lock, a secret buried in the heavens, holding truths the gods themselves wish to forget.  

Cults and Interpretations

  The Order of the Burning Iris believes the Eye watches for oathbreakers. They burn criminals’ eyes in its honor, whispering, “See now as Wraak sees.”   The Cloister of Hidden Sight, devoted to Geheime, holds that when the red star fades, her hidden knowledge will be revealed. Their oracles keep their eyes sewn shut, claiming that only blindness can grant true vision.   The Judges of Wyroku mark their courts with a single ruby set in the ceiling. When trials are held, the gem is lit with a single candle, symbolizing the divine gaze of judgement that no mortal can evade.  

Astral Omens

When the Great Eye weeps, a rare phenomenon when red comets streak near its pupil, kingdoms tremble. Such events are recorded as heralds of vengeance divine: wars of reprisal, long-delayed reckonings, and the downfall of unjust rulers.   The Eye last wept three centuries ago, the night before the Fall of Daelvar, when the city’s rulers were found slain in their beds, their eyes missing, their faces turned toward the heavens.  

Philosophical Debate

Among scholars, the Great Eye embodies a paradox:   Is justice only vengeance with ceremony?   Or is vengeance merely justice denied?   Even today, philosophers and priests argue under starlight, watched by that unblinking eye above. Some whisper that when the stars align, the Eye will open fully, and all hidden guilt, divine or mortal, will be laid bare before creation.