[@Oak7ree] I understand where you're coming from, but sometimes one really has to generalize when describing entire races, for the sake of brevity. Most non-human races will probably roughly fit into a stereotype (though that stereotype may be unjustly bestowed). As for Americans, a great deal of them do like baseball, though not every single American will fit into a cookie-cutter personality like that. However, what I do have planned for the races here is for the negative traits of their race to be more apparent, e.g the humans are overbearingly imperalist instead of merely ambitious, and the generic elvish mystery found in most universes becomes full-blown racism. I'd want to eliminate the notion of good guys bad guys for entire races (much like how Tolkien generalized all the orcs to be bad), and rather instead instill a sense of flawed humanity in the world. For example - the Lord of the Rings usually paints elves in a distant, but benevolent light. Whereas I imagine this story to be more of the Silmarillion, where the elves are outright rebellious dicks in their specialness.

TL;DR - Yes, I'm going for an edgy deconstructionist feel. 

And while you were writing that, I've already kinda sunk my teeth into this. So, introducing the Seers!

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The Seers 

“We perceive the Will.”

Known as among the last few to truly sense the will of the gods in Kaledan, the Seers (or the Order of the Seers) are a magic order who are committed to maintaining a stable means of communing with those Beyond. They have hunted down fell beasts and men alike, discovered things of unspeakable power, and have spoken with the gods themselves. They usually only accept young children as initiates, but besides that, their ranks are by no means exclusive - any sentient race capable of wielding magic has a place within the Seers. Though they are enigmatic, they are most certainly respected.

The Seers began as a secret order of elven mages in the Age of Mist, who decided to pool their forces in order to keep the presence of the Gods alive in Kaledan. The founder of the Seers was an elderly wood elf called Thonnen Lavarion ’the Great’, one of the most powerful mages to ever exist, and who had reputedly seen the face of the Great Tree. As of that time, the dwarves warred with the orcs in the mountains to the south, and humans had yet to land on Kaledanic shores - so it was natural that this secret order was exclusive to the elven race. At first, they served none but the Prince of Anor, the ruler of the wood elves, and helped him consolidate his power over the Anorian Wood. However, when the first man to land on Kaledan felled the first tree of Anor, heralding the end of the Age of Mist and the beginning of the Age of Blood, the Prince ordered his Seers to carry out unspeakable acts of war on whomever dared cross the Secret Wood. Many humans, dwarves, and orcs fell at the hands of the ancient Seers. It is for this reason that at the end of the Age of Blood, the Seers were able to break away from the Princedom of Anor and went into hiding into what is now known as the Silver Tower, concealed by magic so that no mortal can reach it save with the guidance of a Seer himself. The subsequent dominion of the Khaveri Empire cemented the Seers’ oath to swear fealty to no one but those who lie Beyond. It is for this reason that Seers refuse to advise any mortal rulers nor command any army.

The Seers, of course, spearheaded the Golden Rebellion in opposition to the Khaveri Empire. Though they communicated seldom with other rebel leaders and refused to hold territory, the Seers certainly were of enormous help to the greater revolution. The devastating fireball attacks that razed entire city blocks earned the Seers the nickname of ‘Dragon-men’ amongst the ruling and working class alike. The man who killed the Emperor of Khaver, the humble peasant knight Moren Dolevolt, was said to be assisted by an elderly Seer in his quest. 

After the war, the Seers yet again retreated back into their secret bases and towers, and now spend the majority of their time in deep meditation, attempting to call back the gods. The world of Kaledan is large, and her people in danger - but the Seers will not let the gods abandon the realm, no matter the cost.

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The Seers only accept children as initiates, preferably below the age of five. They spend their entire adolescent lives within their Cloister, learning the basics of the arcane. When they have come of age, they are given a choice - either to stay within the walls as a Mystic, communicating with the gods, or to venture outside as a Magus, safeguarding the realm in the absence of the divine. At first the Seers only held elves within their ranks, but with their secession from the Princedom of Anor, all manner of race can be found here. 

It is to be noted that the Seers do not have an official ranking system - Seers do not believe in such petty political affairs, and a Seer can already magically sense the seniority of another. The Seers do not have a supreme leader - they do have a Grand Council composed of nine appointed members who deliberate on actions and decisions taken by the Order as a whole. 

The Seers are unique from most other groups within Kaledan in that they do not punish gross misconduct or incompetence with death or exile. A Seer’s spirit can never truly rest, due to his strong connection with the gods, and neither can one let a misbehaving Seer wander Kaledan unrestrained. So what the Order usually resorts to is magical imprisonment: this usually involves the offending Seer being condemned to live in a pocket dimension for a certain amount of time - in the gravest cases, eternity. Within these pocket dimensions, the Seer is practically immune to death, making it a living hell for gross offenders.These dimensions often take the form of earthly prisons like towers, mazes, or even dungeons. 

Given their massive role in shaping the history of Kaledan, the Seers are often granted the unoffical status of ‘local problem-solvers’ by ordinary mortals, much like the Istari of Middle-Earth. Many magic groups from dwarven runemasters to orcish shamans respect the Order, or at the very least fear it. The Seers, however, refuse to claim authority over any of the aforementioned groups.
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