Tovarich1917/Campagne secrète, ne pas regarder/Seersha

Prevalence on Earth

It is unclear how all Humans disappeared from Earth (and the Moon colonies), and how the Seersha came to be the sole inhabitants of Earth. Several theories exist -

• that the Humans of Earth were wiped out by a war or an illness (but it would mean the Seersha have rebuilt since, because Earth shows almost no signs of destructions or any evidence of a worldwide disaster) ;
• that the Humans left (but so many things remain on Earth that it doesn't seem to be coherent with a mass evacuation or migration) ;
• that the Seersha made the Humans disappear (it is the most commonly held belief among the Humans of the Galaxy).

Relations with other Seersha

The Seersha population is estimated at 1,000 at the lowest, 10,000 at the highest. The latter hypothesis is the most common. It means that Seersha are few and far between on Earth. Seersha are strictly non-gregarious; they avoid forming groups and live alone in vast areas that they claim their own. Such claims seem to be mutually and tacitly recognized without the need for confrontations, negociations, etc. A typical Seersha "personal space" is the size of a city - somewhere between 50 and 1000 km². This leaves many "unclaimed" territories, used by all Seersha.

Typically, another Seersha does not enter the "personal space" of a fellow Seersha. Contact between Seersha is very rare. Additionally, Seersha are able to write (and read), but speech is very difficult, if not impossible, for many of them. They also have an adverse view of noise in general. Some Seersha are known to communicate with other Seersha - perhaps a form of friendship. But these communications are in the written form and almost always indirect, not face-to-face. They use trains or boats (which are still running on their autopilots) to send each other letters. Even so, these letters are often very short. Seersha prefer communicating with pictures, and it is in this way that they most often express their feelings.

In the rare instance that a Seersha seeks direct contact with another Seersha, it is customary to go to the boundaries of that Seersha's "personal space" (boundary here can mean the actual boundary, for instance the outskirts of a city, or a place which functions as the gate of a city, such as its train station). There, the "guest" Seersha will leave a written or pictorial message for the other Seersha to find, preferrably in a rather discreet way. Then, the "guest" will retire in a place far from the message, a place where he can be sure that the other Seersha won't come across him accidentally, and won't be disturbed by his presence. Preferrably, this place is outside the "personal area" the "guest" just entered. He will then come back later (often the next day) for the answer. To actually seek face-to-face contact with another Seersha, even a "friend", is taboo and never done, even in case of a dire emergency.

Seersha are nearly biologically immortal, with an average lifespan of 1,000 years and upwards; thus, they very seldom reproduce. When they do, it is with a form of sexual reproduction quite similar to that of Humans. Reproduction seems more common between "friends", but it is not always the case. In all known instances, one of the two Seersha will lay naked and asleep in some place; another Seersha will come and have sex with him or her. It is unclear if the place of the meeting, or the identity of the partner, are previously agreed upon or not.

Relations with Humans

Humans sometimes come on Earth for a variety of reasons, often to try and loot very valuable "Old Earth" artifacts. Seersha have a great dislike of such expeditions, and will do everything they can to drive them back at any cost. Seersha perceive intrusions in their "personal space", and the louder and bigger the incursion, the more intolerable it is for the Seersha. Incursion of a party of Humans is felt by neighbouring Seersha even if it occurs outside of their "personal spaces", and they will almost always come hastily to repel the invasion. Repelling those incursions is the main occasion for several Seersha to be in the same general area, and they will aid each other in such cases; but it does not get them to make more contact than usual.

In these encounters, Seersha, even if alone, almost always have the upper hand through their superior knowledge of terrain and their powers which even recent Human technology cannot begin to match. This is why the wise and successful looters only seek to land briefly, grab an artifact or two, then cut and run before making any kind of contact with a Seersha. There are also groups who rely on firepower and brute force to try and keep the Seersha at bay, but these seldom live long. In the rare instances where a Seersha is injured or otherwise rendered unable to fight, neighbouring Seersha come with all due haste to repel the invaders - they are able to sense the invaders' presence from thousands of miles away, and if this presence remains for too long, they know something went wrong.

It is said that some Seersha tolerate incursions of lone Humans, if these incursions are discreet and do not disturb anything. There are also rumours, in some lone corners of the Galaxy, that Seersha will accept the permanent presence of Humans, but only if these Humans are like-minded. The same rumours say that eventually, these Humans turn into Seersha.

Goals

Seersha are only interested in living and modifying their environments through their perceptions. They are not interested in wealth, power, etc., and only marginally interested in personal comfort. For them, the ability to perceive their environment (and modify these perceptions) undisturbed is paramount. This is why they take such a dim view of any incursion that would create "unwanted input" and generally disturb their "personal space" and their perceptions of it.

Seersha are usually prepared to put their lives on the line to protect that; they very rarely, if ever, flee. They sometimes adopt another "personal space", but it is never because they are driven out of the previous one.

Powers and Roles

The Domain of Being is, to Humans, where Seersha concentrate their most impressive and fearful powers. Through it, Creators are able to summon objects, Create works of art through sheer will, or even send whole armies of ghosts or manikins to fight their enemies. Conversely, Erasers are able to make objects and beings disappear entirely. Among those Humans who know of the powers of the Seersha, many think that it is by Erasing that the Seersha made all the other inhabitants of Earth disappear suddenly.

The Domain of Time is (as Humans would reason) another "powerful" one. Modifiers are able to change the shape or structure of an object, or the colour of a tree, or the height of a building, or even the weather, the age or gender of a living being... Fixers can effectively freeze an object or a being in time, and prevent it to change one way or the other. There are horror stories of sadistic Seersha turning their enemies into living statues through Fixing, or torturing their bodies in complex ways with Modifying; but these tales are almost certainly hogwash.

Seersha themselves, as a rule, do not concentrate on the Domains of Being or Time. As much vital to them is that of Awareness: it allows for the modification, not of things in themselves but of the perception of these things. Perception makes them able to perceive anything they want to, even something very, very distant or faint, and even allows them to perceive the different probabilities of something (e.g. they can perceive, simultaneously or successively, both the possibility of a destroyed house and that of a brand new one). Ignoring allows Seersha to shut out the perception of something by their senses entirely: trough it, one can look into the Sun without seeing any light, or have the touch of white-hot irons feel like a faint, pleasant warmth. Thoughts and probabilities can also be shut out; for instance, a Seersha can look at someone and admire his or her beauty without ever be disturbed by the thought of his or her aging and death, if the Seersha so wishes. For the Seersha, the effect of this Domain is often just as good as Creating, Erasing, Modifying, or Fixing, because to them, perception is... perhaps not everything, but very much indeed.

The Domain of Space also has to do with perception. By Embracing, one can gain awareness and perception of a very vast area; some think this is how Seersha manage to immediately know of an intrusion from dozens and even thousands of miles away. By Detailing, one can focus on a very narrow element and perceive it exclusively but in its every detail; it is like "making a whole world of an anthill", something very attractive to Seersha.

Even though most Seersha specialise in some Domains, Powers and applications, they would all agree that Powers work best when combined. And indeed, it is through successive or simultaneous combinations of several Powers that the Seersha achieve their most impressive and important feats. For instance, it is well-known that a Seersha that masters both Erasing and Ignoring is a very dangerous foe, easily able to make someone disappear with a thought. There are also some Seersha, though they are somewhat rare, who specialise in creating and maintaining new things, new works of art; these are masters of Perception, Creation, Modification, and Fixing.