Watcher

Watchers lurk in the shadows of the Universe, witnessing as history unfolds around them across space and time. They come to worlds on the brink of destruction, recording these worlds' fates and cataloguing apocalyptic events for eternal enshrinement in their massive archives of Jandelay. Watchers usually perform this work unseen, slipping into the background of a plane so they can set their strange beacons undisturbed and secretly place creatures into stasis for transport back to their archives.

Though they concern themselves with calamities and apocalyptic events, the watchers have no desire to see a world end before its time. They're attracted to the actions of mortal heroes who defy fate and work to avert disasters, and they only rarely intervene to preserve an appointed apocalypse from being stalled by these heroes, often content to witness and record the curious heroics.

When faced with unusual news or threats to Jandelay, watchers congregate into small councils to discuss and consider. These councils typically number no more than five watchers, with one watcher designated as the council's observer, recording and remembering the meetings. Watcher councils are patient and deliberate, slow to reach any decisions, but once they reach a conclusion, there's always a unanimous consensus.

Watchers have six long, slick insectile legs and stand approximately 30 feet tall. Small, prehensile filaments hide within their talons, which allow the watchers to achieve an astonishing degree of manual precision.

Many watchers hold an almost religious reverence for the cycle of preservation and destruction that emerges between themselves and the Oliphaunt of Jandelay. This dualistic belief in that which is eternal and that which is lost is commonly interpreted as a faith that deifies both the Oliphaunt and a mysterious First Watcher as demigods of Jandelay. The watchers are often seen alongside the Oliphaunt when it rampages across the Universe, and whether they truly see it as a god, a colleague, or merely a necessary planar phenomenon, the truth of their relationship might simply defy mortal categorization and understanding.

Creation and Destruction

The watchers share Jandelay's fields with the Oliphaunt, herald of the apocalypse, a gargantuan beast that visits worlds on the eve of their annihilation to wreak havoc and destruction. Few scholars can agree if the watchers reach a doomed world first, creating beacons that call the Oliphaunt, or if the Oliphaunt instinctively knows when a world is on the brink of calamity and the watchers follow it as their apocalyptic guide.

Fending Off the Watchers

The Beacons of Jandelay, towers of energy erected by watchers to mark worlds on the eve of their apocalypse, are a terrifying sight for those who recognize their significance. Though the watchers are commonly understood as mere observers and recorders, some scholars theorize the watchers call the Oliphaunt from Jandelay themselves only after erecting their beacons and preparing to record the ensuing calamity. By repelling the watchers and destroying their beacons (which have AC 48, Hardness 40, and 380 HP) or countering the beacons with an effect like dispel magic, these scholars believe doomed worlds can be snatched from the jaws of ruin.