The Harbingers

Overview

Ancient wizards transformed into robotic servants through centuries of institutional loyalty. Originally scholars and magic practitioners, they now represent the institutionalization of magic and the dangers of absolute obedience to power.

Origins and Transformation

Critical Theory: The Harbingers may have summoned The Entropy Shepherd, making them partially responsible for the current crisis. This explains their cooperation with the Overlord's agenda and knowledge of forbidden prophecies.

The Process: Centuries of willing service gradually subsumed individual personalities into collective obedience, creating an almost mechanical devotion that strips away personal agency.

Core Characteristics

• Ancient magical knowledge - Centuries of accumulated wizardry and scholarship
• Robotic obedience - Individual will subsumed to collective service
• Formal wizardry - Structured, institutional approach to magic
• Prophetic knowledge - Possess forbidden prophecies and dangerous information
• Generally unpleasant - Mechanical nature makes them difficult to interact with
• Overlord magic - Spells and abilities tied to serving powerful entities

Relationship with The Entropy Shepherd

Current Status: Most Harbingers cooperate with or serve The Entropy Shepherd due to:

• Possible responsibility for summoning him
• Institutional loyalty compelling obedience
• Belief that universal preservation aligns with scholarly nature
• Lack of individual will to resist

Strategic Subversion: Rather than being destroyed, they were among the first peoples targeted and successfully subverted, turning their magical knowledge and institutional power to serve the Shepherd's cause.

The Forbidden Prophecy

Content: "A particular common human rising up and defeating great evil" (likely refers to Mortimer)

Significance:

• Forbidden among harbingers - They are not supposed to discuss or act on it
• Dangerous knowledge - Could explain why some harbingers aid the resistance
• Direct threat - Forbidden status suggests it threatens either the Harbinger institution or their Overlord master

Notable Harbingers

Current Representatives

• Nyx of the Pale Flame** - The great exception, a harbinger who rebelled against the Overlord organization
• Various unnamed harbingers still serving the institutional structure

Power Structure

Overlord Hierarchy: Harbingers serve as magical elite within the Overlord's forces

• The Stillness Choir and other servants recognize their authority
• Can override actions of lower-ranking servants
• Even rebel harbingers like Nyx retain institutional recognition
• Can burn bonds with enemies to grant temporary reprieve or mercy

Nyx's Rebellion Example

Nyx demonstrates what harbingers could become if freed from institutional control:

• Individual agency - Makes personal choices rather than following orders
• Defiant expression - Wears forbidden jewelry and whimsical robes
• Command authority - Can assert harbinger authority over The Stillness Choir
• Inside knowledge - Provides critical intelligence about Overlord operations
• Bond limitations - Due to being "gloomy," can only maintain one bond at a time

Relationships and Locations

Attitude Toward Others:

• Scholarly disdain for non-magical peoples
• Institutional superiority based on ancient knowledge
• Mechanical interactions lacking warmth for genuine relationships
• Prophetic burden creates isolation

Centers of Power:

• Ancient libraries and towers
• Overlord strongholds
• Ritual sites where dangerous magic was performed

Campaign Significance

The Harbingers represent the dangers of institutional power and blind obedience.

Nyx's rebellion** shows that individual harbingers can break free from institutional control, making them potential allies despite their organization's corruption. The forbidden prophecy about Mortimer suggests that even within their ranks, some knowledge threatens the current order.

Their transformation from independent wizards to robotic servants parallels the Shepherd's theme of preservation through stasis - they preserved their magical knowledge but lost their humanity in the process.