Poems and writings

Watcher's lore and how it fits into my own "canon"

Words: 892

I don't know why, but I was walking to college and I was thinking about Watchers and their biology and I suddenly had the feeling of a phantom tail. I don't know how to explain this, but it's a long tail with a puffy tip, almost how @talon-dragonbeast has described enderman tails. Why? Heck if I know.

I then started wondering why a tail has sprouted? Because Watchers don't have tails. Some of them look more bird-like and have talons, bird feet, bird tails, wings, talons in their hands with four fingers like birds, the start of some kind of beak in their faces (this is less common), and, of course, the wings and the eyes.

Not tails. It was really, really curious. Was this a cameo shift? Didn't feel like it. But watchers can change their appearance, so maybe it was unconscious or something? It's how my wings change between purple and white barn owl wings.

Still on my walk, this got me thinking about Watcher biology and how it all fits into my own "lore" document that I've been writing on and off for more than a year. And, obviously, internal canon. Watchers mostly look like angels or winged humans, as far as I'm concerned, as their “base” appearance, appearance they can change at will after training. I know this from taking bits from my own canon, conversations with my other headmate about it (who's also a watcher), and various fanfiction (as we don't really have a reliable "canon").

My interpretation of my own form is a bit more feral version than the humanoid form of watchers, with wings covering the eyes, the ears (especially important when dealing with listeners), the back (normally only one pair of wings, very rarely two), and feathers covering every inch of the body. I don't look like a conventional watcher, that I know.

Conventional watchers, at least the lower ranks, have only one pair of wings on their back. Higher rank watchers look a bit like biblical angels, as their form is so covered in wings and eyes that is almost incomprehensible. This is used as a fear and intimidation tactic for other species of mobs. Lower ranking watchers, especially fledglings, have one pair of wings in the back and another in front of their ears and/or eyes. The more time you spend with the watchers or being a watcher, the more complex your form ends up becoming, as you slowly lose your humanity. This is mostly an environmental change, but those who aren't affected by these changes need to be turned manually, by higher ranking watchers manipulating the code directly. Because of this, the process is said to be extremely painful.

Watchers don't try to appear like humans, they can't. They wouldn't do that because… But it's not because they hate humans (players), or they think they are like animals or something, therefore worthless and too weak for the likes of them, almost gods. As much as I love the idea that people in the fandom have that watchers are evil and cruel (they aren't), they just had a flawed understanding on what being human means. Humans and, by extension, players, are very complex creatures. For beings that are all powerful, that complexity relies less on the amount of power they can have but the experiences they can live. This is a bit of a complicated matter, so I'll try to explain.

Humans are less powerful than watchers. Obviously. Because of this, watchers usually underestimate them. They are curious about them as a very interesting part of their worlds, but they don't get personally and individually concerned if they hurt each other or if they die. They won't try to intervene, only watch from a distance. They may see relationships with humans as a bit of a waste of time long-term, but interesting and even fascinating short-term, as they can use the interactions with them to expand on their Archives. So, they like humans, but won't ever lower themselves to become them.

But coming back to my experience from this morning, today my body looked unconsciously human. With a tail. Watchers don't have tails, as far as I know. You know who I headcanon to have these tails? Listeners. For those who don't know, in the Watcher Lore (my lore is half made up from fanfics and canon), there are creatures called Listeners. Listeners have abilities similar to Watchers (like moving bedrock, for example), but look like normal humans with pointed ears and sometimes even dragon wings if they're higher ranks. Listeners are foes to the Watchers, as in they were displeased with the Watchers actions in the EvoSMP server (the minecraft server the lore is based on). Listeners helped players in their riddles and battles, which angered the Watchers. In the Life series (another SMP the lore is from), Watchers were also very displeased with Martyn, part of the Listeners, because they gave him a task and he defied them, just like Grian (player who escaped from them) did.

Also, in my own lore, Watchers are disappearing, dying from some kind of invisible illness. So they steal players to turn them into watchers as a way to prevent going extinct. Listeners didn't help with this, so they started taking more extreme measures. And thus the rivalry between Listeners and Watchers began.