The body does not lie. We are the ink, and the universe is the author.

Core Concept

The Somatic Oracles are a fanatical, ascetic cult that has splintered from the mainstream traditions of the Calligraphers. While a traditional Calligrapher believes in the active, willed authorship of the self, the Oracles have embraced a radical and dangerous passivity. They believe true enlightenment comes not from writing upon the self, but from offering the body as a blank page for the universe to write upon. They are living divining rods, and their art is the interpretation of the prophecies scarred onto their own flesh.

Species

• Primary: Calligraphers. Membership is almost exclusively composed of Calligraphers who have rejected the core tenets of self-authorship in favor of this new, passive faith.

Ideology (Faith / Fiction)

• Core Faith: “The Flesh is the Word.” Their core belief is that their bodies are a direct communication from the cosmos. They see the chaotic, symbolic undercurrents of the Tapestry as a divine intelligence, and they seek to become its perfect, passive instruments. They do not author their identity; they receive it.

• Core Fiction: “The Prophecy of the Unwritten Glyph.” Their founding myth tells of the first Oracle who, after erasing all of their own written Glyphs in an act of supreme humility, was granted a vision of the “Unwritten Glyph”—the ultimate, silent truth of the universe. They believe that by making themselves blank, they can become a vessel for this ultimate truth.

Goals & Motivations

• To Achieve Pure Reception: Their primary goal is personal. They seek to achieve a state of such perfect passivity that their bodies become flawless conduits for the universe’s story.
• To Interpret the Signs: Their social function is that of oracles. They perform dangerous rituals to open their minds to the Void and the chaos between worlds, allowing the resulting psychic static to manifest as new, prophetic “Scar-Glyphs” on their skin. They then interpret these scars to predict future events.
• To Guide the Lost: They see themselves as the true spiritual guides of the galaxy, offering cryptic but profound wisdom to those who seek them out.

Relations with Other Factions

• The Court of the Argent Mirror (Jesters): The Oracles are seen as heretics of the highest order. The Jesters believe in the absolute sovereignty of the self-authored text. The Oracles’ belief in surrendering authorship is, to them, a terrifying and perverse form of artistic suicide.
• The Chymical Conclave: The Shapers view the Oracles with a kind of clinical curiosity. They are fascinated by the uncontrolled mutations of the Scar-Glyphs, seeing them as a potential source for new and interesting biological data, but they view the Oracles’ passive philosophy as a profound weakness.

Player Interaction

• As a Source of Information: The Oracles are a powerful but unreliable source of quests and lore. The player can seek them out in their hidden monasteries to have a prophecy “read” from their skin. This might reveal a clue to a hidden Artifact or warn of an impending disaster, but the prophecy will always be cryptic and open to misinterpretation.
• The Risk of Consultation: Interacting with an Oracle is dangerous. The raw, chaotic energy they channel can “leak,” causing temporary or even permanent psychic damage to those who get too close. Prolonged exposure to them is the most common path to becoming an Eidomorph.