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[ Nocturnal Karasuthran Lords ] [ Anglerfish | Lizard | Mouse | Owl | Swan | Wolf ]
Owl Lord
Seyhrain Eternalis. Planar animal lord [he/him] NG/CG
Realm: Beastlands / Karasuthra / The Owl Lord’s Soar
The Owl Lord, the chant goes, was the first unique Animal Lord, and shall be the last—for when he dies so do the Beastlands. The Owl Lord observes the actions of each of the seyhrain and knows all that happens on the Beastlands. There has only been one Owl Lord over the entire the history of the Beastlands, and this Owl Lord is the wisest creature on the plane: according to some whispers, the powers Chislev and Zivilyn were his offspring. Of course, any canny blood knows that this is most likely screed. However, there has only been known to be one Owl Lord in existence since the earliest records.
While the Owl Lord may or may not be the wisest creature in the Beastlands, he is still extremely sage, for three reasons. The first is the sheer number of experiences and amount of history that the Owl Lord’s experienced first hand: he knows better than the other seyhrain the true nature of the Beastlands. The second reason is the fact that his owls spread themselves throughout the shadowy layer of Karasuthra; barely an acorn drops on the third layer of the Beastlands without the Owl Lord knowing of it. The third reason is the fact that on the Prime, the owls are regarded as extremely wise creatures—and the power of anthropomorphism and belief is enough to make the Owl Lord be as he is imagined to be.
In his human form, the Owl Lord appears as a little wise old man, short in stature and stooped with years. In his bird form though, Owl is a magnificent horned owl with an enormous wingspan, silent in flight and impossible to sneak up upon.
On the Beastlands, the Owl Lord has to put up most with outsider visitors more often than most seyrhain. Because of his “wise old owl” image, many cutters will flock to Owl seeking an audience. In dispensing guidance and wisdom, the Owl Lord and his servants are usually fair and rarely refuse to answer a question. But of course, they delight in speaking in half-truths and omitting key facts, probably because they disapprove of outsiders as much as any other Animal Lord. However, Owl does not have a reputation as violent among the outsiders… And that just proves how little the outsiders know of the Beastlands.
When he is not barely tolerating planewalking visitors, the Owl Lord’s real passion is hunting the Mouse Lord. It is a never-ending chase, and it is one that is regarded as sport by both parties: Owl enjoys the Hunt and Mouse enjoys the flight, even though the Hunt always ends with the Mouse Lord devoured by the Owl Lord. It is not good; it is not evil. It is simply the way of the Beastlands. As much as outsiders don’t like to think about it, Owl is a predator just like the Wolf Lord; it’s just that many outsiders don’t generally think of owls as carnivores.
It’s said that in the Cat Lord’s rivalry with the Egyptian power Bast, Owl is one of the biggest, but least vocal, of her opponents. The Owl Lord believes the current Cat Lord has betrayed the Way of the Beastlands—and the time will come one day for Cat to be shown the error of her ways. Conversely, Owl does not want to betray the nature of the Beastlands himself by making political declarations, instead preferring to let Nature resolve itself in all things. Of course, Owl is so ancient that he was there when the Declarations of the Animal Lords were made in the first place…
Canonical Source: Planes of Conflict [2e] Player’s Guide to Conflict p11
Source: Dave King aka Heregul, Jon Winter-Holt. Canonwatch: The Owl Lord’s realm is described in Planes of Conflict, and the lord himself is mentioned there too.