Panopticon, the Eyes and Arms
Drow and Dwarven deity of law, observation and the containment of threats.
Panopticon , The Eyes and Arms
Panopticon is one of the Survivor Stars of the Palimpsest night sky. Situated between the Tinker and the Thief constellations, Panopticon is most commonly worshipped by the Dwarves and Drow of the ever-sinking city of Palimpsest.
Very little is known about the nature of Panopticon’s original pantheon, as very little record has survived the many centuries and multiple apocalypses since. It may be relevant that a disproportionate number of Panopticans in modern Palimpsest are Drow, whose civilisation also seems to share some aesthetic similarities with Panopticon’s symbology (both in regards to the spider being Its-and-Their sacred animal, and in regards to its sacred colours of blue and purple). It is possible that Panopticon may once have been one of the token Lawful Neutral deities in a Drow pantheon otherwise more suited to that culture’s general value of bloodthirstiness, but this is entirely speculative.
Divine Domains
Panopticon's alignment is Lawful Neutral, and It-And-Their portfolio includes law, observation and the containment of threats. It-And-Their cleric domains are Espionage, Fortifications, Judgement, Knowledge, Law, Protection, Revelation, Rune, Solitude and Wards, and It-And-Their favoured weapon is the Armstaff.
Providence
Panopticon’s star, like all the celestial bodies of Palimpsest, exerts a sort of astrological gravitational influence on forms of magic that align with Its-and-Their areas of concern. Spells and rituals to do with observation, judgement or imprisonment are particularly potent in areas where Panopticon’s astrological influence is stronger than that of any opposing stars, or during periods when Panopticon’s star is particularly bright. It is said that, if one pays attention, such places can be identified by the growth of blue or purple adonis flowers, or by spiders weaving tiny webhenges.Artifacts
All-Seeing Eye: 10 rounds/day. Randomly grants the wielder the benefit of one of the following spells: Acane Sight, Detect Alignment, Read Thoughts, See Beyond, See Invisibility, True Seeing.
Holy Books & Codes
The principle holy text of Panopticon is known as the Guide to Prohibitions Within Sight and Reach of It-and-Them. It is mostly concerned with detailing taboos, forbidden acts and laws that must be followed, along with providing various rites, rituals, practices and mnemonic devices that can be used to ensure one remembers these taboos and does not accidentally commit any.
Divine Symbols & Sigils
In the expanded Palimpsest Tarot, which includes the illicit survivor deities, the Panopticon star corresponds to the fourth card in the Noble Survivor Suit, called the Guardian Profane. It represents the concept of Judgement.
The symbol of Panopticon is an eye in the palm of a clawed hand. Iconographically, it is sometimes parsed down to just an eye on its own, especially since worship of Panopticon is now strictly illegal in Palimpsest. The noble Nightkeeper Family emblem prominently displays an eye in the purple of Panopticon, harking back to the days that they openly worshipped the Eyes and Arms, and concealing in plain sight their continued secret worship of the same.
Holidays
Twice a year, when the Wandering Moon is closest to Panopticon’s star (at the mid-point of Tinkermoon and Thiefmoon), Panopticans observe the holiday of Watchnight. Observers traditionally gather for a meal and stay awake for the entire night. Panopticon’s sacred drink, Watchman's Brew, is consumed in order to stay alert during this period, and as part of the meal the sacred food of Shortcommon is consumed.
A shortcommon is a round cake of shortbread modeled after a Panoptican prison or chapel, with several sectors surrounding a round centre. Each sector represents a different Prisoner said to be held in the The Bridewell, and as each sector is consumed the tale of that Prisoner is told, detailing their crimes and how they came to be imprisoned. Each tale focuses on a different crime, each considered a threat to the world in its own way, and the tales are told as a reminder of why it is important to avoid those particular crimes and contain those that threaten to commit them.
How many sectors the shortcommon has varies. It always has at least three, representing the Puppeteer, the God-Swallower and the Subornist, whose respective crimes can be seen as representing the whole of the larger categories of exploitation, violence and corruption. However, there are said to be many non-demigod Prisoners contained in the Bridewell at any given time, and a given worshipper may bake a shortcommon with as many sectors as there are Prisoners whose tales they are able to tell.
During Watchnight, it is customary to leave a place of honour set at the table for Panopticon Itself-and-Themself, as a reminder that one can never know whether or not Panopticon is present and watching.
Physical Description
Physical quirks
In all cases where Panopticon has chosen to reveal Its-and-Their usually undetectible presence to others, It-and-They have done so in the form of huge indigo eyes peering from corners and shadows, and/or long, spindly, many-jointed arms tipped by clawed hands which reach from whatever nooks and crannies are available, or otherwise from just out of the viewer’s sight.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Panopticon was once an important part of some long-forgotten pantheon, in charge of monitoring the planes and ensnaring and containing any entity that became a threat to the world, the gods, or the fabric of the cosmos.
When the apocalypse came, Panopticon’s ability to be anywhere It-and-They desired allowed It-and-Them to retreat, wounded but intact, where most of its fellow deities perished. Many of Its-and-Their containment measures, however, were destroyed and had to be rebuilt. According to one very secret tale (The Breach Unseen) at least six individuals on different occasions throughout history have escaped from Panopticon’s imprisonment by slipping out of their collapsing prison during an apocalypse – indicating that the deity has now survived through six separate apocalypses, rebuilding Its-and-Their defences and containment measures every time to the best of Its-and-Their remaining ability and trying Its-and-Their best to continue safeguarding the cosmos even in Its-and-Their reduced state.
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
Panopticon's nature is to contain threats, and thus Panopticon was convinced by Brambleson, the Prince of Rabbits to provide part of its-and-their soul to aid in Connie's mission to stop the impending apocalypse and subdue the Three Immortals. It-and-they told Katib Hugo Dargent that although the Three Immortals must be stopped, Panopticon has tried and failed to contain them, possibly suggesting that they were once Prisoners. Panopticon directed Hugo to acquire Angel Dust and enlist the help of other gods in their co-operative effort to collect enough god-shards to forge a weapon that could kill an immortal being.
Social
Contacts & Relations
Panopticon’s hyper-focused commitment to Its-and-Their purpose leaves It-and-Them somewhat disinclined to pursue relationships with any other deities. However, it is known that Panopticon is not above working with other deities if they offer to help It-and-Them neutralise some threat that It-and-They do not have the power to easily contain on Its-and-Their own.
It can be presumed that It-and-They do not approve of the Eight, whose Ecumenical Tabernacle have outlawed all worship of Panopticon and officially deny Its-and-Their existence, making Its-and-Their purpose harder to carry out. In particular, the Thief is almost wholly antithetical to Panopticon, being a Chaotic Evil god of crime and rulebreaking, even though they do share an interest in espionage and the ferreting-out of secrets. The greater power of the Eight over the Survivor Stars essentially renders it impossible for Panopticon to make any serious effort to contain any of them, however, which is likely the sole reason why It-and-They seemingly have not made any moves against the Thief so far.
It can also be presumed that the Prince in Saffron, another Chaotic Evil deity with a fondness for pushing beyond taboos and no regard for what is safe or orderly, would doubtless be in the Bridewell himself by now if only Panopticon were powerful enough to bring him in.
It is known that Panopticon is on something like speaking terms with Termagant, the Iron Sultan(a), in spite of the latter’s mercurial temper, as a fellow connoisseur of defensive construction and unyeilding enforcement of order.
It is also known that It-and-They do not wholly trust the judgement or competence of the whimsical and mercurial Brambleson, but does respect the Rabbit Prince’s commitment to protection of himself and his community enough to hear him out on certain matters.
It is likely that Panopticon is keeping at least one careful eye on the ongoing imprisonment of the Thing In the Downstairs Room, but whether It-and-They see sufficiently eye-to-eye with the Thing’s current jailer, the youthful and luck-reliant Survivor deity known as the Prince of Orphans, to offer Them any kind of open assistance, is unknown.
Panopticon’s most famous and direct relationship is, of course, with the Prisoners of the Bridewell, to whom It-and-They are an obsessively commited judge, jury and jailor. There is much that even Panopticon may be convinced to overlook for the sake of ensuring the continued imprisonment of those Prisoners. Moreso even than the lesser Prisoners, Panopticon is obsessed with the containment of the three demigod Prisoners whose faint stars share Its-and-Their own patch of sky – and even moreso than even the other two of those, the Eyes and Arms’s first and foremost commitment is always to the continued imprisonment of Its-and-Their own treacherous bride, the Puppeteer.
Family Ties
The Puppeteer: It is recorded that Panopticon did once have a wife at some point, but that the marriage ended poorly when the Eyes and Arms discovered that Its-and-Their bride had been using her marital connection to Its-and-Their own power to track where exactly Panopticon was looking at any given time, thereby allowing her to manipulate events unseen, for her own ends, without fear of observation. For these crimes, Panopticon’s bride was sentenced to be stripped of her power and imprisoned indefinitely in a prison which the Eyes and Arms designed especially for her, and which was named in her honour as ‘the Bridewell’.
Divine Classification
Drow and Dwarven deity of law, observation and the containment of threats.
Religions
Alignment
Lawful Neutral
Ethnicity
Realm
Church/Cult
Children
Pronouns
It-and-They/It-and-Them
Related Myths
Behave the way you ought,
And learn all the things you’re taught,
If you’re bad then you’ll be caught,
So don’t try to flee.
There is a Bridewell calling
To those who are appalling,
They’ll fall and keep on falling,
No sympathy.
Never to escape the bonds
Placed by Panopticon.
Judged, Juried, Jailed,
and kept under the lock and key.
The bars, bindings and alarms
Contain all the gravest harms,
Imprisoned by the Eyes-And-Arms
For eternity.Like a spider at its stationBehave the way you ought,
Sense in on an odd vibration,
Always under observation,
Always espied.
Seeing though each grand disguise,
Piercing through the damnedest lies,
Can’t slip through the arms and eyes,
You cannot hide.
In our faith we are policed
By devout panoptipriests.
The Pupils and Hands understand
we will be judged and tried
By one jailor, judge and jury,
Don’t invoke Its-and-Their fury,
We’ll be safe if we make sure we
Follow this guide.
And learn all the things you’re taught,
If you’re bad then you’ll be caught,
So don’t try to run.
Fortify your fences tighter,
If you're right you could be righter,
Lay a placemat each Watchnight for
It-and-Them to come.
Those who stray from the straight and narr-ah
Get caged in a panorama.
Judged, Juried, Jailed,
it's a system that we can depend on,
No refraining from protection,
No sustaining your objection,
No escaping the detection
of Panopticon. No escaping the detection of Panopticon.