Eyashenes, or Mindsmoothers, are a group of people who share a common ability to sense and sooth emotions. They are marked by an early empathic sensitivity to others' pains and feelings, and even as children try to comfort those who are crying or upset around them. As they become adolescents, they often experience extreme emotional swings while they try to adjust to their rapidly changing abilities. They can come from any race, or level of their society, although they are more common in some races than others. Most elves, for example, have some faint mindsmoothing skills, while Thergerim’atene (dwarven healers) are few and far between. It is not unusual to have a higher proportion of female Eyashenes than males, in adolescence; however, the genders usually rebalance by early adulthood. Some human males have not recognized their Eyashene abilities until forty or fifty years old, while mermaids, on the other hand, display talents very early - sometimes as young as three or four years.

Image description: An Eyashene Mindsmoother helping a wounded fighter. Picture from the game Magical Empire™, used with friendly permission. Illustration drawn by Faugar.

In late adolescence Mindsmoothers feel an inner urge to seek out others of their kind to learn from. A young Eyashene often apprentices with an older, learning some practical applications of their craft, before travelling to a community where he or she can be of use. A very few cannot stand the constant emotional pressure and become recluses, living deep in the desert or high in the mountains, dealing only with the clean, uncomplicated feelings of the animals around them.

Eyashenes do not think of themselves as magic-users (such as wizards and sages) but rather as healers. They don't overtly cast spells, study books, or investigate "formal magic", as they call it. In fact, there is a sort of superstition that formal study will invalidate their gifts! Eyashenes are not averse to learning non-supernatural skills, such as art, dance, massage, and even some simple medical treatments - anything that they believe will help them help their clients. They are invariably good listeners, strongly pacifist, and, interestingly enough, vegetarian. Often they gravitate, on their own initiative, to neutral-coloured clothing; soft greys, pale greens and tans, or off-white robes. As may be guessed by their title, they tend to pay devotion to the Goddess of Peace and Tranquility, Eyasha, and sometimes wear her threelobed clover symbol as jewelry. However, there is an aversion on the part of Mindsoothers to be seen as a faith, sect, business, or even the most loosely organized guild association, so they avoid anything that smacks of uniformity.

A few wizards have had the chance to study Eyashene talents from a distance, and speculate that they possess a passive form of telepathy as well as very faint mood-altering abilities (soothing and relaxing emotional tensions). It has also been observed by some people that threatening or physically harming an Eyashene will result in instant illness, with symptoms ranging from nausea and vomiting to violent headaches and even temporary blindness. Again, wizards postulate that this might be a result of a defensive involuntary Mindlash.

Every fruit has a stone, as the plainsfolk say, and so it is that Mindsmoothers are often respected and appreciated, but invariably treated with some wariness by most people. In a few societies they are regarded with fear and suspicion, and there have been cases of Eyashenes who were hunted down and imprisoned, or even stoned to death. Although the story is not well-known, even among Eyashenes, if you hunt through the judiciars’ records for Caelum, at the Bay of Skies near Ximax, you can still find the name Miranna of Thalun[1] inscribed in ink the colour of dried blood.

Generally a village or town will jointly pay an annual retainer to an Eyashene, so that the townsfolk can consult him or her free of charge, but the Mindsmoother has a steady income. However, in large cities there are often a glut and they are forced to set up shop on their own (this unfortunately encourages charlatans, bringing down the general reputation of the Eyashenes) offering a variety of services to attract customers. Some highly skilled Eyashenes are widely-renowned and sought out for counselling, while others have carved out their own niches by becoming entertainers, masseuses, matchmakers, and so on.
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Footnotes
[1] "Miranna of Thalun and the Corrupt Regent - A Story of Truth and Betrayal" [return]