#future sight

There are three things that Wyrms can't see.

They can't see the actions of other Wyrms (and struggle to see the choices of any entities with weaker future sight). This is why they enjoy their games with one another so much, it's something they can't predict.

They can't see things hidden by a very rare type of magic, one closely tied to the strange powers of Lifeblood. It's so rare that Wyrms don't worry much about it.

The third thing Wyrms can't see, their key weakness... A Wyrm cannot foresee any futures that lead up to their own death.

An entity that, if they meet, is guaranteed to kill them? They can't foresee that this entity exists. An event takes place that guarantees their eventual death? They don't foresee that event as a possibility. An event where their death is a possibility as a result? They will still foresee the event, but will see it as being less likely than it actually is.

The Wyrms know of this weakness, and it terrifies them. The Wyrms all trust each other, mostly... their real fear is some lesser god climbing up in power, near to the point of their own strength. If they foresee a god becoming powerful, but not very powerful... who's to say they aren't just blind to the futures where that god becomes even more powerful, because it's a future where they're guaranteed to die?

The Wyrms don't take risks. Anything that might be a threat is considered to be a threat. 

Wyrms’ preferred method of affecting such events is through subtle shifts in the timeline. A mortal has a chance to become a successful revolutionary? They’ll make some small choice that ensures their parents never meet. The greater the threat, however, the more extreme measures they are willing to take. The deaths of millions of mortals would simply be collateral. An inconvenience to them. 

So what happens when, despite all their precautions, a Wyrm is mortally wounded? Wyrms don’t die. Wyrms can’t die. So this pathetic, dying creature is no longer a Wyrm. They can either leave, or accept a quicker death.

When a Wyrm is dying, all paths eventually lead to their death... They can still see into the future, but much less far. They still can't see events that will lead to them more quickly, and they can't see the last few hundred years before their death. As time passes, they can't see as far into the future, but they see further into that window of time before their death.

(fun fact, Wyrms are blind! They can sense their surroundings, but can't sense colors.)

Pictured here are the Wyrms I have designed. Not happy with PaleWyrm, I'm likely to redesign his scales. The dark one is BlackWyrm, and red is NightWyrm. The black and cyan... well there's definitely a lifeblood Wyrm, and the Abyss creature/lifeblood creature might be an illusion of them? But the more I think of it, every unexplained thing tracing back to Wyrms is kind of boring. Plus Wyrms are blind, why would it have eyes? It's a bit of a placeholder design until I either come up with another design, or come up with better lore.

They are, in fact, various soul totem designs! The ancient people that built those totems knew of the Wyrms, though I don't have a logical reason as to why, since Hallownest was outside the Wyrms' domain.

Wyrm doesn't seem like a word anymore