Where most anomalies are alien to humanity, according to the Atharim the Sentic Orders are too human — their gifts magnified to the point of distortion. Each Order corresponds to one of the inner senses of consciousness — Touch, Smell, and Sight — but their activation warps the bearer into something other than mortal. The Atharim classify them as psychosensory aberrations, though ancient texts refer to them as “the Senses of the Soul.””
Philosophical Note
The Atharim recognises the Sentic Orders as echoes of humanity’s earliest transgressions — moments when consciousness exceeded its natural bounds and reached toward divinity. Whether this expansion was divine gift or cosmic punishment remains debated among the High Archivists. The dominant theory suggests each Sentic Order corresponds to a stage of human awakening:
- The Sentients represent empathy — the pain of connection.
- The Furia represent instinct — the will to survive.
- The Vidients represent awareness — the curse of self-reflection.
Three stages.
Three sins.
Three senses of the soul.
Together, they mark the perimeter of human awareness — beyond which lies only madness or godhood. To cross that perimeter is to become what the Atharim were created to destroy.
Closing Remarks
“To hunt the supernatural is to hunt ourselves.”
— Archivist A. Karayan
The Atharim stand as custodians of the boundary between the human and the unknowable. The Sentic Orders test that boundary — proof that divinity and madness are separated by perception alone.
“Three senses awaken; three gates to oblivion.”
— Atharim Litany of Containment
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