Seeva
Titles: Shaman (attached to a Zenwey chief)
Seeva was a shaman attached to one of the chiefs of the Zenwey Tribal Confederations and a keeper of ancient knowledge, including lore pertaining to the giants. She was wider than any of the men aboard the Liliana and bore a deeply wrinkled and drooping face. Among her people she was distinguished by the number of bones on her necklace, which exceeded those worn by any of the other Zenwey present.
Role in The Blood of Giants
In The Blood of Giants, when Zaira von Monocle and the Liliana crew reached the Zenwey coast seeking a cure for giant's blood addiction, Seeva was their first point of contact. She held her palm up and beckoned the crew's soldiers forward, then examined the narrator's cape cloth and made a disapproving noise.
Seeva spoke the narrator's language and recognized the name "Vonmoncal" (von Monocle). Upon first hearing it, however, she accused the narrator of being an imposter and sentenced her to death, declaring: "Vonmoncal was a man, no woman. You are an imposter, and you will die for your sins." After looking into the narrator's eyes, Seeva reversed her judgment and declared that the narrator had told the truth. She then introduced herself by name, invited the narrator to share kava, and ordered her warriors to return the crew's weapons.
Seeva led the kava ceremony and used the occasion to share knowledge about the Tayzwif—the giants. She directed the narrator toward the Artacala Desert and a wizard she referred to as the "desert heart," believed to be Juiyan, whom she thought might possess further knowledge of the giants.
Before the crew departed, Seeva warned that Nightmen flyers had found the village. She urged the narrator to leave quickly, assuring her that the Nightmen would not find the Zenwey's hiding places in the jungle. At parting, she declared that the debt owed to Vonmoncal had been repaid, then ran in the opposite direction from the narrator.
Significance
Seeva represented the diplomatic relationships and goodwill that Baron Theodore von Monocle had cultivated with the Zenwey people during an earlier expedition—ties that proved decisive when the crew of the Liliana required allies and guidance. Her assistance, framed explicitly as the repayment of a debt to Vonmoncal, underscored the lasting value of Theodore's earlier diplomacy with the Tribes of Zenwey.
In A History of Rislandia
According to A History of Rislandia, Seeva is identified as a keeper of ancient knowledge among the Zenwey. The sourcebook adds several details not covered elsewhere on this page.
The Baron's Earlier Visit and the Ancient Texts
According to A History of Rislandia, Seeva's village was the site where Baron Theodore von Monocle first made contact with the Zenwey people. During that earlier expedition, Seeva showed the Baron a book—described as ancient texts about the giants and the ancient world. The sourcebook dates this encounter to Year 5 of the reign of King Malaky XVI. This expands on the novel-based account on this page's account of Theodore's prior diplomacy with the Zenwey, specifying that Seeva herself was his point of contact and that she shared written records with him at that time.
Destruction of Seeva's Village
According to A History of Rislandia, the attack on Seeva's village by the Nightmen using bat-gliders and explosive bags was accompanied by a volcanic eruption. The eruption destroyed the Nightmen's transport vessel but also devastated the village itself. The sourcebook records that Seeva's village was ultimately destroyed as a result of these combined events. The novel-based account on this page notes only that Nightmen flyers had found the village and that Seeva urged the crew to leave quickly, without recording the village's destruction or the volcanic eruption.