Gazers

Gazers are a strange, but intelligent species of magic-using creatures which are named and noted for their numerous eyes.

Description


Gazers' bodies are composed of a large, hovering orb with a central eye attached to it. From this node, five stalks radiate outwards - each with a smaller eye on its tip. With this preponderance of sensory organs, little escapes a gazer's attention, although the eyes serve a double-purpose, each one allowing the gazer to enact a different variety magical power. Sleep spells, charms and magical paralysis are among these creatures' preferred techniques to attack their victims. They are also capable of dealing direct physical damage to their quarry by means of blinking their central eye or twisting one of their stalks. By some bizarre mechanism yet unexplained, gazers bodies transmute into swarms of stinging insects when slain. Gazers can be found in the dungeons and wilderness of Britannia, although in early Sosarian history they appeared as a solely subterranean race, known at the time as "Wandering Eyes." They have often been seen in the company of ettins, headless and zorn, although their exact relations to these other breeds of monsters are not known.

While it is evident from their magical prowess, that gazers are sapient and likely of high intellect, nearly nothing is known about gazer culture. The cyclopean hero,  Iskander Ironheart, is noted for slaying seven gazer "princes," although it is unknown if this title is one that the gazers have given their own or if it is an appellation contrived by the cyclopes. Later writings hint at the notion that gazers have an extremely insular society, a claim that meshes with Terran writings regarding  similar creatures. It is probable that such isolationism combined with their hostility has made them difficult people to fathom. 

Lore








Trivia

 * Gazers are almost certainly derived from the "beholders" of the table-top role playing game,  Dungeons & Dragons. The beholder first appeared in the Greyhawk supplement for the game in 1974, and is described similarly to the gazers of Ultima. Like gazers, beholders are beings comprised of a large eye-stalk-bearing orb, with each stalk connected to some manner of magical attack. They are also noted for their xenophobia, a trait only hinted at regarding gazer society in Ultima IX.
 * In the SNES Port of Ultima VII, gazers had the ability to paralyze their victims from a distance.
 * In Ultima IX the design for gazers departed dramatically from previous incarnations, with several of the creatures' eyes no longer shown as being physically attached to their body
 * Gazers were to be included in the canceled Ultima X, along with the sub-species previously seen in Ultima VIII - the seekers. For more information see: Planned Monsters for Ultima X: Gazer and  Planned Monsters for Ultima X:  Seeker
 * Death releasing a swarm of insects has occasionally been pointed out as a pun on its Dungeons & Dragons namesake (i.e., beholder = bee holder). Lord British has said that while amusing, this was not intentional; instead, he made the gazer to have insects inside for two reasons: to help rationalize why it could fly (albiet in a silly way), and to make monster encounters more interesting, in that it would swarm you on death.
 * The habit of gazers transforming into a swarm of insects upon death is inconsistent, with the creature not possessing this trait prior to Ultima V, in the Underworld series, or in Ultima IX.