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Among the peoples who are known to us as the Carnivores, there exist a certain class similar to nobility. These individuals are called, in the local language, "world-singers". In essence, what they do is sing of the world as it is, for insight and inspiration, as they are the leaders and planners of the tribes.

The world-singer is more than just a seer, though; she (they are typically female, although there are male world-singers) simultaneously sings of the world as it is, and of the world as she wishes it to be. While it cannot actually change anything, the entrancing song can make listeners believe that things have changed, even if the listeners are not even of the same species. The mechanism is unknown but the phenomenon has been observed and can be reliably repeated with actual singers; unfortunately even our best recording equipment seems to filter out some critical aspect, perhaps extremely high-frequency modulations or harmonics that are not consciously perceived but still have an effect.

But by reason of her skill, a good world-singer is a gifted hunter and the Carnivore peoples' equivalent of a super-weapon. In battle she typically travels escorted by two fighters (merely an honor guard - the world-singer may not carry weapons except to hunt, and it is forbidden to attack her unless she has first attacked), and she may sing to frighten the enemy, or disorient him, or pacify him. If it is a fight between Carnivore tribes, the enemy tribe's world-singer, too, will sing, to confuse the first tribe's warriors as well as to counter the effects of the first tribe's singer; this cross-song makes fights difficult, as everyone but the world-singers soom feels the effect of both songs at once.

The upshot is that intertribal conflict is typically resolved through ritual combat between champions, which often leads to bloodletting but rarely ends in serious injury.

The world-singers tend to be somewhat more arrogant than their people, but it is my opinion that they have earned the privilege to be so.

The world-singer of the tribe that currently inhabits the area we have called Caeria could pass for human, and in fact has on previous occasions until caught on camera. She is especially gifted in her use of song, and able to convince listeners merely to glance over her, to ignore her presence, or even to engage her in conversation and share important material with her as though she were a superior officer. The peculiar fact is that while those confused by her song remember her only as a strikingly handsome woman, she is actually quite beautiful with no disguise at all. Since she was first caught, I have traveled with her and studied her tribe, and I can personally attest both to her physical beauty, her intelligence and arrogance, and the power of her seductive song.