All Skyreachers wear masks, for the same simple reason: to know the true face of something is to have power over it. A wizard who has once seen a person's face may work many spells upon them, commanding their emotions or predicting their actions before they happen. The first Facekenners were the Dragons, who were able to develop the art because their long lives gave them ample time for meditation.

The Art of Facekenning

Everything in existence has a true face which may be learned by anyone with the will and wit to do so. Even the faces of beasts may be known and commanded, but also the faces of mountains, justice, trees, speed, or the wind itself. It is easier to learn the faces of more specific, concrete, simple, and localized things, such as one particular pebble, or the Sword Caladbolg. Conversely, it is more difficult to learn the faces of more general, abstract, complex, or non-local things, like the town of Anadale, elemental fire, or the concept of Strength.

The Way of Faces is much different from other magical arts in that it does not conform to logical analysis. Mystical and paradoxical by nature, the discipline of Facekenning has frustrated the minds of many seekers who are uncomfortable with mystery and paradox. The Woodkenners say that this is because the knowledge of faces cannot be comprehended by the conscious mind, and only the unconscious mind can be trained to learn such things.

The Smallest Face

The sage Kosci sat with his disciples one day, teaching them the way of the knowing of faces. One disciple, Baran, asked, "Teacher, what must I do to know the face of the earth?" And Kosci answered his disciple thus: "Seek each day the smallest face, for such knowledge shall encompass the face of the Earth."

• An old Skyreach kenning.

The Woodkenners tell that the true faces of things are finite and ever-changing. The first task of the apprentice Facekenner, then, is to nurture a curiosity for the most impermanent and finite things, and thereby learn to love all things. An hour of careful observation may unlock a momentary glimpse into the face of a fallen autumn leaf, and that insight may be used to persuade or coerce the leaf to float upward on a gust of wind, or burst aflame. Yet the wise and perceptive student will ask nothing of the leaf, and bid the leaf to do as it will. For knowing the faces of things is a bond of trust, which is dishonored by harmful intent.

The Face of the World

There is a small faction of Woodkenners called the Koscites who believe in a prophecy, passed down from the sage Kosci, a prophet who lived during the Second Age of Man. According to the prophecy, there is a prince coming who will deliver mankind from its endless cycle of self-destruction. It is said that he will ride on the wings of a dragon, and that he will know the face of the World.