been thinking a lot about the Jonah Magnus backstory I like
in that he was born the only son of a wealthy lord and was genuinely pretty intelligent but lacked ambition and work drive, to his father’s dismay. He mostly grows up around his father/mother and the staff that work the estate.
I like the idea that he does have a connection to the Eye, personified mostly through his habit of watching the guests/staff through a telescope from the attic. He gets nothing out of schmoozing, but he does get an unexpected pleasure out of knowing everyone’s dirty little secrets (whether to get them fired or just to get a sense of Undeserved Superiority, because his father might complain about him but at least he doesn’t fuck behind the stables)
He lived a pretty pampered life that sheltered him from most everything, except one day, he gets a chance encounter that acquaints him with the concept of dying.