in all likeliness the seers were figments of minds as greatly disturbed as the queens , sheer inventions of the desperate , but over the years veig had heard many scribes whom he regarded as his intellectual equals despite the uselessness of their scribblings talk of those strange creatures , who never lasted long enough to be brought out of the cave , but nonetheless wielded great power over your mind , so great , some claimed , that to be in their presence could rob you of your senses forever .