Grove of Geiana

This is a Summer Camp article written AT GREAT SPEED! It has not yet been edited, so apologies for the copious typos and small text issues.

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The spring forest was a place of chirruping, scurrying, gambolling, and fluttering, a place more alive with beginnings and freshness than any Iris had known. For a moment she paused, leaning her old bones up against a tree and breathing it all in, hoping that some of its newness might revitalize her.
"Come on, this isn't even the best part," Burtha said softly. "The Grove of Geiana is up here." She spoke in the forest the way a mage speaks in a library, with a breathy reverence that sought to preserve the magic of the moment. Then she nodded her head to one side and continued down the path.


Abruptly, the close trunks opened up into a clearing, roughly ringshaped, and bathed in sudden light after the dark forest. The trees here were oaks, not pines, theirsilvery branches weaving together like basketry, knitting intricate patterns that shone in the sudden sunlight here. "They say those who can read the patterns in the trunk can tell the future of the land," Burtha whispered.
The grove itself might be natural, but it had been decorated by man rather than nature. Holy symbols painted on the tree trunks, and bright ribbons flapping from their branches, were proof that worshippers made the journey here. Of course, it was nearly the spring equinox, when Geiana was growing to the height of her power.
Iris hovered at the edge of the copse, keeping respectfully out of the pool of sunshine that cascaded into the centre of the grove. Geiana was the goddess of nature, of fertility; one of the least troublesome deities to tangle with in the city, and the most problematic if accidentally wronged in the wilderness. No one with a fondness for their own skin wanted to be hunted down by a wild owlbear, or pursued by stampeding stags through the forest. She felt a breeze rustle the trees, gulped, and took another step back into the darkness.

— Excerpt from "The Last Adventure"

The Grove of Geiana is a sacred grove located in the Silver Pines estate forest. The natural grove is formed by a ring of ancient silver oak trees, whose branches have woven together through mysterious means.


Local faithfuls from Longleaf Village visit to leave offerings at the grove to Geiana, goddess of nature, often the bounty of fertility or nature: fruits or vegetables, ribbons or wool, sometimes wooden carvings.

Myths and Beliefs

It is believed by local historians that the Grove of Gaiana was originally an ancient temple to the goddess, none of which remains today. One myth about the area states that at the full moon, the goddess descends here and takes the form of a pure-white avatar - a wolf, an owl-bear or a magnificent stag. Another local belief is in the prophetic nature of the grove, that the patterns of the branches are somehow able to tell the future of the land.

Type

Grove