Children of Spring
Absalom's Evergreen Park has long been the haunt of the beguiling noble Evigail of House Wycomb, who seldom goes anywhere else. The zealous missionary priestess of Gozreh advocates a radical primitivism in which adherents abandon their former lives, their material possessions, and even the concept of property to join her in direct adulation of the balance and beauty of nature above all else. Evigail’s followers, whom she calls the Children of Spring, emulate their leader by dyeing their hair green and walking barefoot just as she does. With no homes to return to, the Children live in the park itself, gathering in small groups to sing exultations to Gozreh or thronging in huge numbers around the small open-air shrine at the center of the park near its largest pool to hear one of Evigail’s aphorism-laden public sermons. Perhaps due to uncertain political times following several recent sieges, the Children of Spring have grown far more numerous than ever before. Most Eastgaters have lost a relative to the cult or know a friend whose son or daughter ran off to join it. The Children maintain the endless growth cycle of the plants within Evergreen Park, and until now that’s been enough for the folk of Eastgate to tolerate their presence. With each new convert to Evigail’s cause, that patience grows more and more thin.
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