The Heartwood
And thus shall you know them. They shall be clad in wood from head to toe. The wood shall be of the purest grain and cut from the very heart of the tree. The people themselves will be rugged and weathered, looking like the land itself. When you see them, know you are near the Tree of Life.
Excerpt from Prince Xerald's Quest
by Olimer Newitch
The Heartwood is a loose group of people who are dedicated to the protection and study of the Tree of Life. They travel its vast root network and between its different aspects in an attempt to more fully understand the tree.
Organization
The group is very dispersed across numerous continents. They are seldom seen in civilization, preferring the edges where the Tree's aspects tend to be located.
There is no hierarchy to the Heartwood. Either you are a member or you are not. There are no leaders or spokesmen. Each member speaks for themselves alone and should expect no help from other members. Indeed, it is unlikely for members of the Heartwood to meet more than a couple of times in their life, mere travelers passing in the night.
To become a Heartwood is more than just adopting a name. The Tree of Life must adopt you. This tends to occur from spending excessive amounts of time in proximity to the tree. It starts as a certain, indescribable, look in an individual's eye that hints at a greater connection and understanding. It can then, over many years, develop into more physical changes including tougher skin and other features resembling the Tree's aspect. Some theorize whether, after these transformation take hold, the person remains the same or if they have merely joined the Tree of Life as a more mobile extension, no longer possessing their free will. No member of the Heartwood discusses their relationship with the Tree of Life.
Activities
The Heartwood have two takes which sometimes bring them out into the wider world. The first is carried by a select few of the order, the task of organizing pilgrimages to the Tree of Life and encouraging widespread knowledge of the goodness of nature. Those who take up this calling are often seen as the spectral guardians of the pilgrims and those who traverse the wilderness. They can be found in smaller towns and often work alongside the shrines to Laros, allowing the religious order to find and guide pilgrims.
The other public task is the defending of the Tree of Life. Those with this task tend to be more reclusive and hidden from society. This hides their true ferocity and, when the time requires it, they can unleash the true wrath of nature upon their foes.
And it was as the seer had foretold, there, waiting in the eve of the forest stood the one she had described, clad in wood with scraggly branches growing out from its gnarled skin.
Prince Xerald strode forward, ready to exact his price.
Excerpt from Prince Xerald's Quest
by Olimer Newitch
Type
Druidic Circle
Related Species
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