The Whispering Grove

Written by Yerran

The great trees of the Whispering Grove rise high into the sky around their mother tree Am’uan, painted in vivid reds, purples, blues, oranges and yellows. Each alive with their own light and twinkling with the magic of the fey realm. Here at the centre of the forest and the wood-elves’ power, the world brims with such intense beauty and life you would forget it is a fortress of epic proportions. From here armies march and the fey realm spreads, imbuing the Elyswer with otherworldly magic and properties. Beings of the Seelie walk freely here, teaching and planning with the denizens of the forest. What those plans entail is impossible to divine, though you can be sure they possess the cunning and trickery of Fairie folk. Within Am’uan lies a council unlike any other, where elves, fey, forest-gnomes, dryads, furlborgs, satyrs, treants, pixies and many more sit and discuss the matters of the world, the Elyswer, their green dream and those that seek to subvert their will.

The Courts of Fairy

Within the Whispering Grove is an unusual merging of courts, all that have their own domain and quarter of the great city, but all that worship Teora, The Mother god (The Pantheon) and Tiandra, The Summer Queen as her avatar. Within these courts elected officials and leaders come together in the lower council to choose those that attend the upper council and make decisions for the future of the forest. The different courts often represent the races and creatures that dwell in them, and are:

The Court of Beasts;

A dwelling of beats, animals and monsters that speak and hold sentience.

The Elemental Court

Beings borne of fire, water, earth and air that follow Tiandra (e.g. dryads, mermaids, genasi, elementals, etc). 

The Stone Court

 A collection of giants, stone golems, ogres, mountain-folk and craftsman of stone and earth. 

The Court of Flowers

Pixies, brownies, fairies and gnomes usually fill this court, but it is of those that work to regrow the world or shape it to preserve nature.

The Court of the Sun

Usually full of mortals and immortals who are devout in preserving and protecting the Elyswer, more militarised than other courts, full of the forest elves, gnomes, treants, etc.

Membership in these courts is not set based on race and you can petition to join any based on your preferences, though you must prove your worth and allegiance to the court before joining. You can only be a member of one court at a time, though you can change should your reason be just. Though most courts don't take those that have left others without great reason, due to concerns of meddling from the others. The courts of fairy often have conflicting ideas and opinions and will work in opposition of each other based on what they want (e.g. The court of flowers wants to regrow the world and make it beautiful but is blind to the danger involved, where as the court of the sun wishes to remove their enemies entirely so they can heal/take their land, etc).

The Great Tree - Am'uan

Grown in a time before the age of desolation, this tree has seen the world change again and again, though it has persevered. Within The Whispering Grove are the Keepers of the Tree, who preserve and care for all its needs as well as communicate with it. It's roots spread to the edge of the forest, or entwine with one of its sister trees (saplings made from itself) to spread further. This is how the Elyswer grows and continues to grow spread. Those that communicate with it say it speaks in images and sensations difficult to process, but it has shown again and again it can sense the shift of the world, the dangers involved and growing risks. Through its power it sustains the forest and those in it, infusing all with magic. The connection made with the fey realm has supercharged this ability and the forest is spreading at a previously alarming rate to the west, though in the north it has come up against the corruption of Engelor and the necrotic magics spreading from there.

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Capital