EVENTS

The reaction of our friends the Ancient Dryads and Siblings of the Weeds was at the extent of the danger created by the Rangers of Atys. Outraged at the idea that xylophagous creatures might be introduced en masse throughout the bark, they put together their imagination and their knowledge with us to find an alternate method to block the Kitin's tunnels.

It was the Siblings of the Weeds who proposed to use their "sisters" of the flora to obstruct the domes at the surface of the bark and all assembled homins pondered what would be the best known species to be given such a sacred trust. Our gathered knowledge led us to select rotoas whose roots are strong, solid, supple and covered entirely with formidable thorns to prevent Kitins from crossing the tangle they would create.

The slow growth of these flowers offered by Ma-Duk quickly appeared as problem: tens of Atys cycles were needed to see one reach a suitable size, and sometimes several generations for the biggest. But homin knowledge is immense, and a Dryad immediately mentioned the knowledge of the ancient Matis botanists: some among the most brilliant of them, in the forefront of whom was the old royal botanist Gilado Almati, who could make gigantic trees grow in a few hours from a young shoot or from a simple seed, and so building the cities of the Matis Kingdom in only a few seasons. In spite of the aversion collectively shared by the homins present for the work of the manipulators of the living who violated the laws of Ma-Duk, and in spite of the hostility of the Siblings of the Weeds to this project, it appeared quickly to the majority of us that the urgency and the danger of the situation commanded us to ignore no path. It was thus decided that the gathered volunteers would put themselves in search of Almati's lost knowledge, looking for the trail of the ancient botanical and magical techniques that allowed him to accelerate the development of plant life.


Sian Tao, Dynastic Physician of the Theocracy of the Witherings. "The Ruin of our Mother Atys." Between 2565 and 2610.