EVENTS

For the children of Atys, our time was that of many perils. May the Kami keep our planet sheltered from all such dangers.

In 2574, the threat came from a direction no one could have expected. The Rangers of Atys, advocates of hominkind and hunters of Kitins, undertook to cleanse the bark of all traces of the recent Great Swarm. The tunnels littered the New Lands and the Rangers sought to destroy them via a dangerous initiative. To diminish the domes of the tunnels used by our invaders to emerge into the light, the Rangers bred termites with the intent they would devour the roots anchoring the tunnels and collapse them!

The People of the Masks could not allow them to do such a thing, create such a threat to ecosystems and the Bark. Thus it was decided at the meeting of the Elders, that a group of volunteers seek, by all means, an alternative method to fill the Kitin's domes, blocking their access to the New Lands.

I was designated by the Sages to assist these Initiates and some of our homin allies. At their suggestion, we sought out the tribes of the Siblings of the Weeds and Ancient Dryads for their assistance to aid us in our research.


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

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.

Outraged at the idea that xylophagous creatures might be introduced en masse throughout the bark

Outraged at the idea that xylophagous creatures might be introduced en masse throughout the bark

it does seem a bit rash to start experimenting with wood eating termites on a place that is basically one big tree.

Yes, the one thing that scares me about this whole escapade is the memory of the mistakes of the Matis in the past.