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wildestlogs2022-03-19 10:03 pm
wildestmods) wrote in wildestlogs2022-03-19 10:03 pm
THE PARLIAMENT OF TREES
THE PARLIAMENT OF TREES
[]It happens after most things have been discussed at Elrond's Council, but before anyone has left.]
[It is unreal. Reality warps and trees shoot up from the ground around the meeting area of the council. They don't destroy Rivendell but it's as if Rivendell is suddenly shoved away and off in the distance. Civilization retreats at disorienting speeds and suddenly the squad, Elrond, and his guests, in the middle of the woods, under massive trees that stretch up into the sky. The trees are taller than skyscrapers and thicker than the average lighthouse. Their branches intertwine as they reach up to the sky in a way where the branches seem to form almost a natural cathedral.]
[The ones immediately circling them also have gnarled faces. They chant in an unknown language, in deep musical tones with voices nearly indistinguishable from the creaking of branches, then speak to them in weathered voices.]
You have been summoned by the Parliament of Trees.
[Elrond stands, almost imperious in his expression. Though his voice is calm, he clearly has taken issue with the sudden abduction.]
A summoning we would have answered readily, if asked. It is considered courteous among our peoples, if messengers have been sent, for one to send word of agreement to a meeting first. [A tilt of his head and a slight narrowing of his eyes] But the Green truly does prefer to offer little forewarning when drawing others away from their homes, it seems.
❧ Free-for-all Post: This event will be in "free-for-all" format, meaning that threadhopping is encouraged and that threading should be treated in the same conversational way as network posts with branching threads. This post will only contain the part with Elrond and others. The agents of the Green will be set up with their own Q&A post after they've had time to talk to Elrond and co.
❧ Joint network Post. Due to the magic mirrors having the ability to be widened and set to float, any characters that don't (or can't) attend the meeting will be able to still participate. The mirrors will have been transported too and still broadcasting.
❧ Post in bracketspam format. We're trying to keep a brisk pace and allow a network vibe where speech matters more than action, for some talking heads rp.
❧ NPCing. The mods will handle all the fantasy npcs and some may show up that aren't specifically listed in this post. There are many people at the Council.
❧ It's okay if the conversation gets messy. It's a giant group that's going to be talking here. That means it's natural if side conversations happen, interruptions happen, or things get missed because people are talking over each other and switching conversational partners.
❧ A private discussion will happen later. A crossroads post and private conversation among the squad will happen after the Council, and after the meeting with the Green, so they can decide for themselves what to do next and how to handle what they've learned.
❧ Please only post to the sub-threads below and not to the main post. This allows the mods to add some if we need to.
❧ Please treat each appearance in chronological order. It may be good to spend some time talking to Gaia first or reading her answers before moving on.
Re: GAIA
Ma'm. I got no reason to believe you give a good god-damn about our feelings or the fates we'd chosen before you rewove us. Folk like you never do.
Two questions then. First question: what the hell are we up against?
Second question: anything stopping us from taking its side?
no subject
[She shifts to human Gaia:] Others among us do. The worlds should not just be preserved for green life, but also for the other life that walks among it.
Some of us have protested your involvement; it is cruel. Intervening against destructive powers and facing grave danger should be a choice.
[The faceless again:] We are not a monolith.
[The human face again:] But those of us that disagree lack the power to oppose the majority.
As for your enemies, the trees listened in on your meeting with Lord Elrond: you are facing the enemies that Elrond told you. Sauron and the Unfinished Princess are the greatest among them. You have met many of their lackeys already: the Nazgul and the Nightrenders serve and are allied with Sauron. The Sisters in crowfeathers and the Shadowhunters that tried to capture you are servants of the Unfinished Princess.
Both of these great powers know of your coming and the Green's intentions for you. It couldn't be helped; too many in this world hold the power of prophecy, including servants of both.
Something unknown even to us broke this world, and now it slowly unmakes the worlds around it, as the new world it made grows more and more unstable.
[She holds up a hand and an illusion is visible of what looks like a world of plant life swirling with unnatural color and beauty.]
What was here before the Wilderlands was the realm of the Green. It was once a spirit world, not a physical one, where the soul of the Green of many worlds, could commune, rest, and find spiritual respite from the environmental destruction in many of their worlds.
It was never meant to be a realm of the physical, and it was never meant to be directly exposed to destructive powers like Sauron and the Unfinished Princess. Something unknown to us broke reality, and pieces of physical reality, of the worlds the spirits were attached to, were pulled into it, merged into a new world.
Now, with every bit of environmental destruction, the spirit of the Green continues to weaken and die, the destruction worse for the destroyers killing the very spirit of the Green and not just the plants they inhabit.
In nature, in the physical world, the destruction of the body need not destroy the spirit, due to cycles of decay and regeneration. It is different here.
[The illusion shows the withering of the plant spirits, ethereal forms falling and fading out as armies hack and burn at the plants they inhabit.]
The worlds these spirits are attached to will start to die along with the Green, as the plant life withers and the environment collapses in each world.
[She shows the cascade in a world of plants dying, then grazing animals and prey animals, then their predators, all starving to death.]
[Humans, at the top of the chain, are not immune. They start to wither and starve and fall down dead. She closes her fist and the illusion stops.]
Most of you are from worlds reliant on the environment for survival. Entire food webs will break down and all life reliant on other trophic levels will die, including humans and many other species.
no subject
Do you have any way to compel us to do what you want us to do?
no subject
How lucky the girl is to be from a world that already withers and starves. You assume too much of the worlds of your companions.
[The human face.]
You've been brought here and set on a path. The magic that binds you will also force you to walk it. But what you do beyond that is outside the Green's control.
They can force you to be in certain places at certain ties but what actions you take in them will always be your choice. There's room there to disobey.
no subject
[this is about their self-preservation. there are other factors, and it's leaning hard on them, but at the end of the day this is about the Green not wanting to die and being willing to do whatever it has to in order to save its life]
So, next question. What is our willing, above-and-beyond co-operation worth to you? Why should we take special risks for your sake, or perform exceptional care for you? What can you offer us in exchange?
no subject
Most of your companions are from worlds where even widespread metahumanity and mad science won't prevent total extinction.
The other spirits are right on that front even if I disagree with their recruitment strategies. In my world, I chose people that wanted to fix things and if they really had wanted to, they could've walked away.
[The faceless one:] We offer mutual survival, that is all. For all you think us selfish, we are not the ones uncaring about the mass extinction of the worlds of your companions.
But if material reward is all you desire, there will be opportunities for wealth and power on your journey if you seek them.
no subject
[and things have gotten around to the important part]
Not money. Money's easy and right now I don't need much of it. Assurances. A promise, one that you can be held to, with consequences if you break it, that if we get your problem sorted, you will send each of us back to the place we want to go. No matter what. No excuses or asshole genie funny business.
no subject
One can be made, but there is no way to hold us to such consequences as you desire.
But we do intend to send you where you wish.
no subject
no subject
[ Holly isn't saying a lot. She's listening, but this kind of thing really isn't where she shines, she's always been more of an actions than a words kind of fairy. Even now, she's not contributing, but as Gaia plays the illusion she pales, and she grips her arms tight where they're crossed.
The People could survive a loss of natural life, in theory. Their technology would keep them going; the can mass-produce food in labs, they're adapted to life underground, they'd get by. But the natural world they miss so dearly as it is would be gone, and without nature their magic would wither and die. They could survive, but would they want to? That's another question entirely. ]
...d'arvit. [ she's only speaking in a mumble to herself, scrubbing a hand over her face ] Just had to go and really give me a reason to care about all this, didn't you...
[ Yeah, she's going to leave all the arguments about their methods to the others, because with this in mind... it hardly matters to her. Against her better judgement. ]
no subject