I come before you today with a story. This story will seem fanciful to
you, perhaps even childish, but I ask you to suspend your disbelief and
consider the rammifications of it, for I assure you it is true.

The plants of our land are maelevolent. The original cities of Ashtan
and Shallam were created not for the union of similar ideals, but for
protection from the plants. The Council of Oakstone was created to
handle the plants, that threatened to wipe out Mortalkind.

Groves are selections of plants that have been corrupted by Druids, and
later Sylvans, to stand as wards against the onrush of herbs against the
more mobile sentient races. Unfortunatly, they have not been fully
tamed, as they still have the ability to make their fellow plants gain
reinforcements faster.

Over time, the Council of Oakstone was corrupted. They found that many
plants hold beneficial properties when their dead parts are eaten, and
that they could make large profits by keeping the threat the plants
represent alive and selling the casualties. Thusly, the law of not
'harvesting' plants below their ability to reproduce was adopted.

The tradition of not 'harvesting' in people's groves began simply. At
one stage, long before cities were able to protect themselves, the
forestals had far more work than they had now, so it was the
responibility of each to make sure that their grove did not revert back
to it's natural state and destroy the forestal it was once bonded to.
Unfortunatly, over time, the forestals were corrupted by the lure of
wealth, though luckily by this time non-forestals had colonized enough
of the continent that they were fairly safe from extermination at the
hands of the plants.

By far, one of the greatest clues that lead me to discover this was the
creation of the Darkenwood. For Gaia had made a deception of truely
Twilightian proportions, one that decieved not only Sapience at large,
but also many of Her own followers. Thusly, Twilight, in appreciation of
this deception, bonded His essence with Hers, creating the Darkenwood,
and the many events that followed.

I understand that what I propose seems rediculous, but ask yourself
this. Why do the forestals, self-proclaimed defenders of Nature, remove
not only the reproductive organs of many plants, but also the means
through which the plants gather nourishment? Why do each of the forestal
classes have a skill that can quickly destroy all of the plants in a
room?

I ask you only to consider the facts before passing judgement.

Accipiter

Penned by my hand on the 1st of Lupar, in the year 377 AF.