By Silvia Pato and Rodrigo García Carmona.
For generations, the Sÿenann have remained faithful to a rigid code based on their traditions: the bond to a Sÿena tree which is assigned at birth, a horizontal organization of society in which everyone is equal, a commitment to training and to a warrior condition, common justice as imparted in the Great Forest, and having only as many possessions as they can carry.
If there's a distinguishing feature to this deadly warrior society is that no one is above anyone else in the Great Forest. For that reason, they have neither emperors, kings or princes. After the fall of Gae Assail, the Sÿenann learned that power in the hands of a few is a dangerous thing, for they might become corrupted to follow the Dark Doctrine. The Sÿenann accept and value all living beings within the Great Forest alike, without a care for their differences. Everyone is seen as the fruit of the same woods, they drink from the same waters, they obtain their nourishment from similar foods, and face identical dangers every single day in their quest for survival.
They're not a people in decline. After all, the Sÿenann fell back to the woods in order to live a peaceful life and they had to endure a severe decline in their population for centuries. But now that the Warcrow is growing once more on the skies, births have increased along with the emergence of new Sÿena trees, both in the Great Forest and on the outside world. The need to protect them has forced the elves out of the Great Forest to annex the lands in which they've sprouted, which has led to conflict with other nations who cannot understand this—in their eyes—whimsical behavior.
The Great Forest
Winds of change
The Sÿenann have always procured to live in harmony with their environment, refraining from interacting with other races as much as possible. But now everything has changed. The winds of change are blowing and they're no strangers to their effects. Pressure against the outskirts of the Great Forest increases with each passing day.
In addition, the Embersig Hegemony, an insatiably expansionist empire, craves to occupy the Great Forest and reveal the secrets of its thick and mysterious groves, undoubtedly driven by the Aestari Elves—deserters and traitors to their ancient race—that bolster their armies.
As for the Mounthaven dwarves, the Sÿenann know full well that they've always acted for their own benefit, concealing their ulterior motives with the sole purpose of profiting from other people's misfortune. In fact, they've started retrieving soil samples from certain areas in order to move forward with a plan as yet unknown.
Furthermore, the Northern Tribes have returned to the continent from the Northlands with the intent of reasserting control over the lands they were expelled from centuries ago. And although no serious engagement has yet occurred between them and the Sÿenann, the latter has been making ready for it. They know it's only a matter of time.
As if all of this wasn't enough, the Great Forest, which had remained protected and unchanged in the face of the dreaded Fog that is threateningly poised to engulf Lindwurm, has begun to display gaps in areas such as No Return Forest. Sightings of deform creatures covered in pitch have also been reported in all of the nine areas of the Great Forest, an unambiguous sign that their defenses are becoming weakened, which has caused several skirmishes against the terrifying creatures that spawn from the Fog.
Times of war
We must go after them
In recent times, this line of thought as been an echo in the Sÿenann's mind. It was the Fog, so far contained, that has forced the Sÿenann to react and defend their lands at all costs in face of the gaps that have exposed the more vulnerable parts of the Great Forest. The memory of that which hides in the Fog and the threat it poses is still fresh. The accumulation of enemies and threats has reached a point in which the Sÿenann are forced to act, honoring the spirit of their Radiant Elves ancestors.
There is no other option. We must chase the Darkminds! Each and every single one of them! Regardless of the fact that some who have spoken here still believe that they were exterminated in times past! But the evidence is irrefutable: the attacks, the monstrosities, the weakening of the Great Forest's borders... Everyone can tell a story of what's happening out there in each region of the Nine Lineages. And those of you who say you have not seen anything yet will eventually see it. Then you will remember my words.
For they have returned. Their tracks are unmistakable. If any of you still hesitates to do what needs to be done, leave those doubts behind. Let us not be intimidated, we are much stronger now. Do not forget that their arrogance blinds them to the fact that we will once more face them in battle, eliminating them one by one, reveling on their screams and the aberrations of their Taint, intensified by their desperate attempts to subdue us, exasperated by the truth that they cannot defeat us.
And although the Darkminds are the main and most pressing issue we have to deal with, they will not be the only one, believe me. Look at those wretches of the Hegemony, incorporating the corrupted Aestari, shame of our ancient race, and those Feudom fanatics, from which we shall retake the elvish objects that are rightfully outs, flaying them piece by piece if we have to. And let us not forget the orcs and the varank, foul and despicable lesser beings who think themselves with the right to tread again on lands they were expelled from; let us not forget the greedy and groveling dwarves of Mounthaven who—as we speak—are plotting on how to profit on our woods and on a Lindwurm plunged into war.
Remember that, as legitimate heirs of the Radiant Elves, only we can cleanse the world of the pestilent presence of the Darkminds, eliminate the rest of the vermin, clear the Fog, and bring light back to Lindwurm.
Speech pronounced by Neakail, Grand Captain of Eadhar, before the Supreme Council meeting in Nemed (Maevhan).
