Tree Fathers
Long ago, when the great forests still covered entire continents, the t'oleflor prepared to leave Layonara for a time. Though this was long ago, the Great Oak had already grown, and the T'oleflor looked upon the grand and wonderful influence of the majestic forest that housed the Great Oak and were pleased. In fact, they were so pleased that they decided it was necessary to ensure that it should always remain so, and that when they left there would be another to continue to nurture the Great Forest. To that end, they bestowed a blessing upon the Great Oak and infused it with a small fraction of their essence. This essence was contained within an acorn that grew to ripeness and fell from the Great Oak. From there, though, a most wondrous thing occurred--not one but two saplings emerged from the acorn when the husk split and it began to take root.
The two saplings that sprouted from the blessed acorn were different than the other oak saplings in the forest. Although they grew large and gained nourishment like many other oaks, these saplings had a consciousness. They could speak and move about at will, and perhaps most miraculous of all, they also retained all the memories of the Great Oak from their time as an acorn on one of its branches. And so it passed that the first two treants were born in Layonara.
Over the many years, many other races came and the Great Oak and Great Forest suffered as the races began to cut down trees, dig up the earth, hunt the forest creatures, and build their homes within the woods. In the beginning, many of the harm that the races caused was countered through the actions of the treants as they went about the forest and laid blessings upon select older trees until they too became treants. These new treants would later be known as the First Crop or to others as the first brood. They are the oldest of the elder treants, and it is from their seeds that all other treants are born.
Wars spread across Layonara, and the treants, now much older and even more in tune with the world and its forests, felt every loss, even those beyond Belinara's boundaries. To treants, the concept of war always remained a foreign one; though the treants knew what war was, they could never truly understand it, or the reasons for it. Never were they able to even conceive of how one could harm another of one's kind for the strange reasons that wars were fought.
It was this very foundation of belief that led to what the eldest of fey have come to know as The Parting. The first two treants, now known as the Tree Fathers, had different ideas on how to put an end to the horrible losses the woods were experiencing. One Father sought to combat the loss by teaching peace and harmony with nature. He spread his teachings to many elves, as the elves were the race who paid greatest heed to his words. The other Father chose a darker path, and sought to inflict the pain of each loss upon those who harmed the forests so that they might learn through experience what they did to the world. Over many more years, these philosophies became harder and harder to reconcile, as the approaches were so different. Finally, the day came when the more hostile in nature of the two Fathers decided that it was time to leave and employ his philosophy elsewhere, where it could not harm or in any other way be a detriment to his brother's teachings. It was from this point on that the two entities had distinctly different titles. The passivist treant became known as the Tree Father, while his more hostile twin became known as the Second Father, or to many, the Dark Father.
When the two Tree Fathers parted ways, the Dark Father called upon his strength and took with him some of the First Crop, and together they left Belinara to take up residence in a forest on Dregar that matched their temperaments. This forest would later become known as the Sinister Forest and would for many years be feared by all, including the nature-loving elves, because of the mighty wrath of the Dark Father.
The Tree Father moved to the Silkwood on Mistone after his brother had left, and continued his teachings there for a time, instilling into many a deep respect for nature and for harmony and balance. Over time, though, the Tree Father began to realize that his ways were slow ways, even for treants. Though he did not think his ways themselves were bad, he worried that the slowness of the many races to adopt his philosophies would leave future generations of trees and treants at risk. To combat that threat to future tree shepherds, Tree Father also called upon all his strength, as his darker brother had, and through great effort created the Grove of Awakening. Here, he gathered what was left to him of the First Crop and had them all drop seeds, many seeds. When it was done, the sent them back into the world again, to continue caring for the forests and spreading his teachings.
After these elder treants left the Grove of Awakening, the way to the grove was sealed off to all. This way would later become known simply as "The Path". Over the years, the seeds that had been dropped there sprouted and grew into treants as well. Within the grove, Tree Father taught his children the history and lore of all the forests and the ways and philosophies of harmony and balance. After they had learned what was needed, they too dropped their seeds in the grove to give rise to yet another generation of treants before they ventured forth into the world to do their Father's work. And so the cycle continued, with the Tree Father remaining hidden away within the Grove of Awakening, forever sending forth more treants to spread his teachings and to heal the damage to the forests of the world.
For many years, this is how things remained: the Dark Father within the Sinister Forest, punishing those who brought harm to nature, and the Tree Father within the hidden Grove of Awakening sending forth generations of treants to be stewards of nature. It was not until the year 1374 that all this began to change ... but that is another story.
