Children of the Callair
In spite of the ominous and foreboding nature of the Callair Forest, and the abundant dangers that lurk among the tree, there are those mortals who have managed to build lives within its arboreal borders. Scattered clans of wood elves, forest gnomes and satyrs have lived within the Callair for millennia. Some a semi-nomadic, wandering through the glades of the forest as the forest's own rhythm shifts. Others have managed to build settlements, their dwellings cunningly crafted and built into the landscape itself, within the boughs of great trees, in the cliff-faces around waterfalls and even underground.
Rather than being a united people, these disparate communities refer to themselves as the Children of the Callair. Each clan of Children keep to their own territories and keep their on customs and traditions, as numerous as the leaves on a tree. Yet all of them are united in a way that goes beyond the physical or political. The clans have dwelt in the Callair for so long that its spirit has become part of them. They are bound to it on a subconscious level, and they revere it as though it were a parent or some enigmatic deity.
Just as the forest is a temperamental and mistrustful place, so too are the Children. They look upon outsiders with a cold distaste bordering on contempt, believing all those who wander into their realm will bring harm regardless of their intentions. Stalking between the branches of trees or through the dense foliage, they will follow and watch any detected intruders to their realm, arrows, axes and spears ready to slay the moment they betray a moment of disrespect for their forest home.
So connected are the Children of the Callair to the wood that most of them have forsworn worship of the gods typical to other mortal cultures. The forest itself, and the otherworldly entities that inhabit it, are the subject of their prayers and worship. Numerous cults exist throughout the various clans, some venerating champion of old who transcended to become demi-gods, others worshiping fey spirits that inhabit springs and glades, and some worship the enigmatic archfey regents who occasionally press their influence into the Callair. By far the most popular cult among the Children is the worship of Cabairon, the Warden of the Greenglades. The holy city of Lochholm, the largest settlement within the Callair, is built on the edge of Lake Gwyndyr, where Cabairon's body lies entombed within a grand mausoleum on a tiny island within the lake. A great number of elves, gnomes and satyrs live semi-permanently within Lochholm, and it is a site of pilgrimage for many other forest clans.
The head of the cult of Cabairon, the closest thing the Children have to a unified leadership, is Mystqueen Yngvildr, a wood elf of enchanting beauty who acts as a high priest to the faithful of Cabairon. She often walks across the surface of the lake to Cabairon's tomb, there to commune with his undying spirit and be guided in how his Children may best protect the Callair from those that would cause it harm.
Goals
The principal goal of every clan within the Callair is the preservation of the sanctity of their forest home. The Children understand of the true nature of the Callair on a level that no outsider could hope to achieve. To the Children, the Callair is a nexus of the lay energies that permeate the world, and its safety and purity is paramount. Those who would threaten it are dispatched with a cold, zealous fury, they bodies left to nourish the soil. The Children have hardly any interest in the world beyond the forest, but there are rare occasions where an elf, gnome or satyr feels compelled to leave. Often they feel a pull that they cannot deny that draws them out into the wider world, oft to act as agents for some powerful denizen of the forest, or even the will of the forest itself.Relationships
Those outside of the Callair Forest are wise enough to mostly give it a wide berth, knowing that whatever else they may find within it, death is the far more likely outcome. This is a state of affairs that the Children are keen to perpetuate, and if they could have it their way, all outsiders would leave the forest well enough alone. However, many are the mysteries and legends surrounding the forest, and many times they prove too great for some inquisitive minds to resist. Every community that reside close by the Callair have legends of brave, curious and foolhardy individuals who have ventured into the forest in search of glory, power or treasure, never to return. The minotaurs of Fennmoin in particular have a bloody history with the Children of southern Callair. Since ancient days, it had been the practice of the minotaurs to venture into the forest and to slay one of the fabled, mythical creatures within as an act of homage and glory. The satyrs of the Lostaja clan in particular were fierce enemies of these interloping minotaurs, and across the ages there has been frequent bloody skirmishes between the two factions. Only the Kesselbroni Clans to the east have a relationship approaching cordiality. While the Children often view the Clans as brutish and primitive, the Clans connection to nature, and their relationship with their own harsh and brutal homeland commonly acts as a bridge between the two groups. A number of the Clans frequently trade with Children, and a rare few even claim to have friends with the forest folk, though they are not often believed.Figures of Interest
Mystqueen Yngvildr Female wood elf Mystqueen of the Cult of Cabairon, a spiritual leader to many of the Children Taksorrn Lorrysi Male satyr Chief of the remaining Lostaja clan of satyrsSymbol
A nest of leafy branches and roots surrounding a lake, forming a four-pointed star
Type
Geopolitical, Clan
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