Oath of the Forest

English

Since the time of the Great Destruction
when the Jadinth battled over this land
the ghosts of the forest have roamed, hungry.
They cry out vengeance
as the rain falls and the wind blows.
They threaten to rise
on the backs of their janishbu,
and you strangle them with your roots.
In that time, you protected us,
hungry for chunv and flesh and bone.
You buried our secrets,
which cursed us
with the last of their voices
and bound us to this land.
Your forest will never forget
the deaths we forced upon you.
I give myself as an offering to the spirits,
that may death will one day console them.
As your brother (sister), I vow
to watch over you for all my days
and defend you with my life, lest I forget
that everything returns to the trees
which wholly consume and consume wholly.
I will pass this duty to my children
and my children's children,
that you may thrive forever.

Roex

Ta psȧnf shashȧ pumchȧüa kö twokh,
to Jadinth nwiznohȧnw du̇ kkhuss,
ta ban sni shürka ȯpu̇kopind, fruvö.
Ȯnz twos röz kuss,
ta izvi kwokhokind ta isi kwokiktöind ṭu.
Ȯnz sfonto tikk
ta zwoskiw ghi janishbu fsüd.
Ku̇n psofa nȧnk kun zwawzi ke.
Na ipsȧnf ȧp kho eduv fowf,
fruvö chunv kess zvu
kho estakö ghin̨ ünkȧu.
hö toninuk fowf ta ghnu̇ ghi ȯg köd ke
ma ishürk pi twubiṭiw ḍinw
rokhvofiüȧn̨ khi swȯnu
u vwȧ kȧsinw fowf du iuss fsüd.
Hü udirvi po a khȧspȧn̨ kuss
ȧk zniban taskönt trȧsp
boiw nowkh irokhvofü ȧn̨iw nȧnk.
Hü ku triftȧn̨ (kriḍȧn) hü uvwop
kaws tin nwü ushutsȯ tin ipȧnf ke.
Hö hü pi twubiṭiw
hö zva irkind znisip o
ȧn̨’ȯnt zvasnȧkind zvasnȧkind ȧn̨’ȯnt.
Hü atin̨ du̇ whȧokzauk nowkh
znikver nowkh kverbu znikver
hö na diskhö nwü.

Meaning

The Oath of the Forest is a part of the sprite coming of age ritual. When a sprite is born, their parents typically plant a tree for them in a nearby forest, and when a sprite reaches the age of 15, they spend the night with their tree and recite the oath of the forest. Most sprites grow up hearing the oath and the story behind it, and by the time they have their coming of age, they can recite it from memory.

CW: genocide, bioterrorism

Roex Pronunciation Key

The following chart shows the IPA pronunciation of letters used to represent the Roex language. Any letters not on the chart represent the same sounds as in the International Phonetic Alphabet.

Pronunciation	Spelling
b̥	b
d̥	d
ɖ̥	ḍ
g̊	g
ɣ	gh
ɹ	r
ʈ	ṭ
x	kh
ʔ	'
ɒ	a
ɛ	e
ø	ö
ɶ	ȧ
ɔ	ȯ
ɯ	u̇
y	ü
ŋ	n̨

Sprite parents typically tell their children that the Oath of the Forest is about the fall of Pine, the sprites' last stronghold against humans during the 12th century. During this time, a few humans volunteered to infect themselves with Alolio and be captured by the sprites. Once they believed the sprites were too weak to fight back, the humans offered the sprites a cure for the disease, provided they surrender. The oath speaks of the countless sprites who died at Pine and compels young sprites to comfort their lonely spirits in death by promising to be be buried in the forests. It also reminds young sprites that just as the forest of Pine once protected their people from the humans, it is now the job of sprites to protect the trees from that same danger.

Linguists who have studied the oath believe that while it was originally about a different event, the texts has evolved over time, and has changed to include the destruction of Pine. The language of the oath is rather archaic, including the words Jadinth and chunv. While most linguists believe the former to be an earlier word for sprites, the meaning of the latter has been entirely lost. The most obvious marker is the use of the phrase shashȧ pumchȧüa or the Great Destruction. The Great Destruction was an ancient tragedy that is primarily mentioned in sprite texts so old that the sprites have forgotten what this is a reference to. The mention of Janishbu, a type of winged monster usually found in sprite children's stories, has led some to believe that these creatures once existed, and that the Great Destruction was an event in which the sprites killed them off. This would explain why the oath implies the janishbu are buried in the forest, but not why it indicates janishbu riders, which are uncommon in sprite folklore. Other quirks of the oath include the occasional shift from remote past to near past and a switch at the end from second person plural to second person singular. These are almost certainly places where previous versions were altered or merged.

Click Here for the Real History Behind the Oath

The Oath of the Forest is about the Great Destruction, a name given by early sprites to the mass murder of humans living in the original Zenxonian colony. The Jadinth were the people who settled on the new planet, and when magic began to affect them, the new sprites became nervous that the unchanged humans would contact the superstitious Homeworld. If this happened, they believed, they would be killed by a government who did not want their people to know about the existence of magic. Therefore, the sprites killed the humans (and any sprites who objected) before the humans could kill them. The bodies and the ships, janishbu in their language, were buried on Pine Hill. The janshibu were made of chuvu metal, which is only found in other remnants of the Homeworld, such as the The Rings of Auras and The binoculars of Virginia Bleek All sprites were sworn to secrecy, leading to the creation of the oath. The angry spirits referred to in the oath are the spirits of the murdered humans, and early superstitions led sprites to believe that by having their own bodies buried with those they had killed, they could appease these ghosts. Originally, sprites were sworn to protect the forest because if it died, people would discover the secrets buried beneath the trees. Over time, the sprites forgot what the oath was about, but they continued the ritual, giving it new meaning based on new experiences, which is exactly how the first sprites would have wanted it.