High Cultivator
Leader of the Church of the Trees as voted by the Council of Cultivators. Maintains relations with and stands as advisor to the Royal Family of Giltbough as well as managing the different Arbors in their work to care for the grandfather trees. The position of High Cultivator is a lifetime appointment except in the incredibly rare case of the Council voting to remove a High Cultivator on grounds of failure to maintain one's oath to defend the grandfather trees.
Historically, the original High Cultivators would make regular pilgrimage across the reaches to personally check the status of the Arbors, though this task has now been delegated to the hares and other nomadic groups of faithful. In the modern age, most of their time is spent going over harvest and planting reports and High Cultivators leave the shadow of the First Tree once a year to make a symbolic pilgrimage in honor of the Cultivators that came before.
Over the history of the Church of the Trees, the position of High Cultivator has tended to remain in the hands of the squirrels, though there have been a number of rabbit High Cultivators. Typically squirrel High Cultivators have focused on maintaining the Arbors that already are growing and ensuring strict adherence to logging and replanting rules, whereas rabbit High Cultivators are associated with large pushes to expand the Arbors as well as the establishment of new Arbors across the world. These periods are known, respectively as times of Rest and times of Work and both have their own sects within the rank and file of the Arboreans.
When a High Cultivator leaves office either by death, they are beatified and are remembered as a saint among the faithful.
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