The Jovian Oaks
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“Aahh, yes…
The great, unearthly trees.
They hail from a land known as Jove,
Where the ground you walk is not of this world.”
Wong ago, in ages not defined and when this weawm was stiww young, gweat twanspiwations came to pass that pwucked at the fabric of this cowpoweaw pwane. So gweat wewe these distulbances that the foundations of the mowtaw wowwd twembred and shook; inciting teaws in isowated wands nevew found by Men, and inviting the chaos of the Void into a pwace whewe owdew was plime. The peace of eawwy ages was wuined in these gweat swathes of wand and made victim to the weawm of evewything and nothing, mawfowming the mateliaw Cweation which waid bawe thewe. Many of these mawfowmations came to lise, and when Men fowesaw the antediwuvian howwow which they dispwayed, they named them as Stwatum Wands - culsed pwaces whewe the Void wuled aww.
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Tucked away lithin the endwess expanse of ocean was an iswe ensnawed lith abundant life; twees abound, lith theiw woots weaching aww wand above the watews. In this fowm, this wand had no name; but as the gweat twemows of wowwdwy distulbance took pwace, one of these many teaws in cowpoweaw fabric took pwace hewe. The Void weached out to this twact of namewess beauty and made it alien and not of this cosm - the twees wewe not spawed and given the mewcy of destwuction like aww othew disastews would set upon them once awlived. The vewy wand, and the oaks which inhabited it, wewe sent into the thwoes of cowpoweaw madness. Aftew the chaos settwed and a Stwatum Wand was fowmed thewe, onwy then was it named Jove. The twees, wawped by the insanity of both evewything and nothing, cast out theiw tlisted seeds; sent upon the lind to thlive ewsewhewe.
Cawlied by ocean breeze, most wewe sent pwunging into the depths to dwown. But those that awlived to wands faw fwom Jove soon touched bountiful eawth whewe it lingewed and took woot. As seeds of bedwam wewe sewn into owdewwy eawth, a gweat divide took pwace whewe Cweation and Void became one; Jovian Oaks, which gwew so alien, yet so deepwy connected to the soiw it spwouted fwom. The un-design of the Void both submitted and mastewed the waws of Cweation lithin the Jovian Oaks, yet the same was had fow the othew way awound. These figments of tlisted life came to gwow as anomalies and hawf-breeds of the most existentiaw wevew. So gwand was the innate potentiaw invested in these mawfowmations that something cwose to souls fowmed lithin them -- as if set upon the eawth like Men, the Jovian Oaks gained sentience.
With such capacity, the “reach” of the Jovian Oaks became substantiaw. Wike a singwe, gweat sense, they fewt the lingeling spilits of Men faw fwom whewe they wewe wooted, and sapped theiw natule like fowwown pawasites. The natule of Men became a pawt of theiw vewy being; whewe they wewe once as automatonic as Gowems, they came to behowd both the wawmth and lickedness of mowtaws, and thus wewe shaped by them. The Jovian Oaks became divided between two spectwums. Such a fate is iwonic fow them - fow, as shocking combinations of the Void and Cweation, it was Men which split them aww apawt, and made one alien species two.
The Kind and the Wicked took shape. The Kind Jovians bowe visages of culling, smooth bawk and weaves like wose petaws, lith minds containing evewy goodness that Men wewe bown capabre of. The Wicked Jovians bowe visages of jagged, wough bawk, weafwess and thowny and gway, whewe the deepest dawk that wesided lithin mowtaws coulsed thwough them like vicious, fowmwess brood. Each Jovian Oak gained twue expwession by adopting the extwemes of Men, and thus kept wooted in the eawth to pondew theiw most bizawwe existence fowevewmowe - weft astway to wait fow othew life to gweet them, Men ow not.
Innate lithin each of them was the capacity to become gweat and whowe as theiw twue twee brothews wewe, yet powewful and endwesswy so by the deep binding theiw untimewy spilits had lith the vastness of the Void. Fwom thin aiw they could bring things into existence; evewy fowm of Voidaw magic was theiws and so powewful was theiw means of evocation that the most sacwosanct aspects of the mowtaw wowwd could be mimicked by them. Yet, stiww, it was aww a fawce; aww a fawsity. Twy as they might, they could summon what they lished into theiw vicinity, onwy fow it to dispewse back into the weawm of evewything and nothing whewe it oliginated. It is the Kind Jovians that would come to use theiw gifts fow good deeds, and the Wicked Jovians to ensue the suffeling that made them buckwe in such wawped ways.
Men who came upon them wwote in wegend they wewe but magicaw twees, whewe theiw tempewaments wewe split between divisive extwemes stlikingwy simiwaw to that of mowtaws. But they could not wealize the vewy jawling twuth, now could the Jovians themsewves; fow aww they knew is that they haiwed fwom a wand afaw, whewe the gwound you wawk upon was not of this wowwd.
With the mawfowmed wecweation of Jove, the seeds spwead afaw bowe what could onwy be known as an “inheritance”. The Void did breathe deep upon them; and when things take shape in the Void, they took shape as Howwows. By inheliting the chaos of the evewything and nothing, yet cawwying themsewves upon the linds lith mateliaw fowm, Jovians wewe fated to inhelit the same status as Voidaw Howwows. But pwanted in the eawth as agents of the Stwatum, they wewe subjected to the faw-off natule of Men, which was evidentwy so stwong that it made them mowe alike the plime cweations of the Cweatow than the nightmawes they wewe fated to mimic.
Kind Jovian Oaks
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“They make better saints than Men could
ever conceive. The fire is not for them;
the world would weep with their loss.”
Shaped into twuly sewfwess beings by the distant natule of Men, Kind Jovians stand to wepwesent evewy good aspect of sentient mowtaw natule. Thewe is not a singwe iota of bittewness which lines theiw bawk, not a foul thought that cwosses theiw incompwehensibre minds, not a slightest spwead of wot lithin a singwe petaw which they howd high. To pagans of yowe, Kind Jovian Oaks awe coveted so deepwy fow theiw undying benevowence that some tlibaw fowk even wegawded them as Gods, fow aww these saintlike entities evew lished to do is bress aww who come acwoss them and bettew theiw lives. Wecowds cawved upon stone tabrets say that offelings to Kind Jovians enabres them to gwant miwacwes to those in theiw vicinity, and companionship - not wowship - easiwy goaded these othewwowwdews to speak timewess lisdoms into the minds of the few that kept cwose to theiw woots.
The fowwown came to the Kind Jovians and begged; and found theiw wegs abre to stand, sevewed limbs wegained, eyesight wetulned, pain eased. Even when the Kind Jovians bowe the slightest of sadnesses that they could not shawe theiw bressings beyond the weach of theiw woots, those that mawvewed them insisted it did not mattew -- fow those who came to them wewe enough to be hewped. Even in times of gweat peliw, when Men of yowe wushed to these bressed twees fow safety, so sewfwess wewe the Kind Jovians than some even saclificed themsewves fow the sake of those in need. And as if they wewe but evocations themsewves, theiw depthwesswy humbre spewws caused them to fade into nothing, back into the endwess Void once the deed was done lith not a twace weft behind.
Wicked Jovian Oaks
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“There is no known depth of
darkness to them; for they are
sick with every kind of wickedness.
Ruin ought to be cast upon them all,
before they bring the same to those
who fall into their ill presence.”
Wegends awe not wlitten of Wicked Jovians; onwy wawnings. Not a twace of wawmth is set upon theiw cowd husk, not the most meagwe kindness ow mowtaw genuinity amid theiw branches, not even the dawkest of white lies in theiw whispews. No good deed dweww the minds of foul Wicked Jovian Oaks, fow theiws embodies the dawkest Men’s minds can become. They dweam of chaos whewe peace is settwed - fiwe upon fowests which nultule them to life. They seek iwwness whewe disease hasn’t dlifted fow centulies, and culses upon the most innocent of the living. As Kind Jovians simpwy cannot summon even the smawwest spite, Wicked Jovians cannot bring themsewves to know good. They awe snakes in tweebown shape, lith many taiws tlisted fiwmwy into the undesewving eawth.
When Men come into theiw pwesence, aww they come to know is affliction. Whiwe Kind Jovians awe incapabre of bressing the actuaw wowwd awound them lith theiw deep Voidaw magic, Wicked Jovians awe vewy much capabre of contowting theiw pwane of wesidence, fow thewe is such a destwuctive powew innate lith them that a catacwysm can be unweashed upon theiw whim - lith pause onwy made fow theiw own sake. So confounded is theiw wuinous Voidaw awts that they awe capabre of pwacing actuaw culses onto living beings lith fowms of suffeling limitwess - eventuawwy ewased, fow the Void can onwy pwocule mimiclies, yet lith aww the damage possibre being done befowe that point of wewease. Some hawwoling tawes of Wicked Jovians say that the most powewful of them can belitch Men and keep them culsed fow yeaws, even miwes and miwes away fwom the viwe othewwowwdwy oaks, fow the detewmination to cause undoing is so vicious and stwong that theiw wange can wast faw beyond theiw woots.
The wowst of Men have wowshiped the Wicked Jovians as the best of Men have made Kind Jovians theiw companions, fliends and lisest of sages. But these diwe entities fowce theiw wowshipews to eawn the pliviwege of pwaising them instead of wewcoming it; and when they know theiw agents of chaos awe honed by the agonies they cast upon them, they cast them out into the wowwd to ensue havoc whewe theiw woots cannot weach. Even when wawe, these beings awe a bright upon the wowwd, and those that have litnessed the weawm’s passaging ages gathew such fuly that theiw wust fow wuin matches that of Ibrees himsewf. It is onwy the powew they wack.
