Willow

"I am and forever will be an acolyte of the One Root, even if I have been banished from her sacred order. The forest is my life, the trees my masters. Her teachings are everything to me." - Willow 

Willow was an Alois woman and former member of the Order of the One Root at the Enclave of the Glacial Grove, an ancient monastic order that worshipped the forest.

Early Life

Willow never knew her parents. As an infant, she was left on the ground in an expansive forest of the northern Boundary Hills; presumably, her parents could not take care of her. Just before dying of exposure, she was found and taken in by Pine, the leader of the Order of the One Root, an ancient monastic order that now protected and communed with local treants. She was taken to their monastery, the Enclave of the Glacial Grove, and nursed back to health.   Pine, the oldest member of the convent, acted as a father figure to Willow as she grew up, though she did not initially form strong relationships with other members. As Willow matured, she grew skilled with the use of One Root magic as well as other types of magic she studied on her own. By the age of 18, she was able to bend forests to her will, summon forest spirits, and cast a wide array of spells.

Exile From the One Root

Like her fellow members, the main job of Willow was to protect and commune with the treants of the local forests. Willow performed this job dutifully, and took it very seriously, and like her fellow members, she saw treants as manifestations of the divine soul of the One Root.   When Willow was 26, Pine died. The loss was incredibly hard on her, since Pine was her only true friend in the Enclave, and she struggled with his death more than any other member of the enclave. Moreover, without Pine's constant guidance, and feeling lost without him, she began to have private doubts about her place in life. She felt more alone than ever.   A turning point came for Willow the following year, when she was 27. Willow witnessed one of the eldest treants, Skalis, massacre an entire village of Fir Bolgs after a couple of them had unknowingly tried to use him for firewood. Willow was shocked and outraged, and hurried back to the Enclave to tell her fellow monks what had happened. Her anger was not taken seriously by the chief member of the Order, Myrtus, who viewed whatever the treants decided to do as valid and just. Willow spoke out against the treants, claiming that they had no right to have so much authority over the forests. For this, Myrtus promptly cast her out of the order. Under his direction, they cut her off from the power of the One Root, taking away nearly all of her magical abilities.

Subsequent Activities

Following this event, Willow initially felt lost and alone, as the Order of the One Root had been her entire life. Additionally, she found it difficult to be in the forest, with so much pain associated with the biome. She decided to journey to the tiny Alois outpost town of Jezebel Ridge, and build a life caring for the horses owned by the Laframbois Family there.   Willow made every effort to fit in with the townsfolk, but found it impossible to split from her old teachings. Moreover, she began to hear the whispers of the One Root with greater and greater frequency. Though initially alarmed by this, Willow realized that the One Root was slowly bestowing its power back onto her.   Though still greatly detached from the power she once held, Willow decided to leave Jezebel Ridge and venture down into the Western Commons, sensing that the forests there were in danger. She decided to re-devote her life to the way of the One Root. To prepare herself, she lived a life of solitude within the forests for one year, speaking to no one.

Conflict at Erentraud

Not long after this year of solitude was over, Willow found out that the Trebai Ascendancy, a major new authoritative government in the Western Commons, was destroying large swaths of forest in more remote parts of their land in order to establish new strongholds there. Though overwhelmed by the thought of taking on a huge militaristic government, Willow knew that this was her purpose. By becoming involved in this conflict, Willow unwittingly became involved in a power struggle between local rulers and the High Auctoritan's centralized government, whom the former often saw as illegitimate.   Willow journeyed to the town of Erentraud, a hotbed of this struggle, having received information that the Ascendancy was moving to establish their presence there. When she arrived, she was greeted by a town that seemed to be on the verge of crisis, with a number of local nobility, criminal organizations, and Ascendancy loyalists all vying for power and influence. Shortly after she arrived, Willow witnessed the Trebai Ascendancy attack the town, seizing key locations such as Jansereche Manor but failing to control all of the town. The Ascendancy left a small garrison near the town, stationed at Jansereche Manor, but mostly pulled back. Willow learned that the Ascendancy was planning to bring reinforcements to build a permanent fortress outside of the town, which would destroy much of the forest.   While gathering this information, Willow encountered two individuals who had been imprisoned in the manor for thieving, and turned over to the Ascendancy: a young Ren Berig woman named Scotta Malcatha, and an older Daphnea man named Tutones of Kallimonia. Willow realized that the two were going to be executed by the Trebai Ascendancy. Originally, Willow considered simply moving on, but then she remembered the actions of the treant that had caused her to leave her monastery all those years ago; she couldn't exercise the same callous disregard for life in pursuit of her greater goal. She decided to save Scotta and Tutones, and the three barely managed to make it out with their lives.   After some discussion, Scotta and Tutones both decided to help Willow with her plan to prevent the Ascendancy from establishing a stronghold. Tutones needed to pay a debt, and having access to just a small portion of the Ascendancy's treasury could help him with this; and both of them found the callous cruelty that they had just experienced to be repulsive. The three of them also agreed that they would need the help of a powerful magic user. Scotta told Willow that she knew of a mage named Archelaion, and together they set out to find this individual.