The Valeguard

The protectors of the Vale. Seek to keep outsiders from tampering with or exploiting it's territory. Once benevolent protectors, they are now staunch and resolute avengers.

The Valeguard are the enigmatic protectors of the Vale Forest, a collective of earth spirits who embody the very essence of the forest they serve. Born of soil, root, and stone, they are not separate from the forest but are its living extensions—each spirit a fragment of the Vale's vast, interconnected consciousness. When one moves, the forest moves with it; when one strikes, the entire forest seems to rise in unison. Acting as a seamless and synergized army, the Valeguard are both guardians and avengers, tirelessly devoted to their charge of keeping outsiders from disturbing the sacred woods.

In their natural forms, the Valeguard are otherworldly and diverse, with bodies formed of twisting vines, moss-covered bark, crystalline minerals, and shifting shadows of leaves. Some appear humanoid, their eyes glowing with an eerie green light, while others take the shape of massive beasts—towering golems of stone or ethereal, lupine figures crafted from mist and ferns. Their movements are fluid and purposeful, imbued with the grace of ancient wisdom and the ferocity of untamed nature. Once, the Valeguard fought to defend the forest against the dragons that sought to reduce it to ash. Their resistance was fierce and unrelenting, their very essence entwined with the trees and earth they fought to protect. But even their combined might was not enough to stop the inferno that swept through the Vale, consuming it entirely. The spirits burned with their forest, their cries of anguish reverberating through the flames. Yet as the Vale regrew in the centuries that followed, so too did the Valeguard, rising once more from the ashes to fulfill their eternal duty.

The rebirth of the Valeguard, however, was not without consequence. The trauma of their destruction and the desecration of their sacred forest left deep scars on their collective soul. Where once they held a neutral reverence for all life, they now harbor a seething hatred for mortals—beings they see as careless and destructive, incapable of understanding or respecting the sanctity of the forest. To the Valeguard, every outsider is a potential threat, a harbinger of ruin, and they will do everything in their power to keep them out. The forest itself becomes their weapon. Trees twist and bend to block paths, roots rise to trip and ensnare, and shadows deepen to obscure vision. For those who venture too far, the Valeguard emerge in full force, their presence as terrifying as it is unyielding. They are ruthless and relentless, striking with precision and overwhelming strength. Travelers who encounter them rarely survive, and those who do carry with them the memory of glowing eyes and an implacable wrath that haunts their dreams.

The Scions of the Vale

The Vale is an interconnected hierarchy of spirits of all sorts of forms and powers. Guidance and command of the symbiotic army and the monitoring of the Vale are charged to a group of the most powerful of these spirits:

Eladrin, The Guardian of the Earth Gate
The Guardian of the Earth Gate is the supreme power of the entire forest and its protectors. Leading with a silent will, Eladrin has not been seen since she faced off with Eldra and her draconic horde during the Great Burning. Her presence, however, is always there, unseen but not absent.

Anton, General of the Great Forest
Anton is an ancient spirit, one who was present through every battle against the dragons for the protection of the Great Forest before the dragons burnt it down. Anton himself is a disciple of the first General, and after the death of his master, became the new General, growing and recovering alongside the rest of the forest. His wooden body is forever alight with the smoke and embers of the fire that took the forest. It is his duty to carry the pains and reminders of the forest and its denizens so as never to allow the sins of the past to be forgiven and the rage of the forest to always be known.

Warmaster, The Spirit of Primal Combat
The frontline commander of the Valeguard. He has laid waste to thousands who have threatened the Great Forest, and continues to act as the mighty hammer of the forest today. He is the roar that sounds the inuing crushing of enemy armies. He is the mountain that rolls over and destroys those whom challenge the Vale. He is the embodiment of the instinct and strength of the natural world. The powerhouse of the scions.

Evergreen, the Lamenting Vow
Evergreen is a unicorn, one of the only of her kind. The loss of life for her kind was devastating during the Great Burning, and their home was no more. Her body is black as coal and hot to the touch, a form evoking the charred remains many of her kind were found in during the aftermath. She should have perished as well, but her will, her utter lamentation of the needless suffering, unlocked some mystic magic within her, allowing her to persist past wounds that should have ended her. Like a walking memory of the terrors of the Great Burning, she has lived with a vow of silence, under the impression she is the last of her kind, not speaking as there is no longer a race for her to advocate for.