Prides, Packs & Guardians | Rooted in Green

The Mending Grove moves between werecat prides, a werewolf pack, the guardians of an ancient tree and the humans along the river. Here is the lay of the land before you begin.

Rope bridges and lantern-lit platforms in the giant trees of the Deep Grove

Home of the heir

The Thorn Pride

The Thorn Pride lives in the Deep Grove, a village of tree platforms and rope bridges about half a day’s travel from the Heartroot. Its Solis, Mira Thorn, leads a pride of werecats who have kept the forest’s old ways. Her heir is Armon, a Blackshade panther whose duty runs straight into the one thing he cannot command: a bond he did not choose.

Werecats · Deep Grove

A ring of living marker stones before the glowing roots of the Heartroot

Keepers of the Heartroot

The Guardians

Guardians are few. They tend the marker stones, a ring of living stones that guards the Heartroot, and they answer to the forest before any pride. Corivel Silverwood is one. Where a Solis speaks for a pride, a guardian speaks for the grove itself.

Sworn to the forest · Marker stones

Black volcanic rock and a carved den entrance in the High Peaks foothills

The northwestern line

The Obsidian Pride

In the foothills of the High Peaks, northwest of the Thorn lands, the Obsidian Pride holds its own ground under its Alpha, Rhelan. They are proud, watchful and slow to trust, and what they decide matters far beyond their borders when the blight spreads.

Werecats · High Peaks foothills

A blighted camp of ragged shelters under dead trees

Three days southwest

The Blightfang Pack

Werewolves, not werecats. Their ground lies about three days southwest, and their weapons carry the blight, which is why no other territory can afford to ignore them.

Werewolves · Southwest

A watch post and campfire at the river ford at dusk

Beyond the trees

The River Folk

Not every border is a forest edge. Where the river can be forded, humans trade and watch, led in the field by Commander Valerius. Peace with them is a different kind of work than peace between prides.

Humans · The river ford

A Short Glossary

The Heartroot: An ancient ash tree at the center of the forest, and the center of the story.
Marker stones: A ring of living stones that marks and guards the Heartroot.
Resonance bond: A bond between two people that carries feelings, never thoughts.
Seed of the Sun: A relic that answers only to a bonded pair.
Solis: The leader of a pride.
Alpha: The leader of a pack or of the Obsidian Pride.