Colissian Wardens of Evercrown Isle (Eastern Silence)
Faction Type: Isolationist megaflora clan / island-defense society
Public Reputation: “Myth.”
True Reputation (to survivors): “You were allowed to leave.”
The Groveborn are a single extended Colissian bloodline that treats Evercrown Isle as a living fortress. They do not “rule” the island so much as maintain it—like gardeners who know the garden can eat people.
They believe the four Nature Meito Great Pearls are not treasures. They are organs.
And Evercrown survives only because someone keeps the organs from overfiring.
1) Quiet is Law
In the Eastern Silence, sound dying is normal. The Groveborn made it doctrine. Loudness is seen as waste, fear, or disrespect.
2) Strength is Stewardship
Power is not for pride. Power is for keeping the island stable: paths clear, beasts managed, Pearl Court undisturbed.
3) Outsiders are Weather
A ship is a storm cloud: it can pass, it can break, it can bring rot. They don’t hate outsiders—
they prepare for them.
4) The Quartet Must Not Be Touched
Even if someone could steal a Great Pearl (they can’t), the act is considered amputation—and the island would respond like a wounded animal.
Primary Holds
The Giantwood Belt: their main hunting and ambush ground.
The Hanging Country: canopy bridges, trunk platforms, and elevated longhouses.
The Green Court: forbidden center; only certain ranks may enter.
Border Signs (how they warn intruders)
A single arrow planted upright in sand.
A fruit split cleanly in half and placed on a rock.
A line of snapped vines arranged like a “closed door.”
If those are ignored, the next warning is usually a near-miss shot that proves range and angle.
If that is ignored, the island becomes a killbox.
1) Rootlings (Children / trainees)
Learn climbing, silence-walking, and “reading growth” (predicting overbloom surges).
2) Barkhands (Labor + logistics)
Maintain bridges, harvest Titanfruit, manage resin stores, repair bow-laminates.
3) Canopy Eyes (Scouts)
Live high, watch coasts, track fog-wall drift, tag intruders without being seen.
4) Bullet Archers (War discipline)
Elite ranged fighters trained to shoot in dead-sound conditions. They practice patience like prayer.
5) Pearl-Tenders (Court custodians)
Rare. Handle the Quartet’s effects without touching the pearls. Manage pollen, pressure-hum, growth surges.
6) The Crown-Root (Clan leader)
Not a “king.” A caretaker-general. Chosen by calm judgment, not brute strength.
Their rule: “Don’t fight a battle you can end in three breaths.”
Standard Engagement Pattern
Disorient: mislead with shifting paths, falling fruit, vine-snare lines.
Pin: silent volleys from multiple heights; break steering, hands, rigging.
Separate: force targets into small pockets (roots, trunks, narrow ledges).
Finish or Release: they often stop once a threat is neutralized.
They prefer “capture by terrain” over “kill by fury.”
If they kill, it’s because the intruder proved they would return worse.
Common named shots (Groveborn terms):
Seedbreaker: shatters oarlocks, rudder joints, or weapon mounts.
Spinepin: disables a leg/arm without a kill—used for interrogations.
Hollow Knock: impacts armor to cause internal bruising through sheer force.
Crownfall: canopy shot that cuts supports—drops a target by collapsing the “ceiling.”
Quiet Storm: staggered volley pattern that feels like random impacts until it’s too late.
1) No open flame near Giantwood.
Fire is the only “language” Evercrown answers instantly.
2) No harvesting from the Green Court without sanction.
Even resin pulled wrong can trigger overbloom or poison-pollen storms.
3) No boasting over a kill.
They treat victory as maintenance, not celebration.
4) No outsider may witness a Pearl-Tending ritual.
If seen, the outsider is either recruited into silence (rare) or removed from memory.
They don’t ask “good or evil.” They ask impact.
They watch for:
Do you cut living wood unnecessarily?
Do you take fruit responsibly or strip-harvest?
Do you keep discipline when scared?
Do you aim weapons at the forest?
Do you try to approach the Green Court?
Three Outcomes
Ghosted: you’re guided out without realizing (fog-wall “luck”).
Warned: visible sign + near-miss + escalating harassment.
Harvested: you become compost—quietly.
Crown-Root “Mara Tallbark”
A calm strategist; speaks rarely; chooses mercy often, but never twice.
Pearl-Tender “Sefu Pollenhand”
Skin marked by glowing seam-lines from years near the Court; can “feel” growth surges before they happen.
Canopy Eye “Rin Windstep”
Fastest climber; rumored to run trunk-to-trunk without touching rope or bridge.
Bullet Archer “Korr Nine-Draw”
Famous for firing while falling—using gravity to add force to the bullet-seed strike.
The Groveborn know the wider Estes Sea would do one of two things if Evercrown became public:
Invade for the Quartet, or
Recruit/enslave Groveborn shooters to break naval warfare forever.
So they stay unspoken.
And the Eastern Silence stays quiet.