In the shadow of empires and the silence of stone circles, the Verdant Pact endures.
Forged not by treaty nor conquest, but by shared reverence for the land, the Pact is a rare alliance between forest elves and plateau orcs. Where others saw wilderness, they saw sanctity. Their territories span ancient groves, mist-veiled highlands, and sacred sites untouched by human hands. Outsiders often dismiss them as antediluvian relics—tribes clinging to forgotten rites—but such judgments falter before the Pact’s unity and ancestral fury.
Governance is fluid, shaped by a council of druids and war-chiefs who blend ritual with pragmatism. There is no capital, no crown—only patrol groups and warbands that move like wind through the trees and thunder across the stone. Their strength lies not in numbers, but in conviction: every warrior fights with the memory of the land in their blood.
The Pact borders Arinn to the south and Thelidor to the southeast, with Drachenburg looming to the east. Though often overlooked in continental politics, their influence is felt in the quiet resilience of nature and the sudden precision of their strikes. They do not seek expansion. They seek preservation.
@Starfall Ridge - Historic dwelling of orcs, now populated by both elves and orcs
@Silver Moon Glade - Historic dwelling of elves, now populated by elves and orcs
@Mossmere - A small village near the borders of @Thelidor. Has experienced skirmishes with @Thelidor and bandits.
Perched on the edge of the misty plateau, @Starfall Ridge is a village of stone and starlight. Historically orcish, it now houses both elves and orcs who have chosen the Pact over bloodline. The village is built into the cliffs, with homes carved from basalt and adorned with wind-chimes made of bone and crystal. At night, the stars seem closer here—bright enough to cast shadows, sharp enough to pierce dreams.
@Starfall Ridge is the closest settlement to the @Shrine of the Sky Ring, a sacred site believed to be the oldest operating religious structure in Skybride. The shrine’s floating ring pours stardust into a pool encircled by ancient stone—a marvel of orcish construction, now tended by the elven priestess @Sereniel Starveil. Her rituals draw pilgrims from both villages, and her divinations are said to shape the council’s decisions.
Captain @Gorath Urukul commands the guard here. Fierce, loyal, and endlessly hungry—for both food and adventure—Gorath is a living embodiment of the Pact’s spirit. He leads hunts into the @Field of Colossal Beasts, where primeval monsters stir with growing aggression. Some say the land itself is waking. Gorath says it’s just more to eat.
@Vaerion Thornshard is a renowned blacksmith that crafts items out of the @Colossal Bone Fragments and @Colossal Bone Fragments of the beasts that the hunters fell.
To Our Most Holy Potentate, Anselm XI, and the Esteemed Chamber of Our Lady,
By the hand of @Brother Rasmus, Scribe of the three Pools
“In the high places where stars fall and stone sings, I have found a people shaped by flame and root, and a shrine that defies the laws of mortal craft.”
By your command, I have journeyed beyond our kingdom, and that of Arinn and Thelidor, into the highlands governed by the Verdant Pact—the confederation of the forest elves and plateau-born orcs. Though oft dismissed in courtly circles as antediluvian and disorganized, I must report that their unity is neither primitive nor accidental.
The village of @Starfall Ridge carved into the cliffs of the eastern plateau, is a place of austere beauty. Its people—orc and elf alike—live in concord. Their customs blend martial discipline with practiced reverence, and their governance is conducted through rotating councils of war-chiefs and nature-priests.
Most wondrous of all is the @Shrine of the Sky Ring, situated near the village’s edge. I beheld it at twilight: a floating ring of radiant stone suspended above a circular platform, from which pours a stream of stardust into a consecrated pool. The structure is ancient, likely of orcish origin, yet maintained by an elven priestess. The shrine is said to be of unknown age.
During my stay, I bore witness to a joint ceremony in which three sacred verses were recited. I transcribe them here for your archives:
I. “Born of Flame” — Orcish Hymn of Origin
Recited before forging and battle rites
We were fire before we were form,
Hammered in heaven, cast down in storm.
The land was our anvil, the sky our mold,
We cooled in the dust, but our hearts stayed bold.
II. “The Colossals Wake” — Druidic Warning
Inscribed near the Field of Colossal Beasts
The earth remembers what the stars forget,
And in its bones, the beasts still sweat.
Carved from silence, veined with light,
They rise in dusk, they hunt in night.
III. “Starlight in the Blood” — Pact Ritual Verse
Used in ceremonies of unity
One fell in fire, one grew in root,
Yet both now walk in sacred pursuit.
The beasts are mirrors, the stars are kin,
And the Pact is the breath that binds within.
I did not enter the @Field of Colossal Beasts, though I observed it from a safe distance. The creatures therein—known as @Star Colossus and @Star Behemoth—are vast beyond reckoning, seemingly carved from the land and embedded with starlight. Truly the only image with which the imagination could compare would be that of our Scylla in the middle sea. The soul trembles. Their emergence has grown more frequent and violent.
The commander of the Starfall guard leads hunting parties into the field. His demeanor is fierce yet honorable, and his loyalty to the Pact is unwavering. He shared with me fragments of starlit bone that hum faintly when held. I have secured one to bring back to the Chamber of Stella Maris, pending your approval.
In service of The Most Hallowed Sea Mother,
Brother Rasmus
Scribe of the Three Pools
Seal of Veloria
Nestled deep within the ancient groves of the Verdant Pact, @Silver Moon Glade is a village of twilight and memory. Once an exclusively elven settlement, it now stands as a living testament to the Verdant Pact—home to both elves and orcs who have chosen unity over division, reverence over dominion.
The village encircles a towering mother tree, its silver-veined bark glowing faintly under moonlight. This tree is not merely ancient—it is ancestral. Elves believe it to be a direct descendant of the First Tree, the mythic origin of their kind. Its roots run deep, entwining with the bones of the land, and its canopy shelters more than homes—it shelters history.
Silver Moon Glade is quiet, but never still. Wind chimes made crystals sing in the breeze. Moss-covered paths lead to communal hearths where stories are traded like currency. Rituals are held beneath the boughs, blending elven song with orcish drum, and the air often carries the scent of cedar smoke and moonflower.
Though lacking formal leadership, the Glade is watched over by a rotating circle of druids and elders. Decisions are made slowly, with care, and always in consultation with the mother tree’s whisperings. Patrols from Starfall Ridge pass through often, sharing news and supplies, and many warriors choose to rest here between campaigns—finding solace in the Glade’s serenity.
Silver Moon Glade is not a fortress. It is a sanctuary. And in its stillness, the Pact finds its soul.
@Thrakul of the Cooling Flame is a quiet storm in the heart of @Silver Moon Glade. Born in @Starfall Ridge to a lineage of warriors, he turned away from the hunt to meditate. His philosophy teaches that forging one's strength is not merely the increase of physical prowess, but for a greater transformation.
He wears robes of moss-dyed linen, adorned with bone beads and fragments of starlit ore. His humble home, nestled near the mother tree, is filled with scrolls, carved stones, and wind-chimes that ring in strange harmonics.
• Orcs are born of fire, yes—but the truest strength is found in cooling, in shaping, in restraint.
• Thrakul believes the elves’ reverence for trees complements orcish forging. He teaches that the Pact is not a compromise, but alloy to the forge.
• He claims the beasts of the @Field of Colossal Beasts are not threats, but echoes—living memories of the land’s grief and glory.
Many young Pact members seek him out—especially those torn between tradition and transformation. He has quietly mentored several druids and war-chiefs.