the Thornbinders
The Thornbinders
"A tree remembers every wound. We are its tongue, its claws, and its quiet vengeance."
— Marrek of Hollowbark, Root-Scribe of the Southern Thorns
Overview
The Thornbinders are a secretive and fiercely territorial order of wild scholars, root-wardens, and ritual archivists who serve the Living Memory of the Woods—a metaphysical network of sentient groves, whispering bark, and dream-buried seeds known collectively as the Verdant Chorus. Their most sacred site is the Thorne Mirror, a moss-rimmed, root-bound well that echoes with the soul-echoes of all who have perished within the woods of Aeternum.
While often mistaken for druids or simple nature cults, the Thornbinders are painfully methodical in their spiritual record-keeping. They believe the trees remember not only sights and sounds, but emotions, betrayals, and truths too deep to speak aloud. Their duty is not to protect the forest from civilization—but to protect civilization from what the forest remembers.
Core Tenets
The forest forgets nothing. Only mercy hides it.
Every branch bends toward truth. Every thorn resists the lie.
To know the woods is to accept you are prey.
We are not their masters. We are their warnings.
Memory is not what you hold. It is what roots beneath you.
Roles within the Order
Root-Scribes – Those who interpret bark-glyphs and soul-knots hidden in tree rings. They tattoo living vines into their flesh as mnemonic scripts.
Hollowthanes – Guardians of sacred glades who undergo ritual starvation and symbiosis with parasitic plants to become half-vegetal sentinels.
Spore-Speakers – Fungal seers who speak with the Mycofold, a network of memory-fungi used to access grief buried deep in the loam.
Thornblades – Agile forest warriors wielding vinebound weapons. Each bears a bone dagger inscribed with a name the forest has not forgiven.
Structure & Hierarchy
Thornbinder society is decentralized, operating in scattered enclaves hidden within primeval groves. Authority is granted by the roots, not by title. To become a leader, one must survive a Naming Dream—a hallucinogenic communion where the forest itself brands the soul with a purpose.
Their law is stored in seedstones, which only sprout when a lie is told nearby. These are buried in each conclave’s heart, guarded by sap-blooded elders who no longer speak in human tongue.
Associated Classes
Wyrdchanter – Especially those trained in sylvan dirges and root-sung lamentations.
Griefsmith – Those who craft weapons from the bones of forest-fallen beasts and traitors.
Soulmidwife – Reclusive caretakers of dying groves, easing their passage back into the Rootwheel.
Veilrunner – Camouflaged lore-runners who traverse dangerous groves, carrying whispers from one Thornsite to another.
Important Locations
The Thorne Mirror – A soulwell encircled by thornroots that reflect a dying moment of anyone who peers within. Its waters cannot be removed.
The Cradle of Virelune – A sacred grove where silver-leaf trees hum in dead languages. Said to be the first forest to remember death.
Hollowbark Bastion – A fortress grown entirely from grafted treefolk, buried beneath a canopy of silence. Home to the Root-Scribes.
The Mycofold – A forbidden fungal cathedral that grows deeper with every secret buried in its spores.
Relations to Other Factions
Allied with:
The Whispered Path (shared reverence for memory as identity)
The Emberleaf Conclave (ritualistic sharing of botanical knowledge and flamewood rites)
Conflicted with:
The Ledger Guild, who treat memory as commodity rather than sacred root
The Prism Wardens, for their view that all truth lies in reflection, not in rooted experience
Secrets and Rumors
Some whisper the Thorne Mirror is the petrified tear of a god who died before Aeternum was born.
A rogue group within the Thornbinders, the Red-Vine Pact, has begun weaponizing ancient forest grief to trigger soul seizures in enemies.
Certain Hollowthanes are said to no longer sleep, instead dreaming with the roots of dead trees—and can walk others into those dreams.