# [[Arbor Felix]] ![[Arbor Felix.svg]] ![[uu-arbor-felix-01.png]] ![[uu-arbor-felix-02.png]] A heavily fortified village built among the trees about two days from the party's starting location, in the general direction of [[Absalom]]. Founded by [[Esefna Menhemes]] in the ways of [[Erastil]]. Has its own death-and-resurrection economy run on **numa**, **dascalos** mentorship, and **aponachar** fungal guardians. Closed itself off after nature overran the area; deeply wary of outsiders, especially catfolk. The name triggers hazy animal-memory for [[Zuhri]] — one of the places she ate in during her feral years before [[Ashnefrotty|Ash]] found her. In Session 124, Zuhri realized she is somehow **connected to everyone she has ever bitten** — including the ~800 villagers of Arbor Felix she inoculated before the werewolf attack — as if they are all one pack now. ## Foundation & Religion A Session 077 revelation reframed the village's origin. - **Founded by [[Esefna Menhemes]]**: A long time ago, in the ways of [[Erastil]] - **Roseguard connection**: Confirms a deep historical link between Arbor Felix and [[The Roseguard]] through Esefna - **Religious continuity through Saesella**: [[Hearthmother Saesella]] still follows Erastil's teachings - **Divergence in Elise**: [[Hunter Elise]] no longer worships Erastil, signalling a slow drift from the original tradition ## Numa, Daskalos, Aponachar — The Death System The village's central institution is the transfer of *numa* (life essence) at death, and the conversion of the dead into living workers. - **Numa**: Life essence transferred from dying villagers to others - **Daskalos / Vectice**: Mentor-student relationships where craft and numa are passed down - **[[Aponachar]]**: Fungal guardians created from deceased villagers who keep serving the community after death — also the fate of those who don't earn a place - **[[The Apometi]]**: Guardian entity who creates aponachar and blesses villagers - **Threshold**: Those who can't contribute effectively are pushed toward becoming aponachar — a survival pressure that defines village life ## Apometi's Blessing - **Resistance**: Poison and disease resistance - **Markers**: All villagers have spiderweb-thin fungal lines on their skin and grow up with bite marks from wilderness animals - **Renewal**: Exposure to aponachar must be renewed monthly to maintain the benefits ## Defences - **Aponachar Garden**: Sleeping fungal guardians activated in emergencies - **Poison Garden**: Poisonous animals and plants roam freely - **Closed gates**: After nature overran the area - **Selective acceptance**: Tolerates dwarves and kobolds; deeply hostile to catfolk ## Layout & Lifestyle - **Architecture**: Built among the trees, not by clearing them; stone, clay, and wood houses with no floors - **Centerpiece**: A large Apometi tree with a mushroom cap at the village heart - **Water**: A natural spring created by [[Hearthmother Saesella|Saesella]] - **Workforce**: Aponachar serve as mindless labour - **Daily life**: Everyone works; many barefoot or topless; no formal structure — masters teach their craft to others ## Xenophobia & The Catfolk Wound - **Origin of the catfolk hatred**: A historical attack by catfolk-led wild tigers killed many villagers and gave [[Hunter Elise]] her facial scar; she lost her family in the attack - **Catfolk family memory**: A single catfolk family once lived in Arbor Felix; tigers came and killed some of them before the villagers scared off both tigers and catfolk. [[Rev]]'s grandmother told stories of those catfolk - **Possible Zuhri connection**: Zuhri may be descended from this family — Rev taught her a childhood hopping game using a symbol drawn in soil, **the same symbol** Zuhri later found in chalk in [[The Gauntlight]] ## Notable Residents - **[[Hearthmother Saesella]]** — spiritual leader; follower of Erastil; reformist voice - **[[Hunter Elise]]** — Level 9 ranger; military authority; deep hatred for catfolk - **[[Marmanak]]** — gnome engineer, trapmaster, alchemist - **[[Davios]]** — six-year-old who became a daskalos - **[[Helly]]** — young misshapen girl, would have become aponachar but for the party's training - **[[Holes]]** — human with a dirty mohawk - **[[Arnoald]]** — human associate of Holes - **[[Athena Forager]]**, **[[Eleni Healer]]**, **[[Andreas Lorekeeper]]**, **[[Dionne Guardian]]** — daskalos roles - **[[Rev]]** — human teenager who shared the soil-symbol with Zuhri - **[[Carman Rajani]]** and **[[Dot Rajani]]** — relocated from [[Otari]] for safety in Session 081 - **[[Gazzo]]** — green-scaled kobold formally invited to stay (Session 071) ## The Werewolf Defence (Session 069) The defining recent battle, in which the village survived through a combination of party support and aponachar conversions. - **Organization**: [[Grumblebum]] split the fighters by cardinal direction (N: 75, S: 75, E: 50, W: 50, with 50 in reserve); the best went to [[Hunter Elise]] - **Conversion**: 70 of 100 villagers chose to become aponachar before the battle — lying down, inhaling deeply, then convulsing and dying silently - **Ash's appeal**: [[Ashnefrotty|Ash]] convinced 30 of those 100 *not* to convert — speaking about family, and how family should also be about protecting the weak - **Magic & alchemy**: Saesella offered high-level spell support; Marmanak provided mutagens - **The fight**: Hundreds of wolves led by a silver alpha; Saesella nearly died; Elise was *out of the battle* on the east side - **Outcome**: Village survived; [[Apometi|Apometi]]'s blessing offered to the worthiest defenders; new daskalos roles created (Davios, Eleni, Athena, Helly, etc.) ## Rumours of the Blessed Wolf (Session 123) - The **hunters of Arbor Felix** spread the rumours of a "blessed wolf" that reached [[The Gallowhops]]. Acting on those rumours, a band of ~20 Gallowhops set out to find [[Zuhri]], hoping her curative bite could free the moon-cursed. ## Open Threads - Was the catfolk family that once lived here Zuhri's family? - Why does the chalk symbol from the Gauntlight match the soil symbol Rev's grandmother taught the village's children? - Will Saesella's reform succeed in time to keep the next generation from drifting fully away from Erastil? - How long can the aponachar workforce sustain the village's population needs given the conversion choices in the recent battle? %% # Excalidraw Data ## Text Elements ## Drawing ```json { "type": "excalidraw", "version": 2, "source": "https://github.com/zsviczian/obsidian-excalidraw-plugin/releases/tag/2.1.4", "elements": [], "appState": { "theme": "dark", "viewBackgroundColor": "#ffffff", "currentItemStrokeColor": "#1e1e1e", "currentItemBackgroundColor": "transparent", "currentItemFillStyle": "solid", "currentItemStrokeWidth": 2, "currentItemStrokeStyle": "solid", "currentItemRoughness": 1, "currentItemOpacity": 100, "currentItemFontFamily": 4, "currentItemFontSize": 20, "currentItemTextAlign": "left", "currentItemStartArrowhead": null, "currentItemEndArrowhead": "arrow", "scrollX": 0, "scrollY": 0, "zoom": { "value": 1 }, "currentItemRoundness": "round", "gridSize": null, "gridColor": { "Bold": "#C9C9C9FF", "Regular": "#EDEDEDFF" }, "currentStrokeOptions": null, "previousGridSize": null, "frameRendering": { "enabled": true, "clip": true, "name": true, "outline": true } }, "files": {} } ``` %%