Oath of Everlasting Friendship
The Oath of Everlasting Friendship
The ancient understanding that allows Macridi and the fey of Palakar Forest to prosper side by side.
In most logging towns, the forest is a resource.
In Macridi, the forest is a neighbor, a business partner, and occasionally a judge.
For generations, the people of Macridi and the fey courts of Palakar Forest have lived under an arrangement known as the Oath of Everlasting Friendship. It is the reason axes still ring through Palakar without bringing the forest to war.
The Oath of Everlasting Friendship is the collective agreement between the people of Druma around Macridi and the three great fey courts of the Palakar Forest. It is not merely a modern commercial contract. The current oath grew from agreements first made with the region's ancient Kellid inhabitants and later continued and reshaped during the centuries of dwarven rule.
When modern Macridi expanded its logging and woodworking industries, those older traditions became the foundation of a remarkably successful arrangement. The people of Macridi may harvest the wealth of Palakar, but only so long as they do so carefully and accept that the forest itself has a voice in how that harvesting is conducted.
The Heart of the Oath
The principle is simple: Macridi may profit from Palakar, but it may not consume Palakar.
Logging is deliberately conservative. Workers take only what is needed, logged areas are replanted, and fey familiar with the health of the forest may work directly with logging crews to determine which trees and other resources can safely be harvested.
| Principle | What It Means in Practice |
|---|---|
| Take Only What Is Needed | Palakar is not clear-cut. Harvesting is selective, controlled, and deliberately limited. |
| Restore What Is Taken | Logged areas are replanted and tended rather than simply abandoned once their valuable timber is removed. |
| Listen to the Forest | Fey may advise logging crews on which trees, plants, and other resources can be harvested without harming the greater forest. |
| Respect Fey Territory | The existence of the Oath does not make all of Palakar open to travelers. Each fey court retains its own territory, customs, and expectations. |
| Preserve the Relationship | A logger's immediate profit is never supposed to outweigh the long-term peace between Macridi and Palakar. |
The Three Fey Courts
The Oath encompasses three very different fey communities. They are allies in preserving Palakar, but they should not be mistaken for a single government or a unified culture.
Cedar Court
Deep in northwestern Palakar lies the domain of the forest's dryads. The Cedar Court is less a city than a gathering of the ancient trees to which its oldest dryads are bound.
The elder dryad Ryauhm, said to be older than the forest itself, helped bring Palakar's dryads into the Oath and is remembered as one of its architects.
The dryads are reclusive, but they are willing to negotiate when the health of the forest is concerned.
Court of Endless Revelry
The satyrs of eastern Palakar have formed perhaps the strangest court in Druma: a wandering celebration without a conventional capital or central ruler.
Their revels can be heard long before they are seen. Despite their chaotic nature, the satyrs remain part of the ancient understanding that protects the forest.
Visitors generally find them far more approachable than the other courts—provided those visitors are friendly and prepared for the festivities.
Court of Seasons
The nymph families of southern Palakar are considerably more protective of their territory. Their leaders gather at the Court of Seasons to discuss matters affecting the forest.
As part of the Oath, the nymphs permitted Macridi's loggers access to a limited portion of their lands, but they remain deeply suspicious of unnecessary intrusion.
Travelers entering their territory without permission should not assume that Macridi's treaty protects them from the consequences.
The Oath permits a carefully managed relationship between Macridi and Palakar's fey. It does not grant every Druman, merchant, adventurer, logger, or Kalistocrat unrestricted access to the forest.
Cutting an unapproved tree, trespassing into protected territory, damaging a sacred grove, or deliberately exploiting the forest can create a dispute far larger than a simple property crime.
What People in Macridi Know
Almost everyone raised in Macridi knows about the Oath. Logging companies build their practices around it, merchants understand that their timber profits depend upon it, and experienced woodsfolk know that maintaining good relations with the fey is simply part of working in Palakar.
Locals may disagree endlessly about exactly what the fey mean by a particular request, how much timber constitutes "enough," or whether a logger has technically crossed an invisible boundary—but few serious businesspeople question the value of the arrangement itself.
Macridi's extraordinary timber trade exists because the forest remains healthy enough to sustain it. To a Kalistocrat, this makes the Oath good business. To the fey, it ensures that mortal profit does not destroy something far older than Druma.