Loremaster's Archive: Y'ffre's Beckoning

Loremaster's Archive: Y'ffre's Beckoning is part of the Loremaster's Archive series written by Lawrence Schick, the Loremaster of. This entry was published on 10/24/2014.

Content
In today’s visit to the archive, Gwaering, the Green Lady, presents a book on her experiences. Learn more about the manifestation of the Bosmer’s primal side and discover answers to your questions from the Lady herself.

In the next Archive, we’ll take on questions about the Argonians and their recent history for Vicecanon Heita-Meen to answer.

Y'ffre's Beckoning By Gwaering, the Green Lady

The song-story of the Green, now loud in my bones, has awakened me. I hear the tale as life in motion, the weave made real second by second, spun gleaming thread over gleaming thread. Every fleeting footfall is a drumbeat, a word, a thought blessed with shape. Each loosed arrow becomes an exclamation, a twist in the telling, a beginning in an end. I am dissolved into we.

I have become the Hunter, the Protector, the Vengeance of the Green. My memories are drawn from the rivers of history known by Bosmer since the formless times. It was my hand that carved out the heart of the Bracken Malice, the writhing foe that devoured our children and made mothers and fathers wail in torment. My own arrow pierced the eye of Dulohoth the Axehaft, vile Orc who ordered his crowd-surge of followers to burn and hew tree and frond. When sickness came to the beasts of Grahtwood, I hunted without rest a hundred nights to feed the hungry. I will hunt a hundred more.

All of these things I have done, I will do again when I am called. The cries of Y’ffre’s children—their joy, fear, rage, and sorrow—only grow stronger in my heart. They are the thrumming of life in the deepest woods. I hear them in my dreams; their emotions become my own and echo a thousand times louder within me. Nothing will stop me from calling out my response. I will answer them until my blood soaks the loam and feeds the roots of graht-oaks.

Though I hear the tale the Earth Bones tell, some fear yet remains; some worry still haunts me. I am the Green Lady, and in my spirit there is no doubt that it is so. But in my mind, I am just Gwaering, archer-girl, brave but small. I am afraid. Will Gwaering fade away? Can she withstand the torrent of primal emotion that now rises? Is she strong enough to answer the Green and play her part? Can she protect her people and the Silvenar?

But I take some small solace knowing that my doubts and fears carry little consequence. They are a small digression, the interruption of an impatient child as the Spinner tells his tale. Time will carry on, and the story will be told without pause, never reaching an end, but ebbing and flowing. I will be called, and if my voice is not strong enough to answer, my role will end and another will emerge. Such, I see now, is the way of the world.

GWAERING ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS: '''"I have wandered Tamriel for many years and no oral culture evokes as much wonder in me as the Bosmer's. Their emphasis on storytelling is fascinating, seeming to be a form of Magicka ritual itself. They seem to be able to change the past and the future by weaving new chapters into an individual's narrative. This is undeniably a gift from Y'ffre, the Spirit of the Now. What I wish to know is: does Storytelling Magic intruds upon Auri-El's sphere, or is it part of it?" – Eis Vuur Warden, Wayward and Contract Scholar'''

The Green Lady says, “Magic was the gift of all the Divines who contributed to the making of the Mundus, and thus all mortals have some ability to channel Magicka and change reality—albeit locally, and perhaps temporarily—but the alteration is real. The Way of Y’ffre is narrative magic, for storytelling is an act of creation, and what are our lives but stories made real?”

'''“This one knows that the Bosmer pride themselves on being among the best hunters across Tamriel. This leads M'Vakhu to wonder about the prominence of the Prince of The Hunt, Hircine, in their culture (Y'ffre notwithstanding). This one could not imagine how such a people could not be tempted into serving one who seems to so inherently embody their way of life. This one appreciates your time.” – M’Vakhu'''

The Green Lady says, “Invocation of Hircine the Hunter can be benign and harmless, as when an archer asks him for luck when drawing a bead on a stag. Taken too far, however, the Cult of Hircine can serve as a justification for cruelty and a rationalization for oppression and murder. We saw an example of this in our own recent history, leading up to my Handfasting to the Silvenar. The Daedra exist, and when they intrude upon mortal affairs, sometimes we must deal with them—but doing so is always perilous. This is something the foolish and greedy among us often forget.”

'''“As many outsiders do, I find the Green Pact a bit puzzling. Two of the tenets appear to be 'eat no plants' and 'eat only meat.' These are not really the same thing. Do strict adherents to the Green Pact not consume dairy products, honey, mushrooms, or insects?” – Ravenna Brightwing'''

The Green Lady says, “Though the Green Pact appears simple on the surface, its doctrinal details can be baffling to outsiders, and indeed, even the wisest of our Spinners disagree on some of its aspects. The first tenet you mention would be better stated as “Harm no living plants,” and this we strive not to do, even when we sing the house-songs to the trees so they will form lodgings for us. But does it harm a living plant to eat its fallen fruit? Indeed not—in fact, in this way the plant’s seeds are spread. The second tenet you mention is better known as the Meat Mandate, but how strictly it is followed varies from tribe to tribe and, indeed, from individual to individual. However, dairy products, honey, mushrooms, and insects are eaten with zest by all but the most ultra-zealous of Pact Bosmer.”

'''“How powerful are the spinners and is their power limited to Valenwood? Adding thoughts to someone’s memories as it happens in the quest for the Wilderking is pretty powerful, as is seeing the stories of others by touching them or their items.”'''

The Green Lady says, “A Spinner’s power is in the strength of his storytelling, fostered by talent and increased by experience. As you say, a great Spinner can actually SEE the stories of the nearby world—and these stories can reveal the true natures of persons or objects. But to change a story, a Spinner must engage its protagonist, who on some level must accept the new turns in the tale.”