The trees have always been talking. They've been screaming for millennia. If you just paid attention, you might have seen it. You can't hear it though. Much like you can't hear a dog whistle. Elves can. But you can't. You can sense it. You can feel it. When you think about it, you can't help but realize that you're trespassing. And they are angry. And they are discussing what to do with you. Their roots mingle like tendrils emulating fingers, reaching spindly hand to spindly hand of another deep underground. They do this to negotiate. And our perceptions of silence are false. If you're quiet, sometimes you can feel a gentle hum under foot that tells you all you need to know.
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| You can't see in because they don't want you to |
The root you tripped over wasn't there before you stepped. The branch that grazed your hair was elsewhere prior. They claw at you, the invader. You're not welcome, and you haven't been for so long, that everyone forgot why.
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| They're faster than people give them credit for... when they want to be fast |
Hatred
Trees hate people. Not animals. Not apes. Trees hate people. They've always hated us. And beavers. Woodpeckers irritate them too. They most certainly hate anything that burrows within them, like most insects. To a tree, we are all the same kind of cancerous pest. We harm them constantly for our shelter, and they despise our apathy most of all. How would you feel if someone killed your brother with a saw or an axe and whistled as they hauled his body away, dismembered?
Tree bark is extremely sensate. Trees remember every touch, glance, and drop of rain. They ache with every thoughtless carving of two people's love for each other. They don't appreciate the irony of it either. These feelings are coded into their minds and the sensations range from soothing as the rain to hellish as the knife. And yes, they do have minds. It doesn't function the same as ours does. Theirs is crowdsourced among all the trees around. Their oral histories are ingrained into their awareness as their roots are ingrained into the earth, etched with a generational accumulation of pain that will never be sated until all people are eradicated.
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| Forever refers to how long this tree will hold a grudge |
This hatred is not solely held by trees. Most plants are spiteful things, but only trees really remember anything. Ever wonder why plants developed such spicy peppers? It was supposed to be an attempt at keeping us away. Alas, floral emotions flavor everything. Spice is linked to unfettered fury. Sweetness is linked to fear. People, as it turns out, savor the emotions that plants have. No wonder they hate us so much.
Fungus shapes and contributes to this 'hivemind' too. In fact, fungus acts as a delegate, smoothing the disagreements between the trees. A humble, carriophagic messenger, it has little in the way of opinions, but it feels. It feels the rage. It echoes it like ripples on the ocean surface through massive networks unseen by eye alone. When something hurts a tree it prods the anger and reverberates it until the entire forest is raging. Every tree is always angry if the fungus networks have anything to say about it.
This rage manifests as gusts. You thought the wind came from something else? It always came from the screaming of the forests. The rustling of their leaves isn't because of the wind. It's what causes it. A forest rustling altogether is a machine of revenge. If you enter a forest during the howling winds, you won't escape.
Some animals can hear the forest scream before it kicks up into a frenzied anger - birds especially. That's why you'll see flocks of birds hurry off in a strained swiftness with no apparent reason. The trees have roared out and the birds know what will happen if they stay too long. If you thought that trees could only bluster into the air, you're sorely mistaken. The trees will often take their rage out on anything in their way.
Defense Mechanisms
Trees are actually all magical. Magic doesn't work the way you think. It's actually a function of an element in the air that bonds readily to carbon. Every breath you take exhales magic. This is why words have power. This also means you're a little bit magic all the time. Trees, on the other hand, soak up magic over time, never yielding it up so long as they stand. This is how you get Treants.
Treants are manifestation of particularly old and angry forests. Ones that have chosen to fight back with the magic they have stored. They form from the oldest trees, and the species of tree change their demeanor slightly. Oak Treants prefer stalwart approaches. Humorless as a Dwarf. Birch Treants are stealth hunters not unlike tigers. Their favorite food happens to be Elf. Though none are so terrifying as Redwood Treants. Standing taller and broader than any others, they will displace the geography itself if it means they get to kill an invader. Unfortunately, they take so much magic that no person has ever seen one. Yet.
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| This one has a worse bark than bite It's claws on the other hand... |
It takes energy (as in, magic) to move. To act. This is why trees don't get to act on their anger as much. They are biding their time. Why trip 1,000 people now when you could kill 10,000 in mere centuries?
Interactions
It is a myth that Elves live in nature as you conceive of it. Sure, they are surrounded by trees, but the truth is different. All of the trees of Elven lands are enchanted one by one with magical barriers. These prevent the roots from growing anywhere but down, and halts all communications. Effectively, they hold the trees as indentured slaves. Orchards are really just plantations when Elves are involved, forced to bear fruits to their cruel masters. For this reason, fungus is diligently monitored and torched, as that would ruin their work. Elves have always been able to hear the screaming of the trees, they just don't really care. There have been uprisings, but fire is effective.
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| Better make sure they're all gone or else they'll remember this too |
Dwarves used to dwell below the tree line on the mountains. But that was before the forests rebelled. Dwarves will tell you, the underground is never as dangerous as the forest when it howls. Now, they'd rather take the dangers of the deep and the mountaintops over dwelling near forests.
Humans live carefree on the outskirts of forests. Just far enough to 'admire' them. Their lumber mills are abattoirs to the trees, and so this is dangerous work. Many go missing, never to be seen again. Must have been a wolf. Humans are too aloof. There are too many feasible options for what could make someone disappear in the forest. They believe fellow humans are more likely culprits than the enemies right by them. Humans believe the tales of the forest are metaphors - ghost stories at best. They forget why they walled their cities, and only keep small, youthful trees near them (and never in numbers too great).
Orcs, on the other hand, live in forests easily. They only use dead trees for fire, shelter, and armor. They have rituals that expose them to the fungus. They hear the screams in their mind. They understand the hatred. They, too, hate most other people. Orcs are deemed "territorial". This is half-true. They have actually formed a mutualistic symbiosis. Protect the forest, and it will protect them. This is why you do not follow Orcs to their homes. You won't survive.
Druids
Druids exist. They first started long ago as people who communed with nature, much as you've heard. Ritualistic. Respectful. But then they heard the anger and pain. They saw the unrelenting dread so potently that they knew they could never make amends. They were swiftly retasked as fire-brands. They carry torches to the forest when they sense that a Treant is possible to create. They monitor the magical levels, and torch forests when they get too powerful. But people need the trees, so they have to leave some. Thus continues the cycle. Orcs are particularly rotten nuisances here, because fire barely affects them.
Since the inception of druids, some have become "touched". Some liken this to fey magic - this can happen. Usually the fungus deploys spores at fortuitous times. Occasionally the trees opt not to kill, but merely restrain, and force the spores to take root. The screaming drives the hostage mad, and they are infected by the utter disdain of the forest. In these cases, trees will sacrifice limb (branch) to arm them with magical weaponry stored within the wood. If you see a druid emerge from the forest with a staff, howling with the wind, you should run.
Afterword
This is my first post. It's a bit long, and a bit jumbled. I don't apologize for either of those points. I hope, sincerely, that you enjoyed. I hope to continue this over time, and I am happy to engage in discussion over this.
As far as how to use this? It's pretty setting agnostic. Take whatever you like and use how you see fit, but please credit/direct people here. Still setting the blog up in a way I would like, so expect some changes here and there.
I think most things in the world are taken for granted, and are pretty creepy when you think about it. I'm never going to trust fungus (They can actually "communicate" between trees - I wish I was making that part up. Creepy!). This doesn't really belong to a specific setting of mine, but parts of it are from things I personally work on (like the magic as an element that bonds to carbon bit).
Anyway, thanks for reading!