Spirit Song

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The Spirit Song is the song of power that Alarielle first sang as she sowed the Soul-Pods that would birth the first Sylvaneth. The spirit song is not just a source of power, it is a message of love and wisdom, binding the sylvaneth to not only their creator goddess but each other.[1b] No matter how far sylvaneth are from each other, they are connected by the spirit song.[2a]

Description

The spirit song is not simply a musical harmony; it also encompasses emotion and metaphor. Only the smallest part of the spirit song can be expressed vocally, and often it is not expressed vocally at all but is instead felt as a magical energy coursing through the forest.[2a][2b]

Most non-sylvaneth cannot sense any element of the spirit song except that small part expressed vocally, except in times when the song is particularly intense. In these moments - usually when a large wargrove is assembling - it feels like a strange disquiet in the air, a sense that something momentous is coming. Those non-sylvaneth who can perceive the spirit song in its entirety often feel extreme pressure or pain in its presence.[1b][2b][2c]

The song resounds through every generation of the treefolk, audible to them from their very first moments of cognition through to their deaths.[1b] The notion of being cut off from the spirit song is a terrifying prospect for the sylvaneth, and one of the greatest challenges to the first sylvaneth attempts to settle outside Ghyran in the Age of Myth was that the colonists could only perceive dim echoes of the spirit song in those other realms. As Sylvaneth Enclaves were established and new realmroots planted outside Ghyran, the spirit song spread, but it remains loudest and most widespread in the Realm of Life.[2b][2d]

Usage

Communication

Early in the Age of Myth, the sylvaneth seeded the first Realmroots to carry the spirit-song and allow them to communicate over vast distances.[2b] Even with the damage to the realmroots in the Age of Chaos, the sylvaneth are still able to use them to communicate.[1b] The spirit song swells in power the more sylvaneth gather in an area, and powerful spirits can sing together to boost the range of the song even further.[2d]

The most powerful of the Noble Spirits – the Treelords and Treelord Ancients - can project and receive the song across hundreds of miles or more, but only Alarielle herself can sing across realms.[1d]

Song of War

In order to muster a wargrove, the powerful forest spirit who will lead the army sends out the Song of War, a distinct tune within the spirit song with notes of violence, images of battle, and wordless calls for vengeance. All sylvaneth who hear it know that they have been called to fight; while they are not compelled to answer the call, they generally do so absent a pressing duty that prevents them from joining the muster. Clans respond most readily to the song of their own glade, but nearby clans can and do occasionally join the muster when they hear the call of another glade.[1c][2c]

When a muster is called by a senior member of a clan, the other senior members of the clan often join in the war-song, enhancing it and sending it out further into the wilderness to call more sylvaneth to the muster.[2e]

Each group that joins the wargrove causes the spirit-song to swell, and by the time the wargrove is fully gathered and marching to battle, it is a powerful crescendo of energy that fills the sylvaneth with purpose. Most of the time, non-sylvaneth cannot hear the spirit-song, but a large wargrove on the march can cause sensitive individuals to feel something at the edge of their senses, a disquiet in the forest that they cannot place. In battle, the song can swell even further, becoming both a powerful aid to the sylvaneth to warn each other of danger and coordinate their movements and a terrifying sensation that fills the enemies of the sylvaneth with dread and can even cause their hearts to burst.[2c][2e]

History

Age of Myth

  • The sylvaneth plant realmroots to carry the spirit song to all parts of Ghyryan.[2b]
  • Sylvaneth venturing outside Ghyran discover that the spirit song does not follow them; they can hear only dim echoes and the pieces of the song carried in their heartwood. This notion of being small pieces of harmony in a vast and terrible silence proves too much for many and they retreat back to the Realm of Life; some even go mad or disappear, never to be seen again. Those that persevere plant new realmroots to spread the song in their new homes.[2b]

Age of Chaos

  • Following the Shrouded Season, the strange sylvaneth known as the Outcasts begin to appear. It soon becomes apparent that they can only perceive the darker notes of the spirit song - most notably, the Song of War. They become an object of fear for the sylvaneth; to the treefolk, these twisted, mad creatures are every horrible consequence of being cut off from the spirit song made manifest.[1e]

Age of Sigmar

  • When Alarielle is reborn in her Aspect of War during the Realmgate Wars, the spirit-song resounds with new life and energy throughout the Mortal Realms, heralding rebirth, vengeance, rage and war. From this chorus, the Sylvaneth are filled with the new strength and resolve to begin the War of Life anew. [1b]

Sources

  • 1: Battletome: Sylvaneth (2016)
    • 1a: The Sylvaneth, pg. 4
    • 1b: Enclaves of the Sylvaneth, pg. 12-13
    • 1c: The Song of War, pg. 16-17
    • 1d: Noble Spirits: Treelords and Treelord Ancients, pg. 44-45
    • 1e: The Outcasts, pg. 54-55
  • 2: Battletome: Sylvaneth (2019)
    • 2a: The Sylvaneth, pg. 4-5
    • 2b: A Time of New Dawn, pg. 8-9
    • 2c: The Forest Hosts, pg. 14-15
    • 2d: The Great Cycles, pg. 18-21
    • 2e: Wargroves, pg. 24
Sylvaneth
Units Forest Folk (DryadBranchwraith) • Free Spirits (Arch-RevenantGossamid ArchersKurnoth HunterSpirit of DurthuSpiterider Lancers) • Noble Spirits (BranchwychRevenant SeekersTree-RevenantTreelordTreelord AncientWarsong Revenant) • Outcasts (Spite-Revenant)
Characters ArdanethBramble-MaidenCuthrucuItharyLady of VinesBrachylaenaDollenhalMaesleirOadenwulShaddockFelyndaelHaaldhormWilde KurdwenLharentholNellas the HarvesterRhalaethSternbarkSvarkelbudWythaDrycha HamadrethKelaraUsnielYlthari
Glades DreadwoodGnarlrootHarvestboonHeartwoodIronbarkOakenbrowWinterleaf
Defunct Daereth-HarEiderbractFrondkinHawthornSilverthorn
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