Sharptooth Forest is a temperate primeval broad-leaved forest located southeast of Baldur's Gate and adjacent to the south bank of the Chongsa River.
Its area is quite large, almost four times the size of the Cloak Forest nearest Baldur's Gate, and there are no complex hills or mountains around it, just endless oaks, beech, red pine, birch, etc. growing on the great plains.
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Together with the Viper Forest and the Riparian Forest, it has become the three major forests in the West Heartland region.
Except for various monsters, dragons, beasts, bandits and three Druid orders belonging to different factions, there are almost no traces of civilization, not even the barbarian tribes common in the North.
For a long time, no matter whether they were human lords, woodcutters, hunters and other professions living nearby, they did not dare to approach the Sharptooth Forest easily.
Because beasts, monsters and dragons may not kill them, but the extreme environmentalist druids and rangers will definitely kill everyone who dares to destroy the so-called "nature".
Even civilians who dare to build villages and cultivate farmland on the outskirts of this area will be massacred mercilessly.
Counting over hundreds of years, at least tens of thousands of ordinary people died at the hands of the three Druid Orders, and countless villages, towns and farms were destroyed.
Over time, people living on this land have reached a consensus that they should never go near the Sharp Tooth Forest, otherwise the whole family, old and young, will die without a burial place.
Although Baldur's Gate and other powerful towns had organized armies to launch an encirclement and suppression campaign against these extreme Druid sects, they all failed in the end without exception.
Relying on the understanding and control of the forest, the druids and their tree spirits, beasts and plant allies can easily annihilate the invading enemies deep in the forest.
The cities and towns that suffered heavy losses realized that fighting a group of druids in the forest was simply seeking death, so they gave up their original plans and allowed these guys to control the Sharptooth Forest and the surrounding land, while acquiescing to the other party's actions there.
Exercise your own rights and rules within the region.
But now, with Zuo Si's strong rise, all the forests, mountains, swamps and wilderness on the west coast of Faerûn from south of the Wan Ting River have been forcibly brought under his control.
As for those forces that occupied mountains or forests and formed de facto separatist regimes, they were basically either swallowed up and destroyed by the huge monster army controlled by the purgatory red dragon Wilmes and the dragons under her command, or they actively bowed their heads and accepted the incorporation and transformation.
Especially among them, the Druid sect, which represents the power of nature, almost every one of them has received a visit from Nimidonna, the attendant of nature.
Some of the Druid groups who were unwilling to listen to the advice and change their beliefs and still resisted were all massacred mercilessly;
Another group of Druids who were also unwilling to change their beliefs but did not choose to resist violently were expelled from the empire's rule.
However, in addition to these two waves of people, there is another one who chooses to change their faith and become a believer in the goddess of poison and disease.
To be precise, it is another new aspect that Talona is establishing - the goddess of natural degradation and circulation of all things.
Since obtaining the priesthood of spores, she has obtained the priesthood of fungi through continuous evolution and understanding. At the same time, she has obtained the priesthood of microorganisms by merging fungi, bacteria and viruses, from which she has evolved the birth and death of life, as well as the degradation and degradation of all things.
The concept of recycling.
This concept directly breaks the so-called integrated balance theory of "nature" by Silvanus, the father of the oak tree, and opens up a new understanding of nature.
In her theory, the forests, mountains, wilderness and swamps that Silvanus admires are just the most insignificant part of the great nature, and there is no need to waste time and energy on protecting them.
What should really protect these natural resources should be the intelligent creatures themselves that create civilization.
Because if they unscrupulously carry out large-scale damage to the surrounding natural environment, it will inevitably trigger a series of catastrophic consequences such as extreme climate change, soil erosion, etc.
At that time, the entire civilization will decline or even perish due to this.
After the demise of civilization, that land will no longer have sustained man-made destruction. It will slowly recover after thousands, tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of years.
From the perspective of the long evolution of nature and life, this is just a blink of an eye.
After all, all of this happens inside the planet Toril, and matter and energy are just degraded and recycled round after round inside the planet.
There is no doubt that Talona's new teachings have allowed her to successfully get rid of the evil image of the past and completely become a neutral god.
Not only that, she is also gradually getting rid of her dependence on mortal faith, and turning towards a more magnificent natural god.
If you succeed in the end, you can integrate into and become part of the birth, death, degradation and cycle of life on the planet Toril.
Even if there are no mortal believers, as long as this cycle continues, Talona can still maintain powerful divine power, just like the storm god Talos.
But right now, her grand blueprint still lacks the last piece of the puzzle, which is the death priesthood of Baal, the late god of murder.
At this moment, the incarnation of the goddess is looking condescendingly at the group of druids who are performing rituals in the Sharptooth Forest below.
I saw a man who looked about forty years old holding up a dead and rotting animal carcass, mumbling something, and then placed it on the altar.
Soon, under the influence of divine magic, a large number of microorganisms in his body decomposed rapidly, and the body completely disappeared in less than a minute and merged into the deep pit under the altar.
The weeds, leaves, straw, wheat husks, rotten wood, and animal and human excrement accumulated in the deep pits are all completely fermented in this process, turning into perfect materials that can greatly increase the fertility of the land.
Nutrient.
When the other druids, rangers and farmers from nearby villages saw this, they immediately knelt on the ground and loudly chanted hymns, praising the greatness of the goddess of natural degradation and the cycle of all things.
Because these fertilizers produced through unique magic not only prove the theory of natural degradation and recycling of all things, but also allow crops in the farmland to achieve an unprecedented bumper harvest in the autumn.
People are always particularly sensitive to things that are closely related to their own vital interests.
For a group of farmers who make a living by farming, there is nothing more important than increasing land output.
Therefore, when Talona can grant the priests and druids who believe in her the magic of "degradation" and "fertilizer production", she will naturally be able to work in areas where the Church of the Earth Mother Goddess Changdea has a weak presence or does not exist at all.
Winning the admiration of millions of peasant families.
After all, the effects of fermented fertilizers can be felt by everyone.
What's more, the West Coast Empire is frantically building irrigation projects and farms in the West Hartland area, and will completely turn the great plains in the green wilderness area into a huge granary.
Feeling the increase in divine power brought to her by more and more mortal believers, the goddess, who came in the form of a black bird, turned to ask the natural god attendant standing next to her: "What do you think the origin of mortals' faith in gods is?"
From what?
Is it the kind of exchange of interests that South thinks?
Or is it based on their narrow understanding of the world and even the universe?
Or the awe, fear and worship of a powerful existence that you cannot understand?"
Nimedona lowered her head and pondered for a moment, then quickly shook her head and replied: "Sorry, noble goddess, I don't know.
Because based on my recent observations, I found that the reasons why mortals have faith are often very complicated.
The proportion of interests that play a role is often higher.
If joining a certain church and believing in a certain god can bring immediate benefits, then the vast majority of mortals who are not so determined will immediately change their beliefs.
For example, the farmers you see now, many of them previously believed in Lathander, the Lord of the Dawn, and Heim, the God of Guards.
Because the churches of these two gods once dominated the order in this area and protected the villages from evil forces and wild beasts free of charge.
But now, with the father's empire replacing the former and establishing a new order, people no longer need the protection of the church's power and begin to pursue a wealthy life and more material and spiritual enjoyment. Naturally, they begin to believe that they can create more land and property.
You who produce fertilizer.
Only when land output increases will farmers' incomes increase and they can earn money to purchase a wide range of goods and services.
This attitude changed so quickly that the churches of the Lord of the Morning and the God of Guard lost a large number of believers before they had time to react.
Perhaps my father has seen through this, so he has specially formulated a series of plans to help you expand your influence and reshape new doctrines.
After all, mortal faith is simply a kind of belief based on subjective consciousness.
And allowing them to gain benefits from their faith will naturally strengthen this trust and eventually become more and more pious little by little."
"You're right.
Dear Soth showed me how fragile and fickle mortal faith can be.
He also spent a lot of time paving the way for me to maintain strong divine power without relying on mortal faith.
In this world, if you don’t want to decline and die like the ancient sun god Amaunata because she was suddenly abandoned by mortal believers, the best way is to become part of the rules.
For example, the Goddess of Magic who embodies the magic network, the God of Death who symbolizes the end of life, the Goddess of Night who represents night, darkness, and secrets, and the will formed by the planet under our feet - the Mother Earth, etc.<
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The common feature of these gods is that their vocation itself is part of the objective operating laws of the world.
Therefore, regardless of whether mortals believe in it or not, they will always be a member of the powerful divine power."
When saying these words, Talona, ​​who maintained her black bird form, had a hint of emotion in her tone.
Once upon a time, like other gods, she believed that if she wanted to become powerful, she must constantly expand her faith, make those mortals fear, awe and fear her, and then obediently offer everything.
But now, with the improvement of her horizons and her deep understanding of various philosophical thoughts, she finally understands what a huge mistake she made before.
In other words, his spirit was constantly influenced by those believers who were full of malice and greed in their hearts, and he completely turned into a manic, irritable, and petty-minded crazy evil god.
However, with the arrival of Zuo Si and the establishment of the new sect, a large number of believers who tend to be neutral and kind have once again pulled the goddess back from the evil camp.
To be continued...