The Ash-Watchers

For centuries, the Ash-Watchers guarded the artifact as it moved between hidden chambers, always attempting to keep it in places where no one would remember its existence. They developed an elaborate culture of observation because direct violence was considered both dangerous and spiritually corrupting. If a trespasser could be frightened away, misled, or made to believe the forest was haunted, that was preferable to killing them. Over generations, guardians followed the artifact when outsiders stole it, leaving behind echoes of their presence in places where their pursuit intersected with intense fear and attention. The first major rupture occurred when a coastal trading empire removed the stone and placed it in a royal treasury. The resulting disappearances forced the guardians to work with neighboring river peoples, establishing the first distant alliance. Centuries later, foreign expeditions began mapping the Green Expanse. The Ash-Watchers disrupted most of them, but Sir Reginald Ashcombe's expedition penetrated the inner forest through a combination of violence, captured guides, and forged routes. Thirty-six entered. Seven returned. Ashcombe carried the artifact to England and built Blackwood Hall around his collection. The watershed moment came when Ashcombe publicly announced that he had found proof of an unknown civilization, while privately commissioning artists to reproduce the fetish. Within weeks, everyone involved in the reproductions began reporting figures outside windows and hearing footsteps in empty rooms. The Ash-Watchers realized the danger was no longer confined to the forest. One guardian, Toma of the Third Ash, followed Ashcombe to England. He arrived too late to prevent the artifact from being hidden beneath the manor, but remained there for thirty years, frightening away intruders and destroying records. He is now the faction's only known living representative outside the Green Expanse.