digitaldatacenter | The Forest Village

The Forest Village

[ Now that the group is free, they can explore the forest village to gather info and supplies before heading out. Eric is going to be training in smithing with some local digimon.

The entire village is nestled beneath the trees, hidden in its boughs. A giant tree-turned-castle is in the center, with the smithing near the eastern river. An open-air market exists beneath the tree, around its base, where things both familiar and foreign are sold and traded. Clothes are scarce, although there's an Archnemon who works as a seamstress if they can find her.

Most shops are in the literal tree houses, though, especially the more specialized ones. There's cafes and an inn and the library that NeoDevimon works at. If it exists in a town, it's here somewhere, you just have to find it. Everyone largely seems to be chill, but there's definitely the sense that things are tense beneath the surface. ]

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[ NeoDevimon is back at the library, his guard duty shift over. It makes sense why he works here, some of these shelves are amazingly tall. But he's here. There's a few obvious children reading in the corner. ]

Can I help you?

[Lotor gives a small, respectful bow, which Dorumon blinks and half-mimics, hindered by their determination to keep the ball in the air.]

I don't mean to impose - I was just wanting to learn more about this world and your people. After all, I doubt I'd be that much help wandering in blind.

[Nope nope not completely curious about the new world, it's business, no he hasn't adjusted yet to the idea of what's "okay" here.]

I can tell you as much as I know. Where would you like to star?

[ This seems to be his area, as he seems much more relaxed talking about these kinds of things. While they talk, he seeks out a map, by the way. ]

[Lotor is following along, Dorumon tagging behind. Honestly the impressive part is that the "keep ball in the air" game hasn't knocked anything over yet.]

[It is also taking Lotor a minute to ask as he's mostly covering the immediate urge to somehow ask everything at once.]

This realm - is it a planet or some sort of pocket dimension? How far back does your history go?

That's... Hard to explain. I suppose you could say we've existed as long as data has, but that's not quite true. As for if we're a planet, that is also... Complicated. The Cityscape has a far bigger library, and there's rumored to be somewhere that contains a volume for every age of rule. I've only been around in the Nine Lords era. It wasn't always the specific Nine that currently rule, of course, and Our Lady is the youngest of them, but they've ruled for thousands of cycles at this point.

[ Cycles, not years, because Digital World. ]

[Listen, the universe he's from has a set of generic-ish time scales not tied to planetary solar/etc. cycles, he's not going to question the Digital World's time scale yet.]

The Nine Lords? How many ages of rule are recorded? [He's trying not to ask All The Things All At Once! ~~Credit the people who actually raised him other than the cat~~]

Our Lady Mastemon is Lord of the Forest.

[ Ah. He's found a map (which I need to draw but well) which he will lay out on a table. It then changes into a 3D model. Various biomes are just. Side-by-side, some in nonsensical ways. ]

Ages of rule would be... More like the Nine Lords, then the system before them, and the system before that... I don't know much about that. It's a very long time ago. The Nine Lords have been very stable as a governing system, because to be a Lord one must care for their area and be willing to lead the charge to defend it. They must also be a Mega-level, the oldest among us.

[ Here, some circles with images in them will pop up over each area. ]

...I can give you basic information on all of them if you'd like?

[Lotor is quietly taking note of the nonsensically placed biomes, and adding it to the list of Questions.] By all means!

[ The nine areas are the Forest, the Desert, the Snowfields, the Ocean, the Grasslands, the Labaplains, the Cityscape, the Mountains and the Marshes. ]

Pick who you'd like to hear about first.

[Dorumon finally catches the ball in their mouth and flops down dropping the ball and emptying the bag with the sweet bun straight into their mouth. It's hard to say if they're paying attention or just acting like it in the time it takes to eat.]

I suppose start with where we are and the local history. [Seriously NeoDevimon could just keep going after that and Lotor would not complain.]

Our Lady Mastemon is the youngest of the Nine Lords, both in terms of rule and actual age. She's... I guess you could say artificially a Mega? Because Angewomon and LadyDevimon both fuse to become her out of their love for each other, and those two are merely Ultimates, they qualify on a technicality. But she is very powerful, given the Forests have been impenetrable by our enemy. She's ruled for about three hundred cycles now.

[ He clicks on her profile and brings her up. ]

Her predecessor was Minervamon, but she was ended in a scuffle with the leader of the Grasslands, DinoTigermon, when a criminal from her lands sought refuge here. Minervamon sought to pass her own judgement, but DinoTigermon would have none of it given the crime was harming children. We were without a ruler, then for a span of about fifty cycles.

The Forest is a largely peaceful, and we keep to ourselves. There are trade towns along the border, so they're the ones who interact with the Desert and Snowfields to trade resources. We provide a lot of the agriculture for the areas that don't have much in the way of food.

If only some civilizations where I come from had that enlightened of a basic standard. [It's...mostly under his breath and an aside, but he's not trying very hard.]

That would make this an important territory to keep protected, particularly in a time of crisis - not much can be done without food.

[After finishing the roll, Dorumon yawns and curls up, tail half over their head, to nap through the history discussion, and Lotor does have an odd conflicted moment.]

Might I ask about how your people age and what constitutes a child?

Ah. Yes, I suppose that is confusing. For equivalents, there's the youngest, which are like your infants--those are called Fresh. The ones who were hurt are toddlers, the next level up which is In-Training. Then you have children like Dorumon, who's a Rookie. After that, you have teenagers to young adults at Champion. Then you have full grown adults in Ultimates, like me. And finally, Megas are just those who are very old or have fused into that. Even if you're ancient, you won't necessarily become a Mega.

[Lotor has a pause, glancing down at Dorumon.] Are the - rookies prepared to go on this sort of campaign?

[He's clearly got misgivings and is ... uncomfortable, both about the idea and about asking - that is the tentative moment of someone who's used to that kind of question being dangerous territory to poke.]

[It's not that Galra don't sometimes have some dangerous rites of passage or expectations, it's just that there's a difference between rites of passage and 'Go on some journey to fight an unknown enemy that threatens the world', and you know, he has a Conflicted relationship with Galran culture anyway.]

...We are built to fight. To tear each other apart with tooth and claw and magic. That we largely choose peace... Isn't that better?

[ His way of saying yeah, the kids will be fine. ]

[It doesn't entirely help, but then, he also hasn't seen Dorumon barf up cannon balls yet, just haul him off to get toys and snacks, and currently curled up to nap.] It's... something I'd rather not pull someone young away from.

War will find these children, no matter how you try to shield them. That is simply the truth of War. They are all very capable, and Our Lady's shields will not last for eternity. As we are, we've few adults left that aren't simple merchants.

[It's not something he's happy with, but it's not logic he can really argue with, either, as much as he'd clearly like to.]

....Which area has been the hardest hit by this?

[He'll get back to being curious about the local civilization, but right now? Focusing on the tactical situation to try to solve it with the least amount of 'putting kids in the line of fire' is a way higher priority.]

...That depends on what you mean. The Lavafields are currently mostly converted into the strange glass, while other areas are seeing higher crime rates from fear. Nowhere but the forests are safe, and that barrier will soon shatter.

[Yep, it's a mess. He's rubbing the bridge of his nose and then resting his hands on the table the map is on.]

The fear won't be solved until there is some kind of visible progress against the problem. Were the Lavafields the first territory it appeared in? Has there been a pattern to its corruption? Has anyone been able to study the conversion?

[ War will find these children, no matter how you try to shield them.

This statement, makes Lelouch, who has been trying to study whatever he can get his hands on in this place, tense somewhat. He's been getting Lucemon's help to reach the higher shelves (wings, after all) and currently he's been working with her to try to learn as much as he can, but...

It seems even in a weird fantastical setting, he can't escape this bitter truth. When he speaks, the amount of tired but resolute focus in his voice is palpable. This is a teen who has seen much bloodshed and expects to see more. ]

... Adding to that, your battle strategies seem lacking, from where I'm standing. You had enough power and intelligence to bring in outside help in your desperation, but why wait so long to do it in the first place?

We didn't want to put human children, who are not born for battle like we are, to fight our war. But no matter what we seem to throw at this threat, well... Many of our soldiers sent to aid other Areas simply haven't come back.

[ ...They've been fighting, but it just. Hasn't been successful, in other words. ]

We don't know where this virus came from, or why it's turning the world to glass. Simply that it is, and that it infects things similar to what you call cordyceps. No one who's lived to tell about it has seen the source of the infection. You're our last ditch effort, as it were.

[Lotor raises an eyebrow at Lelouch but is keeping his mouth shut for the moment.] So essentially, it's converting your own people against you? [He's taking a moment, hand half over his mouth thinking.] How susceptible will our partners be, and is there a region that would have some kind of facility that could study it if we were able to safely contain a piece to research a countermeasure?

... If we're going to fight this, we need to use strategy. I agree.

[ He shakes his head, sighing. ]

But we may not have the time needed to study it. And if they have this level of knowledge about basic subjects, I can assume some among them may have already tried.

You mentioned no one returned. I assume all attempts to study the situation have failed because of that? Are there any among you who might be counted as weapons experts, or scientists?

Not in the Forest. While we have guards, we're mostly peaceful folks. Farmers.

[ He'll change the map over to the Cityscape. ]

Many scientists would be here.

[ And then he'll bring up their Lord, BanchoLeomon. ]

...BanchoLeomon is a good man. I'm sure he'd help you, if you need it. Weapons are primarily from the Mountains and Desert, where they can mine precious metals.

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