As the Gloriana Forest is so near Magnagora, Brennan has gathered his druids of the Raven Circle and melded with the forest, bringing to bear all the defenses of wood and earth to protect against the evil cloud if it tries to sweep this way. I have contacted the Moon Dance Coven of the Serenwilde and the Lake Wood Coven of Ackleberry, and they too are raising the defenses for their forests.

“You tell me the Grey Moors raised a defense against the Taint?” the High Priestess of the Moon asked me. I nodded and she continued, “Well, good for them. But that also explains why the Taint suddenly surged north. Shallach fell quickly. The orclach there . . . the orclach do not respond to the Taint like the other races. Those that do not turn into the undead become diminished--hateful and foul like others mutated by the Taint--but also smaller and weaker. Thankfully so, I guess. But there were many of them and they poured northwards and invaded the Ackleberry. This army you see now chased them south but not before they kidnapped High Druid Gib Gladheart and many others. We could not follow them into the Taint, of course. Not then. And the Taint continued to press on.”

Tears welled up in her eyes, as she paused and stared off to the north in the direction of where Ackleberry Forest once stood. A lump was lodged in my throat and I could not speak, so I had to pull on her robe to get her to continue.

“What could Ackleberry’s coven and circle do?” she asked to no one. “They had to protect the Great Spirits of Nature that were tied to their forest. Having more Great Spirits become corrupted like Night and Raven--that could not be allowed to happen. The Gloriana Forest of the ethereal realm was Tainted along with the Gloriana here, and even now threatens Faethorn Court. Many fae have already lost their lives in the most terrible manners. The Great Spirits told us of a way to hide our forests deep into the fabric of creation, to cast a veil between what is and what is not. It is a dangerous thing to do, to risk non-existence itself. But there was no choice, not with the Taint moving forward. So Ackleberry Forest sundered itself from reality. We cannot know if they survived or not, but the forest, both here and in the ethereal realm, is no more.”

“There’s no one left?” I whispered, slumping to the ground.

“Just what you see here,” she said, gesturing around us. “Not all went with Ackleberry to . . . wherever they went. The furrikin village of Estelbar remained behind, perhaps you may wish to make your way there. Or you can come with me to Serenwilde where we shall wait.”

“Wait for what?”

“Wait to see whether we should follow Ackleberry. The Nine Seals may break at any time and release Kethuru. Or perhaps he may take control of the Taint again. We must prepare ourselves to leave as Ackleberry has.”

“Destroy Celest? So that’s why Rowena left? That’s why the Emperor was so upset?" I asked, looking around when no one answered "Quickly, we must save who we can! I’m not a great gateweaver, I know, but I can help! I can coordinate gates on an aether channel across from the ethereal realm down to Celest. Where are your gateweavers? High Priestess?”

“You are the only one we rescued,” she said, still not looking at me.

“You mean I was the first one, don’t you?”

“With Celest gone, the last of the Empire will be too. The time for the ‘civilized’ age is at an end and we can go back to the purer time when the forest communes oversaw the healing of the Basin of Life.”

“You could have saved them at any time,” I whispered, realization suddenly dawning as an image of poor Captain Symfale came to my mind. “All those innocent people . . .”

“None are innocent,” she said flatly. “Besides, look! It is too late now.”

Full story is it was created from the taint, it isnt taint any more.

Basic 5 min summary of the situation is:
-Glomdoring say it never has been taint and never will and it isnt taint! Honestly it isnt! Really!
-Celest go Oh yes it is taint! I saw it! Its taint look it was made from taint! Oh and hajamin told me glomdoring was tainted so like yea its tainted!
-Serenwilde go yea its taint and thats bad, its crow and thats bad, its shadows and fae zomg thats bad.

Oh and I agree with Guido that the history is more or less bs when it comes down to Rp.

I certainly disagree. The histories should guide us. Just because Serenwilde has failed to live up to its anti-city beliefs doesn't mean a lot of us don't try to anyway.

I miss Ibaesha.

Ibaesha wasn't THAT anti city. Get Laneth into office and you'll see how anti city someone can be: P

She was a lot more anti-city in private, because she knew she couldn't get away with it in public. She would have gladly banned trade with Celest if she thought there wouldn't have been a huge fit thrown.

Agreed, she didn't let her personal RP interfere with the stability of Guild and Commune, she had a very complex and believable charactor set up, as well as being a very nice player.

I'm sure we all miss Ibby.

And Merloch, for those of you old enough to remember him.

She was a lot more anti-city in private, because she knew she couldn't get away with it in public. She would have gladly banned trade with Celest if she thought there wouldn't have been a huge fit thrown.

The order of what happened to the communes is a little off there. All three prepared the defenses. Gloriana was hit first and was overrun by Taint. Seeing that, Ackleberry disconnected itself to prevent the same thing from happening to them as the Taint was approaching, and Serenwilde prepared to do likewise if needed.
In Rowena's last entry pre-Taint:

It seems a bit odd to blame Serenwilde/Ackleberry because residents of Gloriana (all the centaurs) left Gloriana. Still, if you have reason to dislike the results of what Gloriana became, it's natural to blame others for it.

In 'Memoirs of Lolly Pringle: The High Priestess of the Moon'

I'd just like to point out that this statement is incorrect. *points to sig* The "taint" cannot create anything. A person/place/thing gets warped, changed. Some parts are destroyed to allow other parts to arise and become dominant. Just wanted to point that out...
Oh and I agree with Guido that the history is more or less bs when it comes down to Rp.

What I personally got from the fall of glomdoring was that the cities were not alone in their arrogance, the communes thought that they could stem the tide and that their Greater spirits would save them, which proved false. Seeing that the other two prepared for the worst, for sundering themselves.

The impression I got from rowenas diarys was that she really wasnt expecting to win she was afraid and thought most likely that they would lose. I figured staying to fight was a death or glory, charge of the light brigade kinda thing. They loved the forest so much that instead of running and servering it from the world they stayed to fight for it, Just my impression from the diays.

And Merloch, for those of you old enough to remember him.

bizarre inanimate orgy?