It will likely be needle levels. At 1k, you get instakilled.

Realize I'm joining this discussion late, but anyway...

I always assumed that dream about the big crater in the forest and sobbing furrikin and somber tae'dae, was a hint about what has actually happened Ackleberry. We don't know exactly what it was that could have caused the crater, though I assumed it was just the ripping from the spacetime, or losing their connection to the Ethereal Plane causing the Great Honeysap to wither or something. Though don't you get honeysap wood from the River Daughter? Hrm, maybe it will be Ackleberry's return that causes it...

Anyway, in my view that would also allow them to lose the 'snuggler' or 'carebear' RP stereotypes. Yes, they may come back with the 'Glade of Flowers' or the 'Forest of Hugs' or whatever was on the map in that 'Ask Estarra' clip but they could be bitter and angry at having to raise a new Honeysap and blame the rest of the Basin for bringing them back into the conflict or something along those lines.

The dream in question:


Isn't speculation great!

Quick edit: bah, ugly quote

Actually, I always presumed that was what happened to Ackleberry on Prime. The forest -itself- was still there, but the essence of the forest and all of the people who were inside it at the time, along with the Nexus tree, vanished. Probably wrong, but still.

As a general note, Unless I was doin' it rong, you don't get bark for the quest, but the tae'dae and furrikin you bring along do. You just get a nifty prophesy.

You can beg from them to get the wood, though!

There is also a rift to Ethereal in Prime Ackleberry that might be where the Nexus tree once stood, but the placement of the opposite end of the rift on Ethereal doesn't work into Faethorn's symmetry. And I believe Ackleberry took themselves out of spacetime almost in the same way that Hallifax and Gaudiguch were lost, which means Ackleberry could come back in the same way, although I'm sure Estarra is a little more creative than that.
As cool as it would be to see a bunch of bears and squirrels going around kicking ass, you forget that Bollikin abd Tae were some of the more pacifistic Gods. In the book of Tae, He mentions that He and His bears go on raids to steal honey from bees. That is most likely the single most aggressive thing Tae has ever done, albeit adorable. If anything, all your snugglers will wind up going to Ackleberry, and you can be happy and militiant in your own orgs.


And I'll just put it out there.

That looks very dirty the first time you read it. :3

Tolborolla isn't Prime Ackleberry, just nearby.

Times change. Ackleberry has gone through pretty severe trauma, and mortals must adapt even if the gods they sharded from did not. Estarra isn't stupid enough to throw in a pacifist, snuggly org.

I'm hoping Ackleberry is kind of swamp-like after all the years, with a bit of tribal hierarchy and ferality bred into the inhabitants, slightly menacing without being death-shadow-crazy-sacrifice like Glomdoring. Extolling the harshness of Nature without passing judgement on Good or Evil. That's just my pipe dream though.

This could have been and should have been Serenwilde. It didn't happen, though, and once Glomdoring cornered the "dark" market, we were somewhat blocked from ever being true neutral like that.

Put a great focus on the concept of the harshness of the cycle of nature, natural disasters, and natural processes would be my dream for a commune/forest council. A commune that believes themselves the natural arbiters or aide of those processes, if you will. They may see a place in the world and the typical going-ons of nature for Serenwilde or Glomdoring, but look down on them for some reason.

Neither of the communes truly focus on the purity of nature. Each is more focused on the whims of their guardian spirits. Mysticism and new growth for Serenwilde, Crow and Night's ulterior motives and somewhat sophisticated ritualism for Glomdoring. At least in my experience. My dream for Ackleberry would be more a preservation of the balance mixed with being just a spoke on the wheel of life rather than separated arbiters. My ideal Ackleberry would view predation and protection in equal measure, but reject intense feelings of "Kill those who have corrupted the fae" or "ALL GLORY TO THE WYRD" in favor of survivalism and fierce territorial feelings. A bit xenophobic, and extremely lax concerning justice when outsiders are involved, but extremely strict and ruled by tribal custom in situations where members are solely concerned. Sister Lake gives life to her her own and her flow gives us purpose, and Brother Bear deals with intruders.

Estarra, if this happens I will buy so many credits from you. Like, enough to omnitrans after my immediate resulting class change to Wiccan, and then enough to buy a cameo or some other high priced artie, at least.

Jojobo seems to fit the picture of 'harshness of Nature' etc etc far more than Ackleberry. I mean, just look at Estelbar and Tolborolla. They're filled with adorable creatures and plants and animals. The worst thing about the Lake is the sick animals in the cave. But they could have been relying on the Honeysap or one of the Ackleberry Spirits.
EDIT: Or, has Estarra already got a set-up for the Healing collegium quest? Lake says fix the sick adorable Lake animals, hmm?

I'd certainly be unhappy if the Tae and Bollikin spirit of the furrikin and tae'dae was changed too much, and the present Tolborollans speak to their relatives through Daughter of the River, right? There's very little reason to turn Sister Lake mean. (Again; Lake, not Seething Bog of Torment.)

The thing is, every forest org is going to represent "the harshness of nature" because to a great extent it's the only thing people come up with other than "forest of snugglies." You're going to need more nuance than that to actually separate the Jojobo and Ackleberry out.

I'm pretty sure Ackleberry will end up very community-minded. I wouldn't be surprised if Ackleberry would end up an active peacemonger, nor would I be surprised if it ended up the enemy of all. Those aren't mutually exclusive. Especially in Lusternia. In the end though, take a look at Estelbar and Tolborolla and Lolly in the histories, and you'll already have three aspects of Ackleberry.

Yeah, when I think of Ackleberry, I don't think "Bloodthirsty warrior."

I think "Hard worker."

If I were to use a Harry Potter analogy (cause, I love to do so!), then Acklebrry is going to be the Hufflepuff House. That doesn't mean they have to be pushovers or snuggle bunnies. After all, Cedric Diggory was the real Tri-Wizard Champ and would have won easily if it weren't being gamed in Harry's favor and he was from Hufflepuff. It just means that they're going to be, like Kiradawea said, community minded. Hard workers. Resourceful. Lolly didn't open a can of whoop ass as soon as the rest of the PCH went evil in order to escape. No, he bided his time and waited for his chance. Then, surviving on sheer, steadfast determination, he made it to safety.

Maybe it's not as sexy as 'feral, bloodthirsty nature' but I think it's more realistic. And honestly, more interesting.

I feel like my post has been misinterpreted... I'm not saying a huge warrior culture at all. The proposed Ackleberry is supposed to come off more as a commune that is relatively peaceful and friendly within itself, but distrustful of outside influences to the point of actively discouraging visitors. This seems to fit their aversion to the taint and Glomdoring and the cities as well due to Auseklis' influence, in addition to whatever betrayal they suffered at Serenwilde's hands. Actively going to war would actually be somewhat frowned upon as disturbing the hard-earned peace of the forest and inviting enemies near the Honeysap. That particular niche, I feel, has not been explored, as whenever I've visited another nexus there has usually been a few outsiders hanging around as well. It also fits the Ackleberry's status as something of a haven from the taint and leaves room for some snugglers as well as the harsher RP stereotypes. Just my thoughts on the matter.

Edit: I know I might be tailoring this to my specific RP, but it's my dream and my bribe Think Seminole/Lakota Sioux Indian mentality, but a tad less proactive in attacking their enemies.

Anyone else excited about the event they'll use to reveal the communes? I'd imagine it'd be someone like, Sun wakes up and goes on a rampage, Jojobo wicca come out and try to recruit people to help them restrain him (maybe he's so powerful, even they would suffer from his rampage). At the same time, some old old woman turns out to know the secret to calling back Ackleberry, so that Lake can arrive to cool him down.

If the event happens something like that, I imagine the themes used for the communes, or at least the respective wiccan guilds, would "power, and self-restraint" for Jojobo, and "protection of those you care about" for Ackleberry, or something like that.

You forget. Estelbar was the village which invented the peace rite that the villagers use to make their revolts peaced, and then shared it with everyone, and when the Rikenfriez village opened, while everyone else wanted to use, kill, enslave or otherwise be horrific towards the Tae'Dae kids, Trundle actually took care of the cub she found. And the furrikin race is the most diverse race of all the shards in the basin, even more than viscanti. Xenophobia doesn't suit them. Especially since, in the histories, they even had Lobos and Aslaran helping to protect Ackle.

And Ackle will return when Ackle decides to return. The Tolborolla quest heavily implies that the forest is still very much alive. Just elsewhere altogether. They could still find themselves compelled to return if Sun needs another smackdown however.

And it still won't be snuggly, even if it was empathic. Some of the greatest peace-fighters of modern times were anything but "snuggly".

This here makes sense about ackle.

I know some of you would want it to be all "hardcore" and "our claws shed blood ya hear!" but really it wont be . I know im bursting your bubbles here but you have to come to understand that Ackle is just not about that. Though one thing to remember was how the Tae'dae god (forgot his name) would always speak about how mighty the bears are and how none can be their equal, so yeah you can probably through in that sort of patronizing effect at the outsiders.

Also concerning the event, I would think the sun wiccans would be more trying to assist their great spirit to do his task, which I would think would be to capture Mother Night for his "naughty" purposes . Probably they would be like "FATHER SUN YEARNS FOR HIS MISTRESS, AND SO SHALL HE HAVE HER!!!". Now since Mother Lake is all protective of the other spirits, she will come back and it will be a mad fight as she pushes him back and night runs off while he screams her name (yeah I know, dramatic ).

So as a final point I guess you could say Ackle can be more about "heroics" and "number one" then about "creepy swamp lands" heh.