Republic of Chaya

[Flagg]

I'd like to hear some ideas.


What's the deal with the fire trees?


Are they purely natural?


Were they created by some other means?


Is there anything nefarious behind their existence?


Who is involved?


Who benefits?

 

[Persell]

I always figured they were one of those left over creations from the first age.  As for their original use, depends on the ST, but I always figured it was for some occult stuff that isn't used anymore.

 

[Cthulhu_Wakes]

IIRC, it says the trees induce wild passion in people, and I think? murder and all that bad stuff occurs far more frequently. Perhaps, like Hero said, its something left over from the last Age. Perhaps something that a mad Solar or twisted Lunar with some 'wild' ideas made the trees to control a population center that Chaya now rests on? I'm thinking something kinda like the cult of the Wicker Man or the like.


That's how I see it, anyway, a leftover from the last Age.

 

[Sherwood]

What book are they mentioned in?

 

[Flagg]

Both the 1E and 2E core. Maybe others.

 

[Persell]

Actually, doesn't the fire trees only cause that passion in a short time, like one or two weeks out of the year, and the rest of the year the Chayans are very calm, personable people?


If that's so, it could have been a form of population control that had its drawbacks.  It could be like the Two Minutes Hate from 1984, but instead of doing it daily, it comes 1-2 weeks a year.  It could also be like that drug in Serenity - the Solars thought the trees would make the populace more docile, which it does, except for two weeks a year, in which all that repressed emotion and passion must be unleashed.  Thus, the land of Chaya in the First Age could have been an experimental community designed to test the trees, but because of the passions being unleashed, it was deemed a failure.  Before the Solars could have uprooted the trees and find a cure for the addictive qualities, though, the Usurpation happened.  The trees survived and those who settled there didn't know the relevance and became affected by them.

 

[Flyck]

You can find more information on the fire trees in the Oadanel's Codex.  They're mentioned in the minor wonders near the back.  And they only affect people during a specific time in the year (some time during the months of fire).

 

[Lord Kamina]

Also, they don't affect Exalts.


They affect native Chayans more than foreigners and Chayans cannot go by much time without being near them or they go insane.


Now, I think they work sometime between Resplendent and Descending Fire.

 

[Persell]

Actually, doesn't the fire trees only cause that passion in a short time, like one or two weeks out of the year, and the rest of the year the Chayans are very calm, personable people?

It's something like two months while the trees are in bloom, then everything's shiny again until the next year.


The mechanics suggested are to treat outsiders as if having one less WP than usual while in Chaya during firebloom season.   Chayans have no WP whatsoever during this time.  Exalts are treated as outsiders, even if they're native to Chaya.


Depending on the game, Chaya's "curse" for me has either been the result of a First Age joint Dragon-King/Twilight experiment, a very long-lasting curse laid down by Sidereal astrology on the region and natives, or the cyclic actions of one of the gods of Chaya, usually one with renegade leanings.

 

[The Matt]

In my game they were a first age experiment into the nature of the great curse. It was fairly secret, and not much at all was known about the curse, but the fact that to get even close to (what in my game is like) a terrestrial limit break the creator of the trees had to incorporate some exotic labrynthy material into the trees. Which was a glowing arrow pointing at the origin of the curse.


Also, during the height of the madness inspired by the trees, (mid Fire IIRC) the tree's creator's manse reappears from elsewhere. It's outside of fate and is what produced the special nutrients and fertilizers necessary to grow the trees. The citizen's who wander into it are killed by its defenses, and the rest don't find a building that isn't usually there to be the oddest thing that happens to them that month.


As far as who benefits, no one anymore. The experiment is long over and the madness, although comforting to those who still live near the trees, isn't serving any purpose except to keep the manse hidden.