Odd Prophecy

[Diranda]

Since I mentioned I'd post this for everyone to look at and try to figure out, here's the prophecy we all heard after AGM.

Madam Sophia:

Danger comes to those who seek.
A good tree grows in a far corner of the cavern.
A branch rots and falls. Its withered husk takes root.
A malicious tree grows in a far corner of the cavern.
The son of the lost empire must choose the tree.

[Gondar]

Assuming it has any bearing (I've always felt prophecy is one of those things only Yeesha could do as it literally involves closed time loops etc, and wafling by saying "Oh well time isn't constant it might not come to pass" is another way of saying "Well, I dunno, it's a prediction really that has as much chance as any random guess"... but that's how I am...) we can probably assume that considering the talk about 'good tree grows' and 'branch rots' and 'withered husk takes root' we're probably *not* talking literal trees here... instead family trees. Like there's a family that tends to be good, but the 'black sheep' of the family, possibly all but kicked out for something they did, thus the "rots and falls" part... well, "takes root" could imply settling in the cavern? "Malicious tree grows" then implies they start a family? Or simply live after taking root. And they have nasty plans of some sort.
The last part, "son of the lost empire" would imply, what, a D'ni survivor or descendant of survivor? Considering the theory that anyone who hears the Call has D'ni blood at some level, that literally means every male-identifying explorer down there. Not terribly helpful.

But that's my take without info.

Although, I will note the thing about trees and seeds that's come around a bit. Did you end up a seer Calum after playing with crystals in an age now?

[Jules Lavisham]

I have since spoken with Madame Sophia. She's in better health, but it's fair to say the Cavern is not an environment she is at her best in. She's now returned to the surface.

If anyone in the Guilds has any linking books to the surface that connect in or around the Boston, MA area, please let me know. I'd quite like to reconnect with her down the line if I get the chance.

[Gondar]

Ok, I just read Echo's whole thing (my timing was unlucky I guess between mine and its posting) and... the idea of someone kidnapping a kid, or more specifically a kid knowing them.... sounds almost like cultists, maybe even tied to Veovis/Ae'gaeris, the child knew one of them personally as either family or a friend... and was then taken. That would fulfil the 'branch rots', from our said cultist, and takes root... then 'malicious tree' considering how our child might be raised? ....which then possibly implies the son is the malicious tree, or part of, and has to either choose what they were brought up to believe, or not.

Spitballing, still, but feels like they're deeply connected. Again, assuming any of it means anything. I doubt it's more than a lovely thought exercise, never having believed Echo to be more than someone acting a mystic with good connections to the DRC... but then again the bahro are implied to have some crazy powers that Yeesha may have too, so... I honestly don't know in the end. Maybe linking muddles with time.

[Kelsei A. Taylor]

One DAY. One day of absurd surface work and all kinds of Prophecy breaks loose. What even...

[Gondar]

Believe them or not, the nice thing about a prophecy is they take time, and are rarely interpetable before the fact. So that means you can mostly keep it in mind and ponder it, but not have to deal with it. Not to mention Echo deals with the past, stuff that's over and done with more or less. (More or less, considering these two seem connected).
So unless you're now the "son of the lost empire" you don't have to worry about any of it, and treat it as another oddity going on that you can treat as background, like sleepwalking poetry and gnome theft.

[Kelsei A. Taylor]

Oh, I'm well aware. I was just a bit tired after an exhausting day at work to just come onto the forums and see this. Yesterday was... very strange.

[Ereshkigal]

I'm away on the Surface for a bit, with no Linking access... interesting to see that prophets are turning up in D'ni! I'm really not sure about the legitimacy of it all, but at least these two prophets sound as if they believe in it themselves, if nothing else.

I wonder where that D'ni child was,taken. I remember Calum finding evidence of a girl having lived on Naybree after the Fall. I still wonder how these children survived there for centuries without any evidence of hunting or farming. Could a D'ni child have been taken to the Surface? Their long lifespan would likely give hem away... or could the Bahro have rescued some of them?

[Kelsei A. Taylor]

The girl on Naybree was alone, as far as we can tell, and the events described in her journal don't match up to this event from Echo's vision. As for Athsheba, she seems to have survived by foraging from wildlife on the age outside of the Garden itself- access for us which is presently blocked off due to roots growing across the river.

It's possible that where-ever the child from Echo's vision was taken was similarly capable of supporting life.