It's a mess because "fey beings with no concept of morality and we do whatever they say" is not a kind method of government. The simple, canon answer for why the Elementals don't go after them is, as far as I'm aware, "nobody knows, Elementals do what they want". Or, depending on which Gridanian you talk to, possibly "because they come after us instead". Which then leads into why the Gridanians consider them criminals even though they don't actually seem to provoke greenwrath very much.
Probably something along these lines.
We know the Hyur / Elezen are historically nomadic races - I imagine it's probable that the reason why they were forced underground, and then later into the Pact, is because a whole bunch of them all arrived at once, started messing up the ecosystem and building buildings and stuff, and got eaten by trees.
But like... "building buildings"... that's the thing. The Gelmorran people, as we know from their extensive warren, liked to build things with stone and wood. They liked to make permanent structures. The Gridanians of today do the same thing, albiet primarily with wood and glass - point is... it's a bit different than the simple wooden watchtowers and removable tents the Keepers we see reside in, and I'm not convinced this manner of living is a result of poverty.
It's civilisation the elementals seem to object to the strongest. The people we see who live peacefully in the wood without being disturbed by the elementals (Sylphs, too!) tend to be pre-industrial, living side-by-side with animals and utilising a minimum of shelters; the people we see who have to worry about woodsin generally have buildings, governments, economies...
Those things are allowed to exist without being torn apart by angry animals because of the Pact, which involves the agreement that some things will not happen, and other things will go back to the forest, in exchange for the civilisation's existence. But if you aren't building a civilisation to start with... if you aren't stockpiling things and trading them for riches, if you're just hunting what you need to eat like any other predator... if you aren't doing anything that would leave a permanent scar on the wood if you were to be gored by a wild boar tomorrow and never come home...
But then, there's the matter of Gridanians considering these people as criminals. There's no legal distinction between an adventurer who recklessly poaches an animal because they didn't realise doing so could potentially cause a greenwrath, and a Keeper who's lived in the forest since she was born and hunts these animals every day and never had a problem and it's not her fault the Wood Wailers decided to move in.
Because... it's completely possible for stuff to happen like Keepers hunting all of the boars that the Elementals will be happy to allow to die this moon, and then a Gridanian goes out and kills one and suddenly everyone's treesnacks because the amount agreed upon as per the Pact was exceeded, even though "those mortals" don't see themselves as ever having signed up to the Pact. Elementals don't care. Treesnack time.
Therefore, Gridanian law doesn't care either.
Quote:Do they have their own methods of purging Woodsin? Do the Elementals just embrace them as a part of the forest itself?
Probably something along these lines.
We know the Hyur / Elezen are historically nomadic races - I imagine it's probable that the reason why they were forced underground, and then later into the Pact, is because a whole bunch of them all arrived at once, started messing up the ecosystem and building buildings and stuff, and got eaten by trees.
But like... "building buildings"... that's the thing. The Gelmorran people, as we know from their extensive warren, liked to build things with stone and wood. They liked to make permanent structures. The Gridanians of today do the same thing, albiet primarily with wood and glass - point is... it's a bit different than the simple wooden watchtowers and removable tents the Keepers we see reside in, and I'm not convinced this manner of living is a result of poverty.
It's civilisation the elementals seem to object to the strongest. The people we see who live peacefully in the wood without being disturbed by the elementals (Sylphs, too!) tend to be pre-industrial, living side-by-side with animals and utilising a minimum of shelters; the people we see who have to worry about woodsin generally have buildings, governments, economies...
Those things are allowed to exist without being torn apart by angry animals because of the Pact, which involves the agreement that some things will not happen, and other things will go back to the forest, in exchange for the civilisation's existence. But if you aren't building a civilisation to start with... if you aren't stockpiling things and trading them for riches, if you're just hunting what you need to eat like any other predator... if you aren't doing anything that would leave a permanent scar on the wood if you were to be gored by a wild boar tomorrow and never come home...
But then, there's the matter of Gridanians considering these people as criminals. There's no legal distinction between an adventurer who recklessly poaches an animal because they didn't realise doing so could potentially cause a greenwrath, and a Keeper who's lived in the forest since she was born and hunts these animals every day and never had a problem and it's not her fault the Wood Wailers decided to move in.
Because... it's completely possible for stuff to happen like Keepers hunting all of the boars that the Elementals will be happy to allow to die this moon, and then a Gridanian goes out and kills one and suddenly everyone's treesnacks because the amount agreed upon as per the Pact was exceeded, even though "those mortals" don't see themselves as ever having signed up to the Pact. Elementals don't care. Treesnack time.
Therefore, Gridanian law doesn't care either.
![[Image: tUzrT.png]](https://puu.sh/tUzrT.png)
