Treaty of High Order and Wild Roots
The Treaty of High Order and Wild Roots is a diplomatic agreement signed between the Republic of Halta and the Fair Folk in late RY281, which remains in force to this day.
The signatories of the treaty are as follows: For Halta, Chaltra Amritsa (Queen of Halta), Caltia the Eternal (god of coniferous forests and Halta), Oplath Daigono Shar (god of natural flight), Yesryk (god of hawks), Glorious Jade Branch, Whispering Needles, Resilan, Shining Trunk, Tylokan Root Binder, and Steel-Skinned Ubil (Forest Walkers of Halta); for the Fair Folk Marika Ruler of Rivers and Swamps, Sluluru Lord of the Lower Branches, and (later) Obsidian Wave and Plestara of the Gossamer Stockade. Additionally Yseult Queen of the Stone Forest refused to sign the treaty... as a response to this refusal the Haltan divinities insisted that a clause be included that Marika and Sluluru will obliterate Yseult should she break the terms of the treaty.
The treaty, at its most simple, grants the people of Halta control of the treetops and the Fair Folk control of the ground. No Fair Folk may ascend the trees without permission, and when there will do no harm, abiding by the laws and customs of Halta. In return, the Haltans will not directly aid any person who has set foot on the ground, defined to include any of the lowest trunks and branches within 2 yards of the surface... these people are given over to the mercies of the Fae. Nor may Haltans launch attacks upon the Fae who are on the ground while they are in the trees, so a mother whose baby has fallen may not throw a boomerang at the hobgoblin approaching it, but may drop to the forest floor and fight it on the ground, trying to climb back above the 2 yard mark to reach safety before she is siezed and dragged off.
The treaty also promises that Halta will supply the Fair Folk beneath it with a steady stream of sacrifices, persons dropped below to sate the thirsts of the Fae. The treaty does not specify HOW such captives are to be obtained, only that they be sapient, and in the present day Halta fulfills this commitment by sacrificing criminals and captured Linowan.
Officially the territory covered by the treaty is a rough triangle stretching from Lake Sanazala in the southwest, following the River of White Birch in the south and the Blackwater River in the west to end at the Golden Leaf Canal.
The treaty is somewhat controversial among all its adherents. For the Haltans, increasing education and social progress cause a few to look askance at the sacrifice of human beings to soul-eating monsters in exchange for security. For the gods, a diplomatic agreement with the Fair Folk might be considered by some a betrayal of Creation to its enemies. And for the Fae themselves... such chaotic beings often find themselves straining against the limits imposed by such a tool of ordered law. The signatories often face mockery when they deign visit other Fae courts.
