"Don't approach fires at night, that's the first thing they tell you going into the Summer Forests. Sure, there's a chance it's a friend, roasting fresh venison and happy to share meat and salt and the warmth of their flame. But if it isn't, chances are it's one of the blighted ones. They set fires seems like every chance they get. Sometimes they'll get whole tracts of woodland up in smoke. The fire doesn't bother them, you see, but it'll burn you and I to a crisp just as quick. So stay on the path, and don't go nosying about no fires after dark. It's not worth the risk."

In the third Cycle , there came to be a people amongst the forests of the world, who would live beneath the trees in harmony with bird and bug and bark. These people were Kaldine. Diminuitive in stature, broad of chest but light of foot, the Kaldine were stewards of those forests, and as they built up their hidden realms made sure to care for each creature they found, nurturing the natural things of the world with a wonderment and respect. They knew as well as anyone that every living thing had sprung from Azlyð just as they had, and that there were oaks in the forests that had seen more winters than their people. They raised an idyllic vision of coexistence with all around them for their time. But as surely as the risen sun must set, the cycle of Azlyð turned against the Kaldine.

It was slow to begin, a changing perspective arising within certain elements of the Kaldine's leadership. Hripuðr Firestarter championed this new way of thinking, telling all who'd hear him how the forest grows back stronger after each wildfire, the ash and mulch of the dead nourishing the new growth. The philosophy caught, and burned through Kaldine ideologies like the fires it venerated. It was not long until the teams that had once been sent out to ensure that no plant grew too aggressively and no sickness spread too thick amongst a herd of deer or parliament of owls were repurposed, rearmed with torches and jars of pitch. Many died in the fires they fostered. Others did not, but emerged, skin burnt black and glowing like embers, all semblance of rationality burnt away and replaced by the desire simply to start fires, and watch as the forest goes up in smoke.

<aside> 🖼️ Cover image: https://a-40k-author.tumblr.com/post/185386417386/chaos-dwarf-sketches-from-various-sourcebooks [Accessed 07/06/2021]

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<aside> 📝 Page author: Joe Barraclough

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