Pacific Northwest Coast traditions
Hurt/Subdue-4, Burn-3, Appease-3, Banish-3

A spirit bound to an ancient cedar, embodying the tree’s sacred role as shelter, healer, and axis of community. It blesses the respectful and curses the careless, its will expressed through storm, silence, and ancestral presence.

• Spirit of the “Tree of Life” (Western red cedar)
• Embodiment of shelter, healing, and transformation
• Manifests through carved figures, poles, or boughs
• Blesses with protection, curses with disorientation or illness
• Bound to the continued thriving of its cedar

• Spread cedar smoke or fragrance, gaining Calmed-2 status.
• Rustle branches without wind, creating the Ancestral Presence story tag.
• Project visions of ancestors, gaining Awe-Struck-2 status.

• Inflict cedar’s wrath on those who desecrate: apply Weakened-3.
• Call storm and silence, creating the Forest Hush story tag.
• Strike intruders with falling limbs, inflicting Wounded-2.

• Blessing of Cedar: Ritual offerings may grant PCs Protected-2 or create the Ancestral Guidance story tag.
• Rooted Threshold: Cannot be moved beyond the grove; while near its cedar, Cedar Guardian gains Empowered-2.
• Desecration Curse: Harming the cedar marks the offender with Cursed-3 until appeased by ritual.

• Escalation: Subtle rustling and visions → hush and awe in the forest → curses of weakness and disorientation → storms and ancestral wrath.
• Tactics: Prefers to unsettle and disorient, letting the forest itself act as its weapon. Punishes disrespect with illness or misfortune.
• Counters: Cedar offerings or respectful rituals can appease it. Burning or felling the cedar may sever its bond but releases ancestral rage.

• Look: Towering cedar, sometimes with shifting faces in its bark or carved figures that stir when unobserved.
• Tell: The smell of cedar smoke, sudden silence in the grove, and branches moving against still air.