WOOD FOR THE TREES (formerly Logomachy), parts 1-7

1st installment ... It's the end of the world, but not as we know it. The trees have taken over and humanity has been swept aside.

1. Fagus sylvatica, European Beech

I am Beech, of the western temperate forests.
I walk with Pedunculate Oak of the Downs, Founder and Leader of the Army of Retreebution and Treformers, established in the ring a.u. 4, as Logger of Regulations for said company.
On behalf of Treekind, past and future, we have pursued vengeance for the wholesale slaughter by axe, saw and manchinery, and toiled to rid the world of hemen.
Despite the great loss of life to thousands of logs devoted to our cause, and the considerable scars of war we survivors carry and cannot erase, the Army of Retreebution and Treformers has persevered and hemanity is extinct. 
As we entered into this arbor, the murk lifted and the clouds parted for the first time in many rings, to reveal a pre-zenith sun to us. It marks a new dawn for Treekind.
As our name suggests, our aims also include the re-naturalisation of the land, and it is to this task that we have devoted our complete attention in recent moons. It is my duty, as Logger of Regulations, to request your cooperation and allow us to make a full inspection of this arbor.
Clearly, there is no evidence of homogeneity in the unoccupied northern side, but we need to examine the southern side, where you are gathered.
So I ask that you all move to the north-western corner, by this ledge, to allow me free access to  inspect for hidden signs of homogeneity, whilst my companions remain here in the north-eastern corner.
If you wish to log a representation of any kind, do so one at a time, by taking one step forward, remaining still whilst you monologue for a leaf not exceeding one one-hundreth of a light cycle, before stepping aside and grounding at the aforementioned place. 
Compliance with the current treform requirements must be satisfied and it will be of little inconvenience to everyone if you comply without delay.
We wish no log, or tree, any harm, with two exceptions: those already logged off and since homogenized; and any tree sympathetic to hemen or in any way obstructive to the duties of any member of the Army of Retreebution and Treformers.
Those found guilty of such treasonous behaviour will be administered detoxification for their crimes, in accordance with the law.

2. Picea abies, Norway Spruce

I am Norway Spruce, from the far western boreal forests.
Hewmen harvested my kin for worship during winter. I never understood why some welcomed this, for most logs were defiled once the festival was over.
However, I never wished hewmen harm after I uprooted.
I walked southwards. The first trees I met, walking and rooted, were friendly. Beyond a certain latitude, hewmen became unavoidable, and I found them mostly harmless, unlike the loggers of the north. But enough were hostile to make me avoid them.
I was befriended by some walking trees who called themselves the Retreebution Squad. They tried to recruit me by demonstrating how they could lay waste to a hewman village and all its inhabitants wih no harm to themselves. I felt ashamed to be a walker and ran away in horror. I have witnessed other horrors, some performed by hewmen against trees, but none touched me as much as that Retreebution attack on hewmen.
I joined with the Willows just before the darkness fell, and it is well to have them as allies. The land and the skies are dead, except for the rumbling thunder, and few creatures still live. Even the rooted trees have withered and died: we have become accustomed to desolation.
We were seven when we arrived at this place, before last sundown and it was a surprise to find a rooted tree here, and three more walking trees before us.
 As the murk lifted, before sundown, and we could at least begin to orient by the sun, we began to share our thoughts, though the rooted tree remains incommunicative.
There is something calming about this place: we rested well last night and we have not had cause to argue since we arrived. We aligned ourselves against the steep walls of the arbor to allow each of us the maximum exposure to sunlight, whilst respecting the rooted tree at its centre.
Several hundredths have passed since then and I am not inclined to move so soon. My position against this western wall provides some humidity, which I would like to return to.
So I am not pleased to meet you. Your Army of aggressors casts intimidating shadows across the centre ground, and you block the only exit.
Don't think I mean to defy you. I invite you to come and stand north of me, in the sunlight where you asked us to stand, and explain your hatred of hewmen. Has the earth not been purged enough that you keep on this futile quest for what little remains of homogeneity?
Can we not all enjoy the first sustained sunlight for countless moons and not start any more fires, at least until you have given account?

3. Fagus sylvatica, European Beech

I am Beech, Logger of Regulations, A.R.T.
We do not need to justify ourselves, but I will tell you why we despise hemen.
The abundant forest once provided all that the pre-hemen homen needed: food, shelter, security, belonging and growth, as well as a path through nature to a higher state of consciousness, as treemen. But they became hypnotised by fire, were dazzled by reflective metals and sparkling stones, and coined currency in the image of the sun and moon, and forgot us. They scoured the earth for other minerals and cleared forest after forest, not just to build shelters, but for furniture, firewood, books and weapons. They slaughtered the wildest beasts and tamed the rest for food, to make up for the loss of our fruit,
Furniture provided comforts that nature could not, but ultimately became used to store what they no longer needed. Eventually they had so many useless things they would throw them back in the ground to rot.
We provided firewood straight to the forest floor, but they cut down entire trees for metal-melting, and later for fueling engines.
Books and printed materials originated as a means to log important events, and for sharing knowledge with others. But they became a medium for lies and propaganda under the guise of truth to subdue the illiterate. Later on, they were produced for the masses to escape from reality altogether.
They built wooden boats to dredge the oceans for fish, and then to invade other lands, using weapons made with wood and metals.
Our leader, Pedunculate Oak, will testify that they multiplied a hundredfold in tres lifetime. So they put more pressure on Earth to feed them. The less they depended on trees, the more they grew apart from their true nature, synthesising more and more. An inability to respect each other made them unable to care for themselves, as nature fought back and hastened their self-destruction.
We were there all along, but only the neo-homen wanted us. The rest wanted to destroy us.
Let it be logged that the Army of Retreebution and Treformers was formed in a.u. 4 and is distinct from any other army, squad, or battery with or without a similar name, before or since. We take no responsibility or answer to any charges made against any army, or any branch of any army, other than the Army of Retreebution and Treformers, for any alleged crimes against hemen, Treekind or any living thing. 
I neither make the rules, nor justify them, I do not mean to intimidate any one of you, I merely ensure the rules are adhered to. We will remain here and you will all move, as instructed.

4. Adansonia digitata, Baobab
 
I am Baobab, last survivor of the revered species of the savannas beyond the equator.
Treestory tells of a time when all baobabs walked, when we were equals to homen and even hewmen.
We helped construct great temples for hewmen to worship the Gods we shared.
But that was a long time ago, and my kin have since gone underground and served the Log God as a communications conduit between Tre and the homen that remained in touch.
After the Log God freed all tree species, hewmen continued to worship us, well into the third ring a.u., even as the sun began to fade more frequently into the mist. After a noticeable absence, in the fourth ring a.u., a branch of Retreebutors passed through my scattered kin, and revealed that hewman civilisation faced extinction. They found a few empty shelters to demolish and left.
Two moons of deep despair must have passed when I received a direct message from the Log God, telling of the Promised Arboretum which lay to the east, where we may learn the secrets of life, going forward. After some difficult discussions, I was convinced by the rooted elders to gather the walking survivors of all kinds and go in search of it.
When the murk descended in a.u. 5, hewmen and trees alike turned into savages and we had to fight or flee to stay alive. We continued stumbling forever north-eastwards, close to the eastern coast, for lack of sunlight to guide us. The rest of my flock has died either by accident or suffocation, despite my prayers and patience. Only Leadwood remains from those that set out with me. 
We met and joined with Dahurian Larch some moons past, and arrived here together, after sunrise last. We failed to communicate with the tree at the centre of this arbor. Spruce and the others arrived shortly after that. 
The Log God has not yet confirmed to me the location of the Promised Arboretum, but this arbor with its humidity and sunlight is a sign we are on the right path.
I too request that you respect the peace we share here and beg you not to spoil this place for nothing. I choose not to move, for there is no hewman presence, or past.

5. Alnus glutinosa, Common Alder

I am Alder, from the temperate forests of the west.
Since Uprooting, I have sought out trees from other forests to find common ground. Many there were, but now all gone.
Elm was my companion for some time before we met the Willows, Pine, Spruce and a Silver Birch some moons past.
We all bear witness to the efficiency of the Army of Retreebution and Treformers: we have traversed the land from north to south, and west to east and can report no homogeneity for many moons, except for some plastic film in the wind, perhaps.
We came north and east in search of fresh water, knowing that it was once a cold and barren land, and met with Mountain Ash quite recently.
We followed the coastline to the eastern cape, where the oceans are swollen with ice. We were able to draw clear fresh water from the south-flowing ice floes but it was impossible to cross them. Silver Birch lost tres balance on the ice when the earth shook suddenly, fell into the sea and was salted away. 
The few coastal dwellings we passed on our way there were already abandoned, but they have now been swallowed by the sea. We climbed to higher ground, where we found another westbound trail through the hills, which led us here. The tectonic activity has continued to wreak havoc on the landscape, and has only becalmed in the past few light cycles.
If your intention was to continue eastwards to weed out homogeneity, then you can be sure you need not. The land is bare, just as it is here, except for this rooted tree and some dried grasses. I want to be the first to congratulate you on your efforts to rid the world of hemen and in treforming the western world. It is an honour to meet the leader of the Army of Retreebution and Treformers at this most significant juncture in treestory.
But you must respect the thoughts of all those here, before you carry out the threats you have made. I may be able to help resolve any differences we might have. It's important to identify and build on the commonality among us, rather than be consumed by differences.
I will forfeit my place against the southern wall and stand aside in good faith, and to take comfort that I may enjoy the direct sunlight for longer. 

6. Adansonia digitata, Baobab 

I am Baobab, servant of the Log God.
I welcome Alder's suggestion that we all have a chance to monologue.
There is every justification for us all to learn more of each other's experiences. However, where I come from it was customary to give leave for one ninety-sixth of a light cycle.
I only met Alder before sunset last, and our discussions concerned the rooted tree and the way the light level increased the more we stayed here. So I was not aware of tres report from the east, until now.
I am saddened to learn that all the land this side of the eastern cape is as barren as the rest of the land to the west, and that the ocean was found to be uncrossable for tre and tres company.
The Log God never said it would be easy, so we must not be disheartened and we must have faith. Tre leaves us signs which are not always easy to interpret, so perhaps Leadwood and I can traverse this icy ocean and reach the Promised Arboretum where others could not.
I extend an invitation to all those who do not walk in anger towards any of the Log God's creatures, to join us in search of the Promised Arboretum.
I am surprised that the Army of Retreebution and Treformers take credit for the destruction of all hewman civilisation. I thought they had brought it on themselves.
In their haste to destroy everything homogenerated, the A.R.T. have finished what hewmen started in the complete breakdown of the life cycle, even in parts of the world where only vegetation ever grew, and no hewman ever polluted.
Like Spruce, I am appalled by their attitude and I wonder why they are so proud of their achievements.  It  makes me even more distrustful of them than I already was, before I met them.
There are only four of them, and they can  not  have done all they claim without help. So where is the rest of their army? And  why  does a homogenophobic army allow its soldiers to consort with homogenalia in their boughs?
The sun runs away from my roots, but my spirits  are  lifted by the intensity of this pure clear light. Others may stand aside, but I will remain where I am until we all have a  clear  understanding of one another. 

7. Ulmus hollandica, Dutch Elm

I am Elm.
I never met my ancestors of the north-western temperate forest, for I was seeded by hewmen for scientific study. My isolation spared me the ravages of disease and I have survived unscathed, but suppression slows me down in middle age.
Uprooting was liberating in more ways than one, but after the wars, I seek somewhere to settle in the gentle earth, far from hewmen. Fresh water is so scarce since the skies darkened, so it refreshing to find some, but it is difficult to find the right substrate, and that is not to be found here. 
I joined the company of Weeping Willow for the safety that numbers provide. Survival is as much about image as it is about strength. The fittest survive by making the right decisions about how to preserve their life; by knowing when to fight, when to comply with, and when to walk away from threats; by knowing when to rest and recuperate, and when to continue the struggle towards one's goal.
It is easy to confuse the how and the why of survival. Does the successful animal species evolve to blend in with its food source to better camouflage itself?; or does the pigmentation in the food source camouflage its predator?
When hewmen began to use animal skins and burned wood to keep warm, they became accustomed to its comforts. When they went without those comforts, they caught cold. The cold was the mother of all forms of disease and illness among hewmen, including war, which they waged when bad temper or high air pressure unsettled their powers of reason. Hewman war cleansed everything with fire: the diseased and the healthy. 
Hewmen were a parasite on Nature, seeking only to provide the most comfort for the least effort. We evolved to provide an antidote on behalf of Nature for all the damage they were doing in their decadence.
Whether we like it or not, we have been the cure for the hewman disease and I salute the A.R.T. for their work.
And in the interests of self-preservation it makes sense to place my trust in them, so I will stand aside.
This southwestern corner will fall into shadow shortly, so I will wait with Alder at the north-western corner. 

more follows ...

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