Narcissus

Tall Tales of the Elders
There’s a plague in the nesting grounds. Will it hurt the eggs? Is it more dangerous to move the eggs?

It is said that while Narcissus’ clutch lay that the nests and all the plants around them began to die off. They chose not to move the eggs until they were stronger. The wilting followed—faster this time, only now the eggs would hatch soon, and the parents waited.

A hatching in the Gladeskeeper’s land is a happy event: Life is celebrated every day, and new life doubly so. The hatchlings seemed strong, and Narcissus bore the green of the land and the bright yellows of the flowers. A hatchling with camouflage was a proper sign of good fortune. But each growth spurt brought trouble.

There is no plague. Why do the plants wilt around this family?
I think that boy is cursed.

It is said that Narcissus is responsible for creating war between families who’d been friends and allies for generations. It is said that the tundras who still fight in the Viridian Labyrinth fight in his name, though they cannot remember that it started with him. It is said that Gladekeeper herself became involved, but that Plaguebringer honored the egg he’d cursed. By whirlwind or a swallowing ground or a swarm of flies or by exalted warriors of the Plaguebringer, which ever tale the listener hears, Narcissus found himself in Wormwood. Maybe he started alone, or had the aid of the exalted, or the help of those still roaming the lands.. But the story continues the same.

That nature spy among us!
He seeks to bring Gladekeeper to us!

There is an impossible oasis in the Plague Lands, where plants extinct elsewhere grow strong. All the stories say that where Narcissus rests in the Wormwood, dying and plagued plants heal and become whole. Few Plague dragons eye Narcissus with anything better than the desire to profit off his abilities, most view him with distrust. Narcissus lets his nose guide him: That one there he calls friend, and that one there causes him to tense, but he calls him an ally. Those are traders, and those---those are the ones he calls his friends to send away.

It is said that sometimes he cries out for Plaguebringer’s mercy again. But sometimes he calls to Gladeskeeper for more of her strength. It is said that he cannot answer when asked which deity is friend, ally, or meant to be sent away. But most stories like to say that he sometimes calls them traders.