#verdania

After a terrifying start to act 3, I decided I'd do some stuff on the Green Prince quest because I adore the Cogwork Dancers and the story behind them. Verdania has been giving me big feelings especially with the Green Prince dotted around talking about his life and his boyfriend and with the bench being in what Verdania looks like in Silksong for real... The land in the Prince's memories and even the enemies are all so beautiful that it brings me to tears!

I haven't reached Clover Dancers yet but I'm exctatic, so I HAD to draw these two incredible princes together. I literally came off the game earlier than I expected simply to get this drawn. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH SAJNJSHDFH

So of course in act 3 Hornet is tasked to collect hearts--from Crust King Khann in Sands of Karak, Nyleth in Shellwood, and Skarrsinger Karmelita in Far Fields. I've been endeavoring to investigate all the regions of the game, what sustains them, how and why much of the regions have been degraded, etc, and it's still a work in progress. But we can see clearly that there are limited healthy areas in game. The most prominent? Far Fields (including Hunter's March in this) and Shellwood. And the hearts are integral to the health of the land

Conversation with the snail shamans:

Bell Hermit: Pharloom was not born of that monarch, Old One. Power existed in these lands even before she bound them beneath her. Bell Hermit: Grnk. Seek the old hearts of our kingdom and the last successors to bear their strength. Chapel Maid: They're still out there, hidden away, much faded by the pale one's long dominion. You must make them stir. [...] Caretaker: Bring us the hearts, Old One. Make'em beat, fierce and final. See for yourself the forgotten strength of this land of bugs before we burn those memories in its saving.

Further conversation:

Chapel Maid: This task before you... This is mortal power you would claim, the hearts of bugs. It will cost their last strength to save this land. Chapel Maid: Even we have some hesitation in this. Despite our desire to touch their power, we'd never wished to see it expended so utterly. Hornet: Better to leave your land weak in wonder, if it means your shells, and those of your fellows, stay intact.

Conversation with Gilly, the bug covered in greenery investigating Far Fields, after taking Karmelita's heart:

Gilly: Was it her? Could it be? The strength that sustained these caves? If so, what will happen now? Hornet: They will wither and fade... And you may sadly know it was my needle that brought her end. Gilly: You, miss? But why? Why destroy something so vital? Hornet: It is a difficult thing to explain simply... Her strength was needed, what was left, to cut Pharloom free of its black thread threat. It was a savage act, no doubt, but the reason was just. Hornet: Know, in time, these caves may see opportunity to regrow, flourish even, though that rebirth is itself a task enormous... longer than a lifetime, many lifetimes. Hornet: For that task to succeed, it will fall to bugs like you to sow the first seeds.

These individuals clearly have such a role in Pharloom that the land itself is heavily impacted by the loss of their hearts. Far Fields was alive, and Karmelita still there. Shellwood--well I don't understand yet if Nyleth was alive or dead but she had a shrine and guardian, and the wood still lived. Khann was long dead. Sands of Karak is not dead but quite degraded. ....Verdania was entirely destroyed. One of its rulers gone, and the other locked up.

But there's one more heart to discuss here, and it's what has me hyped enough to type all this up immediately

Moss Druid, when finishing the Berry Picking wish, emphasis mine:

Ahhh! Ahhh-ohhhh! The smell is right! Like the others! But very young! Oh, voice of the woods! Oh, dance of the queen! Oh... oh! Beat harder, let us hear it! Oh! Ohhhhhhhh!

When giving all mossberries:

Mmm, the precious fruit! So precious! And perhaps now, we have enough. Enough, enough! For our work often begins, but never ends! Ahhh! Ahhh-ohhhh! The smell again! Stronger, stronger now! But still young yet! Listen to your sisters, little one, and grow! Oh, grow!

Talking to again:

Mmm. You can hear it, yes? Listen close. Weak, but precious. A pulse, a beat! Faint... Our very own...

Needolin dialog:

Beat beat beat! In coral, in shell... And why not here?! Beating, beating... The world's rhythms... In branches, in fields!

"The others", the "voice of the woods" and "dance of the queen"? The "sisters" to listen to for a young one to grow strong? To beat?

In coral (Khann), branches (Nyleth), fields (Karmelita)....

A new, faint but growing beat.

Best as I can understand Moss Druid is trying to foster a new heart

The mossy areas are one of the few green places left. Even without some kind of leader like the others whose hearts we see, the land looks healthy. Is there a heart? Is there some new being with a heart? Is Moss Druid creating a heart themself, or brewing something to make it stronger?