THE GLEANERS’ GRIMOIRE

We are the forgotten. 

Most members of the human race have left Earth to colonize nearby planets or been lost to climate catastrophe. 

The few left behind formed a new government to maintain order and control in the lawless land, meticulously rationing all remaining supplies, and enforcing a strict uniform. 

This is when our rebellion began to form, leaving the comforts of the newly established government to roam the Earth, surviving by gleaning what we could use from the overflowing landfills.

In defiance of our former oppressor, we created extravagant, colorful garments from the detritus and realized that with each creation we also began to slowly regenerate the soil, making it suitable once again for growing food. Our display of self reliance and self expression posed a threat to the old system, and we were constantly under attack.

The spiders who lived underground had been watching us with empathy, as they too had always been master regenerators, eating the silk of their old webs to spin anew. They utilized their alliance with fungi, their fellow regenerators, to communicate to us through mycelium networks, which we decoded by ingesting the sacred mushroom. They offered refuge in their cave cities protected by jeweled webs, and invited us to join their alliance. Working together as peaceful warriors, we slowly heal the Earth by patiently sifting through each grain of sand in the mountains of discarded clothing, transforming textiles of the past into treasures of the future.