Post by Oni on Jul 27, 2010 23:25:28 GMT -5
A vast primeval forest spanning the length of seven leagues, at its widest, from east to west and around ten, at its widest, from north to south is found resting upon the foremost western portion of the continent of Eirene. It is said to have once spread as far eastwards as the capital of the Kingdom of Renastere, Speranta. In those days it was known as Jarnvid, which is still used by many old enough to recall the name, while it is mostly referred to as Jarnvior unless when using the Traders' Tongue** and it is known in it as the Iron-Wood(s). The forest is home to many of Eirene's animals and plants and some are only found within this forest. Though the shadows even touch this ancient place and it is not as safe as it was once in the olden times.
To view the forest from above (heading from west to east), a rare feat of magical flight once performed by a Primus^ that was described many times through bardic tale, is to see a field of green speckled by gray and brown that springs to life in a myriad of colors as hundreds if not thousands of birds take flight. Though one notes large gaps here and there in the vast canopy that blankets over the course of the forest's span. Some of these gaps are host to the brown or gray, dying or dead trees also known as snags, whilst others seem to possess smaller trees dwarfed by the ancient giants that surround them and even still others seem a clearing filled with understory or flowers or even large ponds of still water. These clearings, the ground seems mossy and grassy but appears to be uneven as if many pits and mounds are common throughout. The blanket of canopy suggests the forest can be very dark in spots, though with the varying ages of the trees and the gaps, it is likely one is never in the darkness for too long. Much of the flora of the Jarnvior is known to be shade-tolerant and the fauna accustom to the limited sunlight, but some especially rare plants and animals are known to appear only in the clearings.
At the forest's center is an amazing sight, in a circle spanning at least a league in any direction is a clearing with a massive tree growing up forth, towering over all the other ancients – the tree is known as Irminsul. Irminsul is a grand ash tree, its species is unknown and never classified by scholars from the capital. Only Grímnsil in the Ygard is comparable on Eirene, though Grímnsil is thought to be far younger than Irminsul. According to the Vestlig, who traveled with the Host of Grey through the forest for a number of years, claim that the bark of the great tree Irminsul had many usages. According to their legends, it once was used to cure a young Tolan, son of Chief Thaos, of the Night Fever. Bark from the great tree was taken and grounded to a dust that was mixed with honey and water which was drank by Tolan. When they came back to the tree to offer thanks, they saw the spot where a wound should had been already healed with new bark. The tree is a common motif in their tattoos ever since. On the western border of this clearing is the course of a river that seems to run from the mountains sitting at the forest's border tot he north to the Drowning in the west, the river is called Jarnelva but in Traders' Tongue it is the River of Iron.
Along the Jarnelva's bend toward the west is a series of waterfalls, the largest of which is nearly nine-hundred feet (a little over two-hundred and seventy-four meters). Several of Jarnelva's distributaries break off into smooth flowing hills toward their spots of termination, such as the Drowning or other bodies of water that are still located within the Jarnvior. Though the cliffs of these waterfalls linger into the forest, some leading to these distributaries, it is said some hide caverns which lead into the very land of Aynnor itself but few have ventured to explore them. The river terminates into the Hapless Reaches, a delta that merges Jarnelva with the Drowning. Standing on the coast, near the Hapless Reaches, one can look across the Drowning to see the eastern coast of Wyrre, a grayish land with few trees or other plants and the ruins of ancient structures linger the distance. Located on this coast is the stone marker that denotes the location of Voronda's Landing. Voronda's Landing is the spot where the Vestling and the Host of Grey arrived into Eirene from Wyrre after crossing the narrow half-sunken landbridge that links the two continents, which is only visible at certain times of the year. The marker is in the old tongue, but it denotes the importance of the crossing and those that survived and those that did not with prayers to Ilîhum and the crest of the Dusk Rhosyn.
In the southern portion of the forest, south of Irminsul, sits a rather large lake known as Grovatn or also known as the Lake that Grows that is fed by Jarnelva's distributary, llwyelva, the Spooning River. It is normally not as high as its banks would suggest but when the heavy rains from the Sea of Sunthaz, the southern sea, it swells up to its full limits and sometimes beyond it. In the region about the lake is a series of isolated cliffs were all once likely part of a plateau that was destroyed in an ancient earthquake. These cliffs are filled with numerous openings, and it is widely believed that the Trekriger clan of Hobgoblins have been making use of them for years as their home. Beyond these cliffs is the coastal section of the Jarnvior's southern bank, this section of the forest is extremely dense with both leaf and fog.
In the northern forest, north of Irminsul, is the woods that are said to be home to those that shepherd trees and those that devour all. They are nicknamed either the Entwood or the Huldu Coppice, but this section of the forest is especially dangerous if one travels blindly throughout it. Home to pockets of dense trees and wider clearings, it is easy to get lost with only looking for Irminsul in a clearing to align one's path. Being one of the younger sections of the forest, having regrown from a major fire before the coming of the Vestlig, the ground is firmer and less spongy than other locations – causing fatigue quicker, prolonging one's chance of remaining in the section at night when the mountain winds send freezing air through the northern forest and with it snow that quickly forms a mist. At the forest's border to the base of the mountains, one can find evidence of settlements that existed there at one point or another. Little remains of the ruins save one can note their size is unlikely that of a Human's or even Elf's, it is probably that of a Dwarf but without evidence of a crafter's mark or clues to how old the buildings are, it is impossible to determine for sure. One can find part of the Jarnelva flowing throughout from the mountains southwards from near this point.
The Jarnvior is home to many types of trees such as ash, hemlock, spruce, pine, oak, ironwood, cherry, and so on and so forth. It is home to many types of creatures such as trolls, hobgoblins, ents, worgs, wargs, meliae (ash nymphs), dryads (oak nymphs), white maned razorback (boar), and so on. The general type of forest is temperate coastal and rain forest, depending in which section one stands.
[More to come on this subject as its developed]
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*A league is an hour's walk by foot it is roughly equivalent to three miles. At the widest the forest is twenty-one miles wide, at its thinnest it is ten to twelve. While it is twenty-five to thirty miles at its longest and four miles at its shortest north to south.
**The Traders' Tongue is the lingua franca or bridge language of Aynnor. It is the Common tongue, which is identical to that of Faerun's one that some may be surprised to realize. That nearly all know.
((And is the only completely free starting language free of race or origin but it is optional to know providing your character has a reason not to.))
^The Primus are magic users who have, in most cases, graduated from the academy in Speranta with high marks, are extremely gifted with the usage of spells, and are currently serving the King as protectors and advisors. They have access to spells that are considered ancient and almost impossible to identify as result. Their political power is strong, as advisors to the King they have access to much information and to many people. Few dare cross a Primus on a subject. There are very few Primus in total. There is one for each schooling of magic including one who is a Generalist, a sort of Man-of-Arms caster who is expectionally skilled at all but master of none. The Necromancer Primus is a special case, as necromancy is the domain of Myrtorc it is typically not studied as it offends the church of Ilîhum, but the academy teaches it as there are many useful spells, especially in the defense against necromancy, that are too valuable to lose. Though it is no secret the Primus of Necromancy is watched by the Grand Primus, the previous Generalist Primus who has by this point gained exceptional mastery of all types of magic.
To view the forest from above (heading from west to east), a rare feat of magical flight once performed by a Primus^ that was described many times through bardic tale, is to see a field of green speckled by gray and brown that springs to life in a myriad of colors as hundreds if not thousands of birds take flight. Though one notes large gaps here and there in the vast canopy that blankets over the course of the forest's span. Some of these gaps are host to the brown or gray, dying or dead trees also known as snags, whilst others seem to possess smaller trees dwarfed by the ancient giants that surround them and even still others seem a clearing filled with understory or flowers or even large ponds of still water. These clearings, the ground seems mossy and grassy but appears to be uneven as if many pits and mounds are common throughout. The blanket of canopy suggests the forest can be very dark in spots, though with the varying ages of the trees and the gaps, it is likely one is never in the darkness for too long. Much of the flora of the Jarnvior is known to be shade-tolerant and the fauna accustom to the limited sunlight, but some especially rare plants and animals are known to appear only in the clearings.
At the forest's center is an amazing sight, in a circle spanning at least a league in any direction is a clearing with a massive tree growing up forth, towering over all the other ancients – the tree is known as Irminsul. Irminsul is a grand ash tree, its species is unknown and never classified by scholars from the capital. Only Grímnsil in the Ygard is comparable on Eirene, though Grímnsil is thought to be far younger than Irminsul. According to the Vestlig, who traveled with the Host of Grey through the forest for a number of years, claim that the bark of the great tree Irminsul had many usages. According to their legends, it once was used to cure a young Tolan, son of Chief Thaos, of the Night Fever. Bark from the great tree was taken and grounded to a dust that was mixed with honey and water which was drank by Tolan. When they came back to the tree to offer thanks, they saw the spot where a wound should had been already healed with new bark. The tree is a common motif in their tattoos ever since. On the western border of this clearing is the course of a river that seems to run from the mountains sitting at the forest's border tot he north to the Drowning in the west, the river is called Jarnelva but in Traders' Tongue it is the River of Iron.
Along the Jarnelva's bend toward the west is a series of waterfalls, the largest of which is nearly nine-hundred feet (a little over two-hundred and seventy-four meters). Several of Jarnelva's distributaries break off into smooth flowing hills toward their spots of termination, such as the Drowning or other bodies of water that are still located within the Jarnvior. Though the cliffs of these waterfalls linger into the forest, some leading to these distributaries, it is said some hide caverns which lead into the very land of Aynnor itself but few have ventured to explore them. The river terminates into the Hapless Reaches, a delta that merges Jarnelva with the Drowning. Standing on the coast, near the Hapless Reaches, one can look across the Drowning to see the eastern coast of Wyrre, a grayish land with few trees or other plants and the ruins of ancient structures linger the distance. Located on this coast is the stone marker that denotes the location of Voronda's Landing. Voronda's Landing is the spot where the Vestling and the Host of Grey arrived into Eirene from Wyrre after crossing the narrow half-sunken landbridge that links the two continents, which is only visible at certain times of the year. The marker is in the old tongue, but it denotes the importance of the crossing and those that survived and those that did not with prayers to Ilîhum and the crest of the Dusk Rhosyn.
In the southern portion of the forest, south of Irminsul, sits a rather large lake known as Grovatn or also known as the Lake that Grows that is fed by Jarnelva's distributary, llwyelva, the Spooning River. It is normally not as high as its banks would suggest but when the heavy rains from the Sea of Sunthaz, the southern sea, it swells up to its full limits and sometimes beyond it. In the region about the lake is a series of isolated cliffs were all once likely part of a plateau that was destroyed in an ancient earthquake. These cliffs are filled with numerous openings, and it is widely believed that the Trekriger clan of Hobgoblins have been making use of them for years as their home. Beyond these cliffs is the coastal section of the Jarnvior's southern bank, this section of the forest is extremely dense with both leaf and fog.
In the northern forest, north of Irminsul, is the woods that are said to be home to those that shepherd trees and those that devour all. They are nicknamed either the Entwood or the Huldu Coppice, but this section of the forest is especially dangerous if one travels blindly throughout it. Home to pockets of dense trees and wider clearings, it is easy to get lost with only looking for Irminsul in a clearing to align one's path. Being one of the younger sections of the forest, having regrown from a major fire before the coming of the Vestlig, the ground is firmer and less spongy than other locations – causing fatigue quicker, prolonging one's chance of remaining in the section at night when the mountain winds send freezing air through the northern forest and with it snow that quickly forms a mist. At the forest's border to the base of the mountains, one can find evidence of settlements that existed there at one point or another. Little remains of the ruins save one can note their size is unlikely that of a Human's or even Elf's, it is probably that of a Dwarf but without evidence of a crafter's mark or clues to how old the buildings are, it is impossible to determine for sure. One can find part of the Jarnelva flowing throughout from the mountains southwards from near this point.
The Jarnvior is home to many types of trees such as ash, hemlock, spruce, pine, oak, ironwood, cherry, and so on and so forth. It is home to many types of creatures such as trolls, hobgoblins, ents, worgs, wargs, meliae (ash nymphs), dryads (oak nymphs), white maned razorback (boar), and so on. The general type of forest is temperate coastal and rain forest, depending in which section one stands.
[More to come on this subject as its developed]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*A league is an hour's walk by foot it is roughly equivalent to three miles. At the widest the forest is twenty-one miles wide, at its thinnest it is ten to twelve. While it is twenty-five to thirty miles at its longest and four miles at its shortest north to south.
**The Traders' Tongue is the lingua franca or bridge language of Aynnor. It is the Common tongue, which is identical to that of Faerun's one that some may be surprised to realize. That nearly all know.
((And is the only completely free starting language free of race or origin but it is optional to know providing your character has a reason not to.))
^The Primus are magic users who have, in most cases, graduated from the academy in Speranta with high marks, are extremely gifted with the usage of spells, and are currently serving the King as protectors and advisors. They have access to spells that are considered ancient and almost impossible to identify as result. Their political power is strong, as advisors to the King they have access to much information and to many people. Few dare cross a Primus on a subject. There are very few Primus in total. There is one for each schooling of magic including one who is a Generalist, a sort of Man-of-Arms caster who is expectionally skilled at all but master of none. The Necromancer Primus is a special case, as necromancy is the domain of Myrtorc it is typically not studied as it offends the church of Ilîhum, but the academy teaches it as there are many useful spells, especially in the defense against necromancy, that are too valuable to lose. Though it is no secret the Primus of Necromancy is watched by the Grand Primus, the previous Generalist Primus who has by this point gained exceptional mastery of all types of magic.
