Border Wood

The Border Wood spans opposite sides of the Jalrune River and is therefore located in territory claimed by both Taldor and Qadira. Its only settlement of note is the strongly defended Taldan city of Demgazi; most settlements are built along the forest's edges, and few penetrate into the woodland proper.

Geography

The Border Wood is not large, especially when compared to the vast Verduran Forest in Taldor's north, but is nonetheless the nation's second largest forest. Its interior is treacherous and complex, containing several steep valleys and winding creeks that make navigation difficult within it.

Inhabitants

The wood is home to a great variety of wildlife. Large herds of game live within it, supporting both active hunting among the local settlements and considerable populations of predators. Lions and wolves are the most prominent hunters in the forest, but a number of more monstrous creatures, otherwise extinct in the rest of Taldor, such as leucrottas, chimeras, perytons, and trollhounds, also endure within the Border Wood.

Various kinds of undead, a legacy of the centuries of bitter warfare waged between Taldor and Qadira for control of the forest, are among the Border Wood's more supernatural dangers. These consist for the most part of ghosts, spectres, and other spirits of relatively limited scope, but at least one terrifying gashadokuro is trapped within a canyon in the forest depths.

Fey are also common in the Border Wood. While the larger and more powerful kinds are notably absent, having been driven out by the forest's long history of warfare and its other resident dangers, smaller fey creatures have thrived within it. Gremlins and pookas are common, and the otherwise rare mockingfey also live in some numbers here. Winter-touched sprites and atomies have also settled within the forest following periods of unusually cold weather, weathering the hot summers underground and emerging in the winter to prey on the humans of the surrounding villages.