Fangwood

For another meaning of "Fangwood", please see Fangwood (province).

The Fangwood is a large forest that covers most of eastern Nirmathas as well as the western Gravelands. The Nirmathi see the Fangwood as vital to their economy as well as a hiding place for its soldiers in their ongoing fight against the forces of Molthune.

Geography

The Fangwood is divided into a northern and southern half by the Tourondel River (which also forms the border between Nirmathas and the Gravelands). The northern portion found in the Gravelands is known as the Northern Fangwood, while in Nirmathas it is called the Southern Fangwood.

Terrain within the Fangwood is often difficult and broken up by hills, cliffs, canyons, and large boulders. The forest itself has very thick undergrowth, and is often in perpetual twilight due to the canopy of its trees, which can reach 100 feet in height, blotting out the sun. In addition, remnants of elven magic linger in the forest, often causing its geography to change seasonally as geographic features shift, move, emerge, or vanish. Currently, much of the Fangwood remains unexplored and unmapped.

Flora

The forest is a mix of fir, spruce, and maple trees. The deeper reaches are often full of fir; the shadows and still air seem to cause travelers to be easily spooked. The underbrush is thickest in the spruce-dominated sections, but these areas do not cause the same feelings of fear.

Northern Fangwood

The northern part of the Fangwood was long avoided by Lastwall's inhabitants due to its impenetrable undergrowth and hostile fauna. As one penetrates deeper into the forest, the dangers multiply, as the central woodland is home to several tribes of orcs, a green dragon named Zedoran, and redcaps who prey on anyone they meet.

Southern Fangwood

The southern half of the Fangwood provides vital cover for Nirmathi guerrilla fighters. Its fey presence is once again on the rise after the invasive Darkblight that brought an end to the seven-millennia-old Accressiel Court was defeated by Nirmathi soldiers. The southern Fangwood also remains home to a reclusive population of arboreals, as well as to a clan of natural werebears.

History

See also: Darkblight

The Fangwood has been settled by humanoids for millennia. The first were the elves who discovered numerous fey and countless connections to the First World in the forest. Most left just before Earthfall, either fleeing to Sovyrian or through planar portals to the First World where they discovered that most of the connections to the Universe had closed behind them.

Next came Kellid nomads from the north and dwarves from the Mindspin Mountains to the west, who both found that the forest was rich in natural resources and settled nearby. This angered the fey, who rallied behind their leader Gendowyn to repel them. She scared them off using guile and trickery, but later negotiated treaties of mutual defense and non-interference with both groups that lasted for thousands of years.

In the end, Gendowyn's downfall came not from outside interlopers but from her own kind. Her handmaiden Arlantia, who had become a devotee of Cyth-V'sug, the demon lord of fungus and parasites, overthrew and imprisoned the fey noble in 4062 AR. Arlantia then released a terrible supernatural disease known as the Darkblight in the forest that spread quickly among the fey and corrupted the Fangwood. The transformed sections of the forest became known as the Blight and was home to debased dryads loyal to Arlantia and who lived in dead trees. The Nirmathi fought the Darkblight for generations to protect their own settlements, and were finally able to slay Arlantia and free Gendowyn in 4717 AR.

Inhabitants

The Fangwood Forest (technically including some of the smaller woodlands surrounding it) is known to be one of the few places on Golarion where one can find canopy trolls, a smaller, more agile offshoot of regular trolls. The Fangwood is also one of the few forests old and large enough to be home to ohancanus, brutish giant-like fey who revel in destruction of civilised structures.

Accressiel Court

The Accressiel Court in the Southern Fangwood is once again ruled by the fey queen Gendowyn. Pockets of the Darkblight still mar the wood in numerous locations, and the fey-queen seeks allies among the Nirmathi and the druids of Crystalhurst to overcome it, and to deal with the numerous orcs, dragons, and other threats in the forest that murder her kind.

Zedoran

The great wyrm Zedoran has lived in the Northern Fangwood for more than a millennium, and as of 4722 AR still laired in the namesake Pit of Zedoran.

References

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.