Treaty of the Wildwood

In 3841 AR, the druids of the Wildwood Lodge approached the emperor of Taldor with the request to give them the autonomy to protect the Verduran Forest, which is the last dominion of the blackwood trees. In exchange, the druids would ensure that Taldor would get wood for its ships for the duration of the empire.

The emperor agreed partially because he was tired of losing men to fey raids and unable to control the forest anyway. The treaty signed is called the Treaty of the Wildwood. The outcome was that the eastern part of the Verduran Forest, within Taldor's borders, became a semi-autonomous prefecture of the Taldan empire.

Taldor holds little authority within the forest aside from a narrow band outlined in the treaty, within 10 miles of the Sellen River and the Verduran Fork. The communities that exist within the forest itself venerate the Green Faith to maintain good relations with their druid landlords. For their part, the Wildwood druids genuinely uphold their side of the treaty, controlling vengeful fey and handling dangerous beasts that wander too near the borders. However, monsters in the forest's heart are generally left alone due to the lack of resources and motivation from the druids to remove them.

Once per year, Cassomir sends a diplomatic delegation to the Isle of Arenway to reaffirm Taldor's peace treaty with the druids. In the ceremony, the diplomat stands in front of a senior druid, and exchanges a bag of seeds for a small piece of fine wood. Then, the diplomat sails downriver back to the city. Many captains consider this piece of wood especially lucky, purchase it from the city officials, and usually carve the wood to make a figurine of their ships.

References

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