Background on the Forest of Wyrd

Reposted from the Facebook group ..... if you read it there, ignore it here.

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From “Reflections of Many Goodly Matters and Curious Places” by Hengist of Jarlahad:

“… the northern reach of that part of our world known as Esrae is home to yet another unique locale. This area is known variously as the Feywood, Forest of Wyrd, Wosenbrae or Fairy Border. Approached from the northern Cold Nar, one passes southward over a cold and treeless tundra. This leads to the foot of a sparsely forested mountain range, beyond which one passes through a temperate wood of no special note before debouching  into the settled lands of the Earldom of Brakenrae and the Kingdom of the Rock at Carnock. Approach from the south, however, and matters are much different. Entering the wood, one encounters an enchanted realm of fey creatures and mysterious locales unseen on the journey south. This wood, it seems, it infused with a deep and power magic of a sort unseen elsewhere. But the greatest surprise is beyond the mountains; the tundra is no more and instead there is a seemingly endless dark and cold forest bathed in perpetual twilight. Here dwell dark fey, cold sidhe and creatures of grim  chaos, where  the lords of the dwimmer realm hold sway. The Wise contend that by some unknown means, a portion of the dwimmer realm has become overlain here on our own world. And at times, the dwimmer lords lead their hordes south into the lands of men, whether to conquer or simply slay and spread chaos is unknown to even the Wise ... "



From “Expansion of the Three Fold Faith across the Known World” by the Most Virtuous Athenfae of Kalin:

“… while not nearly as troubling as the scandalous fertility sects of Saule in the Western Wold, the Church of the Three Virtues in those scattered lands under the nominal suzerainty of the Kingdom of the Rock at Carnock has likewise drifted from the path of the true faith. Little are the Three worshiped here; instead a vast array of saints are venerated. These are purportedly holy men and women who served the faith in years long past. But one suspects they are more likely ancient false gods, reimaged to placate the Faith when the Imperator Vilorian the Second carried his sacred banners north into the Forest of Wyrd. Without doubt, this false faith has displeased Habuu, Velas and Salue (blessed be the three!) such that the servants of the church do not possess the same powers of prayer as do those in other lands. While the priests of the Faith hold some powers of protection from the Fey, only the Paladins, the spiritual descendants of the Imperator’s crusaders, possess divine connection to the gods and receive their favors …”



From “Epic of the Kingdom of the Rock at Carnock” by Osric Speareaver [translated into prose]:

“ … from that cursed wood on the northern marches, three times in the memory of Man, came invading hordes of Fey devils. They first sought to enslave Man when he was new to these lands. Only a pact with the seelie Fey pushed back the dark ones and brought peace. The second was defeated by the appearance of the mysterious Wose, wild men of the wood who harnessed the power of earth and root and stone. And ten generations past, it required the legions of the Third Imperium to push them back. Imperator Vilorian the Second used the power of throne and faith to defeat the unseelie, losing his own life in the final victory ..."