The Waethwood

The Waethwood or Waithwood is a sizable expanse of forest in northwestern Helvandrian lands, mostly within the archonate of Ceregar. It takes its name from the River Waeth, which flows down from north to south, roughly through the center of the region. Parts of the Waethwood extend into High and Low Krovaax, and its southernmost fringes reach the edge of Qyrsh's hinterland. 
Parts of the Waethwood are thick, tangled, and trackless (and reputed, inevitably, to be inhabited by strange creatures). Others areas are dotted with forest villages connected by reasonably well-maintained roads or at least passable footpaths. The people who live there survive mostly as woodsmen and hunters. Some make a living cutting and selling timber from the forest's great stands of oaks, which are in demand in Ceregar, Qyrsh, and elsewhere for construction and boat-building. There are also several reclusive halfling communities scattered through the forest and along its margins. 
Where it runs through the forest, the banks of the Waeth itself are quite settled. There are numerous small but bustling riverside towns at intervals of only a few miles. In many areas around these, the forest has been cleared to make space for fields and pastures. The crews of riverboats often pull up onto the shore to make camp, repair their vessels, hunt for game, trade with locals, or wait out bad weather. Bands of woodcutters may be seen near the banks felling tall oaks and lashing their shorn trunks together into rafts which will float down-river to Qyrsh. Thus, even in what is notionally the middle of the Waethwood, one often has to move some distance away from the river to find truly deep, undisturbed forest. The densest old-growth areas lie miles from either the forest's outer margins or the river's course.