Fey Woods

Senior GMs: Alice Morris, Matt Wicks, Ben Fuggle
To the north-west of Athesia lies an expanse of forest known as the Fey Woods. This region, ruled over by the two Courts of the Fey, is a wild and unkempt place full of strange and vicious creatures. Because of the influence of the Fey Courts, the weather in the Woods is constantly at extremes, either blisteringly hot or bitterly cold depending which Court rules a particular area. Wanderers in the Woods should take care, for it is abnormally easy to lose their way due to strange magic that seeps into the land itself: the influence of the Feywild. Throughout the Woods are stone circles, some of which have been visited, but which locals to the area warn against as being dangerous.
Villages in the glades of the woods tend to be small and far apart from one another. Previously Humans and Halflings have been the usual residents, however for a few hundred years - and with startling regularity in the past few years - humans have been giving birth to Eladrin and Halflings to Gnomes. Depending on the village these arrivals can be seen as a blessing or a curse.
==Region Stats==
Military7	Infrastructure4	Loyalty4	Purity1	Unification2
Settled: 0503, 0603, 0604, 0701, 0702, 0703, 0704, 0802, 0803, 0804, 0903
Explored: 0403, 0404, 0502, 0504, 0602, 0901, 0902
Points Of Interest:
===Player Characters===
Canis Wildwood
Drido Ethron (retired)
Fenxi Thornberry
Iskar Livra (deceased)
Laidriana Panthera (disappeared)
Marcellus Krithos (deceased)
Meliadin Constarak
Melizenn of Tamlin (deceased)
Merric Thunderlute (retired)
Namarië Ildereth (retired)
Nest Cadwallader (disappeared)
Paavi Karjalainen
Poldrion (disappeared)
Slath i Faigh (deceased)
Sir Alfred Eldan (deceased)
Tryste & Isolde
===Interest Groups===
Forest Guardians
Shadow Weavers
==Relevant Information==
===Plot Points===
The Shadowfel
The Shadowfel used to be a constant presence in the Woods. Summoned from another plane for an unknown purpose, the Shadowfel are terrible creatures of fear, shadow and twilight. Eventually they were banished from this plane by the Council of Athesia in the year of Shadow Falling. As they disappeared, the Shadow Emperor declared them all to be foolish, and that they would one day need him but that he would no longer be there.
After this, the Shadowfel disappeared. A year later a mysterious note was uncovered from a group of Dark Ones, featuring pictures of men in green pointed hats, trees and shadows. The Council was unable to truly understand what the message was intended to be.
The Plagues of Camland
With the Shadowfel gone, life in the Woods calmed down considerably, and became more peaceful for the inhabitants. This lasted only for a short while however: after some time strange creatures began to appear in the forest, and the people of the Fey Woods became forgetful. Amidst this, earthquakes began just south of the Stone Circle, causing problems for nearby villages. As well as this, a horrifying shriek was heard all across the Fey Woods, its origin unknown. At first it seemed that it was just a strange sound but soon ominous reports began to come through: everyone woman who had been giving birth at the time of the shriek immediately died at the sound. As yet, the cause of these things is unknown, however some of the Athesian Council were able to retrieve journal entries from the time of the Fall of Camland, which tell of these things happening before.
A year later, the earthquakes continued, flattening a village and seriously disrupting another. As well as this, the shriek was heard again, only this time it killed every pregnant woman in the Woods. With a subsequent visit to the Fey Woods, some of the Council were able to retrieve the rest of the pages of the journal, which told more about the civil war that brought about Camland's Fall. After this, they investigated the earthquakes and were able to bring them to an end by releasing the badgermoles that were trapped underneath the earth.
Another group went to investigate the shrieking sound coming from the Fey Wild, and found a group of hunters walking through the trees. They followed the hunters to a clearing where the hunters tried to attack a large, multicoloured bird in a nest in the centre of the clearing with eggs tucked in around it. When the hunters got too close to the bird it shrieked, causing them to fall over comically. A fey woman, who the bird was a pet to, appeared and the group were able to bargain with her to silence the bird, but in the process Terra Gaius lost his sense of shame.
The Fog (memory loss illness)
The forgetfulness experienced by the people of the Fey Woods continued, with people walking away into the forest and never returning or only returning much later than planned. More mages were born all over the Fey Woods, as well as more eladrin and gnomes. Soon after, the symptoms of "the fog" progressed into physical symptoms: headaches, migraines and nausea.
Strange Bubbles
In the year of the fall of the Broken Lands Empress, Sir Percival of Blackwood received word that villagers in the North-West of the Woods required his help. Upon arriving, he and the others in his party found strange bubbles nestled between the trees. Upon closer inspection, the bubbles were found to contain a strange mix of salt water and shadowfel energy, as well as large sea anemones and partially-dissolved bodies, themselves covered or containing more anemones. Following the trail of bubbles to the coast, the group found a blue carapace, about 15 feet long, abandoned on the beach. As yet, no one knows where or how these things appeared, nor how shadowfel energy could still be present on the plane.
===Places of Interest===
Coinesu [0803]
Known locally as the stilted sisters and sometimes as "the Wisp-lit City", Coinesu is a collective of wooden towns elevated above the fens and marshlands of the area on stilts and walkways. The local populace of Coinesans, colloquially known as Stilters, are by and large silt farmers, marsh fishermen or reed weavers. Coinesu is famous for it's beautifully and complexly woven reed furniture that fetch good prices at markets all around Athesia.
While a striking city in its own right most travellers to Coinesu come for the Wisp festival. At the height of harvest season will-o'-the-wisps begin to gather and rise from the marshes, this is the start of the festival. Over the next week each Coinesan places a green lantern in their windows, to "mark" their dwellings as touched by the wisps. At the end of the week a procession of mysterious stilt walkers passes through the marshes, along with the first clinging mist of the year. Tradition holds that misfortune befalls any houses that are not "marked" by the wisps. The following morning, when the mist clears, the silt farmers reap their harvests.
Ulder [0503]
Also known as The Fey city of Ulder or " 'I' Faigh's Hidden City", Ulder is a hidden city in more than name. The entrance to the city is a sparkling arch in the heart of a great ancient oak. Once through, Travellers would find themselves in a treetop city. Wooden strata and sky-bridges linking massive fungal platforms on which most of the city is built. Local Uldites are most often fruit pickers /cultivators, carpenters or floralists by profession.
Ulder is famous for both its floral healing remedies and syrupy sweet wines called Uldan Nectar. A common joke amongst citizens of the Fey Woods is that truthfully the remedies and the nectars are one and the same. Despite this both are popular trade items.
==Antagonists==
Shadowfel
Previously vanquished from Athesia, they were re-introduced onto the plane to keep the Fey Woods from falling out of balance.
==Allies==
==Unaligned==
Fey
In the Fey Woods reside two groups of Fey: the Summer Court and the Winter Court. Both Courts are tricksy and sinister should someone wrong them.
The Summer Court are led by King Oberon and his Queen Titania. The Summer Fey are known to be more playful and whimsical than Winter Fey.
The identity of the Winter Court King was lost for a time, but his Queen Mab has been met by delegates from the Council of Athesia. Eventually, it was revealed that the Winter King was Puck, twin brother of Oberon, and he had been in a magical sleep inside a tree for hundreds of years. The Winter Fey, more sombre than the Summer Court, have a darker sense of humour.
In the year of Convergence, it was revealed that the Fey were all descended from the first people to colonise the place now known as the Fey Woods. The village founder, Pwyll, angered the Ancestor Gods by outsmarting them and as punishment he and the other parents of the village were forced to sacrifice their children to fix the rift in energy that his actions had caused. The children of the village were imbued with pure energy from the Feywild and became the Fey.
The Solstice Circle
Very little was known of the Solstice Circle until the Convergence, when they were revealed to be avatars of the Ancestor Gods. They appear as a group of druids in green cloaks, and were instrumental to the founding of Old Cam and the preservation of the Fey Woods.
Creatures and Plants of the Fey Woods
The plant and animal life in the Fey Woods is verdant and lively, and will defend itself if necessary.
Category:Setting