Aur forest

"*The Aur forest has always been . . . we remember no time before it. There was the Aur forest, and there were the Aur dryads, and we came together, and we have always been. For as long as there have been enough trees to make a forest.*"
―Amaley Manytrees[[The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire, Chapter 23: The Arrow's Path]]
The **Aur forest**, or the world forest, is the home of every tree and plant, on land or under the sea. It is the the 'sink of the world’s power'. It was destroyed by Olphix. Mosk Manytrees and Julvia Dubna Vajat later used the powers Mosk took from Davix and Olphix, as well as their own powers, to create a new Aur forest within the Falseheart Wilds.

## Appears in

Major canon:

*The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire*

*The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague*

## The First Aur forest

The Aur forest has seemingly always existed, with Aur dryads as its caretakers. Every species of flora in the fae world lived there, and it was made up of different ecosystems and biomes, including desert biomes, rainforests, sea flora, and the sea trees. It was 'an anchor point for all the forests in the world, both [in the fae realm] and even where the humans lived – a completely different realm. Containing every type of tree that had ever existed, outside of time, supposedly protected by the Aur dryads.' When Aur dryads come of age (or stop being saplings), they bond with a specific kind of tree, but they can only do so in the Aur forest.

The Aur forest was also the 'birthplace of all the unicorns . . . Where the King of the Forest goes when he needs to seek wisdom he knows not. A bastion of energy, life and death together, and a reminder that there is always growth. A symbol, too. The forest itself is a place of harmony and peace, but the custodians of it are Unseelie. A reminder that the Unseelie are not only death and destruction.'

Mosk once described the Aur forest as huge and undulating. There was at least one lake, which Gille Dubh ran across in his travels. Mosk said the Aur forest also contained pocket dimensions or 'realms within realms'. 'It was its own realm, folded into space and time, where trees would live eternally, and never fail.' Nearly anyone could walk into it. Mosk saw a painting in Summervale that he believed resembled the Aur forest, and might have even been *of* the Aur forest, where not every tree was the same, 'until they all united together towards the end, so far in the horizon that all the colours and leaf shapes blurred together.'

At one point, Augus Each Uisge was reading a book that was possibly about the Aur forest, which included this description: 'The North East Botanical Province covers only fifteen percent of the forest of Aur, but contains more species of tree than the rest of the Province. Little has changed in the basic landform structures for the last forty five million years, the area underlain by a huge granite shield known as the Peremrtek Craton, making it the oldest and least changed terrestrial land in an Aur province since-’.

Mosk noted the Aur forest had other fae aside from dryads who resided in the forest, but there were no large communities comparable to cities, and although there were sometimes markets, they 'were right at the fringes, and they were uncommon', and the Aur dryads avoided them.

Golden mistletoe grew deep in the Aur forest: 'a kind of mistletoe that could only be discovered by those with a rare heart'. Mosk was unique among the Aur dryads for being able to find it easily. The forest also grew 'every species of seaweed or kelp in the sea'. There was a 'vine with white leaves, and it needs so much heat to flower that it’s not found anywhere but near active volcanoes and sometimes hot springs' that grows as a tree, and is 'like a family of plants. There’s [the one with white leaves], and there’s one with black leaves and black flowers that turn red over time.'

In the Manytrees family home, there 'was always a baby hearth-tree, to be planted out when it was old enough. A tree raised on stories and love, that would become a repository of knowledge in the Aur forest. Sometimes Mosk would stumble across trees from other Aur dryads, ones that had lived centuries or millennia ago. He would hear older stories, different stories, and feel himself connected to forests that had lived forever, Aur dryads that had lived with their trees and would live on forever.' They also used magelight to light the family home, as the wooden building would have burned, otherwise.

Davix and Olphix wanted to know if they could create a seventh son of a seventh son themselves, rather than accidentally stumbling upon one, in order to 'augment it, tune the world towards a species and there, grant a son [they] could sunder and use.' So Olphix poisoned the Aur forest. The Aur forest was the 'the healthiest forest. It had never known illness or sickness. It was always robust and strong. But then . . . it became sickened. This sickness didn’t start from the fringes of the forest and work its way in. It didn’t start with only some trees, and not others. It started in the heartwood, in the heart of the forest, and worked its way out. It was very fast, and very frightening. All the trees began to drop their leaves, even the ones that don’t, and it was not Fall.' The Aur dryads tried everything: burning of some forest sections, thinking it was some fungus, Aur dryad magic, healer magic, potions, and many other things, for years, but nothing worked. Eventually, they sought the aid of the School of the Staff, who sent them Olphix (though the Aur dryads did not know that Olphix had caused the disease), and Olphix healed the forest in exchange for the then-nonexistent Aur dryads' seventh son of a seventh son.

When Mallem Manytrees alerted Olphix that Mosk was trying to fight his fate, Olphix destroyed the Aur forest, killed all the Aur dryads, and kidnapped Mosk.

The fire burned for over a year. When Gwyn ap Nudd, Augus Each Uisge, Eran Iliakambar, Mosk, and Grip teleported to the Aur forest to investigate, they found 'a place of heat and flames licking at boulders. The husks of once-grand trees that must have been hundreds of metres tall judging by the ruined boles that remained, turned to stumps of charcoal.' The air was filled with 'the acrid scent of smoke and char . . . As far as the eye could see, the ground was black, grey and white from ash and charcoal. It was pocked with uneven stumps, or holes in the ground where the fire had been strong enough to burn down and eat the roots. The stones were burning. There was a rise of rocks that towered to the east, and small, vivid blue flames licked at it.' The soil was hot, and turned 'sandy and friable and pockmarked with air bubbles, where the fire had burned bits of root away. The ground sagged unevenly'.

The remains of the Manytrees family home was behind an 'outcrop of rock and granite', and was completely destroyed by Olphix's actions.

Gwyn noted that every 'forest in the fae realm will feel this loss . . . Every creature dependent on a tree or woodland or forest to live has lost something. It isn’t to say that there won’t still be places of rest and peace and harmony, but a foundational force behind it has been ruined. Thoroughly. Until the Aur forest recovers – if it can be recovered, I don’t see how, given that it required the Aur to oversee and protect it and now there is only one left, who possesses no extra life-force to grow a seedling, let alone a forest – the fae realm is askew.' It's unclear what exact effect the death of the Aur forest has had on the world, as Mosk pointed out that he expected more of an effect on the forests of the world, but some were simply old and strong, and seemingly unchanged.

### Residents

* Former
	+ Amaley Manytrees (former principal caretaker, deceased)
	+ Chaley Manytrees (deceased)
	+ Chert Manytrees (deceased)
	+ Ela Manytrees (deceased)
	+ Himshi Manytrees (deceased)
	+ Im Manytrees (deceased)
	+ Imshiel Manytrees (deceased)
	+ Leaf Manytrees (deceased)
	+ Mallem Manytrees (deceased)
	+ Mosk Manytrees
	+ Shiel Manytrees (deceased)

## The Second Aur forest

Mosk and Julvia later used the powers Mosk took from Davix and Olphix, as well as their own powers, to create a new Aur forest within the Falseheart Wilds.

Rain began to fall, 'the ground gained a greener smell, blades of grass trembling upwards, saplings pushing up from the earth as far as the eye could see, as an energy enfolded him gently and lovingly, the world around them rippling into a life beyond the life of any forest Eran had ever walked through before.'

'The view of the battlefield vanished as saplings turned into trees, far faster than any would normally grow. The land felt fresh, rain continued to fall'. Many of the trees quickly matured over the next week 'and had stopped their rapid growth.' Over time the weather changed, accommodating multiple biomes, including a temperate zone, a desert zone, and 'Arctic regions that were hideous and sparse and far too cold [for fire fae] to spend much time in'.

'The Aur forest had slipped itself out of regular time and space, and like the kingdom of the Trows, was now its own. . . . So many of the trees were different. There could be thirty or forty different species within eyeshot at once. Many different leaf shapes, leaf colours, leaf sizes. Even the flowers and fungi by each of the trees changed.'

Birds began to live in the forest, increasing in numbers over time, including crows, ravens, owls, eagles, hawks, and various songbirds. Other animals, including foxes, squirrels, bilbies, pika, kangaroos, snake, lizards, frogs joined them. Eran even saw the King of the Forest there a few times, only at a distance.

#### Mosk and Eran's treehouse

Mosk grew a treehouse in the Aur forest for Eran: a tall structure over 50 feet in the air, higher than the surrounding trees, with 'a flourishing canopy of oak leaves overhead, broad enough to shadow at least twenty trees in every direction'. It had a doorway 'at the base. Hollows appeared all the way up. Chimneys of wood emerged from the tree house. A staircase of wood with leaves growing out of it coiled in a spiral around the outside.' Inside the 'wood had formed itself into bookcases and cupboards and cabinets. It had even formed the structures of couches that lacked cushions. There was a giant hearth for a fire.' The building was fireproof. The tree had flowers that flourished with the seasons. Trows eventually started visiting 'with deliveries for Mosk’s house, and more comfort items for Eran. A mattress, better blankets, lanterns bewitched with magic. Eran didn’t ask for them, the trows simply brought them.' After Eran and Mosk moved in, the trows added more to the house, including 'blankets on the beds, and linens in the wardrobes. Cutlery and crockery appeared, and then little jars of herbs and spices'. Fruit appeared, and curtains, and Mosk asked for blankets that were fire colored. A blanket of fish scales hung on a wall, and 'Eran and Mosk called it the ‘Mantissa’ room, and Mosk said he wished he could find shells to fill it with.' The trows shortly brought shells for him.

The top of the treehouse had bare rooms Mosk planned to use for magic practice, and he suggested Eran use them to practice magic there, as well.

#### Forest Residents

* Eran Iliakambar
* The King of the Forest (possibly)
* Mosk Manytrees

Former

* Julvia Dubna Vajat

## Quotations

* Mosk: 'There’s no Aur forest'.
* “The Seelie Court… I don’t think we can rebuild that,’ Mosk said. ‘It’s like the Aur forest. It’s just…gone now.’ ‘But you could grow a forest,’ Eran said. ‘And you could build a castle.'

## Trivia

* Mosk felt the Aur forest die.
* Julvia Dubna Vajat said that it had a kind of spirit in it, though Mosk never sensed it. Mosk later realized *he* was a genius loci.
* Davix called the Aur forest a dream of a forest, possibly implying it wasn't naturally made.
* Aur forest is spelled 'Aur **F**orest' only twice, and 'Aur forest' for the other 50+ times the word appears in the main canon, so 'Aur forest' has been used as the page name.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 not\_poignant. “The Court of Five Thrones.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 5 June 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/1749290/chapters/9186013. Chapter 46: Masque.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 27 April 2018. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/33382401. Chapter 20: Night Terrors.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 3 August 2022. https://archiveofourown.org/works/26266345/chapters/102149304. Chapter 39: Impossible Things.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 29 June 2018. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/34995836. Chapter 23: The Arrow's Path.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 30 March 2018. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/32604021. Chapter 18: Sparks of Revelation.
6. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 2 - The Seething Seas.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 23 January 2020. https://archiveofourown.org/works/17959874/chapters/53470720. Chapter 24: Bound Together.
7. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 21 September 2018. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/37471571. Chapter 29: Don't Look.
8. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 7 October 2017. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/27929826. Chapter 4: Splendour.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 9 December 2017. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/29615421. Chapter 10: The World Forest.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 23 December 2017. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/29983488. Chapter 11: Imbalance.
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 16 February 2018. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/31475208. Chapter 15: Isn't it Better?
12. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 12 March 2018. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/31845930. Chapter 16: Leave Be.
13. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 5 October 2018. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/37845086. Chapter 30: Closing In.
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 2 - The Seething Seas.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 30 August 2019. https://archiveofourown.org/works/17959874/chapters/48516644. Chapter 13: The Glory of the House of Atros.
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 2 - The Seething Seas.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 30 April 2020. https://archiveofourown.org/works/17959874/chapters/57536779. Chapter 31: Whatever It Takes.
16. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 24 September 2020. https://archiveofourown.org/works/26266345/chapters/64933999. Chapter 3: A Little Flame.
17. ↑ not\_poignant. "Tumblr Prompts - Fae Tales." *The Fae Tales Verse - canon extras. Archive of Our Own,* 29 November 2015. https://archiveofourown.org/works/5309705/chapters/12259046. Chapter 8: Annoying Younger Brothers.
18. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 17 March 2022. https://archiveofourown.org/works/26266345/chapters/94345423. Chapter 28: Family.
19. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 2 - The Seething Seas.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 5 July 2019. https://archiveofourown.org/works/17959874/chapters/46372144. Chapter 9: Lies of Omission.
20. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 2 - The Seething Seas.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 12 December 2019. https://archiveofourown.org/works/17959874/chapters/51951565. Chapter 21: Reaffirmation.
21. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 19 January 2018. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/30758403. Chapter 13: Captured.
22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 22.5 22.6 22.7 22.8 22.9 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 5 August 2022. https://archiveofourown.org/works/26266345/chapters/102269367. Chapter 40: A New Season.
23. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 2 - The Seething Seas.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 28 May 2020. https://archiveofourown.org/works/17959874/chapters/58918213. Chapter 33: End of an Era.
24. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 7 January 2018. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12036105/chapters/30419052. Chapter 12: Empty Whispers.
25. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 31 March 2022. https://archiveofourown.org/works/26266345/chapters/95108674. Chapter 29: Invention.
26. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 23 June 2022. https://archiveofourown.org/works/26266345/chapters/99730371. Chapter 35: A Prophecy.
27. ↑ not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 7 July 2022. https://archiveofourown.org/works/26266345/chapters/100527858. Chapter 36: The Light Fades.