Shelkividur

Beyond the eastern edge of the Kingdom of Copper lies the Forest of Webs. It's a forest that's infested with nasty, wooly spiders that cover a large part of the woods in their silky web, engulfing large prey like moose, reindeers and other mammals.

The few people who dare go through the forest don't do it without a trained guard. The Nerim, in particular, are preferred by the other humans, as their tough nature and expertise in battle has earned them fame as skilled warriors throughout the Eastern world.

## History

Shelkividur - also known as the Forest of Webs - was not always in the state it now finds itself in. Not much different than the taigas north of the Corteau Canyon, it was a land rich in plant and animal life, frequented by hunters, foragers and loggers, both human and snow elven.

Even then, however, Shelkividur (its old name now forgotten) had something that the other forests of Zemyland did not. The presence of a certain species of spider made it a dangerous place to wander in, but perhaps it was due to that that the forest was able to thrive; the comparatively few poachers made it the liveliest wooded area of all. Scholars to this day are still arguing whether these spiders were native to the area or not, but they were specifically drawn to Shelkividur thanks to their attraction towards a certain type of spruce tree found only in this forest. As dangerous and mighty they can be, these spiders are mortally afraid of fire. Forest rangers used this in their advantage and because of that the spiders' population was confined in a specific part of the forest, even being in the brink of extinction once.

This all changed when the people we now know as "Zemylanders" invaded the realms of the Hyperboreans and the Aine Saevherne. The former used to control Shelkividur, being responsible of ridding any spider infestations whenever those popped up. Driven out of their lands and into the western tundra, the Hyperboreans could not hold back the expansion of the spiders. Over the years, the spiders claimed more and more swathes of the forest for themselves and making the forest's roads even more treacherous to traverse than before.

The new Zemylanders did little to halt this. When the infestation got to the point of making it impassable for merchant caravans, they completely abandoned all efforts of culling the spider population. Being a seafaring people as they were, they preferred trading by sea rather than land.

Nowadays, large parts of the forest are covered by a sea of silk webs. The few parts that aren't are frequented by mammals of which the spiders prey on. Over the years the spiders' nest has grown more than it can sustain itself, so it's not uncommon to see wooly spiders roam into the western tundra or even into the Crimson Queen's lands. Even though there have been talks of rooting out the spiders using fire in order to open up the land routes, both the New Hyperboreans and the Crimson Zemylanders are content in just posting guards and watchmen at the forest's borders. Apart from merchants being accompanied by mercenaries and fortune hunters seeking to harvest the spider's silk, it's almost devoid of any human presence.

## The Spiders

This is the largest species of spider found in the North, with some individuals being as small as dogs while others being the size of a rhino. They have a tendency of inhabiting both the forest floor as well as the canopy. The spiders are completely blind, using their large trichobothria to sense movement and changes in air pressure. This gives the appearance of fur, which earned them the name of "wooly spider" that's now commonly used.