The Mistwood

## Overview

Many scholars believe that the peculiar weather that haunts the so-named Mistwood is caused largely by geothermal activity.  The area is dotted with numerous small lakes and ponds that are all spring-fed and warm enough to swim in even in winter.  Cold rains swept in from the northern seas combine with warm ground to create a perpetual fog of preternatural thickness.  Though the area is considered a temperate rainforest, the tall white pines that dominate the landscape provide little to the food web resulting in a harsh food scare environment.

The Mistwood is home to a reclusive indigenous people of “Crowfolk” or as they know themselves the Kenku.  Several attempts at human colonization have been made over the millennia, but only the most recent has managed to survive long enough to truly establish a settlement.  (See NW, the Mistwood)

## The Kenku

The Kenku—the Mistwood’s indigenous inhabitants—have long called this region “The Place of Many Swirling Ancestor Spirits.”

Kenku are like berbers. Nomadic, living in sparse groups, not war-like but capable of defending themselves. They take only what they need and are more concerned with spiritual pursuits. They do make music and craft artistic goods. They keep to themselves but they are not overly reclusive or standoffish if approached. They have been living this way since before memory.

#### Leadership

Their nomadic lifestyle is built around kin flocks headed by a singular Menku pah or Menku uma leader, which translates roughly into Father of Pity or Mother of Pity. Leadership is not voted on, inherited, or fought over. Instead, Kenku let the ancestors decide. When the current leader dies, a ritual is conducted, and whomever the ancestors show pity for becomes the new leader.

#### Burial

For the burial ritual, the kin build a makeshift yurt and the children work tirelessly to fan the mist and clear the air. This is one of the few rare occasions when Kenku see clear air. In the middle of the yurt, a pyre is constructed. As the late Menku pah or uma’s body burns, special songs are sung to the sound of a melancholy trio of carved three flutes and a packed moss drum.

A closed pine cone is placed into the fire. As the cone heats up, the uppermost cone bracts flies off violently, carried by the rising heat escaping the yurt. Under the direction of ancestors, the bract strikes closest to an individual Kenku, who becomes the leader until their own death.

The Kenku believe the ancestors pity the individual tasked with this great responsibility.

#### The Archer King Prophecy

At the conclusion of the ceremony, the newly christened Menku pah or uma’ lights an arrow which the Kenku believe contain the newly freed soul of their previous leader. The arrow is shot aimlessly into the sky, where the Kenku believe it is guided by ancestors to the Porcupine Tree.

Deep in the Mistwood, the Kenku believe there is tree where the arrows carrying ancestor spirits are drawn toward. The Kenku archer king prophecy states that a great leader will be born that finds the porcupine tree. This archer king will use the spirit infused arrows to unite the nomadic Kenku tribes, who will then cleanse the forest of invaders  and begin a great dynasty. The Kenku believe that the loitering spirits of the Mistwood will then dissipate.

#### Nomadic lifestyle

Kenku tribes traverse the forest via a network of thin, well-worn trails. The Kenku believe they trace a great sigil, creating a ritual landscape that enhances the power of the ancestors. The trees and stones are marked with kin symbols that tell tale of comings and goings, mergers and rivalries, warnings and hints, among other gossip.

Sometimes, kin groups will find one another on the trails, spending several days partying, bartering, and exchanging news. At these meetings, the young are sometimes given over to another kin in hopes of marriage. In rare cases, when groups merge and a new leader must be decided, two Kenku will ascend a tree and climb far from the ear of their kin. The last one who descends becomes Menku pah or uma.

The young who are not paired with new kinfolk strike out on their own or in small groups, ostensibly to search for the porcupine tree. Most don’t take this hunt seriously. Instead, they travel to well-known waypoints for wanderers in hopes of finding other young to begin a kin group with.

The Kenku nomadic journey is cyclic. Although they stay in small kinfolk, the Kenku mostly hit the same landmarks. Some trails are more widely traveled than others, and each kin group finds their way through unique marks on trees (Kenku have 100 words for bark). At the end of each winding cycle, the kin conduct a bathing ceremony in the thunderhole at low tide.

The thunderhole is great recess in the rocky coast. At high tide, the rough seas are funneled into the thunder hole. The powerful waves spout into the air with a thunderous clap. Unfortunately, due to the compounds leaching from the stored lumber rafts at the Seconders settlement, the Kenku young and old often fall ill after the ceremony.

## Mistbreakers

Mistbreakers are like Appalachian miners or Scottish clansmen. Hard people who lived a hard life. They are at war with the environment, whereas the Kenku seem a part of it. Their culture is what has been passed down from memory (from lowborns), so they’d likely seem crude and old-fashioned to common people from a city or even a rural setting. They horde stuff and pretend they are happy with their lot but they are often jealous of seconders and resentful of their hardscrabble existence.

#### Origin

When Malkholm the Littler, with his band of settlers and mercenary soldiers, became the first to cross Sunswallow pass and reach the Mistwood for King Dhaeris of Jhaeg, he sent back a young messenger boy named Len. Len reached the kingdom gates bedraggled and wide-eyed. He spoke breathlessly of untold riches in timber and a great geoglyph carved through the forest visible only at the pass.

Word never came again. Numerous attempts to locate the new settlements were a failure. The Mistbreakers were considered lost.

#### The splintering

The Mistbreakers made a go at building a settlement but soon were starving and unable to retrace their footsteps to return home to Jhaeg. Malkholm the Littler fell ill with parasites endemic to the forest. As he lay in bed with the characteristic paralyzing fear of mist associated with the illness, a number of men from his detachment killed him.

The subsequent splintering amongst the remaining Mistbreakers drove factions apart, with groups increasingly leaving the makeshift settlement and braving the forest. Today, all that remains of the attempted Mistbreaker settlement is a large rock on which a word — bintokra —was carved. The word has no known meaning in common tongue.

Only one known group of the original Mistbreakers survived: a large coalition of mostly lowborn ax-men (known colloquially as timberwolves) and their families. Surprisingly, the mercenaries and other professionals of the retinue were lost. This lowborn survived because they were taken in by Kenku who taught them how to hunt and navigate the forest. Most importantly, the Kenku taught them how to use the geothermal vents beneath the forest for drinking water, cooking, and warmth.

#### Mistbreaker culture

However, the Mistbreakers quickly left the Kenku, building several small settlements by geothermal vent openings. These settlements consist of widely spaced living spaces carved from the inside of trees called hollows. A fierce streak of self-reliance and independence, derived from their lives before breaking the mist and exacerbated by events in the forest, developed amongst the peoples.

Despite living within a day’s walk of others, family units operate in isolation. Even amongst a family this is true. Mistbreaker children live in separate trees from their parents. Once a child is old enough to swing an axe, they must carve their own dwelling in an appropriate sized tree. Eventually, should they live long enough, they will continue to search out larger trees to live in, cannibalizing the last dwelling for firewood or building supplies. No Mistbreaker would consider inheriting a hollow from another. Even more curious, Mistbreakers do not even eat together or cook for one another, nor do they typically trade goods or services amongst themselves.

However, Mistbreakers are not bereft companionship: they have long kept and bred dogs. Malcom the Littler was a famed dog breeder and would not be parted from his stock for the journey. Instead, he brought the dogs with them, reasoning that the versatile and hearty breed would be a useful companion to the new Mistbreaker settlement. Although the settlement would never be, Malcom the Littler was right in a sense. His dogs still serve the Mistbreakers well after all these years.

Now that humans from Jhaeg have returned to the forest, many young Mistbreakers are drawn to their lumber operation. Although they feel no kinship with these Seconders and do not truly understand their customs and language, young Mistbreakers are intrigued by passed down stories of the before time and beguiled by the comforts and goods the newcomers bring from Jhaeg.

The seconders take full advantage.

## Seconders

Seconders are like the rich descendants of Dakota ranchers. Their ancestors that established the settlement were hard, intelligent, and cautious people. Now, some generations later, the new Seconders have it much easier and are more wealthy in general. However, they still think of themselves like those original badass frontier explorers. They pretty much bring the culture of Jhaeg with them, with their own frontier flavor mixed in (e.g., they dress and talk slightly differently). There are not often visitors from other places in Beaufort’s Boulder, though it’s not unheard of.

#### Origin

Approximately 300 years after the Mistbreakers lost contact, an upstart noble family, bent on building status within the growing kingdom of Jhaeg, spearheaded a return to the Mistwood. These seconders, led by

Benji Jain Beaufort and his cousin Johann Beaufort, prepared for the Mistwood as if going to war.

#### The landing

Rather than taking the mountain pass as the Mistbreakers did before them, the Seconders arrived by sea. They lost 4 ships and 68 men to the pounding waves and jagged rocks. Despite their well-armed forces and the risk they took in landing, the Seconders were extremely careful once on shore.

The lifeless bodies of many of the men lost to the sea crashed repeatedly at a unique natural rock inlet that concentrated the angry seas. Staring at the swirling seas and blood stained rocks, Benji Jain Beaufort declared they would build near the thundering hole in remembrance of the fallen.

Finding a large glacial erratic boulder amidst a sand flat at the edge of the forest, the Seconders began building their encampment. No Seconder set foot in the forest until safe habitation had been established. The town was officially named Alyss, for the newborn daughter of King Aegar. However, in common parlance, it would forever be Beaufort’s Boulder or Mist Landing Mill. Confusingly, each of these names are technically used to refer both to sections within the city as well as the overall location.

#### Building the Spinster’s web

Due to the incessant mist, this process was quite slow. It was the maid for the Beaufort brood, affectionately known as Kind Nan, who came up with the idea to keep track of the children through the mist. What began as a tethering system for the children, eventually became a makeshift system of ropes and chains that led throughout the encampment. The Seconders continue to employ this tactic.

The web, also called the Spinster’s web or the Beauchain, connects each and every Seconder building in the city and stretches far into the Mistwood. To this day, the original nexus of Alyss still sets at the hearth of Kind Nan’s cabin, which has been left as a memorial even as the cabin itself was eventually replaced through the years.

Seconders have continued the cautious spirit of the original settlers, a tradition which has kept them alive and accounted for. The only time they’re “off web” or “off chain” is in a building. Otherwise, Seconders carry a small bit of chain or rope attached at the hip which keep them connected to the Spinster’s web. Indeed, the length and style of the tether is a symbol of status in Seconder culture and a form of self-expression.

#### Dealing with other inhabitants of The Mistwood

Seconders have always been wary of the Mistbreakers and Kenku, who are not normally welcomed in the city. However, Mistbreakers are a common site at logging camps in the Mistwood proper. Because Seconders are strictly loggers, mill men, or trappers/fishermen, they have grown to lean on Mistbreakers for the more dangerous or lowly jobs.

Mistbreakers are employed to navigate and lay new chains, to guard camps at night, and to carry great lanterns strapped to their backs to light the way. These Mistbreakers are derisively called mist pigs by the Seconders, but Mistbreakers call the job Seer amongst themselves.

Mistbreakers are also used to move the processed wood and dump the debarking chemicals in the ocean. The journey to take the lumber back to Jhaegar is particularly dangerous. The Mistbreakers must create a raft out of the logs and brave the rough seas along the coast, followed at a distance by a Seconder ship sailing past the break. Again, these Mistbreakers are derisively called sea pigs by the Seconders. The job is called surf runner amongst the breakers.

As for the other denizens of the Mistwood—the Kenku—the seconders steer clear. The Seconders instruct the mist pigs/seer to keep them as far away from Kenku trails as possible. However, there is growing tension over the thunderhole. The thunderhole is a spiritual place for the Kenku, but also a memorial for fallen seconder sailors. Futhermore, the debarking waste from the Seconder mill laps up on the shores, discoloring the rocks and sand, and the elderly and young Kenku have gotten ill from bathing in the water.

#### The Gold Machine

Although Mistwood trees take ages to fell and work is extremely dangerous, the logging operation is incredibly profitable. Men say these are the strongest and hardest softwoods in all of Koena. Seconders believe the geothermal vents that produce the mist are associated with rare minerals that are absorbed by the trees root systems and incorporated into the wood, giving the pliable softwood an abnormal combination of flexibility, sculptability, and strength.