Dark Forest Settlements

The **Dark Forest Settlements** are a series of outposts, hamlets, and homesteads, all too small to be considered true villages, established by the Eggpire along the north-eastern shallows of Dark Forest. These settlements largely sprung up in response to increasing travel between Egg City and the Pass of Change. Apart from the wealth brought in by travelers, the settlements primarily export timber and import foodstuffs.

Three major locations stand out among the settlements. First and most significant is the Dark Forest Inn. While many can understand the importance it has as the largest stop on the trail to the Pass of Change, those who have not been there may underestimate its importance. The largest structure within Dark Forest, the Inn is more than a place to spend the night and buy drinks. Its courtyard holds the only market within Dark Forest worthy of that term, and the are around the Inn boasts fortifications that make it a place of refuge in times of danger. Its presence at the center of a large clearing has caused Dark Forest's only concentrated farmlands to spring up around it. The settlements' militia also operate out of the Inn and regard it as their headquarters.

Second is Dark Forest's shrine to Chloe. Situated atop a small hill rising from among the trees, the shire's stained glass windows glow with the light of the arcing sun over the day's course. Its elevated position also makes it defensible, and a few fortifications are manned by devoted warriors of the goddess.

Finally is Black Rose, largest of the Dark Forest settlements. Though mostly consisting of a walled cluster of houses and barns, the hamlet is home to Royce's Remedies, an herbal and alchemical shop from whence the settlements' citizens get their HRT potions, among other medicines. The shop splits duty with the shrine for serving the functions of a hospital when needed.

Dark Forest's Royal Territorial Governor's mansion does not, in fact, lie within Dark Forest, it is instead located in the hills just to the north. This physical removal serves as a visceral expression of the political reality that the governorship is largely powerless over the settlements yet is also blissfully unaware of this fact. In truth, the settlements are covertly controlled by the Dark Forest Circle: a cabal of witches who are led by the three Rampling sisters.

The sisters each control a major aspect of the settlements' infrastructure, with the eldest, Xenobia, being the owner of the Inn, the middle sister, Phacia, being the Shrine Maiden, and the youngest, Royce, owning the Black Rose herbal shop. Beyond the daily function of the settlements being dependent on the Circle's leaders, the militia can only provide so much protection against the dangers of Dark Forest, and the witches' magic serves as the settlements' primary defenses against serious threats. This has created a society where the rule of the aristocracy is absent, instead boasting a strange order where witches are revered. Despite this, the Circle remains passionately loyal to Chloe and thus the settlements remain dutiful parts of the Eggpire.

Though it could have taken over the governorship long ago, the Dark Forest Circle instead does its best to avoid its rule being detected by keeping the Royal Governor uncompromised but blissfully ignorant of its own powerlessness. In this way whenever suspicions are raised in Egg City about the settlements, the resulting investigation always reports back simply that the governor appears innocent of all corruption. As the tax revenue continues to flow freely from the settlements to the Crown through the governor's mansion, no deeper probing investigation into Dark Forest's power structures has ever been launched.