The Elvara Forest

The Elvara Forest in eastern Elvara is a large ancient woodland with a rich history surrounded by myth and legend.   According to the Bridgeport Guild of Scholars, the forest once covered the entirety of the continent until civilisation hacked away at the sacred wilderness to build stone towers, sprawling towns and cultivate crops.   Today the forest mostly marks the eastern border of Malvarron, though the empire's expansionist policies exemplify a strong desire to increase its territory and strip the forest of natural resources. To that end, the empire have recently constructed a large fortress north of Springbrook to oversee development.   For the species that call the forest their home, the world is getting smaller and smaller.  

The origin of many species

  Since before recorded history, many peoples and creatures have evolved and adapted for life in a forested habitat.   Orcish folk are believed to originate from the ancient woodland of eastern Elvara specifically, and are considered amongst some of the oldest species in Astaeria (a fact vehemently disputed by Elves).   Orcs have several physical qualities which seem to support this view. Their green-grey skin is excellent for camouflage amongst the trees and scrubland, whilst their large pointed ears have gifted them acute hearing, allowing them to skilfully avoid anything or anyone wishing to do them harm. Their large protruding teeth could also be a remanent of ancestral species adept at hunting prey amongst the trees, aeons before the orcs we know today.   Other native species include many examples of flora and fauna, such as blood wolves, bears, deer, Fuddle-Moss, Cadalla, Wraithspur and Vilewort.   In mythology, creatures such as Sluagh are also thought to occupy the forest. Slaugh are believed to be the souls of the chaotic dead rejected by Arawyn who take over the physical bodies of native wildlife such as crows or deer.  

A sacred sanctuary

  An exodus of non-magical, mostly elven folk from the the Mathidoni Empire in the era of the Great Silence saw the formation of many tribes which have historically made the forest their home. We now refer to these tribespeople as wood elves, but in the time of Mathidon they were referred to as S'epricae due to their lack of etheral skill and unwillingness to engage with Mathidoni society.   To those who revere the Divine Mother and the 12 guardians, the forest is a sanctuary—a place to be honoured, preserved and used in the way the creator intended. Its sacred groves are an important part of wood-elven culture and spirituality, and rituals such as birthing, bonding and death ceremonies all take part in the forest.  

The eastern frontier

  Due to the chaos of elvaran politics over the last a hundred years or so, the continent of Elvara has seen some great changes.   Currently, the eastern frontier of the empire incorporates some of the ancient elvaran forest into its borders. From Stronghold in the north to the Elvaran Fortress near Springbrook, the Empire have been felling trees, mining strategic metals and quarrying stone to claim the precious resources of the wilderness.   The empire's desire for natural resources has caused much disruption in the forest of late. The wood-elves have been forced into smaller territories in the south causing tension amongst different tribes, and disturbed migratory patterns have resulted in strange creature sightings throughout central Elvara including a spate of wild animal attacks near Springbrook and Littleton.   It's fair to say that the tension between the expansionist empire and the ancient sacred forest is a conflict perhaps definitive of modern day Elvara.

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