Vigila Forest
Deep within the grim borders of Falkovnia, the Vigila Forest broods in silence—an ancient, oppressive woodland that whispers with unspoken grief and buried horrors. Towering black-barked trees—mostly ash and ironwood—pierce the skies with skeletal branches, their bark veined with sap the color of dried blood. The canopy is thick and tangled, choking out sunlight even at midday, casting the forest floor into a world of half-light and shadow.
Vigila Forest is a cursed woodland of unnatural stillness and vengeful memory. It is a place of exile, retribution, and whispered secrets, where even the trees judge the living. In Falkovnia, death comes by siege and sword—but in Vigila, it comes slowly, silently, and with eyes wide open.
“Do not light a fire in the Vigila. The shadows don’t like to be outshone.”
Geography
Locals say the Vigila doesn’t just conceal danger—it remembers.
- The trees are unnaturally straight and tall, unnerving in their uniformity.
- In stillness, one can hear the faint rustling of unseen things, like whispers moving from trunk to trunk.
- Those who enter the woods alone often return changed, or not at all.
It’s said that the forest watches with unknowable patience, its name derived from the old Falkovnian word for “vigil” or “eternal watch.”
Fauna & Flora
The Vigila is home to things that walk, even in daylight:
- Black hounds with glowing yellow eyes, silent as breath.
- Stag-headed revenants that mimic the voices of lost loved ones.
- Skeletal birds that perch in silence, never blinking.
- And in the deepest hollows, groves that rearrange themselves behind travelers’ backs.
Some speak of a Witch of Vigila, a horned, skeletal figure who offers “blessings of protection”—for a price payable only in guilt.
History
Once the site of mass executions, deserted military campaigns, and botched purges, the Vigila Forest is littered with forgotten graves, collapsed trenches, and rotting gallows platforms swallowed by underbrush. Many trees bear strange growths—knots resembling twisted faces, hands, or screaming mouths.
Legends claim that the souls of the dishonored dead are trapped in the trees:
- Hanged deserters.
- Executed refugees.
- Soldiers sacrificed in Drakov’s futile offensives.
Their pain saturates the woods, and in certain places, the air is thick with invisible weeping
Drakov’s regime uses Vigila Forest as a dumping ground for the unwanted:
- Rebels, political prisoners, and cowards are marched into its depths with no weapons or hope of return.
- Even soldiers fear pursuing prey into its heart.
- Secret enclaves of escaped slaves and dissidents are said to live in the deep woods, surviving against the dead and the trees themselves.
Those who survive the forest are said to return haunted, speaking only in riddles—or not at all.
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