The Grandgleam Forest
"The Grandgleam is a jewel from afar, and a coffin from within. The lights only dance to draw you in closer."
The Grandgleam Forest is less a woodland and more a living labyrinth, a vast, shifting tide of wildlife that consumes nearly half the land of Everwealth. By daylight, its misted horizons shimmer with enchantment, the air humming with drifting motes of colored light and the sway of trees so colossal they blot out the sky. By night, it glows like a fallen constellation, a sea of bioluminescent leaves, floating orbs, and silent, ghost-lit ruins. To stand at its edge is to look upon beauty so breathtaking it makes the heart ache. To step inside is to gamble with your life. Within this radiant canopy lies the deadliest places on the continent. Everything here hungers, the ground for your footing, the plants for your flesh, the ruins for your curiosity. Beasts stalk in the undergrowth with fangs longer than daggers. Rogue Elfese constructs, remnants of a bygone kingdom, still haunt the ancient paths, locked in an eternal war with the Human “shaven apes” they were built to destroy. Even the air itself is treacherous, glowing spores can blind or mislead, invisible magicks collapse cliffs in a heartbeat, storms appear from nowhere; The forest resents an intruder’s every breath it would seem, and sets every weapon it has against it. The Grandgleam is not merely dangerous, it is ferocious, alive. Its seasons breathe in colors alien to the rest of the world, spring erupts with drifting pollen veils, summer hums with predatory hunger, autumn drops leaves that crackle with magick as they fall, and winter paints frost-light patterns in the air, as if the forest sketches its own runes.
The peculiar nature and long history of this place has seen it the mother of many landmarks and treasures in-kind. The Soaring Lands for instance, famed chunks of stone and earth suspended midair by magickal energy, floating slowly overhead like islands in a vast ocean of leaves, some carrying ruins no one dares to reach; Or deep within the forest's heart, where entire cities built by the Elfs now slumber, their marble plazas now little more than hunting grounds for whispering predators. No army has claimed it. No crown has tamed it. For almost five centuries since The Great Schism, Everwealth has thrown lives, blood, and hope into its jaws, and all it has ever spat back out are bones and shattered ambitions. And yet the forest calls. To a scholar, the Grandgleam is an archive of The Lost Ages, laboratories buried under moss, libraries sealed behind stone, artifacts from an empire that predated Everwealth’s birth, sometimes the ancient empire before it. To an outlaw, it is a graveyard of forgotten plunder and a place to hide. To the hunter, it is a brave frontier, where the daring come to prove themselves or suffer a violent end. And to the desperate, the starving, the bold, it is a promise. Of riches, of knowledge, of something worth dying for. No one knows if the Grandgleam is protecting something… or if it is itself the threat. All that is certain is this, once the canopy swallows the sky behind you, there is no law, no path, no light that will guide you back. Only the gleam.
Geography
The Grandgleam Forest dominates the reaches of Everwealth, stretching over almost half of the land's thousand miles. It is an ancient, sprawling wilderness where dense canopies blot out the sun and misty rivers wind through valleys of moss-covered ruins. Its terrain shifts unpredictably, rolling hills give way to jagged cliffs, deep ravines, and hidden loughs. Massive trees with trunks wide enough to dwarf small buildings rise above forgotten cities, military bunkers, and laboratories lost to time. These ruins lie scattered across the forest floor, overtaken by creeping vines and luminous fungi, their secrets buried beneath layers of decay. Few who venture into the heart of the Grandgleam return unscathed, as its beauty masks an unforgiving nature.
Ecosystem
The Grandgleam is a crucible of life fueled by ancient magick, teeming with creatures both mundane and extraordinary. Dire jaguars stalk the underbrush, horse-sized beetles crawl through rotting ruins, and serpents as long as trees lie coiled in wait. Dangerous plants like the Burnbramble thrive here, and derelict Elfese golem-soldiers patrol ancient pathways long overgrown, mistaking all intruders for "Shaven-Apes" to be eradiated. This delicate balance of flora, fauna, and magickal phenomena ensures that the forest remains untamed, systematically consuming those who dare disturb its harmony. The forest’s sheer biodiversity makes it both a treasure trove of resources and a deathtrap for the unprepared.
Ecosystem Cycles
Localized Phenomena
Climate
Fauna & Flora
Life in the Grandgleam is as enchanting as it is deadly. Towering Everwood Trees dominate the skyline, their leaves glowing faintly. Glowbloom Vines coil around ruins, lighting the way to your early grave with alluring bioluminescent petals. Predatory plants like Burnbrambles and Snapthorn Shrubs hunt the unwary, while creatures ranging from mundane wolves and owls to monstrous wyverns and spectral stags claim dominion over its expanse. Bats from the Hells have become an invasive scourge, spreading rapidly and displacing native species. Meanwhile, ancient Elfese constructs, malfunctioning but still lethal, stalk the ruins, protecting treasures from an era long past.
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