Wilds of Tenwä

From the southern and eastern coasts toward the northern and western edges of Elteläi, the land remained fairly steady and mellow. Hills rose between lakes, ponds and rivers, occasionally forming cliffs and spots of bare bedrock where earth did not reach.

In the west mountain peaks rose above the clouds above. Their height paled in comparison to the World Mountains found in the southern lands, but for the descendants of the Eltiri these were the largest geographical formations they had ever witnessed.

The mountains were said to have been created by giants whether as homes or walls, and whatever the truth, the white-tipped peaks spread from the west all the way across the far northern lands where Udzar ended and the mythical realm of winter began.

Southwest from Elteläi, rivers surged through an uneven landscape of myriad cliffs and hills toward the western coast. Here in Sümilennä the pines were tall and the oaks older than anywhere else in Tenwä, a point of pride to the local Lennöri, who remained convinced their home would be enough to shelter them through any period of death and cold.

Myriad trees overshadowed the undergrowth of Tenwä. Pine, oak, birch, rowan, elm—the list hardly had an end. Birds and insects form the bulk of fauna living in the treetops, while below an entire ecosystem thrives untouched by and unknown to mankind.

Beyond bear, elk, wild wolves and many others, smaller critters such as forest rabbits, weasels and variety of mice sprint between bushes of ferns and blueberries.

In the deep waters, swimming between fish to the horror of all around them, are the nelhei—a carnivorous hunter capable of turning itself into any shape its target may seem tempting enough to approach. While the young ones were easy to notice as the predators they were, some of the older nelhei could be decades, even centuries old, and had long since learned to perfectly mimic most shapes.

Tales of the old Eltiri described Tenwän Wilds as a 'garden of giants', and the trees as children of the original, the Great Oak at the Heart of the World. The details differed from there, but the myth continued to live through the northern people in various forms.

The Eltiri themselves reached the Wilds sometime before the First Age began, when mankind had barely began to walk. In the stories they told their descendants, the world was going through some kind of time of turmoil and great change as the very land itself broke apart.

The first of the northern people settled in Elteläi which formed the heart of Tenwän Wilds. From there humans began to spread out as times went on and their numbers grew, all the way until the First Age came to an end.