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Avani's Garden

Weeping Woods

Written by Endrise

How do you handle the thought of living in the shadow of your creator's corpse?
— Wandering Scholar
By understanding she is as living as the forests she feeds.
— Cleric of Avani

What remains of the Titan Avani is a forest landscape flowing with her Blood, creating an unique habitat home to plantlife not seen elsewhere in Silva. Known as Avani's Garden, it is the resting place for one of the first gods and home to the Elvir.

Forest of the Fallen

Found around the northeastern side of the Silvian map, the forest extends several miles of vegetation scattered across several mountains, rivers and more. At its center lies the remains of Avani, referred to as the Mother Mountain Range by locals.

Only a few roads break through these luscious woods, as anywhere else the trees grow too thick for wagons to travel. Going off-road is an often dangerous act, as many try to find a way back only to end up deeper into the forest. Going above the tree tops is no help either, becoming a sea of leaves only distinguisable from high above by its rivers and mountains.

God-Given Life

Centuries of decomposition caused Titan's Blood to leak through every bit of soil across the land, making it contaminated beyond seperation. Avani's influence is so potent, it creates an ecosystem not seen elsewhere on Sichelan, home to almost alien plantlife with unique properties.

There are over a thousand unique species that call this place home, possibly more unknown by researchers. Evolved from the Titan's flesh, forming symbiotic relationships with the plants around them for protection, from bark-like camouflage to hide upon the trees to a poisonous bite caused by the fruits they eat, if not the reanimated life known as the Elvir themselves.

Fae-Touched Woods

If the Blood of a Titan was not enough, the garden is also home to many Fae who settled down amongst the woods. Seclusive places where their part of the Faelands leaks in, making the deeper regions of the forest only more dangerous to navigate without a guide.

With it comes also the presence of many Fae species, such as the Fairy hives that build their colonies here or numerous plants invasive to the territory. Fae plants also show up, often invasive and causing oddities in local wildlife, such as enhanced magic or greater sentience.

The local population tries to hinder the invasive growth where possible, but their trickery makes it difficult for anything to stick. The only advice is not to go off the beaten path.
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Enhanced Soil

Not only does the blood and flesh of Avani allow plants to mutate into something grand, the very soil has become potent with her essence. Anything planted within grows to great sizes, bearing rich fruits in the progress.

This makes it sought after as soil for crops, providing rich harvests even from a single plant. Most of the outskirts got converted into farmland for nearby settlements to use, providing a third of Silva's yearly harvests.

Expansion is difficult however, as an abundance of Fae activity, religious protections and even the very woods fighting back make it hard to expand further in. Instead, some people take dirt from the forests to use in personal gardens, if not sell it to collectors for a hefty price.

History

The Fall of Avani

Old folklore speaks of the garden being once where the Titan Avani sat, occupied with her creation of plants and plantlife alike. It is said to be where the first semblance of Elves emerged as well, as the divine being offered protection to her group of Antomniae. After the Titan War ended, the newly born Fae made some of their first gateways here, spreading their part of the Faelands amongst the forests.

Things changed however with the Tri-Realm War, as an invasion of Demon descended upon Avani's domain and challenged her, fighting against their corruption. She fought valiantly, protecting her creations as the fiends tore her apart, only to be slain by the Aspect of Lust itself.

As the war came to an end, Avani's body lied silently over the landscape of Silva, thought her spirit persisted. Undying as her kind was, her being became one with the soil, her remains feeding the plants around her as the age of Prehistoria came to an end.

Over time her body turned into the mountains, her flesh the soil, her blood the rivers, vanishing into the landscape itself. The Elves built their kingdoms around her corpse, claiming her site as sacred grounds for Elvenkind.

The Blazing War

The Blazing War was the next major event that threatened Avani's Garden. Velda Sangfroid's forces marched into Silva's territory in an attempt to reclaim the capital, slaughtering her way through it. To push through the garden, entire sections burned to the ground, setting lit the day in forest fires. Legends speak of cries audible as the trees burned, persisting long after the capital fell not long after.

As the Great Sangfroid Empire took control of the region, the Garden reacted hostile to anything approaching it. Reports tell of soldiers vanishing into the woods, trees cut down growing back twice as thick, even its borders expanding over the reign of Velda's takeover. Only when Aulek Sangfroid took the throne did the forest seem to calm its expansion, even if reports of missing soldiers kept popping up.

Great Sangfroid War

The second sign of activity came during the Great Sangfroid War, even preemptively. News of Caesar Sangfroid's planned attack had the forest's roads close off, trees breaking up the paths and preventing anything from getting inside. Even the previous attempt of burning the forest down failed, as Fae and Titan choked out any fire they tried to lit. Nothing breached the garden.

Things only become more worrisome as Wormwood got attacked by the Wormrot Plague, for only short after an earthquake to shake the whole region. Legends speak of the whole Mountain Range shaking from its foundation, with one of the five pillars around the former capital collapse because of it. A disaster that made cities crumble and entire areas sink beneath the crust.

The disaster actually discouraged a further attack, as the Great Sangfroid Empire feared they provoked forces they should not mess with. No earthquake of that magnitude was recorded since, making few believe it to be natural at all.


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Cover image: Geographic Location Cover by Endrise

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