Historical Overview

An indigenous group known to archaeologists as the Traeburn Woodland Culture suddenly disappears from the archaeological record. The reasons for this are entirely unclear. The only details revealed through archaeology are that this was a group belonging to the Hopewell tradition, and that they briefly revived human sacrifice in the Blackstead Forest (a thin layer of soot is visible at the monolith from between around 440 - 500 AD, along with charred bone fragments).   Theric archaeology has revealed a concentration of aphotic aspect around 500 CE, at which point the culture vanishes. In the following centuries, travelers go out of their way to avoid the area. The Traeburn River valley remains entirely uninhabited - as far as anyone knows - until the settlement of Autumn Grove.

By 1400, Cahokia is abandoned.

The Erie nation, broken militarily by the Iroquois Confederacy, no longer function as a political or cultural group. They refuse to discuss the Blackstead Forest. Any knowledge they possess about the area dies with them.

Temperance Bradford took command of the Autumn Grove garrison and several Braddock College arcanists to repel an aphotic attack on the town. Upon receiving Congressional reinforcements, Bradford attacked into the Blackstead, using holy aspect to destroy one of Howgrave's lieutenants. There would never again be an attack in force from the Blackstead, though people would continue to go missing if they wandered too near the treeline.