Cully Dhorcha (ˈkʰu.li ˈɣɔɾəxə)

The Cully Dhorcha is a forest that dominates central Rheged and carries a well-earned reputation as a dark and evil place. During the occupation of Ynys by the Clarati, the region that would later become Rheged fell under the control of the sorceress Solis. Her experiments with The Egregoric Force centered on fear and strangeness, and in Rheged she focused on creating a self-perpetuating cycle of terror. By planting fear of the forest in the minds of those living near it, she generated egregoric pressure on the land and the dreaded creatures took form. They rose from the trees and attacked the very people who had unwillingly called them into being, which deepened fear of the shadowed wood. Solis used several forms of mental magic to sustain this cycle, and succeeded in creating a system that has outlived her by millennia despite many efforts to dismantle it.

Fear Itself

To students of The Egregoric Force, the Cully Dhorcha stands as a model of how it works. Collective belief generates pressure within The Dream and draws out the shapes of what people imagine. These forms appear in the physical world, fixed to the woodland that anchors their tales. They then act exactly as people feared they would, stirring fresh terror in their victims and feeding the cycle.

Many have tried to break this cycle since Solis first set it in motion. Most begin by trying to explain it, only to discover that those who live near the forest already understand its function, and that knowing your fears summoned the monsters does nothing to make them less horrifying when they strike. Others attempt to defuse the fear by inventing elaborate protections or by recasting the monsters as laughable. This never works, because the beings of the Cully Dhorcha are not simple beasts or mindless forces. They are thinking entities in their own right, and they bristle at any attempt to weaken what they are. When they sense the fear that empowers them beginning to fade, they escalate their attacks and do all they can to spread the terror that sustains them. Their active resistance to any effort to lessen fear of the forest has proven extremely hard to counter.

Many would-be saviors attempted a simpler solution and evacuated the region. This is equally ruinous, for the forest depends on that fear, and it stretches to reach it. Across the centuries it has grown to more than twice its original size, and Rheged's neighbors insist it cannot be allowed to spread further. People may choose to die at the forest edge, but they must not stray far from it, or it will expand to follow them.

A Dance Against the Dark

The one tactic that has shown real value is containment. The people of Rheged have long used Folk Magic to hold the Cully Dhorcha at bay through ritual dances performed along the forest edge. The dancers wear bells on their ankles and wrists and move in groups, following precise patterns that weave a temporary barrier against the creatures within. These rites are carried out mainly by the Duffian Foresters, who travel the boundary of the Cully Dhorcha and work constantly to reinforce its defenses. When needed, they also venture into the woods to attempt rescues, hunt the monsters, and bring a little light into the shadowed heart of the forest.

These dances do not lessen the fear people feel, for everyone knows the protection is brief and may fail without warning. Still, they make the dread easier to bear. The ring of the bells marks a moment of safety and a night that may hold only nightmares rather than death. Naturally, the forest creatures despise this containment, and a dance always draws their attention. The foresters must be ready to defend themselves at all times, and few who dance the forest edge live long enough to grow old.