Rebel Forest

This forest and the mountains encircled by it have always been a rather lawless country. Trading routes went around it rather than through it and towns rose in a safe distance. Only few men dwell near the forest edge, mostly woodcutters. 

Once past the first mile of trees, one has come to another land. It is a land where the laws of the civilized world do not count. Outlaws have their camps here, preying on passing travellers and trade caravans that take the small roads through the forest to shorten their way by a few miles. Also the rebels live here, those that stood up against the godking  and had to flee their homes. No they work in secret and send small parties out to rob tax collectors or destroy statues of the godking. 
And then, even deeper into the woods, where the shadows deepen and the ground begins to slope upwards, even stranger things live. Stories of dwarves  and lelves , nymphs  and ghosts, faerie  and spirits sprout here and have spread for many hundrets of miles. Few have seen the heart of these mountains and even less have returned to tell the story. Some say all the beings in that forest have sworn allegiance to each other to overthrow the godking, other say they make war against each other and do not care for the happenings outside of their land. And others say these creatures do not even exist.