ZENITHSTRAND

Fertile soil dominates the habitable space outside of the forest on the southern shore, though the forest­­or Reclamation Zone, as it is officially recognized by the Coalition­­extends to the edge of the island to the north, west, and east. The forest is strewn with ruins of Shadow Elf fortresses and High Elf spires, though the forest has grown around and, in some cases, through these sites. Former Shadow Elf sites are more prolific in the northwest, and High Elf ones are dominant in the southeast. An empty outpost sits on the southeast shore. Created by the Einher, no one has dared to inhabit it since their mysterious disappearance. Temporary Acasăn trade camps are established near the rope bridge that links the two islands at the southern tip of Zenithstrand, though these are rarely established for more than a few weeks. Dwarves have an outpost on the southwest of the island, from which they launch expeditions to Umbraecor, the ruins of a Grey Elf civilization that run beneath Zenithstrand. The Coalition of the Shadow Isles has marked off the southern section of the island, from the west shore inward to the edge of the forest, for neutral settlement and a Skein gate.

HISTORY

Local legends insist that the Wild Elf druid, Coa, prevented Zenithstrand from being torn apart in the Fracture. She planted an oak seed that grew to be a massive tree and became the centre of her grove, a place of power and safety. During the Fracture she worked some potent magic in her grove, and all the trees connected to it remained on the island now known as Zenithstrand; the price, however, was her life. Some say the grove died with her; others insist that the Overgrowth consumed it and it lives on somewhere within the forest’s depths. The Overgrowth has since claimed hundreds of ruins from the former High Elf and Shadow Elf inhabitants, who now live on Dominion and Nitrem respectively. Most tribes defend these woods and the ruins they have claimed at all costs, but the Coyote and Raccoon live in the ruins and trade with outsiders. Two incidents have reminded the rest of the Shadow Isles to respect the Overgrowth: the shipwrights’ massacre and the logger slaughter. The shipwrights’ massacre happened roughly two hundred years ago when several Bileostravan crews landed with the intention of building up a fleet. At the time, such a landing had been unprecedented by the tribes, so a day’s work was completed uninterrupted. That night, Wild Elves, Wood Fae, and Faun flooded onto the shore and flocked to the wood’s edge. The tribes suffered heavy losses outside of the woods, and a few crewmen escaped to the sea… though by all accounts Kraken dealt with these. Bileostravan heads were skewered and left outside the woods until well after the flesh rotted away. The logger slaughter is a more recent reminder to respect the Overgrowth. Within the past decade, a group of loggers from Sordestead landed. The tribes were ready to descend within minutes of loggers’ axes biting into trees. This time, the tribes never left the forest and the slaughter was a one­way affair. Though the bodies were never recovered and the incident was downplayed in Sordestead, bloody warnings were written on the trees. It is a land of abundance for any who can carve out a living alongside or from the existing tribes. Most colonization attempts fail, the outpost populations missing or dead, the most recent victims being an outpost of Einher. However, a dwarven outpost has managed to survive; this outpost is a staging area for archeological digs in Umbraecor, the city ruins running beneath the Overgrowth.

POLITICS