Arborea
2 Reaping Year 5 (EH)
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Once entwined with the Feywild, the Wild Realm of Arborea is cut off from the realms in a desperate measure to hold the encroaching Shadowfell at bay.
A plaything for the courts
Frequented by the fey Summer and Winter Courts, Arborea was regarded as the Wild Realm, a place for the courts to indulge in wild hunts, endless orgies, and epic feasts. The fey courts could lose themselves within the deep forests, frolic with strange beasts, and ride eldritch storms, free from their usual staid politicking. Arborea's extremes would even plague their minds, leaving them prey to wild swings of uncontrollable emotions. In the words of Titania, the Winter Queen, Arborea often left her feeling 'unhinged and uncontrolled, like a mortal'.
An ambitious court
Patronised and ridiculed by the major fey courts, the ancient Eladrin Lolastre surrounded herself with Arborean outcasts and re-built her court. Self-styled as the Autumn Queen, the Arborean Court of Eyes entered a new, and far more dangerous era, aligning itself with the Shadowfey, acolytes of the Realm of Despair, the Shadowfell.
Whether Lolastre understood the consequences of her invitation to the Shadowfey remains a subject of fierce debate. What is undeniable was the corruption and destruction they wrought. By the end of the resulting war, Arborea was facing destruction from the Shadowfell as it poured across the lands of eastern Arborea. To save their realm, Arborean defenders unwound the ties binding Arborea to other realms, severing planar transport. Arborea was saved, at the cost of its own permanent isolation.
Once the retreat of idle fey kings and queens, Arborea had become a lost realm, destined to fade into myth. A realm, adrift.
An isolated wild realm
Those who'd heeded the call to defend Arborea found themselves trapped within the Wild Realm, unable to contact their former homes. Settling into their new lands, they build cities, towns, and villages on the fringes of Arborea, giving rise to three noble powers sharing the realm.
Few dared to settle in central Arborea, dominated by deep forests, soaring mountains, and unpredictable eldritch storms that herald the arrival of strange creatures and ferocious beasts. Arborea might have changed the fortune of many, but even the clash of armies couldn't change the wild tempests at the heart of the Wild Realm.