Proteger Forest (Pro-tay-hair)

"To me, a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious rug."

Hippolyta has many trees throughout it's land of all different mundane and magical varieties, dotting the highest mountains, the lowest grass plains, and among the different biomes as well. One such type of tree, found in one specific corner of the forests, is The Proteger Willow, a large willow tree with branches that grow downward in a tight spiral. Not only does this skeleton put their sturdy branches close together, their leaves as well interlock with small sticky spines along the edges, and sappy pines coming off of the main branch linking up with its fellows as well.
With branches growing until they're roughly a foot-and-a-half away from the ground at most, an entire forest of these trees has made for a locale that's quite difficult to casually enter or exit from, especially when magic or the forces of the fae have anything to say about it.

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Geography

The land of the Proteger Forest is remarkably flat, as the usual thicker forests of Hippolyta tend to be over the nations mountains, even though those elevations are considerably lower than the peaks of other nations. But, beneath and behind the drooping shell-like canopy of the Protoger Willows, the land is steadier and less prone to sudden rock layers, making it much easy to traverse, dig into, and for animals to burrow as well. Within the middle of the Forest is a moderatly large fresh water lake, which many think is the heart of the forest and part of what keeps it so well hydrated year round.

Ecosystem

More prey species than predators live within the Proteger Forest, as they find the walls provided by the willows to be ample protection. However, that isn't to say there are no predators for them to worry about, as burrowing carnivors still make their way in, and man-eating plant creatures find it easy to move amongst their kind. But so too are those plant creatures susceptible to the various insects and beasts of the forest, which in turn leave mana and literal nutrients at the base of their protective trees.

Ecosystem Cycles

Proteger Willows are not evergreen trees, much like many of their cousins they change throughout the seasons, shedding their leaves and pines throughout fall and winter. While their trunks and branches are still going to be steadfast in place, frozen or not, this leaves many gaps for hunters and predators, making many of the animals migrate towards the northern tundra climates of Hippolyta where the evergreen trees can provide better coverage and food. This migration is also part of how the trees spread, as their shed pines get stuck on the animals as they move, however Proteger Willows don't grow in many other places easily.

Localized Phenomena

It is often said that within the Princesa Lake in the middle of the forest there lies a mirror tossed into the middle by a fairy mourning a lost mortal love. The story goes that she threw it with such strength that it created the depth of the lake, and that the water is from the mirror reflecting her endless tears. While this is a regional folk tale of sorts, a couple strange effects do happen relating to this, one magical and one mundane.
The magical effect is that the spring is a common birthing ground and meeting place for various water associated fairies, those that represent the babbling of brooks, the lap of seafoam, the glimmering of a bubble, etc etc. The second is that on stormy nights winds can get kicked up into the middle of the Forest, where the lake lies, and then get trapped within the thick perimiter, making a howling sound rocket through the outside of the forest. These are likened to the cries of the fairy, even though they don't have a directly magical source.

Climate

The Proteger Forest borders the eastern taiga biome of Hippolyta, a relatively cooler and wetter region due to the cold front that consistently hits the eastern edge and south-east of Edda. As such even in the warmest of summers it remains rather temperate, helped by the fact the thick canopy of the Proteger Willows blanets the forest in thick shade, allowing many animals that would otherwise become overheated to remain active and safe.
During the rainy seasons, the canopy also keeps a majority of the water out, although it does gather at the top of the tree and, when accumulated, comes down its swooping branches in thick streams, often creating full streams of water across the ground. This actually gave the Proteger Willows the nickname Weeping Willows, a name that spread across Edda as a colloquial name for all willow trees.

Fauna & Flora

The most populous kind of fauna in the forest are small animals that can get under the hanging canopy of the trees, mainly rabbits, squirrels, and foxes. Burrowing creatures can often get in too and while technically not under the trees, many species of bird make nests at the top of the trees, or on the inside of the thick branches if they can get in.
Underneath the trees, not only do the Proteger Willows grow themselves, but also several kinds of low-light to night-time flowers and plants, many of which are rarely found elsewhere on the surface. These have many uses in potions, poisons, salves, and magical item creation, but not everyone knows they even thrive within the shielded trees, so it's part of the regional lore of it all.

Natural Resources

Alongside the aforementioned uncommon plants within the forest, Proteger wood and branches themselves are sought after, so much so that the state of Hippolyta is very careful and precise about how much one is allowed to naturally harvest from the forest, the rest coming from clippings or rapidly grown saplings. This is because the Proteger Willow's are naturally flowing with mana suitable for defensive magic, and materials built from it tend to maintain that effect, becoming more resistant and durable, and wands or staves made from it will be able to use defensive magic with greater ease.
The water from Princesa Lake is also clean and mineral-laden, and is also said to be enriched with healing qualities. A modern scientest might posit that the water contains key vitamins or microbes that assist with health, but it hasn't been allowed to be studied just yet. However, people have traveled to the lake and cured their ails with the water before, at least according to regional stories.

History

The Proteger Forest has been a feature for a long time in Hippolyta, longer than the nations language has been put into writing. Many say that it used to be much larger, but that greedy builders tricked a whole family of fae into cutting a large swath of it with razor winds in order to make their homes. That myth also gives that incident as the reason a cold wind blows over that region, as revenge for the trickery.
The most prominent and eponymous part of the forests history comes before the -4000's EE, before the Three Kingdoms official dating system. In an archic semi-lost form of time keeping this would be placed around -4722 EE, and while reliably passed through history factuality is hard to add. Nonetheless, the story goes that a small lost kingdom near the forest was being beset by a rival group. Leaders already slain, their eldest daughter and heir to the throne was hurried away from the kingdom as its trees began to burn, slowly losing her guardians one-by-one.
As she began to breech the edge of the grassfields and towards the cold forests of the north, she prayed and begged the land and all who could hear her to come to her aid. As she finished her prayer, the canopy of a willow she thought was an ivy-laden cliff parted, allowing her inside of the forest. She continued to pray and thank the trees, the fae folk, the God-Fae above them, and the souls of nature itself.
Eventually, her legs gave out, and could run no further, but a pair of blue rams appeared within the woods and carried her to the lake in the center, one using their horns to gently foist her onto the other. When they reached the lake, the carefully set the sleeping princess at the edge of the lake, and let the slow ebb and flow of the water take her floating to its center.
When the princess awoke, she found that day had broken, and saw a crow carrying a seed from her kingdoms central tree. Unfortunatley her home had turned to ash, but the trees still lived, and they could grow once more. She set out to begin what would doubtlessly be a difficult task, yet found the path back through the forest to be winding and confusing, unable to truly track the path of the sun.
When she finally found the edge, and thanked all who protected her once more, she exited the thick canopy to find the outside riddled with arrows, slashes, and burns, all of which had long-since healed. Furthermore, in the plain outside of the forest, she found long decayed skeletons still in their armor, with damage looking to be caused by hoof and by horn. She would eventually return back to her kingdom, seeing a new family in charge and the village already being rebuilt, finding that fifty years had passed while she waded in the lake.
But, her people welcomed her home, and she replanted the seed in the center of the kingdom, bowing to those who stepped up in her absence, promising to help however she could. She then told of how exactly she came to survive, and the forest officially got it's title as The Proteger Forest, the Forest of Protection.

Tourism

While many people love to travel to the Proteger Forest and see the wall of willow branches, it's more of a niche interest than a common landmark, but for people of the region is quite special.

Alternative Name(s)

Fae-Shield Grove

Type

Forest, Temperate (Seasonal)

Owning Organization

Hippolyta