The Frostweald

This once verdant land is a now a forest of winter, cursed to eternal cold by the shattering of the Archfey Auril's Mythal during the Calamity, the age that followed in the region became known as the icelost years as the landscape became a frozen wasteland in a 400 mile radius, since that time the cold has retreated to the Frostweald, where it remains.
Within the forest, ponds magically freeze into perfect mirrors, reflecting the snowy sky above, and the snow-draped trees hide families of fey hiding from enemies in their home realm. At first blush, the Frostweald seems a wonderland of crisps now and aromatic pines and firs, yet the serene landscape belies sinister danger. Herds of basilisks roam the woods, so travelers who encounter mysterious snow-covered statuaries or copses of petrified trees are advised to flee.
A massive clan of orcs known as the Shivergut also call the Frostweald their home, to the chagrin of its Fey inhabitants. Travelers are considered sport for them, a relaxing hunt for these battle-hardened warriors, used to skirmishing with the Wardens of Syngorn. The Shiverguts throw an annual coming-of-age festival, in which the tribe drinks and brawls the night before their young warriors cross the mountains on a pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Ruiner in the Dreamseep Marshlands. Those who brave the perils of the wilderness return as warriors.
The Frostweald is also home to a host of benevolent fey, most of them pixies or dryads, using the forest as a safe haven. If pressed for answers on why they have left the Feywild, their answers are always cryptic and unsatisfactory, but always ominously suggest a "Great Shadow". A greater nymph named Arethusa (use mage statistics with maximum hitpoints, creature type fey, immune to sleep and charm, water breathing, invisibility while underwater) watches over a cluster of three mirror-like pools that form a pathway into the Feywild, each to a different Archfey's forest. She is suspicious of all mortals, and both her trust and a favor are required for passage.
Many forgotten obelisks of Ioun are also buried under the ice and snow, lost beacons that guide travelers to the Caverns of Axiom. If any living creature knows why these ancient monoliths reside here when no other ruins of Ioun have been found, they have kept that knowledge secret. Ten years ago, the half-orc Emonian Archaelogist Jorlund Vohr discovered a cache of Ioun Stones buried here and returned them to the Cobalt Soul. His research and findings were stolen by mysterious cultists within a week of returning to Westruun, however.

Alternative Name(s)

Anauroch