The Ashik'an Forest

The Ashik'an Forest is one of the largest forests on Kal'shar, stretching the length of the Amanta Mountains in the west of the northern Continent. It is largely considered to be dangerous or cursed, and few will venture within its thick canopies.

Geography

The forest is a huge, dark woodland surrounding the Amanta Mountains and connecting them to the western shore of the Continent. There is a distinct haze above the canopy, like constant mist or the waves of rising heat, slightly obscuring the mountains from view and making them appear almost dreamlike from a distance. Little is known about the internal layout of the forest as any maps of the place were destroyed to prevent exploration, but it is said that the heart of the forest contains a series of ancient ruins where the souls of those lost during the First Great War reside.

Localized Phenomena

The stories of strange phenomena coming from the Ashik'an Forest are seemingly endless. Tales of tortured screaming and the echoes of past skirmishes are common among folk who venture too close to its border, along with visions of twisted ancients long since dead.
Kalka'shar who reside close enough to the woodland claim to feel a warmth emitting from the area, even in the dead of the cold, rainy-season's nights. None who enter the forest ever leave, they claim.
The Shifters, who call the forest Dusthaze believe the fog to be the 'dust' of forgotten dead lost in battle -- those who were not able to have a proper funeral rite and thus are doomed to roam aimlessly through the tortured lands for all eternity.
The one report most commonly mentioned is dancing lights and smoke from the canopy on a regular basis, scattered in the already-existing magic haze above the leaves to appear like the image of flame and distorted spirits.

History

The First Great War between Shifters and Kalka'shar was said to have begun on the land which is now the Ashik'an Forest. What had previously been small local conflicts escalated to full-blown war when a territory negotiation went awry, leading to a long, bloody battle and the deaths of many notable people.
This first conflict took place within what was then a small woodland, yet to become the grand forest it now is. The Shifters once owned the lands, claiming its rich soil and shelter for their own, but the Kalka'shar claimed rightful ownership of the old stone circle within; believing it to be a relic of their early settlement into ground-walking life. In the battle that followed, it is told that so much blood was shed that it stained the very ground red, and the trees were cursed with the souls of the dead as they grew from the baneful magic cast there.

Alternative Name(s)

Dusthaze

Type

Forest