Sky Elders

Far in the North, so far that the edge of Thorlakshofn barely brushes this place, stand the Sky Elders. Tall, elegant pines that reach into what seems like infinity.
Long ago, before the War, before Magic became less of a blessing and more of a disease, the Sky Elders stood. Before the Dragons slept and the Dwarves dug themselves into silence, the Sky Elders stood. Before Elves, before Humans, before The Little Folk, the Sky Elders stood. Before the Eel Spine mountains, the Spirit Wells, the Deep Mangroves, the Sky Elders stood.
Tall and slender, the Sky Elders look like their nearby smaller relatives, the Silver Pines, in that they have thin trunks and high branches sitting about 6 feet off the ground, and wide canopies that stretch out 8 feet in diameter. Unlike their relatives however, the bark and flesh of the trunks and branches is a silvery grey color with strips of white lichen growing between the crevices of the dull bark. The needles stretch about 5 inches out in clusters of 5 and are almost translucent with how pale they are. What light creeps through the ever present low-hanging clouds makes the needles shimmer slightly iridescent.
The branches and needles cluster tightly and block anyone from seeing past the first layer of branches. If a person stands back from the tree, the outer bristles also block any sign of life within the cone of the tree, which stretches into the clouds and disappears. Few attempt to climb these giants and those who do are often bed ridden for weeks. If a person tries to climb a tree, the moment they break through the lower layer of branches they will be thrust into the deepest cold of their lives. All around is shimmering whiteness, colder than snow, sharper than ice. It will blind them and freeze their bones until they either gather enough of their wits to climb down or, more often, fall out of the tree frozen stiff. Some brave (or foolish) people who have attempted this and dressed warmly claimed to have briefly spotted mysterious animals among the branches. Long-limbed creatures with delicate, fingered hands tipped in sharp claws. Their whole bodies were covered in long, flowing white hair, the same color at the surrounding needles, and their eyes are tiny, black, shining beads in faces shrouded by the long fur. Some of the people who were near death or stunned by the cold claimed they felt small hands pushing them out of the tree, but weren't sure if it was the creatures or the needles of the tree brushing against them as they fell to the ground below.
More often than not, the trip to visit the Sky Elders is done rarely and with extreme caution. After several incidents, word quickly spread that trying to cut, chop, slice, break, or rip any part of the tree would result in the person being found less than a day later in pieces among the Sky Elders, their bloody pieces frozen and stuck to the ground. The tree that had been damaged would seep a blood-like ichor that nobody dared to collect for fear of facing the same fate. Several trees can be spotted sporting what looks like ancient bloody wounds on their trunks and lower branches because of these attempts.
Some people have attempted to gather the needles from these trees but never succeeded in obtaining them without losing their lives. Only one bundle of needles was ever retrieved by a woman, Imelda, who accompanied a fellow villager to retrieve some. Her friend ripped off the bunch and handed it to her, but as she turned to go back to town she heard her companion scream and the sound of something ripping him to pieces. Without looking back, she had run to the village through the unnaturally silent forest and the bundle sits in a bell jar she had specially requested from a travelling merchant in her hut. She is now considered something of a 'town kook' and will warn people loudly against visiting the Sky Elders.