The Unending Forest

Once known as the Meisj Forest, the vast coniferous woodland is better known to conscious-kind as the Unending Forest. By all accounts it holds no inherent magical properties of bending space or time, but instead simply stretches far to the north and east of Ristarca. Unverified rumours and legends speak of mountains and deserts beyond its boughs. But the many hostile denizens of the woods makes it nigh-impossible to traverse beyond a few days journey in. During the day, many wondrous creatures can be found across the physiography of the forest, from giant insects and birds of prey in the Varacai Plateau to elementals and burrowing beasts in the Ashen Wastes. These alone could stymy most stalwart and experienced adventurers. However, in the night, strange monstrosities come out to prowl the forest, beasts grafted with shadows who seek to hunt down all those who might trespass. The further in you go, the more twisted and cruel these creatures become.
Due to the extreme danger posed by the forest most adventurers will go no further than a weeks worth of travel into the woods. This has been sufficient however to provide enough danger, glory, and treasure for many a name to be venerated in guild halls and city memorials. In the past century the discovery of ancient ruins with puzzling enchantments and magical artifacts and deep cave systems with networks of tunnels covered in strange writings has slowed but not stopped. There is a perpetual need to venture out to deal with the nests, burrows, and encampments of things waiting to sweep away the City of Marsétan. A few select guilds organized longer journeys, such as the Disciples of the Lost and The Loft of the Ashae. Yet even they with their expertise and resources only conduct these expeditions rarely and after months of preparation. Should the Ristarcan peninsula continue to remain stable and no further wars occur within Marsétan, it is likely in the coming decades conscious-kind will begin to push further into the unending forest. Time will tell if conscious-kind will be that lucky.

Regional and sub-regional Geography

In the centuries that conscious-kind has lived beside the unending forest, various sub-regions and areas of the forest have been encountered. By and large a temperate coniferous forest characterized by large pines and firs in higher elevations and hemlocks and cedars closer to the edge. The canopy rolls along far above the ground unbroken except for the occasional towering pines and hidden groves. Much of the small to medium sized rodents, mammals, and birds make their homes in the high boughs of the unending forest, somewhat safer from the larger predators below. The understory is made up of ferns, fungi, and evergreen shrubs that can make travel difficult and dangers hard to spot. Though areas exist that are almost devoid of shrubbery create unsettling columns of trees resting along beds of decaying pine needles.

Sweltering Swamp

Located to the north of Ristarca the sweltering swamp has a nigh-perpetual haze of humidity over it and is one of the bettered explored area of the unending forest. An area of lowlands that is fed by various tributaries that eventually drain into the Naud River and pour off the end of the world. Large grasping vines cover the bloated trees and hang thick at the base of the canopy. The air is humid and reeks of stagnant pools of water and plant rot. Here beautiful water birds co-exist with venomous beasts lurking just underneath the surface.
Submersi Sequoiadendron giganteum (Sunken Giant Sequoa trees). 23-28ft diametre trunks. 150 - 250ft high.
Ampelopsis brevipedunculata (Porcelain Berry) Hang up to 100 ft.

Varecai Plateau

To the northeast of Ristarca is the Varecai Plateau, a geological shield with hard rocky outcropping and sparse vegetation. Abnormally large creatures have seemingly made this area their home. This includes various large borrowing insects and the more massive birds of prey that feast on them. For this reason flight is dangerous along the edge here. Travelers report attacks from massive eagles and humanoid winged creatures that nest in the cliffs along the edge.

The Old Growth

Along the northern portion of the wall and in the base of the massive peaks of the Hekaltan range beyond, is an area referred to as the old growth. Here trees reach up hundreds of feet above the forest floor below, blanketing it in perpetual shadow. Those who have wandered in speak of old spirits and guardians, draconic protectors, and animated plant life.

The Ashen Wastes

A cursed area of the unending forest caught in perpetual smoldering. A thick blanket of ash covers the ground hiding burrows of strange subterranean creatures. The air is obscured by ash and soot whipped up by the frequent windstorms. Old burnt trees are the gravestones of what must have once been a flourishing part of the forest. Now, life seems to avoid the wastes, leaving it to elementals of fire and ash and undead carrion birds.

Old Sea Canyon

Old Sea Canyon is the furthest landmark within the unending forest. Far to the northeast of Ristarca, it is said to have contained one of the major tributaries for the seas of the Cedalian Empire. Now the canyon stretches down towards a rushing river that gushes out into The Lost. With The Split shearing off the land that once would have contained the runoff, the deep walls now lead down to an increasingly perilous jut of land eroding away. With each passing year the floor of the canyon collapses, leaving a stark and nigh unpassable abyss between the western and eastern portions of the forest.

Laud Deligal

Few claim to have seen Laud Deligal and those who do are rarely believed. it is said to have been built near the Old Sea Canyon, however what little is known about this place comes from legends and old books. Once a sprawling city millennia before the Split, an uprising shook its foundations and left it abandoned. Now in the years that have passed, the forest has claimed its parapets and dungeons. Cracking open what buildings it can and leaving the rest as tombs for old folly and hubris.

Type

Forest