The Vault

Mother, there is a place on the other side of the Canvas. Father told me.
That old fool, always gaffing. What did he tell you about it?
Only the name. It's called the Vault. What does that mean?
Ah! The Vault. That is where Filli stores her mistakes.
What? What do you mean?
Well, Filli is just like us. She's young, she's trying things out. So that means she makes mistakes. And when she makes those mistakes, she places them far away from us.
Why would she do that? Keep her mistakes, I mean. That seems... illogical, you get rid of mistakes.
Filli values all life, no matter what. She values all creation as well. To get rid of something just because it is dangerous or didn't come out just right? That would be foolish. It deserves life. So, it is placed in the Vault to fend for itself.
Oh. Do the Grippli hunt them, like they hunt the creatures in the Brambles?
No, no... These things are different than the Brambles Animals. These are unnatural, odd... Corrupt wishes that came true incorrectly. The only thing keeping us from them is the Arengold Tree. Her roots are wards against those vile creatures.
Oh. Do you know about the beings there?
A bit, from my adventuring days.
Can I know about them?
...
One of them?
Fine. While there, I found a Crawler Monkey. But it wasn't simply a Crawler. It was infected by something... Something on it's brain. It moved slowly, stiffly, like it was sleepy. When we got close it didn't even flinch. Not until we killed it.
You killed it?! Why?
You can't let them exist like that. It was clearly infested with some... Strange curse. We simply had to put it down.
...
Never go to the Vault. That's an order.
Yes ma'am.

Geography

The Vault is a massive desert. The Arengold Tree absorbs a ton of nutrients, but the dirt beneath the tree itself is normally safe. Not down here. The Vault's ground is cracked and dry. Few plants grow down here that were not planted by Filli's own hand.

The Vault stretches for a vast distance. Water is very rare, only collected during periods of intense rainfall. Most creatures banished to the Vault die within a week. The survivors do not need water, have other methods of gathering water, or are not living in the first place.

When not being assaulted by organic life, the Vault has a surreal feeling to it. As it is one of the few parts of land on the Arengold Forest devoid of the Tree's roots or of much plant life, the intense curve of the horizon can be more readily investigated and appreciated.

Ecosystem

The life cycle of the Vault is dominated by the Undead. Filli's experiments with bringing the dead to life were deemed mistakes and cast aside here. Most of the time, these abominations are quickly destroyed by large, aggressive animals.

The sole problem is the Woken. The Woken are driven by a need for flesh, and are infectious. Unfortunately, none have found a cure. Thus, the Woken continue to wander the Vault, infecting those seen.

Animals like the Tyrant Bird and other massive creatures are just under the Woken. They are capable of crushing the zombies quickly, but will eventually succumb to the disease. Outside of that situation, these creatures feed on many of Filli's mistakes.

Filli considers many things her mistakes, and some of those can reproduce. The Tyrant Bird and Fire Wasp both feed on Wallabaloos, strange herd animals that can spontaneously and erratically reproduce. These were determined dangerous due to their tendency to appear within other creatures, causing both of the targets to die.

Herbivores that are determined to be mistakes have a surprising number of options to choose from. Filli considers many poisonous or infection-carrying plants to be a disease. Over time, the wishes who feed upon plants have developed an immunity to them. They sustain off of the venom, and can occasionally use the pungent odor and liquid of the poison plants to scare off smaller predators.

Ecosystem Cycles

The Vault does have weather, which kills off some species of plant and animal. However, significantly more damaging to this ecosystem is the introduction of new Mistakes. These creatures obviously bring with them new abilities and edibility. Some simply join the Wallabaloos as herivores to consume. Others vie for the name of king with the Tyrant Bird and Woken hordes.

The only major difference in ecosystem is the Winter time, where the following events occur:

• Tyrant Birds and Wallabaloos enter hibernation.
• The rare flower Whitegrown appears in vast quantities, facilitating the growth of larger herbivores.
• Filli makes fewer Mistakes, allowing the ecosystem to calm.

Winters are important to the chaos of the Vault, as they can allow for more creatures to grow and populate before a rough spring.

Localized Phenomena

Weather is tempermental here, with consistent rainfalls that do not happen anywhere else; likely Ïorreg trying to destroy the Mistakes herself. These rainfalls create pools that water-dependant mistakes can drink, which causes a severe rivalry between any factions trying to take the small wells.

There is major psychic storms in the area. Filli's creations are often supercharged with magic, which may make those sensitive to magic – mages, for instance – sick to their stomach. This is known as Vault Vanishings, as the casters often vanish from the Vault as fast as they can when effected.

Fauna & Flora

These are the major players of the Arengold Forest's Vault.

• Tyrant Bird. Standing as tall as some buildings, this behemoth conquers a gigantic radius around its favorite pond. With a beak sharper than steel and skin thicker than bark, few hunters can say they've bested one in combat.
• The Wallaboo. A strange creature covered in wool that hangs off of them like hair. When scared or injured, they have a chance to summon a copy of themselves. When they vastly outnumber an opponent, they have been said to turn on their attacker.
• Whitegrown. This winter-only flower is nearly as large as a person and regenerates itself. Intelligent herbivores use it for a constant source of food and water alike, as the flower grows in and creates snow.
• Beastwarp. An amalgamation of a Lion and Mammoth. Large and intimidating, these herd animals conquer a body of water and keep it for their own. Their imposing size and shocking omnivorous nature keeps them alive.
• Ashgrown. This strange, thin plant grows only when no water is nearby. It is immensely dry and poisonous, but packed with enough nutriments to grant any creature who eats it energy for a day.

Natural Resources

Strange meats and deadly plants are all that can be salvaged from an otherwise dying part of the Canvas.

History

The Vault has always been on the Arengold Forest, but wasn't used for its current purposes until the Elves were created. Once they were, Filli became significantly more protective of them. If any creature was too violent, she would send them as far from her Elves as possible.

Over the course of the over two-thousand years that the Vault has been in use, all manner of Mistake has been stored; from the smallest poisonous frog to the Tyrant Bird, a towering behemoth of an avian whose only real flaw is a lack of flight and anger management.

Now that tribes are moving closer and closer to the Vault, Filli is reaching a small issue. She has considered natural walls or mountains to stop the Mistakes' progress, but worries about how that will stop the progress of her villages. Instead, she has decided that the living beings of the world will take on her mistakes if they wish to grow greater than her.

Tourism

None are crazy enough to enter the Vault except for dedicated researchers. Overenthusiastic writers occasionally wander down before either never or quickly coming back.

The following is a dialogue between two Gnomes. The son, Gibblin, is inquisitive about the point of the world opposite of the Arengold Tree.

Alternative Name(s)

Mistake's Haven, The Turmoil

Type

Desert

Owning Organization

The Five Gods of the Arengold Forest