The people of the forest

The people of the forest? I have never heard of such a thing, are you talking about one of your youtube programs?

— A mother to her kid

Since the beginning of time, there have been creatures living in the deep forests around what would later become the town of Urskoga. These creatures were all very different but they lived amicably together as one. The oldest species among them were the Trädfolket while the youngest were the Trolls.

In modern times these creatures are living among humans. They have now formed their own societies and cultures in accordance with their own species. The people of the forest are now fractured and some say that the original ethnicity no longer exists.
As the people of the forest consisted of people of different species the needs of these people were different. While they shared a language and most traditions some of them needed to live in water while the others needed the sun. This caused some strife among the people but it also brought them somewhat closer together while working through their differences.
Until the humans arrived.

Old demographics

31% Trädfolket
26% Vattenfolket
19% Älvor
14% Troll
10% other Oknytt

History

Not much is known about the history of the people as records were not kept until humans started appearing in the area. However the people of the forest are still talked about with reverence among the different smaller groups today.

FOODS & CUISINE

As the area includes a lake and a river a lot of the food consists mainly of raw fish. The last 450 000 years before the humans arrived the people had started preparing the fish and actually cooking dishes together. They also eat a lot of mushrooms, berries and fruit and like with the fish these started to be cooked and included in dishes.
A popular dish before the humans arrived was the Fiska, which to this day is also popular in this area. It is a fish stew with lingonberry, mushrooms local to this area and fish. It is now usually cooked with salmon from the store, but back in the day the people used what they could catch.

Language

The language that they spoke is almost dead today, there are mostly only a couple of the oldest inhabitants of the town and the sourrunding area who now knows how to speak it. Not many children today want to learn it as they are busy learning Swedish, English and all other global languages.

The arrival of humans

The first human who settled in this area arrived on July 19th, 1564 CE. He settled down there and the people of the forest at first tried to get him to leave. But he didn't. They couldn't even manage to kill him. After a couple of conflicts the people decided that he was allowed to settle down there if he joined them. Which he did.
However, when you let one human settle down. Others will come. More humans came and settled down in the area. The people wanted them to move but the first human spoke on the behalf of the other humans. A couple of the species of the people did not agree with letting humans settle in the area. So when the people decided to let other humans settle in the area one of the species, Vattenfolket, decided to hide themselves away from all of the other peoples. This group was recently "rediscovered".
The humans did not appreciate people that were different from them. It made them scared. So the people started to hide themselves in what used to be their home. The larger the human settlement became the more hidden and splintered the people got. Now in modern times the people live in their own small social groups within the larger human social groups. Now humans have to have the Knowledge to know about supernatural things.

Legacy

The people of the forest have left many small traditions to the now splintered groups that they still keep even if they do not know why. The Finger taps is a ritual that developed from a ritual that the witches, humans with supernatural abilities, learned from the people of the forest.
Some of the old dishes are still consumed even though other more global dishes are more common. Some small festivals are held in the honor of the people of the forest and there are even fairytails told to the children.