The Forest of Dasev
The Forest of Dasev is a massive temperate forest that dominates the majority of the Louthian North.
The Forest of Dasev is most well known in the tale that is titled after it, outlining the dangers of attempting to utilize the divine to interfere with mortal matters beyond what a person possesses the capacity to do. It is in this tale that provides an explanation to the birth of the Forest of Dasev, and how it turned from a pristine preserve of life into the fabled and deadly Forest of False Heaven. The official retelling is that an ancient archmagus of incredible power, the Archmagus of Dasev, turned the entire forest into a living curse to capture and kill a hapless adventurer, one that was foolish enough to attempt to reveal the Archmagus' fate with a Scroll of True Fate.
The ethereal flows within the Forest of Dasev are powerful and foreign, to the point where even the strongest archmagi of Mithambe do not attempt to actively interfere with it. For this reason, the Forest of Dasev remains "uncontrolled" despite resting well within the established territories of the Kingdom of Mithambe.
Geography
The Forest of Dasev is relatively flat, with small streams that course through its expanses. It is located inland, and the thick canopy provide a luscious view of foliage from above, while providing excellent shade below.
Ecosystem Cycles
The Forest of Dasev follows a regular seasonal cycle, based on precipitation rate and ambient temperature.
During the winter seasons, the foliage drops off, leaving a sea of sharpened branches. It is during the winter where the "spirits" guarding the forest are considerably more active and more visible. Fauna within the forest will hibernate, with the exception of crows, who join the spirits without being harassed by them.
During the spring and summer reasons, phantom activity drops and the leaves grow back, injecting a form of life as brilliant pink and red blossoms spring out over the branches. The birds of the forest begin to sing anew, creatures that spent the winter in slumber crawl out of their holes and shake the lethargy from their bones, and the forest buzzes to life anew.
The summer months returns the canopy to its thickest, with only slivers of sunlight able to penetrate into the forest floor below. This gives the forest a foreboding feeling to an observer, although fauna and lesser flora flourish in these conditions.
The autumn season sees the canopy turn into a brilliant storm of yellows, oranges, browns, and reds, as the leaves slowly descend, and animal life begins to prepare for a new winter.
Localized Phenomena
The Forest of Dasev is regarded as a Toxic Ether zone, as the ethereal flows within the forest boundaries are foreign to the point of negatively affecting those who linger within it. The malformed ether can occasionally be seen on a foggy morning, as "pixies" dancing within the clouds.
Rumors have it that the Forest of Dasev is home to the spirits of the unduly departed - murder victims, victims of war, those who were choked out by misfortune or disease: their spirits are rumored to wander the forest and are bound to it. It is said that when a foreign entity disturbs their wanderlust, the forest itself takes offense to their presence, and will move to kill or drive out the ones that have caused the transgression.
Passage through the Forest of Dasev is known to interfere with a person's outlined destiny if such was revealed to them. A person who is within the Forest of Dasev is protected from enchantments and alterations of fate.
Natural Resources
Although untapped, the Forest of Dasev boasts healthy floral, including rare species of plants and fungi with significant alchemical value, as well as tall trees that can be used as fine ironwood. The wildlife roams free within the confines of the forest, and the occasional ethercrystal vein can be seen sprouting from the earth itself, embedded within the crotches of trees.
History
The Forest of Dasev was first adventured through by a small adventuring party in 521. The ill-fated expedition would set camp near what is now called Minter's Stream, and would succumb to the creatures that resided within the forests' boundaries. Journals and tools were recovered by Louthian explorers in 1315.
The boundaries of the Forest of Dasev were mapped out in 1371, with teams of cartographers and adventurers taking their time to explore the lands as best as they could. The harassment from the forest's warped fauna continued, though it was in proportion to the disturbance that said exploration parties inflicted on the forest in return. Lightly armed but vigilant teams noted little confrontation, whereas heavily armed teams were met with proportionately greater resistance in return.
The Forest of Dasev's hostility to sapient life became apparent in the middle and later sections of the Louthian War, where Imperial forces were chasing after disparate elements of Houses Strixel and Blixit in an attempted retaliatory attack on a siege column. The Inaran forces ran into the Forest of Dasev, where they were somewhat harassed by the fauna residing within - as soon as the first horseman crossed into the border, the Forest went berserk. Shadows snaked through the undergrowth, breaking the legs of horses and dragging screaming cavalrymen into caves, never to be seen again. The Inarans were thoroughly horrified by the inimical reaction of the forest to heavily armed soldiers, and have warned their allies against repeating the mistakes of the Imperial Louthians.
The Forest of Dasev would once more prove a veritable chokepoint in the Mithambian Civil War, where elements of the Church of the Great Design attempted to traverse through the forest, seeking to make good on the Inarans' centuries-old information to keep King Rupert's vengeful forces off of their backs. To their fatal dismay, stray discharges of ethereal power also drew the Forest's attention to them, and thousands of birds descended from the canopy tops, their claws shredding skin and their beaks pecking out eyes. Their corpses were left where they died, forever claimed by the Forest and left to rot in their folly.
Tourism
Despite (or because of) its reputation for being an unforgiving and inhospitable place, the Forest of Dasev draws in plenty of would-be adventurers and young adults looking for entertainment, or perhaps trying to disprove some of the rumors that have taken root.
Alternative Name(s)
The Forest of False Heaven, The Fatebreaking Forest
Type
Forest, Temperate (Seasonal)
Location under
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Contested By
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