This forest is home to thousands of woodsmen, elves, and gnomes, as well as many evil humanoids who raid from hidden places within.
Portions of the Gnarley Forest are claimed by Celene, Dyvers, Verbobonc, and Greyhawk. The forest is home to thousands of woodsmen, sylvan elves, and gnomes. An enclave of ogres, gnolls, and orcs (Blackthorn) is hidden within, and roving orcs from the Pomarj annually attempt to use the forest as cover for a massive flanking maneuver against Narwell and Safeton. The Furyondian Greenjerkins are 40-odd rangers who patrol the northern Gnarley from a small river port, Stalmaer, at the confluence of the Att and Velverdyva Rivers. Also, over two hundred Gnarley Rangers patrol the entire forest, protecting it from harm. The forest folk and their druidic allies are wary of intrusions by Greyhawk soldiers and settlers, fearing the whole forest may be cut down for farmland and timber.
A ranger of the gnarley forest on the hunt
The Gnarley Forest is an ancient forest full of immense trees. In most places, the tree canopy blocks out most light, resulting in little ground vegetation, making the forest floor easy to walk. These areas are almost like parkland, save for the presence of much rotted timber and trees felled by age or storm scattered across the ground.
Only a small portion of the Gnarley is claimed by Greyhawk. The great bulk of the forest, lying westward, is claimed by Celene, although Dyvers lays claim to some northern fringes of the forest as does Verbobonc to the west. Celene protects its borders fairly zealously and lays claim to virtually all of the Welkwood to the south (all land west of the Jewel river). There is no formal boundary between the lands of Dyvers and those of Greyhawk.
Greyhawk extracts little in the way of tax or tithe from the Gnarley, save from the frontier villages close to the Plains of Greyhawk and the Wild Coast. Rather, its militias patrol in order to make friends among the folk of the forest and to watch for Pomarj invaders heading northward. To the west, a great central swath of the forest consists of wooded hill land, where the eastern spur of the Kron Hills enters the Gnarley. Tree cover here is rather less dense and there are many secluded, fertile glades and valleys. The hills rise gently, with long, stretching undulations growing steeper as they rise to the west.
The Gnarley hills have fairly poor mineral resources in some areas, although a handful of mines within 20 miles or so of Namburil yield chrysoberyls and peridots, together with some fine quartz and tiger eye agates. Most of the superior gems are found to the west.
The Gnarley is surpassingly old. In its deepest recesses, treants and hostile lyrannikin repel those not of the forest themselves. There is an almost tangible aura of magic in such places, and the faerie folk and elves here do not welcome intruders, no matter what their intentions. Likewise, some buried secrets in the Gnarley are of great antiquity, and rich with the history of Oerik-and, not rarely, redolent of its greatest evils to boot.
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