Rotheart Grove
Hidden deep within the black-barked heart of the Thornveil Forest, Rotheart Grove is a sacred convergence of death, decay, and primal rebirth. It is the spiritual nexus of the Thornshroud Dominion—a place where the very land breathes with fungal spores and whispers through root and bone.
Geography
The grove lies in a basin surrounded by towering, half-dead trees known as Witherwoods, their trunks hollowed and weeping sap like blood. The ground pulses faintly, blanketed in a thick carpet of moss, rotblooms, and glowing mushrooms that shift hue with the moon. Chokevines hang from the canopy like living nooses, and the air is thick with sweet decay and whispering spores.
At the grove’s center lies the Rotheart, a colossal, gnarled tree-fossil with a blackened trunk and hollow core. It is believed to be the first tree to die in the Thornveil, and through necrotic rites, it has become both reliquary and altar—its roots feeding on the bones of sacrifices and the memories of the land itself.
Tourism
The Druids of Decay—rotcallers, corpsebinders, and sporemancers—gather here beneath the moon’s pale gaze for ancient rites. The Feeding of the Grove, The Cycle Unbroken, and Communion of the Roots are all performed here. These rituals feed both forest and spirit, using decaying offerings, fungal grafting, or blood-bound chanting.
The grove is also a place of transformation—where those touched by the forest may be granted mycelial boons or cursed with barkflesh in exchange for loyalty.
The Rotheart Grove is alive with ancient spirits—fungal gods, bone-sleepers, and rootbound wraiths. They manifest as shimmering spores, twitching vines, or unsettling dreams. Pilgrims, withered elves, and even sentient plants come here to offer worship, seeking communion, power, or a place in the ever-decaying cycle.
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