Gleamelm Glade

The elm trees here are majestic; their trunks and branches are a glittering silver, peeling coils revealing a platinum underside of the bark. The leaves hang a deep brass overhead, sunlight filtering through and staining the ground beneath a warm orange. Dead leaves on the floor pile into a crisp, bright gold leaf litter. The forest shines and gleams in the sunlight, and when reflected from Lake Goldleaf the glade seems to almost glow.

Geography

The Gleamelm Glade covers a fairly large area around Lake Goldleaf, and to the most northern point even supports a number of coniferous trees. Within the glade, the ground is gently rolling, though no major hills are present. The centre of the glade is especially flat, with thick and verdant grass that reaches up to the knees. The west of the forest is split through with two rivers that descend from Lake Goldleaf, an isolated part of the glade growing upon the spar of land between them.

Fauna & Flora

The glade is rich in plant and animal life, not all of which is native to the Material Plane. Some Eladrin still survive in the glade, the sound of hunting parties echoing through the night matched with the growls and cries of their prey.
At times, the creatures within the glade emerge and quickly establish a presence in the surrounding land. When it happens, the hunting parties of the Eladrin can be seen in the night riding silvery horses, led by beasts which flicker and vanish from sight across the land.

History

The trees were once a glade of standard Elms, long ago. Over the years, slow enough that it was only noticed by the long-lived races and the scholars in the cities, the elms began to gradually change from simple bark and leaves to their current metallic hues. The changes began to affect the density and health of the grasses and shrubs within the glade; and when fully complete, the Glade was soon a veritable source of life.
Shortly after this change, however, the nearby settlement Oclost was attacked. A number of villages along the way were razed and destroyed, riddled with unseasonal effects such as dense snowfall in summer. Oclost was able to dispatch a messenger, able to reach Buches for reinforcements. The resulting skirmishes led to a war breaking out between the Human army and the aggressors from the Gleamelm Glade: any soldiers who entered the glade failed to return, while any attempts of the attackers to push further out was destroyed in turn; the stalemate leading to peace talks soon opening between the humans and the Eladrin invaders.
At the conclusion, it was eventually determined that the Gleamelm Glade and Lake Goldleaf would be ceded to the Eladrin as part of their lands breaching the Planes and while protected from damage, those who lived in the Material Plane would still be able to use the Lake as a water source.

Type

Forest, Temperate (Seasonal)

Location under

Bukhisal