The Gray Woods

The Gray Woods are a phenomenon that happens all over the continent of Kaloterra and is a worrying one that still hasn't been completely explained. The life-devouring gray spots have, to this date, a very faint supposed trace in history.

In 1540 there was a big conflict between the humans trying to take space and live on the planet, and the forest spirits, who were defending their homes and territories. That conflict took place that is now known as House on Hunted Hill and connected to a completely different phenomenon which is one of the reasons baffling researchers who attempt to solve the mystery and stop the Woods. The reason why they are more inclined to accept that conflict as the reason is that it took lives on both sides; the Elder Mother (Queen of the Forest Spirits) ended up cursing the part of the woods the biggest bloodshed took place in and shortly after she did thick fog embraced the land and any remaining humans that were in the Woods that day disappeared, never to return.

What's in the fog?

Very few people manage to get out of the misty Gray Woods and tell the tale of what they experienced. Still, some do. They say they'd get disoriented and start hearing "their thoughts"  being spoken out loud - but only the negative ones. Slowly but certainly those voices turn out to be thousands and thousands of lost souls tempting them to stay for even longer to be their family and new home. They'd try to reach for pity, for any sadness and self-doubt in the person, grab onto it and pull as hard as they can to break the living person who'd then just sit , paralyzed by his own weakness, let the voices overtake him and if he doesn't find his strength - he eventually becomes one of them, fading away.

Prevention and Fears

The Fog started by a Forest Spirit curse theory only wins more points in its support by the fact that the only prevention that works somewhat effectively is Forest Spirit cast barriers around the paths of the Nature Reserves all over the continent. That's the reason why all of those Reserves and the Parks have the rule "Stay on the path".

Forest Spirit scouts aiding the Park Rangers always warn people and groups passing through to "Follow the light" - the magical barriers they put along the paths emit faint green and yellow lights in low light and darkness that can be seen up to a few dozen kilometers through a fog or starless night. They continue that with "Pay no mind to your surroundings" - a very strange thing to hear about a spot in the middle of the forest but completely fitting the nature of what the Gray Woods presents: It's pretty much devoid of actual life and the only realistically threatening thing is psychological. So if you concentrate on finding the light of the barrier and follow down the path outside of the park you can and will block out the voices that whisper.

The main fear that the Gray Wood brings with its jumping and spreading is the coverage of more inhabited regions and the ever-expanding size of it. Currently scientists, mages, Forest Spirits and a special kind of elves work together on pinpointing the real origins of the disastrous phenomenon in order to deal with it for good.

Manifestation

From a certain spot on, in an expanding fashion, the trees of the forest would turn gray and almost all life where that spot hits vanishes in matters of days. After a while the gray woods "disappears" jumping to a new zone and expanding ever so slightly when doing so. If there happens to be a house with someone living inside and the "Gray Woods" form around it that person is never heard from again.

Type

Metaphysical, Arcane

One of the people who's managed to escape from the Gray Woods with their life and sanity is Vivianne Morena. This short message is from one of the torn pages from her diary that she wrote and later removed. According to her what kept her from vanishing was remembering that:
"This is NOT home. What I hear is NOT human beings. (...) Follow the light, find the path, pay no mind to your surroundings"