Within the dense, dark, wild forests, marshes, and rivers that run through the land like veins reside a people who stand out from others of their kind. While many small settlements dot the land, only one is large enough to be a city, Wolfwater. Rumor would have people believe that every citizen of the Pack Straight is a lycanthrope, it simply isn’t the case as their numbers are rather small but there are some living among the non-Lycans. Those that live there are comfortable living within such proximity of each other and look down on those spreading ill rumors about Lycanthropes in general. Some of the Lycans in the commune and city are Rhyderian Barons or Counts with long-lasting bloodlines in the power structure of Rhyderia. The current Duchess of Wolfwater, Yasmyn Von Sydow is a known Lycan often referred to as ‘Mother wolf’ by those of the commune or Order of the Silver Wolf. Those outside either organization often know her as ‘Old Wolf’ as she is at least three hundred years old. These nobles formed the Order of the Silver Wolf to give the Lycans who wished to a chance to earn knight status within Rhyderia and let those interested in becoming Lycans to squire with one.
The forest and waters are dangerous and savage places to those who would let their guard down. All manner of creatures calls these lands their home and hunting grounds, from wolf packs to ferocious wyverns from the Flame Peaks to altogether more bizarre predators in the form of the fey. Being in the southern reaches of Rhyderia it is warm year-round with a great deal of humidity during the summer. Addersfield has a strange weather cycle in that it has a long growing season of nine months with a short but severe winter.
Wolfwater
Small City; The population of 1,896 is largely human (79%) of which 20% are Lycanthropes and Half-elves (11%) with smaller numbers of other races. Port city largely wood with a few stone mason structures. Some neighborhoods built on barges and boats nailed together by planks. The city is built mainly on a landmass in the center of the river with stone bridges built to connect it to the mainland. As the city grew boats were made into makeshift homes with planks soon connecting them into floating extensions that serve as a secondary set of docks. The city is a trade hub into Escini to the south allowing trade by land and water to the upper cities of Rhyderia and beyond. The Lycan commune is another of the common trade partners with the city often trading game animals and lumber for fish and crops.
Lycan Commune
Rhyderia has long had a population of lycanthropes of various types in the southwest along the southern rivers. For the most part, those afflicted or born with Lycanthropy prefer the company of their own and live out their lives around these places. While the people of Rhyderia are right to be nervous seeing a werewolf in the streets. The Lycanthropes of the commune are accepted for what they are, this is for one reason; they are in control of their change and of themselves when changed. The coven of the Firstborn a rather mysterious group were the ones that first showed the Lycanthropes how to gain control of those bitten by their less stand-up kin. They are willing to let more people become a Lycanthrope, but they have the prospective members live among the commune for some time to understand what is involved and are educated about what life is like after the change. It is an educational experience and allows the pack elders to determine if they will be a good addition to the community. The trial period is different for each person and only accepted once the elders feel they are a good fit, or they are rejected.
The process is time-sensitive and poses certain challenges, as it requires the feral Lycan to be brought to the cusp of death with a silver weapon, then force-fed a concoction of silver, belladonna, and treated with druidic magics. This must all be done on the year anniversary of their being bitten or they will be forever feral, while often seen as barbaric and often torture no one has been able to develop a way to give the afflicted control while not removing the affliction. Those Lycans who were bitten join the pack of the one who bit them and as a form of penance are made to teach their progeny how to function as a Lycanthrope. Most of these situations are where the bitten party wanted to become a Lycanthrope, the penance comes in the form of making them endure a year of the torture of being a feral Lycanthrope. If they can help it the Lycans of the commune will keep the bitten locked in the commune so they cannot harm innocents, but should one escape or not be caught in time they will hunt their own to hopefully capture them before they harm an innocent. Each Lycanthrope keeps on their person even when in there were-forms a silver dagger to do what must be done if a Lycan goes out of control and harms others or was permanently lost to feralism. Lycanthropes are one of the few groups who know the pain of altering your form and destroying the clothes you were wearing, say nothing of armor as well. Magically inclined Lycanthropes spent a great deal of energy learning how to enchant items to be able to alter with the changing of shape. This is generally seen as a specialty item outside of the Lycanthropes but a necessity among the warriors of their kind. Mages skilled in the art of polymorphing themselves are also known to buy or trade with them for such enchantments.
Western Weald
Compared to the other parts of the pack straight the western weald might be considered boring, nothing supernaturally scary haunts the Western Weald, but it is also considered far less resource-rich, a safer place to hunt deer and other creatures, there are of course forest goblins, ogres and other nuisances.
Eastern Weald
The Eastern Weald is largely left alone by the people of Wolfwater as there are many strange and sometimes hostile forest spirits that live in this section of the straight. One of the more disturbing creatures that inhabit the Eastern Weald is a mix of zombie and plant, thee bodies of formerly living creatures possessed by some sprite or spirit. These creatures spend most of the time shambling around growing moss, bark, or other plant features on them. When they sense intruders in the forest they rush at them with no sense of self-preservation seeking to add their corpse to the number of the risen. There are rumors that the Eastern Weald has large deposits of gold hidden within it.
Wisp Woods
While Will-O'-Wisps are a common danger in all parts of the Pack Straight they seem to gather more readily in these woods, while all the woods of the Pack Straight are dark and creepy these ones are even more so, dense fog often settles between the trees obscuring enough to make anything seem more frightening than it might otherwise be, of course, it also hides the real dangers of the woods. Rare healing herbs grow wild in the Wisp wood, unfortunately they grow near the water sources, which is where the Will-O'-Wisps reside.
The Wildwoods
The Wildwoods are the northern border between the Verdant Prairie and the Graze Lands the Lycan Commune is based in these woods and many of its members hunt or live in the Wildwoods. Some assume they are the reason why they are called this, mostly the name is to denote that compared to other places in Rhyderia the Pack Straight is very wild, there is far less settlement and infrastructure in the Pack Straight. That does not mean there isn't all manner of dangerous creatures that lurk in the Wildwoods and anyone should be careful in these woods for it isn't only animals that live there, but monsters and otherworldly beings haunt these woods.
Stone Daggers
The Stone Daggers loom over the Pack Straight as they are the highest points that are not mountains. The daggers are home to many flying creatures of various sizes from Wyverns to small birds. The base of the daggers is littered with bones from previous meals as well as sharp shale fragments that in early history were used to form weapons before the age of smithing.
Kusar's Gate
When the Golden King raised Eis'lasan from the ground it caused a great deal of damage to the land causing the waterways to instead of drain into the ocean to pull saltwater from the oceans. This would cause a great deal of damage to the waterways of southern Rhyderia if allowed to flow. Kusar was a druid who looked after the Flame Peaks with a small circle of druids. Upon seeing what was happening he and his druids beseeched the spirits to aid them and raised a dam of sorts out of raw stone that emerged from beneath the river cutting off the flow of water. It took a long time of diverting freshwater around the gate to allow fresh water to begin going from Rhyderia into Escini. Eventually, the mages of Escini were able to end their civil war and began helping to try and deal with the effects of their war.
Adventure hooks
Tier 2: A Wayward Wolf:
The group comes across a member of the Silver Wolf order setting camp by himself. If the group shares a camp with the man, he will say that he is doing a sad task of his order. He must find and put down one of the bitten who went feral. He remarks that it is concerning to him as up until recently his quarry had been in control and that sudden feralism hadn’t been a thing until that point. He would much rather find the cause as to why it happened rather than simply execute someone, he feels might be a victim.
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