The Ashwood
"It burns, yet does not burn. It breathes, yet should not breathe. It is death, yet life clings to it with a stubbornness fit for Everwealth itself."
The Ashwood is a land of contradictions, a forest forever marked by some forgotten cataclysm, yet one that refuses to die. It stretches for miles, a vast expanse of scorched wilderness where the trees stand blackened and split, their branches twisting skyward like the grasping hands of the damned. Despite its name, the Ashwood is not a graveyard of charred stumps and dead roots. It lives, in its own unnatural way, its flora and fauna warped by the infernal magicks that seep into the very bones of the land. What calamity birthed this place remains unknown; theories range from the explosion of a superweapon to the careless shattering of an ancient artifact. Whatever the cause, the Ashwood now exists in a state of perpetual ember, flickering with residual power that refuses to fade.Geography
The Ashwood sprawls across Everwealth’s southern reaches, its terrain a treacherous blend of petrified groves, crumbling rock faces, and vast fields of ember-glowing grasses. Rivers of dark water, thick with silt and strange minerals, carve winding paths through the land, their banks lined with Burning Oak and Firepine, trees whose trunks smolder faintly yet never consume themselves. The soil here is rich with magick, but it is not the nurturing kind; it feeds only those things twisted enough to endure it. Certain clearings remain permanently veiled in a dim red haze, the air thick with the scent of scorched earth. To the untrained eye, the Ashwood might seem lifeless, but those who know its ways understand that it is far from barren.
Ecosystem
The creatures of the Ashwood are not untouched by its infernal affliction. Wolves with ember-lined spines stalk through the haze, their glowing eyes glimpsed only in the last moments before an attack. Stags with antlers like blackened iron move through the gloom, their hooves igniting small bursts of cinders with each step. Some creatures emit embers as they breathe, harmless, yet unnatural, as though the very air within them carries the memory of fire. The flora is equally twisted; the towering Burning Oaks and Firepines do not simply grow but seem to exhale heat, their leaves shifting in color from deep crimson to a molten gold depending on the season. Even the mushrooms here glow like dying coals, their spores drifting through the air like drifting sparks. The Ashwood does not welcome life, yet life has found a way to adapt. Despite the infernal taint, despite the ever-present risk of being devoured by the land itself, creatures persist. Hunters who track prey into the Ashwood quickly learn that its ecosystem is not one of traditional balance. Predators do not simply hunt—they wait, patient as the land itself. The weak are not culled through natural selection alone; they are devoured by the very air, soil, and flames of a place that should not be.
Ecosystem Cycles
Though the Ashwood remains eternally scarred, it follows its own seasons. In the spring, the Burning Oaks and Firepines shed their charred bark in thick flakes, revealing fresh, glowing wood beneath. Summer brings with it an eerie calm, broken only by the distant howls of creatures moving through the ember-lit night. In autumn, the leaves of the Ashwood ignite, not in flames, but in raw color, a spectral display of reds, oranges, and smoldering golds. Winter is the strangest of all. Where other forests wither and fade, the Ashwood thrives. It does not frost over, nor do its creatures slow. If anything, the magick here seems to pulse stronger in the cold, its embers burning against the frostbitten winds of Everwealth’s bitterest nights.
Localized Phenomena
The Ashwood is filled with unnatural wonders and lurking dangers. Certain groves flicker with eternal flame, yet their fires give no warmth. Patches of soil breathe forth embers, creating smoldering mirages that shift and dance along the landscape. Some trees seem to whisper, their hollow trunks carrying voices from an age long past. Strangest of all are the Rupture Fields, cracks in the land where raw infernal energy still seeps upward, warping everything nearby. Few dare to approach these scars of magickal destruction, as those who do often return... changed, if they return at all.
Climate
The Ashwood’s climate is as untrustworthy as the land itself. While it remains temperate, it is never truly stable. Gusts of warm air carry the scent of scorched wood, even on cold nights. Sudden shifts in temperature can occur without warning, plunging the forest into moments of eerie stillness before the warmth surges back, as if the land itself is breathing. Rain rarely falls here, but when it does, it is tinged with soot, leaving dark stains upon armor and skin alike. Some travelers claim to have seen fire rain down instead of water, though whether this is truth or madness remains unknown.
Fauna & Flora
The Ashwood is home to some of the strangest lifeforms in Everwealth. The towering Burning Oaks and Firepines, trees that should have burned to nothing long ago, stand defiantly against the march of time. Their leaves shimmer like dying coals, resistant to flame, their roots burrowing deep into magick-rich soil. Glowstalk fungi grow along fallen logs, casting eerie orange light through the undergrowth. Bushes like the Emberbloom release gentle flurries of embers into the air, and some grasses even radiate heat, pulsing with faint magickal energy.
Among the creatures of the Ashwood, the Ember Wolves remain one of the most feared, stalking the night with its ember-lit gaze and insatiable hunger for fire. Ashstags, their antlers resembling twisted molten rock, move soundlessly through the gloom, disappearing like ghosts into the haze. Even insects here are touched by the land’s curse, firebeetles with shells of dark glass and glowing underbellies scuttle beneath the roots, feeding on the ashen soil.
Natural Resources
While the Ashwood is a place of great danger, it is also a land of untapped wealth. Its trees produce some of the strongest, most magickally infused lumber in Everwealth, resistant to flame and decay. The minerals found in its cracked and broken soil are charged with residual energy, making them invaluable to enchanters and weapon smiths alike. Artifacts lost to the disaster that birthed the Ashwood still lie buried beneath its roots, waiting for those reckless enough to claim them. But no prize here comes without risk. The land does not part with its secrets easily, and those who seek fortune within the Ashwood must contend with the creatures, the magick, and the infernal echoes that still linger.
History
What calamity created the Ashwood remains unknown. Some claim it was the result of a sorcerer’s folly, a spell so vast and terrible that it burned an entire region of Everwealth in an instant. Others whisper of a weapon, an ancient superweapon from a forgotten age that cracked the land and cursed it forever. There are those who believe the destruction was natural, an infernal wildfire so fierce that it carved itself into the very essence of the land, fusing with it rather than consuming it. Whatever the truth, the Ashwood remains as it is, a land forever scarred, yet defiantly alive.
Tourism
Few who enter the Ashwood do so for leisure. Hunters seeking rare creatures, scholars drawn by the mystery of its origins, and mercenaries hired to retrieve lost artifacts are among the few willing to tread its paths. Most who venture too deep do not return, and those who do speak of a place that breathes with an unnatural will. Fires that do not warm. Creatures that move without sound. The constant, inescapable feeling of being watched. For most, the Ashwood is best viewed from a distance, its embering trees a stark warning against the folly of those who think they can claim it.
Alternative Name(s)
The Burning Glade, The Emberwild, The Cinderwood.
Contested By
Inhabiting Species
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