The Grandgleam Forest
"A stunning lightshow on the outside, a den of horrors on the inside."
The Grandgleam Forest, covering nearly half of Everwealth’s territory, is a dazzling yet deadly wilderness that's every root brims with ancient magicks. Its vibrant beauty hides a trecherous expanse of unstable ruins, carnivorous flora, and magickally enhanced predators, making it a near-impossible frontier for expansion. Attempts to claim its riches, ranging from rare magickal resources to treasures of the Lost Ages, have led to countless failures over the past five centuries, with settlers and adventurers alike falling prey to its dangers. Rogue Elfese constructs, volatile arcane phenomena, and relentless wildlife ensure that the Grandgleam remains untamed. For Everwealth, the forest is both a tantalizing promise of wealth and a grim reminder of their limitations.
Geography
The Grandgleam Forest dominates nearly half of Everwealth, stretching over almost half of the land's 1,000 miles in scope. It is an ancient, sprawling wilderness where dense canopies blot out the sun and misty rivers wind through valleys of moss-covered ruins. Its terrain shifts unpredictably, rolling hills give way to jagged cliffs, deep ravines, and hidden loughs. Massive trees with trunks wide enough to dwarf small buildings rise above forgotten cities, military bunkers, and laboratories lost to time. These ruins lie scattered across the forest floor, overtaken by creeping vines and luminous fungi, their secrets buried beneath layers of decay. Few who venture into the heart of the Grandgleam return unscathed, as its beauty masks an unforgiving nature.
Ecosystem
The Grandgleam is a crucible of life fueled by ancient magick, teeming with creatures both mundane and extraordinary. Dire jaguars stalk the underbrush, horse-sized beetles crawl through rotting ruins, and serpents as long as trees lie coiled in wait. Dangerous plants like the Burnbramble thrive here, and rogue Elfese Golem Soldiers patrol ancient pathways, mistaking all intruders for "Shaven-Apes" to be eradicated. This delicate balance of flora, fauna, and magickal phenomena ensures that the forest remains untamed, systematically consuming those who dare disturb its harmony. The forest’s sheer biodiversity makes it both a treasure trove of resources and a deathtrap for the unprepared.
Ecosystem Cycles
Despite the forest's perpetual magickal activity, it adheres to the seasons in its own eerie way. Spring births glowing blossoms and pollen clouds that drift like ghostly veils, while summer amplifies the aggression of its predators as prey grows more abundant. Autumn blankets the forest in leaves that shimmer in gold and crimson hues, each falling leaf faintly crackling with stored magickal energy. Winter, casts frost-like patterns across leaves and branches that glimmer in the moonlight. These cycles are punctuated by unpredictable bursts of magickal energy, which can summon sudden storms or trigger dormant weapons within decaying ruins beneath the roots of the trees where you currently stand.
Localized Phenomena
The Grandgleam Forest's namesake lies in its dazzling magickal displays. Floating orbs of multicolored light drift through the air, ground-level auroras ripple across the mossy terrain, and tree leaves emit soft green embers that dance like fireflies. Crackling bolts of colorful lightning often race up tree trunks before exploding harmlessly, or violently, into the air. The Soaring Lands, floating islands of soil and stone suspended by concentrated magickal energy, hover throughout the forest, creating surreal landmarks. These phenomena, though breathtaking, conceal deadly traps: rogue magickal surges, unstable ley lines, and illusions that lead explorers astray.
Climate
The Grandgleam’s climate is as temperamental as the magick that suffuses it. Humid and temperate most of the year, the forest experiences sudden shifts, glowing rainstorms, ethereal mists, and gusts of warm air that carry faint whispers. While the seasons bring predictable changes, the forest’s magick ensures that its weather can never be fully trusted, with clear skies turning to thundering storms in moments.
Fauna & Flora
Life in the Grandgleam is as enchanting as it is deadly. Towering Everwood Trees dominate the skyline, their leaves glowing faintly. Glowbloom Vines coil around ruins, lighting the way with bioluminescent petals. Predatory plants like Burnbramble and Snapthorn Shrubs hunt the unwary, while creatures ranging from mundane wolves and owls to monstrous wyverns and spectral stags claim dominion over its expanse. Bats from the Hells have become an invasive scourge, spreading rapidly and displacing native species. Meanwhile, ancient Elfese constructs, malfunctioning but still lethal, stalk the ruins, protecting treasures from an era long past.
Natural Resources
The Grandgleam is a mine of untapped wealth, from rare woods like Glintwood—prized for its magickal properties, to minerals infused with residual arcane energy. Ancient ruins yield artifacts of immense value: enchanted weapons, forgotten technologies, and tomes of lost knowledge. However, these resources are fiercely guarded by the forest itself, its dangers ensuring that most treasures remain untouched. Bandits and mercenaries scour the forest, competing for these riches, but many meet grisly ends at the hands of magick-fueled beasts or lethal traps.
History
The Grandgleam was once the heart of Chikara, a prosperous Elfese kingdom whose ruins now litter its expanse. Laboratories, fortresses, entire civilizations lie abandoned by the hundreds, their defenses still active, many old bunkers hiding unstable, ancient munitions just waiting to be mishandled and set-off by eager explorers who don't even know what they are. During the Great Schism, cities and encampments of soldiers who fought over these lands in the wake of The Fall, would decimate most-traces of them, often fighting horrific battles for loot lost or scattered in the conflicts, many frequently forgotten in a haste or to hide precious items now lost to the ages. Over centuries, the forest has all-but consumed these remnants of our bloody past, transforming them into haunting monuments of a forgotten land.
Tourism
The Grandgleam is a magnet for the daring and the desperate. Treasure hunters, scholars, and adventurers flock to its borders, lured by tales of unimaginable wealth and ancient secrets. Most never return, their ambitions snuffed out by the forest’s dangers. Those who dare to enter are often unprepared for the magickal and physical challenges that await: collapsing ruins, deadly creatures, and arcane phenomena. While some venture into the forest with armed escorts or magickal wards, even these precautions often prove inadequate. For most, the Grandgleam remains a place of wonder glimpsed only from afar, its shimmering lights and floating islands a reminder of beauty, and death, untamed.
Alternative Name(s)
The Glimmering Wilds, The Shimmerwood, The Veil of Lights.
Inhabiting Species
Comments