The Methwood

Geography & Inhabitants

"The Jewel of Unther, where the demigod Gilgeam was once said to hunt, hides more than just exotic prey beneath it's boughs."

- Jarlaxle Baenre, 1376 DR

The Methwood is a thick and humid jungle located between Chessenta and Unther. It is dense with cypress, date palm, juniper, and mulberry trees that grow together so closely that travel through the wood is difficult. It is common to find elephants, monkeys, leopards, large snakes, and other tropical fauna within. Due to the tumultuous history of the area, stranger beasts can be found within as well. Chimeras, tribes of fey, the occasional fiend, and even a green dragon by the name Skuthosiin are said to lie in the expansive wood. A few small tribes of wood elves and half-elves, mostly druids, have made their home in the Methwood but they remain the only humanoids that currently reside there. The Grey Elves and Dragonborn of former empires long escaped or long dead. It is also rumored that a small faction of the Eldreth Veluuthra, led by Talindra Amalith of the Vel'Nikeryma, operate within the forest.

Lore & Legends

"The elves have had a tumultuous history with trying to make the Methwood their home, one that has often led to great tragedy. The ones that live there now are often thought to be either stubborn or insane."

- Volothamp Geddarm, Volo's Guide to All Things Magical

A long possession of the Human nation of Unther, the Methwood was briefly under the control of the Dragonborn nation of Tymanther from 1385 DR until 1480 DR. It was reclaimed for Unther upon the return of their God-King Gilmead through a long and bloody war. One that led Gilmead to make a deal with a demon lord to bolster his forces with fiends.
It has been rumored that the ancient city of Turami, a race that inhabited the region before the Untherans, was lost in the forest. However, no one has ever found the slightest clue to its whereabouts. Not even Unther's greatest adventurers.

The Coldwood is a special, fell place of great peril within the wood. At it's heart is what was once the majestic elven seat of the Grey Elves, the City of the Summer Stars. An introverted, studious, mystical people whose demise came at the hands of the fledgling Unther empire. The Untheran necromancers came to them seeking knowledge and returned with fire and war when they were denied. The Elven Queen Sharafere knew the city could withstand their assault but heard the screams of agony from the Methwood surrounding her and despaired. Her son Darnakurian, could take no more and sought power across the planes. He heard a cold voice in the void promising him supreme power and forged a sword that the elves called Hunger. When presented before his mother, Sharafere was appalled by the evil that lived in the blade but Darnakurian would not be swayed from his revenge. Half-mad with the frustration of his mother's dismissal and the horror that lived within the blade he fled into the forest and slew thousands of Unther's necromancers. Eventually driving them out of the Methwood. When he finally returned to the City of the Summer Stars he was weak and had submitted utterly to the sword's control, and it drove him to slay his own people in turn. Now the Coldwood is said to be a barren and eerie spot in the Methwood and at it's apex, the former location of the City of the Summer Stars, only Darnakurian's keep now called "Bitterness" remains. The place is said to be so cold that it cannot sustain life and even the vegetation for miles surrounding the keep is covered in black permafrost.
A ring of bluestone megaliths covered in luminescent lichen lies in a clearing of twisted wierwood trees somewhere in the Methwood. According to the explorer, Volothamp Geddarm, fey creatures gather here in great numbers and on nights of the full moon the megaliths form a gate to the Fey Wild. An elf by the name of Azekiel the Wise, watches over the gate and has for countless centuries. He longs for the day a worthy successor will come to replace him. Another fey tribe is said to live in the Methwood, ones that are hostile against the inhabitants of Luthcheq.
A cell of the Eldreth Veluuthra is said to still reside within the wood, a group of elves that have dedicated themselves to the removal of all humans in Faerun. These elves, while numerous, are often hated by the rest of their kind and most notably throughout history of their existence is the fact that they have never had any meaningful success at reversing or stopping human expansion.

Type

Jungle