Grandwood
The ancient and stalwart Grandwood grows in the middle of the continent of Chronan. The forest covers most of the state of Reignstone, although the capital city's dominion over the people living within Grandwood is heavily disputed.
Since the Primal Age, it has been connected to the Faerie Realm, plane of the fey folk. The ancestral elves, called the Eladrin, along with other fey built a civilization there that was one with the surrounding nature. They called the forest Tar Glaedost, "Queen of All Forests", and at its heart grew the majestic Nien'nimloth "the Mother Tree". Instead of deities, the fey folk worshipped the primordial spirits of nature.
Over the millennia, some Eladrin families moved out of the Grandwood, losing most of their touch to the Faerie Realm, and forming the many species of elves - the high elves of Iovillon (modern day Jubileum), the subterranean dark elves of the Netherspan, the sea elves of Nyiss Velathyyr (now known as the Forlorn Islands) and the recluse wood elves.
Coming into the Gilded Age - also known as the Warring Age - the Giants of The Skyward Peaks to the north declared a war over the dominion of the forest. Using fire and stone, they destroyed the Mother Tree, and built a mighty ziggurat in its stead. That pyramid still stands today, 5000 years later, as the capital city of Reignstone.
The fey folk retreated to the four temples they built around the forest, named after the seasons. The Winter Palace has a great crystal of ice on top of it, while an undying flame burns on top of the Summer Palace. The roof of the Spring Palace is covered in magical flowers, and on top of the Autumn Palace grows giant mushrooms . These temples were said to be connected to the Faerie Realm, and were used to keep the giants at bay.
Records tell of a malicious, one-horned green Greatwyrm that came from the eastern continent to try and claim the Grandwood as his own. His name has been lost in history, but he is referred to as The Alvanystrian, after the overseas realm he hailed from. An unlikely alliance was formed between the fey folk, the giants and the Dragon Lords of the Glimmering Archiourano under the leadership of the great Eladrin sage Filovan Mellonduil, and the greatwyrm was eventually defeated.
In the end, the fey folk escaped The Fellstar calamity back into the Faerie Realm, and only some of them ever returned to Chronan, even though their rivals, the giants, were mostly wiped out. It is said that a part of the moon that the Fellstar shattered struck the northeastern part of the Grandwood where the Diamond Flow runs, leaving a small crater where icy cold mountain waters pour into, nowadays known as the Feyfalls.
Slowly but surely, The Grandwood was taken over by strange beasts and twisted vegetation, as well as a powerful green hag called Mirleena who claimed a bog in the eastern part of the forest as her domain. Nowadays only a few settlements remain besides the capital city of Reignstone, but in those villages you can still find pixies and korreds, quicklings and redcaps, and other fey creatures - including direct descendants of the ancient Eladrin. The eladrin family of Anorhén formed a circle of druids in the Perennial Grove at the treetop village of Squirrel's Nook, but they shun outsiders and the ideals of The Order, so very little is known about them.
It is said a curse will befall anyone cutting trees from the Grandwood, so most of the common folk avoid it. Only the bravest adventurers and researches dare to venture into the forest in search of lost fey ruins and the treasures they are said to withhold.
Alternative Name(s)
The Eladrin call it Tar Glaedost, "Queen of All Forests"
Type
Forest
Location under
Inhabiting Species
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