Nestled on the edge of the Gloomwood Forest, the village of Ravenshollow clings to survival beneath the shadow of ancient powers and deepening corruption. The village is a place of hard-won life, where the people endure by toil and superstition, ever aware that the forest watches. Whispers of witchcraft, cursed bloodlines, and forgotten pacts haunt the narrow streets, and fear creeps through every home as the woods grow darker with each passing season.

The Gloomwood is no ordinary forest—it is a living mystery, tangled with unseen realms, twisted creatures, and the fading magic of ancient spirits. From the haunted boglands in the south to the thorn-choked wilds of the west and the wind-carved mountains in the north, each region holds secrets—some lost to time, others that should remain buried.

It is a sandbox of danger and intrigue, where no one truth reigns. Old alliances fracture under suspicion, while the dark entity’s unseen hand stirs fear and ambition. The witches’ influence wanes as new powers rise, and ancient guardians—some benevolent, others vengeful—stir beneath the earth.

In Ravenshollow, every shadow holds a story, and every path leads to another question. Here, heroes may rise—or fall—as darkness gathers, and the truth waits for those brave enough to seek it.

Witches

The Witches of Gloomwood were once guardians of balance, inheritors of an ancient duty to protect the forest’s magic after the fall of the elder spirits. For centuries, the three sisters—Agatha, Selene, and Isolde—held the darkness at bay, their magic binding the wild and human worlds together in a fragile peace.

But that balance shattered when Isolde—driven by pride and whispers from a darker power—turned against her sisters. Now, the witches are divided. Agatha, the eldest, fights to hold back the corruption, but her strength fades. Selene, weakened and uncertain, drifts between hope and despair, while Isolde seeks to bend the forest to her will, her heart blackened by the entity’s touch.

As the Gloomwood darkens, the witches’ struggle is no longer just for the forest—it is a battle for their very souls and the fate of everything bound to its magic.

Whispering Vale

Stretching far beneath distant northern mountains and extending deep into southern wilderness lies the immense Vale of Ravens, dominated by the great woodland now known as Gloomwood—though some locals still mistakenly or stubbornly refer to it as "Ravenswood." Before the arrival of the Gloom, this vast forest was properly named Ravensvale Wood, a name fading from memory as the corruption spreads. On the eastern side of this sprawling woodland, a smaller valley reaches inward from the open lands of the east, forming a peninsula-like stretch of fertile earth and gentle hills partially encircled by trees. Within this sheltered, fertile pocket sits the village of Ravenshollow, nestled right at the boundary between open fields and the forest's darker fringe. From the northwest, a gentle river winds its way out of the deeper reaches of Gloomwood, flowing quietly past the village, curving through farmsteads and rolling meadows, then returning to the dense forest further southeast. Immediately north of the village is the narrow, still mostly uncorrupted forest strip called Greenwood Reach, separating the villagers from the mist-shrouded marsh known locally as The Fens. Farmsteads are scattered along gentle slopes and across open fields, carefully tended despite the forest’s growing shadow. Travelers heading eastward from Ravenshollow, after about a day's ride along the familiar trade road, arrive at the Raven’s Edge Inn. Yet even here, they remain within the valley and beneath the subtle but ever-watchful gaze of the Gloomwood. A stretch of forest still extends eastward just north of the inn, a lingering reminder that despite the distance traveled, the woods are never truly left behind.

Gloomwood

Gloomwood Forest is a vast, brooding wilderness where the boundaries between the natural and the supernatural blur. Its towering trees cast a perpetual twilight, and an eerie mist clings to the ground, twisting familiar paths into labyrinthine traps. The forest hums with ancient magic, both wondrous and terrible, echoing the power of the elder spirits who once ruled its depths.

Once a place of balance, the forest now festers under a creeping corruption—a shadow that twists the land, creatures, and minds. Wildlife grows monstrous, plants turn venomous, and those who stray too deep may find themselves lost in time, or worse—changed. Amidst this decay, pockets of resistance still hold: sacred groves and ancient wards where the last vestiges of the forest’s purity push back against the spreading darkness.

The Gloomwood is not a place for the faint-hearted. It holds secrets older than memory—ruins swallowed by the earth, haunted glades, and the remnants of forgotten pacts. Travelers speak of phantom lights, whispers on the wind, and creatures that stalk the edges of reality. Yet, despite the dangers, the forest still calls—to the desperate, the curious, and those who seek power hidden beneath its ancient boughs.

The vastness of the Gloomwood is covered here with fantastical places like the valleys and peaks of Conifer Vale, the deep and murky Boglands or the dark and grim place known as the Thornwilds

Find out what plants grow, what creatures roam and the things that watch you with predatory eyes.

Plots

History and Events

Maps

General area

https://www.worldanvil.com/w/symbaroum-bootcut/map/958010ef-9d7d-42a2-acc7-21cf95e10f05

Ravenshollow map

https://www.worldanvil.com/w/symbaroum-bootcut/map/98b47a8b-3c77-49b5-80db-b0d95edc612b