Glacial Forest

Home to an interesting number of endemic and rare creatures, the Glacial Forest is located in the coldest area of Ogha, a world known for its peaceful thriving culture but also for its extreme weather.

An Unusual Geography

Valley of ice

Like most of the world, this area has a plain terrain, but it's slightly lower that the rest of the surface and it extends around the planet as an almost smooth belt, occasionally invaded by the north mountains.

craters

Other than the mountains, the only spots where the terrain level changes, are the craters. Their origin is unknown, and only three of them are properly documented.

The Fire Pit

The Lost Well

The Bottomless Pit

Where does the cold comes from?

While the geographic and geothermic conditions of the north mountains and beyond are perfect to create a cold weather, that's not the case for this area. There is no trace of magic for this specific purpose either. If anything, magic in the area is usually oriented to rise temperatures, not the opposite. The only plausible theory so far, is that the temperatures are related to the large population of Ice Nests, even as most theories said that the trees wouldn't have survive in the location if it hasn't already had the right conditions for them. Pragmatic scientist and ecologist think that both the species and the environment have evolved together and all we need to do is respect and preserve that delicate balance.

The whole area is a maze of snow and Ice Nest trees. Hiding under what seems to be innocent piles of snow, you can find all kind of rare species, each dangerous and beautiful in its own particular way. In other words, Ogha as usual, but freezing cold and with even more chances of losing your way.
If you get out of the path without a good anchor to go back, there is close to no chances of coming back, and even less to be found. Even if you do have a way to go back, you may still be murdered by something.
There aren’t many paths, either. Except in areas where several human settlements exist. Those are well maintained, though; protected with magic to minimize the danger and keep away the snow during most part of the year, even if some of them may still be affected by the storms of Sky's Fire season.

Human Settlements

Not many people dare to live in this region, and most of those who harvest wood or minerals from the Glacial Forest come from nearby towns and never stay around in the coldest seasons.
The few settlements to be found in the area are even older than most civilizations in Ogha, and have well established systems to either endure or prevent the dangers of the weather and creatures around.
Contrary to what could be expected, the majority of these places aren’t extremely cold. The most common methods to achieve this are:

Magic Fire

Special chimneys or bonfires, that combine magic and combustible materials, usually damaged Sempiternal Ice, to generate warm in a specific area.

Pools

Channels filled with water or snow are used to absorb heat that may be either collected or generated by magic or technological means, to be released in the proper time.

Climate Shields

While some of these barriers can be created by biological or technological means, the most usual practice is to simply cast a magic spell to create an artificial climate.

While there is a couple of settlements scattered in secluded places, there are three main populated areas:

Umbra Forest

The west of The Glacial is home to several settlements, most of them interested in science or ecology. The main production from the area is Sempiternal Ice, which they manipulate in the factories located in the Fire Pit. Most of these settlements are very small, some no more than a couple of families, but they interact a lot with each other. The only one that can be considered a proper village is Umbra, but there is more movement in the Fire Pit and The Bottomless Pit.

The caverns

Under the chain of mountains located at the east of the Umbra Forest, another anomalous event can be found: the caverns are a completely different environment: the closest to a tropical forest that you could find in Ogha. Visited by all kind of academics and scientists, the caverns are also the home to several small towns, most of them founded by traveling Reformers.

The Reformers' Country ruins.

One of the oldest civilizations known in Ogha, and the universe, this nation of wizards was originally located at the east of the caverns.
Just as many other civilizations in this world, the Reformers migrated and now they can now be found in different areas. A few of their towns still remain, all but one connected with the rest of the world by well tended paths, but the rest were left behind as the wizards found better places to live. There are clear records of the location of the 458 abandoned cities, but that was so long ago that there is nothing left of most of them.
That doesn’t stop people from referring to the area as the Reformers Country or Reformers’ ruins, even if nobody among the locals shows much interest in the only actual ruins standing: the huge capital city, that has been preserved by Community’s historians, and the small village that may have been their first settlement but remains intact just by the magic used on its construction.

Ogha

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Planet

Fifth

Layer

Immemorial Plane

Status

Enlightened

Map designed by Escritora Novata, using Azgaar's Fantasy Map Generator.

Classification

Taiga/Enigma

Location

North of Ogha

Rulers

-Sempiternal Ice trading guild
-The Reformers Country
-Others

Type

Forest

To the burning grave

Is hard to determine if the particular funerary traditions in the Glacial are due to ancient beliefs or to practical reasons related with the weather, but the fact is that many of the local cultures will either burn the bodies of their loved ones or transport them to the Fire Pit and deposit them in the lava, via magical or non-magical means. The only cemetery can be found in the Caverns, and is not used by the cities in there, but by a few of the non-pragmatic settlements in Bruma Forest.

Snow Gardens

One of the few practices of the Reformers that doesn't really involve magic... not much, at least. It's a simple as finding a few of the species that grow on the surface, preferably those without actual roots, and grow them in snow fields. Protecting those fields from the weather usually involves walls and roofs, but it can also be done by choosing the right spot between young Ice Nests. This technique has been around since they founded their first village, and yet no many villages had copy it since it can't be done in the towns because they aren't cold enough.

Fugitives Palace

A relatively modern building, hidden somewhere in the East of the Glacial Forest. Or so they say. According to legends, this underground fortress was built by fugitives from Kren, who where running from Kamnaid’s reign of terror. They probably chose this dangerous and secluded area to make their new home as hard to find as possible, but in the process they isolated themselves from those who could have helped them. They have no contact with the external world, and many claim that they didn’t have the means to build such a secure building in the frozen ground of The Glacial. Others say that they had help from the community or another organization with great resources. They could have even stolen the required skills to do it.