Herbstlichwald
Herbstlichwald is a forest which covers the northwest of the Belfimbre Plateau, lying within what is nominally Marran territory. The forest is home to a large group of sidhe, and by extension many lesser fae, and is ruled by a sidhe calling itself the Prince of Falling Leaves. The Prince is a generally aloof force in the area, tending not to act directly outwith the borders of the forest, but also not preventing any of his subjects venturing beyond them for whatever purpose has taken their fancy. The fae of Herbstlichwald have little regard for the lives of their human neighbours, and while not hostile they do tend to act either without regard to how it affects them or by using them as part of the faeries own politics, games and whims.
Needless to say, the locals have learned to avoid the forest, and travellers are warned against venturing in. There is a seemingly never-ending supply of stories about the wondrous sights, plentiful treasure, and enchanted artifacts. The stories are spread by the faeries themselves, and the people living by the forest have learned to treat anything travellers say with caution - you never know when one is a faerie making something up to draw a mortal into its games.
At a distance, the forest is a beautiful sea of gold and orange, with a smattering of green mixed in, that sweeps down from the mountainsides and across the grasslands of the plateau. Moving east, the forest crawls across the river and clings to the base of the mountain, tapering away into the hills. The village of Hallerbach sits half-enclosed by the trees, just a few hours walk away and always in view of the unnaturally perfect golden canopy. After sunset, the trees glimmer and shine with faerie lights, warm reds, vivacious greens and icy blues. If one were to dare to venture near at this time, then they might hear faint music coming to them from deep within the trees, heart-wrenchingly sad but entrancing, drawing the incautious in. Whispers and brief snippets of conversations, conducted in voices as stirring as the music, filter through the sound, and quickly turn to invitations. Only the foolish, brave or the mighty pay them heed and enter the forest, because once within the domain of the fae very few find themselves able to leave.
Herbstlichwald is covered by a Faerie aura, strongest in the places of power of the sidhe, but never insignificant.
Geography
The forest sits at the foot of the Ostberg mountains, where they begin to split around the plateau. It spreads out over about 36km, north to south, and varies between 9 and 13km across, making it one of the larger faerie forests on the continent. It lies on a gradual downhill slope, and is criss-crossed by many small streams flowing down from the peaks and into the river.
Ecosystem Cycles
From spring until the start of winter, the trees bear red and orange leaves in Herbstlichwald. In winter, those leaves finally fall, save for a few evergreens, leaving the forest floor carpeted in gold. The forest is mostly composed of maple trees and red-leaf beech, scattered through with coniferous evergreens. The spring occurs very quickly in the forest, which goes from barren to full bloom inside of a week. At the same time, birds will lay their eggs, animals give birth, and all the usual springtime cycles of life occur, but always far faster than they would elsewhere. The strangeness does not stop there, as the flowering plants will remain in bloom almost until the autumn, however long they might last naturally, getting ever so slightly more withered, ever imperceptibly more weighed down by time as they do. This phenomena is not documented in any accounts before the arrival of the Prince, so it is believed to be his influence that causes these changes.
The magic that maintains the forest's unnaturally long autumn affects the trees in the nearby area, which sprout their leaves towards the end of winter and lose them late in autumn.
Fauna & Flora
Many of the creatures living in the forest are changed by the influence of Faerie. Their colouration is often shifted towards autumn hues, and sometimes physical features will be exaggerated by the warping of the Faerie aura. Stranger creatures with completely outlandish features are uncommon, but there are usually a few sightings each year - a bear described by locals as having its bones on the outside has been reported a handful of times in recent years.
Ravens are intelligent birds, and can mimic speech. The ravens of the forest have picked up a few words from the fae, and have developed a strong dislike of the sidhe. They can sometimes be found annoying the fae, filching small items and making off with food, but they are of course most commonly seen outside of the forest. If observed, sometimes they will repeat parts of what the fae have been talking about.
Natural Resources
Though in theory a rich source of lumber, it is a very bad idea to try to cut the trees. Before the arrival of the Prince, the lords of Belfimbre, the Morimonts, would hunt there sometimes, always in large and well armed groups, and the deer, birds and other game they brought back often had unnatural or strange features - the head of a stag with six great antlers and silver fur still adorns the great hall of Château de Morimont, for example. However, it has been decades since the last Herbstlichwald hunt, due to the increasing danger from the more organised fae.
Certainly the forest is rich in vis, the precious solidified magic coveted by wizards everywhere, but actually getting to it poses risks. The Elementalists in the east of Belfimbre have long since given up trying to get to it, but another group better prepared for the traps the fae have surely set might manage it. Even so, such vis is likely to be infused with the stuff of the Faerie Realm, making it quite unpredictable.
The one reasonably attainable resource that is gathered, in a way, from the forest are the gemstones that wash down the river from the mountains. These are panned out of the water by people along the riverbank, and usually sold at Talence. The faeries like the gemstones, but a powerful faerie would never stoop to manual labour themselves and most others lack the attention span to competently gather them when instructed. Sometimes, as a result, a faerie will trade for a handful of the stones, or send out minions to steal them - the same faerie may do both, buying them one year and stealing them the next. The faeries of the forest occasionally include false, enchanted stones, sent out to cause mischief.
Very, very rarely one of the stones will contain vis, and the Isembard family that rule Flavigny posses several of those stones.
Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash
Alternative Name(s)
La Forêt d'Automne, the Autumn Forest
Type
Forest
Inhabiting Species
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