The Cold Iron Garden

"Metal is alive, just like any living thing, it wants something from you"-Fey Proverb
"All around this grim place seem to be cast off armaments, forged poorly, and forged richly. No Rhyme or reason seems to dictate this. Even the water seems to flow unnaturally, laden with chill and murk that no sane man should drink, lest they join the many animals of this macabre statuary."
"And much like the common garden, if this place is worthy of such appellation, there are hedges, poorly maintained, mind. They grow thick and wild, and full of thorns I dare not brave. Miraculously, the leaves are of metal make, yet seem as alive as any plant. Indeed, when I touched it, I could feel the faint bristling of minute hairs on my glove."
"While the sun shines here, day or night seems to have no meaning, in some places, all is without natural order, hedges cover the grounds and arches made of melted metal block all sunlight. I swear before the Gods that in my lantern light I could almost see semblances of human faces."
"Whatever terrible beast roams this place, which hunts, I have gained its attention, and I do not wish to tempt fate any longer. At first, it seemed to be like a worn down statue of a woman. Upon breaking an iron branch, it turned with remarkable speed, and I saw features which will haunt me forevermore. An elongated body with fingers which could extend across the face entire, a pockmarked form of iron, twisted and matted hair of wire, and a face with teeth like nails, gaps and all, and eyes, horrid eyes, sunken into the face, with red dots......"
"Sometimes I still see it in my dreams, looking through my window."

Geography

The cold iron garden is much like its namesake; a garden. It features msotly flat terrarain that attempts to ride the river that parts it, with prominant creeks throughout its flora. Without a sense of direction, it's easy to get lost within the iron flowers or the sparkling waters below. Tree roots have infested the surface, making every step a risk. One must be patient and cautious when traversing the garden, lest they find themselves impaled.

Ecosystem

The Entirety of the Cold Iron Garden Ecosystem will quickly make an ecologist wince. Rather than a careful balance, the cold iron garden is full of constant discordant death and rebirth. The things there do not hunt one another, and they die and are born with little but the leave of their master.
All around the "life" is hostile to any outsiders who enter, who are said to join the garden if they do not manage to escape. The statues strewn about the garden certainly lend heft to this theory.

Ecosystem Cycles

Seasons have no meaning in this place, nor does death, really. How can you kill what does not truly live? Under the maintenance of its steward, it shall likely be a blot upon the face of the world forevermore. To the dismay of many a priest and squeemish scholar.

Fauna & Flora

A garden of iron, all of iron, with a structure in its sheer chaos. The Cold Iron Garden is the source of the river of monsters, among other rivers, which seldom become safe to touch until they have flowed for some miles. Nearly everything there is deadly, and that which is not deadly directly is a trap.
The colors of cold iron can be a guide, both to general location, and the nature of dangers.
Red cold iron tends to clump near the center of the gardens, and it is the most dangerous. This cold iron is carnivorous, and has an insatiable appetite not even quenched by forging. It is said weapons made of Red Cold Iron might even devour their owners.
Blue cold iron congregates towards the south, and it is freezing, enough that it can force blood to ice. The highest concentration of "statues" is in this area as well, some even still fully conscious....
Brown cold iron congregates towards the west, seeming almost rusted. This is not rust. It is instead a sign of inhabitation of a certain species of Metallic grub, which bursts from their cold iron mimicking cocoons, launching themselves at the nearest living thing.
Black cold iron, in the east, it is prone to being nearly impossible to see in the dark, those pricked by it lose track of time....
Green cold iron does not prick, it subsumes, those who touch it, in the north of the garden may find themselves covered head to toe in suffocating hedge, until eventually, they go to sleep.

Natural Resources

If you don't know what resource comes from the cold iron garden, you weren't reading. Bottom marks again, Malkinson

History

The garden has been present for a long period of memory. Some theorize that a Faerie Knight was responsible, one who could not grow anything, whose presence was anathema to life. Because of her great power, it is said that she was granted a place of power, lest she make war upon them.
Eventually, after nearly bringing death upon a child of the great master of the court, she was banished, and granted a small plot of land, to placate her.
This was to her plan, as she corrupted all the nature of this place, and rendered it cold iron.
For those seeking to bring death upon Fey and Demons, there is little other recourse but to cold iron, and the garden is always waiting... As is her grim master, who laughs uproariously with each death her creation causes.

Alternative Name(s)

The Iron Garden

Type

Forest