Firewood

The Firewood was one name given to a forest in northern Khûm. Squeezed between the Roofbeams to the west and the Clatterdowns to the south, the forest was one of the northernmost in the entire world and slept beneath snow most of the year.

Etymology

When dwarves of the First Age logged the forest to fuel their furnaces, it was called the Firewood. When wood elves from Cymbia established a colony here, it was called the Winterwood. When the Seven Sorrows brought eternal winter to the forest, it was called the Shatterwood, for the ice-broken branches of the once proud trees.

Geography

The Firewood was an expanse of evergreen forest, consisting mainly of pine, spruce and fir trees. The forest fills a natural valley between three mountain ranges. To the south spanned the Clatterdowns, famed for their frequent avalanches and alpine goat-pastures. To the west reached the impressive Roofbeams, their floating peaks mired in cloud. One small range cut directly through the center of the Firewood; the Flagstones were more rocky hills than true mountains. The forest was bordered on the east by the icy shores of the Gigantic Ocean, cut with many fjords.

Climate

So far north, the Firewood experienced a subarctic climate, with winter conditions lasting four months of the year. For two month only – Mutson and Athson – did the Firewood thaw, its climate becoming more temperate. During those months, certain of the forest's colder inhabitants, such as the frost spider, often went into hibernation to avoid the uncomfortable heat.

History

First Age

Few dwarven clans showed much interest in the great forest for hundreds of years. Thus, the Firewood's history was largely unremarkable until the foundation of Clan Axebite in 305 2A. Constructing the stout longhall of Timberhall in the high foothills of the Roofbeams, they began to log the vast forest, providing timber to dwarven clans in the surrounding mountains and eventually, all across Khûm.

Second Age

In the early Second Age, Zhoraska the Red Matron made her lair in the nearby Flagstones, her presence warping the surrounding forest. In wrath for the death of several of her brood, the ancient red took to the wing and torched Timberhall in 68 2A, not the first nor last time the wooden hall burned down in its history.
The arrival of wood elves in 137 2A sparked a minor international incident. Colonists from Cymbia established themselves before Truethrone could properly respond, forcing unfavorable terms onto the dwarven crown. Now deemed the sovereign rulers of the newly-renamed Winterwood, the elves sharply curtailed dwarven logging, permitting Clan Axebite and their allies only to clear-cut certain approved trees.
When the Seven Sorrows afflicted the forest in 899 2A, the eternal winter slowly killed even the hardy evergreen trees. What's worse, frequent avalanches in the Clatterdowns closed most of the passages from the forest, stranded the wood elven population in the dead forest.

Inhabitants

Wood Elves

Appearing in 137 2A, wood elves from Cymbia founded a colony – Vaer Naemoras (lit. "where-we-remember-spring" in Elven) – in the Winterwood. Ruled by a pair of dynasts, they patrolled their borders and withstood the harsh winters as well as any dwarves might. Protective of their newfound woodlands, they came into constant conflict with Clan Axebite over how much and which of the trees could be felled, according to their treaties.
What's more, when the elves arrived in 137 2A, they brought their fey creatures with them. Sprite, dryads and even ettercaps began to populate the forest in the early Second Age.

Dwarves

Dwelling on the mountainous border between the Firewood and the Roofbeams was Clan Axebite. From their wooden seat of Timberhall, the dwarves made daily excursions into the forest to harvest the ample lumber. Not merely lumberjacks, so too were they master whittlers and woodworkers, producing exquisite timber goods. Conflict with the wood elves was inevitable and the two sides rarely saw eye-to-eye, always resenting the poor deal the dwarven crown negotiated for them. While an underclan to the soaring Clan Cloudpeak, they were a rugged, independent people, with little wish to governed by Elder Clan or sovereign.
For all it provided for them, the dwarves of Clan Axebite were mistrusted the forest. They knew its many dangers – its elven population not least – and only ventured beneath its eaves in small teams, wary and well-armed.

Kobolds

In the early Second Age, a new menace – tiny creatures, dressed in cloaks made from pine needles – began to harass the dwarves of Clan Axebite; attacking their logging, poisoning their food, creating deadly traps in the depth of the forest. When the mercenaries of the Menagerie first encountered them, they called them "pine-devils", for lack of any better description. It was Remorhaz of the Menagerie who first determined them to be kobolds, likely the latest brood of Zhoraska.
The pine-devils were undisputed masters of their wooded terrain; experts at stealth, ambush, poison and trapmaking. Despite their comparatively few number, they made excellent guerilla-warriors, striking from hiding and disappearing before any were slain or caught. To protect their mother's lair, they'd even constructed an elaborate gauntlet of traps around the Flagstones, specifically Cloudfall.

Monsters

Frost spiders were abundant in the Firewood, hunting unsuspecting prey from the trees above. The kobolds of Zhoraska's brood used the spider's venom in their darts and arrows to incapacitate their enemies. It was from these spiders that the Winterwood's first ettercaps were formed, catching and eating the fey creatures the wood elves brought with them.

Notable Locations

• Flagstones: A small mountain range branching off from the Roofbeams, the Flagstones were more rocky hills than true mountains. Over Khûm's long history, both wood elves and dragons called these forested hills home.
• Timberhall: The strong wooden steading of Clan Axebite, Timberhall was not technically within the confines of the forest but overlooked it from a promontory in the Roofbeam foothills. Made from stout and elaborately carved timbers, Timberhall has suffered tragedy twice in Khûm's history – burned down by drunken revelry and burned down by a dragon.

Campaigns

The Menagerie

• Khûm: To reunite with the Menagerie, the Commander's Tent crossed north through the Firewood. They fought frost spiders and encountered the blackened ruins of Timberhall, still smoking from Zhoraska's attack (Chapter 9 – 10).

Names:

• The Firewood (First Age)
• The Winterwood (Second Age)
• The Shatterwood (Third Age)
  

Type: Forest
Region: Northern Khûm
Climate: Continental
Inhabitants: Dwarves, wood elves, frost spiders, kobolds