Wombwood

The Wombwood is a primordial forest in northern Emeros and the birthplace of the elven people. Once the homeland to all elves, following the schism between wood and high elves in the Second Age, the Wombwood is now the sovereign capital of Cymbia.

Geography

Once a primeval forest that spanned two-thirds of the continent of Emeros, the Wombwood was the largest contiguous forest in the world, rivaled only by the jungles of Obsidios. Within its eaves, it contained rivers, valleys and even one mountain range. After the Awakening, however, in 306 3A, everything changed.
From that point forward, the Wombwood defied all conventional understandings of geography. It made the Wombwood impossible for outsiders to navigate. The trees would perpetually shift, trapping any interlopers in an ever-changing maze of woodland. Only a wood elf could navigate the forest simply by will – wishing to go anywhere within the forest and arriving there within an hour, no matter how far the physical distance.

Notable Locations

• Vaer Celadamei: A secretive elven prison, Vaer Celadamei (“Where The Ivy Thrives” in Elven) is where everyone from interlopers to criminals to political prisoners are questioned and detained.
• Vaer Quethrolas: Called the Hidden Palace, Vaer Quethrolas (“Where the Ghost Elms Grow” in Elven) is the Cymbian royal palace and the home of the two reigning dynasts.

History

The Wombwood was a constant presence for much of elven history. It gave birth to the first elven civilization, a civilization that would eventually swell to empire in the First Age. During the Second Age, it was a wood elven revolution and became the sovereign nation of Cymbia. It was a sickness that struck the Wombwood at the end of the Second Age, a blight that ravaged the forest, and was known as the Withering. It weathered human expansion in the south, eventually culminating the War of the Wood in the early Third Age. It was this war that eventually led to the Awakening, the most significant event in the forest’s long history.

The Awakening

Near the end of the war, Cymbian leadership, under King Oun and Queen Mathea, sought a drastic stalemate. Convening hundreds of druids from across Cymbia, they cast a mighty mythal – an everlasting magical effect – over the Wombwood. Called the Awakening, it gave sentience to a small percentage of the trees and granted them immense magical power over their brethren, birthing the race of treefolk. With the aid of the newly awoken treefolk, the forest became impassable to all without their blessing. This, when combined with the new strength the elves oaken allies gave them, blunted any of the Thorp’s attempts to further log the Wombwood and ended the war.

Inhabitants

Much of the forest is colonized by the wood elves and they are its primary inhabitants. They live in harmony with a number of other creatures – red elk, giant owls, unicorns and the treefolk most of all. Darker things dwell under those eaves as well and it is not always a safe abode, even for the elves. Green dragons have long made their abode in the Wombwood, since the elder days, and they still maintain a few footholds here and there. In addition, tales are told of dark places, secluded groves and shadowed glens, in the forest, sealed away by the Awakening and home to foul creatures – ettercaps, hags, even twisted treefolk.