Great Snowy Forest
The Great Snowy Forest comes by its name honestly. It is a vast expanse of mighty conifers that runs along the eastern shores of the Gulf of Kharl from the Fir River in the south to the eerie majesty of Blue Ice Bay, nearly 180 leagues to the north. It width varies as it climbs in latitude, abutting the Orkish Hills in the south and the Dreuthekon Mountains further north. The trees, towering sugar and white pines where the elevation is lower and summers longer and more modest sized firs and spruce as the ratio of snow to sun wanes, dominate the landscape, their needles poisoning the ground and casting long shadows to prevent any competition from taking root. Low hills dot the landscape near the shore, growing steadily as they move inland until they reach the rugged mountains in the east.
Of course, there is the snow. In some parts of the forest the snows begin as early as the Harvest Moon and have been known to fall as late as the Water Moon, their melt causing the ground to liquify into great traps of mud and the three great rivers that bisect the forest, the Merrin, the Perlinkook, and Pender's to rush in torrents of white capped furry. It is said by the Ork hunters that occasionally make their way across the mountains that in the hills around Blue Ice Bay, the snows reach to the shoulders of the great wooly mammoths that shelter around the Bay in the winter.
Like the massive elephants of the north, the Great Snowy Forest has a reputation for massive wildlife. Beyond the deer one might find in any pine forest, moose and elk make their homes in the low forests and wooded hills, respectively. Massive brown bears gorge on the region's salmon runs and huge striped tigers prowl the silent nights. Worse, huge, wormlike Gricks, monstrous owlbears, and horse-sized dire wolves all compete for prey, making any foray into the Great Snowy Forest one fraught with peril.