Long Wood

Long Wood is a enormous forest of twisted pines and contorted hemlocks nestled within The Blackwyrm Mountains . The trunks of it's gnarled trees wind around each other whilst their roots lie half buried in the black dirt underfoot like thousands of entwined snakes. Their canopies are so dense with flaking and withered remains of ancient vines and with curse-ridden fungal growths and dark green-black needles of the groaning trees that lost travellers in this forsaken place are left yearning for a single lost ray from the sky, or the call of a lost bird. The only memory of the world outside the wood is the mournful groans and ominous moans which rumble through the unfathomable heights of the forest.
The Long Wood wasn't always like this. Like countless other forests and valleys, it's life and vibrancy was crushed and contorted by The Ruination. Being hidden inside The Blackwyrm Mountains was, depending on how you look at it, a blessing or a curse for the forest and it's inhabitants. On the one hand, it was saved from the full effects of the destruction by the craggy peaks to it's west, but on the other, it was cursed by being to the West of the Eastern branch of the mountains. Either way, the wood is tainted by the corrupting influence of The Lands of Ruination, filling the place with the baleful howls of otherworldly monsters, and labyrinthine paths leading round and round through the trees.

Geography

Surrounded by The Blackwyrm Mountains on all sides, Long Wood lies in an unusual environment for a forest, and academics have all given interesting reasons as to how a forest of this size and density could have grown in such a rocky and unforgiving valley. One popular theory is that thousands of years ago, a volcanic eruption deposited a large amount of ash in the Long Wood valley, creating mineral rich soil in which the forest grew. This is supported by the 21st clause of The Dratchi Tablets, which describes an eruption in the mountains. However, as it is described, the eruption was fairly minor, and whilst it would have deposited some amount of minerals in the valley, it would not be sufficient to grow a forest of this size, leading many to speculate that faerie magic was involved.Needless to say, the mountainous environment of the wood means that the forest floor is strewn with boulders, and the canopy is marred with the occasional crag or tor. In the centre of the forest is a long and narrow lake, it's shape echoing the woods around it. It is known simply as 'Long Wood Mire', and is fed by many streams from the mountains, as well as the large amounts of surface runoff from rocky ground. During particularly bad thunderstorms, the lake has been known to flood the surrounding forest. These floods are infrequent, occurring about once a year, but take a long time to clear, rendering the shores of Long Wood Lake marshy and treacherous.

History

As discussed in the geography section, the origins of the forest are unclear, but are likely related to an early volcanic eruption in the mountains, faerie influence, or a combination of both. The true story of the forest begins at least a hundred years later when the forest was more established in around 500 BAE, when the area first became settled by humans of the fledgling Kingdom of Archaria. These settlers found it a promising location for a town, with access to fresh water, wood, stone and ores from the mountains, so founded the town of Farkir on the West side of the forest. Over the years, the settlement grew, but the subsequent destruction of woodland attracted the attention of faerie spirits, possibly those which raised the forest in the beginning. Conflict soon ensued, with the spirits dragging away woodcutters and hunters into their hidden realms, terrorising the fringes of the town, whilst the settlers fought back by sending hunters into the woods to kill whatever fey they could find, and razing any trees or groves in which the spirits were suspecting of hiding.
 However, in the words of Sun Tzu, there is no instance of a nation benefiting from prolonged warfare. Both sides were evenly matched, and had no intention of giving up control of the woods. No side was therefore gaining the upper hand in the conflict, but only gaining many more casualties. In addition to this, schisms were starting to open up in the two sides. A group in Farkir had started to argue against the town elders (for this was a time before the Kingdom Council) against the war, advocating an existence in which they lived in harmony with the forest, replanting the trees they cut down, rather than leaving the land bare for agriculture and mining operations, as a means to end the war. The elders, meanwhile, dismissed their suggestions, arguing that humanity must show it's dominance over nature. Appalled at the elders' words (for some of the people of this group worshipped the spirits as deities), the group split off from Farkir, and founded their own village further North on a rocky outcrop by the shores Long Wood Mire, and called it Volsarin.
Meanwhile, the Faerie spirits were also divided. The first and most numerous group was a group of more malevolent fey who were aloof and unwilling to share the world with inferior creatures. They were the fey who waged war. However, in the other camp, were the fey who believed that the settlers were capable of change, and who sought an end to the war. 
To be continued.

Tourism

NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO ONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD EVER BE A TOURIST OF LONG WOOD! DON'T GO IN THERE!!!!!!
For travellers who are insane enough to traverse long wood, about halfway through the journey, you will find the cosy Long Wood Inn, a magically protected roadside hotel run by an unceasingly optimistic novelist and his butler in a rare, more forgiving corner of the woods.

Type

Forest, Boreal (Coniferous)

Location under

The Blackwyrm Mountains

Owning Organization

The Kingdom of Archaria

"In that wood, you never can tell if that low roar is just the wind, or the creature that will end of your life" - Eledar the Normal, Druid

Woodland Gates

Standing guard at either end of the wood like ageless sentries, the woodland gates are what bar the monsters of the wood from entering civilised lands.

South Gate

Standing where the The Chafis Road winds it's way into the fathoms of canopy from the South are two stony columns, connected by an ornate and distorted arch of iron. One is barren, with sandy dust gathering in the crevices between it's bricks and the dry stems of long dead ivy. The other bears host to a hundred mosses and drips with ivy. The archway, forged in Lenthall and laced with magic, coils and twists in a whimsical parody of the trees behind. At it's centre, the following immortal lines are written out in cold steel: "PROCEED WITH CAUTION". ^{Eh, I'll think of something better eventually.}

North Gate

From the North, and the story is different. Both columns lie toppled in the dirt and pine needles, one half standing, jagged like the remains of a lightning-struck tree, the other reduced to rubble. It's archway is red with corrosion, and sliced clean in half. In it's absence, the malevolent roots of the great trees slither out towards civilised lands, unseen like snakes in the long grass, and monsters of the forest prowl past the remains of the gate.