The Westerwoods

Avoid the woods of green and blue
wyr-tainted in the east
for power twists and changes
where Grey Spider fought the wyrbeasts

~ old Axu rhyme

A place of magic and mystery, the Westerwoods were once the site of a battle between the Grey Spider and a horde of twisted wyrbeasts - and was permanently altered. Now, the forest has become a symbol of mages' destructive power. To Axuans, it is a reminder to young mages to be cautious with their abilities. In the ikayal cities of the southern continent, it stands as one more barrier between them and human nations. But perhaps the greatest value that these woods hold lies at its heart, where the Grey Spider's lair hides something impossible...

History

The earliest records of the Westerwoods are found in one of the lost cities of the Wastes' fallen nation. There, inscribed upon a stone and written in wyr-preserved parchment, is mentioned 'a great Forest in the east which stretches the whole continent'. Evidence suggests that, while the forest did not stretch farther east than the Tomi River of Axu, it did take up a large portion of what is now the Araen Wastes.
After the Endwar, when the Wastes were only barren, a strange man led some hunters to an old Araen vault, bursting with magic. The treasure seekers broke open the ancient seals - only to be attacked by beasts that the enchantments inside had tainted. Hungering for wyr, the monsters followed the trail of the nearest Exalted: Arvus, the Grey Spider, who had made her home in the Westerwoods. The ensuing battle released enough wild magic, freed from the wyrbeasts' corpses, that some of the enchantments were infused into the soil and grew with the forest. As a result, the forest's ecosystem and even its experience of time changed entirely.
The Westerwoods are now unfriendly to travellers. Paths shift without warning, and navigation is nigh-impossible. Markers on trees, trails left behind - all these things inexplicably fail. Those few mortals who live in the forest have to develop an almost symbiotic relationship with the land, understanding the ways that it usually "moves" around. Within the forest's borders, even time itself seems distorted, and the warping effect only gets stronger the deeper one goes. What could be a few days outside, may stretch for weeks inside. 

Location

The Westerwoods lie directly east of the Great Desert, providing a barrier between it and the human nation of Axu. It spans from the middle of Sukhyr, about 15 degrees south of the equator, to the sea at about 30 degrees south. From west to east they are approximately 100 kilometres wide.

Geography

The Westerwoods are on fairly low ground, although it slopes downward as one travels south to the sea. The land folds in many places, forming shallow hills and valleys, and there are many springs within the woods, though not all are safe to drink from. From the tallest tree upon the tallest hill, travellers will be able to see the land stretching all the way to the ocean in the south; pale yellow and sandy brown from the desert in the west, and to the east, the settlement known as Vira at the edge of the trees.

Ecosystem

The Westerwoods are always cooler than the surrounding lands, noticeably so. As such, the trees are coniferous and of the kind one might expect to see in a forest further north. This temperature does not change, despite the seasons; rain, snow and sun have almost no effect on the pleasant, slightly damp atmosphere within the woods. Wind, therefore, is a fairly rare occurrence when compared to other places.
All the animals native to the Westerwoods have long been changed by the unpredictable enchantments suffusing the earth. Many kinds are dependent on the elevated levels of wyr in the forest, and would not survive beyond it, but others have spread across the continent or even farther. Still more are only solitary creatures, coming across unique fragments of wild wyr. But then, of course, there are the spiders.

Natural Resources

While the Westerwoods are an ore-rich land, and the wood they provide is good for burning, none have tried to break the soil of the woods any further than the edges. The forest protects itself in an almost unnerving manner. Its soil is almost bizarre in its fertility, and so the settlements within primarily farm crops, although the plants are always at least a little affected by the wyr in the area. As a location for casting, there are few places indeed that can surpass the Westerwoods' concentration of wyr.

Type

Forest, Temperate (Seasonal)

Owner/Ruler

Arvus, the Grey Spider

Characters in Location

• Arvus, the Grey Spider