The Dark Forest
THE DARK FOREST
Deep in the dark recesses of the minds of modern men, lays the still beating fear of the darkness between the trees. The Dark Forest is a large deep forest that stretches through the land known as Lusternia, home to many creatures and races it is towered over by the Black Tower. This is where the Sorceress reigns, and all others in the realm fear her save for the Summer and Winter Courts of the Fae, masters of their own domains in the woods.
Human outcasts and opportunists from the lands of Baron Trusk settle in the wooded town of Bradsford, while many of the Valadihiel, the Day elves, refuse to give up their ancestral homes to the corruption of the Sorceress and form alliances with the native Forestkin.
But these individuals are plagued not only by the magic of the Sorceress and the twisted games of the Fae, but also by the Witches who seek the Sorceress's patronage, the Twisted, dark magic monstrosities formed from the Forestkin, brutal Orc raiders and Sinderahiel, the elves twisted cousins who keep and use oacks of monstrous spiders.
- Starting Experience: 10000
- Stat Cost: 1000
Stats:
Fae Magic:
The Fae mostly rely on a type of magic that focuses on illusions, mental manipulation and manipulation of the environment. While they can't quite do anything they please with their power, they can generally make it seem as if they can do anything they please by using illusions and mental manipulation to make up the difference.
Dark Magic:
Witches make many sacrifices to gain their powers, and they are rewarded handsomely for that effort. Dark Magic conveys the ability to lay terrible curses, to move objects with the mind and to summon darkness as a weapon.
Elven Magic:
Elven Sorcerers practice elemental magic, summoning and manipulating fire, wind, lightning and stone to their service. While visually impressive even the most powerful Elven Sorcerers are outmatched by those who've mastered the Black Arts.
Forest Magic:
Forest Kin and their Dark brothers can call upon the forest itself to fight for them. Causing roots and vines and other forest animals to fight on their behalf.
Melee Combat:
Covering the use of melee weapons from swords to pole-axes.
Archery:
The art of putting arrows into an enemy. Humans prefer crossbows, Elves recurve bows.
Armor:
From the metal plates and chainmail preferred by the humans, to the supple leather chosen by the elves, to the bone and wood of the Orcs, armor is a good way to keep yourself from harm.
Orc Weapons:
Orc weapons are larger and simpler than those used by other races, relying on the species' great strength to dominate over others in a direct conflict.
Tooth and Claw:
Creatures of the forest do not need normal weapons to defend themselves, armed with fangs, horns and claws that can rip viciously into any that cross them.
Giant Power:
The great creatures of the forest have little need for magic, weapons or any conventional form of combat, instead using their incredible size and power to overcome any opposition.
Mount:
- 1-15 points: Wolves for Orcs, Spiders for Sinderahiel, and Horses for
everyone else.
- 16-30 points: Unicorns, Panthers, and other mystical land based mounts.
- 31-50 points: Pegasi, Griffons and other winged mounts.
- 100 points: Forest Dragons and other massive mythological mounts.
Spider Pack:
Sinderahiel often use packs of dog-sized Spiders to help them fight and hunt. The creatures are deceptively fast and their venom leaves victims paralyzed so they can be taken back for more a more entertaining end.
Noble Blood:
- 1-25 Minor Noble Blood
- 26-99 Significant Noble Blood
- 100+ Royal Blood
Human Retinue:
Nobles can often afford to hire others to do their fighting for them. Humans with a retinue can count on a force both well suited to defend them and to attack their enemies.
Elven Retinue:
While Elven nobles are often adept at rallying others to their cause, once the battle begins they are expected to fend for themselves. Elven Retinues provide a powerful asset on the offense, but their archers do little to protect their lord should they be targeted.
Orcish Retinue:
To lead a clan means to lead warriors. Orcish retinues can overpower almost any other kind in a straight fight, but they leave their leader entirely to defend themselves.
Roles:
Human: 0
Residents of Bradsford on the border between the lands of Baron Trusk and the Dark Forest. Many are exiles from those lands or criminals who've escaped to an area where the King's Justice cannot reach them. They make a living as trappers, and gatherers, selling valuable goods harvested from the heart of the forest back to merchants heading back into civilization. It is a dangerous life, but can be a rich one.
Orc: 1
A foot taller than humans on average and significantly more powerfully built, the Orcs spread to every part of the land that isn't protected by high walls. Their skin varies between Forest green and dusky red and they possess the unique ability to impregnate any humanoid female, who always then bear Orcish offspring. In combination, this ability, their natural aggression and strength, and their ability to reach physical maturity in a dozen years has led the Orcish tribes to grow rapidly in numbers wherever they conquer.
Valadihiel: 5000
Legend has it that the Valadihiel and Sinderahiel were Fae once, who gave up their eternal existence in the courts to live in the lands of Man. Whatever their origins, the Valadihiel, or day elves, have lived in their treetop dwellings among the forest for thousands of years, and many of the immortal race even remember a time before the coming of the Black Tower. Slender and dexterous, the Valadihiel are skilled archers and capable sorcerers, their golden skin often blending well with the trees of the forest.
Sinderahiel: 5000
Legend has it that the Valadihiel and Sinderahiel were Fae once, who gave up their immortal existence in the courts to live in the lands of Man. Some say the Sinderahiel were descendants of the Winter Court, and it was that which caused their split with their brethren. No matter the cause, not long after the coming of the Black Tower, the Sinderahiel split from the Valadihiel in a great civil war, giving up their tree-top abodes for hidden underground dwellings. They traded the golden luster of their skin for a pale ivory perfection and domesticated the large cave spiders that dwelled in the dark places of the forest, breeding them into fearsome warpacks and mounts leading to their common moniker of Spider Elves.
The Sinderahiel are a sadistic race, who practice human sacrifice and cannibalism as well as making a religion out of torture and torment.
Forestkin: 10000
The Forest has long been home to all manner of sentient creatures that exist in harmony with the great trees. Dryads, Treants, Satyrs, and sentient animals and hybrids of all sorts make their home on the forest floor, gathering around glades and pools. When threatened the Forestkin can draw upon a magic fueled by the forest itself to defend themselves, wielding nature to their benefit.
Twisted: 10000
When the Sorceress came she saw a need for minions among the forest and created the Twisted from those Forestkin her forces captured. Twisting the creatures of the forest into perverse versions of themselves, utterly loyal to her above all things and driven by an insatiable hunger for carnage, chaos and misery.
Human Noble: 25000
Sometimes even the Nobility fall upon hard times. Humans with noble bloodlines also sometimes are exiled or find a need to flee the control of the Crown and make their way to the Dark Forest. Their family name might not count for much in Bradsford, but their family wealth is usually enough to earn them a good deal of respect and power inside the town. Even if it also earns them their fair share of enemies.
Orc Chief: 25000
The most powerful and fearsome of the Orcs are appointed as chieftains of their clan. Ruling until a stronger or more cunning Orc takes the position away.
Valadihiel Noble: 50000
It has been a long time since the Valadihiel had a King or Queen to rule them, yet those families who distinguished themselves in times of old are still afforded a good deal of respect and courtesy, given the right to rule as part of a council of elders once they are the eldest of their family.
Sinderahiel Noble: 50000
Many of those who split from the Valadihiel carried noble blood, and other noble families have been named since. Although the Sinderahiel Queen has not been seen in over five hundred years, the Sinderahiel are still viciously loyal to her and to members of her chosen nobility.
Great Forestkin: 100000
Some rare creatures in the forest grow larger and more powerful than others. Great Ents that seem to brush the skies, giants and even Forest Dragons call the area their home. While not minions of the Sorceress, these great creatures none the less rarely have time for the concerns of men or elves.
Witch: 100000
Long have supplicants come to the Forest to learn from the Sorceress, although she takes apprentices rarely, these witches seek to prove their mastery of the dark arts and their dedication to chaos and cruelty among the woods of the forest to attract her attention. Many of the most powerful witches in the world make the Forest their home and are often a match for even small armies that dare to oppose them.
Fae: 1000000
Even before the Dark Tower or the Elves there were the People. Two courts call the Dark Forest their home, the Winter Court in the north and the Summer court in the south. The Fae in these courts divide up much of the forest into territories that one Fae lays claim to, although few outside of the courts can understand the logic behind these decisions. The Fae are known as being capricious and cruel, but it is not unheard of for them to also intervene to save someone who grant them great boons when it strikes their fancy. Common advice if you do cross a Fae is to be as charming and entertaining as possible until their attention wanders to something else.
Character Roster
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| Zeena Firgalik | Andrastia Tae'Llidori? | Iantha |
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| Rhi'annon (AKA Rhiannon)? | Merek? | Hanni? |
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| Lord Thorne | Zynia | Rose |
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| Paula? | Aduial? | |