History of the Forest of Wyrd - The First Age

In the beginning, there were the spirits of the Forest, manifestations of the nexuses of power over which the wood lay. Over time, some of these started to grow stronger and more sentient. Eventually, the greatest of the spirits became the defacto rulers of the Forest of Wyrd: the Green Man, the Prince in Yellow, and the Black Mother. The three took on different parts of the forest as their own; the Green Man took the trees and the growing world, the Black Mother the depths of the earth and caverns below, and the Prince in Yellow the skies and cloud above. For help and companionship, the Green Man uplifted seven spirits to become the Daughters of the Green Man. Likewise, the Black Mother lifted up [REDACTED]. The Prince in Yellow, meanwhile, choose [REDACTED]. And for untold millennia, the Forest stood undisturbed and in balance. Then the first newcomers came, dwellers from the Fey realm that lay as a shadowed veil behind the mortal realm. First there came [REDACTED], humans who had been enslaved in Faerie and discovered a way to form gates through the veil. These were few and caused little disturbance in the Forest, so the spirits let them be. These men were followed by seelie fey, driven from Faeire by their darker kin. These fit well with those creatures dwelling in the Forest, and they too were allowed to stay. But when the dark fey started to cross over the barrier between space and time, they brought strife and war, and so the three powers of the Forest wrested the knowledge of the gates from the unseelie, pushed the hoards back beyond the veil, and sealed the gates against further intrusion from Faerie.

After this time, the Forest once more sat undisturbed and at peace for a countless years. And then there appear at the eaves of the forest a new nation of men. These people were the D’war, those first men to spread far and settle the wide reaches of the known world. These were many, and started to shape the Forest to their own liking. As they cut trees, dug into the earth and fouled the airs with smoke, the spirits of the Forest grew angry and turned against them. And so war raged in bower and under bough, causing great death and destruction on both sides. But for all the power of the spirits of the Forest, it was man, ascendant at the prime of his power, who eventually gained the upper hand. And so the Green Man, the Black Mother and the Prince in Yellow turned to their old foes, the dark princes of Faerie. Allying with this power from beyond the veil, they opened the gates and let the unseelie hoards into the Forest. And war most terrible raged again, and the fight turned against the D’war. But they too called on allies, this time the seelie fey of the Forest, who until this point had stood aside in the fray. But they knew their kin and the darkness which they would bring to the Forest, and so joined men in the fight. Though the war was long and hard, the D’war and their allies prevailed in the end, and once more drove back unseelie fey through the gates. In this they were helped by the Prince in Yellow, who had been horrified by the fighting and destruction, and turned away from the Green Man. Likewise, the Black Mother tired of the fight and retreated to her dark places in the depths of the earth, drawing back further from the wood and away from those who dwelled in the surface world.

It seemed the war was over, but the Green Man was still angry. Under the guise of peace offerings, the Green Man tricked the high king of the D’war, Mac Em Doma. [REDACTED] This finally broke the power of the D’war, and the remnants of the tribes scattered to dwell quietly in the Forest. As they were no longer a threat, the Green Man let them be, for he was tired and needed rest.

But soon another arose to lead men. At the height of the war between D'war and Faerie, Liadan, the daughter of the High King, was captured by the dark Faerie lord, Crindis the Hidden One. They fell in love, and she secretly bore a half blood child. Child and mother stayed in the Forest when the fey father was forced back to Faerie at war's end.  And when the child came of age, he claimed rule of the forest as the Half Blood King. Men and seelie fey rallied to his side.  And for a brief time, the Half Blood King ruled all the wood at peace, and took a daughter of the Green Man (She Who Wore the Crown of Stars) as his wife. She bore him a son, the Prince Who Would Be, who could rightfully claim to lordship over all the powers of the Forest. But this golden time did not last, for the Green Man awoke from his slumber and turned once more on those who would claim his woods. He killed the Half Blood King and destroyed his realm. The Prince Who Would Be was rushed off into hiding against the day when he could return and claim his right.

Forest of Wyrd - A Few Points About the Campaign

A few other points to note about the Forest of Wyrd Campaign:

· Silver Standard: Base coinage in the Forest of Wyrd is the silver penny rather than the gold piece. LotFP uses a silver standard rather than gold anyway, so this agrees with the rules. From a setting perspective, gold is typically mistrusted as much of that found in the Forest is faerie gold i.e. may be cursed, disappear at the wrong time, etc.

· Experience: 2XP per silver penny of treasure looted ... er salvaged. XP will also be awarded for magic items, using the values in the AD&D 1st Ed DMG as a guideline. There will quite a bit of magic which will be largely useless in a mechanical sense, but worthwhile for XP and ‘story’ value.

· Cold Iron: Fey and demi-fey creatures take double damage from cold iron. Cold iron is unalloyed, pure iron that has not been quenched or tempered. Which means it is quite brittle and prone to shatter/break. Any time a cold iron weapon hits in combat, it must pass a saving throw or the weapon is thereafter useless until repaired. Note also that due to the difficulty in forging cold iron, weapon cost is also doubled.

· Unique Monsters: Most of the monsters will either be unique or ‘fey’ versions of standard monsters. In other words, don‘t assume the thing that looks like a goblin is just a typical 3HP cannon-fodder goblin.

Background on the Forest of Wyrd

Reposted from the Facebook group ..... if you read it there, ignore it here.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From “Reflections of Many Goodly Matters and Curious Places” by Hengist of Jarlahad:

“… the northern reach of that part of our world known as Esrae is home to yet another unique locale. This area is known variously as the Feywood, Forest of Wyrd, Wosenbrae or Fairy Border. Approached from the northern Cold Nar, one passes southward over a cold and treeless tundra. This leads to the foot of a sparsely forested mountain range, beyond which one passes through a temperate wood of no special note before debouching  into the settled lands of the Earldom of Brakenrae and the Kingdom of the Rock at Carnock. Approach from the south, however, and matters are much different. Entering the wood, one encounters an enchanted realm of fey creatures and mysterious locales unseen on the journey south. This wood, it seems, it infused with a deep and power magic of a sort unseen elsewhere. But the greatest surprise is beyond the mountains; the tundra is no more and instead there is a seemingly endless dark and cold forest bathed in perpetual twilight. Here dwell dark fey, cold sidhe and creatures of grim  chaos, where  the lords of the dwimmer realm hold sway. The Wise contend that by some unknown means, a portion of the dwimmer realm has become overlain here on our own world. And at times, the dwimmer lords lead their hordes south into the lands of men, whether to conquer or simply slay and spread chaos is unknown to even the Wise ... "



From “Expansion of the Three Fold Faith across the Known World” by the Most Virtuous Athenfae of Kalin:

“… while not nearly as troubling as the scandalous fertility sects of Saule in the Western Wold, the Church of the Three Virtues in those scattered lands under the nominal suzerainty of the Kingdom of the Rock at Carnock has likewise drifted from the path of the true faith. Little are the Three worshiped here; instead a vast array of saints are venerated. These are purportedly holy men and women who served the faith in years long past. But one suspects they are more likely ancient false gods, reimaged to placate the Faith when the Imperator Vilorian the Second carried his sacred banners north into the Forest of Wyrd. Without doubt, this false faith has displeased Habuu, Velas and Salue (blessed be the three!) such that the servants of the church do not possess the same powers of prayer as do those in other lands. While the priests of the Faith hold some powers of protection from the Fey, only the Paladins, the spiritual descendants of the Imperator’s crusaders, possess divine connection to the gods and receive their favors …”



From “Epic of the Kingdom of the Rock at Carnock” by Osric Speareaver [translated into prose]:

“ … from that cursed wood on the northern marches, three times in the memory of Man, came invading hordes of Fey devils. They first sought to enslave Man when he was new to these lands. Only a pact with the seelie Fey pushed back the dark ones and brought peace. The second was defeated by the appearance of the mysterious Wose, wild men of the wood who harnessed the power of earth and root and stone. And ten generations past, it required the legions of the Third Imperium to push them back. Imperator Vilorian the Second used the power of throne and faith to defeat the unseelie, losing his own life in the final victory ..."

The Gem Gates of the Wind Wizards of Foronaxos

The Wind Wizards of Foronaxos were a semi-mythical cabal of powerful mages, whose origins stretch back to before the Godwars that destroyed the first fabled civilizations of man. The last known member of the order was last seen several hundred years ago, and they would appear to exist no more. They specialized in teleportation, telekinetic and extra-planer travel. Many of the currently known enchantments related to such matters can be traced back to them. They are best known, however, for the magical gem gates they constructed, which allowed instantaneous travel between far distant points scattered across the world.

The gates are typically oval or round portals caved out of stone, but can take almost any form. The only constant feature is a series of peculiar slots or receptacles arranged around the perimeter. The gates are powered by precious gems; star ruby, star sapphire, fire opal, blue diamond, and star topaz. To use the gate, gems are inserted into the slots. Each gate is tuned to particular combination and number of gems; inserting the right number/types/order of gems into any other gate would allow travel to the gate defined by that gem combination. 

  

Gates have a variable number of slots or receptacles. It is not possible to travel directly to a destination gate if the starting gate does not have enough slots to accommodate the required number of gems.

Unless someone is left behind to remove them from their slots, gems must be left in the gate after the traveler has passed through; there is no way to remove them after passing through the gate. Eventually the gate drains the power of the gems and they will crumble to dust. How long a given set of gems remain viable is highly variable and also highly unpredictable. In general, however, a set of gems will power a gate for a period ranging from days to weeks.

Gate locations and gem combinations currently discovered by the party are:

Gate Location	# Gem Slots	Gem Combination*
Westmist	6	R R S R
Forbidden City	6	R R R R R R
Kunth	5	R R R R R S
Land of 1000 Wizards	?	S T R R
Wastes of the Loathsome Gods #1	?	S S S S S S
Wastes of the Loathsome Gods #2	?	S R R S
Wastes of the Loathsome Gods #3	?	R T T R S
* S = Star Sapphire, R = Star Ruby, T = Star Topaz, O = Fire Opal, D = Blue Diamond

Church of the Three Virtues

The primary religion of the civilized lands is that known as the Great Church of the Three Virtues. Although other minor, older and hidden faiths are found, the vast majority of peoples in the lands of the old Imperium follows the teachings of the Great Church to one extent or another.

The Great Church venerates three virtues and the gods associated with them;

• protection, just war and vengeance (Habuu)
• justice, law and duty (Velas)
• home, harvest and healing (Saule)

Individual sects, churches and temples may venerate one more than the other. For example, a militant order may worship Habuu more so than the other, whereas a temple in a farming district will likely venerate Saule.

The faith itself has been around in this form since the rise of the Second Imperium some 800 years ago; it was in fact a driving force behind the rebirth of the Imperium. However, the three gods had been worshiped for millennia before, in more primitive forms. Habuu had been a bloody god of war of the D’war people; Saule a fertility goddess of overt sexuality; and Velas a stern overgod who met out divine punishment to his followers. The organization of the church mellowed the image of the gods into the civilized forms known today. But in hidden places, the old sects may still thrive.

The church is a tightly controlled and bureaucratic organization, with a rigid hierarchy. The titles and roles are as follows:

Title                                                                     Role

Supreme Virtue (Virtuous Supremis)                        Head of all the Civilized Church

August Virtue (Virtuous Augustus)                           Head of the Church in a Country/Region

Most Virtuous                                                        Head of the Church in a Province/District

Highest Virtue                                                        Head of a Temple

Under Virtue                                                          Assistant / Head of Minor Temple

Sub Virtue                                                             Mid-level priest

Assistant Sub Virtue                                              Low-level priest

Many clerics of the faith practice outside the rigid hierarchy of the temples. These may serve the faith in one place, or travel from village to village serving those who do not have a temple of their own. Many also become landowners, lords, and even adventurers.