Crowbriar Deep

Crowbriar Deep

Crowbriar Deep sits in the northeast interior of Oblivion Vale. It is an elven border forest built for control. The Crowbriar Dominion shaped the land into layered defenses that replace open walls. The Drying ended rivers and lakes across the continent, so the Dominion treats water as the real border. Travel is allowed only through marked lanes and timed entries. Outsiders are kept in outer belts unless they earn long service and prove value. Refugees are turned away or screened for weeks. People with plague signs are rejected without appeal.

Terrain and Built Structure

The forest is thick with thorn and hard growth. Briars form living walls that are trained into lines and corners. Paths are narrow and made to turn sharply. Many lanes end in hidden dead zones or forced choke points. Clearings are rare and usually trapped. The ground is scored with stake holes, snare wire, and covered pits near any open patch. Low elven structures sit under the canopy. They are built from dark wood and stone set shallow into the soil. Thorn screens and layered brush hide doors, vents, and watch slits. Light is weak under the dense growth, even at midday.

Water as Border

Crowbriar Deep survives on sealed wells, seep pockets, and underground cistern vaults. Each water point is treated as a secure site, not a public resource. Stone lids, iron locks, and keyed valves are common. Cask racks and measured cups sit under guard roofs. Water tallies are kept like military records. Movement inside the inner belts is shaped by water access. Thorn gates control who can approach a well and when. Anyone caught near a water site without a route mark is detained or killed. The Dominion believes that one stolen bucket can become a raid season.

Dominion Law and Service Duty

Service duty is mandatory for most adults. It is enforced through oath records, patrol rolls, and ration assignment. Common service includes thorn cutting, trap repair, watch rotation, and well escort work. Failure is punished fast, because the Dominion sees delay as weakness. Punishments focus on loss of rations, forced labor, and exile to outer belts. Repeated failure can bring confinement in holding groves. The Dominion uses probation for outsiders and even for resident lineages that fall under suspicion. Long service can grant deeper access, but it never grants full trust.

Trade and Outsider Control

Trade exists, but it is selective and watched. Goods move through fixed gates and timed windows. The Dominion prefers compact high-value trade: tools, medicines, metal fittings, salt, and written records. Timber trade is restricted and treated as a risk. Humans are kept outside the inner belts and must use controlled depots. Deals are recorded and witnessed. Bribes are common at the outer edge, but the penalties are harsh if discovered. The Dominion will cut off a trade partner for one suspected breach near water.

Magic Policy and Containment

Magic is rare across the Vale, and the Dominion treats it as both asset and threat. Magic is treated like a weapon that can also damage the forest’s control systems. Casters are screened and tested for stability. Unstable casters are expelled or contained. Dominion mages are used for concealment work, trap renewal, and boundary maintenance. Plague-touched people are never allowed near wells or cistern vaults. Even rumors of taint can trigger isolation measures. The Dominion fears sabotage more than open battle.

Border Pressure and the Old Roads

Old roads still cut near the forest, even after the Drying. Goblinoid road-camps pressure these routes. They raid for tools, food, and water access tokens. This keeps the Dominion’s patrols and traps in constant use. The Dominion also remembers the Thornbound War, when unified raider pressure nearly broke the border belts. Since then, the Dominion has increased trap density, tightened travel windows, and expanded outer screening zones. It prefers slow control over fast expansion.

Monsters of Crowbriar Deep

Treants

Treants in Crowbriar Deep act as hard border judges. They enforce cutting bans, punish poachers, and guard hidden wells by oath. Some treants are tied to specific cistern vault entrances and will not allow approach without recognized marks. They leave bodies in root pits as warnings, and they do not negotiate twice. The Dominion does not command them like soldiers, but it plans around their territory and uses their presence as a living barrier.

Awakened Trees

Awakened trees appear in the belts closest to gates and choke paths. Many were forced into thought by rare magic and used as sentries. They remember fire and axes and often strike first. If binding work fails, an awakened tree can roam and attack supply points, including cask racks and grain sheds. The Dominion hunts failed bindings quickly because a loose awakened tree breaks the forest’s controlled movement. Outer patrols treat them as both tool and liability.

Dryads

Dryads in Crowbriar Deep are tied to single trees and the water those trees conceal. They trade safe paths and seep locations for blood, vows, stolen tools, and service promises. Some act as informants for Dominion patrol lines. Others punish cutters and poachers without warning, especially near water pockets. Plaguelands influence can make them harsher and more demanding. The Dominion tolerates dryads when they support border stability, but it also tracks them, since a dryad can redirect travelers toward or away from wells.

Thorn Wardens

Thorn Wardens are giants tied to old forest borders and forbidden paths. They hold ground and turn areas into trap zones. Their thorn whips drag targets into cover and pin them until plants and other predators finish the work. In Crowbriar Deep they function like roaming border posts that do not sleep. The Dominion avoids open conflict with them unless a route is threatened. Some Dominion officers mark “Warden zones” on internal maps and schedule patrols to steer movement away from them.

Grimstag-Giants

Grimstag-Giants prowl the forest edge and nearby cold moors. They target mounted patrols and escorts. They charge through lines, gore riders, and take tack and water skins as trophies. They prefer fog and tall grass, which makes outer lanes dangerous during low-visibility seasons. The Dominion treats them as a persistent edge threat that cannot be removed permanently. When Grimstag-Giants move closer to the belts, it usually means game is failing outside, or raids have disrupted the normal prey cycle.

Death-Blooms

Death-Blooms drift in trapped clearings, failed gardens, and damp pockets near old corpses. They use a sweet rot scent to draw prey close, then lash with tendrils and feed slowly. In Crowbriar Deep, Death-Blooms are most common where past ambush sites left bodies that were never properly removed, or where a sealed pit stayed damp under the thorn canopy. Dominion patrols burn them on sight, but smoke can carry the lure farther, so kills are done with strict wind rules. Even so, Death-Blooms persist because the forest has many hidden damp seams and old kill pits.

What Crowbriar Deep Produces and Protects

Crowbriar Deep’s main resource is controlled water access. It also produces limited timber, resin, and hardened thornwood used for barriers and traps. It protects internal cistern vaults that other realms cannot easily find or seize. The Dominion’s greatest strength is that its border system is built into the living terrain. Its greatest weakness is that every defense depends on water points staying sealed, clean, and trusted. Any breach creates panic, internal purges, and faster violence than outsiders expect.