Gloamveil Forest

Gloamveil Forest

Gloamveil Forest stretches across the north and northeast of Oblivion Vale. It is a living border that decides who survives and who does not. The forest is ruled by an elven sovereignty that values memory, restraint, and punishment over speed or mercy.

Since the Drying, the forest has no open water. What little moisture remains is hidden, guarded, and treated as sacred. Control of these places is the core of elven power.

Terrain and Conditions

The forest canopy is thick and low. Light is weak and gray beneath it. Trees grow close together, forcing travel into narrow paths.

The ground shifts between damp leaf rot and cracked earth where streams once ran. Fog gathers in low ground and along empty channels, especially at dawn. Cold wind moves in from the northeast and carries salt through the upper branches. Bark and old markers show its trace.

Water as Law

Water sites are treated as sacred ground. They are protected, concealed, and defended. Any harm to them is treated as an attack on the forest itself.

The elves believe contamination is worse than loss. A spoiled source can doom an entire region. Because of this, theft is punished as desecration. Anyone who risks a water site risks everyone who depends on it.

Borders and Travel

The forest is not open land. It is divided into layered border zones and controlled travel paths. These zones shift with treaties and conflict.

Movement is allowed only where the elves permit it. Paths are marked and watched. Entry is limited, escorted, and tightly controlled. Fire, cutting, noise, and night movement are restricted. Those who break these rules lose the right to travel and are often left outside protection.

The forest does not warn twice.

Rule and Authority

Gloamveil is ruled by a council of elder wardens. They govern slowly and record everything that matters. Authority comes from memory, not speed.

Guards enforce movement and borders. Decisions are made through precedent and oath, not emotion. Appeals are rare and usually fail.

Law and Punishment

Elven law is deliberate and severe. Execution is uncommon. Punishment is meant to last.

Those who break forest law are bound to years of forced labor under guard. Some are denied access to all safe paths, which is often a death sentence near the borders. Repeat offenders may be exiled into the deep forest, where no protection applies.

Waste is treated as a threat. Camps that foul ground or leave bodies near sacred sites are expelled or destroyed. Any death near a water site triggers cleansing measures and punishment for everyone involved.

Resources and Control

Timber is power. Cutting is allowed only in approved areas and under strict oversight. Illegal logging is treated as a direct attack on the forest.

Hunting is limited and watched. Traps near travel paths are forbidden. Resin, herbs, and bark are gathered carefully because they are needed for medicine, repair, and sealing wounds.

The elves trade only what they must. In return, they seek metal, cloth, salt, and medicines they cannot produce themselves.

Trade and Enforcement

Trade moves only through approved routes. Everything is inspected. Anything suspicious is seized.

Those who fail inspection may be expelled, detained, or worse. Human traders often call this abuse. The elves call it survival.

Smuggling is common. Hunger makes people reckless. The forest does not care why a rule was broken.

Relations with Humans

Gloamveil borders several human towns. It acts as a buffer between states and wild lands.

Humans accuse the elves of hiding paths and causing disappearances. The elves answer that the forest kills those who ignore its rules. Predators do not recognize treaties.

Trade and treaties exist because both sides need each other. During famine years, routes close, tempers rise, and blame spreads fast. When something fails, both sides assume sabotage.

Belief and Custom

The elves recognize the major gods, but daily life is shaped by oaths, memory, and consequence.

Life is focused on endurance and clean survival. Death is tightly controlled near sacred sites. Broken oaths are recorded and remembered for generations.

Some trees and places serve as oath grounds. Words spoken there carry weight long after the speaker is gone.

Rumors and Truth

Humans believe the elves rule through constant illusion. This is not true.

Magic exists, but it is rare and used for defense and concealment. Most deaths come from fog, wrong turns, and predators.

The elves hoard water because they fear collapse. Their greatest fear is not invasion, but slow loss. Small thefts and small mistakes can ruin a sacred place forever.

That is why mercy is rare in Gloamveil Forest.