Forests and Woodlands
Thynghowe Forest
This large forest is to the east of Epave and is close to fifty miles wide. The western part is claimed by Duke Ranklin but his writ does not run farther than a few border settlements. The Forest Folk live their own lives untroubled by outsiders but shun some dark areas of that are the home to monsters and overgrown ruins. There is no overlord of the area but most of the inhabitants co-operate when necessary. Many men who have been banished or had to flee their homes live in the relative safety of the forest. These Skogarmaor are viewed as outlaws and beyond the laws and protection of Coaster society. They clash with the Forest Folk though often they find ways to co-exist. Some of the Skogarmaor join the Forest Folk while others try to prey on them. There are numerous paths through the Forest and some are relatively safe.
Further information of the Skogarmaor.
Føroyar
Føroyar (Foo-roy-ar)is a heavily wooded island fifteen miles of the northern Crimson Coast to the east of Hevre. It is close to forty miles wide and has few good landing places. It is inhabited by a savage group of giant-kin called the Fomóiri or Formorians who attack all those who dare to land of their island. The Hugond never visited the island, as they had no interest in sailing, but the first Blood Isler settlers did and more than a few explorers simply vanished. Nothing is known of the interior but the Fomóiri seem to have little of great value so they have been left well alone. Occasionally a poor mariner will be shipwrecked on the island that is otherwise ignored.
Andlang
Andlang is a heavily wooded island off the western shores of the Crimson Coast. It is a sacred place for the followers of the Bahamut, the god of chivalry, protection, and justice. In the oldest legends, Bahamut (bah-hahm-ut) is the teacher and exemplar of the Blood Isler people. He succeeded in tutoring them the strength in goodness and has been a constant influence throughout history but has never been overly popular. His great temple was on the island and was famed across the Blood Isles and the Crimson Coast for its beauty and for its Valkyrie warrior-maiden guardians. They were chosen at birth for their future prowess and raised by the tutors of Andlang to be living examples of the tenants of Bahamut. On reaching adulthood they would go forth as paladins and clerics of their god to do his bidding in the wider world; in time they would return to the Island to serve as tutors and guardians. As a blessed and revered place the sacking of the temple and island by Bjorg One-Eye and the Great Sea Dragon was a horrible tragedy. The Bjorg’s Hacksilver Horde led a great coalition of evil doers and was successful in their schemes with the Valkyrie virtually wiped out and the beautiful temple a mere smoking ruin. It is said Bjorg took much pleasure in personally putting the great temple library to the torch and destroying one of the finest collections of Blood Isle and Crimson Coast knowledge. Those of the islanders that they did not kill they enslaved. Since then Andlang is a mere shadow of its old former glory with a handful of clerics carrying out ceremonies in the ruins.
Bahamut the god of Chivalry, Protection, and Justice
Ruins of the Crimson Coast
Ruins of Sudenne
Sudenne was initially settled by a sect of followers of the God Pholtus seeking a new home to practice their faith in true purity. Pholtus (FOHL-tus) is a stern guardian god of unbending Law. He believes that he is the authority on Law and the order and show no tolerance for those who do not give all for the cause of Law. His church does not have much respect for those of other religions, especially chaotic ones. Clerics are expected to bring the word to unbelievers, and brook no argument against this practice. This did not go down well with the local Hugond. Cardinal Recht was the leader and he had brought with him a full retinue of Pholtan Knight Templars and the support of the bureaucracy of the holy church with him. He soon laid out plans for the town and nearby farmlands with the settlers working hard for the glory of Pholtus. Missionaries attempted to convert the local Hugond to the shining light of the true faith but they were ‘ignorant’ and preferred their ‘heathen ways’. The Pholtans were horrified to find that the Hugond carried out human sacrifice and sent a force of Inquisitors but he Hugond just melted back in to the Steppe leaving them chasing their tails.
Still Sudenne grew, if slowly, and with time most of the Pholtan Knight Templars and Inquisitors withdrew. Work began to fortify the town but it progressed slowly due to a lack of urgency though the Cathedral to the Blinding Light was completed. Eventually the Second Blood War broke out and the combined tribes attacked and sacked Sudenne. The incomplete defences could not stop the Hugond and though the last stand was glorious, it was a last stand. Those that could not escape via the sea were killed as the pent up anger of the Hugond was unleashed on the settlers. The Cathedral to the Blinding Light was burnt to the ground with the faithful within; then the Hugond left. They had no need for the town and left it to decay.
The Ruins of Fandel
Situated close to twenty miles west of Hevre, Fandel was an old Blood Isler settlement that was founded just before the First Blood War on much older ruins. The Fandel folk claimed to have come from an Island west of Halderland that was known only to their kin. They were reputedly to be an argumentative group, even by Blood Isler standards, and when they came to the Crimson Coast their nature did not change. Arguing with the folk of Hevre they set off inland and came to the ruins they would settle and call Fandel; their they lived. During the First Blood War the settlement was raised by the Hugond and many of the inhabitants forced to flee to the old caves and passages below the ruins. In this labyrinth the folk of Fandel survived till the peace when they rebuilt their home but their reputation for oddness grew.
In the Second Blood war Fandel was sacked and its inhabitants slain leaving it the ruin it is till this very day. No one wishes to rebuild it and it has faded very much from the attention of men, save for the odd silly ghost story and the likes. There is undoubtedly an extensive network of old ruined passage and chambers under the ruins. The fact that the Folk of Fandel lived there for years must prove this but they have long been abandoned. Recently a force of remnant humanoids embedded themselves in the ruins and it took the efforts of Hevre, The Temple of Kord and the Blue Band of Lavray to dislodge them. A group of adventurers, sometimes called the Aerkonauts or Octavia’s Band, found a lost temple of the god of decay and insanity, Tharizdun, beneath the ruins. It is said that they found great wealth and an ancient artefact of wonder but that several lost their minds. Being such a powerful yet evil religious site makes Fandel a much more interesting yet dangerous place.