A cursed, murky wood of rail-thin evergreens, enveloped by an impenetrable mist. Within the thickness of this twilight, the Shadowbinder and her ilk sneak unseen, skittering and laughing at one another through gnarled brambles, and among glowing shrooms and tree roots. The earth here is literally sunken, as if half of the Sunbeam Ruins fell away into darkness willingly.
Region Information[]
The murky lowlands, hidden away by the Shadowbinder and her minions.
Zone Element: Shadow
Reigning God: The Shadowbinder
Native Breeds: Nocturnes and Veilspun
Native Beastclans: Centaurs, Serthis, Talonok
Subregions[]
Driftwood Drag[]
Hollow, rotted logs line the banks of the river delta, the silty flow impeded further by haphazard dams of wood, bark, and leaf-litter stuck together. The fertile lands and abundance of food to be found in the region attract all manner of local wildlife, and dragons are no exception. Roosts are routinely built using the natural dams, expanding heavily into above-ground draconic habitats.
Dusk Sanctum[]
An ancient magical apparatus built to monitor the ley energies flowing throughout the Tangled Wood. The Dusk Sanctum provides invaluable analysis on the strength of latent shadow magic and relays it directly to the Oculus of the Eleven, where it is monitored and researched by skilled magisters and scholars.
Wispwillow Grove[]
If any part of this darkened land can be called beautiful, it is the grove. All manner of giant glowing fungi dot the terrain, providing the only light that does not fight its way through the murk that hangs above. Among these mushrooms, trickster dragons chase firebugs and faeries, content to capture some for the eerie lanterns that illuminate their hovels and caves.
Thorndark Altar[]
This foreboding amphitheater was used for centuries' worth of shadow clan rituals; zealots sacrificed many of their treasures and belongings to the impenetrably stygian pool at its heart. Currently, the altar has taken on a new purpose as a fixture for the stone arch that now stands in the depression once filled by shadowy pools.
Foxfire Bramble[]
The gnarled, twisting shapes of the Foxfire Bramble are sinister against the moonlight, and provide excellent defense to the clans that have painstakingly dug themselves hearths within. Beneath the crushing, thorny knots are some of the darkest places in the realm, and it is nearly impossible for even nocturnal creatures to see more than a few feet in front of them.
Sunportal[]
The enduring stone arch of the Sunportal was once submerged beneath the shadowy pools in the center of the Thorndark Altar, hidden and forgotten. Having been reactivated thanks to a magical keystone, its true purpose was revealed as a transfer device to and from the Tangled Wood reconnecting it to its sister arch, the Moonportal, which resides in the daykissed meadows of the Sunbeam Ruins. Many shadow clans have taken an interest in watching the Sunportal and guarding against any who would pass through its arch.
Forum of the Obscured Crescent[]
A dirtied, muddied hovel, deliberately piled with debris from all the surrounding areas. It existed before the land was enveloped in shadow, constructed by an ancient civilization who, perhaps aware of its nature as a potent weapon against deception, built an open air temple around the pool. The Shadowbinder now claims the Forum as her fortress, fouling the pool with spoils and junk, rendering it useless as a clairvoyant tool.
Murkbarrow Close[]
Nestled in the hollowed trunk of an ancient, colossal pine, Murkbarrow Close is a hive of shadowed activity. Tightly-packed hovels and shacks are crammed together in the perpetual shade cast by the corpse of the old tree. The only vestiges of light come from lanterns that glow turquoise and purple dotting the narrow alleyways. To the casual onlooker, the crowded abodes almost look empty, until the glowing eyes of the hermits who inhabit them blink on and off from the shadows.