Serpent Wood

From Ardesia

The Serpent Wood, at its edges, is an airy forest of silver beech, oak, pine, holly, and shivering aspens. There is little underbrush to obscure the gently-rolling forest floor. Odd tumbles of stone and the banks of streams attract moss and clumps of ferns. Deer, hare, bears, and other game inhabit the wood's margins. The deeper reaches of the wood have remained unexplored for the past century.

So named for the winding Serpent River that wends throughout the forest, the Serpent Wood lies between the gently-rising northern slope of the Swift Valley and the foothills of the Wraithspur Mountains. It occupies a shallow plateau basin that gives the River its characteristic meander. The southern edge of the forest dips over the ridge between the basin and the Swift Valley and blankets the northern rise of the valley. The Wood's western limit is its border with the Winter Weald. Its eastern extent is determined by the barrier presented by the Fens and Wraithspur's outlier peak, Torr Aegis.

The Serpent Wood was once tamed and settled as far as the Wraithspur foothills. The sylvan kingdom was prosperous, and was eventually annexed by the Asnoth Circle. Old roads have survived, though most of the bridges spanning the Serpent River not destroyed in the Witch Wars have fallen into ruin since. During the Wars the Wood was entirely depopulated ahead of the marching armies, and it has not been reclaimed for Tayel or any other known nation. The Wood did not suffer the broad corruption that some landscapes did during the Wars, but still the occasional abomination stamps out from beneath its silver boughs and needs to be faced by the Royal Dragons.

The Serpent Wood

[edit] Settlement

The Wood is lightly settled along its southern edge by woodcutters and foresters. The banks of the Serpent River are also settled for a short distance into the Wood. A road once followed the course of the Serpent, cutting across its many meanderings with frequent bridges. The first bridge within the Wood has long since fallen into the water, and this marks the limit of civilised settlement. A few lone outposts of habitation can be found beyond the fallen bridge, but they are isolated and not considered under the domain of the Queen.

[edit] Dragon Falls

Dragon Falls is the cataracts of water connecting the Serpent above the ridgeline to the Serpent below, and is the namesake of the town of Dragon Falls that spans the cascades. It is a town of foresters, fishers, and engineers.