The Preborian Forest is a huge primeval forest located almost dead center in Marcandria, bordering Rosella to the north and Sillvengo to the south. The forest is often called The Forbidden Forest in Marcandria, with its name being a derivative of how the same term was pronounced in Marcandrian centuries ago. The forest gets its name due to how extremely hostile some of its inhabitants are towards civilization and civilized beings, with any Marcandrian entering the forest being attacked, to be driven out if lucky, to be killed if unlucky. The forest today is largely untouched, with the only traces of civilization once having it under their domain being a single ruined road build by the Concalians, alongside the old ruins of a Concalian town build along it. The Marcandrians have made numerous attempts to create a trade route though the forest, as the shortened travel time it would create between Marcandria's northern and southern provinces is considered to be of strategic importance both in terms of economics, security, and to increase cooperation and cohesion among Marcandria's provinces. Attempts to maintain a north-south route through the forest has so far (as of 1353AD) failed, though lumbering activities and the clearing of land to create new pastures and farmland have slowly been pushing back the forest's boundary over the centuries.
The Preborian forest is diverse in both flora and fauna, though the forest is most notable for the numerous fey creatures that inhabit it. These fey are chaotic beings with little in terms of governance or official leadership, though there exist individual fey who hold a lot of influence within the forest. While these fey are generally protective of their forest from outsiders, they are by no means under a single banner. Many cooperate with each other. Many have friendly symbiotic relations with one another. Others are rivals, or may despise one another to such an extent that they cannot stomach the sight of one another.
The most distinctive separation one can make among the relations between the forest's fey are between those living in the verdant groves in the forest's east versus those living in the more gloomy, tangled, and fetid swamps in the forest's west.
The verdant groves located in the Preborian Forest's centeral and eastern regions have a beautiful mystical and enchanting look to them. The presence of the Fey that inhabit them have slowly caused these groves to be suffused with the magic of these fey beings, making the groves reflect their magical and mystical nature. The flora in these groves are of the most verdant greens, with more mystical looking leaves, flowers, and fruits of deep oranges, blues, and purples also being heavily featured. These groves have both a mix of mundane flora, alongside more mystical looking and sometimes magic infused flora typically only associated with the Feywild. Plants here will on occasion uproot themselves and decide to re-locate, before re-rooting and seemingly turn back into regular plants again. The animals living in and near these groves similarly tend to have vibrant furs and healthy bodies. A few of these animals will on occasion get accidentally infused by the prevalent fey magic that exists in these groves, causing them to become a more unique looking, at times more intelligent, version of their species.
The dominant and most influential type of fey in the Preborian forest's verdant groves are the dryads. They are a form of all-female tree-spirits, each bound to a single tree that acts as both their home and life-force, providing them with all the nourishment they need to survive. A tree in these magically suffused groves will become a new dryad generally once every few years, with a tree outside the groves turning into a dryad on rare occasions. A dryad is able to separate their body from their tree, though is only able to receive nourishment from it so long as the ground they stand on remains connected to the tree's root. The dryads in the Preborian forest are able to traverse almost the entire forest due to most of it forming a single interconnected root structure. A dryad who leaves the area connected to their tree's root structure quickly dies. A dryad whose tree gets cut down goes mad, and quickly die unless she can find some other life-force to sustain her. This most often involved thrashing and gnawing upon anything they come across to consume its life force in order to stave off their own death.
The dryads view themselves as guardians of the woodlands, and protect it fiercely. Intruders who they believe may harm their forest quickly find themselves assailed with their poison-dipped arrows and fey magic as they dart across the canopies. The dryads, having lost sisters in the past due to lumbering activities done by humanoids, sees all humanoids as threats to their forests, and therefore attack them on sight. Of the fey in the Preborian Forest, the dryads are the ones Marcandrians are most familiar with, specifically because it's usually they who drive off or kill those who dare enter their forest. The dryads' ability to communicate with plants, alongside the interconnectedness of the forest's roots, allows the forest to notify them when it's being harmed. However, the forest's vast size coupled with the dryads not being particularly numerous means they are by no means able to stave all of the Marcandrians lumbering and forest clearing activities along the forest's edge.
The dryads share these groves with numerous other types of fey. Among these are satyrs, a raucous all-male type of fey who enjoys trickery, frivolities, and debauchery. Pixies and sprites build small villages among the grove's boughs. Pixies and sprites are pranksters in their own rights, playing pranks on both their own kind, other fey, and even animals. Quicklings also scurry across the grove's forest floor, and are capricious beings who love nothing more than playing pranks, especially loving it when their pranks causes additional troubles for the one being pranked. Faerie Dragons also add to the list of pranksters who make their home in these groves.
The fey in these verdant groves have no official structure or leadership, with the Fey's interactions with each other primarily being grounded in personal influence, common interests and social norms. The most influential fey in these groves is Kalythra, an archfey who is the oldest living dryad in the forest.
The gloomswamp covers a large part of the Preborian Forest's western area. As the name implies, it is a gloomy area, tangled and overgrown with foliage, but where everything is twisted, drooping, and appear half-withered. Thick soggy canopies block most of the light from ever reaching the ground, with rotting wood so entangled in it that it's unable to fall down, to the point where entire trees can be held aloft even with the entire bottom portion having rotted away. It is an area that is both fetid and lush, with a decaying carcass surrounded by lush moss and aquatic plants that protrude through the swamp's shallow waters is a common type of sight. The sound of crickets and toads creates a constant melody in the swamp, with dim light from fireflies protruding through the ever-present fog, hovering between the twisted roots that protrude from the water. It can often be hard to discern the light from the fireflies from the hungry eyes of predators that also lurk in the waters.
CHATGPT:
The Gloomswamp blankets a substantial portion of the western Preborian Forest. As the name suggests, it's a dim and tangled expanse where foliage hangs in twisted, half-withered clusters. Thick, waterlogged canopies block most sunlight, while rotting wood interlocks, preventing it from falling to the ground. Entire trees seem suspended in the air, their lower halves decayed away. The swamp is both fetid and lush, with decaying matter juxtaposed against thriving moss and aquatic plants emerging from shallow waters. The constant chorus of crickets and toads fills the air, and dim firefly lights dance amidst the ever-present fog, mingling with the watchful eyes of lurking predators in the murky depths.
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It is a gloomy, tangled, and fetid area, filled with rotting and decaying
thick soggy canopies mixed with rotten leaves and wood that's been tangled up in the rest of the foliage.
Tangled and overgrown, yet at the same time filled with decay and rot.
Drooping and twisted foliage that looks half-withered, as if sick.
Dim light of fireflies
Fey here tend to stick to their own kind instead of intermingling.
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