Three Great Forests

There are three large forests on Orn. These do, mostly, resemble well established earthly forests. However, there are differences. 

Most importantly, as light permeates everywhere throughout Orn, bushes and shrubs, and also small saplings beneath the crowns of the larger trees still receive a reasonable amount of light which they can photosynthesize.  Therefore, the undergrowth is typically richer and denser than is found in a typical earthly forest – although this applies less in the Taiga. 

Despite this, however, the trees do strain upwards, and attempt to grow as tall as possible.  Unlike on earth, this is not an attempt to ensure adequate light, but may be an innate desire to reach whatever lies above.  

Each of the three forests has its own particular characteristics. 
 

Firstly, around the Roots of the Great Oak lies the Forest known as the Taiga.  This is actually composed mostly of trees found in more temperate parts of the taiga on Earth (the southern taiga); this might otherwise be called a ‘boreal’ forest.  The main types of tree found in the Taiga are varieties of spruce, pine, larch, fir and birch.

The wildlife found in the Taiga includes bears, foxes and wolves, elk and reindeer. Birds, including many birds of prey, are found high in the trees.

As explained, there is somewhat less undergrowth below the trees of the Taiga, often the way is relatively easy, across pine-coated empty grounds.  Some plants and shrubs, typical of more northern latitudes on Earth, can however be found and they do grow larger than expected.  The Taiga surrounds the base of the Great Oak for around eight miles in most directions, except where it faces the plains and  hills towards Bodhi and Araucaria, where there is a narrower cluster of trees which come down to Blackbird lake.   It is here that the ground level of Village of the Wood-Elves, Bar-Alda, is found.   Aside from this lake, the Taiga is surrounded by hills, plains and wilderlands.

The Taiga is regularly patrolled by elves from Bar-Alda, occasionally supported by others from the village, such as Nigel or the player characters.  As such, encounters with dangerous creatures are relatively rare, although they do occur.

Secondly, spread around the Roots of Araucaria, for roughly eight or nine miles in every direction, is the Forest of Arden.  This is composed mostly of trees found in temperate lands: oak, ash, elm, beech, hornbeam, birch, maple, plane, alders, hazel, willows and lime proliferate, although a few conifers like spruce, fir and pine trees can also be found here.  A range of lichens, mosses and ferns, many wildflowers and other small plants can be found on the forest floor, while various shrubs and bushes can be found in the middle layer.  Imagine an idealised ancient English forest.  The forest counts as Difficult Terrain for walkers, unless the traveller has some other advantage.   

This forest is rich in wildlife, including deer, small mammals, boars and wild pigs, wolves and bears.  Great variety of birds is found in the branches, including starlings, woodpigeons, thrush, tits, blackbirds, robins, finches and many breeds of owl.  Many more dangerous creatures can also be found in its dangerous heart.

This forest is irregularly-shaped and is mostly bounded by the open wilderlands, hills or plains, except in the direction of Ironwood, where a wide mist-shrouded swamp fills the space between the forests.  It is on this side of the forest, on the border with the swamps, that the main encampment of the Koboldi Liberation Front can be found.  The Forest on this side of the Trunk is generally accounted their territory.  

Eventually, the adventurers may realise that the introductory Adventure of the Dragon’s Scale took place in the Forest of Arden.

The third of the Great Forests, surrounds the Ironwood.  It comprises many trees found in hotter, damper climes, and is known colloquially and inaccurately as the Rainforest.  The air in this dense jungle-like area is humid, and the forest surrounds the Ironwood trunk for eight to ten miles in all directions. By the swamp there are many banyan trees, while elsewhere are rubber, amla, ashoka and many palmito trees.  Llianas stretch across between the trees and the canopy is also dense. This Forest counts as Difficult Terrain for both walkers and flyers, unless they fly well above the canopy.

Many lizards, birds, snakes and biting insects inhabit the Forest, alongside great cats and cunning primates. It is said that the rainforest also contains many evil creatures, waiting to trap the unwary.  

At the base of the Ironwood, a small, well-defended fortress can be found.  This sits over a well-tended knothole, and the inhabitants are believed to be the developing Baxter’s - a new dining experience.