Forests of Hell

Forests of Hell
World	Threnody

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“Names didn’t mean a whole lot in the Forests. Or maybe they meant everything. The right ones, that was.”

—Daggon on the Forests of Hell

The Forests of Hell were forests on a Shardworld known as Threnody.

The Forests of Hell were inhabited by shades, dangerous spirits capable of turning people into a new shade with a single touch. In order to protect themselves, humans developed the Simple Rules that were believed to help a person avoid the shades. Traveling in the forests, especially at night, was extremely dangerous.

The people who lived in the Forests often built forts to live within, to protect themselves from the shades. Unfortunately, most of the fortfolk who left the forts, such as merchants, did not have the skills necessary to survive for long in the Forests. Those who lived in the forts dressed differently than those without, wearing clothing such as tall hats with a wide brim, or long black coats with lace at the front. The fortfolk imposed taxes on the people who lived in the forests, but people often avoided those taxes by fleeing into the Forests. Fortfolk would post bounties for these criminals, which bounty hunters, such as the White Fox, would hunt down in exchange for measures of silver.

Waystops were built as well, neutral places in the forests, such as Silence's waystop. These waystops served as safe zones for travelers in the Forests. There were also some homesteads that were established.

Those who had broken the laws often fled to the Forests, they were full of criminals, often going by aliases. Those who survived in the Forests were invariably tough and self-reliant, the weak or foolish would not survive longer than a few weeks.