Tolmeshal forest
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Contents
Danger: normal
Sub zones: Safe Harbor, Fairy pond, Nekomura
Inhabitants: nagas, kensha beasts, fairies, dryads, echydins, noghdongs, iampis, podmaws, poisonous creepers, arboreal frogs, starkala bugs, pantaurs, duikers, glouteux, spine beetles, drakewillow nexolts, mumansis, bugle lizards, dridders, boom bees, black skin-divers, furred parrots, cyganeka worms, eliocanthes, apluyahs
Characters : Ajab, Drayla , Artemia, Elle, Jora, Sonya, Milly, Masumi
The name Tolmeshal comes from the Sagolian "Tol-Mesh-al". The signification is uncertain, but some believe it means "the hungry forest". This name is rarely used anymore though. Most people would simply refer to it as "the middle forest", as it's situated roughly in the center of most Felarya maps. Tolmeshal forest is an immense jungle area sprawling from the west of Ur-Sagol and the foothills of Frost peak, to the Forest of whispers, and to the Ascarlin mountains in the south, as well as the Grove of carnivorous plants. It's also believed Miragia forest was part of Tolmeshal, before an accident turned it into what it is now. It's crossed by the Shard river and includes the Giant tree as well.
Tolmeshal forest is your typical Felaryan jungle. It's a beautiful and thick, lush jungle, teeming with life. The atmosphere is hot and humid. Some trees grow to truly gigantic size, dwarfing their surroundings, and stretching majestically toward the sky. It's common to see thick vegetation grow on these behemoths, even smaller trees sometimes ! It's quite possible to navigate and find your way on those giant branches, hundreds of feet above the ground. You need to have sure footing though, as the slightest slip can be fatal, and to watch out for canopy predators, such as arboreal frogs or pantaurs. The jungle floor is much more shadowy and damp, and while you don't risk falling to your death here, sometimes the vegetation will turn into an impenetrable wall of vines and poisonous creepers.
Tolmeshal forest is as deadly as it is beautiful. It is inhabited by a large variety of hostile beasts and giant predators, more than ready to catch and gobble up any unaware adventurer. It's a dangerous and predatory world, full of subterfuge and camouflage. Nothing is as it appears. A large, bright, beautiful flower could reveal itself to be a deadly trap, and what look like a quiet cave could be the hungry mouth of a dryad lying in wait. You can’t sit down without running the risk that something big and hungry will find you, and during the night, the place becomes even more frightening, full of strange, scary sounds and even deadlier creatures. It takes lot of courage and determination indeed, to venture deep into the jungles of Felarya.
Fairy pond
Danger : Hazardous
Inhabitants : fairies, dryads, echydins, doormat plants, mermaids
Characters : Lucilya
Situated in the eastern part of Tolmeshal forest, the fairy pond is one of the wonders of Felarya. The ground is covered by bluish grass and beautiful flowers, and the air is filled with their intense aroma. The pond itself is of the purest water and the sound of the nearby waterfall is relaxing. This place is truly enchanting and you could lose yourself in contemplation for hours. However, the water is magically enhanced in more ways than one. One of the magical enchantments is that of purity, as the water stays totally pure. If you were covered in mud and took a bath here, the water wouldn't become even the slightest bit murkier, nor would it become even a tiny bit less clean. Another magical enchantment is an enchantment against drowning, which has been in place since a day long since past when a mournful fairy enchantress cast the enchantment over the waters to ensure no one else would ever drown in it like her daughter had. The last and most interesting enchantment is an enchantment of size changing. The waters of the pond will instantly shrink any human or neko who touches it to a height of three inches... providing an easy and quickly replenishing source of food for the numerous fairies who dwell here.
The whole area is saturated with magic, making it very pleasant and refreshing for magical beings. Along with the fairies, a few dryads live here, and sometimes mermaids from the adjacent Shard river come to visit as well. Besides being relaxing and a great hunting ground, this place acts as a safe haven. The neighboring areas have been overrun by insects, the main danger for fairies in Felarya since most insects have strong anti-magic abilities. However, the pond keeps them away.
Safe Harbor
Danger: Low
Inhabitants: humans, giantess, nekos
Characters : Jade, Isham
Safe Harbor is the name of a small settlement in Tolmeshal forest. It was recently founded by a handful of human settlers and the giantess Jade. After her arrival on Felarya, Jade wandered through the world and tried to protect humans from becoming meals for the countless predators of the jungle. However, she quickly realized that in such an immense and dangerous world, her goal was simply unreachable. Moreover, she was starting to make a certain number of enemies among the local predators, by spoiling their hunts and interfering in their affairs. Thus Jade settled for another solution. After she rescued a group of travelers, she accompanied them for a while and told them more about her goals and her plans. These humans then suggested she give up her never ending task, and found a place where humans and other small creatures could live under her protection instead; a Harbor were they could live in safety. And so was born the idea of Safe Harbor.
They searched for days for a good location, until they found a nice place in a big glade, next to the Shard river, and not too far away from the Giant tree. This location may look strange as it's rather close to the home of one of the most feared predators in Felarya : the giant naga Crisis. However Jade knows well that, despite her enormous appetite, the naga is friendly and can be reasoned with and trusted. Moreover, Jora, a friend of Jade, has her cave not too far away.
The settlers began to build up the first buildings and, with the help of a giantess, the construction went very fast. As time passed, more and more humans joined Safe Harbor, often after being rescued by Jade. Many of them stay only temporarily, before they are ready to head to Negav or the Dimensional gate near Ur-Sagol, but some others choose to settle there for good. At first, many predators tried to attack the village, seeing it as little more than a free buffet, but Jade defended fiercely those under her protection, showing the predators that trying to snatch one of the inhabitants came at a heavy price. With time, the stubborn giantess earned the respect of the locals, who now mostly leave Safe Harbor alone. Still, the village is not completely safe, and some predators continue to attack it from time to time. After all, there is little to do against a wandering fairy sneaking into a house and shrinking its inhabitants, quickly gulping them down and flying off to digest her meal... It must also be noted that, while Jade welcomes humans and other small races there, she's wary of thugs and others troublemakers and won't hesitate to kick them out.
Despite all that, Safe Harbor quickly gained a good reputation as a safe place in this part of Felarya. Even people living in the huge city of Negav have heard of a little village surviving against the odds right in the middle of the jungle.
Nekomura
Danger: Very Low
Inhabitants: nekos
A Neko village, south of Tolmeshal forest. While a sizable population of Nekos live within Negav, a much larger community remains outside the safety of the city's walls in the Nekomura village. Nekomura has a somewhat rustic feel to it, with simple dwellings on the ground and various structures built into the sides of the great trees that surround them. Interestingly, instead of traditional rope bridges linking the tree dwellings together, there are merely straight ropes! Given the amazing balance and agility of nekos, sprinting across a half-inch rope is as easy as running across a wide stone bridge. The people here are mostly content and feel relatively safe even though they are outside the protective walls of Negav. This hasn't always been the case, however.
History
For nekos, living in Negav among humans has never been an easy affair. Under the reign of neko kings, tensions were already simmering between the two races. Then came the Great Destruction, when a good part of Negav was destroyed, and Tonho and many nekos were devoured, especially members of the military. In the aftermath, nekos and humans survivors worked together to build and reinforce Negav. The humans were now clearly in charge though, having suffered less from the Great Destruction and being led by the powerful Ps'isols mages. Thus, when the dust of destruction and rebuilding settled, thing became more and more complicated for Nekos. After several years, racial tensions were again running high, in part because king Tonho was held by many negavians to be solely responsible for the catastrophe that destroyed so much of the city.
When the Ps'isol magiocrats took power, they "encouraged" nekos to leave. A large number of nekos followed their advice, feeling that proximity to humans wasn't doing them any good. They set out to construct a separate village a short distance to the north: Nekomura. Under the term of the Mancala agreement, Ps'isol magiocrats offered the nekos a crystal of the same kind as the Isolon Eye in Negav, as a sign of "eternal friendship". The neko's crystal, however, is just a mere shadow of the original, as it stands less then 5 feet tall. It does more or less the same things as the Isolon Eye: wards away large predators that might otherwise feast on the village. However, unlike the eye, this crystal must be regularly recharged by the mages of Negav, which they do for a fee. This treachery has kept tensions high between Nekomura and Negav, however the nekos still dutifully pay the fee as they know the crystal is the only thing keeping ravenous predators at bay. There have been recorded instances where the crystal weakened enough to allow a giant naga a large enough window to snatch some villagers before finally being driven back by the magic.
Thus the two populations don't interact very often, save for basic trade, and sometimes knowledge sharing. A large number of nekos both within the village and within the city will frequently offer their services as scouts in the jungles of Felarya. In fact, the nekos scouts are so well known and respected that even the isolationist Delurans have turned to them on more than one occasion to assist in their scouting duties.
- credits to Ravana3k for the Safe harbor idea, and to Servomoore for some ideas to develop the fairy pond.
